Linkage - March 08
In the end, the Raptors came up short by going small.
In one of those typical NBA games that aren’t decided until the final two frenetic minutes, both the host Raptors and visiting Wizards went small, spreading the floor and trying to essentially out-jump shoot each other.
It made for some dramatic and entertaining moments, momentum shifts, lead changes and ultimately heartache for the Raptors.
Officially, Bosh is listed as day to day and barring some medical miracle, he’ll be unavailable for tomorrow’s matinee against Kevin Durant and the Seattle SuperSonics.
Moreover, it’s looking more likely that Bosh will miss the team’s coming five-game foray to the West.
While many lips remain sealed, there are growing whispers that Bosh may have suffered some form of injury to his cartilage.
Without Bosh, the Raptors rely even more on their jump shots. When they can’t control the boards, they become even more vulnerable, a deficiency Washington capitalized on.
"We just couldn’t make shots,” Moon said of the Raps, who began shooting five-of-21 from the floor and ended the game hitting just 39% of their shots.
Up next is the youthful Sonics, who beat today’s expected snow storm by arriving into Toronto last night following their game in Philly.
"It’s really important for us to go (on the road) with a win,” Calderon said.
After reviewing the incident, the NBA yesterday upgraded the flagrant foul one to a two, which carries an automatic one-game suspension.
Despite being matched up against smaller defenders, Bargnani spent last night’s tip against the visiting Washington Wizards on the perimeter.
He did knock down his first three jumpers, including two three-pointers.
Unable to execute crisply without their anchor, the Raptors lost for the fourth time in their last five games, succumbing to the Washington Wizards 110-106 in a wildly entertaining overtime affair that helps create some buzz about what might happen in the middle of the Eastern Conference playoff race.
"There are just certain plays Chris can make that other people can’t make," said coach Sam Mitchell. "When you put the ball in his hands, it creates situations, mismatches, double teams and things of that nature."
But when he’s not there, the possibility of bad things happening to the Raptors increases exponentially.
And there were more than a few of them down the stretch and in overtime before another sellout crowd.
Andrea Bargnani, otherwise exceptional in a 27-point night, committed a needless foul with Toronto down two and 30 seconds left in overtime, a foul that led to two clinching free throws for Washington’s Antawn Jamison.
"We weren’t supposed to (foul)," Mitchell said. "We knew we’d get the ball back, make or miss. (But) those things happen. Sometimes they happen with young players, they happen with experienced players, too."
"The thing was, in the last two or three plays, they really played good and when we played really good defence they had the offensive rebound," said Jose Calderon, who had a 20-point, nine-assist gem.
The loss clouds the East considerably as the final quarter of the regular season unfolds.
Toronto remains fifth, but with only a three-game edge on the Wizards and 4 1/2 games on surging Philadelphia in seventh.
Again, the Raptors played far too much weenie-ball, hoisting up jump shots and mostly avoiding the heavy lifting down low. In losing the first half by eight points, exactly one Raptor got to the free-throw line. Things changed in the second half, when they ramped up the defence and began driving the ball, reaching the line 20 times, which is sufficient. But it takes energy to dig out of a hole and after Jose Calderon drove them into a lead, the offence went flat when T.J. Ford replaced him to start the fourth quarter.
The most consistent Raptor was Andrea Bargnani, with 27 points and, amazingly for him, only one foul, although that one was a costly misjudgment in the final 30 seconds to make it a two-possession game the wrong way.
Bargnani got right back on the horse and Sam Mitchell kept him there, playing him the first 34 minutes and a career-high 48 overall. Part of it was that he was the only real offensive threat in the first half, scoring 16.
Whether or not this episode has a chance to harden Bargnani remains to be seen. He doesn’t show much of a mean streak, but that can be cultivated and perhaps more victimhood will grow it. (He was taking dental treatment post-game and unavailable for analysis.)
"It all depends on who you are. I don’t think that’s going to make him tougher,” Mitchell had said. "Hard fouls are part of the game. Everybody who plays is going to get hit in their career.”
Mitchell’s probably right, but we shall see if there’s an effect on his outlook.
So, Alexander Johnson gets suspended for smacking Andrea – the only right thing to do.
Not sure what this says, but it does say something: There have been three guys suspended for hitting Raptors this season (Al Horford and Anthony Johnson of Atlanta, Miami’s Johnson) and not one single Raptor has even had a Flagrant Penalty I called all season.
But, as they say, it’s been forever thus.
In the long and not-so-storied history of the franchise only two players – Keon Clark for elbowing Troy Murphy in 2001 and Corliss Williamson for getting in a scrap with Tom Gugliotta – have ever been suspended for on-court acts of aggression.
The Raptors made up for their poor shooting by forcing 22 turnovers, including 11 steals, while the Raptors gave up the ball only nine times.
After tomorrow’s game against the Seattle SuperSonics, the Raptors will head out on a nasty five-game Western Conference trip with no certainty Bosh will be available for any of it.
His teammates are putting up a brave face, however.
"We have a lot of guys who can make plays," said Jose Calderon, who had 20 points and nine assists.
Mitchell’s prescription for playing without his franchise player is beguilingly simple. "Just move the basketball," he said. "As long as we get a quality shot, we feel we have enough guys that can make it."
The early returns last night would suggest maybe not, as Toronto shot just 33.3 per cent in the first quarter and fell behind 29-20. Calderon and Parker, two of the Raptors’ steadiest performers, started off 2-for-12 between them.
A few things stick out when looking specifically at the Raptors:
Bosh is 12th in the league in net point differential (+11.0) and 5th in the league in increasing his team’s trips to the free throw line (fairly obvious).
Calderon is 19th in the league in increasing his team’s effective field goal percentage (still fairly obvious).
Jamario Moon leads the Raptors in decreasing the opponent’s shooting percentage (also obvious). In that same category however, there was a shocking result on the other end of the spectrum: Jose Calderon is dead-last in the league, as opponent’s improve their shooting percentage by 5.7% when Calderon is on the court, as opposed to off. Wow, I knew he struggled defensively, but, I mean, ouch! Bargnani is also in the bottom third of the league at a 2.2% jump.
The key fundamental battle I see from these stats when it comes to the Raptors is the difference in the team’s performance when Anthony Parker is on the floor compared to Carlos Delfino. When Parker is on the floor, the Raptors turn the ball over less, and shoot a better percentage. When Delfino is on the floor, the Raptors defend better, rebound much better, but turn the ball over more often, and shoot a lower percentage. Granted, these numbers include occasions when both of these players are on the floor, however, I think this is what the Raptors struggle with when determining when (and how much) to use Delfino. He brings a lot to the table, but he also takes things off of it.
Not that he’s got a problem with Calderon, not that he’s got an issue with Mitchell, not that he’s headed into a long-term pout. Just that as a 24-year-old who’s been a star since he was in sixth grade, he’s having some issues imagining himself as a second-unit player, even if he does, intellectually, understand why he’s in the situation he’s in.
The way it was explained to me was that Ford started talking about his rough fourth quarter against Orlando and it turned into a long session on his role and his state of mind. This, of course, is very T.J. Although he might seem a bit scowly on the floor, he’s very much heart-on-his-sleeve of the court. If he’s happy — which is most of the time — everyone knows it. And you can tell when he’ s less so too.
Crisis? No. But an interesting little sub-plot to follow.
Bargnani’s toughness has been a source of concern of many Raptors followers, but he seemed fine after the hit, playing all 24 minutes in the first half.
In what had to be one of the most amazing statistics of the season, the foul-happy Bargnani did not pick up a single infraction in the half.
That could be seen as a negative, showing Bargnani’s unwillingness to mix it up in paint. Still, Toronto will take 18 first-half points from the second-year professional any night. He finished with a game-high 27 points. They were not enough, however, on a night when too many of his teammates delivered bricks.
Anthony Parker missed 11 of his 15 field-goal attempts. T.J. Ford missed four of his five shots in just 14 minutes, leaving the locker room quickly after the game. Carlos Delfino went just 7-for-17.
It was not the shooting alone, however. Toronto surrendered a reasonable 10 offensive rebounds for the game, but they came at inopportune times. With the game tied with just more than a minute to go in overtime, Andray Blatche grabbed one, which led to two free throws.
With a minute to go in regulation, DeShawn Stevenson broke another tie with a tip off another Washington miss. The rebounds were not fatal on their own, but they were certainly contributing factors.
Sam Maniscalco made one 3-pointer to pass Anthony Parker, now with the Toronto Raptors, for the Bradley freshman trey record with 48. "To be even mentioned in the same sentence with a a great person and role model like Anthony Parker is a real honor," Maniscalco said.
The Sixers are 11/2 games behind Washington for sixth. The Sixers openly rooted for Toronto to knock off the Wizards as they watched the game in the locker room.
”Let’s go Raptors!” bellowed Sixers forward Reggie Evans.
They might have to root a little harder next time. The Wizards won 110-106 in OT.
Toronto has struggled to rebound without Bosh, their leading rebounder.
"We miss Chris every game," Toronto’s Anthony Parker said. "But that’s not an excuse. We just didn’t execute down the stretch."
The Wizards had to overcome a 16-0 third-quarter run by the Raptors and won without getting major contributions from starters Antonio Daniels and Brendan Haywood, who did not play in the fourth quarter or overtime as Jordan went with players such as Blatche, Young, Mason and rookie Dominic McGuire.
"All the young guys did a great job," Jamison said. "Andray came in and had a tough job guarding Bargnani and then offensively, he did a good job. Mason came in and made some big shots and Nick helped keep us in it there late. We had some guys frustrated sitting over there on the bench but Coach had the trust to put some young guys in and they came through for us."
Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan is a big fan of Toronto counterpart Sam Mitchell, who has helped make the Raptors a playoff contender for the second straight season.
"He has a unique way of coaching and it’s effective," Jordan said. "I think the players like playing for him, he lays out on the table and his own personality has meant a lot to that team."
Hampered all week by a sore back that forced him to miss Thursday’s practice, Jamison put the Wizards on his shoulders once again.
With the game tied 102-102 with three minutes left in overtime, Jamison came up with a steal. A minute and a half later, he pulled down a rebound and scored a layup that knotted the score at 104-104. In the last 40 seconds, Jamison went 4-for-4 from the foul line and grabbed another rebound. His play led an 8-2 run, game-clinching run that improved the Wizards’ record to 30-31.
A lot has been made about the depth of the Raptors team and how we can sustain with Bosh being out. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Washington Wizards: Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, Brendan Haywood, DeShawn Stevenson, Antonio Daniels, Darius Songaila, Nick Young, Roger Mason, Andray Blatche, Dominic McGuire. That is called depth. It doesn’t matter to these guys that they’re two best players are out, they have a good coach and a solid supporting cast that understands their role and plays within it. Eddie Jordan has done a tremendous job with this group of players who play aggressive, hungry and most of the time, smart. In shartp contrast, look at us with Chris Bosh out. But we shouldn’t be shocked that we lost this game, our best interior defender, best rebounder, best scorer and best player wasn’t playing, thus exposing the false facade that is the depth on this team
2008 is going to be a bad summer for fans of the NBA free agency period. It’s unlikely that most of the key free agents will opt out, your favorite team probably doesn’t have any money to spend, and the league may be worn out when it comes to selling superstars for 50 cents on the dollar.
Don’t fret, though. This is all leading to three entertaining scnearios:
1. An offseason that could include a large number of small trades. Suddenly 2009 expiring contracts like Rasho Nesterovic, Eric Snow, Malik Rose and Bobby Simmons have serious trade market value.
2. A very active February in 2009, for the same reasons as above. Championship contenders could find themselves dealing valuable expiring deals for that last missing piece.
3. The most entertaining summer ever in 2009. Half of the league will have significant cap room and there will be a huge cohort of big name free agents. Interesting, too, is that a few select teams will be posturing for the following offseason when LeBron, Wade & Co. can opt for free agency.
T.J. Ford, I love yah, I am big fan but what are you doing? You looked like you got payed off by the Wiz tonight and can you at least smile over there on the bench?
Primoz is the new kid in town and he is the only one up slapping fists and showing some excitement. Maybe a little too much with the tech but I will take it. He at least has some fire.
I was about ready to rip Sam apart when Ford was tossing the game away but he got Calderon back in the game pretty fast. Tired? Who cares, do they have any idea just how big that game was??
Ah Friday nights are becoming painful for me. No more Raptors games on Friday please.
The Toronto Raptors faced a lot of adversity early in the season last year. This season it appears to be happening now. There were lots of good things to take away from this game and they will face a Seattle team that was getting blasted by the Sixers on this night. A long weather delayed trip to Toronto will not exactly make the Sonics in any kind of a fighting mood on Sunday. If the Raps match what they did in this game on Sunday they will get a win before hitting the West Coast. There is even talk on if Bosh will be going on the trip that is really not a good sign at all. The injury actually happened when he had an awkward fall in the the first Indiana game. At the time I thought it looked bad but when he return to the game I thought nothing of it. Now I can’t stop thinking about it.
For those of you who think Bryan Colangelo is out of touch and doesn’t see the Raptors for what they really are – you’re wrong.
Based on today’s newspaper reports, its clear that Colangelo is not content with where his team is at and he has his eye on upgrades for next season.
According to the Toronto Star a high-ranking team official (read Gheridini or Embry) said this draft is full of bigs and the early indications are that’s the way the Raptors will go in the draft. Then Bryan will search out a wing player in free agency or via trade. Also, the Raptors fully expect Roko Ukic to be here, which may make T.J. Ford expendable to land that SG/SF.
The Raptors official also said that if a highly rated small forward is unexpectedly available when Toronto drafts, they won’t pass him up. However, the Raps brass doubt that, though.
Rebounding clearly doesn’t win games B.C., you idiot. 106 points apparently doesn’t win games either. Man I am sick of this shit….I don’t even want to finish my article, hopefully a good discussion comes out of this.
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