The “never underestimate the power of Love” edition.
Banks – over a couple of Roll Calls I suggested maybe it was time to unleash Marcus and see what he can give us. Evidently the answer comes in two parts: he has perfected the “airball three” to perfection during his time on the bench and other than that, he’s worthless. As our backup PG he provided us with no assists, 3 personal fouls, and 3 points. I’ve seen more production from a dog that has been snipped.
Bargnani – offensively the first three quarters seemed like he had Marcus Banks as his shooting coach. Then, in the fourth, it was like Jay told him if he stepped up his game, he’d get Andrea a second pasta commercial. Andrea not only pulled down boards, had some sweet putbacks, relied on his active hands, but he even kept our 3pt streak alive. Heck of an effort late in the game.
Belinelli – question: if I go to an Italian cafe and request a Belinelli to go, will I just get nothing in return?
Bosh – how can this guy be real? First he pimps out his DVD while fighting a head cold. Then he actually appears jovial and awake during the media scrum at practice. Lastly he comes out tonight and went insane with a 21/16 night. Also, is it just me or does it seem like 3 or 4 times a game, you see him jump out of the middle of 3 opposing players in the paint? It’s almost like a synchronized swimming move. Wonder if that’s on the DVD….
Calderon – didn’t play because his hip couldn’t do the hippy hippy shake.
DeRozan – heck of a start to the game. I’ve been thoroughly impressed with his movement lately and how he seems to almost be willing the ball into his hands. I was a doubter for a while but after these past few games, he just might be a legitimate starter.
Evans – how does he dress himself Does he just yank stuff out of his closet and pay no mind? Did you see his style tonight? What would you call it?
Jack – first start of the year and all he did was make Jay’s decision that much more difficult when filling out the starting lineup. He made Flynn work for most of his shots, plus on the offensive end he was doing to the drive and kick at masterful levels. Also appreciate the number of times he got to the line (12). You can’t tell me that isn’t there every night for Calderon and Jack. Have to be more assertive, draw contact and make the other team pay.
Johnson – anybody else let out a gut wrenching roar when he was tearing that ball away on the endline early in the game? Kept his fouls in check, pulled down 7 boards and was once again vocal on defense.
Mensah-Bonsu – 12.More.Days.
Nesterovic – nobody was happier than Rasho when they said Love would play. The Big White Center Plan came into play and Captain Nesterovic of the good ship Negate put his hat on and went to work. At times it looked like 2 seals going up for the same fish, but what the hell…the kids seemed to enjoy it.
O’Bryant – he fell asleep 3/4 of the way through the team meeting, so he asked for it to be RT’d.
Turkoglu- he had just an absolute horrific night shooting the ball, but bless the big galoot for admitting it and putting the ball on the floor and getting fouled. If not for that, we would have lost this game. The other facets of his game are back and are pretty consistent now, but he ability to score the ball from the field needs to make a return…and soon.
Weems – proof that being a comedic ball player doesn’t get you minutes. Ever.
Wright – yes, he hit a three. The rest of the time on the floor it was inducing the kind of reaction you see from this video. The man is about as healthy for my blood pressure as me being put into a room with Colangelo.
Driving The Bus: Chris Bosh
Under The Bus: Antoine Wright
Game Theme:
59 Raps
Antoine Wright – brick laying machine. CLANG CLANG CLANG.
Another ugly night at the office, but his only make was clutch. That’s the only type of shot he should look for — an open three off a drive and kick. Enough of this trying to create shots.
I dont even think he should be taking those shots! Every time he has an open look, it’s because the defense is telling him to shoot it and licking their chops at the easy rebound. When he has the ball in his hands, I count down the seconds to the turnover.
Well said guys, he’s got this pattern, that if he dribbles the ball for more than 3 seconds, he’ll try to create a shot for himself, doesn’t Triano tell him to stop taking these shots?
Same way they probably told Hump to quit taking those shots… I think its in the CBA that every team has to have a player that believes they are an Offensive Machine even though their Offense is really just Offensive…
Yea except strangely all the ex-raptors (or most) lose their bad habits after joining a different team. Bonner isn’t just a 3 pt shooter anymore and Hump is doing everything we wanted him to do (but didn’t) in Dallas.
His teammates might actually, um, respect him more if he practiced what seems to be inevitably coming out of his mouth. One drive comes to mind: He gets called for a charge off of a drive from a team offensive rebound. Instead of passing (or lobbing the ball) to a wide open DD he tries to take it to the basket.
Who cares if it was a block? It was selfish. He needs more practice.
Don’t let score fool you. We outplayed them thoroughly.
2 of 21 from the 3. And the majority were open looks. 10% – shit if we shoot 20 this one never close.
Only negative is Bargnani has totally stopped going inside. Not that he ever lived there, but last two 3 games I don’t think he’s brought the ball to the basket.
I’ll credit him for not giving up, loved his little put back tip-in. Grabbed a few key boards.
Was the airball not appropriate?
What was worse tonight? The Raps’ outside shooting touch or Reggie Evans’ jeans? Seriously though, nice to see them grind one out, even if it was against a weak team. Every team has off-nights and it’s good to grab a win despite one…
That weak team beat Utah and Denver in their last 4 games before playing the Raptors, something the Rap’s could not do. Don’t disrespect any opponent, as that is a perfect game to lose, by not bringing your A effort.
I was joking with my brother the other day about Evans dressing sense. He must be the most shabbily dressed millionaire ever. No offence to his upbringing/background/education/race/class/creed. I love his enthusiasm and Him and Amir Johnson are gonna be on top of my favourite all time Raptors (very soon).
Man, Johnson for Delfino – has to be one of the best ever trades Colangelo ever made.
LOL!
Even my g/f commented and joked about Evan’s outfit tonight. Hey, he can’t be blamed for being himself and “keeping it real”. :D
what evans wears or a clown suit?…tough call.can we make this a poll?
Think he might have some gypsy in him?
LMFAO!!!!
haha, a second pasta commercial, epic
It seems that our players are the epitome of inconsistent. It’s not just Belinelli that is feast or famine, it’s everyone. Bosh has gone through terrible shooting nights, as well as Bargs, and basically every other players on this team, but we always win whenever the shooters without the hot hand are contributing in other ways. Bargs really did a lot of dirty work later in the game without which we could not have won. The main problem with players like Belinelli and Weems is that they feel that if they aren’t on, they can’t contribute and either fade away or continue to take bad shots. We can’t have that; they need to play to their strengths. Belinelli needs to make plays and Weems needs to take a page out of DeRozan’s book and start driving and dunking.
The key to this edition of the Raptors team isn’t scoring, it’s how well people do at all the little things when they aren’t scoring. Bargnani’s contribution late in the game tonight confirmed that he can play like a legitimate center and still get his three point shots. Belinelli has done this to some extent, but if Weems realized that, he would have a hell of a lot more playing time.
Bosh has gone through “terrible shooting nights”, but Bosh is one of the most consistent player, period. every single game he’s a factor. love him. you’re right with Bargnani though, his lack of professionalism and intensity is pissing ME off! finally he realizes that he needs to rebound…
I dont understand what point you are trying to prove. Every player on every team will inevitably have a bad shooting night (even kobe, lebron etc.) and they have to do other stuff to help their team win. Thats just a fact, it doesn’t seem like much of an insight.
Isn’t your ‘key’ the same thing for the other 29 teams?
The 29 other teams have role players, shooters, big men and basically people who know what they’re expected to do for the most part. The Raptors still live and die by the jump shot, which does not always fall and players have not stepped up their game in other aspects to make up for not scoring. Kobe has a supporting cast that doesn’t mind him taking so many shots, LeBron gets his assists and rebounds if he doesn’t score. Our role players are basically Johnson and Evans (hopefully). Wright was meant to be a defender but he looks to create his own shot, DeRozan mentioned how he wanted to play like Turkoglu but realized that his value was in driving. That’s what we need our players to understand. I don’t see what you’re trying to say, because I’m not saying it’s an insight. I’m commending Bargs for a job well done and I’m saying that some of these other guys need to do the same.
Great game. Wonder if the sore ankle is bothering Bargs with his shot. Hope to see delfino get schooled by DD tommorow.
Jarrett Jack for Prime Minister. OK, perhaps not PM but definitely for starting PG from here on out. ;)
wow, you actually watched a game.
I know … took me long enough. Outside of the terrible shooting, I enjoyed tonight. Looking forward to tomorrow night too. ;)
… that win didn’t feel to good. the 3rd quarter late, early 4th quarter performance didn’t please me at all. despite the win, today did NOT feel like the raptors were a high caliber team.
Strange game …. half way thru the 4th quarter I began rooting for Minny … LOL
3-30
quelle surprise
winning ugly makes me happy.
Strange, I only watched the last few minutes of the game, and Wright looked pretty good. I guess he sucked the rest of it – I did see he missed all five of his previous shots on the boxscore.
Nice open look – the only shot he should take. Pretty clutch.
Key play: rising up over two T’Wolves to grab the ball that Bargnani (Turk?) had to throw up to prevent it from going out. That prevented a key fastbreak bucket from the T-Wolves
It was Bargs.
Bargnani saved it from going out of bounds and tossed it aimlessly to the middle of the court — that’s the one he’s talking about, I think. Good point, that was a nice play and would’ve been an easy two going the other way.
Can you believe were paying that turd Banks 4M a year?
I just wanna kill myself…
We are gonna love him next year when he actually becomes valuable and other teams will be interested in the expiring contract…
Hey they are paying Wright 2 million and POB gets 1.5, Banks is a bargain.
Yeah, but every team has a couple bad contracts. Without Banks’ contract, we wouldn’t have been able to pull the Marion trade last year and bring in Turkoglu over the summer.
I’ll do what banks does for 3.9M
Great article, the pasta commercial line made me laugh. Defense continues to improve. I still hate the whole lets switch bargs out to the point and have jack defend the post. We get killed whenever they manage to getthe ball inside.
Missed the game…anyone who did: what happened to Jefferson? Pretty lousy stats…was it the Raps defense or anything/anyone in particular?
It was that Jefferson has nobody that can stretch the defense for him. Its hard to imagine how he stills put up big numbers with defences able to collapse on him.
Reggie dresses like a homeless man who broke into the amity donation box.
It would be fun if we could get some screen caps of every outfit he’s worn this year and vote on the best (and by best, I mean worst)…
props to the selection of the game theme.big daddy kane is one of the illest of all time.
BRING BACK THE HIGH TOP FADE.
Derozan should be getting all of Wrights minutes + if Belinelli starts off a game 0 – 2 he should sit the rest of it out and Derozan should have his too.
Ugly game but nice to see they can win one when shooting 32%. 40-48 from the free throw was what won it.
agreed.. DD should get more mins, he knows his role
nice defensive effort overall. Marcus Banks should be buy out seriously or trade him for Goat
Correct me if Im wrong but my recollection of cap rules is that his salary would still count against the cap, even if they bought him out for pennies on the dollar.
To give Banks some credit – from what I have observed on tv unlike POB, when Banks doesn’t dress he seems engaged on the bench … sitting at the fron talking to Jose and others about what is goiing on in the game.
You guys seriously bashing wright after his clutch three gave us the lead for good? Some good defense but bad shooting… funny how we talk about how important defense is but we ignore it when somebody does it.
His shooting was bad, but it wasn’t his missed shots that made this game close… EVERYONE’s bad shooting made this game bad. His one shot was likely the most important of the game.
On another note:
“question: if I go to an Italian cafe and request a Belinelli to go, will I just get nothing in return?” made me laugh my ass off.
sorry this was meant for the first string of responses more than the post
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[" ... Did you see his style tonight? What would you call it?"]
My daughter had me pause the PVR and ask who the freakish guy was (standing next to Bosh at the sidelines). I so wanted to say “that’s Ball Grabbing Reggie! ” … but you know … I have to be a good dad.
Nice suit – BGR.
Only question for tonight’s UGGGGLLLY shooting game … Was Gnocchi the pregame appetizer?
Enjoyed the roll call. And I liked to say I enjoyed this win, but … man, this Timberwolve team really sucks.
And Banks … he looked GREAT running down the court. Superb first 10 seconds.
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I can’t believe no one has commented on how stagnant the offense was without Calderon. He gets a lot of flak from fans, but he knows how to run an offense. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that it’s the first time in five games they didn’t score 100, and the only reason they got to 94 was because of a run at the end. 63 points after three quarters. And sometimes that offense was painful to watch.
Did anyone else cringe whenever Wright got the ball because you knew he was going to force up some bad shot?
An interesting note. DeRozan got the same number of points and the same number of rebounds, but played 13 minutes less than Bargnani. And after averaging 17 mpg in October, he’s up to almost 25 the last five games. If he keeps this up, he’s going to be exceeding my expectations for the season.
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Turk & Andrea didn’t go 2 & 11, and 6 & 18 sans Calderon.
As for DeRozan, I think Bargs and him — if on the same page — can complement each other well. Demar the slasher / attacker type, Bargnani the slacker / draw’em out type.
In some respects, basketball is a game of balance, and knowing how to manipulate it, is key.
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2 words: Love BDK!
Johnson:
———–
Triano said:
“I think our bigs do an excellent job (switching onto guards in the screen-and-roll),” said Triano. “Chris (Bosh) and Andrea and Amir (Johnson) do an excellent job of moving their feet and keeping guys in front.”
Comment: I can only imagine how many fouls he would commit if he didn’t do a so called excellent job of moving his feet. Do I hear Evans feet getting ready to send Johnson to the bench where he can have all the happy feet he wants?
DeRozan:
————
The more I watch the more I think that this kid was the perfect pick for the Raptors. Once he gets a consistently accurate jump shot the sky is the limit.
Nice gritty win indeed. Reminded me of the Pistons during the Billups – Big Ben era.
Dare I say.
DD reminds me of Kobe when Kobe was starting out with the Lakers at about the same age as DD is now.
Under the bus: Antoine Wright?
That is not fair. He had a terrible night, I agree, but the three at the end was not just any three. It was the dagger. It ended the game. Marcus Banks played. How can he not be under the bus??
“he had a terrible night” = under the bus. I did acknowledge his 3 and, while timely, if he hadn’t “had a terrible night” we may not have needed that three.
What did you expect from Banks? Wright is a primary piece off the bench and “had a terrible night”. Not even a choice.
From Banks I would expect him to not shoot perhaps the biggest uncontested airball (with lots of time still on the clock) I’ve ever seen in the NBA. Not to mention make an attempt to atleast earn more playing time especially with Jose injured.
All his time on the floor did is convince people (atleat myself) that: 1) Belli or Hedo need to bring up the ball when Jack needs a rest
2) we need a 3rd pg just in case either Jack or Jose are injured for any stretch of time
3) Roko and Solomon look like all-stars compared to him
“if he hadn’t “had a terrible night” we may not have needed that three.” Using that argument we could say that if Bosh had just hit a couple more shots, or Hedo, or Bargs, or Jack that we wouldn’t have needed that 3 or Wrights offense at all for that matter. Wright’s offense may have been bad, but he did hit the key 3, played good defense and gave a couple hard fouls to prevent buckets. Funny, isn’t that what we want from the Raps?
just got a bit of the 3rd and 4th q:
AB played well in the last q – especially liked the effort on D (i.e. he seemedto work intensely to stay with his guy, even Flynn, and had some mojo going for rebounds). He hit some 3s and hustheld for rebounds (tip in on a lose rebound was real show of effort).
Banks wasn’t great, but, after not having played very much, I think he did ok, especially b/c he didn’t turnover the ball.
Wright is giving my heart fits every time he tries to score. Ugh!
Wish Bellinenli was more consistent scorer.
Chris showed consistent effort and results. HEdo did some good things driving to the basket but I think that he hasn’t hown full value for the money.
Overall, team played well and ground out a sweet victory with (gasp) some good defence.
Sometimes, I feel like I am can move twice the speed Wright can on the offensive end. When the guy drives, it’s like you know where he’s gonna go 1 second ahead of time.
Speaking of which, Bargnani still looks at the ball when he dribbles, which means he has no frigging clue where everyone is on the court. Horrible court vision.