Linkage - Jan 30
The key to last night’s game, played before an announced crowd of 12,905 at the Verizon Center, was that the undermanned Wizards had a 19-12 advantage in offensive rebounds for the entire game and a 4-0 advantage in the overtime.
It is a far too familiar story for the Raptors.
Overall they were outrebounded 9-2 in the overtime and 57-44 in the game.
“We’ve got to find a way to box out and win the ball,” head coach Sam Mitchell said. “Hey, we’re not doing it. We let people come over backs. I don’t know if they’re fouls or not but if the official doesn’t call it, it’s not a foul.”
Andrea Bargnani showed a flash of brilliance - an offensive rebound in traffic, followed by a put-back dunk - but as a whole, it was another awful performance from the sophomore.
Aside from that dunk, Bargnani missed five shots. Once more, foul trouble prevented him making any impact on the game.
The Raptors, though, have found ways to win without Bargnani posting big numbers.
However, Toronto’s trio of swingmen joined him in the negative column in Washington.
Parker, for most of the night, was brutal. The starter has been stellar in January, but he went just 3-for-16 Tuesday night.
Moon and Carlos Delfino combined to score eight points on 3-for-14 shooting.
“I don’t know how to critique a game when you give up 19 offensive rebounds,” Mitchell said. “Did we take bad shots? Yeah, everyone takes some bad shots. Did we make some silly turnovers? Yeah, everyone makes some silly turnovers. But I don’t know what to say when this is what, three or four games when a team has gotten 15 or more offensive rebounds against us.”
Adding insult to injury was the fact that six of those rebounds came from rookie Dominic McGuire, a 6-foot-9 product out of Fresno State who had a grand total of six in his previous 32 NBA games.
“I don’t know where we’re going to find it but some kind of way we have to learn to box out and go get the ball,” Mitchell said. “We’re just not doing it. We’re not going to be a good basketball team until we learn to box out. We can play as good a defence as defence can be played but if we’re not going to go get the ball, it’s going to be tough.”
The Boston Celtics apparently have decided not to pursue veteran guard Damon Stoudamire, according to espn.com.
The 34-year-old former Raptor will be free to sign with any team at 6 p.m. today after being waived by the Memphis Grizzlies. The Raptors, San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns are thought to be most interested in his services.
PRINT THE TICKETS
ESPN’s John Hollinger is predicting as a near-certainty that the Raptors will make the playoffs this season. According to Hollinger’s Playoff Odds, the Raps have a 99.8% chance of making the playoffs this year based on factors such as their current standing and remaining strength of schedule.
It was fitting, in a grotesque sort of way for the Raptors, that the game-deciding basket came after a missed rebounding opportunity. After a Chris Bosh three-pointer – just his second trey of the season – got the Raptors within three with 38 seconds left, the Wizards’ Roger Mason missed a shot, but Antawn Jamison tipped it in for his 20th board of the night.
When Parker shot went in the bench seemed… well, sorta ho hum glum (especially compared to the mayhem that ensued after Mo Pete’s Hail Mary last year).
Between Rasho, Kapono, Barnani, Delfino and Baston, they’re not exactly the spunkiest dinosaurs i’ve ever seen.
Maybe the guys on the bench aren’t having as much fun because they aren’t playing? (Kapono after the Boston win looked borderline bored). Short version of the question: is there a chemistry problem, or are they just a low key bunch?
John L, Thornhill
A: Bang-on observation. It didn’t look like jubilation at the time and seeing Parker’s shot on TV (it was No. 1 on the ESPN Top 10 this morning), there was happiness but no one seemed over-joyed.
I don’t think there’s a chemistry problem, these guys do genuinely like each other, but they are certainly not the most, um, excitable bunch.
So, I asked Sam after shootaround when, and why, he decides to play zone defence every now and then.
His answer:
“It’s just a game-by-game decision, who’s on the floor and how we’re doing. If I look out there and see matchups I’m not crazy about, I may play some zone.”
My thought:
Oh, you mean when Jason Kapono’s out there.
Toronto, Washington and idle Cleveland all entered the day within a half-game of each other for fourth place in the Eastern Conference. The victory pushed the Wizards into a tie with Cleveland (both 24-19), ahead of the Raptors (24-20).
“In overtime guys are going to play hard basketball,” Bosh said. “They switched up and gave me a look I wasn’t used to. They did a very good job. But now I know it and I have seen it, so I will be prepared for our game against the Wizards tomorrow.”
Do you think there’s any way the Bulls might be able to swipe Jose Calderon from the Raptors this summer? He’s a free agent and they’ve already invested so much in T.J. Ford. –Adam, Berkeley, Calif.
No way. It would be quite the crowd. Calderon has quietly become a terrific point guard and even if T.J. Ford returns, I see Calderon getting the majority of the time. He’s no secret anymore and could even get some coach support this week as an All-Star reserve.
Kris Humphries, Raptors
One wonders how long Andrea Bargnani will be allowed to stink it up before Humphries takes over the gig. While he doesn’t fit in with Toronto’s space-the-floor-with-shooters concept, Humphries is the team’s lone dose of physicality and rebounding muscle.
Additionally, he’s the same age as Bargnani, so it’s not like they’re mortgaging the future with such a move. Unlike his teammate, Humphries has taken another big step forward this season, registering 16.9 points and 11.5 boards per 40 minutes and making Bryan Colangelo’s decision to sign him to a low-cost extension before the season look like a master stroke.
Or rather, a second master stroke. The original master stroke was trading for him in the first place, in return for epic lottery bust Rafael Araujo. And Toronto Star writer Doug Smith has since dubbed Humphries “Not-Haffa-Bad.”
Sure, Humphries has his weaknesses: He’s still way too shot-happy, he fouls a lot and his D can be sloppy at times. But if my alternatives are Bargnani and Rasho Nesterovic, this guy is the clear winner. That’s why I suspect that by playoff time he’ll have a much bigger role than his current 14.6 minutes per game.
“Tonight was the NBA at its finest,” Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan said. “There were a lot of big shots by a good team. This is a team that shoots good daggers, and it’s like a knockout punch to the head. We stood our ground, kept our composure, made some plays ourselves, kept our defensive energy up and we just never let down.”
In holding the Raptors to 42.5 percent shooting, the Wizards switched between zones and man-to-man defenses and also held a 57-44 edge in rebounding and a 23-8 advantage in second-chance points.
Nathaniel and Zachary Cziranka-Crooks, avid basketball competitors and NBA fans, gained a new appreciation for some of their favourite Toronto Raptors players this past Saturday.
The siblings, who both play basketball at Cobourg District Collegiate Institute West, took part in the NBA club’s eighth annual Kingpin Challenge in Toronto. The bowling event has raised $250,000 for the Raptors Foundation since its inception.
For the first game, Nathaniel and Zachary bowled with Jamario Moon, whose popularity has escalated in his first year with the Raptors. He nicknamed Zachary “Greasy” for all the food he was eating and getting grease on the bowling balls.
There were plenty of jokes and high-fives to go around and Moon autographed Zachary’s sneakers. An autograph collection wouldn’t be complete without a signature from Raptors star Chris Bosh, and the entire team signed a picture for the participants.
“It was interesting to see them outside of being a basketball star, not all flashy or acting like a big star,” said Zachary.
Forgive me for painting a picture of doom but losing to a severely shorthanded team in an uninspired performance doesn’t fill me with anything positive to stay. Aside from Jose Calderon, the Raptors were struggling to find a consistent scorer, even Bosh was only effective in the first half and after that was the victim of a defensive plan by Eddie Jordan which focused on doubling him and allowing him ample space on the perimeter which ultimately seduced him into shooting jumpers. Forget the offense of Andray Blatche, it was his defense on Bosh late in the game which prevented the Raptors from trading baskets with the Wiz. Chris Bosh was hoping to draw the foul more than trying to score in overtime which is usually a good option but late in the games you don’t get the same calls you get in the first quarter. Calderon’s 23/13 were big, he hit some huge threes which kept the Wizard lead to manageable levels but unfortunately it all amounted to nothing. Bosh’s big night of 37/12 was first-half heavy and only saw us take a four point lead into halftime because of our bad, bad defense. A wasted effort really.
The third quarter was horrible. How many times do they come out of half time looking like they don’t know what they are doing. They had the Wiz right where they wanted them and gave the game back.
With Caron Butler being a scratch and the Raptors having a few days off leading up to this game a second half let down was just that much more puzzling. By shying away from the foul line and jacking up outside shots, the Raptors allowed the Wizards to run up the lead after being unable to score for almost five minutes. It was here Bosh needed to take control of the team by going to the line and showing his teammates what to do. Yes, the Wizards made large adjustments on Bosh after the first half, but that just meant that he has to try that much harder to keep a consistent effort. Frankly, it should be a slap in the face that Joey Graham was the most active player going to the basket in that quarter, and despite last second heroics by Jamario Moon and Anthony Parker, the game should have never come down to those final shots.
So the present and Future of the Toronto Raptors is really up in the air. We haven’t even mentioned the desperate need of a rebounding big man. But Bryan Colangelo still has about a month left to find the answer to that problem. A return of Mighty Mouse would be nice and all but there is more that needs to be done. There is another Big Man that also needs to improve that being Andrea Bargnani. But despite the fact of all these things the organization knows when the time is to be fast and act. They also no when to be patient and wait. If they could on teach the fan base to do the same. But let’s face it Bryan is good but is anyone that good? Raptor fans are maybe even to big a challenge for him to tackle.
Despite having a much better year than Jason Kidd, Kidd will represent the East at the point guard position. That comes to no surprise as Calderon was not on the ballot and even if he was the All-Star selection process is a popularity vote and the best player does not always get voted in. The next spot (or two) will be filled by Chauncey Billups who is having another solid season. If a 3rd point guard is selected it gets tricky; Joe Johnson could be asked to slide to the point guard position if he is picked to go (as could Dwyane Wade), and the other true point guard candidate that could take that last spot is Mo Williams of Milwaukee, who’s having a very good year in his own right. Jamaal Tinsley would have gotten consideration before the new year but he has begun to fade. Honourable mention to another guy who is having a solid year is Andre Miller. However, I don’t know if he would be producing like this with a team that was going somewhere.
Anthony Parker, with 6 hands in his face, drills a prayer of a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime. Here we go again? Nope. Not on this night. The Wizards, who fell apart in OT on Sunday, held tough and outlasted the Raptors for a big, and I mean BIG victory. Not only does it move the Wiz past Toronto in the standings, but it’s a big win for tiebreaking purposes come the end of the year.
Don’t get me wrong I love the way TJ Ford plays but, I didn’t think he was the right fit for the Raptors long term success. I think that the raptors could get a good player by trading TJ Ford for someone like Pau Gasol or Jason Richardson. I think that the Raptors lack depth in the shooting guard and small forward positions so a player like Jason Richardson could really help them out. Will Jose Calderon become an All Star this season? I would certainly hope so, he has been playing amazing and has helped the Raptors stay in fifth seed in the West.
To this day, based on the play and ceiling of both Villanueva and Ford, I think that Colangelo fleeced Harris.
However, on Tuesday, October 31, 2006, the Raptors signed Ford to a four-year, $33-million deal (the fourth year being a player option) without ever seeing him in uniform. That Tuesday was the last chance they had to sign Ford before the end of the season. Had they not, he would have made $2.93 million in ‘06-’07, the final year on his rookie contract, before becoming a RESTRICTED free agent. What had he done to warrant $8.25 million annually, apart from being born in the same state as Chris Bosh? He averaged 9.9 points, 6.5 assists, 1.2 steals in 127 games with the Milwaukee Bucks. This, Raptors friends, is the worst move that Colangelo has made with the Toronto Raptors.
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Jan 30th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Not sure how Dino Nation Blog ended up on here. But feel free to post it here I enjoy doing it everyday. It recently moved from facebook to the world wide web and it has been going since late November. So thanks to whoever included it!!!
Jan 30th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
No problem. We are trying to include as much daily Raptors stuff as we can in our links, so if it hits our radar, it will be here.
Keep up the good work at Dino Nation.
Jan 31st, 2008 at 3:19 am
Well done Raps!!! Truly a deserve victory. If there is one wish that I have, is to the Raps going all the way in the Eastern Conference
http://mundoalbiceleste.blogspot.com/2008/01/nba-news-raps-trash-bulls-loose.html