Linkage - Jan 24th
"I saw [Garnett] try and deny [Bosh] the ball," Calderon said. "So I knew it was my opportunity to turn the corner, so I go all the way."
Count the basket. Count the clutch free throw, too. And count the Raptors’ first win in four tries — five if you count an exhibition-season loss in Rome — against Boston (33-7), as Toronto (23-19) became only the fourth team to beat the renewed Celtics on their home court this NBA season.
No doubt it was a pretty cool win – and a very fun game to watch – but it’s worth keeping in mind that Delfino was a perfect five-of-five from three in the second half alone; Parker was 4-of-6; Calderon was 3-of-4, and Bargnani awoke from the dead.
That’s not going to happen every night. But giving up 16 offensive rebounds (10 in the fourth quarter!!!)? That happens too often. Allowing a proven three-point shooter (Eddie House) two wide open looks on Boston’s last two possessions? Giving up offensive rebounds on both those looks? That happens too often as well. The Raptors should enjoy this one, but shouldn’t rest too easily.
Andrea Bargnani is the second coming of Dirk and Pau put together. His spot on all-NBA teams for the next decade is assured. I take it all back. But seriously: it’s amazing what a couple of drained jumpers can do for a guy. I certainly didn’t see this coming. I was watching him pretty closely in the pre-game warm-up and there was little indication of a big game in the offing. He wasn’t knocking down shot after shot; he wasn’t skipping around like a guy just raring to go. I was chatting with Maurizio Gherardini for a while as we were watching and he wasn’t suggesting that his funk (26 per cent shooting in his previous eight games, including 2-of-14 from three; this following his dreadful December, when he shot just 29 per cent from the floor) was on the verge of ending. But then he hits a little one dribble jumper; knocks down a three and gets fouled going to the basket and all of a sudden he’s got his mojo on. He looked calm; didn’t rush and made decisions as the play unfolded for a change, which is why he was able to count seven assists: when the Celtics started running at him in the second half he simply moved the ball to the next open guy. As Bosh said now all he’s got to do is do it again.
"We overcame a lot of mistakes tonight," coach Sam Mitchell told Raptors NBA TV, "and beat a good team on their court."
And if the Raptors cut out the mistakes, they know that if they meet Boston in the playoffs, they just might have a puncher’s chance.
In a game in which they were outrebounded on the offensive boards by a 16-4 count, and turned the ball over 19 times leading directly to 29 Celtics points, the Raptors rode their red-hot long-range shooting to a 114-112 win over the Celtics, their first win over the league-leading Celts in their fourth and final try in the regular season.
The Raptors join the select group of the Washington Wizards, Detroit Pistons and Charlotte Bobcats as the only visiting teams that have managed to walk out of TD Bank-north Garden with a win so far this season.
"When I first got the call from Toronto, I discussed it with Richard (Peddie). I knew right off the bat that I would be interested (under certain conditions)," he said.
"One of my condition was that Wayne Embry would be kept on, which was actually a relief for them. Then we discussed autonomy and reached an agreement.
"These days, as for our position in the standings, I’m not contented. However, the facts are that we lost Chris Bosh for a few games, T.J. Ford for a large portion of the season and we now don’t have Jorge Garbajosa because of injury. He’s not likely to return this season. I remember when Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni once told me that Garbajosa is not his best player, but that the team wins because of him being part of the team."
"If you have good weakside help, then nine times out of 10, that neutralizes the pick and roll," Garnett said. "If you have an aggressive guard sometimes I personally try to trap the point guard and get the ball to a three or maybe a four. A lot of times fours and fives set the pick and you force them to make a point guard decision and nine times out of 10 out of that, they’re not good at it … It all depends on communication and how well your weakside defence is. If your weakside is asleep as we say or just sitting over there, the pick and roll is fully effective."
After repeated attempts to get Bargnani to assess his own situation, the second-year Raptor finally relented saying "I played better but I have to be more aggressive in the beginning of the game and try to get more rebounds and get more in the game doing some of the other stuff (rebounding, passing, defending)"
Mitchell’s biggest concern last night was getting the Raptors to increase the tempo of the game and get some easy, quick baskets. Against the best defence in the NBA – teams shoot under 42 per cent per game on average against the Celtics – the last thing Toronto wanted to do was get into a half-court game with the Celtics.
“You can’t play half-court, slug it out basketball every night,” the coach said. “You have to get easy baskets. It makes the game really physical … and it limits your possessions. If you’re getting 72 shots a game, that’s tough.
“You have to get some easy baskets every now and then.”
"They were on fire," said Boston coach Doc Rivers. "Hell, half the guys in our league couldn’t shoot 15-for-21 in a gym by themselves behind the three. And they did it with other people on the floor."
But it was Bargnani who was the talk of the night.
He had been horrible in his last several games but looked rejuvenated last night.
He had a career-high seven assists and seven rebounds and forced the Celtics to pay attention to him, which opened up space for his teammates.
It was hard to figure this one out from the figures. The losing team scored 112 points and shot 49.4 percent from the floor. The Celts outscored Toronto, 56-16, in the paint and had a 23-0 edge in fast-break points.
But the Raptors, with four players scoring 20 or more points, just didn’t do a lot of missing, a trend that remained true at the free throw line to the tune of 19-for-19.
“That was awful,” said Rivers. “The game was never a power game; the game was a finesse game. And we can win some of those games, but we can’t be a great team playing that way. And that’s why we lost the game.
“They moved the ball, but they had probably seven 3s that clearly we were there and just didn’t close out all the way. Late in the game we had one right in front of our bench. We just stopped and stared at the guy, and he shot it. It was almost like we didn’t believe they would shoot another one. We call them dare shots. We had a lot of dare shots tonight that we gave up, and they made them. But that’s what they do.
“We allowed them to play the way they play, and we never played the way we play. The fact that we had the chance to win the game was great and all that, but if we had won the game it would’ve been fool’s gold. But we’re a better defensive team than that.”
With the win, Toronto avoided a season-sweep and also handed Boston its first loss in the Atlantic Division.
If tonight was the first time all season you tuned into a Celtics game, you would have had a hard time telling which team had won the previous three meetings between the squads this year. Both teams played hard. They executed. And they gave the Garden fans plenty of reasons to stand and cheer.
Mitchell then snapped when asked to answer specific questions on Jose Calderon and T.J. Ford. Ford (spinal stenosis) is currently working out in Houston, trying to get healthy to make his return to the Raptors.
“Is anybody going to ask any real questions?” Mitchell asked.
The coach apparently deemed the next several quesitions as "real questions", because he talked for over 10 minutes when asked about Ray Allen, Andrea Bargnani, and Kevin Garnett. Mitchell said Boston’s Big Three of Allen, Garnett, and Paul Pierce all deserve to make the All-Star team.
“Shooting 3’s is the toughest play to guard in today’s league,” he said. “A lot of times when you’re out there guarding someone (in 3-point range), the defense doesn’t want to help. The bigs and the point guard go (into the paint) and you have to make a decision.”
The difference is that Allen, because of his reputation, rarely gets the kind of space that the Raptors shooters received last night.
Rivers said Toronto’s shooting was so prolific that his players almost didn’t believe it could continue.
"We just stopped and stared at the guy, and he shot it," said Rivers. "It was almost like we didn’t believe they would shoot another one. We call them ‘dare shots.’ We had a lot of dare shots tonight that we gave up, and they made them.
Toronto: The Raptors have surrendered their status as the Atlantic Division’s best, but have endured the loss of point guard T.J. Ford to a neck injury and Andrea Bargnani to a sophomore slump. Moon’s emergence has been a definite boost, but what really has pulled this team through is that it has some know-how under its belt. Sam Mitchell has gotten excellent play out of Jose Calderon in place of Ford and has pressed on through thick and thin, not babying anyone along the way. Being three games over .500 at the halfway point is nothing to write home about, but should wind up paying off in the end. Grade: C+
I was calling for Humphries to get off the bench all game long, surely we could’ve use his hustle and muscle when we were having trouble grabbing boards, no? It’s one of those, “I’m glad we won so we won’t have to talk about it” decisions. The pessimist might say that this was a fluky win and we can’t possibly shoot 58% against Boston again, to which I’d say that we can’t also possibly commit 15 unforced turnovers. We saw some anomalies on both sides but in the end they evened out. There is a silver lining in the turnovers though, did you notice Jose trying to force the issue a few times and end up getting easy scores for Rasho, Bosh and Parker? One of the chief complaints against Jose is that he’s too conservative and doesn’t drive and kick, today he showed that if he wants, he can break down a good defensive guard like Rondo and create for his mates. His penetration set up more than a few open jumpers off the second pass, yeah, his inside-outside pass got picked off a couple times, but overall it was very effective.
From the tip-off, the Raptors went at the Celtics and didn’t allow them to dictate pace/tempo or anything for that matter. To top off this bizzarro night, somebody who looks exactly like Bargnani, dropped 20pts 7rebs 7asts and a block, and played pretty decent low post defense (with the occasional lapse). I imagine this is what the Raptors brain trust was envisioning in the off-season with the lack those moves they made.
As great as that win was, there will be a lot for Sam to talk about when watching the tape. The turnovers and rebounding were weak. If the Raps took care of the ball like they normally do, they would of won by seven or eight. Picky, picky I guess.
Lets enjoy this feeling while we can. The Raps could very easily lay an egg against the Bucks on Friday.
Jan 24th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
thanks for the linkage…….
Jan 24th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
as per sportsline: i don’t know if the raptors surrendered their title as the atlantic’s best…boston took the title of the nba’s best, and that includes the atlantic. not a fan of the wording there, lol.