Linkage - March 12
The 15 three’ by an opponent were a season-high by a Raptors opponent, but it’s not as if teams have suffered that badly against Toronto in this category. It’s just that usually the Raptors are either right with them or ahead negating the impact.
That wasn’t the case last night.
"They made three-point shots, but we knew we would have to give up something," Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell said.
"I thought we really contested the three most of the night, except for a couple of times when they got their feet set."
The Lakers came into the game tied for eighth in three-point shooting in the Association, a statistical category the Raptors have owned all season but you would hardly know it the way things unfolded.
The Lakers were hitting uncontested threes like they were 12-foot jump shots. At the half they already had hit nine of their 17 attempts for a ridiculous success rate of almost 53%.
They wound up shooting just over 45% from beyond the arc.
The Sixers, who the Raptors handled easily this season taking three of the four game season series, are playing their best basketball of the year and are just 11/2 games behind the Wizards in seventh.
Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell has had them on his radar for the past few weeks. He has been telling anyone willing to listen that the Raptors were fortunate to come out of the season series with Philadelphia with a 3-1 record, even if the one loss was one of the real stinkers of the Raptors’ season.
Fortunately for Mitchell and his club, the Sixers are looking at a pretty demanding schedule the rest of the way. Of their 18 remaining games, nine are against Detroit, San Antonio, Denver, Boston, Cleveland and Orlando.
The Raptors, though, have to worry about themselves first and foremost and they have their own schedule problems.
With 19 games left to play, the Raptors need wins and no one knows that more than general manager Bryan Colangelo.
"The problem with what’s remaining of the schedule is we have to find a way to win a couple of games here that looking at the schedule you can say we’re not favoured to win," Colangelo said following a practice Monday at the Student Activities Center gym at UCLA. "We’ve lost to too many opponents, especially recently after (winning) five of six and feeling pretty good about ourselves."
"It’s a difficult trip," Colangelo said. "There’s no arguing how difficult the West is right now and some of these teams are playing their best basketball, but once again, it’s an unpredictable game and unpredictable schedule.
"Right now it’s not about holding onto five, it’s about trying to get back to four or three," he said. "You do what you can to win these games."
Bosh was on a basketball court yesterday for the first time since he took himself out of a game Feb. 29 at the Air Canada Centre. He was hoisting some shots just to keep the feel for shooting while he waits for his knee to get better.
Bosh wore a brace for the court session, but it’s one he is adamant fans will not see once he gets back for real. It’s for preventative purposes only and he refuses to wear one in a game as it hampers what he is trying to do.
As for when he will be back in a game, though, Bosh is still no clearer to answering that question than he was that night against the Indiana Pacers.
Knowing they couldn’t survive a typical Kobe Bryant onslaught, the Raptors decided to live with the chance Bryant’s supporting cast would let him down but instead, the likes of Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmar and Lamar Odom buried Toronto under an avalanche of three-pointers Tuesday night.
"We knew we were going to give up some three-point shots," Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said after the Lakers made 15 of them in a 117-108 victory at the Staples Center.
"We were trying to get to the three-point shooters but they made some threes on us. We kept them off the free-throw line, we didn’t turn the ball over, we did a lot of good things but they made some threes."
"With a guy like Kobe you’ve got to give up something," said Toronto’s Anthony Parker, the primary defender on Bryant most of the night. "When we doubled on Kobe they hit shots and when we didn’t, Kobe knows how to make us pay."
The Raptors actually played a pretty good game, even if it wasn’t enough to earn them a win to start a five-game road trip. They had more rebounds (40-36) than the bigger Lakers and they shot more free throws (19-of-22 compared to 12-of-15 for Los Angeles). Toronto only had 12 turnovers and shot 46 per cent from the field.
"They had some guys who just made shots and made it tough for the way we played defence," said T. J. Ford, who led Toronto with 28 points." It’s hard to play Kobe one-on-one; that’s the price we had to pay and those guys made us pay tonight.
Ford’s play was the revelation of the game for Toronto. The diminutive guard played the final 16 minutes of the game and was able to get into the paint all night. While he did still display a penchant for over-dribbling at times, it was his best overall game in a while.
"Ford’s penetration hurt us," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson. "He got some rhythm in the second half; he played a good first half (10 of his points) but he really got into a rhythm in the second half."
Ford, who played 27 minutes, said he’s not concerned about any lingering pain from an abdominal strain he suffered two weeks ago.
"My health is what it is," he said. "Everybody in the NBA is fighting with injuries; it’s one of those things you have to play with. Everyone in this locker room knows how to play with their injuries—it’s not a fact of whether I play good or bad, it’s matter of getting focused mentally and not worry bout the injury.
"I just try to do everything possible that I could to bring some thing to the table. Tonight I had to take more shots because of the way they were guarding us."
Mitchell said the decision to stick with Ford for the entire fourth quarter—when Ford scored 14 of his points—was an easy one to make.
"He was playing well, the group he was on the floor with was playing well," said the coach. "That’s just kind of how I coach; if a guy’s playing well, we’re not just going to snatch a guy out of the game, especially if he’s not tired."
Not sure what you call it, but they showed a kind of new-look defence last night that worked pretty well. It was something akin to a box-and-one on Kobe, or a floating matchup zone, a little twist that might have stolen a game if a Laker team that came into the game shooting 37 per cent range didn’t knock down 15 of 32 tries. It was a bit of a gamble but it worked as well as they’d hoped and maybe it’s a precursor to what we might see in the first round of the playoff if Cleveland and LeBron are the opposition.
"We were rebounding — they are big in every spot and we rebounded the ball well — and we didn’t turn the ball over," Mitchell said. "We didn’t put them on the free-throw line … we knew we were going to give up three-point shots, and we talked about trying to do our best getting to guys. A few times, I really thought we contested the threes.
"We were trying to make a conscious effort to do that, to keep them out of the paint. Kobe gets to the free-throw line sometimes 20 times a game, and it’s hard to beat a team when they shoot 35 free throws. I understand that you have to keep them out of the paint, and when you do that, you’re going to give up three-point shots."
Ford and Anthony Parker took turns guarding Bryant, and the Raptors even used a matchup zone in the first half with limited success. Parker entered the fourth quarter with 21 points, but did not attempt a shot in the final period.
"T.J. got going so we continued to go to T.J.," Parker said of his silent finish.
Let’s face it; the Raptors weren’t ever really going to win this game. The Lakers just have too many guys ready and willing to make plays down the stretch, Kobe foremost among them. But Ford blew the coverage on the last triple by Fisher. There was no need to help on Bryant when he drove he lane. Rasho was there as was Parker. But with Ford cheating into the paint Fisher was more open than open and had time to set up for the pass out from Bryant and that was pretty much the ball game.
Some of the Raptors, meanwhile, looked as if they were still dealing with jet lag two days after leaving for the West coast. Most notably, starting point guard Jose Calderon delivered a lethargic performance.
He did manage a team-high six assists, but turned the ball over an uncharacteristic three times. As well, Calderon missed five of his six field-goal attempts, and failed to keep up with the quick pace the Lakers were setting.
Andrea Bargnani had a decent 15 points and six rebounds, but also failed to make a real impact on the game.
T.J. Ford more than kept up, on the other hand, yet he was still a bit frantic on the floor. Ford did, however, almost singled-handedly kept Toronto in the game in the fourth quarter, hitting jumper after jumper en route to a team-high 28 points.
It took almost an entire game for the Lakers to pry themselves from the Raptors, who were without All-Star Chris Bosh, their leading scorer and rebounder, because of a sore knee.
The Lakers were again shaky on defense, allowing more than 100 points for the fifth time in six games. They were blitzed by point guard T.J. Ford for 28 points and four assists, a bad sign of things to come for the upcoming trip. (Hint: Chris Paul, Jason Kidd, Deron Williams.)
Bryant was less concerned, saying the Lakers had to do "nothing" about their suddenly questionable penetration defense.
"You just let him go ahead and get 28," he said. "If that’s what the guards want to do, that’s fine. You just let him go in there and contest his shot. That’s fine by us as long he’s not getting other guys involved."
"You’re asking me to comment on a game he had three years ago?" exclaimed Toronto Coach Sam Mitchell in wonderment before holding Bryant to 34 in the Lakers’ 117-108 victory.
Not that Mitchell could have been surprised since it came up when he was here last season and will for as long as he brings Raptors teams here.
"He went off," said Darrick Martin, one of four Raptors left from that team. "You could see it in his face, he wasn’t going to pass and he was going to try to will his team to victory and he did.
"I think you could say we got caught watching because some of the shots he was taking, you’d let him take 10 times out of 10 and they just happened to be going in.
"I remember, he pulled up for two or three threes, right at the hash [the mark on the sideline 28 feet from the baseline] and we were like, ‘You can shoot that all day.’
"And they went in. So like, wow."
"Some people just have it in their blood, in their DNA where they just want to be the best," Mitchell said. "But that’s rare. You start talking about Kobe Bryant, you start putting him in a class of people like Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan and Larry Bird and those type players."
VIDEO: How successful will the Raptors be in the playoffs with a banged-up Chris Bosh?
"We have to do a better job," Jackson said. "Not only Ford, but we gave up 42 points in the paint to a team that’s basically an outside shooting team. Ford’s penetration hurt us, and he really got into a rhythm in the second half."
Jackson looked up and down his bench for help as the Raptors made life difficult for the Lakers right from the start. He finally settled on seldom-used rookie guard Coby Karl, who drilled a 3-pointer midway through the second quarter.
Because the Raptors, without Chris Bosh, aren’t a particularly powerful bunch, the Lakers managed to escape the frame down only three. That doesn’t mean they deserved such a tight score. Seven turnovers, including four from Kobe, who, while he scored 13 points, on 5-8 from the floor, wasn’t all that great early. He spent a lot of time working one-on-one, and like everyone else on the floor, became totally enamored with the three point shot. Just as there are times when he doesn’t score and totally dominates (he’d get much better as the game went along, and was awesome in the fourth, as noted above) there are others when he does, but the numbers are deceiving. The Lakers had a flat first twelve, and allowing their mistakes to give Toronto a boost. Even with the easy giveaways, they still held the Raptors to 41.7% from the floor. Take away the miscues, and they leave the quarter with a seven or eight point lead. Big difference.
Kobe Bryant is three technical fouls away from an automatic one-game suspension by the league, a reality that is serious enough for Jackson to have spoken to him about it earlier this week.
Bryant was called for a flagrant foul with 7:14 left in the second quarter of Tuesday’s game against Toronto.
Bryant fouled Kris Humphries as the Raptors forward attempted a shot down low. The referees conferred briefly before calling a flagrant foul, which does not count toward Bryant’s technical-foul total this season.
The Canadian team has lacked a guard with the ability to score and run the offense since 2003, when the Phoenix Suns’ Steve Nash retired from international competition.
Canada coach Leo Rautins said Joseph has "NBA potential" and could "sneak onto the team" at tryouts in June if he can prove he can contribute at point guard. If Joseph doesn’t make the national team’s roster, he and his younger brother, Cory, a sophomore guard at Pickering, still will get to train with a high-level development team.
"Devoe’s going to be part of our future," said Rautins, who also is a television analyst for the Toronto Raptors. "I want younger players to know that if they can push somebody off the (national) team, then they should do it.
"If Devoe can come into camp and do unbelievably well, I would roll the dice on a younger guy to give him the experience. One thing about Devoe is he has a great attitude. He’s very confident and wants to be a great player."
Juan Dixon has been largely confined to the bench since his trade from the Toronto Raptors to the Detroit Pistons. He logged his best game as a Piston on March 1, scoring 14 points and dropping six assists in a 103-73 rout of the Los Angeles Clippers. On Friday, Dixon chipped in with nine points and four assists in Detroit’s 101-97 win over the New York Knicks. Dixon has been averaging 15.2 minutes per game in his last five games, with an average of 6.6 points and 2.4 assists.
The Raptors gave a valiant effort. They hung around, and didn’t let the Lakers put them away till late in the 4th. I couldn’t ask for anything more. They were outclassed by a better team, no bones man.
I mean, is anyone else as blown away by Anthony Parker as I am?
He had 21 points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals, and was seven for 11 from the field against the Lakers.
Granted it’s a little frustrating to know that he’s had this offensive game in him all along but wow…the aggression going to the basket, the smooth shooting, and of course, his usual solid defense and rebounding. And how about the way he’s looking at players now, trying to take them off the dribble one-on-one, even Kobe last night? This is the Parker I’ve wanted to see for a while now, and hopefully this continues for the season, especially when Bosh returns.
In fact, watching him I was reminded of Lamond Murray.
No, not in terms of their style of play or abilities, but in how funny the NBA is. A player can look like a stud on a bad team (Murray with the Cavs earlier in his career) and a stud can look like simply a complimentary piece on a good team (Parker.) It’s starting be really evident to me now how good Parker is, and hopefully the Raptors start doing a better job of getting him involved.
Despite a tough loss there were plenty of positives, probably none so big as Kris Humphries being a force on the glass in the first quarter. Humphries had four boards in less than four minutes of burn in the first quarter and finished the game with seven rebounds and four points in just under 15 minutes of burn. Also worth noting was his beautiful pass to a wide open Primoz Brezec who got hammered on the play yet still managed to throw down the dunk and then hit his free throw attempt.
Speaking of dropping dimes, what’s happened to Rasho Nesterovic? Has the ghost of Alvin Williams taken over his body? Against the Lakers he had two assists that made me jump out of my chair in amazement. It’s always great to see a big man pass the rock like Nesterovic can, and it’s even better to see the Raptors start to utilize his passing out of the post.
Sam’s Surprise Sub of the Night goes to Joey Graham who hadn’t played since 10,000 BC but managed to find himself in the thick of things with the game on the line in the fourth quarter. What did he do? Immediately turned the ball over twice. Nice. Andrea Bargnani with 15 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists but only 29 minutes, I thought Andrea’s production was directly proportional to the touches he got, if we had made more of an effort to feed him the ball, he easily could’ve had a 30 point night. Instead we saw TJ Ford jacking up shots, Delfino chucking and Kris Humphries shooting a 20 footer. Sam benching of Bargnani for the first 8:30 of the fourth quarter is confusing because he was playing decent basketball and was not a liability on either end.
Today was another display of how our offense is looser than a Thai whore. We don’t do a single thing that is of substance nor is there any great amount of planned movement, our scores come off our players making on-the-fly decisions based on whatever pops in their minds at that moment in time. We don’t actually dictate a damn thing, it’s all reactionary thinking lacking a proper plan. It was evident that save Gasol, Bargnani could take whoever he wanted in the post but we only saw that twice all game! TJ Ford can kill Derek Fisher/Jordan Farmar one-on-one, draw interior help and find open people, we saw that twice all night! Jamario Moon passes up opportunities to drive on almost every possession without any word from Sam. So on, so forth.
Long night folks, it is really late and I don’t have it in me to break down a game that we all knew would be a loss. Gotta hand it to the Raps though, they made it entertaining to watch.Here are my thoughts from the late night delivery window.
Mar 12th, 2008 at 11:43 am
That last picture makes me wonder if Calderon was so distracted by being reunited with his Spanish bff that he forgot to bring it to the game.
Mar 12th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Makes me remember the good old days when best friends didn’t speak or interact prior to or during a game. They were in it to win it.
Could have use the “normal” Jose last night. May have been enough to put us over the top.
Scott’s last blog post..Linkage - March 12