98-97 Blazers Final: Chris Bosh becomes the new PG for the Toronto Raptors and goes one on one against Aldridge at the three point line, drives left and throws up a prayer. Sorry, but I’d rather have TJ Ford taking that shot. Goats of the Game: Jose Calderon and Chris Bosh. Heartbreaking loss, bad play call to end the game. We couldn’t get a rebound to save our lives – 48-31 overall.
AltRaps follows with a Roll Call soon and I’ll come back with a post-game report (as if this post isn’t enough) late in the PM or early AM.
98-97 Blazers 8 sec 4Q: Parker checks Roy and forces a tough shot but we can’t get the rebound for the 33544th time. Steve Blake then kills Calderon on a step-back that reminded me of MJ on Byron Russell. Three pointer! Gives the Blazers a one-point lead. Calderon’s defense comes back to bite us again. Let’s see what Triano draws up coming out of timeout with the game on the line.
97-95 Raps 27 sec 4Q: Bosh blocked by Adridge on a drive, manages to get his own rebound and kicks out to Jose who had a three but chooses not to take it. Gives it to Bosh who nails an 18 footer. I’ll take it.
95-95 48.3 4Q: Portland come out of the timeout with an iso for Roy against Parker. Roy elevates and nails the 15 foot jumper. No double from the Raptors, they’re letting Parker handle him.
95-93 Blazers 1:04 4Q: We go to the block to JO who draws the double but Jose misses the wide open jumper. That would’ve been sweet. Oden gets deep post position but uses his arm to waive off O’Neal, potential three point play ends up being a turnover for them. Good D by JO. Jose drives turns the corner on the screen against Blake but loses it out of bounds. Roy beats Parker (flopped) but Bosh steps in for the block, Raps fail to get the rebound and Oden’s at the FT line. Oden misses the second FT but we can’t get the rebound. Again! Blake sets up Oden who gets blocked by JO but we still can’t get the rebound!! WTF man! Steve Blake misses a short baseline J and we fail to get the rebound again!! Jeeeeesus!! Timeout Portland.
98-95 2:15 4Q: O’Neal’s providing good defensive presence and JK finally takes a shot when he’s actually covered, drains the three to give the Raps a lead. Oden scores off an offensive rebound but we do the same after the ball falls in JK’s lap who finds JO for a short baseline jumper. JO draws the charge on Outlaw to bail out Bargnani who got beat on the perimeter. Jose with the play of the game IMHO. Drives the ball, fakes the shit out of Aldridge and lays the ball in. We have to help out JO on the boards, he’s basically boxing two people out. Bosh comes into the game and takes a horrible fadeaway jumper against Steve Blake. yeah, against Steve Blake That was sad and could’ve given us a five point lead. Rudy beats JK on the drive but Aldridge misses the open three. With the Raptors nursing a three point lead, Triano takes a good timeout
88-86 Blazers 6:54 4Q: Joey Graham with a nice drive, misses the shot but forces help and JO cleans it up for a three point play. JO comes back and nails a FT line jumper to make it a five point game. Rudy finally misses and Calderon gets an open look for three after Portland is forced to help on JO – JC drains it. 8-3 run.
87-78 8:56 4Q: Will Solomon’s in the game and that’s not good: a bad turnover to start the quarter, leaves Sergio Rodriguez for an open three and then misses his own three. Calderon’s coming in the game after the timeout. Just when Bargnani did something good by getting a three point play against Aldridge, he gives up a fade to Aldridge and then fails to box out Pryzbilla and picks up his fourth foul on a three-point play. Chris Bosh takes a very bad three with tons of time on the shot clock, on the next possession, Bargnani takes an equally bad three. The offense is non-existent and Bosh is not asserting himself like Aldridge is. This is not looking good. Raptors are getting killed 36-21 on the boards, Portland’s getting offensive rebounds and its one and done for the Raptors.
78-75 Blazers End 3Q: Highlight of this stretch is Joey Graham faking a pass and driving baseline to provide Pryzbilla with an ice-cold facial. But there are things to be concerned with: Steve Blake is getting past Calderon a little too easily and has shown that he can get the open 16 footer anytime he wants. I don’t know how Roy gets matched up with O’Neal on the wing but he did and its two easy points. Portland running some plays now and get Outlaw open after Joey Graham gets caught on a basket-facing screen. Rotation is late. We’re -5 in the 3Q. Momentum is shifting continuously in this game, the good news it that the Raptors have it heading into the fourth. Need to start off hot here, can’t let Portland build a lead here.
71-69 Blazers 3:02 3Q: Coming out of the timeout is another Bosh missed jumper. Roy beats Parker on a backdoor cut and Aldridge fades beautifully on Bosh for a score and Bosh responds with a made baseline fade. Brandon Roy’s heating up against Parker. Aldridge rejects Bosh’s drive, runs the break and finishes. Portland’s active on D and doing what they want on offense now. Raptors struggling to keep up, its back to the post to JO for a score and he follows up with a couple jumpers. He struggled early but has become our best offensive option this afternoon. Joey Graham’s guarding Aldridge who is smooth on the post-up fade. Portland’s looking to exploit Aldridge on Graham and we’re forced to double which results in fouls. We’re also letting them get offensive rebounds now which is not a good sign. We get some good ball movement to the this stretch and Calderon makes Portland pay for leaving him open by hitting a couple threes. Gone is the 16 point lead, we were staring at a 9 point hole but this recent surge has cut the lead to 2.
58-52 Blazers 9:00 3Q: Blazers on a 10-2 run. We start the quarter with Bargnani missing in the post, he soon picks up a third foul on a clumsy screen and is now officially a non-factor in the game. Bosh drives on Aldridge to pick up two FTs but Aldridge responds by with a J and Bosh instead of driving again, misses another jumper. Aldridge comes back and nails a three setup by dribble-penetration. Jose Calderon loses Steve Blake who makes his fourth jumper from the exact same spot. This is getting ridiculous. We end the stretch with a Bosh turnover where he’s trying to create space for a jumper instead of driving, Portland runs a picture-perfect break finished off by Aldridge. Portland’s 9-16 from 3.
48-46 Halftime: It’s a 2 point game, lots of defensive breakdowns in that second quarter. Kapono left Blake open again for another three from the exact same spot. Why is he helping off of him? Bargnani with a lot of one-on-one moves which go nowhere. Kapono’s getting exploited big time by whoever he’s guarding, Brandon Roy got him with a lane-jumper too easily. O’Neal with a very forced shot against Oden, his offensive moves have the feel of fingernails being scratched on blackboards. Our offense is all one-on-one moves in this quarter and Portland is deservedly back in the game. We need to go back to moving the ball and sealing the dribble-penetration. They interviewed JO at the half, I have no idea what he said. He talks at the speed of light.
The Raptors have to manufacture defensive intensity, it doesn’t come natural to them.
Halftime Entertainment and some more.
48-43 2:42 2Q: Bosh gets inadvertently elbowed by Oden and is off to the locker room. Bargnani takes a bad three coming out of timeout, not a good shot at all. Jose then jacks it up TJ-style, another bad shot. Blake nails his third jumper form the left corner setup by dribble penetration, Kapono’s the culprit this time. Oden draws a double by Parker after posting up O’Neal and Jose’s late on the rotation – Rudy with another three. Raptors respond with a bad turnover. Lead getting sliced as the Raptors revert to some bad habits.
48-36 4:50 2Q: Bosh is stricly jumpers against Aldrige who is not a great defender. Both are face-up type guys and both are playing face-up basketball, no drives. But as soon as he gets Pryzbilla on him, its a drive to the rim for a foul. That dumb fuck Moon tried to drive and throw a behind the back pass to Jose – turnover. Rudy Fernandez heating up against Calderon who’s got to pick up the D and that means more than just sweating bullets. Moon gets to check Rudy and leaves him open for his second three. A late rotation by Bargnani gives Outlaw a clean three. We end this stretch with Moon taking advantage of a limping Rudy Fernandez by getting a couple hoops on some nice cuts. Portland’s definitely getting more dribble penetration now and our defense has let off a bit but luckily our offense is clicking and we’re able to maintain the lead.
Greg Oden’s dog is named Charles Barkley McLovin. I’m guessing the McLovin is from Superbad.
40-27 8:07 2Q: Graham did a good job of keeping Outlaw on the perimeter. JO made a couple fadeaway jumpers and then gets a generous continuation for a three-point play. JO iso on Pryzbilla seems like something the Raptors are trying to look for, it ‘s paying off in this stretch. Raptors doing well with Chris Bosh on the bench. Rudy Fernandez gets the first dribble-penetration for the Blazers and it ends up in a three-point play. Soon after Brandon Roy does the same. Portland’s picking up their offense but so far our defense hasn’t let up – hell, I even saw Jason Kapono successfully close-out Rudy on the wing.
31-20 End 1Q: O’Neal’s back for Act II and it’s Will Solomon off the bench, not Roko. Makes sense, Roko’s been glacier cold from the field and Will has actually played himself into the rotation by not playing. Willie gets a turnover and an assist within 30 seconds of checking in. Joey Graham had a breakaway dunk earlier and got two low-post scores by fighting for great position and finishing strong, shades of Corey Maggette. Graham is playing through his mistakes and doing well, even Leo’s ripping on Smitch for having a short leash with him. O’Neal with another airball. Yikes. Moon and his gum-chewing welfare-collecting ass just left Rudy Fernandez wide open for a three who nailed it. Willie with anothing made 21 footer and the Raptors end the quarter fittingly with a JK steal.
23-11 Raps 2:40: Bargnani picks up his second foul, a dumb reach on Outlaw. Bargnani then draws a travel on Oden by backing out. He’s being aggressive with his offense and defense, too bad he’s got to sit now. In comes Joey Graham and draws a foul on the break because Calderon actually looked to push. The defensive pressure continues and we’re getting our fair share of deflections but Steve Blake has managed to lose Calderon for two straight threes. Jose did get hsi second drive to the rim doubling his tally for the season. O’Neal had to sit because everything he’s doing looks very forced, nothing fluid.
Side note: NY is killing Detroit by 20 as we speak. The little clip of the Jose interview says they’re rehauling their defense, so far so good.
11-3 Raps 6:30 1Q: Good defense so far, Parker’s checking Roy and Calderon’s not being exploited by Steve Blake because…well…he’s Steve Blake. Nice crisp rotations, JO’s still off with his shots but the defense is sparking the offense here. So far so good. The only bad defensive sequence was Bargnani being matched up with Roy through some weird circumstance.