Linkage - April 23
It’s the NBA recipe for spine-tingling memories: the Raptors put the ball in the hands of their best player in their season’s biggest moment. Chris Bosh let fly a 19-footer with 1.9 ticks left in Game 2.
And so much would be different this morning in Raptorland if Bosh produced the swish instead of the front-rimmed miss.
The faithful can hope for a consolation win or two, but the cold data says that teams down 2-0 in NBA playoff series succumb to elimination something like 94 per cent of the time.
The Magic actually won more games on the road than they did at home this year. So if you like those odds, bet away.
It’s humourous to hear NBA general managers gripe about the media’s penchant for speculation on the job security of coaches. The speculation only exists because NBA GMs, on the whole, treat coaches as disposable.
Colangelo, for instance, employed six different sideline walkers during his decade-plus tenure as Phoenix Suns GM. He engineered a head-coaching shakeup, on average, about every couple of seasons. That’s not to say Mitchell, who has coached for four seasons in Toronto, a little more than two on Colangelo’s watch, is about to get fired. That’s just to say the media’s not so much stirring the pot as reading the trend.
And last night’s game was an interesting study in exactly how mercurial a coach’s fortunes can be.
The Raptors were undone by season-long problems. They couldn’t snag the game-changing rebound in the final minute. They couldn’t stop the dribble drive when it mattered. And Bosh, who played as doggedly as he’s played as a pro, couldn’t make the big play. He missed on a one-on-one showdown with Dwight Howard with about 24 seconds to go, collapsing and complaining of a foul, perhaps justifiably, but futilely. He missed for the win.
When your best guy raises and fires for a shot that can change everything, you have to live with the bounce.
If the Raptors defended the Orlando Magic like they defend themselves, there wouldn’t be any problems in this best-of-seven, opening-round playoff series.
Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo launched an informal, typically low-key, but quite impassioned defence of his head coach, Sam Mitchell, yesterday, suggesting that the travelling Toronto media has been too hard on his bench boss during these early days of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Earlier yesterday, at the morning shootaround, Mitchell accused the media of being too hard on second-year forward/centre Andrea Bargnani.
And T.J. Ford suggested the media has been too hard on T.J. Ford.
And so it goes.
Like most professional sports figures, Colangelo generally doesn’t offer up an opinion until he’s asked, but yesterday he couldn’t resist, casually approaching a group of media guys as they hung around the court prior to last night’s game.
The two-time NBA executive of the year, obviously, wanted to get something off his chest. Specifically, Colangelo believes that Mitchell was hit with far too many arrows for the 114-100 loss in Game 1 on Sunday, defending the coach’s decision to start Bargnani at small forward in place of rookie Jamario Moon, who started at that spot for most of the season.
Colangelo was not about to second guess Mitchell or waver in his "official" support for the fourth-year Toronto coach. There have been published reports, including in this corner, that Colangelo may fire Mitchell if the Raptors fail to advance past the Magic in this series.
Colangelo actually raised that point yesterday, before the media had a chance to raise it first, saying that it is ridiculously early to make any decisions concerning next year’s team.
"I’m not writing anything off, including Sam," he said.
Colangelo has big plans for the 7-foot Italian in the off-season, beginning with surgery to repair some sinus problems. The Rome native will then be off to Tim Grgurich’s Big Man camp in Las Vegas. Later in the summer, Bargnani will train with current Raptors coaching consultant John Lucas, who holds camps in Houston. Lucas was instrumental in getting Ford back in shape this season after Ford returned from his neck injury and is considered one of the best reconditioning men in the business.
Before or after those camps, Bargnani will train in Treviso, Italy, where he played in the Italian professional league from 2003-06. Colangelo added that he does not want the 2006 first overall NBA draft pick to train or compete with the Italian national team.
As for Bargnani’s immediate future, it’s possible that he might be switched to centre from the small forward spot for Game 3 tomorrow at the Air Canada Centre.
"I thought we had the answer and we were going to be more aggressive," a dismayed Jose Calderon said. "But they ran the offence and hit some shots. I really don’t know what exactly our mistake is in the first quarter, but we know we can play against this team. It’s just really difficult in the NBA to come back down 17 or 20 points."
Head coach Sam Mitchell announced that he will make a change in his starting lineup but refused to identify the change other than to tell a reporter, "You watched the game so use some common sense."
One likely casualty is point guard T.J. Ford who, in the first two games of the series, now is 2-for-17 from the field and is being vastly outplayed by counterpart Jameer Nelson.
Bosh liked his chances with the last shot but was shocked Howard was not called for a foul on the shot that he blocked.
"If I didn’t get hit then I don’t know what anybody is seeing," Bosh fumed. "I felt that being aggressive late in the game and going to the basket I am trying to make a play. If I am going toward the basket, how does my momentum take me away?"
"They have done a great job of holding home advantage," Mitchell said. "We have to go home and think of winning one, not two. At some point we are going to have to come down here and win a basketball game, but the thought process right now is all about winning Game 3."
Common sense dictates that Jose Calderon, who finished the game with 18 points and five assists in 24 minutes off the bench, likely will start in place of T.J. Ford at point guard. Ford has struggled in both games, shooting 1-for-8 from the floor last night and 1-for-9 in Game 1.
"I’m ready to play whatever minutes the coach gives me," Calderon said when asked if he expects to start at the Air Canada Centre. "T.J. and I are great partners so it doesn’t matter who plays. All we want is for the Raptors to win."
A reasonable scenario for Game 3 would be Bosh remaining at power forward, Bargnani switching back from small forward to centre, where he played most of the season, Kapono or Carlos Delfino, who had 16 off the bench, at small forward, Anthony Parker staying at the shooting guard spot and Calderon starting at point guard in place of Ford.
"Actually I don’t think about my shot, how I’m shooting or what I should be doing. I just shoot the ball," Bargnani initially said. "That’s what I have always done. If the ball doesn’t go in, I am never worried. I’m more worried about other things like defence or if I don’t go to for rebound. But the shots? If it’s a good shot, I can shoot one of twenty and I don’t really care, because I am not worried about my offensive game."
Minutes later he revised his statement.
"Come on, I’m not saying that I don’t care if I don’t score," he said. "I’m saying I don’t lose confidence if it’s a good shot and the ball doesn’t go in. I’m not saying I don’t care if the team loses because I’m not scoring. Of course I know I have to score."
Whether Mitchell uses Jason Kapono or Carlos Delfino in Nesterovic’s place is open for debate and it could be that the coach decides to chuck the whole "big" approach and pull both Nesterovic and Andrea Bargnani.
"I would be very surprised if we saw them start the three big guys in Toronto," Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said. "I always tell you nothing in the NBA surprises me. That would surprise me."
The point guard situation is dicey. Jose Calderon sparked Toronto’s late surge – one that ended with Chris Bosh missing a potential game-winning shot with 1.9 seconds remaining – while Ford watched.
"Hedo Turkoglu goes 94 feet for a dunk," Bosh said of the play that finally set him off. "That just can’t happen; this is playoff basketball. If we’re sprinting back, you can’t run beside your man, you have to get back, you have to make the offence play against your set defence."
After Orlando’s Keyon Dooling committed a terrible offensive foul with 9.6 seconds left in the game and his team up one, the Raptors had a chance to steal a road win. Calderon and Bosh ran a perfect high screen-and-roll, Bosh got the ball faced up against Howard, but his jumper just missed.
"I knew he was going to back up, I knew I was going to have space," Bosh said of Howard. "The time before, I drove to the basket, I didn’t get a call, so I didn’t want to put it in the referees’ hands. I wanted to get a clean look, I felt that I did a decent job, I got a decent look and just missed the shot."
It was physical playoff basketball at its best and Bosh was feeling it.
"I knew the nature of the game, I knew I was going to have to play a lot, I knew I would have to get my fair share of Dwight and was going to have to make plays on offence," said Bosh. "It’s my job and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s just tough – you work hard and just come up a little bit short."
Most disappointing to Bosh, however, was the time he got hit and never heard a whistle – and it could have meant a different outcome than the 104-103 loss the Raptors suffered.
Down by one with about 24 seconds left, Bosh drove on Howard and although there was some obvious contact, no call was made.
"If I didn’t get hit, I don’t know what anybody’s seeing," said Bosh. "I felt that being aggressive late in the game, going to the basket, I’m trying to make a play and if I’m going towards the basket, how does my momentum take me away? But it’s over now. Just have to let it go."
"We knew that was the play that was coming," said Toronto coach Sam Mitchell. "I thought A.P. played good defence; (Turkoglu) made somewhat of a circus shot. Nothing you can do if a guy makes a tough shot."
Bosh’s final shot, which hit the front of the rim, came off the same play that won Toronto a big road game in the regular season. This time, he was the shooter rather than the decoy. In a win at Boston, Jose Calderon used a Bosh screen for a game-winning layup, and that same option existed last night.
"If they show (on the screen), throw the ball to Chris and it’s Chris’s discretion whether to shoot or drive," Mitchell said of his instructions to Calderon. "We got the ball into the hands of two of our players who were playing really well."
Turned into a starting small forward after spending the end of the regular season as a backup centre, the second-year Raptors big man is being asked to defend smaller, quicker players for the first time in his young career.
"He’s a very good player. He can do a little bit of everything, he can shoot from the outside, can play in the low post, he can dribble pretty good the ball," Bargnani said of Turkoglu, the 6-foot-10 Magic forward. "He’s a complete player."
Bargnani, who was no worse than any of the other Toronto defenders in Orlando’s 114-100 victory in Game 1, does have the theory of his new spot down pat.
"The first thing: Don’t leave him a good, open look from three-point (range) because he’s a pretty good shooter," Bargnani said. "Try to keep him in front, knowing that my teammates are ready to help me."
"I try to play good defence, first thing," he said. "Sunday I shoot very good shots, I didn’t force, every shot was very good, I just missed it. I have to score the ball."
Bargnani and his teammates got a crash course in the errors of their ways on the off-day after Game 1.
"I think Andrea knows what he’s doing," said Bosh. "He’s seen his mistakes, we’ve all seen our mistakes. We just have to go out and play basketball."
So, let’s guess
It’s a given that the three bigs don’t start but does he just do Rasho and leave Bargnani in? I think he could very well because as bad (and I mean BAD) as Bargnani was in the first quarter, he made some big shots in the third and the Magic have to guard him. So, if it’s me, I do Kapono for Nesterovic and Calderon for Ford.
Third quarter, Raps closing and all of a sudden Jameer Nelson finds himself practically unguarded and he makes two straight threes for a 77-68 Orlando lead with about 4 1-2 minutes left. The second one hadn’t even cleared the net before Sam had Jose up and headed towards the table. Never saw Ford again.
The big question is going to be, if Sam does make that change, how is T.J. going to play? We all know how he handled coming off the bench a couple of months ago.
Oh, and while the Raptors are working today trying to figure out new starters, I’m told the Magic will take the day off. Sweet.
This is why I don’t see them putting Moon in the starting lineup. Orlando really doesn’t guard him. They simply slough off him out behind the arc, daring him to shoot threes because, like anyone with access to Raptor season stats, they know he’s a brutal three-point shooter.
If they do Kapono for Rasho, or even Carlos for Rasho, at least the Magic will have to pay attention to them. They won’t be able to leave them virtually unguarded like they did Moon.
Sam looks over at Jose during a stoppage, after they’d run some other play, and screams: “Run ‘angle’, they can’t guard it.”
Angle, at its basic, is a side screen and roll with Bosh and the point guard and got them all kinds of good looks last night. Watch for it tomorrow.
"We kept getting on our guys about looking to shoot the basketball, being aggressive,” Mitchell said after the game. “For whatever reason to start the first quarter, we’ve got guys turning down shots. We’ve got Anthony Parker coming off screens that we’re setting, running plays for him, and he’s thinking pass.”
"[On Sunday] we gave up layups, we gave up dunks, and that in turn triggered their confidence and they start shooting threes," said Bosh, who played 47 of a possible 48 minutes. "And then we opened up the next game and we’re down 14-4 and Hedo Turkoglu goes 94 feet for a dunk. That just can’t happen. This is playoff basketball. … The way we’re starting games is unacceptable."
"It’s a different game if the score is tied or if we’re down two or three at the end of the first quarter," he said. "So we’re going to change the [starting] lineup. I’m not going to say who, but you watched the game, so use your common sense."
Also sitting would likely be Rasho Nesterovic in order to keep Andrea Bargnani in the lineup, which in turn increases the likelihood that Bosh would be covered by Howard, the Magic’s star centre.
It was that matchup that allowed the Raptors to get back in the game. Using his quickness against the Magic big man, Bosh caught fire for 16 of his team-leading 29 points in the second quarter as the Raptors pulled back to tie the score for the first time with a minute left in the half.
The relevance here is that Bargnani continues to play a major role on a playoff team based almost entirely on the promise of his production: when the moon is right he might be the most prolific scorer on the court.
But that happens just sometimes. He’s a seven-foot jump shooter who shoots just 39 per cent from the floor. A three-point threat that is shooting just 27.6 per cent from deep since the All-star break.
Is he worried? Practising more? Altering his mechanics? Watching film?
Ask him all these things and he’ll respond in coach-speak and say that his main emphasis is defence and rebounding.
Anyway. Here’s a pre-game conversation with Bargnani:
With Toronto down by seven points in the final four minutes, Bosh’s teammates finally came alive. Carlos Delfino hit a key three-pointer, and Calderon followed that up by awakening from his shooting slump, draining two long balls of his own. The second one drew Toronto even.
A Delfino free throw gave Toronto a one-point lead, but Orlando’s Hedo Turkoglu countered that with a difficult high-arching layup to give the Magic the lead back with 30 seconds left.
Moon struggled, but for the second straight game, Jason Kapono came off the bench and justified his US$24-million contract. Kapono had 20 points, second on the team, only to Bosh’s 29.
Expect him to take Nesterovic’s spot in the starting lineup tomorrow.
And if the Toronto Raptors want any chance to win this series, the Italian enigma must spend more time there. Mitchell promised to change the starting lineup - Rasho Nesterovic, T.J. Ford and Anthony Parker should all be candidates. But all season, this team has been trying to mine whatever potential is hidden behind Bargnani’s glassy eyes, and they have found nothing but excuses and a 38% shooter.
This is not to say that the plug should be pulled on the 22-year-old as an NBA player. But, on Tuesday night, the Raptors discovered a playoff spine, and it had little to do with last season’s No. 1 overall pick.
Jason Kapono shot and competed like a $24-million player. Carlos Delfino played well, too. And both of them are better options than the 7-foot question mark. With Bargnani on the floor to start the game - and to be fair, with his teammates losing their damned minds under the pressure, again - Toronto was outscored 23-8, with a free throw pending. They can’t afford that.
Tuesday night, the Texan’s development finally took a step forward after two years on a lofty but limited plateau. He attacked without fear, scoring 23 first-half points, 16 in a fierce second quarter. On one play, he deftly relieved Orlando’s Jameer Nelson of the ball, and then bounced up after taking a flagrant foul from Hedo Turkoglu that sent him sprawling into the stanchion. On another, he hustled back after an airball and drew a charge.
He didn’t get enough second-half touches, and his two plays for the game at the end weren’t quite good enough - one a fumbled drive with some contact but no call, one the missed game-winner. But at least he played like a star.
If you wanted a death knell for the T.J. Ford era, this should have been it. He was far too careless, with four bad turnovers and some more suspect defence. Calderon, meanwhile, played like a champ, including two massive threes in the last three minutes. Gentlemen, start your espn.com trade machines.
The bond between Bosh and Ford, a fellow Texan, might have been transferred — after three straight loose turnovers, two by Ford, led to three first-quarter dunks, it was Calderon trying to calm down a furious Bosh in the huddle. And after Game 1, the two shared a long talk in the locker room, presumably going over what went wrong.
We’ve been waiting for Jamario Moon to be left open all year, and Orlando obliged. The result: 1-for-7 shooting, and if Moon hadn’t been pulled it might have been 1-for-30.
Toronto has now held the lead in this series for four minutes and 17 seconds out a possible 96 minutes.
Sam Mitchell, before the game:"We made minimal changes [in Game 1], and out best player was ahhhh, screaming in the newspapers as if we had changed our whole offensive and defensive mindset. It shows … everybody hates change."
Tim Legler Breaks Down Magic’s Win Over Raptors
Jose Calderon Post Game
Chris Bosh Post Game
Coaches Post Game
I was a restricted free-agent after my rookie season, and the Toronto Raptors made me a very nice offer to be their new point guard. However, John Paxson had other ideas and it felt great that he and the Bulls valued me enough to match the offer to keep me in Chicago.
After an easy, comfy win in Game 1, the Orlando Magic were formally introduced to postseason basketball by their Canadian guests on Tuesday night. There was poor shooting, taunting, technical fouls, strategic shifts, roughhouse play, a lost lead. . . . and, finally, an escape worthy of an episode of Survivor.
While it might sound simple, the difference so far is that the Magic have Howard and the Raptors do not. They have a roster that resembles the United Nations with so many foreign players, but they also don’t have Hedo Turkoglu, whose star is stretching from Orlando to his native Turkey.
Turkoglu finished with just 12 points, and was mostly cold on the night (4-of-15 shooting). Rashard Lewis wasn’t on the mark, either, hitting just 7-of-21 shots and missing all his nine 3-point attempts. The Magic survived the duo’s 11-of-36 shooting night, getting 18 points from point guard Jameer Nelson and nine points from Keith Bogans.
Raptors Coach Sam Mitchell surprised the Magic and his own team in the opener by tweaking his lineup to start 7-foot Andrea Bargnani, but this time he went with his usual smaller team and ran pick-and-rolls — and gave the Magic fits.
– Howard is, for my money, now the most imposing figure in the NBA.
– Bosh was incredible but really seemed to fade late in the game from all that banging around with Howard.
– The Magic will need to do a better job of finding the Raptors’ shooters. They gave up far to many open looks to those Euro shooters who earn their money sitting back on the 3-point line. I think I’d take my chances with Bosh before I’d let those guys run around with free looks from deep.
– From my seat, a faster pace seemed to be to the Magic’s advantage. When Jameer Nelson was pushing the ball, Orlando was getting easy points in transition. The Magic slowed the game a bit from mid-second quarter on and I thought it allowed Toronto to look up defense in the dictionary and begin to apply it.
You could argue once again that it was entirely the poor start that cost us the game. Just like we had outscored the Magic 77-71 in the final three quarters on Sunday, we outscored them 85-69 in the final three quarters on Tuesday. We failed to make the proper adjustments between the two games and repeated the same mistakes all over again. The preparedness and intensity that the Raptors talked about coming out with prior to the game was nowhere to be found. What’s surprising is Mitchell not admitting his mistake in starting Bargnani and being stubborn enough to do it again to the detriment of the team. If he does this for a third game in a row, he no doubt is a moron.
The Raptors did better on D tonight once the first quarter was over. They played some pressure and really tried to get a hand in shooter’s faces. I still think they need to not double team as much and stick to the man-to-man.
The Raptors played physical and the series is really taking on a tough appearance. That foul on Bosh by Hedo could of really erupted into something more.
Sam said after the game that you can only do so much as far as drawing up plays, that players are the ones who are out on the floor and they make the decisions. NO. NO. NO. You are the coach, you outline what is supposed to happen and if they don’t follow what you say, you give them hell. Do you think the Utah Jazz are going to come out of a timeout and have somebody decide that they’re just going to go against what coach Sloan has drawn up? You only get that kind of pass when your name is LeBron or Kobe or Michael. When you have shown time after time that you can create your own good look and then follow through on it, then okay, take that option if it presents itself. The Raptors do not have anybody who fits that tab. You need to have a set play and if something breaks down, then you have to attack. You cannot settle for a jump shot taken by a guy whose strongest game is inside, it just doesn’t play into your favour. If you are going to settle for a jump shot for the win, then you might want to take a look at a guy named Kapono, who has just been lighting it up all night and needs a millisecond to release the ball. I don’t understand how you just forget a guy like that down the stretch.
I mean, let’s just take a look, back now at the series, Ford is playing absolutely terrible, Game 1 your opponent shoots 80% for the game’s first 16 minutes, and tonight your 1st and 3rd leading scorers from Game 1 combine for 2 points. Not to mention the fact the Raptors were down by 18+ points in the first quarter of both games. You’d be thinking that this was the Celtics-Hawks series headed straight to a four-game sweep.
But this isn’t the case and not the Raptors head home to the Air Canada Centre, where they absolutely must avoid a slow start at home, something they haven’t been able to do in Orlando. The Magic are playoff inexperienced, and sure they’re up 2-0, but a hostile road environment is something completely different. But that crowd will be silenced immediately if the Raptors start off slow again, virtually eliminating their home court advantage.
Toronto, you’ve got one game. You win game 3, and you’re fine. But there better be some changes damn quick. And by changes, I mean Rasho Neterovic becoming a legitimate threat or Andrea Bargnani remembering how to play basketball. Oh, and Coach Mitchell? Little hint. Anthony Parker’s time in the sun? It’s. OVER. Put Kapono in there and tell him to fire at will. You need firepower and you need it now.
Now this was a contest, that you just hated to see end, that’s how exciting it was! Unless of course you are a fan of the Orlando Magic, in that case you were glad to see your team pull out on top of an absolute roller coaster of a game, as the Magic just barely got by the Toronto Raptors 104-103 Tuesday.
And then there is the Toronto Raptors who, if they could simply f**king remember what the paint was, would have won their second game against Orlando and tied the series up. Nope, as in past years, laziness, settling for the outside jumper and not attacking the basket means we need to win the next four out of five to advance. Not impossible but we love to make things harder for ourselves than need be.
"A series doesn’t start until somebody loses a home game," Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy said. "We have just held court here, that’s it.
"And we’re going up there, so there’s no cushion whatsoever. Until you break through, nothing has really happened."
"I think we were too cross-matched," Bosh said in explaining the turnaround. "There are too many mismatches early in the game."
-The Magic starters outscored the Toronto starters 86-46.
-Other than Bosh, the four other Raptors’ starters combined to score 17 points on 6 of 22 FGs.
-Kapono, Calderon, and Delfino, all coming off the Raptors’ bench, combined to score 54 points on 21 of 33 FGs.
- In the final three quarters, Toronto outscored the Magic 85-69, as the Magic made just 25 of 65 FGs during that time, while the Raptors made 30 of 60 FGs.
In contrast, the Raptors aren’t reading from the same page. They are too often confused — as if their playbook is written in hieroglyphics. The players have second-guessed the coach, the coach has sparred with the media, the media has all but started a coaching search.
Actual headline in one Toronto newspaper heading into Game 2: "Raptors coach on the hotseat."
And we thought Canadians were supposed to be rational, reasonable people. Toronto Coach Sam Mitchell has lost two playoff games and, suddenly, he has become a North-of-the-border Isiah Thomas.
And herein is the reason this season and this series have turned out completely different for these two teams: Orlando has been one of the surprise teams in the league because Stan Van Gundy has somehow convinced his players to buy into his every move. The Raptors are one of the season’s major disappointments because Mitchell hasn’t sold his players on what he is selling.
In Game 2, much like Game 1, the Raptors again came out with all the fire and fight of a dead sea bass. With another sellout crowd screaming like Magic maniacs, the Raptors had six turnovers in the first 6 minutes of the game — and the Magic had six dunks. By the time the first quarter was over, the Magic led 35-18.
You wonder how the Raptors will respond now, especially after the players have openly questioned their coach’s inexplicable strategy of starting 7-foot Andrea Bargnani for the first two games.
Now Mitchell is second-guessing himself and says he will change his lineup again heading into Game 3.
So close your eyes Raptors fans, what I’m about to say won’t go over well.
Chris Bosh ain’t clutch.
How on earth the Raptors go into a time out — you know, the place where you plan your plays? — and come out with a play I wouldn’t even recommend you run during a video game is beyond me. Yet Mitchell did it.
Maybe it was a breakdown somewhere, but how the Raptors bungled that possession is unacceptable. Nine seconds is a world of time and they not only wasted that but also a great opportunity for a road split.
Again the bad start could be pointed to for Toronto as reason they lost. But they did an incredible job to get back in this game and had a chance to win it. They came just one play away from a victory. Howard had 20/20 night again with 29 point and 20 rebounds. Bosh had 29 and 10 for Toronto. Kapono Calderon and Delfino were all great off the bench the 3 combined for 54 points off the bench. After leading the team in scoring in game 1 Anthony Parker at 0 points in game to. The starts beyond Bosh struggled. Sam Mitchell promised changes for game 3 and the way Ford and Bargnani played they are the likely candidates to change. Rasho may get moved to bench as well as Raptors seemed to elect to play small and Rasho was not used hardly at all on this night.
The Raptors took their first lead of the series in the third quarter, using a 7-0 run to go ahead 64-59. Orlando was 0-for-5 to start the quarter, but regained an 81-71 lead after Nelson’s two 3-pointers and Howard’s bucket that preceded his technical.
Orlando was only 1-for-5 on 3-pointers in the first quarter after a 9-for-11 performance in Game 1, but opened a 26-8 lead on Nelson’s slash to the bucket 8:04 into the game. The Magic had five dunks in the first six minutes — including three in a row on fast breaks off a steal (two by Turkoglu and one from Lewis).
The Raptors, who tied a franchise playoff low with eight turnovers in Game 1, had that many in the first 13 minutes.
The Raptors are 2-8 all-time on the road in the playoffs.
Great game. Two special players going head to head and leading their teams. Orlando held homecourt but Toronto have figured out how to play against this team. Small ball worked extremely well for Toronto tonight (Rasho played 2 minutes overall). They need to stay with this. There’s promise in this loss.
I’m also pretty surprised that Delfino has had this much time on the court. He’s very inconsistent and he’s obviously not having his one great game, he’s in his 10 before that where he’s playing GARBAGE.
Believe me now, Orlando isn’t as good as we see them, we are just that shit. As of right now we are only down by 13, everyone sees that as a pretty good situation including Leo Rautins but believe me now, as I always say “We are so f**ked, we don’t even know how f**ked we are”.
Bryan Colangelo probably already a little excited to tear this schmuck of a team apart.
On the final play the Raptors probably should have driven to the hole, but if they were going to end it on a jump shot then either Kapono or Calderon should have taken the final shot - not a dead tired Bosh. Jason and Jose had the hot hands and they both could have won it for the Raps at the buzzer.
Overall, Bosh played his heart out and delivered despite the bashing he’s getting from upset Raptor fans who feel compelled to blame somebody after every loss.
Apr 23rd, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Those being hyper-critical of Sam Mitchell’s play call on the game’s final possession last night, do not understand NBA basketball as well as they think they do.
khandors last blog post..Raptors @ Magic … post mortem