Wednesday was the second time we lost to the Bucks this season. It is key we realize that we lost the season series with a team that probably wont make the playoffs. Regardless of whether or not we win tonight, one or possibly two of these losses the Bucks handed us could come back to bite us in the rear come playoff time. With the race for 5th so tight, a game can really make the difference come game 82. Look at the standings now, we trail the Bobcats by a game and a half and have played 3 more games (and have 3 more losses). Just a week ago, we were sitting a half game out of 5th.
The Raptors WASTED a career game by Chris, the guy who played the most minutes the night before in Cleveland (42 minutes). To blame this loss on Bosh is ridiculous, I seriously don’t understand where some idiots get off throwing the franchise under the bus. Just a small glimpse of what went down:
| Points Bosh 44 Starters 31 Bench 32 | Field Goals Bosh 15-26 FGM-A Starters 13-41 FGM-A Bench 10-19 FGM-A | Free Throws Bosh 14-15 FTM-A Starters 1-1 FTM-A Bench 11-11 FTM-A | Rebounds Bosh 12 Starters 10 Bench 14 | Assists Bosh 4 Starters 11 Bench 5 |
I’m not trying to recap the game, Arse did a great job yesterday, just want to point out that if the starters had shown up, just a little bit, and either hit a couple more shots, or conceded their shot to Bosh, the Raptors would have won. Or, if Triano actually attempted to coach, and shuffled the lineups with proper substitutions, a loss could have been avoided, plain and simple.
Tonight, we need to do a couple things:
- Triano needs to give Turkoglu a quick yank when he is stinking it up. Between the 3 of Weems, Belinelli and Wright, I am confident the offense can be made up. The passing not so much, but that’s what Calderon is for. Can’t afford another 5-14 shooting night from Chewy…err, I mean Hedo.
- I’m confident Bargnani will bounce back tonight, but there is no harm in playing Rasho a bit, jut a bit. Expect Bogut to put up the same offensive numbers if we go with a Bargnani/Johnson duo on him. Throwing Rasho in the mix will give Triano another 6 fouls to throw at Bogut, not to mention some guy who plays low post defense pretty damn well.
- Playing Rasho a bit more will also protect the defensive glass, where the Raptors allowed 17 offensive rebounds to the Bucks on Wednesday. Yea, you keep giving a team a second, third….seventeen extra chances to score, they will. Wasn’t even the Bucks bigs who killed it on the boards, their wings pulled down 9. Gotta have pride guys.
- Another benefit of the quick yank on Turkoglu would be to put someone on Delfino who can actually play defense. It’s not bad enough that Hedo can’t shoot, pass or rebound, but he let Carlos drop 22/8/4. Speaking of Delfino, had we kept him, for a third of the cost, he would be giving us 9.2pts 4.5rebs 2.2ast compared to Hedo’s 12.7pts 4.5rebs 4.5ast. The points and assists could easily be made up by getting Bosh/Bargnani a couple more shots, and playing Calderon a few more minutes. What hurts the most is that his last year isn’t even a team option #smh
The gamblers have the Raptors as 7.5 point favourites, and I think you take that line. This game should be a double-digit win if Jah loves us, or if Triano makes like a coach and Hedo makes like a $10mil/year player. Join us tonight for Raptor Fan Friday’s at the Sports Centre Cafe.
