Tip-In: Point Made

You can’t put enough lipstick on that pig.

It’s a bit deflating that we can barely, just barely, keep pace with the Pistons scrubs on our home court. Wow, that message was loud and clear, we are not quite ready for prime time.

Aside from shots not falling, the biggest disappointment for me was Bosh. It took till 4:45 left in the 4th quarter before he made his first post up move. His second, and last of the game, came with a minute and change. This team is not built to survive against anyone without having a power forward. If he insists on playing the small forward role, we are in trouble. I don’t care how big they are, you take it inside and you take it hard. You will no doubt lose some balls, but last night he had none!

Parker was, once again, the man of the match for me. And I am very happy to being proven really wrong about Humpries and Graham, I never thought they could reach the level they are playing as of late (specially Humpries), and their very important contributions have made up a lot for the losses of Garbs and Bargs.

Oh and, even though he made it this time, i didn't like the final play setup for TJ at the end... It is so predictable it makes you wonder if the pistons' scouts had also been given a rest (like Billups).

Let's not get carried away here. If anyone, at the beginning of the season, had said we would be right near the top of the Eastern Conference standings with Detroit, you would have shaken your head. The Raps are definitely an up and coming team, but Detroit is still the class of the conference. They're big, tough and better defensively at every position with the possible exception of shooting guard (Anthony Parker over Rip).

Not much we can do about the draft, especially in regards to getting a first rounder. It would be nice to add a Corey Brewer or a Jeff Green to this team, but that's the price of winning (not to mention a terrible Grunwald trade). But this is already a young team that should improve just by dint of the young players gaining more experience. If Colangelo sees a player he likes slip into the second round, he might make a play for him, but otherwise I think he'll stand relatively pat. Candidates for that role might include Derrick Byars and, at the very outside, Arron Afflalo.

Of all the "who do we want to play" talk, this Pistons' squad is the one I think the Raps need to avoid at all costs. Totally agree with you Erezona, Bosh once again wasn't aggressive enough. Yes he was solid on the glass, but when both clubs are throwing up bricks, there are lots of rebounds to be had. What bothered me the most was that CB4's first foul shots came so late in the game AND on a jump shot!!

Finally, props to Jack Armstrong for chastizing any Raps fans that will be attending playoff games only to sit at the ACC eating sushi and talking on their cell phones. As he put it best "ya gotta get rowdy for playoff time Chuck!"

Who cares who Detroit had on the floor. A win against a team that we could play in the Eastern Conf. Finals gives us a little mental boost. You better believe Detroit will want to win the next match against us. To lose twice to us (no matter who they have on the floor) is not good for any team mentally. They can not afford to give us any advantage. The raptors feed off this stuff.

Joey, Kris and AP, awesome again last night.

Great to see Garbs there! GO RAPS!!

PS - Agree Skywalker. We'll be talking draft when that time comes around regardless as if anyone can get a player out of nothing to help the club, it will be BC.

That being said...JOHN WALLACE!! AAAAAAAARGH!

Franchise, I was actually thinking of the deal than sent a first rounder to Cleveland for (ulp) Lamond Murray. Not that you're wrong about Wallace. It's hard to believe he single handedly carried Syracuse to the NCAA final and then turned out to be a total dud.

One other potential second rounder I forgot to mention was, believe it or not, Brandon Rush. I can't believe a player of his calibre would slip into the second round, but that's where Draftnet ranks him right now. He doesn't have eye-popping athleticism, but he's solid at both ends of the floor and was one of the better Jayhawks in this year's tourney.

I'm gonna have to disagree with you on the Joey Graham thing. I think he did a great job on defense, not biting on the assortment of fakes, and his shooting was ok, as long as he was driving hard to the basket or spotting up, but his hustle and rebounding was just so gone, it wasn't funny. There was that one play where he had a rebound within his reach, and he didn't go for it. He was lucky the Detroit player knocked it out of bounds, as Bosh REALLY got on him for not going after it.

What cares about the draft and the 52nd pick? The last thing this team needs is more rookies or young players, especially someone from the bottom of the draft. Contrary to popular belief, this draft is not deep 1 thru 60. Try 1 thru 32 and thats about it. The rest of the players are projects

Blaxx,

I am definitely not suggesting there is an impact player to be had at the end of the draft. Projects? Yes. Euros? Yes. Just pointing out that it is one less asset. Slokar was a late second rounder and I think we all see a little something in him. He is an asset.

Simply pointing out we have no picks...at this point.

I don't think we should put too much stock in this game. It was a hollow victory indeed, but we should remember that Bosh didn't bring his A game (or B game for that matter). You could see Bosh almost acting as a coach on the floor trying to get the other players going. He only went to the line once, so it's not like he got owned by Amir Johnson.

What I really liked about Humps' 18 boards was that he got them against the Pistons second line bangers, guys who are trying to earn a pay cheque doing exactly what Hump is charged with doing. Hump just did it better.

Also, when the Raps fell behind early it happened with a line-up of Joey, Hump, Jackson, Calderon and Parker.

Don't forget we have 2 starters injured/sick.

Turned off game at end of third- only found out they won on the radio later. I think it showed that Detroit has got a pretty deep team as well along with a better(more experienced)starting five.
But lets give Raptors credit, once again they showed they can come back in a game. TJ earned his money last night.

Early on in the game, I couldn't get over how huge the starting line for the Pistons was. With a front line of Webber, Wallace, and Prince all around 6'10 (all three of which can shoot from the perfimeter) and Billups at 6'4' they have huge size advantage over the Raps at pretty much every position. If the Raps meet the Pistons down the road, I think a healthy Bargnani is crucial both on offense and defence guarding guys like Wallace and McDyess on the perimeter.

Sergi, I have to disagree with you about the final play for TJ. I thought it was terrific. First of all, we were having difficulty going inside all night. If TJ could get a look, the right play is to take it inside. Secondly, TJ didn’t come off the bench cold, he has been in the game. A call to go to your fastest guy to break down the defence and take it to the hole is the right one.

The reason it was ok now and not a few games back is because TJ wasn’t on the floor for a full quarter before they ran this play previously.

Also, as you know by reading my posts, I am very disappointed with local media coverage of the Raptors. I sent an e-mail to the Globe about my level of dissatisfaction. I encourage everyone to send e-mails such as:

TSN: Hope to see more Raptors ball next year
Sportsnet: Hope to see more Raptors ball next year and see some basketball highlights earlier in your broadcast
Score: Great job broadcasting games, please keep it up next year
Globe: see below
Raptors: Please try your best to get all games on regular tv next year

The more we write, the more of a chance something will happen. We have to take this to the streets!

Following is the e-mail I sent the Globe addressed to GlobeSports@globeandmail.com with a copy to mgrange@globeandmail.com

" have been very dissatisfied with your commitment to covering the National Basketball Association in your newspaper of late. Your treatment of basketball as a minor league sport is absolutely unacceptable. The Raptors are an exciting young team and show a lot of promise. There is a lot of buzz about them and many people are taking interest. Your basketball coverage today, April 14, 2007 (this has been consistently the same everyday) is buried on page 6 behind hockey, the Boston Marathon, Golf, more hockey, the scoreboard, baseball, yet more hockey, the weather and then we finally get to your basketball coverage right next to the obituaries.

On days following Raptor games, I expect to see some coverage on the front pages of your sports section. You have a great basketball writer in Grange and it’s a shame he’s buried in the back. I can’t understand why with just as many teams as the NHL, I need a magnifying glass to read the standings of the NBA while the NHL standings are twice the size.

I certainly hope that you will refocus your commitment to NBA basketball as I for one am reconsidering my subscription at this point."

Why the worry abou the 2007 draft. If nee be, Colangelo can pull off another trade (e.g. Pape Sow for a first rounder). What do you say?

Perhaps just playing devil's advocate, though I would like to see how many wins the Raps got over .500 teams that didn't have one of their top 2 scorers out for injury, etc.. While the Raps had their share of injuries, I'm curious if their record is a good indication of the kind of team they really are.

Everyone is such a downer today. Over 82 games everything pretty much evens out for every team. You can't 'beat the spread', except insofar as playing more teams in the east gets you a better record. Everyone seems to think Chicago is the real deal - we played the same teams Chicago did, and our records are almost identical. Plus we absolutely owned them the other night.

Are the 'real' Pistons at another level? Of course - their championship team, they've been to the top before, and their top players have been playing together for years. But we did almost steal one in Detroit, and next time maybe our shooters will hit the wide-open looks they usually do when a team doubles Bosh. Add in a couple of big 3's from AB and we're all singing a different tune...

Erezona, i was not against that particular play in itself, but I do think that it is a pitty that for those final seconds we don't seem to have any plan more sophisticated than "give the ball to TJ and pray". I can understand he may be considered our best option in those situations, but I think it would be wise to sometimes diversify and go for other guys (think AP, Bosh) so that the final play is less predictable.

Take this game for what it was. Rap's did not play well (could not put the ball in the basket in the ist half) Played decent defense, even against the Piston's starters. And most importantly won the game to stay 2-1/2 ahead of Miami.
As a measure against Detroit not applicable. But that is not as important as the win, their first this year when shooting under 40%.

I don't know, I didn't see a huge drop off in play when the bench went in. They are a good group and were hitting their shots. This is a really good team whose strategy is to take bosh out of the offense. I'm still in shock they came back in that one, the zone really shook them up. I like the play for ford again, much uglier yet this one went in... he's a hero!!