Linkage - Feb 25
There’s a new gangsta in town for the Toronto Raptors.
He’s an unlikely one, in that’s he’s 7 foot 1 and Slovenian, but Primoz Brezec, acquired Thursday, took advantage of his first opportunity in a Raptors uniform with a high-dose of energy during the game and his own brand of hip-hop-inflected, European-accented English afterward as he helped his new club to an easy 115-92 win over the visiting New York Knicks at the Air Canada Centre.
"He did well," Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said. "He was talking on defence, he was active. For Primoz, he was running the court. He battled. I just think someone with that kind of enthusiasm can pick you up a little bit 50-plus games into the season.
And of Brezec’s swagger and rap video elocution?
"Rasho [Nesterovic] told me when he first came to the United States he learned his English in Indiana," Mitchell said. "Everything starts with gangsta and ends with pimp. I don’t know who he was around or what movies he was watching [but] I don’t think my name is coach any more or Sam. It’s gangsta."
Which Brezec confirmed after the game.
"Sam’s gangsta too, man," said Brezec, who played with Nesterovic on the Slovenian national team. "He’s not scared, he trusts his players … he doesn’t take [anything] from anybody. If you do something wrong, I don’t have problem if you cuss me out … that’s how it should be."
And some cold water for the Brezec bandwagon: And Eastern Conference scout who has seen a lot of Charlotte said of the Slovenian Gangta’s inspired second quarter, “He can’t sustain it. He’s not that good, first of all; and he’ll break down physically.”
After his first basket, a tip-in, Brezec raised his arm with one finger pointing up, signaling either the number of baskets he had registered to that point, or his new jersey number.
None of the above, actually.
"I did it in Charlotte [when] I got the first basket in franchise history," Brezec said. "So since then, it’s just something I do."
His antics did not stop there. After a pass that led to a Carlos Delfino layup, he crouched and gave the crowd a fist-pump. He completed the trifecta by slapping the backboard after an uncontested dunk.
Toronto’s game-clinching run, however, had little to do with the new guy. It was death-by-three-ball for the Knicks. As the Raptors put together a key 21-6 spurt to start the third quarter, they connected on five triples, all by way of an elementary formula: Give the ball to Chris Bosh, then let him draw the double team and kick it to the open man.
It is the basis, along with the pick-and-roll, of Toronto’s offence. During a loss to the Knicks on Friday, the Raptors went away from Bosh for minutes at a time. They did not make the same mistake Sunday night.
And Bargnani was the biggest beneficiary of the simple math. The sophomore took up shop beyond the arc, firing a season-high 10 long-balls. He drilled five of them, finishing with 25 points in all. He scored 15 in the first half, after Bosh picked up two early fouls.
"Andrea was huge for us," Mitchell said. "When CB got in foul trouble, Andrea had to play a lot of minutes in the first half, and he didn’t pick up any bad fouls. He played great, he was just so consistent shooting the basketball."
The exceptional play of Bargnani and Ford allowed Mitchell to limit the minutes of Bosh (27) and Calderon (29), which was big as the Raptors tip off again tonight in Indianapolis against the Pacers.
"I just tried to lock in and just focus as hard as I could and just try to make plays, be aggressive, get in the crack of the defence and score the ball or make a pass," said Ford.
Having both point guards operating efficiently will give Toronto a decided backcourt edge against whomever they meet in the post-season, as Mitchell well knows.
"We need T.J. and Jose (Calderon), we need them both," said Mitchell. "Jose has played a lot of minutes and as we make this stretch run, you look at our schedule and we’re playing just about every other day until the end of March."
He also was running around holding up three fingers when Andrea Bargnani nailed a long ball, threw his arms in the air like a man crossing the tape after 400 metres after nailing a short turnaround and jabbed fingers both horizontally and vertically after Bargnani fed him for a tidy little jump-hook.
Mitchell, at that point, was yelling at him to cut the (bleep) and get back on defence.
Brezec was 4-for-4 shooting in 10 first-half minutes (to eight for Bosh) and later, in garbage time, he bumped it to 5-for-5, with three rebounds, a block and four fouls.
"I haven’t played the whole season. This was fun. I had a lot of fun today,” Brezec said. "If I play one minute or two minutes, that’s just me. Expect the same thing here. I’m very glad to be here.”
Hey, now he sounds like Mats Sundin.
Not sure how many of you caught it but after Bargnani hits a three to put Toronto up 75-58 in the third quarter, he said something to the little Nate Robinson, who might or might not have tried to stick his foot under Bargnani when he came down from making his jump shot.
Showed more raw emotion than I’d seen in a while.
Of course, was likely entirely justified because that’s just the kind of punk play Robinson might make.
-
In the second quarter of Sunday’s game, the Raptors had five guys on the court representing five countries.
You had Jose (Spain), AP (USA), Delfino (Argentina), Bargnani (Italy) and Brezec (Slovenia). A United Nations of hoops.
The only other that I can think of that can do it know – and I’m not sure if it’s been done before – would be the Lakers, who could put out Derek Fisher (US), Sasha Vujacic (Slovenia), Vlad Radmanovic (Serbia and Montenegro), Pau Gasol (Spain) and Ronny Turiaf (France).
Tells you how far the game has come, doesn’t it?
Apparently, the Raptors never received the memo about the NBA phasing out the big man.
Isiah Thomas claims the league is going small, but Toronto keeps getting bigger - three seven-footers to go along with 6-10 power forward Chris Bosh. And the Raptors’ size and skill overwhelmed the Knicks in the second half last night as Toronto cruised to a 115-92 victory that left Thomas’ club with a 17-39 record with 26 games to play.
"They got a lot of big men who can play," Zach Randolph said.
The Raptors were quicker, tougher and better than the Knicks; they held a 51-36 rebounding edge and had 26 assists and seven turnovers compared to 17 and nine for the Knicks.
The decision to double-team Bosh so quickly is open for debate since Bosh was limited to eight minutes in the first half because of foul trouble. Instead of making Bosh demonstrate that he had found a rhythm and that he could beat single coverage, the Knicks made it easy on him and his teammates to get open shots.
Bargnani all by himself outscored the Knicks’ big-man tandem, hitting for 25 points on five 3-pointers, most of them over an unresponsive Curry.
In the team’s latest sideline snit, Quentin Richardson last night went on a tirade on the bench with 2:31 left after coach Isiah Thomas called a timeout following back-to-back Raptor 3-pointers that bumped the Toronto lead to 100-86.
Richardson, who had been taken out of the game a few minutes earlier, started screaming at his teammates as they came off the court and continued to yell at them for several more seconds before being pulled aside. Richardson, who’s had two run-ins with Thomas on the bench this season, kept up the harangue from the end of the bench.
Earlier, Nate Robinson and Zach Randolph, with 8:17 left in the third quarter, barked at each other on the bench after Robinson was late closing out on two straight treys.
Part of the reason the Raptors were willing to part with Juan Dixon — besides the fact he didn’t want to be there — is they think Carlos Delfino can be an adequate backup at point guard. The Pistons had the same delusion. Delfino can do a lot of things on the basketball court — playing point guard is not one of them.
In the spirit of the Oscars, RaptorsHQ takes a look at some of the winners from last night’s victory over New York.
If looked at in terms of the way his acquisition follows an overall pattern that has worked in the past, and will no doubt continue to be used in the future, Colangelo’s batting-average suggests that there is cause for hope for the Slovenian gangsta. This is a role that I have hoped would be addressed since Garbo looked really hurt that unfortunate afternoon last year, and although Hump is underrated and deserves more burn, finding an Andersen Varajeo type of player to use his activity and length to contribute underneath has been something of a missing link.
Does Brezec qualify as that guy? We will soon find out, but know I wouldn’t wanting to betting against BC on this one, given the signs it could be a sly and under-the-radar move for the playoffs. If nothing else, it may light a spark under another international 7 footer that is going to be more conscious of looking over his shoulder with Primoz around and create the type of internal competition that has been the team’s greatest asset.
When you think back about four years ago there was a huge debate on who was better Jermaine O’Neal or Chris Bosh. Time to declare a winner it is clear that Bosh a three time all-star since has won the debate. O’Neal has been injured plagued and constantly the subject of trade rumors. He has been a huge disappointment. This season he has been sidelined with knee injury and you have to wonder if he can ever be the same player that was a legit comparison to Bosh.
Toronto Raptors: Dino fans want people to take their team more seriously, but it’s hard to do that when they cough up a season-high in points to Jamal Crawford (43) and lose to the Knicks.
Anthony Parker: He had some…interesting things to say after his team lost in New York: "I don’t think you can look at their record and say, ‘Oh, it’s a bad team.’ I think they’’e shown they can go into D.C. and get a win. They are capable of going into Philly and getting beaten pretty badly. They’ve got a lot of talent and a lot of options. I think they played well tonight." I don’t know about you, but I can look at a 17-win team and say TThat’s a bad team." I can even say, "They’re a very bad team." In fact, I can say "They’re a crap-coated poopsicle" and not feel as though I’ve overstated things.
With the comments about Primoz Brezec from various sources being quite discouraging, it was interesting to take a look at the big man in action. The verdict for at least one game, is that he’s a seven footer who plays with emotion and is willing to crash the glass on both sides of the floor. He’s also got some speed for a seven-footer and may very well be a great backup to Andrea Bargnani as his foot speed seems to be around the same level as the big Italian. Of course aside from a little foul trouble, it remains to be seen if he can continue this kind of energetic play.
Bosh had an easy night at the office and the guy is allowed to have them. Early fouls kept him on the bench for most of the first half and he did not have to break a sweat in the second.
Ford had a really good game and the jumper is coming back. He did go all one-on-one in garbage time but he was scoring so whatever. I think he had a little showdown with the always chatty little man Nate.
The other big suprise was the play of Primo! Primo! Primo!
Yep the newly acquired seven footer showed a lot of emotion and excitement to be playing and if he gives that to the Raps every night I will be one happy guy. Active on the boards and on defense and it seemed he inspired Rasho who at one point went for a large follow up jam.
"We were very angry after [Friday's] loss," said Bargnani, who matched a career high by going 5-of-10 from 3-point range. "It was a bad loss."
Brezec entered the game early in the second quarter to polite applause from the Toronto crowd, and got his first basket on a tip-in about two minutes later. Perhaps happy to be liberated from the 10-minute-a-night purgatory he endured in Detroit, the affable big man appeared quite comfortable with his surroundings, interacting easily with his new teammates.
"He surprised me with his intensity," Bosh said. "I’m liking what I’m seeing from him."
On February 3rd the Euroleague Basketball Experts Committee (pllllease) named its 50 most influential personalities to European Club Basketball from the last half century. The list means a ton to basketball on the world-wide stage, but most could probably glance at the list, shrug a shoulder, and move on.
Well to those of you that thought about shruggin’, here are the names you should know pulled straight from the article to make it easier on you!
IC: The Celtics ambushed the Atlantic Division out of the gate this year which has allowed the Raptors to cruise through the season under the radar but in solid playoff position. Are you satisfied with the Raptors season to date? What is holding them back from joining Detroit and Boston among the elite of the East?
KY: As a fan, I cannot be satisfied with the progress of the team this year. If anything, there’s a feeling growing within the community that this team is not as dominant or "magical" as it was last year. A lot of that can be attributed to two players, one of which being Jorge Garbajosa who is out for the year, and the other being Andrea Bargnani who has struggled mightily with his game. However, the stated goal of the team and the president is that the Raptors are supposed to be positioned to become the best of the Eastern Conference. Are they there right now? The answer is a resounding no.
Granted, there is little cause for concern that the Raptors will fall backwards and regress, but the cause for concern is that the Raptors have so many role players and short small contracts that the talent is spread very thinly in several key areas. The most concerning factor is that after two years of office, Bryan Colangelo has yet to find a dominating wing presence to compliment Chris Bosh. It’s that lack of a wing presence that has been exposed several times by sub .500 teams, and is a major chink in the Raptors armour moving on to next year and beyond.
For the high-flier Jamario Moon is, he sure wimps out when he’s within a 6ft radius of the rim with any sort of traffic around. What’s up giving up the ball to somebody who isn’t even expecting it when you have a chance to take it hard? His defense in this mini-series has been brutal, Sam rightfully went off at him after he kept giving Crawford space to shoot. Anthony Parker was then given the Crawford assignment and faired much better by forcing Crawford to create. Parker’s good scoring night was nice but his aggressiveness in taking the ball at Crawford slowed down the Knick G. Crawford’s an awesome offensive player but he’s not a great defender and can’t guard the slower but multi-faceted Parker.
Feb 25th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
This video right here summed up the game for the Knicks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lvYf08X6tc
Feb 25th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
you mean it wasn’t our suffocating Raptor D???
Feb 26th, 2008 at 7:12 am
Looks like we did agree on something, Carlos was just something tonight.
I might be naive on this, don’t you think he is on par for the Sixth Man Award with Barbosa from the Suns???
http://mundoalbiceleste.blogspot.com/2008/02/nba-news-carlos-raps-high-in-indy.html