Tip-In: PLAY BETTER

Great post guys. And Franchise...good work on the Basketball Jones the other day. For anyone who hasn't heard it, here's a link http://www.thebasketballjones.net/2007/04/20/ep-143-raptors-nets-playoff-preview/

Honestly, it's a must-listen for anyone who loves hoops and jokes.

One comment. Not sure if anyone else noticed this but there were two extremely poorly-timed TV timeouts that killed Raps momentum at crucial points of the game. That's like giving the Nets two extra TOs. Unacceptable.

The transition D for toronto was terrible!! You would have 2-3 guys going for the offensive board, and maybe one guy going back on D, which would result in countless number of 3-on-1s, 2-on-1s, and even 4-on-1s. The nets on the other hand, would almost always have 3-4 guys back and Toronto would hardly ever have a chance to run.

Also, why does Chris Bosh wait for the D to set before he makes a move. Near the end of the 4th, as soon as he caught the ball, he'd turn and drive to the net which resulted in a basket, a foul or both. When he hesitates before the making a move, the defense sets itself and he usually ends up taking a jump shot or an off balance shot.

And Rasho probably helped the Nets (scored on his own basket) more than he did the Raptors. We was non-existant.

And I agree, the refereeing was terrible. Bosh was getting molested the whole game and gets nothing, and then Parker gets called for a touch foul on Carter??!!! And Kris Humphries got called for a couple of offensive fouls, but if u saw them again, he had position for the offensive boards and the Nets' guys would just flop and bam...offensive foul.

And if Carter had some semblance of a game last night, this would have been a blow out.

Terrible!!!

Now I see why Colangelo did not grant Mitchell an extension during the season and the best he could muster was a boat of confidence at the end of the year on what a wonderful job Mitchell did.

Colangelo is a forward looking thinker, and he knows that how the players respond in the playoffs to Mitchell's rants and crazy girations on the sidelines will be crucial in his decision to extend him or not.

Personally, I found Mitchell when he went ballistic on Graham several times by motioning him on where to spot up during the game and where to rotate to almost like the Keystone Cops. It is hard to believe that after how many years together this has to happen. The Nets must have realized they had the game locked up with that pathetic display.

I still like us to win in 7 games though because to lose by 5 points as badly as we played gives me hope that the players will relax now and play their game. Like Howland, I am worried though that Kidd and Carter will put bigger #'s up next game.

It is the vast improvement in the personnel that has made the difference this year along with the depth. I am afraid that Mitchell will never be a top tier coach, and has taken this team as far as it can go.

I want a coach to lead us who is more in control on the bench and does not micromanage to the extent that Mitchell does. He will wear thin over time and that is why if he does get an extension it will be in the 2 year range with a team option for a 3rd year.

It was just game one. I predicted the Raps in 6, with them loosing game 1, then winning 2 adn 3, loosing 4, and winning 5 and 6. I stick to that.

They were to pumped up yesterday. Nervous. obviously the 2 early fouls on CB4 were a huge factor. But I think he was too psyched and maybe that is why he got them...

Game one is a feel-out game, that means the least in the series. Game two is a huge huge game. If the Raps play better, settle down, and beat the Nets handily, I will be very confident going forward. If they loose, we are toast.

The main critique I have from a coaching staff point of view, is that when Joey was playing they way he was, and it was not good - I would have thought we should have seen some more of the more experienced Mo Pete.

But how about TJ's play. He was the only one who came with the intensity the team needed.

In the second game I'd like to see him and Jose together playing the 1 and 2. What they would give up on defence they would more than make up for on offence

As Bosh stated, nerves, jitters or butterflies had nothing to do with it. If it was, why were they only down 1 by 1st Quarter? They got nervous in the second for some reason? Confusion is what happened. As expected they ran into a zone and it took till the fourth Q for them to figure it out. High pick and role against the zone is tough unless the guard hits that long range shot. It also sounded like Bosh was still under the weather. If you heard him speak afterwards his voice was several octaves lower and raspy. He winded himself early and wasn't thinking when he committed that second foul.

Soo.. I already harped on Joey yesterday, but the lost wasn't all bad. They played poorly and if they were able to execute with a few minutes to go, they could have stole one. Credit to JG that he did play one on one well against Carter, unfortunately he was spaced out on too many plays. He has to fight through those screens! The guards played remarkably well, and I too would have liked to have seen small ball with a 2-guard game and play a zone of our own (as stated pre-game).

Just too many mental mistakes, Calderon with the pass to Martin, Hump not grabbing the board, Bosh taking that early 3-ball in the 1st Q (that's not his game - no matter how much he's feeling it), Parker leaving Jefferson too many times.

When Kidd tried to post TJ, how many times did he actually shoot? NONE!! SO WHY DID THEY DOUBLE & LET JEFFERSON LIGHT IT UP?!?!?!?!?! LET KIDD SHOOT! At least till he proves he can do it. *ARGH* That's not their game either. I'll take chances on Kidd taking 20 shots a game.

Ok.. end rant. Go Raps Go.

Great post and comments, glad everyone is staying relatively positive. I was shocked too they wore their red, but I thought that made them look dumb, and really dumb if they would have lost. Apparently it was a strategic decision though.

Great analysis and the only thing I'd add is that we seemed to make no attempt to exploit their weakness, which is a lack of height inside. I was expecting bargnani, bosh and rasho to be posting up collins and moore every time down, but even when they got position, ford overlooked them to hit dixon on the perimeter. By the time calderon was in, bargs had given up and then sat, rasho sat. I'm oversimplifying, but dixon shouldn't really be an offensive option against the nets.

At the end of the day we're a good running team, but the nets are a better one so the only way we're going to pull this out is to slow things down and hang our hat on our defense. I think if we could have taken away even half of their fast breaks, we would have won this game.

Was anybody else surprised with the way Bosh played? In the first half, I couldn't remember him driving to the rim once. It wasn't as noticeable though, because he was really hitting his jumpshot. In the 2nd half he started getting the ball down low, but it was really uncharacteristic of him. He didn't face up his opponent and use his quickness, like he should've. Instead, he would back down Moore or Collins, giving them an advantage because of their strength and also giving the Nets time to double. Bosh really didn't play his own game yesterday, which I didn't expect at all.

pvr - totally noticed that -and also noticed that, to the nets credit, nets didn't react (and spread the floor) with bosh making those shots. Nets played very disciplined sticking to their zone I thought. Need parker and bargs, anybody really, to hit some threes early to shake them up (when not posting up). Didn't mind bosh backing guys down myself, i don't think bosh really gives up anything on moore or collins, the turn around fall away jumpers from almost behind the backboard were worse.

Great article! I was also at the game. I still have no voice. I was screaming no stop. It was an awesome atmosphere. Granmother and little kids screaming at the top of their lungs. You would never see that at the leafs games.

As for the game. We got totally out coached. I have never seen a team not coached at this level on how to break a zone defense. It is so basic, but for some reason we don't understand how to do it. Not taking Joey Graham out, who was just aweful out there. Even AP was bad on defense.

We played poorly and still had a chance to win. We will get them next time.

I wish we would watch more suns games, just to view how the push the ball up the wings, putting constant pressure on the defense. Well when Marc A. becomes our new coach next year, we will see an improvement in our basketball team IQ.

GO RAPS.

Well, overall it was a dissapointing performance by the Raptors. However, despite playing as poorly as they did they still had a chance to win at the end. If Naachbar (sp?) doesn't hit that 3 to extend it to 4 we likely win that game. Over the course of watching way too many games on Raptors TV this season, I have slowly figured out when TV timeouts are and find most teams use them as markers for subs. Here are TV timeouts:

1st Quarter- first whistle after the 6 minute and 3 minute mark.
2nd Quarter-first whistle after 9 minute, 6 minute, and 3 minute mark.
3rd Quarter - first whistle after 9 minute, and 3 minutes.
4th Quarter- first whistle after 9 minute, 6 minute,(Really burned the Raps yesterday) and 3 minute mark.

From watching games, most teams tend to play their bench from the 3 minute 3rd Quarter mark to the 9 minute 4th Quarter timeout. (This is commonly when Nash takes a rest for instance)

I'm predicting a big win on Tues as the Raps. I still think they're a better team despite their inexperience and will knot up the series in convincing fashion.

One postive note from yesterday, the fans at the ACC were AMAZING!! I watched the Pistons-Magic game last night and the ACC crowd was louder in the first quarter than the Palace crowd was in the fourth. Absolutely no atmosphere. I can't imagine why ESPN would show that game in primetime over the Raptors. Anyway, if the Raps get that kind of support for the rest of the series, I don't think winning at home will be a problem.

One final note, I see this series playing out much like the Raptors-Sixers series from 2001. Raptors won Game 1 of that series on the road in a similar type game. Raps in 7.

Guys all the elete teams loose the first game, I live in the states and I am watching Denver and Spurs on TNT and the Spurs are loosing to Denver, the Heat lost, Lakers lost I guess they all have first game jitters.

Some notes on what you guys have said. First off, the time outs were very well used by the Nets to kill any flow. Secondly, the bad calls/non calls/ridiculous calls were even better timed in favour of the Nets. How often was a foul missed in the Nets end followed by some fast break points by the Nets? And, at crucial times. Moore flopped like a fish and Hump gets a foul on a rebound that would have been a put back. Bosh gets hammered and 2 points that should have been ours are replaced by 2 for the Nets. The refereeing was an embarassment to the NBA and has been much of this year. On Bosh's non call, the Ref wasn't even in position. As long as the refs call on "reputation" and respect, the Raps won't have a chance.

With an advantage in the frontcourt, why was the ball not getting inside?
It seems that Kidd, who was the best player on the court, has been shooting pretty poorly for a while now. He hits his wives with greater frequency than his shots.
TJ can't guard his post up, but he did a better job on Kidd than Kidd did on TJ. TJ just carves him up at will.

Thing the Raps need to do:
- get more men back quickly on the shots - the Nets always leak out, so leak out too!
- get the ball inside
- bitch about the refs so that they get a little attention for their pathetic calling.
- hit some more open shots.

Take heart, everyone. We played poorly, suffered from pathetic refereeing that only went bad in one direction, and were terribly out prepared and strategized, and we still could have won with a few more shots being hit. We're a better team, only refs will be able to stop us.

putting things in perspective
Dallas lost tonight along with the Spurs so I guess it was only game one!!!!

Are we supposed to wear red on Tues?

Kidd doesn't usually nail those open threes. Maybe he will have a tiny stretch where he hits a couple, but other than that, it is not something we have to worry about. Despite yesterday's game, Vinc will get his. He is too good not to. But that doesn't matter, we can still win, as you said we just need to PLAY BETTER.

Maybe with the Spurs and Mavs losing there'll be a little less "panic" about our losing game 1... Like the article says, we played horribly, had numerous bad calls against us, and still were one missed Bosh free throw away from an 84-84 tie.

Regarding Jose's pass to Darrick Martin in the 4th, not sure how this looked on TV, but up until a moment before that pass Joey Graham was parked along the sideline where that pass went - until Martin actually got up off the bench and pushed Joey towards the basket.

Very messy game... Bad calls... Bad choice to double-team Kidd... Bad D on Jefferson in the first half... Tomorrow night should be much better (or at least it had better be!).

Here are a few thoughts on the 1st game:

T.J. - Played well individually. His shot was falling and I liked his intensity on the court. However, he didn't get anybody else involved into the offence. That's unacceptable for a PG.

A.P - Solid game. He did what was expected of him. He hit open treys and he was solid on D.

C.B. - Bosh needs to play better. This playoff series will be crucial for Bosh to assert himself as a true leader of this team. No more jumpers and off balance shots please!

J.G - Shouldn't have started! I don't know about you, but I feel a LOT more comfortable with Mo Pete in big games. Plus, J.G. had a terrible game.

J.C - Jose played great. I thing his euro/national experience showed on Saturday. He played excellent off the bench. Even though his shot wasn't falling (5-14) he had 8 assists and the team really made its push with him at the helm.

Smith - Not a great start for COY candidate. He couldn't deal with the zone and couldn't get his guys to play their game. Oh and he played J.G. for 35 mins!

Even though we lost I feel confident we can win. This is simply because we didn't play our game. There was a lot of one-on-one and a lot of standing around on Saturday. Once Raps get their flow and ball movement back, Nets don't stand a chance.

Here’s a quick summary of the Nets game plan: Lay-up after lay-up after lay-up … after lay-up. Of course I’m exaggerating, there were some dunks as well.

Some posters were suggesting that they are worried about Kidd playing better. Play better? He had 15 assists and 10 rebounds. He had one of the better games of the season on Saturday, how much better do you think he can play?

Carter is the one that can get better, but not in Toronto. He has not played well in Toronto this season and I hope that continues. I think the crowed gets to him more than he lets on.

Key changes that better be coming:

1) Kidd is an awesome rebounder and assist machine. One thing he is not, is a great shooter. He has a .333 FG% for the month of April and was only .273 on Saturday. Why double him? He doesn’t want to shot. His sole mission is to get rid of the ball, not shot. I’d rather see the Raptors take their changes with Kidd shooting. Don’t let him get an assist. Stay man on man. Ford is fast enough to stay in front of him, just play him straight up.

2) Get CB4 to play the PF. We have a SF, thanks very much. We can’t wait for the 4th quarter for CB4 to go to the rim. You have a NJ team that is lacking in size, you have to attack the rim and often!

3) Get better coaching. No idea why MP3 is in the game to begin with, let alone for as long as he was. In the playoffs you need to shorten the bench. Players were coming off of 3 days between games and another 3 days till the next one, I expect key players to be in there for 48 minutes. Obviously you can sub in some key guys, especially in dealing with foul trouble. I just don’t understand why you take Bargnani out immediately following a few good plays but leave MP3 in the game. I know some will disagree with me, but MP3 has not had a career year. The playoff experience is very valuable and should be parked on the bench right next to Martin. Maybe MP3 could have kept Martin glued to the bench instead of standing up with his white uniform and receiving a pass from Calderon. I even thought that was an open player. Joey is every bit as good as MP3 on defence and he proved it on Saturday. He is also much better on offence. Keep MP3 out! Most importantly, we need to get much better at the defence and immediately. Even at the expense of offensive rebounding.

We can not go down 0-2.

PS Thank goodness for the score tomorrow night. I can’t stand how TSN rides in to cover a basketball game (I guess the collage dart contest was cancelled) and pretend they have an interest in this sport. I love how they bring in their figure skating expert (isn’t that what Rod Black covers) to cover the game.

i was choked that the game was on TSN too....why the 'hello' was jack armstrong not at the top of the broadcast instead of black.

i know he's working himself back into shape, but I think this team really needs more from bargnani- we can't have him hurting us for 13-20 minutes a game...if bargnani has a big game on tuesday, i really don't see us losing

Erezona says:

No idea why MP3 is in the game to begin with, let alone for as long as he was.(JG 35 min 4-5 points and few boards all defensive boards Mo could do this in His sleep) In the playoffs you need to shorten the bench. Players were coming off of 3 days between games and another 3 days till the next one, I expect key players to be in there for 48 minutes. Obviously you can sub in some key guys, especially in dealing with foul trouble. I just don’t understand why you take Bargnani out immediately following a few good plays but leave MP3 in the game. I know some will disagree with me, but MP3 has not had a career year.(coaches decision had a lot to do with this) all just my opinion not looking to start anything

Well that was an expensively depressing game (and I had a season ticket discount. At least I treated my Dad for his birthday).

A lot of posters have very astute comments. But, having been there, I have to disagree with a couple:

1. Art, Rasho played quite well. It was a total fluke scoring on his own net, but he had *9* rebounds in the first half. I think CB4 had only 2 (I guess he really was sick). Rasho was the only Raptor playing any D. He should have gotten more minutes than 18.

2. As for the rest of the starters, Erezona, your posts are mostly credible. However, vouching for Joey G over MP3, Dixon or a two PG set (Ford/Calderon) is wrong wrong wrong. Joey G was horrible and clueless. Wince just missed numerous wide-open shots with his usual wack fade-aways; it's not like Joey G played tight D. And 4 points from your starting SF is pathetic. Mind you, AP's D on Jefferson was also horrid; how was AP's D good, Benjo? Jefferson was 11-21 and many of those shots were wide open. The Raps miss Garbo in a big way in the swingman spot.

3. The bench was really bad and unfortunately had to play many minutes due to Bosh's 2nd foul (worst call I've seen live in a long time, except for Barg's push/non-travel that Howland mentioned above). Bargs played worse than Ammo's worst game. I know he has been ill and had his appendix out, but he was a true liability in all respects, with a lot of standing around. I thought he'd be okay after Wed's game, but obviously not.

My summary: if Bargs doesn't improve by leaps and bounds, PLUS Smitch doesn't do something more creative (i.e. 2 PG set) than letting Joey G flail around, PLUS TJ and Bosh don't start playing like they can (1 assist per half for TJ?!), the Raps are done in 5.

And then BC will release Smitch and get a true SG/SF this summer because Garbo and Parker aren't getting any younger and Graham/MP3/Dixon are way too scrubbish for a playoff-bound team.

I hope to come back Wednesday with a happier post... JJ-D

I missed most of the game due to a sick kid. I only caught the last quarter and a half. I couldn't believe the score when I turned the TV on. New Jersey's D stepped it up the Raps D did not.

However, I was not surprised that the Nets stole game 1. J Kidd probably has more playoff experience than our whole team and experience still counts.

Game 2 will be huge. Most of the so-called experts are calling for the Nets to win. If the Raps can't bounce back tomorrow then that's the series.

If so many people on this blog site can point out the problems with the Raps play on Saturday SURELY Sam and the team will make the proper corrections. Right?

it was a comfortable loss for me to watch. half way during the game I actually started thinking that losing wouldn't be such a bad thing for this group. though losing is never a good thing, these guy, being young and a little cocky - I just think the loss is going to be worth more.

I bet you they come out pretty focused in game 2 and kick some butt. I would be really, really surprised if they didn't.and obviously a little worried.

If the Raps hadn't looked so unraptorlike I'd be worried.The red shirt fiasco was a head shaker though.

You guys make some great points. Sam Mitchell has got to get CB4 to play a back-to-basket game in the low post. Remember, when Sam Mitchell called a timeout, he went to Bosh on the block, and Bosh made a quick move to the basket and got fouled. I believe he needs to do that a lot more and just be agressive on offensive and defense....Also, T.J. Ford did a great job scoring but when it comes to his assist numbers he only had 2. I believe his teammates give him some lanes so he can put them in a position to score, again he needs to play quick defense on JKidd. I mean get into passing lanes which in turn will result into tranisition baskets. Overall, the raptors need to continue to move the basketball, but all has to start with Chris Bosh. He has to pass out of double-teams and then the team can start swinging the basketball. I believe this will solve the zone of the New Jersey Nets. I think the Raptors can pull this out IF they can get back in transition and play good overall defense. Is that asking a lot.