Tip-In, Toronto Raptors Post-Game: Howling at the Moon

I think Jamario was great. His elevation on the alley-oop at the end was spectacular. His defence is second to none on this team. I am looking forward to his next start. Moon for ROY!

I really like Franchise's logic with regards to starting AP and Moon, then going to Kapono and Delfino off the bench. The defensive intensity really seemed to be up that extra notch last night. I was quite imprtessed. The guys were definately looking to get Jamario going last night. Did anyone notice Bosh give up a fairly open shot to pass it across the court to Moon for a jumper (and Moon wasn't much more open). I think this was a great gesture and shows the core guys are not resisting Moon's progress, and just want to win. Moon obviously missed a few open looks last night, but he looked more comfortable in the offence and taking open shots. Not bad for one nights progress. Big challenge coming in on Wednesday. Did anyone see highlights of the Jazz game last night? Kirilenk was everywhere, that guy has never-ending arms. Wonder if Moon gets the assignment?

I can remember reading an article by Doug Smith (self proclaimed (Raptor Guru)saying this past fall the kidd "Moon" is a long shot to even make the team ,never mind seeing any playing time.I dont expect Jamario to be a regular starter,but if he keeps this up who knows.All anyone would of had to do was look up his dunks on u tube,the kidd has hops,and rebounding is becoming more and more important.On another matter Garbo is not a happy camper,and its starting to show (he did ok for the few minutes that were irelevant)but I can see it becoming a cancer ,I hope not (playing for Spain,and spitting in B.C. face is now costing him).Bring on the Jazz !!!

First, thanks to all who responded to my Rasho query. I’m a better person. ;-)

Although I missed last night’s game, it’s becoming apparent that Mitchell is figuring things out regarding his personnel. Can’t wait to see this baby revved up.

Got to love Jamario Moon. Given what he’s being paid to play this season it should make some of you feel better about Kapono’s contract. It all balances out.

Took alot of balls for Sam to put Moon in the starting five. How 'bout some props to the coach(who can do no right)for that gutsy call.
3 shots from our PG's! Take away Calderon first two minutes(when his 3 turnovers occurred) and they were nearly flawless.
Team rebounding was about as good as I've ever seen it.

Oh - I see Wince spent some extended minutes on the floor last night - looks good on him.

Tinman says "I see Wince spent some extended minutes on the floor last night - looks good on him" you are so funny I love it, that is how he takes his vacation, thank God he is not on the Toronto Raptor's staff, Go Raps Go Rap!!

It all makes sense now why garbo was not solution to sf problem. Kapono had his chance and if moon can play like that it just makes sense. It's painfull to think of all the stiffs we've had on this team the last few years, and this moon kid wandering around the cba and the globetrotters. What a find. Although, it's only his second game.

d279 - Well...you've just broken the premise of my article tomorrow ha ha. Got a nice little media rant coming on and those comments from Dougie will be part of it...

I usually stay away from fantasy trade thoughts - but we've got a lot of capable bodies in this lineup that might be hard finding minutes for. Wonder whats on BC's mind?

you are right that this win had a lot to do with chemistry, but i still stand on the point that once ford realizes his role as a distributor and not mike james, (like he did last night, only taking 3 shots, 1 of which was forced) and he dropped 14 dimes, look at the last 3 losses, his shot totals are always higher then his assist numbers, in my opinion, with the team they have, this should never be the case. He did a great job last night of finding the open guy, penetrating and dishing and moving the ball early in the shot clock instead of dribbling around the top of the three point line for 20 seconds. For this team to be successful they need TJ to stop looking for his own shot and start looking for others like he did last night. When he does that, this team is dangerous.

did anybody else notice that bosh does well in terms of scoring and getting to the bucket when bargnani is not on and vice versa. Bargs doesnt get his shot at the top of the three point line cause bosh is always standing there, and bosh doesnt get that low post position cause bargs is always there...they need to switch places. And Kap-one does well when both of them are off cause he can move around the three point line freely without anyone in his way...so maybe its good for him to come off the bench...just an observation.

i love rasho, he's a rebounding machine, and i love that he's starting. in the philly game though i didn't get why after a great first quarter, in which the raps looked set to cruise to victory, he rode the pines all night. anyway i agree with you franchise, this starting lineup makes a lot more sense. the SF position is still volatile though, i'm loving moon but he's only had 3 games, and in some cases we'll need a bigger option.,

In regards to TJ being the distributor rather than the scorer, I take issue with this. It seems to me that the easiest way to gaurd the raptors this year is to play tight man to man and don't leave the shooters. When this happens it leaves players like TJ Ford to take whomever 1 on 1. He'll be able to drop 30, but as a team the Raps suffer when this happens. By starting Nesterovic rather than Bargs there is a much needed inside game. If only the Raps could have a Kevin Mchale-like player to initiate some inside-out play.

The bottom line is, the raptors need to do whatever they can to get their shooters open. If they aren't able to do this then they are an easy team to defend.

anyone else notice how much more fluid the flow between JC and Kapono then with TJ? Agreed that CB looks better when Bargs not there, and vice versa.

What would be wrong with two equally powerful units? Comments here say the starters are supposed to set the tone, that's assuming the 1st unit is better. But what if they are equal? Wouldn't that wear down teams more, and have us better fueled for a long run in the playoffs?

Boy, do I like Moon in this lineup. Can he bring it every night? Even Joey had his nights.

Franchise, thank you for calling out the boneheads on RaptorsTV. I look forward to the media rant. This is when you guys are at your best, imo – when you are: 1. poking through the gloss that PJ, Sherm, Chuck, et al are perpetually slathering on our perceptions of the team, and 2. when you take the beat writers to task for their many sins. Rarely can I get through a Doug Smith piece without entertaining the brief thought of smacking him.

Moon had a great game, but when are folks going to learn that one game does not a season make. He might disappear next game in which case we'll be reading comment after comment calling for his demotion to the D. But it was nice to see some good defence being played at the 3, no disrespect to Delfino, who gives the effort but has been physically dominated at times.

one that that has not been mentioned yet is that TO's offence in the first half was producing a lot of turnovers. Any insights on how that transpired? They shut that down in the second half, but the first they seemed to rush passes, miss passes, etc. Before this game they had second-lowest number of TO made per game.

Watched Kurt Thomas play tonight. My goodness, he could help the Raptors in so many ways. He's in the final year of his contract, playing for a team in the rebuilding phase... I'm curious of whether Colangelo would try to make a move like this if the team is positioned well in January. I'm sure other teams will be trying to land Thomas. After all, the Swirsk says he's a "class act".

I don't think anyone here was calling for Moon to get Bosh-like contract, we were just thrilled about all of the positive signs thus far. I don't think being excited about Moon's play in two games means that we are expecting him to start dropping 20 points a night consistantly. However, if there were two games in a row where Graham was impressive, I must have missed them, and that makes Moon's meager accomplishments so far something to talk about.

Swirsky is an idiot. I think we should vote on whether his name should ever be mentioned on here again.
Moon's play creates some interesting ideas. If he continues to play solid D and can hit a couple of open jumpers every game, how can we take him out of the starting lineup. We all now he will have his up and down games but his effort will not be lacking and other than situations where it will be an obvious mismatch, shouldn't he get the burn? Mitchell's game plan requires people to work hard on both end's of the floor and Moon does that. As impressive as his block was I was more impressed by him fighting for the ball under the basket and changing people's shots. I loved the way he moves and he definately has some hops and quickness and as long as Mitchell keeps his minutes to 20-25/game he can be an assett in the starting lineup. The only question is whether he starts to take it for granted and doesn't always give a consistent effort. That was always the knock on Joey. Joey would play his ass off one game then disappear the next. As long as Moon works hard, he has to be given the benefit of the doubt.

I didn't see the game, but looks like Delfino had pretty decent numbers also. I hope Mitchell will settle on a starting line up soon. All these changes must be hard on the players.

I don’t know how anyone can argue that Moon shouldn’t be given a chance to play in the starting lineup. Never mind defence and blocks which we know we need a lot of help with and forgot about those monster dunks, what impressed me the most was the rebounding. He was the best rebounder on the floor against PHI (Bosh got 2 more in 15 more minutes and Delfino got 1 more in 8 more minutes) and did very well again against Chicago. Rebounding is where we need help and he seems to fit the bill.

I read somewhere that Moon was in for matchup reasons. I hope that’s just how they sold it to Kapono. You don’t have good players not playing because of matchups, that’s what you do with marginal players. When was the last time CB4 sat down because of match up problems with bigger players? Moon has done a nice job and obviously it’s too early to call him a hall of famer, but he’s earned the right to start the next game. He is as big as either Kapono or Delfino. My vote is keep him in.

Bigd, I take exception to your criticism of TJ. The team didn’t suck because TJ was taking shots. TJ was taking shots because the team sucked and that’s a big difference. Nobody was making shots so TJ took over the game. That’s called leadership.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/marty_burns/11/12/power.rankings/index.html

Interesting ranking from Marty Burns. Got us ranked 10th overall but the 3rd ranked eastern team. Ahead of the Magic, Nets,.
Always thought SI had the best sports on the web.

NJ and Hornets.....Just watched the game tonight and Chris Paul would not play in front of TJ or JC on the Raptor team. Talk about pounding the ball and taking bad shots. I have not seen much of Him but if this is the norm You can have it

ya and chris paul also won the game for the hornets...

but in some regards i agree, but he almost has to that every game cause they dont have the fire power that toronto has, so if they are gonna win games, hes gotta score the ball, like baron did when he played for them.

But Erezona, regardless of wether or not the other players are sucking is niether here nor there when it comes to TJ looking for his shot. with the exception of the last game and the blowout against the nets, TJ has been looking for his shot right from the tip, not just when no one else is scoring...however i will give him that game against boston..eventaully he became the only option offensively that was working, and he took advantage of it...but Ford should be driving to the hoop or passing hte ball early in the shot clock so he can kick it out and get that ball movement going that toronto has been praised for.

And gerry u talk about how kapono looks better with calderon, so does AP, in my opinion calderon is a much better point guard when it comes to getting guys the ball in their comfort zone and continuously getting shots...when the two headed point guard of toronto can do this teh whole game, they are very successful and will continue to be successful, a perfect example is the chicago game..3 shots between the 2 point guards and 23 assists..thats more then the entire team got in the milwakee and orlando game.

Is that Omar Cook in the background of the pic with Jamario Dunking up top? I remember when I was hoping he would be our PG!

I'm a relative newcomer to this blog. just wanted to say, by far, the best analysis from any of the raptors-related blogs. good work. also. I agree with you. Get Garbo some burn!