03.24
Karl said. "You win games with stops more than making shots.
Karl said. "You win games with stops more than making shots.
Karl said. "You win games with stops more than making shots.
Karl said. "You win games with stops more than making shots.
Karl said. "You win games with stops more than making shots.
Karl said. "You win games with stops more than making shots.
Karl said. "You win games with stops more than making shots.
Karl said. "You win games with stops more than making shots.
In the end, though, the Raptors simply were outexecuted and outgunned as they ran out of options in a heartbreaking 109-100 loss to the Denver Nuggets at the Air Canada Centre.
But these Raptors have no player — save for T.J. Ford when he is playing under control — who can create his own shot, while the Nuggets possess two in Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony.
When they weren’t getting favourable calls from the officials, Iverson and Anthony were making clutch jumpers and making life miserable for the Raptors, who have suddenly dropped back to the .500 level with a real possibility of sporting a losing record with the half-court minded, defensively strong Detroit Pistons paying a visit to the ACC on Wednesday night.
"We couldn’t score enough points at the right time,” Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell lamented.
"We did a lot of good things, but we just couldn’t get over the hump."
Toronto’s 35 first-quarter points represented a season high and an ideal starting point against an opponent that loves to put up a lot of shots.
From the game’s tempo, to the team’s ability to compete on the glass, to their willingness to get back on defence, the Raptors appeared in control.
That is until Iverson and Anthony began to heat up.
When the fourth quarter began with Denver nailing three successive three-point bombs, momentum began to shift and you knew the outcome wouldn’t be decided until the final two minutes.
It was a period that saw Jamario Moon miss an ill-timed three-pointer with around two minutes to play, a pair of costly Raptors turnovers and Iverson and Anthony taking turns stepping up.
"Chris had nine assists and until he gets back fully, teams are sagging on him,” Mitchell said. "We have to make those shots when he swings the basketball. We got some good looks and Chris did a good job moving the basketball. We didn’t make them pay."
For the second time this season, the boo-birds came out when Ford forced his shot with the shot clock expiring.
Bosh, for one, is perplexed as to why players begin games with a focus and purpose, but somehow lose those edges when things get tough, as they did in yesterday’s 109-100 loss to the Denver Nuggets.
"We just have to play basketball down the stretch because we don’t worry about it in the first two quarters, so why worry about in the fourth,” Bosh said.
"Doing the same things that got us success in the beginning are the things we don’t do in the end.
"I know it gets harder down the stretch in games, but we should step our game up instead of taking steps back."
The issue of confidence was posed to Bosh in the wake of a loss that dropped the Raptors to 35-35.
"I hope not,” he said. "I mean, not with me. It’s too late for that and we are in the home stretch of the season. I hope we are not down on ourselves.
"We just have to get more confidence. Guys have to step up and make shots, get to the basket and make plays."
George Karl deftly shifted the attention from Denver’s two leading men and scorers — Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony — by bringing up Kenyon Martin’s defence on Bosh during his post-game gathering with the media.
"I think you’re missing probably the guy I thought was MVP, Kenyon Martin,” Karl said. "Kenyon Martin’s defence on Bosh, whom they were going to on almost every possession, was incredible."
With a dozen games left in a season slipping away, Chris Bosh has fired a broadside at his teammates and issued them a challenge:
Be tougher. Be aggressive. Be smarter. Play better.
"Since I’ve been here, we haven’t had a player that you can just iso (isolate with) the basketball," said coach Sam Mitchell. "So we’ve always had to run sets and get some movement and misdirection, to get people leaning one way and going the other way.
"But we’re used to doing it that way. Chris has been great about being unselfish, moving the basketball, getting his teammates shots but we’ve got to do a better job of knocking them down," Mitchell said.
Bosh, who had high nine assists to go along with 17 points and 12 rebounds, routinely attracts a second and sometimes third defender, so he’s not about to start dominating the ball against unbeatable defence.
"I just have to continue to be a team player, no matter what the situation is in games," he said. "If I have a chance to take somebody, I’m going to take him, but if they help I’m going to put it in my teammates’ hands. But when they get it, I believe in them to make plays, so I want them to be aggressive."
The Raptors have won only three times since March 1; two of those wins came against the horrific Heat. Now that they’re in a tie with Philadelphia for sixth, there’s no time to be frittering away games.
"We’re in a big stretch of games right now, so, I mean, yeah, we can shoot jump shots and we’ll win games every now and then but in those games where we have to go get it, it’s going to be a lot tougher," said Bosh.
"We live and die by the jump shot," said Jamario Moon. "(But) I think we’ll learn."
The question, of course, is when? The only obvious candidate for the kind of late-game slashing that Bosh is requesting is T.J. Ford, the backup point guard who is not so smoothly navigating his way through an injury-riddled season. But Ford hasn’t played well enough to earn the crunch-time minutes currently going to Jose Calderon. Calderon, whose pending restricted free agency also complicates the playing-time picture, isn’t the kind of off-the-dribble creator that is sometimes required. And Anthony Parker and Moon, the wing-playing Raptors so much more comfortable finessing it than getting physical, don’t appear to be remaking their games to fill the need. There are, mind you, worse problems to bear in the NBA, where geography has usurped chemistry as the No.1 component for a relatively carefree season.
"We call it a Halley’s Comet year, once every 50 years, but I don’t think it’s going to be that way – I think next year the West is going to be tougher," said Karl. "I think the Clippers are back next year. I think Portland gets another (first-round) pick in the draft. I don’t think it’s going to go away. And four or five of the teams ahead of us right now are young. They’re not old …"
We may all be old before the Raptors find relentlessness, but they’re on the right side of the continent to continue the search.
it shouldn’t really be surprising giving the inadequacies they’ve had in wing players over the year, but it’s been seven years a day now since any Raptor had a triple double. That was Alvin Williams against Atlanta back in the day.
What happened to Bargnani, you wonder? Well, a confluence of things robbed him of what could have been a big night after his 16-point first. The two shots he got in the 2 1-2 minutes he played in the second were pretty good looks he just missed; in an 0-for-4, 12-minute run in the third the Nuggets played much better defence on him and then he sat the entire fourth ‘cause Rasho was playing well. The interesting thing, to me, was Sam leaving Bargnani in after he got his second foul six minutes into the first. Usually that’s when he goes and sits until after the half but Mitchell stuck with him and he made all three shots he took before the quarter ended. Since Bargnani seldom plays in the fourth, I’ve always thought Mitchell should stick with him with two fouls every night.
You know what today is, don’t you?
It’s the anniversary of one of the most improbably victories in Raptor history. On March 24, 1996, before 36,131 fans at the SkyDome, the little expansion team knocked off the mighty Chicago Bulls.
I remember vividly Brendan Malone walking off the court and pointing to salute the fans in the 500 level across the stadium.
Tracy Murray – remember him? – might have had the best post-game quote, culled from The Star’s game story.
"We came together so much at the end, it brought a tear to my eye …We kept fightin’. To see us mature and make progress and finally win a game against a team like Chicago is great. This game meant more to me than the championship (with the Houston Rockets) last year.”
The Nuggets certainly didn’t seem worried in the game’s biggest moments. And the Cleveland Cavaliers seemed to rise to the occasion last Friday, too, as the Raptors lost to a potential first-round playoff opponent. The flat finishes against quality opponents seemed to grate on Bosh as the Raptors head into the final 12 games of the season.
His concerns were more general, as he included the Raptors’ effort down the stretch on Friday against Cleveland, when Toronto could manage one field goal in the final five minutes of the game.
"Just go to the basket, you know what I’m saying?" Bosh said. "That’s all we have to do. It doesn’t take long [to fix it]. You don’t need to get upset, you don’t have to be angry … I mean, shoot, stop being passive and go get it. You have to have that mentality. The game isn’t going to fall in our laps."
He didn’t say anything anyone who who has watched the Raptors this season hasn’t said to themselves, or anyone else who would listen. But when the cornerstone of an organization stands up and calmly questions the courage and will of his teammates in the most important parts of basketball games, it’s news, and it’s worth paying attention too. Is he right? There’s no doubt that there is a lack of alternative play-makers on the roster, after Bosh. But at least part of the problem is that the top-six or top-eight of the Raptors roster is likely just not that good, or hasn’t been this season. Bosh is Bosh, and Calderon is tough to quibble with. When Ford is on he can impact the game against nearly anyone, but that’s an uncertain proposition. Beyond that the Raptors have a lot of depth players and quality people, but compared to a teams that have legitimate aspirations of reaching the second-round of the NBA playoffs, let alone beyond, the Raptors fall short, and Bosh is very much alone.
Bosh was clearly frustrated by his team’s performance in the final two minutes of the game, during which a 98-98 tie tipped Denver’s way thanks in part to three fruitless Toronto possessions – one that finished in a Bosh turnover, one in a bad pass by Anthony Parker, and one in a missed three-pointer by Jamario Moon. Like Friday’s loss in Cleveland, the game was lost at the end.
"These last two games are a prime example," said Bosh. "We’re in the game, when we get in the guts of the game, we kind of stop going to the basket, we don’t shoot as many free throws, we don’t step into wide-open shots – we’re shooting all contested jump shots. And that’s tough."
All true, but that is the Toronto Raptors. This is a team of jump shooters, of nice guys. They lead the league in three-point shooting, they pass the ball well, they try to do the right thing. But the worst flaw might be the lack of a perimeter player who can attack the basket when it matters, as Carmelo Anthony did yesterday. That’s the roster.
And that’s not new. As Bosh himself said, "We’ve been communicating it all year. We just have to do it. You can talk all day, but talk doesn’t get much done."
And until that correction, this is a paper team. The last time the Raptors beat a team that they were not supposed to beat was Boston back on Jan. 23, and all Toronto had to do that night was hit 15 of 21 three-pointers, shoot 58%, and not miss a free throw. Toronto is just 14-22 against teams above .500, and even that is deceiving.
General manager Bryan Colangelo will almost certainly pursue an upgrade at the wing positions this summer, chasing someone like Corey Maggette of the L.A. Clippers, to pick a name at random. But it won’t help this season.
So to escape the first round – hell, to avoid the dreaded No. 7 and No. 8 spots – this team will have to shoot its way through, because what else is there?
The one real penetrator, T.J. Ford, is at sea. Anthony Parker is solid, but no creator; Moon rarely sees the paint; Jason Kapono is all jump shot; and Carlos Delfino is slumping so badly that Sunday, coach Sam Mitchell inserted Kapono instead of the Argentine – on defence. There is no Michael Jordan here.
It is the kind of automatic production from swingmen that the Raptors would kill for. Instead, other than the reliable, if unspectacular, output Mitchell can count on from Parker, the Raptors have nothing but question marks at that spot.
Andrea Bargnani delivered a breath-taking 16-point first quarter Sunday, but did not get another point the rest of the way.
The story has repeated itself several times this year, leaving guard T.J. Ford at a loss for words.
"I don’t know what to tell y’all."
"They jumped out to a 17-point lead, but fortunately our second unit came in and got us back into the game and we took care of business," Iverson said. "Our starters in the third quarter cut the lead to two and we were just stronger than them in the last quarter."
The Nuggets have triumphed in seven of their last eight outings against the Raptors, though they had dropped five of the last seven at Air Canada Centre before Sunday.
It wasn’t just the play of the game.
It was a statement.
With the Nuggets up two and 1:38 left Sunday, Toronto’s Chris Bosh drove the left baseline when a trailing Kenyon Martin swooped his left arm around Bosh, somehow scooping the ball.
"I don’t know where he came from," the all-star Bosh said. "This whole season, no one’s made a play like that."
On the other end, the Nuggets’ Allen Iverson then sank a 3-pointer, giving Denver, down almost the whole game, a sudden cushion.
The Nuggets won 109-100, and it was Martin’s emphatic steal that shouted to the Raptors, as well as to the league: Hey! We’re still here.
The Raptors will have a dicey dilemma facing them this summer. T.J. Ford is now technically their backup point guard. He will make $8.3 million next season. Their starting point guard, Jose Calderon, will be a restricted free agent. He makes $2.5 million this year. There is a precedent on what not to do in these situations. The Minnesota Timberwolves in 2002 had made a long-term financial commitment to Terrell Brandon at the same time Chauncey Billups was up for free agency. They let Billups walk and paid the price when injuries curtailed Brandon’s career. Might be wise to pay Calderon and shop Ford.
* Speaking of the Raptors, there is a fan website called ReSignPrimoz.com. Yep, Primoz Brezec is wowing them in Canada.
As expected, the Raptors put the ball in Bosh’s hands on the next possession; smart move, considering Martin was playing with five fouls.
"I knew he was going left," Martin said.
Bosh indeed went left and enjoyed a false sense of security when Martin gave him a path to the basket. Before Bosh could get away a shot, Martin came from behind and swiped the ball with his left hand.
"I don’t know where he came from," Bosh said. "I could have swore I went by him. He’s quick as a cat. I didn’t even see him. I figured he was out of the play, but he got it."
Martin credited the move to his Dallas roots.
"I call that an old-school steal," he said. "I used to see it a lot when I was young – a guy go by and you reach from behind and steal the ball. Guys don’t do it a lot in the NBA."
The theft led to a three-pointer by Iverson with 1:17 to play, and Martin sealed the game when he intercepted an entry pass intended for Bosh and was fouled on the ensuing breakaway with 1:07 to go.
"It’s all about intangibles," Martin said. "It’s all about doing the little things. (My teammates) know I’m going to do that when the game is on the line. It was defense tonight, especially down the stretch."
7 of our 9 players scored in double figures and the other two (Kapono and Delfino) were held scoreless. The Raptors offense has never been a problem, until of course it comes time to score late in the game. That’s when NBA defenses dig in, the opposing coach marks out a weak spot on your team, a play-specific strategy is deployed to contain your best player and the stakes are raised. That’s when the Raptors struggle. And that’s exactly the area where we need to score if we want to be more than first-round fodder for Detroit or even Orlando. Most recently, this deficiency has been highlighted against Golden State, Utah, Cleveland and today against Denver.
Can we score consistently in the clutch? No. Reason? Lack of ball movement, lack of plays, lack of a second scorer. I know it sounds simplistic and redundant, but either we don’t have the plays to utilize the talent on the floor OR we don’t have the talent on the floor. Regardless of which theory you subscribe to, one thing is clear either way: We need to find a real second scorer so that we’re far less predictable in the clutch.
I was trying to come up with an angle why the Raptors lost other than the usual reasons but I could not. In the end talent won out and the Raptors just got beat by a better team. Could they of won? Of course but with Bosh still working himself back into the lineup and AI and Melo just going off, I am not surprised by today’s score.
This was the best game the Raptors have played against an elite team in a couple months. They came out of the gates, firing on all cylinders. Shooting a blazing 66% from the field. They moved the ball around the perimeter, found the hot player (mostly Bargnani, who had a great half, but didn’t play much afterwards), and stuck their shots. Bosh even had 5 assists. Not surprisingly, they had a 12 point lead at the end of the 1st.
In true Raptor fashion, they went away from the things that were working for them:
- Parker started the game on Iverson, limiting his effectiveness on the offensive end. This stopped for some reason in the 2nd half until the mid-way point of the 4th.
- The Raptors stopped slashing through the paint with the ball in the post in Bosh’s hands.
- The Raptors stopped moving the ball around the perimeter.
- Bargnani was planted on the bench for most of the 2nd half.
This forces me to wonder what Smitch was barking at the guys to do. Seriously, you take a 12 point lead doing all those positive things, and stop doing them for no apparent reason. Denver did pick up their defense, but it isn’t as though they are a great defensive team.
Macro-analysis:
* 3FG% … TOR 33.3, Den 50.0
* FGM … TOR 8, Den 11
* FTM … TOR 10, Den 20
* Turnovers … TOR 11, Den 7
* Steals … TOR 3, Den 7
Micro-analysis:
(in the 2:36 of the 4thQ, when the game was decided)
- Regular Time-out (Denver) … after Anthony Parker’s 3-pt shot gave Toronto a 2-pt lead (98-96)
I look at this game in two ways. On one side of the coin it’s so much better to watch this team at full health. With Bosh they can compete with anyone, they just didn’t finish and that happens. On the other side of the coin they really blew it. When Franchise talked about the three keys to a victory the Raps started a perfect 3 for 3. Toronto controlled the tempo early and came out strong. They also out-rebounded the Nuggets in the first half and played the perimeter fairly well. The second half things started to change. The Nuggets started to re-assert themselves on the glass (the teams ended up tied) and despite some solid defense, they simply hit difficult shots. The deep 3’s were especially daggers.
The Raptors have struggled recently and are currently in line to play the Magic, who they actually have had a lot of success against. Chris Bosh seems to play his best against Dwight Howard, so this match-up may be a special one. The Raptors’ guards would easily overwhelm the Magic back-court, as Jameer Nelson and the Magic’s limp 2nd guard rotation have been the team’s key weaknesses.
There’s a million different ways you can try and decipher how the Nuggets won, but the one that I can most clearly point to is how Denver secured the defensive end, and then rode the efforts of the Dynamic Duo. The Nugget gave up way too many points to start this game, and after making the necessary adjustments exposed the Raptors for the shooting team they are. And as we all know, teams that rely on shooting the ball well on a nightly basis are teams that can be knocked off their stride with a certain ease compared to a team that relies on, say defense, which is much harder to rattle.
It is really amazing how much a first shot can impact on Andrea Bargnani. If he hits it then the chances are good he is going to do well…Today he shoot he scores. He was 4 of 5 from field to start. Raptors were up by 9 as Andrea Bargnani had an Alley Oop to up his % and points which was now at 11. Bosh meantime on just before his birthday was handing out the gifts with 5 assists just about 3/4 of the way through the first. Bargnani was on fire he was at 16 points and in danger of doing more damage. Raptors were lighting it up and it was almost a case of role reversal from 10 days earlier. Not quite as bad for Denver but the Nuggets were shooting poorly and trailed by 12 points. Bargnani was 7 of 8 in the quarter with his 16 points to lead the Raptors. He would end up doing nothing beyond this quarter. The Team shot 66.7% and lead 35-23. That was the highest point total in a first quarter this season.
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