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And Reality Comes Crashing In
Posted on | October 31, 2009 | 6 Comments
Yes, in a game they should win, after winning a game they shouldn’t, they play badly and lose. Welcome to Raptors basketball, at least for the first month or two. I’m sure expectations were high after winning against Cleveland, but I hope no one thought what we saw there was going to be the norm, at least for a while. This is still a new, young and relatively inexperienced team, and against Memphis, it showed.
After many Raptor fans pencilled him into the All-Star game, Andrea Bargnani showed once again why he’ll never be the player that some hope. He played horribly against Memphis. Horribly. And if he’s not hitting his shot, he’s almost useless. After playing good defense against Cleveland, he couldn’t seem to defend against Memphis and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was responsible for giving up half of those 18 offensive rebounds the Grizzlies grabbed. Time and time again, the man Bargnani should have been boxing out was able to secure the offensive rebound. If he hadn’t fouled out, if I was Triano, I would have sat him down for the final minutes, anyway.
Yes, I’m hard on him, but when you have the kind of talent he has, it’s a shame to waste it. And he did tonight. In my pregame post, I said that I didn’t think that Gasol would play more than 25 minutes. Well, he played 25, but still managed 19 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists and 1 block. Compare that with Bargnani’s 12, 6, 0, 2 and 0. Guess who got outplayed badly? I did apparently underestimate his offense, however, since I said it was not good enough to keep him on the floor. The guy looks a lot trimmer than he did last season, and I think he’s gotten quicker. The Lakers trade for his brother Pau isn’t looking nearly as lopsided, now. In two games, he’s averaging 20 ppg and 11 rpg.
On the plus side, for the Raptors, I also said that Bosh would have a big game and might go for 30. He went for 37, in large part because he got to the line 14 times. His 12 rebounds were also impressive as were his two blocks. The only bad thing I can say about Bosh’s game was that he was the only one who had a really good one.
Well, actually, Nesterovic played well in limited minutes, as did Belinelli, who is thankfully living up to my preseason hype. I do find it puzzling that Belinelli didn’t play more minutes, however. My one issue with Triano is that I feel he’s limited Belinelli’s minutes too much in both games, so far.
Jack played pretty well, out assisting Calderon, who finally seems to be shooting well again, but uncharacteristically had as many turnovers as assists. DeRozan had a pretty good second half, but that barely made up for the first half he played.
The defense that looked so good against Cleveland was no where to be seen. Guys drove to the hoop without anyone getting in their way, a lot of times. The `house’ that they famously practiced to defend was ransacked and burned to the ground.
I do have some good news, though: The sky is not falling. I’ve probably been one of the more optimistic bloggers out there, and while I was disappointed with the loss, I’m not entirely surprised. As I’ve said over and over, we’re going to see a lot of inconsistency with this club for a while. We have seen how good they can be, but we’ve also seen how they can play if they don’t play defense and protect the boards. They’re not as bad as the team we saw against Memphis, and they’re not yet as good as the team that beat Cleveland. Hopefully, by the All-Star break, they will be.
NOTES:
- Does anyone else understand why Colangelo was trying to grab DeMarre Carroll in the last draft? The guy looks like he’s going to be around the league a while.
- Has anyone else noticed the stats Jermaine O’Neal has been putting up in two games so far this year with Miami? He’s averaging 22 ppg, on 17-25 shooting, and 12 rpg. Wouldn’t it be incredibly ironic if he makes the All-Star team at center and Bargnani doesn’t?
- Chicago beats San Antonio and then loses to Boston by 28 points? Is Boston really this good or is Chicago really that inconsistent?
- With Oklahoma City beating Detroit, the Thunder now have won more games than they did in their first 17 last season. I’d say they’ll probably be one of the more improved teams this year. They’d almost have to be, after finishing with only 23 wins last year.
- Golden State’s rookie, Stephen Curry, had his first real lesson on how to run a team tonight, when he watched Steve Nash rip his team for 20 assists with only 3 turnovers. Curry, himself, had 4 assists on 3 turnovers. The Suns won by 22.
- Cleveland FINALLY won tonight. Of course, it was against Minnesota, so I’m not even sure that will count in the standings. Oh, and Shaq played 19 minutes, scored 6 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. In 3 games this year, he’s averaging 9 ppg and 8 rpg. Anyone else starting to think that Ferry trading for Shaq was a mistake? Yes, it’s a long season, but he’s looking old and slow.
What’s Next For The Raptors
Posted on | October 30, 2009 | No Comments
With a game against Memphis coming up, I wanted to look back at the game against Cleveland and try and see what was in store for the Raptors tonight and beyond.
Obviously the Raptors did some things right against Cleveland, and there are things we can expect to see more of. With Bosh, Bargnani and Turkoglu, the Raptors have front line that is going to give some teams fits. If Bargnani is hitting from outside, and Bosh doing his thing, few teams have the personnel to handle both of them. Does your center guard Bosh, who plays closer to the basket than Bargnani, but is quicker and more adept at drawing fouls than him? Or do you put him on Bargnani, where he’s going to have to guard him at the three point line, a place most centers are unaccustomed to being and takes them away from where they can block shots? It’s a nightmare to try and figure out, and the Raptors biggest advantage.
Against Cleveland, it worked perfectly. While Bosh didn’t shoot well, he doesn’t have to to score. And he doesn’t have to score to be valuable, as he showed last night when he was a force on the glass. The question is, can he do that on a consistent basis? Bosh has picked up some bad habits over the years, and one of them is not giving enough effort on the boards. In the last game of the season last year, he needed 19 to finish with 10 rpg for the season. Guess how many he got. He could obviously be better on the boards and with more play like last night, he will be. What’s most inspiring is that despite shooting so badly, he finished with 21 points. A slightly better game and he finishes in the high 20’s, which is a place he might see a lot this year if he gives the effort and stays aggressive.
There are many, especially after last night, that feel Bargnani should be the main scorer and Bosh concentrate on rebounding and defense. I wonder whether those people watch a lot of basketball. NBA Roundtable had some great things to say about Bargnani…
“So … (1) Bargnani’s shot attempts (2) number of assisted baskets (3) rebounds (4) post defense … were all fairly comparable to what we saw from him last season.
In other words, the main reason for such a marked performance was that he shot the ball extremely well (at a rate he can’t sustain).”
It’s an interesting read and I recommend it. Basically what he is saying is that Bargnani had very similar numbers to what he had the last half of last season, and it was only the great shooting, which isn’t sustainable, which caused him to get the 28 points. In other words, don’t expect this to be a regular occurrence. Look at it this way, if Bosh shot the same percentage from the field, he would have scored 35 points, because he also got to the line 12 times.
While the Raptors are a better offensive team, which everyone expected, the question is, can they sustain their defensive effort. The game again Memphis will be a good test, not because Memphis is a good team (they aren’t), but because if they can play defense against lesser teams like they played against Cleveland, Colangelo’s target of 50 wins isn’t nearly as out of reach as most predicted. I don’t think anyone expects as good a defensive effort, or at least result, simply because they cannot consistently hold teams to 35% shooting.
Now some bad news. Bargnani shot 11-15, Bosh grabbed 16 rebounds, the Raptors held Cleveland to a very impressive 35% shooting, yet they still only won by 10 points. And it was against a Cleveland team that did not look like a contender in either of their games so far. Against Boston, or Orlando, or the Lakers or the Spurs, they lose, despite playing so well.
Their lapse in the third quarter is indicative of young, inexperienced team, which they are. Elite teams come out hard in the third quarter. Yes, the Raptors were sitting on a 19 point lead, but the difference between good teams and great teams is the ability to put teams away in the third. Had the game been closer, Cleveland’s third quarter probably would have been too much to overcome. It’s something the Raptors need to work on.
MEMPHIS
This will be another interesting game for the Raptors because they have no real players to match up against Bosh and Bargnani. Gasol would normally play big minutes, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him play less than 25 because there is simply no one he can guard and his offense isn’t good enough to keep him on the floor. And if Thabeet plays at all, watch how quickly he racks up the fouls.
Then there’s Randolph, who should play big minutes, simply because he’s their best inside scorer, but whoever he guards will have a big night. I’m guessing it will be Bosh, who may go for 30 tonight. How Bosh guards him will be a good indicator as to how far his defense has come this year.
The Raptors defense should, in theory, do well against a Memphis team that passes the ball like they are afraid they won’t get it back, which they won’t. I think it’s funny that their two biggest weaknesses were ball movement and defense, and they went out and got Zach Randolph and Allen Iverson. I’m not sure how they thought this would help.
The Raptors shouldn’t have trouble scoring, and so whoever plays the best defense will win the game. Since Memphis doesn’t like doing things like that, I’m going to go with the Raptors, here.
Raptors Are Undefeated!
Posted on | October 29, 2009 | No Comments
Well, it’s just one game, but what a game it was. This was probably one of the games I was most interested in seeing because I was anxious to see how the Raptors unique front line would be defended. I figured if Bargnani and Bosh shot well, they’d have a good chance. Bosh didn’t shoot well from the field (but did live on the foul line, again), but Bargnani showed why he can be such a dangerous offensive player. He scored in a variety of ways and made it impossible for the Cleveland big men to guard him. Of all the rebounding and defensive weaknesses the Raptors front line has, it’s the matchups problems that they pose on offense that makes them so dangerous. And tonight they showed why.
Still, it’s one game and anyone expecting to see this every night will be disappointed. Bargnani will not shoot 11-15 from the field and 2-3 from beyond the arc every game. He still didn’t get to the line nearly enough, only had five rebounds, and allowed far too many offensive rebounds by the Cavs big men. What we saw from him was incredibly promising, though. He drove the ball well and looked comfortable in the post, for once. And he defended well, as well.
In fact, I think the biggest surprise for most people would be how well they played defense. The big men hedged out on the screen very well, and, except for that period in the third when Cleveland came back, they got out on the shooters. Calderon, as I expected (and predicted), was able to mostly keep his man in front of him and never looked overmatched. Bosh played very well on the defensive end, hustling and using his newfound bulk to good use. I think Bosh will make huge strides in this area this year. Now I say most people would be surprised, but loyal readers would know I predicted they would become a pretty good defensive team. Now, much like Bargnani’s shooting, this isn’t going to happen every night. Not yet. We’ll see them struggle defensively, at times, especially early on, but as tonight showed, they have the ability to be a very good defensive team.
It wasn’t just good defensive that I predicted. Take a look at the other prediction that came true, at least for one night…
The Cavs would struggle on the offensive and defensive ends
Belinelli has what it takes to play as well as he did tonight
Raptors are a better team than they showed in preseason.
Again, it’s just one game, and my predictions look pretty good right now, but it’s a long season and I still expect the Raptors to struggle for a while. Let’s hope it’s not for long, however.
