Linkage - April 29
In a season where there was far too much give-up in the Raptors at times, this basketball team refused to go down without a fight.
And while that may sound trite, it is a step in the right direction for a team whose biggest deficiency all season has been toughness whether it be mental or physical.
"We knew coming into this series that we needed to score points," Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell said. "We weren’t going to hold this team to 70 or 80 points because they’ve got so many weapons. We just didn’t score enough."
On top of not scoring, the Raptors didn’t seem to have an answer for the dribble penetration of the Magic.
"That’s something we had a problem with the whole series," Mitchell conceded.
The shooting drought hit every Raptor at one point or another during the series with perhaps the exception of Jason Kapono. Last night, for the first half at least, it held Chris Bosh captive. Despite taking a lead into the second half, the Raps had only four points from Bosh at the half. He wound up with a team-high 16 to go with nine rebounds, a far cry from Dwight Howard’s 21 points and 21 rebounds, his third 20-20 of the series.
Once the cameras had been turned off, Ford was asked if he felt he had played his last game for the Raps. He smiled before replaying: "No, not really, but I also know it’s a business and I’ve been through that process before so it won’t be anything new for me if that were to happen. Do I think it will happen? No, but I’m not sure. I don’t really know. I guess we’ll see how it goes."
Ford made it very clear that his feelings about the situation have nothing at all to do with Calderon, who he respects. And he wasn’t willing to call the situation unworkable in the future.
"I think anything can work, anything is possible, but I really don’t know," he said. "I would love to have everybody on this team back but at the end of the day you know it’s a business and chances of that happening are very slim."
He wasn’t prepared to speculate on who might move or stay, but he sounded pretty sure Calderon wasn’t going anywhere.
"That part is really out of my control," he said. "Jose had a great season and I think he has to be rewarded."
This didn’t turn out to boy vs. man. The Raptors’ first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic turned out to be man vs. Superman.
And the Raptors had no answer for Superman, with or without his cape.
How unusual is a 20-20 in the NBA?
Put it this way: Bosh has played 376 NBA games, and has had two 20-20 games. Only one other Raptor in club history has managed such a feat.
Howard did it three times in a five-game playoff series. Just like that.
"I can’t sit here and bark and protest that the better team didn’t win," said Bosh, who scored just 16 points on the night the Raptors were eliminated 102-92 by the Magic.
"You have to hand it to them. The better team won."
And in truth, finding a way to match up against Howard may be the least of general manager Bryan Colangelo’s off-season concerns. He has a point-guard issue to contend with — what to do with T.J. Ford and how much to pay the in-demand free agent, Jose Calderon. He has to determine if there is a legitimate future in Andrea Bargnani, a No. 1 draft pick who regressed in his second season. He has to determine whether last year’s coach of the year, Mitchell, is next year’s coach. And he had to get Bosh a little help — a second scoring option in games when it matters most.
Mitchell likes to tell people the Raptors are a young team. Colangelo likes to tell people his best building blocks — Bosh, Ford, Bargnani — all are 25 and under. Only Bosh doesn’t want to hear this young team stuff anymore. He’s young and already tired of losing in the first round.
"I never use that (we’re too young) excuse," Bosh said. "You have to do it now. You can’t always say you’re young, you’re young, because one day you’re going to look up and you’re old."
"They played a great series, they executed on offence and defence better than we did and when it came to the small things, they did a better job," Chris Bosh said after the Magic ended Toronto’s season with a 102-92 Game 5 victory last night.
"I can’t sit here and bark in protest that the better team didn’t win. That’s pretty obvious. They beat us pretty good."
"If we have somebody that is aggressive on the offensive end, creating plays, making shots and getting to the basket …" said Bosh, his thought trailing off. "I think we have some shooters, but if our shooters develop a talent where they can take guys off the dribble, that’ll make us a lot better."
"I told our guys after the game, `Get your heads up,’" said Mitchell. "We knew coming into this series that we needed to score points. We weren’t going to hold this team to 70 or 80 points because they’ve got so many weapons. We just didn’t score enough."
It now lies with Colangelo to begin his assessment and make some moves.
There isn’t a lot of money to spend to attract new players, but he will have to be aggressive in trying to fill the holes that exist on this team after a season that has to be considered a disappointment.
"That’s what it’s been, ups and downs," said Bosh. "Everybody had a lot of expectations for us this year, especially with the things we did last year. We definitely raised the bar for ourselves and a lot of people were looking for us to do the same thing we did in the regular season last year.
"We were bothered by injuries a lot, we didn’t play as well as we thought we could at times, but all said, we still made the playoffs. We were still in a position to win and that’s all you can ask for in the league."
Maybe you never could have imagined it ending this way during those giddy days in Italy, when the Raptors, coming off a 47-win regular-season and a Game 6 loss to the Nets a year ago, seemed so much more flush with promise. Back then, mind you, Bryan Colangelo, the Toronto GM, would have told you that his best three players were Bosh, T.J. Ford and Bargnani, the latter the No.1 pick in a 2006 draft that wasn’t graced by a no-brain pick a la Howard. And this season two-thirds of that triumvirate, Ford and Bargnani, under-delivered for a raft of reasons.
Suddenly, the Raptors’ self-adhered label as a young and promising club doesn’t seem so fitting. Howard, all of 22 years old, is a month and a bit younger than Bargnani. In the end the season was encapsulated in a few game-turning minutes. Down the stretch the Raptors and Magic traded jump shots, but Toronto’s never seemed as open as Orlando’s. The Raptors, powerless to defend penetration, over-helped on the dribblers and left the marksmen wide open – Howard a scary enough decoy to exacerbate the gaps. Toronto gave up dunks. They gave up layups. They gave up wide-open, dagger-in-the-season threes
And you can scold them for missing those assignments. But the best player on the floor won.
"We tried everything in the book against Dwight, but he’s a man, man," said Moon. "That boy’s gonna be something. He’s something to be reckoned with."
"I want to be back," said Ford, who played 24 minutes of Toronto’s season-ending 102-92 loss to the Magic here last night. "I never said anything about wanting to leave."
"It was a tough stretch, me being in the media mostly on a negative thing but I think I showed my professionalism," he said. "I didn’t let it upset me and affect my play. I think I just fought through it and I’m pretty happy with the way I ended up performing this season."
Ford, Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani, all 25 or under and under contract for at least the next two seasons, were widely held to be the anchors of the franchise moving forward. But with Ford in the situation he is in, and Bargnani suffering through a season of regression, the core may not be what it was thought to be.
"You’ve got to get better," said coach Mitchell.
"We won 41 games and we’re not overly thrilled about that and having to start the playoffs on the road."
Toronto’s Jose Calderon finished seventh in the voting, with two first-place votes, 10 second and five third.
For the Toronto-Orlando series Bagnani was a non-factor. He didn’t score in double figures in any of the five games, never got more than three rebounds in a game and never made his presence felt.
"He didn’t shoot the ball as well as he would have liked and we would have liked (but) felt like he grew up a little bit," said coach Sam Mitchell. "He had to play against this young man every night, Dwight (Howard), and he competed and he battled and he didn’t hang his head down."
But there is no way the Raptors are going to give up on him.
"He’s 22 years old and the fortunate thing is he’s been in the playoffs his first two years in the NBA which is a huge thing," said Mitchell. "Every year you go and every game you play, you’re going to continue to get better."
Ask Chris Bosh what the Raptors have to do to improve and he turns into a coach.
"We need to improve on defence," he said. "We play good team defence from time to time (but) I think if we play better one-on-one defence that will make us better."
It’ll be the hot-button issue, well, one of them at least, for the next little while but seeing how Jose finished every close game down the stretch of the season and every close game in the playoffs, it’s obvious who’s No. 1 in the eyes of the coaching staff right now. It’d be too bad if that’s how Ford went out, he can do some exciting stuff on the court; I just don’t think he can do it here.
It’s a foregone conclusion that unrestricted free agents Darrick Martin and Primoz Brezec are finished as Ratpors. But who else goes?
You know Bryan’s going to be out there beating the drums for trades so I’ll leave that speculation for tomorrow.
The two restricted free agents are interesting. Well, one is, actually because Colangelo is going to re-sign Jose.
But what about Carlos? What do they do with him? That’s a tough one because I love the guy’s game when he’s on, when he’s off, it’s ugly. But I think a three year deal for around $9 million total, maybe $10 million, makes entire sense. As your ninth guy, he’s good.
Bosh had a strong series, but a weak finish. His signature moment last night was a fade-away fourth-quarter jumper that he finished on his bum, the ball well short. At the other end it was the Magic’s young franchise player, Dwight Howard, gobbling up rebounds and dunking them home like something out of a Japanese monster movie, Bosh helpless to stop him.
Bosh needs help, as this series has proven, more than previously thought. The Raptors’ other pillar — stellar point guard play — appeared shaky, too, as for the fourth time in five games the Magic’s Jameer Nelson was the best quarterback on the floor. His three-pointer with three minutes remaining left the crowd at the Amway Arena roaring and the Raptors down 10, with no sign of a pulse.
The stated goal of this year’s Toronto Raptors was to advance one round deeper into the post-season than they did last year.
Instead, the only tangible difference between this year’s club and the team that fell to the New Jersey Nets in 2006-07 is that this season, they played one less game.
Toronto did refuse to be put away as easily as some might have expected. The Magic were on the cusp of breaking the game open, with the lead at about eight points for most of the first six minutes of the final quarter.
But Toronto found away to take the blows and jab back. Bosh, who had not been to the free-throw line all game, drew two fouls. The Raptors went on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to two points with six minutes remaining. Bosh scored four of those points.
Still, Bosh did not pick a good time to have a bad night. The all-star missed 12 of his 19 shots, finishing with 16 points.
"As a team, everybody didn’t have their stroke at the same time," T.J. Ford said, summing up the team’s offensive problems. "A lot of people didn’t have that rhythm. I started off the first two games [poorly]. They did a great job defensively on me. We just didn’t shoot the ball as great as we wish we would have."
"You don’t want to be an easy out," Mitchell said before the game. "You want to be a tough out. You want to be that hitter that fouls off 21 pitches, and gets a hit or a walk on that 22nd pitch."
Consider Monday night a hard-hit line drive right at a fielder. Solid contact but still an out.
Chris Bosh emerged from the milling mass at midcourt and began to walk, his shoulders slack, his gaze empty. He shook hands with a security guard, hugged a friend. He walked past the cartoon Orlando mascot hanging upside down from the railing in a mass of fans with elated faces, holding a TIME FOR FISHING sign; he didn’t look up. He walked past the line of sombre Toronto Raptors staffers, slapping five with each one. He vanished into the cinderblock-and-cockroaches locker room, and his long summer began. So, too, did his team’s.
"Chris, we ask him to do so much," said coach Sam Mitchell. "We ask him to box out, we ask him to score, we ask him to rebound. And then for most of this game, we ask him to go down and battle [Dwight Howard], and he’s giving up 50 pounds. He missed some shots, but it’s an awful lot to ask of him. I’m proud of the way Chris played. He’s not going to score 39 points a game with all the things we ask him to do, but he laid it out. He leaves it on the floor, he battles."
And facing elimination, it was Bosh that seemed tentative. He didn’t get to the free-throw line until there was 7:16 left in the game. With Bosh hollowed out, his team faltered, too. The line: 16 points and nine rebounds, 7-of-19 shooting, 2-for-4 from the line. Tough night.
"I just missed [some early shots], and that kind of made me passive, just a tad bit," Bosh admitted. "When that happens, I have to rely on my teammates to shoot the basketball … this is not the last game that teams are going to double-team me."
"We need someone to help out CB," said Anthony Parker.
This season was supposed to be the next step, a building block, progress for the core of Bosh, Bargnani, Ford and Jose Calderon. Instead, it showed how quickly long-term plans can change. Bargnani is a worse-looking player today, though not yet a write-off. Mitchell’s job is again the subject of speculation, however hard the GM tries to pat out the flames. Ford simply must go.
How and whether Colangelo changes course, and how radically, is unknown. Bosh will learn, and get better. There is good material here. But change is needed, nonetheless.
This wasn’t a failure of heart, but a failure of architecture. Jason Kapono aside — think he has a better year next season? — the Raptors can’t make shots every time. To win, they need to defend credibly, and move the ball and make shots at the other end. They didn’t do quite enough of either.
Toronto’s three-point shooting kept them in the lead in the first half, as they drained six of their 11 three-pointers. Second half? 2-for-11, and those two made shots came in the waning moments, with the game all but over. They shot 42-120 (35%) from beyond the arc this series, which is not good enough for this team.
On the other hand, Orlando shot just 9-for-32 (28%) from three-point land. Turkoglu and Lewis combined to go 1-for-10. The Raptors had a chance, but couldn’t take advantage.
Jason Kapono, meanwhile, hit 59% of his field goals in the series and averaged 15.6 points per game, second behind Chris Bosh. Kapono either came up big when it mattered, loafed it all year, was underutilized by the coaching staff, or all three.
Early in the second, the P.A. played the Ole, Ole-ole-ole song, and Jose Calderon immediately started bobbing his head.
VIDEO: Post game press conference
VIDEO: Post game Magic players
VIDEO: Post game Stan Van Gundy
VIDEO: Post game Sam Mitchell
VIDEO: Post game Chris Bosh
Closing out on the shooters. Toronto surged into the lead in the second quarter with shooters like Carlos Delfino and Jose Calderon knocking down 3-pointers and open jumpers when the Magic collapsed on Chris Bosh. The Raptors made five 3-pointers in the first half but only one in the third quarter as Orlando took control. They finished 8-of-22 from deep.
Dominating the boards. Orlando outrebounded Toronto 55-37, including a 16-9 edge on the offensive end. While the Magic defense was limiting Toronto to one shot on most possessions, the Magic were keeping the ball alive on the offensive end.
The Magic closed out the Raptors with more grit than glamour, coming up with a similar fourth-quarter surge they used to win a pivotal Game 4 in Toronto.
They have been described as the Phoenix Suns of the East, combining the force of Howard with the finesse of 3-point shooters. But their misfiring from 3-point land (9-of-32) against the Raptors meant they had to dig down — defend, rebound, scratch, claw. Show their tough-guy DNA.
"We’d have taken it any way we could get it — even if we had to make 30 3s; look, we struggled in this series with our greatest weapon — but we won Game 4 and Game 5 fighting like crazy," Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy said.
Toronto pushed the Magic in this series. They reminded me a lot of the Magic a year ago against Detroit … pushing, pushing, growing, growing but not quite able to get over the hump against a team that was just a little bit better.
The only sure thing was that Dwight Howard would get 15 to 20 rebounds. After that you never knew if T.J. Ford would play like Henry Ford or Hedo Turkoglu might look like the NBA’s Least Improved Player. There was seemingly nothing the coaches could do to get a little consistency out of their lineups.
"You’ve got to dance with the girl you brought because there aren’t any other ones out there," Raptors Coach Sam Mitchell said. "And I think our guys are kind of pretty anyway."
He obviously hasn’t looked at Rasho Nesterovic lately. He also didn’t start the 7-footer, which meant the Magic would have to deal with Toronto’s quicker lineup. It had given them problems all series and nothing changed Monday.
"We may have been beaten some games," Mitchell said, "but we never packed it in."
The Raptors are the first team to be bounced out of the playoffs, losing in five games to Orlando. Sam Mitchell is officially on the hot seat and on Donnie Walsh’s radar if he’s fired by Bryan Colangelo.
It’s no secret Colangelo was close to removing Mitchell last season but couldn’t after he won Coach of the Year. Now it’s a matter of eating his contract but it will be offset if he is hired by the Knicks.
Other current head coaches who are coming under fire for their teams’ postseason play — and who might be candidates for the Bulls’ job soon — include Dallas’ Avery Johnson, Phoenix’s Mike D’Antoni and Toronto’s Sam Mitchell.
D’Antoni has been criticized in Phoenix for a lack of interest in developing young players, something that is important to Paxson. And some Suns players, notably Steve Nash, have questioned D’Antoni’s game plans against San Antonio.
If Mitchell is let go in Toronto, look for D’Antoni to be the favorite to take over the Raptors because former Suns boss Bryan Colangelo is now GM in Toronto.
According to reports out of New York, an available Mitchell could put Jackson’s odds-on status with the Knicks in trouble. Walsh, then in charge of the Indiana Pacers, was set to interview Mitchell last spring when it looked like Colangelo was not going to renew his contract.
After speaking at length to the aggrieved coach and broadening my investigation, I’m convinced I turned in an improperly researched project.
"I didn’t get an NBA head job so young [39] because I was stupid," scolded Mitchell from Orlando, where Toronto was eliminated last night in the first round. "And I didn’t keep my job when Bryan Colangelo took charge because I was stupid. I’m here because my team plays hard, unselfishly and is prepared.
"Bryan could’ve given me two-year guarantee. He gave me three. I don’t think he got to where he is today because he’s stupid."
Despite the remaining two-year, $4M per obligation and the Raptors’ second straight playoff appearance - and 41 wins despite the full-season absence of starting small forward Jorge Garbajosa, T.J. Ford missing half the year due to neck damage and Chris Bosh being unavailable for franchise-player duty for 15 games (another six to get back in shape) - Mitchell reportedly is in job jeopardy.
"Believe me when I tell you I don’t worry about things out of my control," Mitchell responded.
"If Bryan chose to bring in his guy, I wouldn’t take it personal. I’d thank the organization for the opportunity to prove I can coach in this league, thank Bryan for two more years of security and get myself another job."
Mitchell is convinced that would not be a problem. In four seasons, he has trained himself how to teach, ration out three positives for every negative, not embarrass players as he did early-on in is rookie year, not ask anyone to do something they can’t, bootleg plays from opponents and incorporate the element of surprise.
In other words, Mitchell has learned how to coach.
Before every game Mitchell would say the same prayer. "Please, God, with five minutes to go let me be within five points. That meant I had done his job, that I had put my team in position to win. From that point on it was up to them. Players win games by making plays."
As I watched the final two minutes tick away on mute I realized that this was my least favorite Raptors team ever. Yes, even worse than that third year crew that went 16-66. It’s probably because with that team there were no expectations or hype, just a hope to improve and to maybe build something worthwhile. Even as they trudged their way across double digit losing streaks, it was still more enjoyable to watch because they desperately wanted to break out of their losing, they wanted to get to the next level. They knew they had issues and fought hard to overcome them, our pseudo star Damon Stoudamire took every shot in the clutch, he made some and missed many but never shied away from the challenge. He was feisty, fiery and never backed down. Despite the losing, you knew we’d come out and compete, we’d probably lose but you knew we’d be upset about it. You felt an attachment to those guys, with this team, I felt nothing.
Am I surprised, no, I called the Magic in 5, am I disappointed? Yes, of course. The Magic won this series by coming out strong in the 1st, coasting for the 2nd and 3rd, and turning it on in the 4th. Aside from game 1, every single game was there for the Raptors to take, and no one grabbed the low hanging fruit. That’s about all I got for now.
The Sports Guy, Bill Simmons, recently wrote that he had a hard time watching this series because it resembled the NBA’s version of the NCAA’s NIT. Last night’s game didn’t do much to sway his opinion in all probability. In fact, are there two more maddening teams in the league? Both settle far too often for jump shots when they have powerful inside presences and at times this game was like dumb vs. dumber. Case in point, Maurice Evans took as many shots tonight as Dwight Howard. And Keith Bogans only took one less! Howard still finished with 21 points to go along with his 21 boards but can you imagine if he actually got the ball with any regularity, or down the road once he develops a back-to-the-basket game?
Sure they got a bad match-up with the Magic, as Toronto couldn’t match their three, athletic big men, but Jameer Nelson pretty much outplayed the vaunted Raptors PG duo of Ford and Calderon. Also, Bosh was overall a disappointment throughout the series, not taking that next step in carrying his team like Dwight Howard did with his 20-20 performances. Sadly, the strongest thing for Toronto this series was the bench, as it appears that Jason Kapono is only earns his money in the playoffs, while Delfino and Calderon at least added a little consistent scoring off the bench, something Toronto couldn’t count on all season. Also, has anyone seen Andrea Bargnani, because he was MIA pretty much this whole series.
Once the playoffs began, Stan Van Gundy could tell that Howard had come to chew bubblegum and kick ass … and he was all out of bubblegum. "There was a different demeanor from him. Dwight is a fun-loving guy and he likes to fool around. There are a lot of times during the year where I’ve got to try to bring him back to being serious when we’re preparing. I did not have to say one word, from the start of preparation for this series all the way through."
Although the Magic took this series in five games, it was hardly as easy as that sounds. It’s the playoffs, after all, where every shot, every possession, every rebound is contested.
"Wow! That was very difficult," Van Gundy said postgame. "I give the Raptors a heck of a lot of credit. They didn’t let it go until the final buzzer went off."
It is why for the first half Monday night, Orlando saw things teetering between magic and tragic, trailing the Raptors at intermission, 50-49.
You knew if they lost, the Magic weren’t just heading to Toronto for Game 6. Oh, no. Because, if they had to play a road Game 6, you knew they’d have to play a Game 7, too, back in Orlando, with all the weight of the pressure (Shaq’s weight included) that goes with that.
Even though some players might have been intimidated in those surroundings, Howard said that he actually enjoyed the surroundings and it brought out the best in his game.
"In high school they always chanted my name like that," Howard said. "It was crazy up there in Toronto, but I loved it. They had their fans up there and that really gave the Raptors some energy. When I was shooting free throws (at Sunday’s practice) my teammates were chanting, ‘Howard! Howard!’ It’s still ringing in my ear."
"We want our fans here in Orlando to make the opposition’s players feel like they made us feel in Toronto."
Instead of pulling a Mike D’Antoni (like, I’m guessing, his boss Bryan Colangelo would prefer) and putting the ball in his point guard’s hands down the stretch, Mitchell chose to go the orthodox route, went from the inside-out, and Toronto’s season is over, perhaps as a result. Perhaps. Dwight Howard (21 points, 21 rebounds, three blocks) may have had something to do with it.
In the fourth quarter of Toronto’s Game 5 loss, Jose Calderon or T.J. Ford (who didn’t play any fourth quarter minutes) should have had the ball in their hands. They should have been probing the defense, using up clock, keeping the dribble, and making the decisions. They should have been the ones to decide this game. Not Keith Bogans’ help D. Not Carlos Delfino. Not Chris Bosh’s right hand. Very frustrating.
Instead, with Chris Bosh having difficulty scoring on the low block against Dwight Howard, Carlos Delfino ended up making a lot of the late-game decisions, and nobody wants that. Nobody should ever want that.
Toronto’s done, and I’ll miss them quite a bit. The team came in to training camp before the 2006-07 season talking a great game about wanting to get up a hundred shots a game, which was ludicrous, and yet it managed to turn on its ear in 2007-08: winning fewer games due to injury, but managing one of the NBA’s more efficient offenses while slowing the tempo and moving the ball. It was a gas.
Things will likely have to change. Andrea Bargnani looked like a high schooler out there in the opening minutes of the Game 5 loss, and that’s just on the offensive end (picking up two fouls in 20 seconds against Dwight Howard, that could happen to anyone). Parts have to be worked with. Frantic frustrations have to be assuaged and set aside. Sam Mitchell might not be the guy to do that. I don’t think he deserves to lose his job, not in the slightest, but it might not be the worst thing for this franchise.
They’ll have time to figure it out. Until then, thanks for the run. ‘ppreciate it.
Well, it’s hard to fault the Raptors too much, because they clearly lost to a suprior team. However, I can’t help but wonder why the Magic were superior. On paper, Toronto should have been a pretty equal match for Orlando, both in terms of regular season wins and in a playoff showdown. The glaring problems I can see are bad coaching, the point guard two-stepping, the highly inconsistent play of Mr. Former Number One Draft Pick, the lack of production from free agent acquisition Jason Kapono…you know what? Never mind. It’s suddenly very obvious that the dinos have problems ‘o plenty. It’ll be interesting to see what Bryan Colangelo does this offseason.
Bargnani ended up playing only 15 minutes and finished with 4 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 3 fouls and one badly missed three-pointer that missed the rim entirely. Amazingly, his replacement was even worse…
Note that Rasho had been on fire for a month and a half until Toronto’s soon-to-be ex-coach Sam Mitchell benched him for Bargnani. And that pretty much killed Rasho’s mojo. He was used in relief last night and responded with zero points, 2 rebounds, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in just under 9 minutes of lack-tion.
Will T.J. still be the starter next season? Will he even be on the team? If the Raptors want to improve, the answer to those questions really should be "no" and "no." Ford shot poorly (6-for-14) and 4 of the team’s 6 turnovers. He looks for his own shot too often, and he tends to force the action — his action — when the Toronto offense stalls. In retrospect, Jose Calderon’s self-benching might have been the worst thing to happen to this team going into the playoffs.
"From this article: ‘Toronto made the playoffs in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2007. They were eliminated in the first round in three of their four postseason appearances. The only time they won a first-round series was in 2001, when they beat the New Jersey Nets in six games, and lost to the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference semifinals in five games.’ History is fun, making up history is funner. The only first-round series win was in 2001, but they beat New York 3-2 and then lost to Philly 4-3 (the notorious Carter-needs-to-graduate-before-game-7 series…maybe NBA.com is trying to erase the VC years from memory too)."
Once again Food Court Lunch has the exclusive scoop: Two league sources have confirmed that Pat Riley is set to assume control of Toronto Raptors.
Another reason why we lost. Bosh is too fucking skinny and Dwight Howard is a beast. Dwight Howard has been the biggest match up problem for the Raptors; every time when he touch the ball all the attention goes to him and the ENTIRE Raptors defense collapse on him (even Carlos Delfino leaves his man and goes contribute his 6′6″ body to “help out”) and if Dwight Howard hasn’t dunked the shit out of the rim by now he kicks it out to someone who is WIDE open (the guy Delfino’s guarding) for him to pop an OPEN three. Seriously, Bosh is one skinny motherfucker. Dwight Howard is listed as 6′11″ and 265 lbs. and Chris “chopstick” Bosh is listed as 6′10″ and 230 lbs. I don’t know what’s holding Chris Bosh back from putting on weight, does he do part-time runway modeling?
The Raptors would need to trade TJ Ford, Maceo Baston and some cash for Jason Richardson. The bobcats are in dire need of a point guard and Ford could fit this role for them. Gerald Wallace and Jason Richardson play pretty similar and don’t complement each other. Raymond Felton is a good point guard but he is young and could use some leadership from Tj ford who has playoff experience. Also, without Jason Richardson in the lineup they can more touches to Emeka Okafor because he needs to be averaging at least 20 points a game. Emeka has a lot of talent but he has got lost in the mix of all the shooters on this Charlotte Bobcats. This trade would help out both teams and hopefully the GM’s of both these franchises realize the impact it would have on their respective franchises.
I’ve run out of things to say about this team, which is probably good, because I screamed myself hoarse along with 17,518 other fans at the Amway Arena. And after 12 excruciatingly long, cruel years of futility, disappointment, and waiting we finally did it: We won a playoff series.
We’re back.
One last thing: if I were mean spirited, I would have titled this recap "Lame Canada!", but that would have been unfair to the Raptors, who played hard, and to their fans, who are a classy bunch.
Was it the last game for a lot of folks with Raptors. That is for Bryan Colangelo to decide over the coming months. But on this night it was not as much about that as the sick feeling of a lost season. Changes will be made no doubt. But there was lots of time to address that. For now it was second straight year of one and done for the Raptors.
Apr 29th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
I just wanted to Thank Alt Raps.com for helping people get to know the Dino Nation Blog. It has been a fun year for myself despite the Raptors lack of progress. I am humbled by the support I have gotten from this site. SO THANK YOU.
James Dino Nation Bloggers last blog post..THANK YOU DINO NATION BLOG READERS
Apr 29th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Thanks James.
Continued success next season.