Linkage - Feb 14
"I think we learned a lesson from the last game (Monday) against the (San Antonio) Spurs," said Jose Calderon, recalling a horrific start that cost the Raptors any chance to beat the defending champs earlier this week. "We just came out and played hard from the first minute. That’s what we have to do every game and we did it today and that’s why we got a kind of easy win."
And much to the delight of the sellout crowd, Vince Carter was front and centre in a turning point in the game. There’s nothing quite like misery for Carter to create glee among Raptor fans who still cherish any misfortune that comes his way.
The cheers were abundant, then, when Carter fouled Andrea Bargnani on a three-point field goal attempt just before halftime and the crescendo grew greater when the one-time Raptor icon was slapped with a technical foul for protesting what looked like an obvious call.
Calderon hit the technical free throw and Bargnani followed by making all three of his foul shots, allowing the Raptors to take a 20-point lead that seemed to deflate and bury a New Jersey team that looked listless all night.
The advantage eventually grew to 30 as the Raptors cruised to one of their easiest victories of the season, ending a three-game home losing streak and heading into the all-star break five games over .500 at 28-23.
Calderon scored 22 points on nine-of-12 shooting, including five layups, while finding time to dish 11 assists, many for layups or dunks.
"I was trying see what they were doing on defence and after that, I knew they were going over the top [of the screen] and I knew I could make some plays," said Calderon, who could be in line for a spot on the all-star team if the Kidd trade goes through, opening up a spot on the Eastern Conference team.
Calderon is heading for the Bahamas this morning for a brief holiday, but said he’d be pleased to turn around for New Orleans if the circumstances required it.
Chris Bosh is starting the movement: Send Jay Triano to the hallowed halls in Springfield, Mass.
"He made history. He’s a famous guy," the Raptors forward said after the Canadian assistant coach earned a perfect winning percentage of 1.000 after Toronto defeating the New Jersey Nets 109-91.
"Put him in the Hall of Fame now," Bosh said as Triano became the first Canadian to ever serve as head coach in a regular-season NBA game.
"It was a lot of fun," Triano said "But I’m going to be happy after this break to slide over those 18 inches."
Lawrence Frank had just finished his third pregame news conference, this one with Canadian reporters, and a certain name did not come up once. The coach of the New Jersey Nets had been asked about the trade of Jason Kidd, little-used Canadian Jamaal Magloire and temporary Raptors coach Jay Triano, but he whose name is still mud around here never arose.
"Does Vince Carter still play for the Nets?" asked Frank, the Nets coach, jokingly.
Yes, he does. Once in a while, he even plays hard.
It is no coincidence that Vince is not an all-star for the first time in his career, or that his points per game are down from 25.2 last year to 20.7 this year, or that he has been mentioned in a rumoured trade for Indiana’s Jermaine O’Neal, another expensive, past-his-prime, injury-prone headache.
This is where this was always headed. Vince was born with one-of-a-kind talent, but he toodled his bike around in the summer instead of hitting the gym; he relied on his genes, rather than his heart. Kidd was able to push him to his former heights over the past two seasons, when Carter missed just three of a possible 164 games.
The Achilles heel with these jump-shot-happy Raptors has been an inability to rebound, but against an undermanned and disinterested Nets team it wasn’t necessary.
To put in the most basic of terms, there weren’t many misses to retrieve and there was no need to protect the paint, another of Toronto’s shortcomings, because the Nets seldom, if ever, attacked the basket.
The outcome, for all intents and purposes, was over before it even began.
In the past post-season, the Raptors, despite home-court advantage, lost their first round series to the Nets in six games.
More than anything, the series revealed a flaw in Chris Bosh’s game.
When the Nets came with double-teams, Bosh had a difficult time finding cutters or making the right decision when an extra defender came at him.
"It was a painful lesson,” Bosh said. "You have to grow from moments like that and I feel I have grown.
"As a team, we’ve grown as well, but it was a difficult time and a difficult way to learn through mistakes."
The Raptors, a nice young team with plenty of upside, are in a holding pattern that defies excitement. Unless injuries send them falling from a cliff, they’re a playoff lock. They’ll likely be seeded 4th or 5th – although seed Nos. 3 or 6 are also realistic possibilities. And their next truly meaningful game, realistically, will be in April. At that point it’ll come down to matchups and of-the-moment health; their season will be judged, not by 82 games, but by a best-of-seven.
Never mind that the West’s best 10 teams, some of them still trying to get better, will be battling for playoff rights for the next two months, the Raptors and their Eastern contemporaries don’t have the same necessity of urgency.
According to SI.com, the idea is to create five new teams in large markets to form a fully-fledged European division within the NBA. The teams would participate in the entire 82-game schedule and compete for the title as any other team would. The report said possible locations included London, Berlin, Rome and Madrid. The SI.com source said that Stern’s idea was to move the NBA into recently built arenas before a potential rival starts up a new European league.
It struck me watching Mike Evans and Jay Triano coach these guys this week that it had to be a tough job for them. I’m sure there were times in each game that they wanted to lay into players for some sins – just like Sam would do – but they had to hold their tongues. Assistant coaches do a lot of one-on-one work with players and screaming at them during a game might make it a bit uncomfortable the next time they had to push them through some workout. Sam doesn’t have exactly that same everyday responsibility so he can – and does – get a little more animated with individuals.
-
Is Stromile Swift the worst second-overall pick in draft history? Just wondering.
-
A Vince anecdote. Ran into him when he was first getting to the arena, trailed by the usual gaggle of cameras. The Kidd deal was still alive at the time and Vince looks up and says, “I thought I was getting traded back to Toronto.”
"Yeah, like that wouldn’t be wildest thing.
With the Raptors running away, Toronto rookie Jamario Moon used the opportunity to warm up for his appearance in Saturday night’s dunk contest, finishing off two alley-oop passes from Calderon, then racing in for a stylish break-away slam in the third.
Moon finished with 15 points and Andrea Bargnani added 14 as Toronto snapped a three-game home losing streak.
Twenty of the NBA Development League’s top players will participate in its second annual all-star game Saturday. And D-League alums Jamario Moon of the Toronto Raptors and Gerald Green of the Minnesota Timberwolves will compete in the Sprite Slam Dunk contest that night. Judges will include two of the greatest dunk artists, Julius "Dr. J" Erving and Dominique "The Human Highlight Film" Wilkins.
"It’s been a very, very emotional day," Lawrence Frank said. "It’s hard. I wish we competed a whole lot harder. Give Toronto credit, but it’s been a crazy day."
Jamaal Magloire was left home Tuesday night because the Nets expected to have 12 players before they started tossing bodies overboard. "It was just out of respect for a veteran," Frank said.
As a result, the Nets had only nine bodies to play the Raptors, with Nenad Krstic still facing a roughly 15-minute restriction.
"We are just trying to finish off (before the All-Star break) with intensity," Bosh said. "We are just trying to play everyday hard. It’s paying off for us right now. We just have to start every game like tonight and give it to opponents early."
"Now everybody can go and rest for four days without thinking about basketball," Calderon said.
Toronto, which also outrebounded New Jersey, 41-28, led by 29 entering the final period.
"All day we talked about 48 minutes and a concentrated effort and just good solid basketball," said assistant Jay Triano, who served as acting head coach while Sam Mitchell was away tending to family business. "We wanted to be five games over .500, create a little space and now we have seven days to rest."
"I don’t think we lost our heart, I think Toronto played better than we did," Frank said.
A few things really bugged me about this game. I know, the idiot pessimist at RaptorsTalk.com had issues during a Raptors win, but yea, I did:
Right out of the gate the Raps looked into it and pretty much were in control the whole night. Not that much to go into when breaking down this one. The Nets had their head cut off before playing and looked lost and like they did not care that much.
I mean Carter generally looks like that all the time but RJ looked like he had lost his best friend and other than a wicked drive and dunk, he looked nothing like what he normally does against the Raps.
I do hope that someone else was watching the Raptors TV coverage of the Raptors/Nets game and saw the clips of Vince Carter arriving at the arena. The baggy sweatsuit, hat, and mean look. Is he angry he is back in TO or not feeling the Kidd trade?
If Kidd does in fact end up playing for the West in the All-Star game they need to put Calderon on the East squad, no question about it. If Kidd plays in the West and Baron doesn’t, that is messed up.
Pre-game show for the Raptors had a throng of fans chanting “VC Sucks” over the broadcast.
Looking into the All-Star Break, there are a few things that the Raptors need to look at seriously. The first is that Bryan Colangelo will undoubtedly be at the games to talk with the other GMs about possible trades and moves in order to bring in another piece that’s missing from the franchise. On the other hand, TJ Ford’s presence is either going to drive the Raptors to that next level or his absence will end up costing them in the second half of the season. In any case, it’s up to Ford to return at full capacity. With Ford in the line up the past few games, we saw a rejuvenated Rasho Nesterovic provide some unexpected offense. Jason Kapono found himself open in the outside and inside of the arc, and opposing teams found themselves having to defend one of the most difficult point guards in the league. Without Ford, the Raptors will continue to suffer horrible losses because Ford’s presence just makes the bench that much more dangerous, which is absolutely crucial in the upcoming months.
Toronto fans took turns booing Vince Carter and cheering Chris Bosh. Carter suffered through a miserable 5-15 shooting night and Richard Jefferson hit only 6 of 18 while Kidd’s two replacements, Marcus Williams and Darrell Armstrong, combined for 23 points and 12 assists but 7 turnovers. The Nets lone bright spot: their pogo-stick forwards. Stromile Swift shot 6-for-9 on his way to a 12-point, six-rebound game while Sean Williams shot 4-for-5 and grabbed 7 boards. Bosh had a monster game, scoring 27 points. The Nets are off for a week.
So … the Raps are back where they’ve been so many times already this season … 5 games above .500 … looking to string a bunch of wins together at SOME point soon.
Perhaps that win streak will come after the All Star break … when Toronto faces Orlando first (on Feb. 23) … then some of the “lesser lights” … with two games against the Knicks; two against Indy; and another against Minnesota.
What I don’t like about a win like this is that gives fans a false sense of how good this team is, once you look at this game in the context of the Clippers and Spurs game, you get the true feel of things. So let’s enjoy this win for what it’s worth: a 48 minute practice session against a disinterested Nets team recovering from losing their key playmaker. Despite missing Kidd one would bet on the Nets to mount some form of resistance through Carter or Jefferson, but neither had a say in the game and this one became an academic matter at the end of the half. The only question that remained was if the fans would continue to mercilessly boo Carter. They did. After all these years the hate for Carter still remains poignant. If it had died down a little, it was freshly renewed in last year’s playoffs and looks to be a fixture for years to come.
Some rivalries should never die down. The wounds should never heal. The demons should never be exorcised. The hatorade should flow forever. Raptors versus Vince Carter is one such rivalry. Forget Boston vs. Detroit, the Celtics just got good again after being irrelevant for a decade, and the Pistons don’t care enough about anyone to form a real rivalry. But this is a rivalry we can get into. Forged from Carter’s tanking and subsequent trade to the Nets, and then resurgence, this is pure hate on the Raptors side. Dinosty’s being laid back about it, but you can still sense the bile over at Raptors HQ.
Toronto, for example, is only 5 games over .500. But if their schedule included 10 fewer games against losing teams, and 10 more games against winning teams, they might easily have three more losses (and, therefore, three fewer wins), resulting in a sub-.500 record of 24-26 — or worse, since 7-3 is very optimistic against ten winning teams.
Jose Calderon is an all-star because he doesn’t care about statistics. Calderon’s one and only goal as the Toronto Raptors’ floor-general is leading his team to a successful season and ultimately a championship. He fails to value individual accolades (such as All-Star appearances). For this he must be commended.
How many “borderline All-Stars” have emotions of complete indifference when it comes to starting games and floor time? How many proven stars are happy to share the point guard spotlight with another player, TJ Ford, because they know Ford’s contributions can help the team perform better?
And Calderon is a restricted free agent at the end of this season! Most players try to rack up their stats to increase their market value in such a situation (*cough* Mike James *cough*).
Jose Calderon’s market value and all-star worthiness should not be based on his stats (although they are damn good stats). To quote Mr. Arenas: “An All-Star is an All-Star! He’s playing at a high level. That means, if you take him off the team, that team should fall down if he’s that one guy.”
If Calderon were removed from the Raptors’ roster, they would fall down. It is his selfless attitude that strengthens and kick-starts their incredible team chemistry. As the Knicks have shown us, team chemistry and personal sacrifice are pretty darn important when it comes to wins and losses. And as Arenas has himself shown us: 29 points, five assists, and five rebounds does not equal, “if you take him off the team, that team should fall down.”
In general, I feel an injury is cause enough to lose your job. Those are the breaks. If a better player emerges from your absence, it is then his job to lose and yours to fight for. With that said, there are other compelling arguments favoring TJ Ford, not the least of which is his relationship with Bosh off the floor and on it (they form one of the best pick-and-roll combos in the NBA). On the other hand, Jose has performed unbelievably well and is officially a top-tier point guard. Obviously, since I was able to outline the arguments for both, I have a tough time choosing a side.
In the end though, I have to go with El Ocho, Jose Calderon. His numbers are off-the-wall good and he has turned former role-players into key cogs without taking touches from CB4. His shooting and ability to change speeds keeps opposing point guards guessing constantly, and his ability to play mistake free ball makes him an attractive option for a believer in conservative basketball, like myself. TJ is a great player and I have no problem with him as the starter or closer (since he is a better scorer). For now, though, while TJ nurses himself back to health in time for the playoffs, Jose should see the lion’s share of the minutes and hear his name announced nightly by Herbie Kuhn.
Feb 14th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Jose to go to the AS team if Kidd is traded? That would be a great honour for Calderon, who definitely deserves it. However, if Calderon is labelled an All-Star, it can only increase his market value. Glad we locked up TJ and made it difficult to trade him (BYC). If we re-sign Calderon, HELLO luxury tax.
Regarding the European league, what do you think the reaction of North American’s is going to be? Can you imagine Francis’ reaction when he gets traded to Germany?