Part of me would rather put a bullet through my brain than write this recap but have you seen the price of bullets lately? Hopefully you turned this game off after halftime because it stopped being a family show after that. The Rockets were spanking us by 21 at halftime and the game was already over, but the Rockets had had a very miserable evening in Utah a couple nights before and they wanted to erase all memory of that, so we were forced to take it deeper than we’d prefer. Let’s touch on the salient points of this game and start with Bargnani: 14 first quarter points, 0 the rest of the way. 9 first quarter shots, 8 the rest of the way. The numbers force you to ask the question of why he scored the same amount of points as myself for the final three quarters. The answer is usually of the form of blame towards Triano and his teammates or towards Bargnani for simply missing whatever looks he had. My take is that it wouldn’t have mattered if he’d taken 65 shots in this game, we’d still have gotten murdered.
He had a few nice drives early, hit a couple tough threes and had the Raptors down only around 8 (that’s good, BTW). Problem is that the types of shots Bargnani takes makes it impossible for him to be a consistent force through four quarters. We often fall into the trap of extrapolating his performance in a quarter to the whole game which results in comments like, “Oh, we’re not looking for Andrea enough because if we had, he would’ve gone 6-9 in every quarter”. No, he wouldn’t. I’m not exonerating Triano or his teammates, just saying that it wouldn’t have mattered on this night because the reason we lost had nothing to do with Bargnani, and everything to do with Aaron Brooks and Kevin Martin torching us until there was fire coming out of our a****les.
Rockets started of 10-10 and were up by double digits early, we managed to slice the lead to 6 or so midway through the first thanks to Bargnani’s shooting and Jarrett Jack trying to get back of what he gave on defense (which was a lot!). The tempo once again didn’t suit us and nor did our sloppy turnover filled play, Aaron Brooks made sure that we were on our heels for the whole first half as he attacked Jack at will, ran around screens and forced the Raptors to switch until he had a lug like Hedo on him and then drained jumpers over him and just about everybody else. Martin was crafty against DeRozan and when Triano switched Wright on him in hopes of containment, he taught him a lesson in how to use pivot foots to blow by a man. Their backcourt abused our backcourt and that was the game. The starting backcourt scoring was 56-11! Pure domination. Our wings couldn’t guard their position and the effects of that were felt by everyone on the court as Houston went to any spot on the floor without even as much a bump from a Raptor.
Before we get to the surprising bright spot of the game, I’d like to touch on DeRozan. I’m a big DeMar fan but am I the only one still waiting for him to have a big game where he shows us a little something special? His signature move has become getting blocked at the rim from behind, seriously, he’s had that happen to him more than Roko Ukic this year. Whatever happened to finishing with authority instead of trying to sneak in a layup while underneath the rim? Sonny Weems should not be outplaying him so consistently and he’s got to assert himself in games where we have guys like Bosh and Calderon missing. Triano’s thoughts on him from a day or so describe him perfectly:
He has to get used to playing 82 games and concentrating … He can’t settle for shots all the time. It’s the same things over and over but it’s part of the growth a young player.
We need more from DeMar on a consistent basis because we don’t have the depth at the wing spot that the Raptors would have you believe. Weems has been a surprise, Wright has been decent in spots, Turkoglu has been awful and Belinelli is glued to the bench. We might have more bodies than last year but to confuse it with depth is a big mistake. None of these four wing players have been able to make the starting two-guard spot their own and the only reason DeRozan’s starting is because nobody’s been able to usurp him and that says a lot.
With Calderon out, Banks got the call off the bench and ran the offense nicely. Well, he knocked down a couple jumpers and made some pinpoint passes which led to scores. That’s something our PGs haven’t been doing of late, as much as we all like Jack, he’s playing too shot-first of late and isn’t benefiting any of his teammates. It’s hard to criticize that because he’s at least doing something by being assertive, sure, it’s at the risk of being selfish but I’ll take that over what Turkoglu’s doing. I’m at the end of my patience with him, 1-5 in 16 minutes and can’t make plays for his teammates, he tripped on something and limped off the court. He returned briefly and helped the game get out of hand before Triano pulled the plug on him. Not soon enough. I don’t want to comment any more on Hedo because whatever can be said about him has been said: untradeable, overpaid, underperforming and lazy. Let’s pray he wins us a couple games in the playoffs so we can forget about his nightmarish season; part of me wants to see him go on the injured list so Belinelli can start playing again, at least we’d get to see some sweet passes and mouthguards. BTW, poor Marco is the new human white flag and Jay threw him to the wolves midway third.
A little more on Turkoglu – if you haven’t thrown a rock at your TV and burned your PVR, try rewinding to the late first quarter and watch Turkoglu and Bargnani defer to Reggie Evans and opt to give him the ball in the post in a late shot-clock situation. What. The. &*^%. Do I really need to comment any more on this phenomenon? It’s absurd.
You’re going to think I’m crazy but I think this game was there to be had if we just showed up on defense. Just a little. The Rockets were sloppy in this game as well, both teams had 17 turnovers and even though their help defense was awesome, if we had just held the ship steady for the first half, I think we could’ve had a game on our hands. Instead we gave up 37 and 31 in the first two quarters and didn’t even give ourselves a chance. Unlike the first half of OKC, the effort wasn’t there tonight and Triano’s effectiveness has a motivator has to come into question as there have been far too many of these kinds of nights. How bad was our D? They shot 72% in the first, 64% in the half as Brooks and Martin led the way at the break with 22 and 18, respectively. If you can’t stop the other team’s wings you can’t win games, because unless you have unbelievable help defenders on your team, the defense will collapse.
Did you now the Rockets have managed to reincarnate Matt Bullard in another body? His name’s David Andersen and he went 6-9 for 16 points. Whenever a scrub goes off for three times his scoring average you know it’s a problem, but the reason players like these get off against us is simple – dribble penetration. Brooks’ penetration forced us to help inside and as we all know, we’re not the greatest at that. The Rockets had 33 assists on 41 field goals – that’s 80% and a sign of a team playing like a team. If you saw this one past the first quarter you saw some very sweet plays by the Rockets: baseline movement, Princeton cuts, hi-los, slip screens, you name it. I can’t give enough credit to the Rockets’ coaching staff for putting in a system where the ball moves so much and so effectively. Defensively, they were solid, Hayes, Battier and Brooks don’t need any help in guarding their man which means their defense isn’t always in help situations, something we found ourselves in on every possession. You simply can’t win playing like that.
The only advantage we had on the night was Jarrett Jack’s strength, the early Bargnani offense and bits and pieces of Sonny Weems picking off some passes and scoring effectively with his pristine jumper and smooth gliding skills. The man has shown me something, I expected nothing from him and he gave me something. He was probably our best player on the night considering he was the only guy who played both ends of the floor (I supposed you could say that about Banks as well).
At the end of the day, another game without Bosh ends in an L. Given that this was a back-to-back on the road it’s no surprise we lost, but the degree to which we got spanked was disturbing. The tough schedule was supposed to validate whether we were as good as we looked in early February and so far the results are negative with the caveat that we’re playing without Bosh. We’re off till Friday so we got a few days to lick our wounds. Oh, if you’re one of those fans that think another first-round exit would be considered a success, make sure you vote against phdsteve. If you don’t, show your support.
It’ll do you no good thinking whether we could’ve been more competitive if Bosh and Calderon played. Let’s just forget about this one.
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48 Raps
Hey, first-time visitor/reader and will-be-long-time-visitor here.
After reading your article it makes swallowing this loss less painful. I agree almost everything you said, so it felt a bit better to have someone sharing the same thoughts.
Great read with many humorous words! Keep blogging my friend!
Go Raps!
this team is disjointed.
The Toronto Turnovers ..???
Btw … Sonny Weems is the lowest paid Raptor @ $736,420 ….. and Hedo pulls down $9 Mil … go figure …
I hope bosh is ok…remember when reggie hurt his ankle & everyone thought it was no big deal? any updates?
doesnt help when derozans position is outscored 28-0…the kid needs the bench.
No mention of Il Mago? We managed to get him the ball a lot…but he didn’t do much with it. Surely the expectations should be higher of the second option than the fifth..
Why deflect criticism to Bargnani? All it does is make it look like you have an agenda.
Derozan is a rookie who played 18 minutes. Inconsistency and poor play often happen with such players. But the second option on the team, #1 draft pick, guy who just signed a huge contract in the offseason? Surely we must hold Bargnani at a higher standard than Derozan.
I admit that I’m very critical of Bargnani. But I don’t think it is unreasonable to have higher expectations of a fourth year player than a rook.
correction, 15 minutes.
I don’t think we’ll see any special performances from DeRozan this year. His offensive game is too limited. Even if he does have a big scoring performance nearly all his baskets will be from transition plays, broken offense and very poor defense. Or freakishly hot midrange shooting. Not the types of things you look at and say he can repeat that, that is sustainable, he can do that night after night. They’re garbage plays for wings + freakish shooting.
So, I don’t think we’re going to see that type of a special performance … but I do think we get to see something else which is very promising.
I think for DeRozan it’s more a group of solid attributes that when you put alongside one another look like a very promising foundation to build off of.
(1) The athleticism + desire and intent to be a good defensive player + good defensive player in college = good defensive potential
(2) Already a terrific rebounding two guard who pulls down a rebound every 7 minutes
So now we’ve got a player with excellent rebounding ability + good-to-excellent defensive potential.
(3) Very good finisher in transition
(4) Gets to the line at a very good clip (around 40% FTA/FGA). Solid FT shooter too.
(5) Has a developing jump shot that has shown good progress over the past two years. Range out to 19/20 feet. Solid shooting touch, looks like he can develop a three point shot down the road.
(6) Good movement off the ball particularly when he’s running off screens which he doesn’t get much opportunity to do in this Raptors offense.
And the major negatives being the lack of ball-handling + passing ability. Plus a somewhat passive nature.
I think when you add all that together you have a player with All-Star potential.
We haven’t seen any real amazing individual performances, and I doubt we will, but I think we’ve seen some of the building blocks that DeRozan can grow off of and they’re very promising.
I am very happy with what I’ve seen from DeRozan in his rookie season.
Hold on Dave. I’m as hopeful as the rest of us, but proclaiming DD will be an All-Star … dude, I dunno.
Sonny is out-playing him right now and I think Jay should have switched the 2 up a long time ago. Yes, I do understand the reasoning in pushing the rook to start as many games as possible, but enough is enough …. actually I’ll bet you that DD would play better down the stretch coming off the bench. It would force him to be humble, to relize that he has to work (on both sides of the ball), and to concentrate on every play.
Go Raps.
It’s frustrating that we feel the need to ‘invest’ in DD because we drafted him. Both Sonny and DD are the same type of player – young, athletic wings with potential. If Sonny is growing into that potential now, then why not go with him.
Agreed. It’s complete BS, and it’s the one thing I don’t enjoy about the team is giving players PT based on “investment”.
Why indeed not play Sonny/Wright and sit DD and/or Turk?
Great points Dave. I think you’ll see reduced minutes as the fight for playoff positioning intensifies. And I’m good with that. He’s had plenty of opportunities so far this year, but its becoming crunch time – and we need better defensive player at the wing.
If Sonny Weems and DD switched names but not skill-sets, the current DD would hardly sniff the floor while we’d all be raving about our No. 9 pick. Sonny should play SOOO much more than he does, and should clearly be starting.
I agree. HEY JAY START SONNY AND AMIR and have DD and Racho coming off the bench and see what happens.
I can’t agree more.
Theonly difference is that Weeem is a sophomore with short contract and DD is linked to the raps longer
So we’ll let the ones with the longer contracts play more ? What the hell are you smoking ? Everyone goes through ups and downs, everyone, Jay should be giving the minutes to whoevers hot at that moment, regardless of salary or length of salary.
I love the kid,(DD), I do, and I think it was a good draft by BC, but now its time for the stretch run, sit your ass on the pine and watch the big boys play some ball.
And yeah I know Sonny’s is young too, but he’s playing better ball on both sides …. if DD was playing like Sonny, I would be yelling at Jay to give him more minutes.
Its about winning games.
Mauro. I JUST glanced at your post and thought you disagreed for a minute and went off on a huge rant …. so ummmm you argee … aaahh good, ummm … ops, my apologizes.
Are we over the Raptors love fest now?
Fans of good teams look at a tough run of schedule and think, “man those are going to be entertaining games”.
Fans of crap teams look at a tough run of schedule and think, “damn, I’d be happy if we hit .500″
We all know which side of that fence we fall on after waking up from a 20 game dream starring the bottom dwellers of this league.
Back to reality.
Against Cleveland we were within one basket or one good defensive play to win the game in regulation . I think that most mid level teams that loses their star player are in deep trouble when they travel and face teams that are better than them , Houston is playing .500 in the western conference so they are better than the Raptors .
Chicago lost at home by the same score that the Raps lost (92/116), against Atlanta , the Bulls #2 man Noah is supposed to be out for a month due to a foot injury and if Bosh return soon , I doubt that they will catch up with us. Charlotte lost to Denver at home (Denver played the night before ). There seems to be a definite separation between top teams and the others , it takes years in most cases to get to be a top team (sometimes decades , but we all know that).
I wonder if any of the folks who claimed a trade was not necessary, are now singing a different tune…
Sure Bosh isn’t available, but the rest of the roster looks downright ugly. Nobody is capable is being a secondary scorer. Bargnani is light-years away from being a legitimate 20 ppg threat, and doesn’t know how to react to a double-team.
Turkoglu’s been in a vegetative state since the preseason, and expecting consistent offence from Jack, Calderon, DeRozan, Weems, Wright, etc. is simply asking too much.
This was a flawed team before the deadline, and still is. Beating weak teams was “fool’s gold”, as FAQ would put it. It did not give us an accurate indication of the strength (or lack thereof) of this team. We’re still lacking a legitimate scorer at the wing, and we’re still lacking a lane-intimidating centre.
It’s going to be very hard pressed for us to get out of the 1st round, and thus even harder to keep Bosh.
Hmmm…even Bosh himself was saying that trade was not needed. They proved that they can play competitive basketball when they want to — even without Bosh (Cleveland). There should be no excuses for let downs like OKC, or (even worse) Houston.
If the story about Triano not preparing enough his team against OKC because of the hockey game is true — that’s really concerning.
Fine, but the Raps beat LA, Dallas, San Antonio, Orlando, etc. It wasn’t just weak teams.
It’s like everyone over exaggerates the improvement, then does the exact same thing when things go badly.
Chill, people. I’d love to see Cleveland without LeBron or Orlando without Dwight.
Forget the Lakers without Kobe – that team is sick (and Kobe’s overrated…)
I know that they beat some upper echelon teams. It’s no problem losing ball game to any team provided you give your best out there. It is all about attitude. If Jay thinks he can afford giving his players “practice off” so that he can follow the hockey game – we have a problem. I am just guessing, based on the media reports (this does not have to be true).
Jay’s attitude mirrors team’s effort. If he does not push or motivate his guys enough, they take a “game off” (or two). As simple as that. Losing is not a problem — but how you lose.
Ya cause he’d feel guilty advocating a big move around him before he leaves :)
Man you are correct – all the Wings have regressed significantly with the exception of perhaps Sonny. Wright is back to making poor offensive decisions.
I have always been an Andrea supporter however the last couple of games are strong indicators he is not going be an effective # 1 scoring option only a good complimentary scorer (no shame in that) – makes re-signing of Bosh even more critical. Rasho – Andrea doesn’t work defensively – Andrea struggles against mobile 4′s – has all season – however he holds his own against most low block 5′s – not sure why Triano hasn’t started Johnson instead of Rasho. I have always been opposed to this however if Bosh can be retained we should consider trading Andrea for a top flight wing.
I don’t want to kick the Raptors when they are going down, missing Bosh and Calderon …. but what we are witnessing is the thin veneer of talent on this recently rebuilt team. It’s obvious now, why all the new players were available for trade by other teams .. they are not starter-quality players … without their all-star PF Bosh. If these were decent players, they would have stepped up somewhat when Bosh is gone. If they had lost these last games in a well-fought manner, I would have given them credit for decent bball. Now we see what happens to a rebuilt team playing up against teams who have jelled going into the final weeks of the schedule.
The Raptors peaked and now they are in dire straits without Bosh and Calderon. I hope both those players can return to play effectively.
Just imagine what Bosh must be thinking as he watches these scrubs trying to compete … not very motivating for him … believe it.
I think he’s saying: “Thanks for stinking up the place and ensuring I get paid the 130M, even though I’m arguably not worth it. Rep T Dot while they pay-pay-pay paying me!”
Seriously, they signed the contract for BC.
lol, that was hilarious.
I called it since Colangelo was brought in in 2006. This man will make our team a soft, no defensive team with no impact in the NBA landscape. This man just keeps making blunder after blunder and we end up paying for his stupidity.
There was no logical reason to draft Andrea Bargnani when we already had a finesse power forward in Chris Bosh. Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay and Rajon Rondo are much better players then him. And he rewards him with a $50 million contract for doing what exactly? He’s a 3rd string center that would nto get any playing time on a contending team.
Resigning Sam Mitchell in 07 when Rick Adelman and SVG were still on the market…ok
Jay Triano?
Because Bryan it makes perfect sense to get a career NBA assistant and whipping boy to lead this team to the playoff picture ad beyond.
Jay Triano Yep.
Calderon – Why is MLSE obsessed with this clown for? I don’t see it. He is the worst pointguard in the League today in my opinion with no impact on the game.
Coalngelo teams are to maximize profits only.
J, you’re the classic “hindsight is 20/20 guy”
you’re on crack to pretend anyone considered drafting roy or rondo first overall…furthermore, both those guys were traded on draft day
here’s what happened – Well over 50% of the NBA would have taken bargnani, with aldridge and ty thomas as the next hyped up guys. Gay’s stock had dropped, too (he went 8th)… Adam Morrison, Shelden Williams and Randy Foye also went before him, and both morrison and williams went before Roy.
While we’re at it, Patrick O’Bryant and Quincy Douby went ahead of Rondo, along with Mouhamed Sene, Hilton Armstrong and the beast that is Cedric Simmons.
So basically, every GM is dumb, and you J, have it all figured out. Please, go run an NBA team.
He’s supposedly this basketball prodigy and he has the Jesus of European basketball as his assistant GM. Surely they would have done a better job. I guess not because Bryan got the Job only because he was daddy’s boy for so many years and he’s such a sweet talker that MLSE was so convinced and hired him. The guy has no basketball knowledge though and is very poor talent evaluator. His draft picks are suspect and he is not really in touch with the current NBA game.
I see teams like Chicago, Memphis, Oklahoma, Milwaukee, Portland and I see young teams full of heart and full of potential. Those players all play with an urgency and are not afraid to stand up to the better teams.
You know your going nowhere when Colangelo was trying to get Sasha Vujacic at the trade deadline this year LOL
J, you’ve still completely ignored the fact that you’re remembering the 2006 draft in a haze of smoke, as opposed to reality.
here is a thought..
a) could it be that the raps are getting out-coached… i think so..
everytime (almost everytime) there is a timeout – JT is scribling something on the board.. Ummmmmm dont we have any set plays that we can run efficiently? you look at the Phil Jacksons, the George Karls .. not that i’m comparing they dont spend time drawing plays during timeouts they calm their troops and tells them to execute.
b) that the players are no longer responding to JT.
i guess this is what we have to look forward to watching once Bosh leaves town. And who could blame him? i wouldn’t want to play with these guys either.
Wait, are you comparing Jay to Phil or George ? thats not fair bud.
We all know Jay is not in their league, but he is and has done a fair good job at time-outs. His rotations and starting line-up I question sometimes, but out of time-outs the Raps do better then most. Ask the staff writers, ask steve, ask whomever … they’ll tell you the same thing.
Jay is good at drawing up a play and a good off /def switcher in the final minutes, but does not consider the flow of the game during regular rotation changes …..
Example last week when he pulled JJ out with a hot hand to put in Jose which sank us.
Either way, dude, pick your battles, because Jay does a good job during time-outs.
I’m just saying …. and the guy is CDN, I mean comeon, EH ?
With no Chris Bosh he is getting exposed IMO. If he was so great we would not be losing the way we are.
lol and i’m sure mike brown would be just as good without LeBron?
how bout the best coaches ever… sure, phil’s a legend, but he did have MJ and Kobe and Shaq in their primes.
get it through your skull – Teams need their best players to sustain success, except for very rare instances
Without Lebron they can still put up a fight atleast.
Varajao is a much better player then anyone we got. That includes BoshS. Yes you heard me.
Shaq, Varajao, Mo, West are much better players then we have.
Bosh only plays well when we face a below 500 team.
Varajao isn’t better than bosh. sorry. please try again. we can’t even talk about this legitimately if this is an actual belief.
I’m not comparing JT with those guys at all, what i am saying is this the offense without Bosh for a lack of a better word is sh*t. This is the norm lately on the halfcourt offense – Everyone stands around outside the 3pt line and passes the ball around with no movement or sometimes no inkling to even look at who’s posting up down low. This scheme would be great if its the 50′s and no shot clock, but there is a shot clock and far too often the raps ends up chucking up a long range shot and there are no rebounders in sight. Everyone has pointed out the lack of movement or lack of aggressiveness, lack of passion and people, rightfuly, have been on Turks back or Bargs or Jose or whichever pylon or stiff he has out there but in the end it is the coaches who puts them in that predicament to begin with. the fact is -like you said – his playcalling and his substitutions has been suspect all year and you have to wonder what these coaches are seeing or not seeing. Either way there’s gotta be some kind of adjustment where they can put these guys in position to where they can maximize their strengths. They can only use the ‘Bosh is hurt’ excuse for so long.
the raps or their coaches only needs to look at the blazers or the hornets for motivation. their roster is somewhat comparable to the raps and they’ve also had their fair share of injuries to their superstar but yet they overachieve. why is that? is it the players or is it the coaches?
“…is it the players or is it the coaches?”
The 64k question isnt it? How about a bit of both. Lack of grittiness, character mostly….from the players and lack of motivation and opponent specific preparation mostly …from the coaches. This is also the first time CB has been not on the floor this season….which is also an adjustment for this version of the Raptors. Discombobulation by a team is not unheard of under the circumstances. It would have actually been fairly rare if everything just clicked as if the team’s best player had never existed. That said, the results the last couple of games is where I would have hoped Hedo had made a difference.
This Raptors team will be going up against Atlanta or Boston in the 1st round it seems like and we are in deep trouble. Perkins and Rasheed and KG against Bargnani? Are you kidding me.
This team is so excessively soft it’s embarassing. Show some pride you pansies. What do you expect with with soft European players.
Don Cherry had it right.
Oh puhleeeze. Don Cherry is a buffoon cum idiot who rakes in a lot of cash peddling his videos wrapped up in his macho bs. I’d take a Peter Forsberg, Ovechkin, Salming and Chara over many a North American “tough” guy….just for being tough and playing at an unbelievable skill level. In anycase we are talking different sports here and I wonder if you know why Shaq called Bosh the RuPaul of bigmen or whether a Kapono (ex Rap) or DD are in a different aorta category than the euros on the team. Was Garbajosa or Hedo a softie? Is Nowitzki a pansy as well?
The argument is spurious and infantile. The fact is they all made an NBA roster. If they werent good enough, they wouldnt have. There is more to playing the game at a high level than busting chops or shooting 3s for that matter.
Never compare Ovechkin to the Raptors squad. He is a once in a lifetime player who has lots of toughness in him. The Raptors would love to have a player like him.
But Colangelo is content with a 7 footer 250 lb person and a 30 year old Turkish dude who are both afraid to play defense and rebound a basketball. That’s a fact, They suck. Both D League caliber players and even then they would be outclassed by those guys.
Until Colangelo goes out and drafts some tough African American players with some edge to them with actual talent we will not make it past the 1st round.
Danilio Ghalinari, Bargnani, Darko Millacic, Sasha Vujacic, Rudy Fernandez, Belinelli,
LOL Oh god. This is the NBA not the European Jumpshooting League.
Give me a prime Ben Wallace instead of a timid/nervous 7 foot Italian Jumshooter
I think I separated the two sports well enuff. Ovechkin was mentioned for the cheap Cherry inference/references to euro hockey players. I see you decided to pass on the Euro basketball players I noted earlier. I’ll add a few more…the Gasol brothers, Jeresco (Detroit), Vladi Divac, Gortat…I am getting bored….
The point is, in case you and the other poster dont get it….stop generalizing. Bad habit.
Not sure if this takes away the sting from the houston game but i just looked at the standings and i’m pretty sure New Jersey is mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. The most wins they can get is 29 (if they go 23-0) and there are 8 teams in the east with 30 or more.