Linkage - Feb 2
Early in the third quarter last night, Kobe Bryant ambled past Toronto Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell after a timeout and gave a little wink, as if to say, you haven’t seen anything yet.
Bryant then coolly drained a three-point shot in front of the Raptors’ bench to prove it.
He made all kinds of other shots, too, as the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers ran over the Raptors 121-101 in front of a star-struck crowd at the Air Canada Centre.
His most spectacular, perhaps, was another three-pointer in the dying minutes of the third quarter. He hit an absurdly difficult — for anyone else at least — fall-away shot from the right-hand corner that stunted a Raptors rally and set the tone for the Lakers’ breakaway fourth quarter.
The Toronto Raptors’ Jamario Moon
was named the Eastern Conference rookie of the month for January.
Moon set career highs of five steals on Jan. 18 vs. Atlanta, and 17 points on Jan. 19 at Cleveland. He also ranked seventh in the NBA in steals per turnover (1.16), increased his averages for the month by 1.0 points and 0.8 assists, and led the Raptors in blocks five times, and rebounds twice.
Bryant’s total was the most any one player has scored against the Raptors in a game this year.
It was a show.
“We only come here once a year,” Bryant said. “Some people are here and it is the only chance they get to see me. Sometimes it is the first time so I want to make sure that I go out, and put on a good performance.”
It certainly was that.
Positively dwarfed by Bryant’s brilliance was a career night for Bargnani.
Bargnani had a Raptors-high and career high 28 points on 9-of-18 shooting. More importantly from Mitchell’s standpoint, a lot of his points came on aggressive drives.
“The surprising thing is we have been on our guys to take the ball to the basket and Andrea drove more than anyone tonight,” Mitchell said. “That’s the thing Jamario (Moon) and some of our other guys have got to do.”
Wins produced, by definition, is a single stat which takes into account all stats tabulated for a single player to come up with one number. It’s a complicated formula but for a much more thorough definition go to www.wagesofwins.com. Using that stat for the first half of the season, the highest rated Raptor is Jose Calderon, who grades out tied for 11th with Washington’s Caron Butler among the NBA’s 446 players. Calderon apparently produced 8.5 wins in the first half. Tops in the league in the first half was Orlando’s Dwight Howard, who was at 14.6. That’s the good news. The bad news is the 446th player on this list is Raptors sophomore Andrea Bargnani who, according to this statistic, produced -3.5 wins in the Raptors’ first 41 games.
Jose Calderon has to be a little unhappy to see January go. The Raptors point guard led the Eastern Conference in assists with 10.4 a game. He also averaged a double-double, with 14.9 points and those 10.4 assists and was second in three point shooting (.511).
“He’s got that little look back in his eyes, he’s starting to get his confidence back,” Mitchell said of Bargnani. “Shots are starting to fall for him and the thing I liked tonight is he didn’t settle. He drove to the basket, had four dunks over people. We need him to continue to do that.”
But there simply wasn’t enough backup for Bargnani to make the game close. Bosh managed 22 points but he shot just 7-for-22 from the field, and Parker was held to 12 points. The bench supplied only 18, hardly the kind of production the Raptors needed.
“You know early into the game, after the way they were playing, you’re going to need to score,” said Mitchell. “We just didn’t score enough. We needed it to be one of those games where whoever got the ball last had a chance to win. We couldn’t make it that game. We didn’t make enough shots.”
The practice court’s on the third floor, on the northwest corner of the building.
But, I’m told by Someone Who Knows that they’re going to build a new facility somewhere away from the Air Canada Centre where they can have some peace and privacy. Should be ready the middle of next season or so
And to think, the Lakers won with only 10 players dressed, two shy of the normal 12-man active roster. Actually, only nine could play since Luke Walton was hobbled by a right hip pointer that sidelined him for a second straight game.
“I could have made an inbounds pass,” Walton joked after the game.
Anyways, remember after the Wizards game, I said the only way the Raptors seem to be able to win is to shoot the lights out (3rd paragraph)? Well, tonight was living proof of that. The big games that they have won, they have shot a high percentage from the floor, and out-gunned the other team. The defense wont win any games. Tonight was no different. The Lakers out Raptor-ed the Raptors. They shot the shit out of the ball, layed the shit up out of the ball, dunked the shit out the ball, did everything they wanted with the ball.
Isn’t that what Sam’s philosophy is, let Kobe get his and slow the supporting cast down. Tonight the supporting cast was depleted and we still allowed 7 threes from the guard combo who led the bench scoring and out-gunned ours 37-18 with each three being of the killer variety. Now you can point to Anthony Parker and Jose Calderon’s noncommittal man-defense but at some point the Raptors as a team have to make an adjustment to hide this weakness in their games. Maybe asking Parker and Calderon to help is a really, really bad idea because it seems like we get burned every time they do. Our defense on Kobe ranged from helping-early, helping-late and not helping at all. Needless to say when you’re a poor defensive team like the Raptors are, deploying so many different defenses against him is bound to confuse the living shit out of your players. But hey, Kobe went off, not much you can do about it. Sleep easy Carlos, you’re not the first one to get burned and you won’t be the last.
Happy RaptorHog Day. This is the day of the year where we all hope a little animal is smarter than humans by saying that spring will come early. Spring to basketball fans means Playoffs. Looking at the Eastern Conference right now hard to imagine the Raptors not making it in the playoffs. I mean currently New Jersey is in despite the fact I can’t remember the last time they had a winning streak. But if you are willing to be a tiny bit bold I would say the Raps are a lock to get in. The question is where and against who? That answer can’t be figured out by if the Raptor sees his shadow. I think ultimately the Raptors will stay in that 4-6 range. which will likely see them face the Cavs, Wizards or Magic. All not bad match-ups for the Raptors. Avoiding Lebron though would likely be a good thing given what he and Kobe seem to be able to do against the Raptors. Not to mention Chris Bosh’s girlfriend and the cry to have her banned from the building. On TNT when Bosh was interviewed she was compared to Jessica Simpson. Like the Canadian version. Something Bosh would rather not deal with. The two things a man never wants to deal with is defending his significant other or his mother. Not Fun.
Wizards and Raps would be Ideal match-up. Even with the return of Gilbert Arenas and His Hibachi. We will have T.J Ford so no really advantage gained. Raps seem to have the Wizards number too and with 2 miracle last second 3 point shots in under a year Raps have to be in the Wizards heads. Orlando still has much to prove and Winning a Division Title is nice come playoffs it doesn’t mean anything. Just ask Toronto they know that. Bosh has always out dueled Howard as well throughout his career. So this is a good Match-Up too.
Kobe Bryant passed Elgin Baylor to become 3rd all time with the most games of 40 points or more, trailing of course only Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan. Another amazing stat considering most of these 40 point performances have been only in the past 3 seasons. Kobe Bryant now has a total of 89 40+ point games in his career. Check out the numbers by season over the past 3 1/2 seasons including this one:
2004-2005 = 10
2005-2006 = 27
2006-2007 = 18
This season = 4
How did Kobe celebrate the news that his team is finally a legit, realistic championship contender? By hanging 46 points on the Raptors in their building. In a word, it was ugly (if you’re a Toronto fan, that is). Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon, Carlos Delfino, Juan Dixon — whoever Sam Mitchell tried to put on Kobe got sent packing with fadeaways, crossovers and dunks as lovely parting gifts. It was a bit reminiscent of when Mamba gave a handful of different Raps defenders 81 points way back when. The best play of the night was when Kobe was being guarded by Moon beyond the arc straightaway. Ronny Turiaf set a pick with his back to Kobe, who hopped back and forth on either side of Turiaf and worked Moon like a puppet before sticking a triple
Overall, this outing was a very disappointing loss. The Raptors had every chance to take the lead at some point, but instead, allowed the Lakers to come back at every turn. It’s this ability to constantly keep an opponent down in a close game that the Raptors had last year, but seem to lack this year. People might want to talk about margin of victory and other stats such as those, but in the end, there’s a feeling from those teams that exude the confidence that they can win each and every single game. That’s just not present in this year’s squad, and will continue to be the downfall for our boys in white and red.
Technorati Tags: andrea bargnani,anthony parker,basketball,carlos delfino,caron butler,chris bosh,dwight howard,jamario moon,jose calderon,kobe bryant,los angeles lakers,luke walton,nba,raptors,sam mitchell,toronto raptors,toronto,www.altraps.com
Feb 2nd, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Very nice post. Although I don’t thank you all the time with a comment, this blog is part of my daily read without fail.
Feb 2nd, 2008 at 3:04 pm
mine too, saves me time weeding out the crap articles all over.
Feb 2nd, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Our defense has looked like a siv all year. Not a big surprise that one of the top 2 players in basketball made us look like idiots again.
The only player who was playing interior defense at all was Rasho, and he sat for most of the game.
Feb 2nd, 2008 at 6:07 pm
From Sam:
“He’s got that little look back in his eyes, he’s starting to get his confidence back,” Mitchell said of Bargnani. “Shots are starting to fall for him and the thing I liked tonight is he didn’t settle. He drove to the basket, had four dunks over people. We need him to continue to do that.”
I want to know when someone on this team is going to talk about defense. Bargnani couldn’t even hold his feet in one place, and just continued to take stupid fouls all game.
Feb 3rd, 2008 at 12:04 am
one thing at a time spudz. no one else plays defense on the raptors, not fair to expect bargs too also. let’s get his shot back, then we can bitch at him for not rebounding, then we can bitch at him for not playing defense. sound like a plan?
Feb 3rd, 2008 at 7:01 am
Sounds like a plan, but, as a #1 pick who played “pro” ball supposedly since he was knee high to a grasshopper, you (okay, maybe just I) would expect that he would already either have those skills or be able to apply them at a faster rate than he has. He really comes off as a one step forward, two steps back kind of guy.
Part of me is actually starting to feel sorry for him. So much hype in the media, so much hype from the club that he was a stud, etc. That is a lot to live up to. Saying that, though, could you imagine what this guy would be going through in a basketball market? At least here he is protected by the Leafs….but if he was elsewhere, this kid would have been crying in his pasta more than he already is.
This all being said, he could still just be years away from being Mengke Bateer v2.0
Scott.