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The Strange Case of Jekyll & Hyde
Posted on | November 14, 2009 | 3 Comments
When the Clippers went ahead by 22 points in the first quarter, I knew there was a chance that the Raptors could come back, but in all honesty, I thought my streak of correct predictions was going to come to an end. Logically, I knew the Raptors, with their potent offense, had the ability to go on a streak and come back, but as I watched the Raptors players, it looked like no one had any fight. Bosh missed his first three shots, all contested well by Marcus Camby, and looked discouraged, DeRozan played like he was playing in front of all his friends and family for the first time ever as an NBA player, which of course he was, and the Raptors defense looked like it did against San Antonio, not the fourth quarter against the Bulls. Then, they started making some shots and playing some defense and before you knew it, they were tied with one quarter to go.
It’s amazing that the team in the first quarter and the team in the fourth quarter were even the same one. The Raptors went on a 16-0 run to put the game out of reach against the Clippers, and you can’t do that just by shooting well (which they did). You have to actually play some defense, too. And unlike the fourth quarter against the Bulls, the Clippers weren’t simply missing shots they were hitting earlier, they were actually not being allowed to take very many good shots. Bosh and Bargnani (yes, I’m giving him credit), played good defense on Kaman to prevent him from getting easy looks, Calderon stopped Baron Davis from getting to his spots, and the rest of the team actually seemed to know what they were doing on the defensive end of the floor. It was actually inspiring to see.
I’ve got a new thing I’m doing on the post game wrap-ups.
KUDOS
Chris Bosh
Bosh started out slow, and last year, probably would have ended up having a subpar game, but with his new attitude, pushed through and ended up having yet another great game. He finished with a season low 21 points, but that was more because he distributed the ball so well when everyone else started hitting. He finished with 6 assists, including quite a few nice dishes when he could have easily took the shot himself. Plus, he played great defense on Kaman throughout most of the game. Bosh was really the only one who kept Kaman out of the low block until late in the fourth, when Bargnani seemed to get inspired. Oh, and Bosh also grabbed 14 rebounds.
Jose Calderon
Calderon owned the third quarter, and probably gave more inspiration to the team than anyone. Although he was bullied at first by Davis, he settled in and held his ground when it counted. I’d say he’s definitely back.
Marco Belinelli
His best game as a Raptors, hitting timely shots as well as providing good defense. This is what I, and others, expected of him when he came over from Golden State.
Andrea Bargnani
Yes, Bargnani hit some big shots when they needed him to, but of all my criticism of him, he’s always been able to do that. In the fourth quarter, you almost know he’s going to end up hitting some big three point shot from the top just when the Raptors need it most.
Amir Johnson
One of his best games as a Raptor, and thank goodness he was playing well, because the Raptors desperately needed his rebounding. He had some trouble handling Kaman on defense, but I’ve got no complaints.
RUNNING LAPS
These are players who I single out for the wrong reasons.
Andrea Bargnani
He’s Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde himself. He made a couple of layups early in the first and then disappeared. He even seemed to disappear on defense, giving Kaman far too low position on the blocks and allowing him too score at will. In fact, Bargnani did absolutely nothing positive until the third quarter when he finally started hitting his outside shots. To make matters worse, Bargnani again seemed to be allergic to rebounds, coming up with only 2 in 33 minutes. Completely unacceptable for a 7 footer. He was outrebounded by 6′3 Jose Calderon AND 6′3 Baron Davis. In the last five games, Bargnani is averaging 5.2 rpg in 34.6 mpg.
Jarrett Jack
Now, I’ve been defending him so far, and I do still feel he was a very good signing, but he played horribly tonight. I remember watching him at one point in the second quarter when it looked like he simply couldn’t see any of his teammates. I think at one point, he missed just about every single teammate being wide open (a couple under the hoop) in span of just one minute. I was begging for Belinelli to get the ball, since he seems to actually be able to see open teammates. He’ll eventually settle in, but he didn’t do it tonight.
DeMar DeRozan
He was nervous and it showed. I’m giving him a pass on this because of this.
NOTES
Former Raptor Nathan Jawai has been playing relatively big minutes for the T-Wolves, with both starting front court players out with injuries, and tonight he played against the team he was traded to, and then cut by, the Dallas Mavericks. He scored 10 points and grabbed 4 rebounds in 22 minutes. Neither were a season high.
Denver stomped the Lakers, and I now wish I would have watched the game. The Lakers did get a big win the night before against Phoenix, so they might have been tired.
My friend Darren predicted at the start of the season that New York would win more games than Toronto. They lost again, this time to Golden State, and are currently sitting at 1-9. Yes, it’s a long season, but I get the feeling it’s going to be even longer in New York.
3 Responses to “The Strange Case of Jekyll & Hyde”
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November 14th, 2009 @ 6:51 AM
Nice write up. One thing I will say about Bargs being invisible until the 3rd quarter is the Raps really didn’t seem to be looking to him. Its happened quite regularily this year and its disappointing. He starts putting together a mini-run… and then everyone other than Bargs start to shoot. He is one player, when he is on, that the Raps need to make an effort to get the ball to. Killing his streaks is only going to hurt the team.
However, it would be nice if he tried to make it up on the boards or defense. If he could do atleast one of those (rebound or defend) this team could challenge anyone.
November 14th, 2009 @ 7:49 PM
One thing I noticed w/ Bargs was that his defensive assignment was Kaman–it wasn’t until Bosh and Amir guarded things turned around.
Bosh on Camby was questionable, since Camby doesn’t score.
Nice to see the switch in defensive assignments then to have Bosh/Amir body up and pull Kaman out of his game that basically stopped the Clips inside game.
November 14th, 2009 @ 11:20 PM
Swirsky,
The problem with Bargnani is not that the other Raptors are not getting him the ball, but that he’s not getting himself into a position to score. Bargnani, more than any of the Raptors scorers, needs others to create for him. Over 75% of his shots are assisted, which is a very high number. He needs guys to draw defenders to get his shots, and when the defense is stopping penetration, there’s not much he can do.
And I’ve read a lot of complaints about him not getting the ball in the post, but while he does go down there a lot more, he’s not very good at sealing his man, which doesn’t make him a good target.
Lastly, one thing I’ve noticed lately is that he doesn’t seem to have good hands. I don’t remember noticing this before, but have noticed it the last few games. He’ll fumble passes when he cuts or is down low. He’s fine catching passes on the perimeter, but if you can’t catch a pass cleanly, you’re not going to get the ball much.
Ragu,
I understand why Triano would want to keep Bosh on Camby, since guarding Kaman would require even more energy and open him up to foul trouble. That said, at one point I was really hoping Bosh would be moved onto Kaman, which he finally was. Bargnani would let him get way too low, which made Kaman’s shots much easier. Bosh pushed him out, and while he still hit few, he wasn’t nearly as close to the basket, which also means he wasn’t in a position to rebound his misses.