Tip-In: March Madness

Now this was a game to be a bit upset at. Raps played down to sonics defensively in a big way.

I was shocked at seeing dixon on ray allen also, but we did win and dixon seems already to fit into toronto's system better than mo (could be just a honeymoon period though) so it's definitely a gamble for sam either way.

8 min!!!!I wonder where Mo Pete will be playing next year. It seems that He gets little respect from SM. Why would He want to return??? Are the Raptors going to get nothing for Him or will BC be able to do a sign and trade before draft time? Credit Mo Pete for standing up cheering and pulling for His team from the bench when He should of been in the game.A real class act and the kind of player any team will be happy to have. Too bad SM is messing with Him (imo)Rebounding and defense is hard work (Players learn this at an early age)Are the euros too soft? Not aggressive? There sure is alot of watching as shots go up. I can't believe how much I have been yelling at my tv watching the games lately. Always its the same thing play some defense get a rebound oh Sh** another score off a rebound. Did Parker get pulled off Allen because of the ankle? Allen sure was running Him. I was amazed watching Allen move to get open. A Very Special player!

Excellent game, good win. I think at times Sam gives up on Toronto's non-existant defense and simply puts 5 guys on the floor who are going to outscore the other team. And, as we all know, Juan Dixon seems to be scoring a whole lot more than Joey and Mo at the momemnt. If the defense isn't clicking, why spend 48 minutes trying to force it work? Cut your losses and put as many points as possible on the board, hoping that at the end this will be enough. As Leo loves to point out, this Raptors team can put up losts of points against anyone in the league. If this is true, and if and when Sam feels the defense has taken a night off, simply put all your best offensive weapons on the court at the same time. Good or bad, this is what is happening.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing every time Allen shot over Dixon, but that wasn't the only problem I had yesterday. What was up with the substitutions in the first half? 11 guys played! This isn't the pre-season so why are we running 11 guys out there? Sam, set your rotation and stick with it! Nobody can get into a rhythm when guys are constantly getting subbed in and out.

On a positive note, that was the best game from TJ I've seen in a while.

I thought Juan Dixon played great physical defence on Allen. He cut off the drive and forced Allen to take difficult off-balance or fadeaway jumpers. Allen just happened to hit some ridiculous shots and I think it's unfair to criticize Dixon's D.

and don't forget Doxon's strip on (I believe) Rashard Lewis in the last 2 minutes of the game...good defensive effort, but did give up a lot of size on Allen. If anyone needs critique it is Garbajosa who seems to be fading. If he was playing well, then Parker would have been on Allen and would have shut him down they way he did in the first Q (1 of 4).

Sam, I’m with you. The only thing you can fault Dixon for is being short. And you can’t really fault him for that. In addition, Allen made many shots with a hand right in his face. He would have scored on Mo Pete with ease. I agree with Mitchell on this one, Allen would score anyway, may as well get a player in there that can answer back and we know that isn’t Mo Pete these days.

You want to stop Allen? Make someone else take the shots. Double him and make him give up the ball. Yet this simple tactic was only executed once as far as I remember, and it worked like magic.

Disturbing trend: Ford dribbling under the basket with nowhere to go and putting up a wild shot which goes nowhere. At first I thought, OK, he’s young and needs to learn. He’ll develop over time and find better options. But it’s the 63rd game of the season, when will he learn? This part of his development has been painfully slow.

If we don’t get back to our pre-all star game defence, tonight is going to be long. Thank goodness the game isn’t on real TV.

When Allen is in such a zone that he is draining crossover dribbles treys, it doesn't matter who is defending him, Dixon, Mo Pete, Artest or even Bowen. At least, Dixon was making Allen work on the defensive end. I didn't have a problem with that.

Mo Pete, and I love the guy, seems to have developed "FredJonesitis" in the last few games. Worse, he is missing free throws with alarming regularity.

I find a lot of parallels of Ford's situation to Calderon last year. Calderon became a better PG as his shot and shot selection improved. Once TJ's shot starts to fall, the defender has to crowd him, making it easier for TJ to down-shift and blow by. If he spends the summer working on his floaters, with a year of playoff experience and some rebounding help we could be a C-O-N-T-E-N-D-E-R next season.

MoPete got 3 starts when AP was out and shot2/6,3/12,2/5 in forcing a switch to Dixon
who shot7/13,6/9. MoPete off the bench3/4,2/7,0/2. MoPete will not start in TO, if he comes back,unlikely it will be off the bench.

The best thing about this game was a look at the future with Bargnani 21,Bosh 22, & TJ 23. I think we tend to forget sometimes (71pts)is a peek whats to come with 2/3 years together with some improved rebounding help.

Raptors can rebound when they put their minds to it. During Jan/Feb 19 wins 8 losses they were a -2 vs opponents. In March 5 games
-9 vs opponents. TEAM rebounding is required, all 5 must contribute.

this game had everything. four stars. i am not so sure that dixon has permanently taken mopete's spot. he's just on a hot streak at the moment. BUT dixon has essentially bumped joey graham out of the primary rotation. nonetheless, i would expect both mopete and graham to not be raptors next season -- almost a foregone conclusion.

rasho has been a disappointment. but he may just have been picked up as a stopgap solution until something decent appears in the market. can anyone think of an overseas center colangelo might go for? (from here on in, this team is only going to get more european)

I don't know how much you can blame juan for ray going off. it's not like most of the shots he took weren't either off balance with a hand in his face, or just simply ridiculous. I don't know how much better mo would have done.

good win, but wow - that game was dificult to watch. watching them miss rebound after rebound was just heart breaking. and it also made me change my mind in terms of playoff match ups. I used to think chicago would be difficult, but you have to think the cavs will absolutely destroy the raps with their second chance points.

the only comfort stat I've read recently, is that phoenix gives up the second most second chance points. but they also score a million points a game. so I guess it doesn't really matter.

I'm not faulting Dixon for his size, and yes, he was working his damndest to stop Allen and Ray Ray WAS in the zone...but I just think that Peterson would have been a better option. It's not like Dixon countered his defensive deficiencies with a flurry of buckets, he had one one big three. Hopefully Mitchell doesn't forget that Peterson's fourth quarter work in Jan and Feb played a huge part in getting Toronto to where they are now. Peterson might be gone at season's end, but that doesn't mean Mitchell should let a solid defender languish on the bench in these types of situations...

Mo Pete was finished at the beginning of the year. The raptors needed him to play minutes but he killed himself when he bad mouthed Smitch behind his back to a nobody hack blogger. Its a shame really but Mo just does not have a future in this organisation. In the past he was our best individual defender but that said more about our other players than his defense. Anthony Parker and Dixon are both better ind. defenders than Mo pete and that is why he is riding the pine. Dixon is quick and strong and although he lacks height you would like to see at the 2 spot you cant fault his effort. Mo might have been taller but he has lost a step and i dont think he can stick with Allen. As for all the put back points, well the Raps bigs were getting manhandles so Smitch went small. Can't fault him for that strategy. The Raps bigs need to find a way to Block Out on Rebounds. It has been a problem for years and its something that wasnt going to change overnight. Welcome to Raptor ball.

"Bonneresque" is the perfect way to describe this latest Sam Mitchell infatuation with a defensively challenged one-dimensional shooter. WTF? People here in Portland are treating the trade of Jones for Dixon as highway robbery, such was Dixon's reputation as someone who overcame terribly inconsistent shooting by consistently accepting all opportunities to chuck it at the hole.

Knowing this I was still ok with the trade at the time because it freed up a year's worth of 3 mil cap room and because I expected Juan to get as much PT as Jones was getting, i.e. zero. Now Parker's back and he continues to see 30 minutes a game.

Just when you thought the Smitch was off the peyote...

I wouldn't go as far as to say that dixon is a better defender than mo, mcgateway, but he certainly has been better offensively the last few games.

on a side note: it is unfortunate to see mo pete finish off his toronto stint like this, if it works out that way - playing limited minutes under a lot of pressure with what looks like not a lot of support from the coaching staff, but them is the breaks.

I do agree that it seems odd that he has been mr. 4th quater for the last 2 months, and now he has to connect on his first shot or 2 or he gets yanked like a rookie.

seeing dixon come in and take his minutes has to be burning him up too.

having said all that, I'm sure he'll get his chance to shine once the playoffs roll around. you have to believe they'll be counting on him to do his thing.

It's being overlooked due to Bargnani's clutchness, but our last offensive play in regulation time was the same as every other set play Sam Mitchell draws up. The PG dribbles half the clock off, comes off a pick, and drives to the hoop. And like every other time, it broke down.

I thought we rebounded terribly, but the coaching was especially frustrating. For some reason Joey Graham was the first swingman off the bench for us and Peterson was nailed to the bench while Ray Allen continually abused the shorter Juan Dixon. I can't believe people are actually mentioning this moron as a CoY candidate.

Till this day Ford,scares the heck out of me,when he gets in his head down,get out of the way moods....did TJ. score a crapp load...yup,did he shoot a crapp load yup !!!!all things being equal ,I will take the rook launching the threes anyday...I find the only time Bargs will see a pass from Ford is when TJ has run out of time on the clock and he gets to shoot with 2 seconds on the clock....back to the pass first guard (James!!!) We need a big banger inside...some teams like the Knicks give us grief inside,and how many games left with the knicks ...3