04.16
In a star-driven league where its marquee players get preferential treatment, the Raptors are hoping Chris Bosh is afforded the same luxuries.
In the most basic of terms, it’s known as getting the calls when an official blows his whistle.
Despite his status as a three-time all-star, Bosh hasn’t always been given the benefit of a doubt on border-line fouls.
Bosh and Howard are the two biggest names, the two players who will be asked to carry much of the burden and the two players whose play likely will decide the series winner.
What New Jersey did last year was disrupt Bosh on each touch, coming with double teams on the catch or on the dribble.
Bosh admits the Nets made him uncomfortable, a game plan Orlando is certain to employ.
"If I don’t see a double team, it’s a bit of a surprise,” Bosh said as the Raptors close out the regular season tonight in Chicago.
The key, Bosh concedes, is to get Howard into foul trouble.
"Sometimes I am a mismatch for him,” Bosh said. "He has guarded me in the past and anytime that happens I try to use my quickness."
"I know (Orlando) will have a big game plan for me,” Bosh said. "I have to stay ahead of the game right now.
"I have to stay focused and be dominant."
Raptors centre Rasho Nesterovic will be making his 10th post-season appearance in this, his 10th NBA season.
While Chris Bosh deservedly gets all the attention on the team, Nesterovic is having a breakout year and shows no signs of slowing down.
"I don’t even know who this guys is," head coach Sam Mitchell said as he continues to marvel at Nesterovic’s professionalism and preparation.
It’s no secret that Mitchell will have Nesterovic matched up against Dwight Howard when the opening-round playoff series tips off in Orlando, likely on Sunday.
"I think we match up well against them," Nesterovic said of the Magic. "Rebounding and small mistakes are going to decide the games."
So if you’ve been put to sleep by the 82-game snoozefest that ends tonight in Chicago, don’t dismay. Here’s an up-to-the-moment guide to the salient storylines in the lead-up to the first-round playoff series with the Orlando Magic, which is expected to begin Sunday.
You need to know about:
A schedule update: The NBA tells us it’ll be overnight before they get the official schedule for the first round out, given that it seems almost every single game out west means something about playoff seedings. So watch here, we’ll get it up as soon as we can.
But we do know it’s a Sunday start (5:30 p.m. or 8 p.m.).
One thing they have to do? Let Carlos get some time playing point guard.
Why? Game 6 last year in Jersey.
I know it’s a long shot, but what if both point guards get hurt? There’s no Darrick as an emergency and someone has to at least be able to dribble the ball up the court.
But the real matchup in the series, expected to start Sunday in Orlando, is one of even greater contrasts: Superman against Rasho Nesterovic, the quiet, unassuming veteran centre who is more like the NBA’s version of Clark Kent.
“He so good it’s tough to stop him 1-on-1,” Nesterovic said of Howard after a light practice yesterday. With its playoff seeding set, Toronto will play a largely meaningless final regular-season game against the Bulls in Chicago tonight.
“You have to make it as tough as you can, but to stop him completely is impossible. We have to have team defence and help each other.”
“You want to make [Howard] tired, but I don’t know if he gets tired, he’s in such great shape,” Nesterovic said. “But if you can take away some double teams and some rotation, it should help.”
“He’ll make him work for everything,” said Darrick Martin, now one of the Raptors assistant coaches after being waived by the club earlier this season. “Rasho maybe doesn’t appear to be physically strong, but he’s dense. You’re not going to move him. He’s got that old-man strength. He knows how to play and how to position himself.”
And there is precedent. Last December, with Bosh out with an injury, Nesterovic played Howard mostly without help and held the Magic centre to 17 points on 6-for-17 shooting in one of the important wins the Raptors had in the season.
If Nesterovic can establish his offensive game – mostly little layups, jump hooks and short jumpers he finds room for with teams focusing on Bosh – the hope is he will draw Howard from the basket and allow Bosh room to work while making sure Howard has anything but.
the Raptors’ regular-season audiences on TSN, Rogers Sportsnet and the Score showed growth for the second consecutive year, despite a somewhat disappointing season.
TSN averaged 164,000 viewers in 21 games for a 6-per-cent increase over last season. Sportsnet had an average of 150,000 in 12 games, up 13 per cent. At the Score, the average was 119,000 for 30 games, an increase of 7 per cent.
The CBC, in its first year as a Raptors broadcaster, topped them all with 181,000 viewers for seven Sunday afternoon telecasts.
David Errington, the Score’s senior vice-president, is bullish on the Raptors and basketball generally. With TSN and Sportsnet focused on the NHL, the Score’s strategy is to “own basketball,” he said.
In addition to the Raptors, the Score has acquired non-Raptors NBA game rights, previously belonging to Sportsnet, for 2008-09. The network also airs U.S. and Canadian college basketball.
“It’s a property that fits in well with our young, urban demo,” Errington said.
He says he did not want people to think he was a "jerk." He did not want fans to think of him the same way he thought of Orlando Magic centre Dwight Howard during his formative years in the NBA.
"He thought the same thing of me. We both thought each other was stuck up," Bosh said at his team’s practice Tuesday. "That’s how it is sometimes before you talk to someone. After we talked, I saw he was a light-hearted guy. He loves joking. He just plays hard on the court."
In three games against the Magic last season, Bosh averaged 34.3 points and 11.5 rebounds per game. Over the last two seasons, the Raptors are 4-1 against the Magic with Bosh in their lineup.
All of which gives Bosh ample material for some friendly chiding.
"Usually he’s mad," Bosh said of his conversations with Howard. "He’ll tell me if I shoot a three on him, or try to take it to him every time, he’ll get mad."
"He plays good against almost everybody. I don’t know if he is better against Orlando or Detroit," Jose Calderon said. He got 30 [points] and 10 [rebounds] against Detroit [on Sunday], so I don’t know. He’s our guy. He’s our best player. We expect that from him.
"Hopefully he’s going to have another four in a row."
At 31, he has scored in double figures in 17 consecutive games, during which he has averaged 16.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.1 blocked shots and 58.5% shooting.
To put that in perspective, Rasho has averaged double figures in scoring just once in his 10-year career. Oh, and it’s four 20-point games this month, Sam.
"I’ve never seen him producing like this at any level," says Raptors assistant general manager Maurizio Gherardini, who first saw Nesterovic play about 15 years ago. "Even when he was at Bologna or Ljubljana, he never had these kind of numbers, never."
"Rasho doesn’t appear to be physically strong, but he’s dense, so you’re not going to move him," says Darrick Martin, who was named a basketball development consultant this season. You mean old man strength, Martin is asked? He nods enthusiastically.
"Yes, exactly. He grabs you and you’re like, ‘Hey! Come on, man.’ "
"I don’t think I’m the key guy," says Nesterovic, a funny guy who goes bland for the cameras. "I think the key is going to be how the team is going to play. I mean, he’s so good … To stop him completely is impossible. He’s learned a lot in three years. He’s one of the best players in the league right now."
Nesterovic’s first child was a son, Nikola, born in November. But instead of being exhausted, Nesterovic says he has been galvanized.
"It gives you extra energy," says Nesterovic, whose wife is 5-foot-10. "He is a good sleeper, better than his father. He slept well from the start. [Now], You can’t carry him around for a long time – he’s too big. He’s a pretty big kid, yeah. Genetics work out good … Maybe that calmness [helped]. Probably."
"There’s something about having a kid," says Martin. "As a father myself, I know I started playing much better once I had my child. I don’t know what it is. I guess you know you’ve got that extra mouth to feed."
"The kid gave him a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of extra energies," Gherardini says. "Plus I think there are stages in your life, sometimes you click. Now he’s settled in, he likes the town, he enjoys this environment, he feels at home. These are all positive factors … The report that I gave on the Eurobasket [tournament last summer] was that the biggest surprise for me, even though it was our player, was to discover how Rasho played in terms of numbers, minutes, impact as a leader on the team – things that to that degree, he has never done before."
"I think we learned we got to take control the first couple of games," Howard said. "We learned that every possession counts. We have a lot more confidence. We know we can play with anybody."
"Our routine at home might have to change," Howard said. "Everybody seems to get comfortable — too comfortable."
Expect a high-scoring series as each team ranks in the top five in 3-point shooting.
The Raptors have the edge in a key playoff stat: They are No. 2 in free-throw shooting while the Magic are 27th. Orlando has the advantage in rebounding and defensive field-goal percentage.
"It’s almost like looking at a mirror image of sorts," Magic General Manager Otis Smith said.
"It didn’t matter who we played — it wouldn’t have been easy. This won’t be."
Magic assistant coach Brendan Malone has quite a connection with the Toronto Raptors, Orlando’s first-round playoff opponent. He was hired as their first head coach in 1995 by then-General Manager Isiah Thomas, leading the NBA expansion effort in the Canadian city. "It was exciting for Torontonians," Malone said. "They adopted the Raptors." He remembers having to give a basketball clinic to the media on the game’s rules and nuances. Despite being fired after the first season because of philosophical differences with management, he said, "I look back with a lot of good memories. We put 36,000 people in SkyDome for our first game. It wasn’t the No. 1 sport — that’s what always ticked off Vince Carter. The Toronto Maple Leafs always got the headlines."
Few players are able to match his strength and athleticism, so guarding Howard usually is a team assignment.
That’s the approach the Detroit Pistons used a year ago en route to a first-round sweep of the Magic. Howard put up decent numbers (15.3 points and 14.8 rebounds) in the series, but was never allowed to be a dominant force.
"(The Pistons) loaded up in the paint and when I got the ball and I was going up, they fouled me right away," he said. "I just have to step up to the free-throw line and make it."
Against the Pistons, Howard was just 15-for-33 (45.5 percent) from the free-throw line in that series. He is making just 59.9 percent of his free-throw attempts this season, but believes he is better prepared now if the Toronto Raptors — Orlando’s first-round opponent — employs the hack-a-Howard strategy.
"I think our coaching staff prepared me great this year," he said.
Needless to say, a stellar series from Chris Bosh is priority #1 for the Raptors because it also means Howard needs to work on the defensive end. The general feeling is that Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglo can be contained by the Moon/Delfino/Parker triumvirate but given our defensive record this season, that’s not even close to a guarantee. There’s also the Stan van Gundy and Sam Mitchell matchup that we have to worry about. What I’m trying to hammer home is that we’re the underdog in this series and need to play like one.
Its really too bad that true blue (or is is red) Raptor fans can’t afford decent seats anymore.
Last night, two guys sat behind me in corporate club seats in row 24. They had zero interest in the basketball game. They were there simply because they received a pair of freebies. The guy sitting next to me (not even a corporate type) spent most of the game checking his Blackberry. Chris Bosh can call out the fans all he wants, but until MLSE makes the lower bowl accessible to ‘real’ fans – nothing will change.
I would also guess that at least 20% of the lower bowl were no-shows last evening – which in itself indicates that the corporate seat owners don’t really care about the Toronto Raptors.
Sam Mitchell was exposed this season. The smoke and mirrors that were last season were removed this year as we saw Sam continually outcoached, with the Raptors unable to hold leads, run dead ball plays and defend in the crunch. We have to give credit that the Raptors did have some good defence this year, but there were far too many defensive lapses at key moments in games that led to losses. Heading into the playoffs, the Raptors can ill afford those same lapses, as one mistake could cost you a game…and that could have you one step closer to the golf season.
But last year is looking more and more like an aberration. A year where they caught some people by surprise and guys had career years. Things have leveled off in some areas, while others have declined. This team still can’t manufacture stops on the defensive end on a consistent basis (The Tepid shot over 50% in the first half last night). This isn’t news. Though statistically they’re better defensively this year, the past two months have seen some pretty awful efforts to stop the opposition. What’s news is the steady decline of the Raptors ability to “make shats.” There’s theories abounding as to how and why the best three point shooting team in the league percentage wise has been taking less of them. The fact that the deadliest three point shooter in league history (percentage wise) not only made one, but also took one for the first time in a month yesterday is troublesome.
Part of why I write a blog is because I love basketball, the media and the Toronto Raptors. But if this blog can do good for someone or something I am all for that. Jack is a great person and has entertained myself for 10 years now. I want that to continue and that is why I continue to keep this topic going. Doug invites you to contact MLSE and have your say. I encourage that as well. But I would also encourage you to support something I started that I think may have just as much impact if not more if enough do it.
Down the stretch, the Raps’ season has turned into a disappointment. The unwritten goal for the team was the second round of the playoffs, but I don’t see that happening this year. It pains me a little to say it, but Dwight Howard is going to get the best of Chris Bosh and a surprisingly effective as of late Rasho Nesterovic. The Raps have no answer for Hedo Turkoglu. Orlando has had too strong a season, and Toronto has plunged too deeply into mediocrity for them to make this competitive. A Magic sweep wouldn’t surprise me, but the Raps fan in me would at least like to see it go five.
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