Hopefully the decision to keep Bosh out of last nights game was a calculated one to buy him two more days of rest, instead of him being more seriously injured than we have been led to believe. Against the Nets and Wizards, we saw the Raptors come together, share the ball, create good shots for each and knock them down. Against the Blazers, we saw them do that in spurts in the 1st half, and not much in the 2nd.
Last night we got a glimpse into the future of this team if Bosh decides to walk in the summer, and we get no assets back for him in the summer. It’s easy to coach a team that has an elite level player on the floor, who can manufacture shots and seemingly get to the line; what you orchestrate without him is a different matter. While the win against the Nets and Wizards were solid, by no means are those two teams very good.
Heading into this game, the Raptors were 3-point favourites; not much of an edge, but they were the home team. Reading between the lines though, things became worrisome for me. The Blazers were on the second night of a back-to-back; they were missing Oden, Pryzbilla, Camby (and just traded Steve Blake and Travis Outlaw). Ok, so they are tired, and playing a bit short handed, but remember I talked about pace yesterday, and this Blazers team is used to having less possessions a game than everyone other team in the league. This slower tempo actually helps to balance out playing heavy minutes in back-to-back nights.
This slower tempo also made Juwan Howard a huge factor in relief of Camby, who continued his streak of being injured in Toronto. Howard played 31 big minutes of attention demanding play in the post; dropping 10pts 3rebs 2ast 1stl in the process. Rasho had absolutely no answer as he hit the wall on the third consecutive game playing extended minutes.
“It was important to run them off the 3-point line and take away their easy baskets,” Roy said. “We just wanted to make them score over top of a hand each possession and we did a good job of that.”
The Raptors got plenty of looks from beyond the arc, but none were clean, and almost every single one was contested. It was genius if you ask me; Portland was weak in the frontcourt so they tempted the Raptors with just enough space from behind the arc to think they could pop a few off. They did, but not nearly enough dropped.
“We didn’t do a good job of taking care of the ball early and it helped them establish the lead they had at halftime,” Jack said. “It’s tough to recover when you give the other team extra possession.”
You could almost forgive the Raptors for missing so many 3′s, but the sloppy plays that lead to turnovers that led to fast breaks were maddening. The Raptors committed 16 of the most lazy/sloppy/ridiculous turnovers I have ever witnessed that led to 17 Blazer points and most of their 20 fast break points. The joke is that the Blazers aren’t even a fast-breaking team. Another side-effect of the constant turnovers was the Raptors took 9 less shots (pace) than the Blazers. 14 point loss, 9 less shots…you do the math. It got so bad, that on one possession, Calderon literally threw the ball away on the wing when he thought Turkoglu was going to drop into the corner.
Speaking of Turkoglu, was I the only one who was disappointed in his play? I mean, he dropped a bloody efficient 24 points on 8-9 shooting from the field, but 3 assists? Without Bosh, Bargnani needs to be the focal point on offense, and it seemed like Hedo was just staying away from him. Bargnani wasn’t helping himself with anything, but it would have been nice to see Hedo work with the Italian and get him some good looks, or easy ones at least. At the very least, this was a positive display from him faced with some pretty tough defensive pressure.
As much as I like Reggie Evans, and as much as his toughness is necessary for this team, he is taking valuable minutes away from Amir Johnson. With the Raptors desperate for some offense in the third quarter, Reggie got about 4 minutes of serious burn and jacked up 3 terrible bricks. Given how well and under control Amir was playing last night, it might have made sense to go with the big who knew how to score (and was rebounding and blocking shots) as opposed to the big who wants to score, but can’t.
“I didn’t hear [the cheers] but I knew that Canada was playing Russia and I saw that it was at our game time so I was happy about that,” McMillan said, smiling. “I looked at the stands when we first came in and said they may have a lot of no-shows. I thought they scheduled it for the right time.”
There were actually about 11,000 people at the ACC, and 200 people watching on TV. Tomorrow night against the Cavs will be a ghost town; we will probably hear Triano furiously etching a play on his clipboard.
The Raptors are 2-1 with Bosh on the shelf, with the only loss coming to a better team. You have to like it, and I do. With Turkoglu picking it up, and Bosh probably back on Friday, things are looking fairly positive during this stretch drive.
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34 Raps
Re: Hedo disappointment. Certainly partly true. One bit of data: Raptors were only (when you exclude Hedo’s performance) 26-87 (FG% of 30%) so his teammates just were not shooting well (thus, less chance of an assist). Hedo was at least much better than recent performances, but I do agree there is more he can do. Bargnani was just plain frustrating – did not see to want to drive the ball. I’d would have second thoughts about giving him the ball last night as well. His head just wasn’t in the game and I’m not sure why. Frustrating given his talents.
+1.
Why is it a requirement to force the ball to someone who has nothing going?
This has to be a joke of a recap right?
No mention of Calderon? Bellinelli (and why he got in ahead of Sonny?) and DeMar?
Why JJ was subbed out for Jose when he was one of the main reasons the Raps closed a 17-point gap to 3 points? When right after Jose steps in the game, the Blazers immediately bring their lead back up to 13? The coaching missteps?
And instead you have a paragraph about ACC’s attendance?
I hate to be so negative about a site that almost always offers a great insight into the team for FREE, but it’s ham-fisted articles like these that make me wish Arsenalist posted more often.
Again, sorry for the cynicism. Just holding you guys up to a high standard, is all.
or no mention about the poor showing of DeRozan and Wright? Seriously you think that Belinelli’s 9 minutes were the problem yesterday?
Ran out of time this morning or I would have your highness.
I gotta agree. This was a winnable game, even with most of the Raps playing like crap (JJ excluded … you ‘da man Jack.). I’d love to blame everyone, but I got to put this one on Jay. Subing AND minutes given to a certain few “Brick-Layers” made me scratch my head all night.
Sorry Jay, at the end of the day, you blew “a chance” for the w.
Don’t make me regret praying on a daily basis that Sam Mitchell would get hit by a runaway bus carrying wrestling midgets bound for a Royal Rumble in Pittsburgh.
Because Jay, you’re better then that.
Just putting this out there that this isn’t me Gman who wrote that. Somebody else is using my handle.
If you’re reading this bizarro universe Gman I’d appreciate you picking another handle as I’ve been using that one on this website for about six months. I think it would be just a little less confusing.
Because when Jose comes in its 4 vs 5 for the Raps on defense. If I was Triano and saw that we were down by 3 and then its udown by 10 you have to realize WHY!!! Jose is an offensive spark and thats it, JJ was providing the same offense with better defense.
Raptors fans seem to have this love for Reggie.
I am still trying to figure out why.
1. He has played most of career west of Mississippi.
2. He never has done anything substantial on the court.
Is it because he bangs people around and gets rebounds. Raptors fans see him as the drill sergeant who will make not so tough guys tough?
By the time players go pro they are either tough or they are not. They either hustle all the time or they don’t. It is my opinion that you can’t change these traits in a player once they get into the NBA.
They are either tough and play that way when they enter the league or they aren’t and play that way.
I do admit that Evans is one of the tougher Raptors but to me he did not show while he was in Philly that his play on the court made the 76ers a better team.
So maybe Raptors fans like him because he is tough and looks mean and that is all there is to it. Fair enough.
Couldn’t agree more…I couldn’t understand the desperate yearning for Evans to get back in the line-up as if he was going to have a dramatic impact on the team. He was traded for JKilla who doesn’t have a very impressive resume unless you include the AS 3-point shooting contest. I don’t recall him elevating the Sixers to another level of toughness. Right now he is taking minutes away from AJ, which isn’t good. I would love to seem him grab an offensive rebound and dish it out for once instead of going up for some sloppy attempt at a basket.
Agree with both of you. He should never have appeared to be riding a white horse into town.
Toronto fans love lunch pail guys. Always have, always will. Anybody that reminds them of JYD or Matt Bonner has their undying love and support.
Its seems to me that Reggie gets a lot more verbal loving than Johnson.
Could it be that the Raptors fans see Evans as more of a lunch pail guy than Johnson?
How are we defining lunch pail guy?
Remember how much media plays into this as well. Amir was a relative unknown to mainstream media, whereas Reggie had the ball-grabbing thing working for him as well as some “street cred” amongst the casual media hounds.
I was much more excited about Amir, personally. I picked him as my X Factor in our pre-season podcast just because I consider him a lot more active and he can actually hit some shots. The common man, though, loves a heavy set guy that throws elbows.
johnson is skinny. evans is not… lunchpail!
Come playoffs we will see what toughness means to a team. The raps without Jack, Evans and Amir, would stand no chance. I think two out of these three should be on the court most of the game. We have enough “skill” players. Thinks about the world champion Celts who without a superstar, won with toughness and team play.
Evans and Amir were not sharing minutes last night. They were on the floor together at the start of the 2nd, the end of the 3rd, and beginning of the 4th.
It will be interesting to see what happens when Bosh returns.
Looks like Bosh may miss Friday’s game against the Cavs.
Are the Raptors hiding something from the media and their fans on this?
How serious is this injury anyway?
I suspected that yesterday, and it seems like it now. That injury didn’t look too serious, but what are you gonna do? I’m just hoping Bosh is able to get back soon.
Ankle injuries can take a long time to heal especially if they are high ankle injuries.
Is this a high ankle injury?
I haven’t heard, but I guess it was.
Apparently, the injury is worse than what Bosh himself suspected, and the team is just being careful with him. There wasn’t a lot of swelling, but he needs more movement. Brining him back to play a team we would probably lose to anyways may not be a good idea, hopefully it isn’t too serious.
Ouch. No more wild shot blocking, CB.
‘was I the only one who was disappointed in his play?’
I think so. There have been many more games this year from Hedo to release your dissapointment (justifiably). I don’t think this one was one of them.
Of course you would like more assists but it’s not like he was missing open players or jacking shots. He played within the offence. He ran a few p’n'r’s with Barg’s and nothing positive materialized.
Defensively is where maybe you could criticize him but he can’t be blamed for the role he played last night which was primary scorer and an efficient one at that.
I think they should stop showing the poster of the comment – either that or post them ALL as Arsenalist and do a little expirament to how much bitching happens then…
what would be the hypothesis of this experiment?
Hypothesis: Articles authored by “Arsenalist” return less rudity.
Null Hypothesis: Articles authored by “Arsenalist” have no effect on rudity.
Test gogogo
How can we fail to get into the paint on Aldridge and Howard? Aldridge has length and can both players, but he can be muscled out of position. Bargnani just did not establish post position very many times. And when he does, his go-to move is a cut to the basket fading away and taking a two. Needs to be stronger against Aldridge than that.
We failed cause Bosh wasn’t playing. Barg’s doesn’t have that kind of post game.
Disagree with that. He has shown a much improved post game lately and I was pretty upset he wasn’t in there pretty well constantly. Not sure if it’s a coaching issue or a Bargs issue but he has been doing well in the high post and I would like to see him used there more often.
No one said he wasn’t showing improvement but there’s a difference between improvement and soemthing thats been established….consistently. I’m not sure it is a coaching issue either but he needs to demand the ball if he feels that he has secured post position. After that what moves is he going to? He’s developed one so far (half hook in the lane going left). He also needs to get in the post, pivot and face up then shoot his 12-15 footer. He doesn’t have an established post game yet.
“It was important to run them off the 3-point line and take away their easy baskets,” Roy said. “We just wanted to make them score over top of a hand each possession and we did a good job of that.”
This is something I wonder about with Bargs’ midrange game. Is it truly more desirable for him to let the other team rush him off the three point line and take a long two instead? Like, it seems quality teams PREFER for him to take a long, contested two rather than a contested three.
Don’t quality teams prefer almost everyone to take a long contested two over a contested three because a two is worth much less but is only marginally likely to go in. I don’t know how the rebounding difference shakes out but I assume the difference isn’t enough to compensate for the significant difference between a three and a two (ie. one).