Tip-In: Team Effort

The new opening montage/song SUCKED!

It might of well have been Loren Woods dancing to Beyonce. it was almost as bad as fake nsync singing the national anthems.

good game though

I was also disappointed in the intro, its a good song but the beats from the baseline didn't come through (atleast not on TV).

I also really liked the new graphics they used on the broadcast, but I found the score really hard to read because the 6 and 8 looked really similar. Anyone else find that?

I agree about the intro - it needs more highlights, less irish springs raptors dance pak and WAY more bass.

I have now been sold on the Kapono signing - that guy is a sniper.

I agree about the score's new graphic. Not only is the score hard to read but the time remaining in each quarter was difficult to decipher. Not sure what the solution is as if they were to make it bigger it would be too big. Maybe a font change would help.
I really liked what I saw from just about everyone. Kapano looked good and actually played some decent d on a few possesions. Delfino looked good. I am not overly worried about the Raps Rebounding because they were going after it strong all night but it seemed more like a case of bad bounces than anything else.
Reggie Evans was a beast on the boards but that is why Philly got him as contributes almost nothing else to their team. Given the fact that Rasho and Garbs didnt play much and CB4 had an off game (for him) I will wait to see how the Raps do as the season goes on before I get too concerned with the lack or Rebounding.

Like-wise was totally impressed that sam pulled bosh once he ran out of gas. You could see bosh was in his hyper-intense mode from the opening tip, where he flexes every muscle in body just to yell at the refs. That's a good thing, though, he'll settle down and get into shape to boot.

The rotations were baffling me as well, until I thought about this time last year where sam felt he had to play everyone regularly until someone really played their way out of their minutes. It's gutsy but I hope he doesn't get too stubborn about it.

The line up of Bosh, bargs, AP, Kapono and ford/calderon is awesome. I do want to see a little less dixon and a little more rasho though.

good game last night, except i wasnt really feeling how bosh kept forcing the issue, to many times he would try and get to the basket between 2 or 3 guys...when that happens he should be kicking it out, thats why we have the amount of three point shooters on that team that we have. Most of his buckets camr off simple pick and pop plays or the penetrate and pitch where he was wide open from the elbow, the shot looked good and it was easy...i dont understand why he needs to force the issue.

First game - lets look at the positives.
1) Bargnani looks like the real deal. Regardless of the early fouls(something we will have to live with as he continues to grow). 20 points in 22 minutes, five rebounds(decent for 22 minutes although judging by comments on yesterdays article Gerry has already found a new whipping post - guess with Sam now signed to a contract he's looking for something else to complain about).
2) Ford and Calderon continue to impress
3)Delfino is going to fit in very nicely with this team.

Friday night at the Swamp in Jersey, returning to the scene of the crime. My six pack of Stella is chilling in the fridge.

howland,
I agree 100% of your assessment. Coach made a move that other coaches will not do. CB4 was forcing the issue too much,we have shooters on the floor and he keeps on driving to the lane. Can anybody please watch old tapes of the Boston Celtics and watch Kevin Mc Hale do his post up moves. And Bargs should have went for the dunk instead of doing a floater.
Thank you,
Ernie

ahhhh - finally some ball!

Rob S I'm with ya.
It is impossible to see the score with their new setup. I had no idea what the score was throughout the game. My TV is 40 inches wide!

I disagree that Mitchell pulling Bosh was some courageous coaching maneuver. Bosh played about 20 minutes of preseason – no wonder he struggled. If he was 100% Sam would not handle his minutes like that regardless of his play.

Also, the defense last night was routinely suspect. Korver got so many open looks. Even the usually steady Parker made a couple of glaring defensive mistakes.

Anyways, that's enough negativity. They won game 1 and that's all that matters. Lots of room for improvement.

In regards to the Score’s broadcast, they have to use that annoying little score board in the middle of the screen because they insist on having the ticker run on the bottom. Also, when I watched the highlights on Raptors’ TV Post Up I noticed the quality was so much better than the in game action. I could see the whole court and all the players. The reason is, the image was not condensed on Raptor’s TV to fit in a Ticker at the bottom. To think the Raptors’ allow their product to be shown like this is amazing to me. Am I the only that is driven crazy by this?

I really wish they just used the Chemical Brothers original... Though 'Galvanize' would have been just ideal!

Watching on TV, it really didn't seem like the crowd was cheering at all during the montage. I wish they had more sick plays from last year, and less shots of the players holding the ball...

I have to work this Friday... Which i will have to do most Fridays. This will be agonizing.

commentador - sam's move was courageous in the sense that if they'd lost, everyone would be all like why the hell wasn't bosh playing??

Some quick thoughts:

-The PG situation felt kinda like the Twilight Zone last night. TJ primarily distributing and Jose looking to score? Nice reverse from last year...and wow having both of those guys is an incredible luxury.

-Bargs is going to be great. Loved the flashes of an inside game, especially the rebound put back of a missed free throw.

-Delfino looks like he's going to fit in just fine. He was active, around the ball and not forcing offence. Did he play as much as Kapono? Sure looked like it.

-Something isn't right with Garbo. Aside from that one give and go with Calderon he didn't look very good and his shooting was pretty bad. Hopefully he can round into form but for now I think he's got to be the 12th man.

-On that note, I hope we don't see the whole "12 guys playing in the first half" thing very often. It's nice that everybody got in in the first game and there was enough foul trouble to justify going deep into the bench but I think you're going to want more a set rotation than that.

Anyway, any game that's a W is a good one...glad the season is finally here. These next 2 games are going to be a nice gauge of where we stand in the division.

Great to have bball back! Here are some thoughts about the game.

Non-Game related stuff:
- Are the Chunky Monkeys going to be a regular feature? There is just no need for that. The intro was weak.

- Maybe it was better live (although it doesn’t sound like it was), but on a sugar rushed time delayed TV broadcast, it was weak. They need a much better song with lot’s of bass, maybe stick with classic rock.

- What’s with the score? Why is this always a problem with our broadcast? Is it really that difficult to get it right? How many times are they going to pull the score to get it corrected? Why is there a 10 second delay on updating the damn thing? And I agree with you Rob S, really hard to read.

- Chuck was actually bearable last night but still went to the Salami and Cheese. Cheeseeeeeeey!

- Grange was actually on the Fan yesterday which was nice to see. It’s wasn’t the prime time show, but it was a nice programming enhancement. Also, basketball has gotten front sports page billings for two days now in the Globe and in addition, Brunt actually wrote about basketball in the globe this morning. unheard of!

Game:
I was very impressed with:
TJ Ford: He did a great job running the offence and finding his spots to score.
Bargnani: He did a great job of posting up and mixing up the outside shot.
Kapono: He did a great job on the offence and I thought defended well. Mitchell should have used him more than he did, especially during that sixers run.
Parker: was pretty good last night as well.
Humphries: brought the hustle which was needed.
Nesterovic: good in his limited minutes
Lastly, I thought Graham had a great game. I know he only played in limited minutes, but he was aggressive, played good defense (that was a charge, the refs blew it!) and scored in the paint.

I wasn’t so impressed with:
Jose: Scored well, but I was not impressed with the way he ran the offence. He was on the floor during the 21 point collapse. He also missed a lob pass to Bosh which was reminiscent of the NJ game 6. Didn’t he practice this all summer?
Delfino: He was good in spots, but really didn’t contribute as much as I was hoping. He was out there for long stretches during the sixers run and didn’t really do much. I thought Kapono should have replaced him earlier than he did.
Dixon: Did ok, but nothing memorable.

I was very unimpressed with:
Bosh: Boy did he look bad out there. How can you be winded after 6 minutes of play? Also, how can we pretend that he really is an all star caliber if the likes of Dalembert and Collins last year give him fits in the paint. I know Samuel is tall and a good blocker, but if you can’t figure out Sam, how are you going to deal with other better centres in the league? Also, why does he still demand the ball 6 feet out? Why does he not move on the pass but rather hesitates long enough for the defense to adjust? These are things that we fans picked up on last year, do you think the opposition is cluing in to this? Bosh seemed to have picked up where he left off in the NJ series and that is very troubling! I expect more from a franchise player.
Garbajosa: I agree that he does not seem like the player we had last year. Not sure whether it’s conditioning, health issues or being in the dog house, but something has changed.

For all the talk of our great bench, our reserves did not do a great job last night giving up a big lead and even at the end of the first/beginning of the second, they barely kept up with the sixers reserves.

I’d like to see more Kapono and more Graham if he is playing well instead of an average Delfino.

The 76ers gave it a good run, but i think the raptors new that that team could not beat them....sort of like the Suns who just turn on another switch when an inferior team gets close. It will be a little tougher in the Swamp but I expect the Raps to avenge that 6th game loss in the playoffs. Raps need to clean up the boards a lot better when they play Jason n the boys. My weekend predictions will be the first loss for NJ and Boston.

We have a couple of slow defenders. Delfino, Garbajosa, Kapono and surprisingly last night Parker. I was most unimpressed with Delfino.

As much as I like how Smitch is willing to use the bench guys, I have a problem with him using five bench guys at the same time. The offense stagnates this way, because they have to basically start from scratch in establishing their offensive.

12 assists, one turnover. TJ Ford is the man. Plus he was the only one who figured out how to go up against Dalembert and not get blocked. You can't just go straight at him with your usual timing Mr. Bosh. You have to make him committ first.

It may just be me, but I get really excited when the ball is in Bargnani's hands. There really hasn't been a player like him in the nba before. He's a real treat to watch. I'm excited to see him go up against Kristic.

zona, agrea about delfino, but he pretty much sealed the game for us with an incredible touch pass to an open kapono.

we have a lot of players who play better and better the more pressure is on. Delfino and kapono might just be two more.

And bosh will come around. He's injured.

We have a couple of slow perimeter defenders. Garbajosa was the worst, then Delfino, then Kapono and surprisingly last night Parker. I was most unimpressed with Delfino though since he's supposed to be athletic.

As much as I like how Smitch is willing to use the bench guys, I have a problem with him using five bench guys at the same time. The offense stagnates this way, because they have to basically start from scratch in establishing their offensive.

12 assists, one turnover. TJ Ford is the man. Plus he was the only one who figured out how to go up against Dalembert and not get blocked. You can't just go straight at him with usual timing as Bosh kept trying. You have to make him committ first.

Finally, it may just be me, but I get genuinely excited when the ball is in Bargnani's hands. There really hasn't been a player like him in the nba before. Rarely in sports do you get to watch something completely new. I'm excited to see him go up against Kristic.

Some great comments, finally getting to chime in here myself.

Intro to the game, weak...zona you and I had the same thoughts a number of times last night apparently, from that pass Jose threw to Bosh that was too low, to the not so great bench play and Joey's performance.

Here's the interesting thing about Joey last night, Mitchell had him playing the 4 when he was doing his damage. I've been hard on Joey since almost the moment he was drafted but there's one thing Howland and I have always agreed on in regards to him - he looks WAY more comfortable on the blocks. I really think Sam should use him in this regard at times when they go to a smaller lineup with Bosh at center. Just another option for Mitchell.

I thought the Raptors got bored in the third quarter when Philly made their run...it was almost like Toronto was toying with Philly.

I was spared the agony of the Score tracker/scoreboard situation so I'm hoping they fix it before the next telecast. Great to see so much positive press around the Raps and ball in the media and also great to see the Leafs struggling so much!

Final thought - best costume at the ACC last night:

Someone in a Darth Vader outfit with a sign that said:

"Chuck, I am your father!"

I laughed for about 10 minutes after seeing that...

very nice way to start the season...only dark spot was the intro. i knew it would blow and it did..how are the players sposed to get pumped up to "stronger". horrible song choice by raptors personel there

Being at the game I have to defend the audience's non-reaction at the start. The traffic heading to the arena was brutal, especially trying to get into the $5 season seatholder parking (30 minutes to "drive" on Wellington between Church and Bay). So probably when the intro started most people in the lower bowl were not yet seated, including us. Sigh. Oh yeah, it appears the drummers are here to stay, they have their own niche carved out in the 600(?) level opposite the Sprite Zone.

Everyone crapping on Bosh should just chill. He is obviously not up to his optimal conditioning yet. He would be a lot more efficient, re: his up-and-unders against the Dalemberts and Evans's of the NBA if he was in better fitness. It's too bad there are two big games this weekend but hopefully the Raps can pull one out.

Oh yeah, and I hope TJ's astute passing game, coupled with Jose's lob turnover redux, should seal the deal who should be the starter going forward. It's nice that Jose is a better jump shooter, but that's just not his role.

This was under the radar - apparently it happened last night, but no mention here in the article or the comments as of yet.

Raptors sign Humphries to 3-year extension, financial terms not disclosed:

http://www.nba.com/raptors/news/pressrelease_103107_hump.html

Oh yeah, and to LA's Only Raptor Fan: "There really hasn't been a player like [Bargnani] in the nba before" -- you should watch more Mavericks games, then.

Agreeing with JJ: you think Bargnani is a new prototype? I have 2 words for you:
Sam Perkins

or better yet:
Bill Lambeer

OK, that's a stretch. Let's stick with the Dirk comparison.

I don't know why everyone is so down on the Raptors d when I thought they played well for the most part. Yes they let Philly back into it but I got the same impression that Franchise did in that the Raptors knew they could destroy Philly and were just playing with them (too much as it turned out). The good news is once Philly started making their run Toronto upped their d and o and put them away.
Someone had commented on Parker leaving Korver wide open at one point. I saw that play and the first thing I noticed was he was pissed right afterward. I believe however that the issue was a breakdown as Dixon was suppose to rotate out to Korver and didnt. The fact Dixon got the yank almost immediately afterwards tells me it was his error not Parkers(who I believe was covering the cutter). At the end of the day, coaches in the NBA make their living designing plays to get their Shooters open looks and every team will them open at times so its not a big deal.
I actually thought Delfino looked good. I saw his ball handling ability a few times and outside of the soul patch (which needs to go) I thought he looked good out there. I also noticed that Kapanos d was better than advertised (although I had heard he was a good team defender).