Linkage - March 29
Total wattage used for a typical Raptors home game at the Air Canada Centre has been estimated at 308,000 – enough to light an average-sized school for more than a week. Amplified sound in the cavernous expanses can ricochet at a head-splitting 96 decibels, comparable to a jet taking off 300 metres away.
While there’s no one on the basketball planet quite like the inimitable Oak, the Raptors frontline of Chris Bosh and Rasho Nesterovic has turned heads, helping to turn around the team’s recent fortunes.
Against the undermanned New York Knicks last night, the Raptors used a nice high-low sequence on their first offensive set with Bosh making a perfect entry pass to Nesterovic on the right block.
The Bosh-Rasho tandem combined for 47 points on 18-for-28 shooting and 18 rebounds, numbers that bode well for a team that seems intent on dumping the ball into the post.
The only negative was Bosh’s reaction to New York’s constant trapping and double-teaming.
While he has improved to pass out of double teams, Bosh did turn the ball over a game-high five times as New York scored 21 points off of Toronto’s miscues.
On a team that is almost too quiet and at times, Nesterovic’s voice provides a calming presence, reassurance when moments get tense.
"For the past month and a half, Rasho has been playing well,” head coach Sam Mitchell said. "We have to somehow keep him going."
"For whatever reason, we just couldn’t put them away," coach Sam Mitchell said. "We’d make a little spurt and they’d come down and get a three-point play or make a shot or we’d turn the ball over. We just couldn’t put it away.
"But we played well enough to win the basketball game; our defence was good enough again."
Anytime Toronto really needed a basket, the ball would go to one of the bigs and usually good things happened. It took Bosh only 17 field goals to get his 29 points while Nesterovic was 8-for-11 from the floor.
And as he’s done for weeks now, Nesterovic once again anchored a solid defence as Toronto held New York to just 39 per cent shooting from the field.
"They were trapping Chris but they weren’t trapping Rasho," said Mitchell. "The third quarter, we were able to get the ball inside to him and Rasho scored. He’s been rebounding, his defence has just been unbelievable, he communicates under the basket, he’s been an anchor for us."
With Nesterovic handling the bulk of the defensive chores, it was left to Bosh to handle the offence. His numbers were good but it wasn’t one of his finest games.
"He held the ball a little bit too much tonight, he turned the ball over a little bit too much … but he’s working his way back into shape," Mitchell said of Bosh, who had five turnovers in the face of an aggressive double-team every time he caught the ball. "I was trying to get him out in that fourth quarter hoping that we could get it up to 14, 15 points and we could never get it to that point. We needed his rebounding and we needed the fact they were going to trap him and we know we at least could get a shot if we threw him the ball."
"We had a game plan on how we were going to play these guys and it looked like we did a decent job on Jamal Crawford but he still scored 20-plus points," said Mitchell. "This kid can just flat-out score."
Joey Graham, the bench-bound swingman who in October promised a breakout year that hasn’t arrived, was a healthy addition to last night’s inactive list. And the rest of the incumbent wings could have only missed the message if they weren’t paying attention.
"Getting loose balls, getting on the floor, playing with some grit and toughness for our basketball team – we can’t keep asking for that (without results)," said Mitchell. "If it’s not in someone’s DNA, let’s find someone who has it in their DNA."
Johnson didn’t get into last night’s 103-95 victory, but the game is in his DNA; his uncle Mickey Johnson played in the NBA for a dozen-some years a generation ago. A pro career, though, has hardly been the nephew’s birthright.
Undrafted after a four-year stay at Tulane University, he is, more than five years later, trying to find a niche with his sixth NBA team.
It’s a story not unlike that of Jamario Moon, the rookie starting forward, who was asked what the presence of another 6-foot-8 athlete with a similar skill set does to his mood.
"It makes me want to make friends," said Moon. "I’m not going to worry about, `Is he here for my job?’"
"To be perfectly honest with you, that’s what everybody thinks. But you never show that," said Johnson. "I couldn’t dare come in here and be intimidated and say, `I don’t want to play too hard, because I may take this guy’s minutes.’ … you don’t belong here then."
Johnson appears to be fitting in just fine. Noting the coincidence that he and Moon were born on the very same day, June 13, 1980, Johnson quipped: "I’m more handsome than he is."
Moon laughed: "We suspect he’s a character. He’s going to be something to deal with."
"You always assume everyone plays hard and everybody plays with grit and toughness. Everyone (doesn’t)," said Mitchell. "If you can’t do that, it’s up to us as an organization to look for people who bring that to the table."
When the teams are introduced tomorrow night, when they get to Mo Pete, stand up and cheer. Yeah, a standing ovation. For a visiting player. You guys obviously love Mo from the mail I get and it’s a good way to show your appreciation. And I bet he’d appreciate it. Might make him cry. That’d be cool.
So, we’re sitting around the adult beverage parlour, as is our post-game tradition (and by ‘our’ I mean ‘mine’), trying to come up with five Magical Mo Moments. Here’s what we got:
The time he finished the layup with his headband over his eyes.
That crazy shot in Washington that tied the game at the buzzer.
When he slapped Vince in the face – all in fun – and got tossed out of the game.
When he got in that scuffle against Indy, bringing then-Pacer coach Isiah Thomas racing down the court from his bench and then-Raptor coach Lenny Wilkens sauntering off his.
And whenever we’d see him in the Harbour Sports Grille picking up an order of wings to go and bust on him. He finally wised up and sent his cousin down after that.
From the department of gratuitous yet mildly-entertaining thoughts, a dude’s looking at the second quarter play-by-play, notices the Knicks 14-0 sorta coincides with T.J. coming back in the game, turns to me and says, “he doesn’t even like coming off the bench in the second quarter.”
A joke, folks; it was a joke.
Just who is in Mitchell’s crosshairs isn’t hard to figure out. Anthony Parker’s been giving Toronto everything it’s asked of late and Mitchell went out of his way to mention that Jason Kapono’s been playing hard, and well, of late.
And because the Raptors think Johnson can guard both forward positions in some situations, it would leave Jamario Moon, Carlos Delfino, Andrea Bargnani and Kris Humphries as guys he might supplant.
"We were looking for defence, rebounding, all those intangible things, getting on the floor, getting loose balls, bringing some grit and toughness to our basketball team,” said the coach. “You can’t keep asking for that. So after a while of asking, it’s Bryan and my job to start trying to find that. We’ve been asking for that but if it’s not in someone’s DNA, you know what? Let’s find someone that it’s in their DNA.
“I tell players all the time, you have to step outside yourself and do what you need to do on any given night to get the job done. The reason: ‘That’s not who I am?’ That’s not good enough, that don’t cut it.”
Johnson, who has been with five teams in five NBA seasons, including a run to a championship in 2005 with San Antonio and two 10-day deals with Phoenix that ran out earlier this month, said he knows not to try and do too much with a new team so late in the season.
"I really appreciate that it is so late, teams have their identity, you just have to come in and try not to grow a new brain, come in and do what the team is already doing,” he said. “Playing basketball all your life, from team to team a couple of words change but it’s pretty much the same thing.”
The obvious object of the message is Jamario Moon, the Raptors’ rookie who made the team as a defensive presence and energy source, but has been prone to inconsistency on both counts.
If there was a message being sent, it was hard to tell whether Moon received it. Before the game, Moon was sitting beside Johnson getting acquainted with a new teammate who shares the same birthday and — potentially — some of his court time. During the game, he was fairly ordinary, with seven points and five rebounds.
"It doesn’t bother me," Moon said. "I just look at it, whatever happens, is going to happen anyway. So I just figure I’ll make friends with him, make him feel comfortable and help him get acclimated to what we’re doing. I don’t look at it like he’s coming to take my job. If it’s meant for me to be out of here, it’s going to happen whether I worry about it or not."
"Whether I’ve been here or I’m the new guy here, you still go hard at the person," said Johnson, who will get his first chance in practice today before the Raptors’ game against the New Orleans Hornets tomorrow. "That’s the nature of basketball, that’s the nature of competition. I expect that, I welcome that, and they should, too. I’m the new guy and I’m hungry, but you should always be hungry."
It’s an attitude welcomed by Bosh, who got the week’s campaign against complacency rolling with his measured yet firm rebuke last Sunday.
"Sometimes the team just has to take constructive criticism, that’s part of the business," said Bosh, who had possibly his best offensive game since returning from his knee injury, posting 29 points and 10 rebounds. "You take, you learn from it and you move on, and [internal] competition is part of that."
Another scenario suggested to me was Donnie Walsh – who everyone is expecting to take the Knicks’ president job – making a run at Ford for a team that needs a true point. For who? How about Jamal Crawford? If the Knicks end up hiring Scott Skiles as coach, it’s unlikely Crawford would be well-received based on their days together with the Bulls in 2003-04, Skiles’s first in Chicago and Crawford’s last. The salaries match; the Knicks need a point guard. Crawford would give the Raptors an end-of-shot-clock scorer who can play both guard positions.
Whatever is going on with Rasho Nesterovic these days, Toronto Raptors coach Sam Mitchell would like to bottle it. Call it eau de Rasho.
"Same old thing," Chris Bosh said in characterizing Nesterovic’s performance. "Rasho, he’s not going to do anything outside of his comfort zone. He’s a big, wide body down there. A lot of people don’t know that, but Rasho is pretty strong. We can dump it down there and get easy baskets, because we know he’s not going to get double-teamed."
On paper, the game should not have been so close. Never mind the Knicks’ awful 20-52 mark. They were not even at full strength. New York’s regular starting big men, Eddy Curry (right knee) and Zach Randolph (flu-like symptoms), both missed the game. Although it can be argued that Curry’s replacement, David Lee, is a worse matchup for the Raptors because of his more purposeful rebounding.
Guard Nate Robinson (right knee) also missed the game. Had any of those players suited up, New York’s bench might have scored more than nine points, and the game might have been in doubt a little bit more.
They also have the advantage of not playing any of the teams they are competing against, mostly playing the teams battling for the #8 spot in the East. Meanwhile, their competition all play at least four of their remaining games against over .500 competition, at least twice that of the Raptors. It looks like seeding is going to come down to the wire for these spots and it’s going to be tight, but honestly this is the place I want to be and barring a pretty big collapse from the Cavs they’re going to be the 4 or 5 seed in the East and I don’t want to face LeBron James in the first round. Which leaves either Detroit or Orlando for first round opponents and no offense to the Magic, but they are as unproven a commodity in the playoffs as Toronto is, so I would rather face them.
Neither team played very well, the Raptors struggled stopping the Knicks and the Knicks never got into any sort of offensive rhythm. If the Raptors had played better defense and played with more intensity, there was no reason why the Knicks wouldn’t have been blown out of the water by the third quarter. This might cost us against New Orleans because Bosh ended up playing a game-high 47 minutes! Yup, our superstar needed to play 47 minutes against the second worst team in the East who happened to be missing 60% of their starting lineup. Yikes!
In the pre-game, Isiah Thomas was asked what he thought of the Raptors, to which he said (and I’m paraphrasing):
“…when the Raptors shoot well, they are a tough team to beat - as they score a lot, and are tough to defend; but if those shots aren’t falling, you can get out on them and score some easy baskets.”
I hope more of the delusional fans heard that. No secret, a lot of us having been harping about this for a while now. You have to figure if Isiah knows, Van Gundy and Brown also know, and have already planned to give Moon 20 open looks a game. Anyways, that’s for a later discussion, down to business:
Let’s take a quick look at TJ’s move back to the starting lineup. You can’t argue that he hasn’t looked like a completely different player. Just how much of a difference is there with TJ between starting and coming off the bench? Well, as a starter, TJ shoots almost 49% compared to almost 42% off the bench. His 3-point and free throw percentages are lower as a starter, which you could associate with fatigue. For Jose, his numbers as a starter or off the bench are pretty much the same. He shoots 53% as a starter, as opposed to 55% off the bench and 45% from 3 as a starter compared to 43% off the bench. If this whole thing isn’t going to blow up, we are going to need Jose not only prove that he is a class guy, but that he is going to be able to keep himself warm and game ready to come off the bench. It appears the Raptors finally have TJ working in control again, it would be a shame to lose Calderon in the mix.
The story was a familiar one - too many jump shots.
Even though the Raps got great contributions from Bosh and Rasho (more on this below) the Raps at times still settled for too many J’s.
Had this been a team playing with any coaching or semblance of game plan, I can’t help but think the Raps wouldn’t have come out with the victory. I mean why wasn’t Jamal Crawford more involved? Seventeen shots is just not enough considering he has absolutely killed the Raptors all year!
Of course it has become pretty much impossible to explain anything that goes on with the Knicks.
This team is a disgrace.
word is that LJ3 will wear #13 for the Raptors.
The most popular player to wear #13 in franchise history was Jerome Williams. Though Mike James suited-up with the same number a couple of seasons ago, JYD has bragging rights in this case.
And the Raptors need from Johnson - or SOMEONE - the kind of hustle, energy, and grit that the Junkyard Dog brought to the floor during his tenure in T.O.
——–
But after nearly being paralyzed and then fighting - both mentally and physically - for more than 2 months to get back on the floor, he’s suddenly public enemy number 1 in Toronto?
I don’t get it.
Clearly Ford didn’t look good as a back-up and his attitude - self-imposed or not - didn’t seem great at the best of times. But I’m not going to write the guy off and start publicly hammering the guy for what has happened in the last 4-6 weeks.
I like Jose Calderon. I believe Jose Calderon is more likely to be the starting PG of the Toronto Raptors in the future. But as long as both point guards are playing for the Raps, I think their differing styles are an asset for Sam Mitchell to expose.
Why many folks have suddenly drawn a line in the sand with Ford and Calderon is beyond me. This is playing out like the ridiculous notion that seems to exist in Toronto … in that you can’t like hockey if you like basketball … and vice-versa. Now it seems like you can’t like Jose if you like TJ … and vice-versa.
I don’t get it.
For the Raptors, who have perhaps the most international players of any NBA team, re-signing Calderon is a no-brainer — though it will be interesting to see how much they will play him if he receives a top-dollar offer. And make no mistake, they own his rights so they can match any offer he would get from another team so unless Calderon is dead-set on leaving Toronto, he probably will remain there. The Raptors are expected to have a payroll of at least $55 million next season, even without new contracts for Calderon and surprising young forward Jamario Moon, but that would leave them some wiggle room under the luxury-tax figure. They will have 10 players under contract without re-signing Calderon and Moon, if they sign guard Carlos Delfino to either a qualifying offer contractl. (They might have to pay more to sign Delfino, too, or could consider letting him leave.)
Good point guard play has been one of the Raptors’ strengths all season. But would they really consider moving the speedy and talented Ford and possibly center Rasho Nesterovic this summer to bolster some other position or to keep only the players they most want while balancing out their salary cap?
Meanwhile, the Raptors are trying to climb the playoff rankings. Does it sound like a good idea to be talking about which key players will be back on your team and which won’t while you’re preparing for a playoff run? I’m sure that doesn’t bring about any unnecessary distractions.
Not that the playoff-bound Raptors are the only team dealing with these kinds of situations. I bring up the Raptors situation only because the point guard play of Toronto’s team has been praised so highly this season — and because people in Toronto clearly are discussing it.
Isn’t everyone getting a little ahead of themselves, though, considering the postseason hasn’t even begun yet and the players should be focused on that? Aren’t the playoffs likely to determine what needs to be done with the rosters of a lot of teams? Just a thought….Let me know what you think.
The Toronto Raptors were coming off a big win over Detroit but no room for a letdown vs the New York Knicks. They would start on a 7-2 run and look to take control and have the 20 win Knicks roll over and play dead.If you believe the New York media that would be an easy task as the Knicks have been accused of tanking it down the stretch. If you think back to the first Raptor season and the dispute that took place between Brenden Malone and Isiah Thomas over Damon Stoudamire’s minutes down the end of the season you could make a case they are right. Thomas wanted Malone to lower the minutes for the eventual rookie of the year and Malone would disagree wanting to win and it would cost him his job.
Rogers Cable Communications Inc. today
announced that its millionth Rogers Home Phone customer, Ms. Sarah Tirkalas of
London, Ontario, won $11,000 during the Toronto Raptors game at the Air Canada
Centre tonight. She netted $1,000 of the total herself and the Raptors' team
mascot made a $10,000 shot for her.
Through being Rogers Home Phone's millionth customer, Ms. Tirkalas had a
chance to do a lay-up shot for $1,000, a free throw shot for $2,500, a
three-point shot for $5,000 and a million dollar shot from centre court. After
taking her shots, the team mascot decided he'd throw in a basket to win her
$10,000. Ms. Tirkalas is also receiving Rogers Home Phone service at no charge
for one year. She already had her cable television, wireless, and internet
services with Rogers before adding residential home phone service to her
bundle a couple months ago.
"I was hoping that after meeting T.J. Ford of the Toronto Raptors, his
skills would rub off on me! No such luck, though I did have a great time - I
gave it my best shot, I won $1,000 of it myself and I'm very happy that the
Raptor made that shot for me," said Ms. Tirkalas. "I want to thank Rogers Home
Phone for rewarding me as a customer, I can think of ten thousand and one ways
to spend the money!"
It is important to note when the Toronto Raptors hired Bryan Colangelo he made some savvy moves by signing Anthony Parker from Europe, trading for Rasho Nesterovic, signing All-Star forward/center Chris Bosh to an extension and finding rookie Jamairo Moon through a free agent training camp. I’m not going to discuss some of the moves that did not work. But, this is what the Knicks have been lacking: A superstar All-Star caliber player (Allan Houston was the last Knicks All-Star), more exciting players who play hard on both sides of the ball, and European talent.
Mar 29th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Regarding the sound level, I just thought I was getting old.
All these bulked-up DJ’s in jerseys yelling into microphones with the platinum blond cheer leaders swishing their hair every which way and clapping lacidasically.
Intro music that I can’t even understand that seems to make the crowd fall asleep. Couple all that with pyro-techniks that burn my face 20 rows up and advertisements that pierce through my brain whenever I try to look at anything.
I find myself yelling at advertisements that play on mini-televisions at gas stations and the airport. Is this getting to anyone else, or is the senility just kicking in?
Spudz’s last blog post..Earth Hour | March 29th 8pm