Raptors Recap - The "Roko B Ware" Edition

The Raptors finished the first half of the season on a high note beating the Spurs at the ACC. Just so you don't think this is a joke I'll repeat it. The raptors finished the first half of the season beating the Spurs at the ACC. Just like I had predicted yesterday the Raptors defended their home court admirably against arguably one of the best teams in the NBA. What makes this win even more surprising is that they did it on the second night of a back to back while severely short handed.

The Raptors were once again without Chris Bosh and Jose Calderon. Also Joey Graham injured his shin early in the first half and couldn't go the rest of the way. That left basically 7 guys to finish the game (we don't count Jawai or Solomon cause they suck and would only play in an emergency).

So how'd they do it? They were able to neutralize Duncan somewhat with JO who had a nice game with 10 rebounds and 6 blocked shots. He was also able to guard Duncan one on one. This allowed the raptors to close out on shooters and not have to help. Jo gave them a gritty performance in 38 min after playing 43 min the night before in Minnesota he was off from the field but brought it defensively.

Tony Parker got to the rim at will early in the game but late in the second half the Raptors tighten'd up their defense and made tony drive and pull up for jump shots. Ginobli had a great game seemingly scoring at will but when the time came for him to win the game the Raptors defense came up huge again.

Andrea Bargnani hit some HUGE shots late in the game and also gave them a gutsy performance in 43 minutes of work with 23 pts and 8 rebounds. Kapono was on again as well shooting 9-16 for 21 points.

But this night belonged to rookie Point guard Roko Ukic (9-13 fg 22pts 3 assists). Roko took the ball to the rim strong all night. He finished at the rim on some very tough shots. Twisting and twirling in the lane. He made floaters and layups and showed us that he has the potential to be great. The biggest surprise however was his outside shooting. Roko NAILED a couple of huge shots including a late three ball to help the raptors get this win. Hitting those big shots should go a long way with Roko. In previous games he seemed very hesitant to take even wide open looks and making those shots last night late in a close game should hopefully help him gain the confidence he needs. If he can develop a passable jump shot he is going to be a tough player to defend.


The raptors now enter the all-star break on a 2 game win streak. I don't know what this means for the second half of the season. With the trade deadline next Wednesday I don't think we are going to see the same players on the court when they suit up to play Cleveland. But all in all its a good win. And it helps to take some of the sting out of the first half of the season.

Raptors Recap - The "gamble that didn't pay off" Edition

The Raptors lost in convincing fashion again last night. Triano took a gamble and started the three bigs Bosh, Bargnani and O’neil. As soon as I heard of the change I wondered why he decided to do it. It removes any athleticism they had at the wing with moon. Athleticism that is needed to guard Lebron James. James took advantage early making his first 5 shots and scoring 16 first quarter points.

Personally I would have started Graham on the wing to defend James and brought JO off the bench. Graham did a nice job on James at some points last night and I’m not sure going to a zone defense to start the game with 3 bigs and no athleticism was the best idea. The raptors don’t play zone well. They’re late on rotations and don’t help well enough.

The atrocious shooting from Calderon, Kapono, Moon, Parker and Graham was also largely to blame for the loss. They shot a combined 22% from the field.

Watching the game last night I wondered what exactly this team is built to do. They don’t have an identity. Clearly Bosh is their best player and they run a lot of screen and rolls as well as iso’s for him but past that they have nothing. Teams know how to defend the Raptors and unless they are just on fire from the field they are going to lose.

Up next is Kobe and the Lakers tonight. Which I’m sure will be another ACC boo fest!.

Raptors Recap - The "Is Bosh Bolting" Edition

The Raptors lost 2 over the weekend in quite disgusting fashion. A decided lack of effort in yesterday's loss makes me wonder if this team has any fight left in them.

They have most certainly lost any confidence they had built up over last weeks 3 game win streak. With games against the Cavs, Lakers and Hornets this week they are almost sure to lose 5 in a row.

Reports have surfaced today that Bosh has already told Colangelo that he isn't resigning in Toronto in 2010. The reports are from probably the most unreliable source there is, ESPN's Stephen A Smith. However, I wouldn't put it past Bosh to not want to resign. And if they are true, at least he is giving the Raptors a chance to deal him while he still has tremendous value.

I'm not big on the idea of trading Bosh. I still think that they can build around him in the off season and this team can do some damage. But if he wants out then he wants out and there is nothing they can do to keep him here.

Giving BC the news now however is a much better move than waiting until late next season. BC can get max value back and I'm not sure this team would be worse off. Trading Bosh isn't going to bring an All-star back but it can bring youth and it can bring talent and that is something they can build around.

It does NOT bode well however for Toronto's Free agent hopes if he asks out. That would mean that EVERY superstar that has ever played here has asked out. Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Chris Bosh and to a lesser extent Antonio Davis.

The trade Deadline is Feb 19th. Lets stay tuned to see what transpires. It will certainly be more entertaining than watching these guys play basketball.

Raptors Recap - The "Skin of their Teeth" Edition

The game last night in New Jersey was as close to a must win game as you can get before the all-star break. If this team has any sort of shot at a playoff spot they had to get that game last night. Back healthy and with the backup PG spot sorted out this team is poised to go on a run.

However the Nets had other plans. Toronto weathered the storm and somehow got the win last night. They withstood 16 first quarter points from Vince Carter, who hit 4 three's in the quarter. They withstood another huge late game run by the nets and narrowly escaped defeat when Devin Harris missed a WIDE open jumper after breaking Joey Graham's ankles. A couple things struck me as odd on the play however. Harris had 20 seconds and the ball and waited until about 7-8 seconds were left to make his move. Also Laurence Frank didn't call a timeout to run a play. Sure they got a good shot but I honestly think the Raptors stole one last night.

How'd they do it? Anthony Parkery and Jose Calderon that's how. I don't know whats gotten into Ap but since being slotted in to backup Jose he has been on fire. I think that ANY notion the Raptors may have had to trade him and his expiring contract before the Feb 19th deadline have to be forgotten. This team needs him.
Calderon was awesome again running the point posting another double double.

Bargnani had an off night and I think we can contribute that to him trimming that beard of his.

JO has been ok off the bench. He needs to find his legs though. I can't see the Heat making a deal for him or anyone until much closer to the deadline. The Heat are going pretty good right now and I think they want to see where they are playoff wise before making a deal.

The Raptors have another must win tomorrow at home against the BUcks and hopefully can parley that into maybe a 2-2 record once they face the magic,cavs, lakers and hornets starting Sunday.

Raptors Recap - The "two in a row" edition

The raptors had a nice weekend beating the Bulls with a 20-4 run in the last 6 min of the game Friday in Chicago. They then took care of business at home yesterday against a truly awful Kings club.

The Raptors welcomed back Jose Calderon who lit it up against the Bulls and Kings. It doesn't look like he missed even a game. Andrea Bargnani continues to impress me. He has really settled into the roll as the starting center and is shooting the ball better than I can ever remember. He's getting to the rim as well and yesterday got to the free throw line 10 times. Chris Bosh seems to have returned to his early season form as well. JO was also quite good off the bench yesterday with a double double.

Its nice to see Triano give Jamario the quick hook for missing defensive assignments. Moon has been pulled early into quarters in the past 2 in favor of Joey Graham who has played well. AP has also found his game since being moved to fill in the backup PG spot. He seems to have a little more pep in his step and has done a really nice job handling the backup duties.

I really hope this is a sign of things to come for this team. If they can get the next 2 they'll have some confidence going into the game against the Magic on Sunday.

The trade for Shawn Marion still looms large over this team and I expect if JO continues play well I expect the deal to go down sometime this week.

The thing that a lot of people don't realize about the cap space that Marion's contract provides is that they don't have to use it to sign a free agent. Under league rules a team that is under the salary cap can make a trade for a player of that value without taking back the same value in a contract. There will be teams looking to shed players this offseason and BC can either sign up a free agent or make a trade to get what they need.

Raptors Recap - The "I hate TSN2" edition

The game was on TSN2 again last night. I caught part of it on the radio and part of it I streamed online.

I surmised a couple things from what I heard/saw. The first being that this team is lacking any sort of confidence. They were in it for the first half like they have been all season. Then the third quarter came and you could almost just see it on the Raptors faces that they were going to give it away which they did.

Tayshaun Prince killed the Raptors in the 3rd scoring 12 of his 25 points. It is so frustrating to watch an opposing wing player DESTROY these guys night in and night out.

Thankfully it appears as though the JO to Miami for Marion deal is almost done.

The other thing I noticed is that the Raptors tried going big again and it didn't work. Playing Bosh, O'Neil and Bargnani is not the answer for this team. Especially against a team like the pistons that can just KILL You from everywhere on the floor.

I can't remember the last time a Raptors team lost 7 games in a row. As if that wasn't enough to upset you this morning, news that Kris Humphries fractured his right fibula and will be out weeks and maybe even months adds just a little more salt in the wounds.

Lets get this trade over with. Rebuild the team THIS offseason with the cap space and see where they can go next year. Use the rest of this season to bring guys like Ukic and Bargnani along.

One never knows what can happen. They could go on a streak and win 4 or 5 in a row and get back into race.

Rators Game Day - O'neil for Marion: is it happening? Whats in it for the Raps?

The Raptors play a rare 2pm Monday afternoon game today against the Hawks (its MLK day in the US).

However the latest around the team isn't what's happening on the court its what is potentially happening behind the scenes.

Reports have the Raptors shipping Jermaine O'neil to the Heat for Sean Marion with the only sticking point being how O'neil knee holds up in the next few games. Word is that Pat Riley wants to make sure he is getting somebody that can contribute before pulling the trigger.

The latest report has Riley saying that there is no deal imminent but we all know where there's smoke there's fire and the writing is on the wall for O'neil.

After their loss to the Suns yesterday the Raptors are 10 games under .500 and its looking more and more bleak that they will see the playoffs.

Colangelo needs to make a change and this Marion deal is just what the Doctor ordered.

What does Marion bring to this team?

Well other than his 17 million dollar expiring contract he brings the Athleticism and rebounding presence the raptors so desperately need from the wing.

According to John Hollinger of ESPN Sean Marion is the BEST REBOUNDING small forward in the entire league statistically. Also 45% of his shots come from the inside. Consider that Moon shoots inside at a rate of 10%, Kapono at 23% and Parker at 15% and this is obviously a HUGE upgrade.

Marion's contract is the most attractive part of this deal though. The raptors would have to take on Marcus Banks terrible 4.5 million contract in the deal but that's a small price to pay to have 17 million in cap flexibility this off season.

Also getting Marion now allows them to audition him on the wing for half a season. If he provides what they need and fits in then they can always resign him to a reduced contract (no way he is going to command 17 million this off season).

The one downside to this deal is that the Raptors do lose a big inside presence in O'neil. Bargnani has played very well over this last 10 game stretch but that doesn't change the fact that his game is mostly perimeter based. As such Bargs is 56th out of 57 centers in the league in rebounding.

I still make this deal in a heartbeat though. O'neil never really fit in here and something drastic has to be done.

I just hope Riley doesn't get cold feet and back out of this deal because in all honesty I wouldn't take o'neil.

Raptors Recap - The "another one gets away" edition

The game was on TSN 2 again last night so I didn't watch the entire thing. Streaming a game on the internet isn't what I'd call a good experience. What I saw when I did watch last nights game was a team that lacked energy again and took 2 1/2 quarters to get going.

Andrea Bargnani played his 9th great game in a row scoring a career high with 31 points and also hauled in 10 boards. However they didn't look for him late in the fourth quarter. A series of bad decisions late in the game by the one and only Will Solomon lead to a very close finish. Triano finally learned his lesson and went with Ukic to finish the last couple of minutes and that gave the Raptors a chance to win.

With the ball in his hands and down 2 they gave the ball to Chris Bosh. He tried a pump fake spin on Jokim Noah which was blocked, rather easily I might add.

This sequence to finish the game just illustrates the glaring need for this team.
They need a guy that can create his own shot. Chris Bosh can carry them an entire game but in the dying seconds he cannot get the shot they need.

I'm beginning to think the "diamond in the rough" that Colangelo found last year in Jamario Moon might be to blame for all of this. Moon played just well enough for BC to think he didn't need to address that position in the off season when Colangelo had the Chips to make a deal. Instead they went for Jermaine O'neil and are now saddled with his horrible contract and potentially another TJ/Jose type feud once JO is back healthy and looks to start at center.

The season is half way through and I'm beginning to think that it can't end soon enough. They can't win the easy games, they can't win the close games, they can't win the hard games, they can't win at home.

They are now 8 games below .500 and are the 4th worst team in the East ahead of only Washington, Charlotte and Indiana. They are 40 games into the season and will have to go 30-12 just to reach 46 wins which is what the 6th seed is projected to have. The 6th seed! That would still mean a playoff with Orlando, Boston or Cleveland!

Raptors Recap - The "Close but no cigar" Edition

Well they almost pulled that one out last night. A hard fought battle the entire way through and honestly one of the best Raptors games I've watched all season.

The assumption that the Raptors would lose both of the games in the back to back with the celtics was a good one. However if I had to guess what game they'd have a better shot at I, along with many others, would have said the 12:30 home game on sunday.

WRONG.

My point on this is that this team is SO FRUSTRATING to try and figure out.

They are finally getting consistent production from Andrea Bargnani. Bosh and Bargnani seem to have a rhythm together on the court that they haven't had in the past.
They are getting decent contributions from guys like Joey Graham and Jamario Moon but none of it is enough.

They don't have what it takes to get to that next gear like the Celtics do so why keep the team the same?

The last second three that Bargnani made off the broken play was totally unexpected and nice to see. However, the Raptors need a guy that can take over a game in the last few minutes. A guy like Paul pierce who no matter what the opponant does WILL NOT let his team lose.

Bosh is a wonderful player and a true superstar but he is too easy to shut down at the end of games. A good hard double team that keeps him on the perimeter or just good one on one defense from a guy like Garnett is all it takes. He is NOT a go to late game scorer.

This team needs that presence in order to get to the next level.

Whenever I tell somebody that I really want to watch the entire basketball game the inevitable response is "why you only have to watch the last 5 minutes". Which is actually true (although I maintain the last five min are better when you've watched the other 43). The reason for that is because in Basketball the last five minutes is when teams lock down on defense, turn things up a notch. THAT is when Bosh can't perform. He hasn't in all his years here and he won't because he is too easy to negate without another option.

That is why they lost in overtime and that is why they lose close games. I have faith that Colangelo will make a deal to either get this team under the cap THIS summer or to bring guys in to help now.

All in all though I was thoroughly entertained last night and really that's all I can ask for at this point in the season.

Raptors Recap - The "Bargnani's the best" Edition

Hey another win! By my count that makes 3 of the last 4 with a VERY winnable one coming up at home tomorrow. Yes the loss to the Bucks should have been a win but if they can get a W tomorrow this team will be right back in the thick of things. They may even be riding high enough to get a split on their back to back with Boston, who have not played well at all lately.

After watching the game last night 2 things became clear to me.

1. Andrea Bargnani is improving. He is confident, showing emotion (hello fist pump after his 4th quarter three), Blocking out his man under the basket, taking the ball to the basket with a purpose and even blocking shots.

One play in particular to me at least showed that he is learning and improving. One drive he had a full head of steam going to the basket and instead of trying to force up a shot or run right into his man for a charge like he would have done last season he dumped the ball off for an easy raptors layup.

Sure he's not rebounding as much as most would like but if he can give them what he did last night every night I think most people would be happy with that.
The only question I have is can he do this coming off the bench when the 21 million dollar man is healthy again?

2. Will Solomon played well until the fourth quarter and then reverted back to his bad decision making. He has a tendency to force things too much and it almost cost them another win. The raptors went scoreless AGAIN in a 2:40 stretch with about 5 min to play and that was because Will didn't look to get the ball to Bosh or even Bargnani. On a couple of possessions he drove into the paint and was stripped of the ball and another he took ill advised jump shots. The Raptors are lucky that Mike James missed a couple late shots during that stretch or it would have been a much closer finish.

All in all a good road win for these guys. I'm actually looking forward to seeing them Friday against the Grizzlies.

On another note congratulation has to go to Jamario Moon. His wife gave birth to a baby Girl yesterday. The best line that I read all day yesterday was from a post on RealGm. The post read:

"Congrats to Jamario on his new baby. Its nice to see that he took it to the hole at least once this season"

Raptors Recap - The "Blame it on Will" Edition

Wow now that was quite upsetting.

Bosh is abusing the Bucks on 12 of 14 shooting. The Bucks don't have anybody that can even do a passable job at defending him and Bosh takes 2 shots in the fourth quarter!

I saw Jay Triano's post game press conference where he blamed the loss on the Bucks just catching some lucky breaks. He pointed out 4 posessions in particular:

1. A blown call where the ball went off Francisco Elson's Foot and the Refs gave the ball to the Bucks

2. A luke Ridnour three late in the clock (ridnour is an awful three point shooter)

3. a bail our three from the corner where the ball came to Charlie Bell and he hit a tough shot with 1 on the shot clock

4. Another three by Ridnour over bosh

I'm sorry but as bad as those breaks were for the Raptors, I cannot put the blame on anyone else other than Will Solomon.

People will look at the box score and see his 11 assists and maybe think he played well. The truth is he didn't. He was 2 for 13 from the floor and made terrible terrible decisions with the ball.

He should NOT have been on the floor in the fourth. Roko should have been. Will took 2 terrible threes late in the fourth and never looked to get Bosh the ball. The raptors were outscored 12-0 in the last 2:30 of the game and the blame for that is on Will. Sure the Bucks were doubling Bosh but he was getting to the line through the double team all night long.

Roko was playing great, getting into the paint and making sure that Bosh was getting the ball. Sure Roko doesn't have a handle on that high screen and roll that Bosh and Jose run so well but Will certainly didn't run it.

This game was winnable in every way. The decision to go with Will over Roko was a bad one and cost them the game. End of story.