Tip-In, Toronto Raptors Post-Game: Out of Magic

by RaptorsHQ - Archives on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST

Who is this Baston guy who keeps dunking?

In some ways, this was more déjà vu than the last game in which Anthony Parker did his best Mo Pete impersonation.

Seeing Bosh and Jose laughing and joking around on the bench in the fourth quarter was reminiscent of games against New Jersey, Milwaukee and Chicago this season and once again is proof that when Toronto’s offence is on, it’s really on.

The Toronto Raptors blew the Washington Wizards out of the water in a 122 to 83 win and this one wasn’t even close by the time the third quarter was half over. In fact the 39-point win tied the franchise record for largest margin of victory!

Toronto shot almost 57 per cent from the field and deflated the Wizards by hitting nine of their first 11 3-point shots. Washington gave too many open looks, but in sharp contrast to the previous night, this time the Raptors knocked them down.

It really was the subtle differences that got this win (making shots, improved defensive tactics, more aggression, better rebounding etc) and resulted in a huge performance from the team as a whole. All 12 players got to play, everyone scored, and in general, wins don’t come much easier than this.

Washington looked like it had used up all of its energy the night before, came out flat, and Toronto brought the intensity it needed from the tip to seize the victory.

A Numbers Game – 20.

This was one of the most pleasant stats I’ve seen in a while. After playing 50 minutes the previous night, Toronto’s outstanding offensive execution enabled Chris Bosh to rest for the majority of this one. CB4 has been playing out of this world of late and it was nice to reward him with a break.

In fact it was nice to reward a number of players with some rest, especially as it's looking more and more like a number of the Raptors are going to be busy during the All-Star break.

38 to 36.

This time Toronto won the battle of the boards, if only by two. However it was interesting to note that as the Raptors’ shots started going down, the team stepped it up in this area and on defence (they held the Wizards to under 37 per cent shooting), something we’ll discuss further in a moment.

The Turning Point –

There was a moment in the second quarter, six minutes left to be exact, that really sealed the deal for me. Jason Kapono hits off of a Delfino drive and you can see that the second unit has some of the chemistry we as fans have been pining for at last. And immediately after Washington inbounds the ball, Juan Dixon steals it, finds Delfino for an open jumper and while he misses, Andrea rebounds the ball and scores on a jumper of his own. I laughed at the whole sequence as Bargs barely had the ball from the rebound when he hoisted it back up, but it was one of those "these guys are locked-in tonight" plays. And from then on out it was basically smooth sailing.

Temperature Check –

Hot – The Raptors’ offence. Hard to single just one player out as even Maceo Baston had six points in nine minutes! And actually, does Maceo only practice dunks in practice time? He was looking to throw down everything within a foot of the rim and Juan Dixon found him for some easy rim-rockers. Perhaps he wants a little of Moon’s shine (pardon the pun?) The team had 30 assists last night, Jose with 11 of these, and the ball movement was serene. However the team was much more aggressive and players like Anthony Parker, Andrea Bargnani and Carlos Delfino looked to get to the rim instead of constantly settling for outside shots. This made all the difference as it helped spread the court and get team-mates easy looks. The Delfino-Dixon back-up combo started to look like a nice little tag-team as well. The two would take turns playing point or off-guard and it made it tough for the Wizards to know where the offence was coming from.

Hot – Juan Dixon. Speaking of Dixon, the much-maligned player finally looked the part of a back-up point guard last night. He forced one shot in the first half but played disciplined offensively overall, made some timely shots, and even better, had five assists on a number of pretty no-look set-ups. He also played his usual tenacious defence recording a game-high four steals. If you were looking for indicators that the Wizards were out of gas, the entire Washington team had only four steals. With Damon Stoudamire now a member of the Spurs and TJ Ford about to return to practice, looks like the Raps may have weathered the point guard storm.

Juan Dixon turned in his best performance yet as the back-up point guard.

Hot – Andrea Bargnani. The past few games have shown a much more confident Andrea and last night was no exception. Besides his 19 points, he did damage to the Wizards from both inside and out, looked to drive the ball, and even made some nice defensive plays looking to draw charges. The one thing was that I felt for all his aggressive play in the first half, he didn’t get nearly enough looks. This was corrected after the half but when he’s going, Jose needs to remember to keep him involved when he’s playing well.

Cold – The Washington Wizards. There’s just not much you can say about this. Roger Mason Jr. and Antawn Jamison brought it last night, but the Raptors did a much better job doubling Jamison and Blatche and forcing turnovers. The Wiz had 16 to Toronto’s seven and they just seemed to be looking forward to returning to Washington. The final game between these two clubs later this spring should be a good one as the last two really haven’t been a true indication of either club. Injuries and travel have unfortunately played parts in this and here at the HQ, we’ll have our calendars circled for March 7.

Moving On –

In the NBA, you can never get too high after a win, or too low after a loss.

Last night was a perfect example of this as Toronto could have come out tentative and tight after their last loss to a seriously under-manned Wiz team. However Toronto continued its home dominance, a key for a team that wants to compete with the best in the league.

The Raptors have the Lakers up next and hopefully we’ll have Kurt from Forum Blue and Gold to give us his thoughts on the Lakeshow.

It should be an entertaining game as the Lakers, even short-handed still have one of the NBA’s great equalizers in Kobe Bryant. It also should be a good test against one of the league’s best clubs, and a high-scoring one at that. With Toronto at home, I’m expecting them to come out aggressive and look to grab their seventh straight home win, especially if their shots are falling. In games like last night’s we really saw what Bryan Colangelo was trying to achieve with the group he put together. It’s pretty demoralizing for an opponent to maybe shut down Toronto’s starting wings and have guys like Kapono, Delfino and even Dixon then come in and punish you.

The key though, and as Toronto hopefully learned from their loss Tuesday night, is that when these shots aren’t going down, the entire team needs to pick it up in other areas. The Raps can’t just do that when things are going good in terms of shooting. BC discussed in the pre-season that by having players that shot so well, Toronto wouldn’t need the rebounders other teams needed. That theory may apply on the offensive end of the court, but defensively, Toronto still needs to prevent second-chance points.

On top of this you have to remember, the best shooters in the league hit only about half their shots. Therefore as tempting as it is to keep shooting away, each individual on the Dinos needs to understand that they need to contribute in other areas to get wins as sometimes, it just isn’t your shooting night.

But when it is like last night, it sure is a thing of beauty.

FRANCHISE

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Comments

Yes, plan A is a beautiful thing. You're right though, they'd better get plan b into shape before playoffs.

Great read!

by axl on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

I know I sound like a broken record by now, but and I know a lot of things went right for the Raps last night, but this team is so much better when Bargs is playing well!

by SonicSuper on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

one thing that should be noted about this game...every raptor that was dressed scored at least 2 pts. this game just goes to show you how resilient this raptors team really is. great job on sam mitchell's part to not allow his team to get down. he also did a great job with his coaching.

by Thor on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

Hey guys, just thought I'd link this to give everyone a little smile. After last night's win, the Raps have moved up all the way to a phat #4 in John Hollinger's automated Power Rankings! Note that their rating is very close to everyone all the way down to #8, so it's volatile, but it's there for us a to bask in, if only for a little while. =D

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/powerranking

A couple of very interesting things stand out when you look at the numbers there, but one really jumps out at you... At a very heavy .531 opponent's winning pctg, the Raptors have played the most difficult schedule in the entire NBA! Moreover, they've played one more game on the road than at home. Furthermore, they're very hot when you consider that the last 25% of their sched (11 games, I assume), they have a +9.33 point differential against a .510 strength of opposition.

It's heartening to see they are a healthy 5 games over 500 and +3.4 point differential when you consider that. That's surely the major reasons why they are ranked so high.

Even better, it means the easy part of their schedule is yet to come, and they've got one more home game than road game on the remainder of their sched. Some good things to look forward to as we look ahead to the finish of the regular season.

by Costa on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

Nice write-up, Franchise, but I have to quibble about Brixton's "usual tenacious defence". The 4 steals were nice, but being at the game I'd have to chalk up at least 3 of them to the Wizards' scrubs not giving a crap towards the end of the game (and therefore not protecting the ball all that well).

Similar to my (what I think is justified) criticism of Jose's defense, Juan's man-to-man defense is WEAK. And please don't tell me the Raptors D is predicated only on switching and quick rotations. Switching doesn't help much when Roger Mason Jr. takes the ball up the floor at the start of the 2nd quarter and hits a trey FOUR TIMES IN A ROW right in Juan's face.

True, TJ is as scrawny and undersized as Juan, but, when healthy, he is far more disruptive, regardless of the steals (ergo, it doesn't often show on the stat sheet save for the opposing PG's poor offensive numbers).

It is really good to see TJ is on the way back. Having 48 minutes of excellent PG play with a heavily-outside-shooting team is going to make the Raps very, very dangerous, as hopefully Kapono can be re-integrated to the mix as a major spot-up-shooting factor in the 2nd unit.

by jjdynomite on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

Give Dixon a break! TJ is better - its understood. TJ has been out for a while and Dixon has helped fill the gap. He's done his job not at his natural position. Has he had some bad moments, yeah, but TJ had some bad moments as well. No player is perfect, no team as well. For the money we've been paying him you could say he's come in handy.

by Tinman on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

nice numbers costa - here's on more, raps face only 3 "above .500" teams in the month of february. Should be able to make up some serious ground provided they stay injury-free.

by axl on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

Not to get a head of ourselves, but, the Lakers and Spurs (both home games) are the only real obstacles (other than self created ones like we witnessed Tuesday night in Washington) to the Raps going 12-0 in February and really having an 18 game winning streak until we meet the Lakers again in March.

by Erezona on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

Come on now, 12-0? Let's not go nuts. Even the best of teams have an off day and lose to someone they should beat here and there.

I'll be enormously pleased to see them go 9-3 (which would put them at a lovely 34-23 going into March), coupled with a short timetable on TJ's return. =)

by Costa on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

Would love to see that erezona, long win streaks is not something the raps have ever done, even when they were winning a lot last year.

by axl on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

Some great stats from all...I found myself looking at the calendar last night too and post Lakers (depending on Kobe's performance), Toronto can really run the gauntlet for a while. I used to dread Toronto vs. Miami but now I'm licking my chops.

Looking forward to the 7 PM announcement tonight of the All-Stars. Who knows if Jose will be on or not. If he isn't though, I'll have a nice rant ready tomorrow for the game-day preview. Right now I'm leaning towards Jose being selected. The media has really been on his bandwagon surprisingly and they were even giving him the vote last night on NBA TV.

As for Juan, I'm not saying he's an all-defensive team member, but the kid really goes after it. His double teams last night were all arms and legs, nice and tenacious. Yes Mason Jr. hit a bunch of shots but they weren't all Dixon's fault. After Mason's second, I started watching only how Roger was getting the ball and the kid was moving through about three screens. On top of this, Hump one time couldn't decide if he was going to switch or fight hedge and therefore screened his own man. Dixon got there late, boom. Jose was guilty of the same thing.

That being said, I'm still extremely excited about getting TJ back...

by Franchise on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

JJ - What's wrong with you. Are you not a Raptors fan???
They won a game by 39 points with everyone on the team contributing. Have won 8 of last 11 games. Everything is positive, team is progressing, TJ is on the way. No player is perfect all the time. Why so negative ???

by Johnn19 on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

Re man to man defense, it's a thing of the past in the NBA. You can't touch someone with the ball without a foul.
Any player can go by anyone else, or shoot over them. The Raptors TEAM is the way, defense/rotations, is a work in process, however they have improved from 11th to 6th in points allowed, from 99 to 95 avg this year. Still room to improve eg. vs Wizards tues nite.
Calderon will never be a great 1 on 1 defender, but must fit into the team concept. When you look at his play vs the other starting PG's (51%FG & 44%3FG & 10ast/game) no one is succesfully guarding him. He is able to get by, or shoot over, when he wants to.

by Johnn19 on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

Nice mention of T.O.in CV's blog - too bad he is not getting enough burn in the Buck's system..wonder how he would have fared in the Raptors's system if there would have been a way to have kept him - decent shooter, 3 point range, effective rebounder when he wants to be..

http://my.nba.com/thread.jspa?threadID=400026429

Watching Bargnani in the first 3 minutes, I can tell if he is going to have a good game - if he clanks the first 3 from the top of the key and misses the next two jumpers (is it ever a jumper for him!), fuggetaboudit! Players like AP and Bosh seem to be able to ride out a bad start, but not AB (and for that matter Kapono). Maybe its experience or confidence. I hate the 'C' word and find it overused in the TO media, but I wonder about his ability to "forget about the last miss" as a shooter and his psych profile as a ice-cold killer that was highly touted by BC when he was drafted.

by Rubik on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

I actually like it when people are negative when we win a game and positive when we lose a game.

Too many times when the raps win everyone puts on their rose colored glasses and when we lose everyone wants a completely new roster.

This team is what it is....they put a premium on offence, play ok defence but are terrible rebounders. Their strength is their outside shooting and depth their weaknesses are once again rebounding and interior scoring.

Those don't change whether you win a game or lose a game. They are what they are.

Since a lot of people live to give out numbers I'll include some of mines.

Ihe last 5 games the raps have gone 3-2. In the wins Andrea's point total was 20,13 and 19. IN the two losses he put up 3 points on both occasions.

Wouldn't read too much into but just something to keep an eye out on in the future......

by wtf on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

John, I'm a big Raptors fan, at least, I blow enough money on them via half-season tickets.

Look, I value and respect Franchise & Howland's writing, so if I notice some discrepancies that I see whilst at the game from their post-game reports I feel I should point them out. That's all.

I like Juan. He was a great college baller and had a terrible family history that he overcame, but regardless, Juan is only 2 inches shorter than RM Jr. but 50 pounds lighter and he just got abused.

TJ is even smaller than Juan but I don't see him getting taken advantage of like that, except by 7-footers who smack him on the head. TJ has some offense problems which Jose has remarkably overcome in a very short time (shooting %s, penetrating under control, recognizing the open man, etc.). That is why they are such a dynamic duo and it's a shame that TJ hasn't been healthy pretty much all season.

Anyway, I'm a lot less critical than bloggers like Arsenalist and RapsFan (raptorstalk.com) and I respect their writing too, and call them on it when I think they're being TOO harsh.

by jjdynomite on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

Gotta agree with jj. It's ridiculous to question his fandom just because he's willing to be objective and point out what he perceives as the team's flaws. Whether you think he's right or not is up to you, but questioning whether he's fan simply because he's not blindly saying "Go Raps Go" is ignorant.

by Costa on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

All of this fandom talk. I also think it's pretty easy to forget just how bad this team was only a few years ago. To say the Raptors are now a bad rebouding team and not a bad rebounding, defensive, offensive and passing team is a 180 from years past ha ha.

And what made me think of this - well, the poor folks at T Wolves blog discussing the sixth month anniversay of the KG trade:

http://www.twolvesblog.com/college-wolf/minnesota-timberwolves/round-table-discussion-kg-trade-6-month-anniversary.html

6 Month! Yikes! Even we waited a year before talking about VC!

by Franchise on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

My master plan for being a championship team in 2010-11:

-get Ford back in late Feb., allow him to start right away despite the overall team regression
-lose in the 1st round in a close series/get crushed in 2nd round
-trade Ford for a quality SF who can rebound (Mike Miller or Maggette), let Calderon be a true starter, sign a back-up
-next year, play it out, win 45-50 games, hopefully go 6 or 7 games in the 2nd round; re-sign whoever you traded Ford for
-let Garbo, Rasho walk (along with their $11 million combined), only sign Parker if he's willing to take the same money ($4 million per year) and be a back-up
-make a big push for Ron Artest for the 2010 season

2010-2011 Team:
Starters-Bosh, Artest, MMiller, Calderon, Bargnani
Bench-Delfino, Parker, Moon, Humphries, Kapono (trade him if you can), plus an undetermined back-up centre

Obviously, this is absurdly far down the road to look, but I was wondering what peoples' thoughts on these moves would be. (especially Artest, who I feel would fit it really well with a quality leader like Bosh and a coach like Mitchell who seems like a great player's coach who would gel well with Artest's confrontational style--maybe I'm wrong about this is lieu of the Rafer situation, but I think it's worth a try)

by FutureBoy on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

Just wondering how much money we all would have paid 2 years ago to have the Raps 5 games above .500?

by ustation on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

TJ can get abused on the defensive end as well. Bigger guards (like Billups) post him up with ease. Neither TJ nor Calderon are defensive stalwarts, but both are adequate defenders, I think.

by SonicSuper on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

Franchise,

Regarding what you mentioned about Jose Calderon's good press recently, I'm still not holding my breath. The media and the coaches are different beasts. Also, NBA Fanhouse has reported that Joe Johnson of the Hawks has already been informed that he's in. Considering that most analysts that have predicted Calderon getting in haven't been generally including him in their lists, plus the fact that his season hasn't even been half as good as his own teammate Josh Smith, that's a huge blow to Jose's chances. When you consider that Chris Bosh, Caron Butler and Chauncey Billups are locks, that leaves 3 spots. One of them has to be a center, so Rasheed Wallace and Zydrunas Ilgauskas are the likely candidates. That cuts it down to two spots for the following...

- Calderon
- Antawn Jamison
- Josh Smith
- Richard Hamilton
- Paul Pierce
- Ray Allen

(continued on next comment...)

by Costa on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

One of the picks has to be a guard, so that means one of either Calderon, Rip or Allen will get first dibs. While JC is probably the most deserving of the 3, especially over Allen, the fact that the other two are higher profile players playing on teams with better records can easily win out in the coach's vote. I don't think it's a stretch to assume the coaches are more likely to go with Rip.

So that leaves JC, Smith, Jamison, Pierce and Allen as the 5 for the last spot. I don't like his chances.

Things can be a little better for him IF the coaches vote Bosh in as a center. By rule, they are allowed to do that. That certainly would be good since neither Wallace or Ilgauskas are as qualified as the above, with the exception of Allen. I wouldnt count on it though. Besides, even if they did it, sadly I still don't like JC's chances to be recognized by the coaches as one of the two from that group of 5. Johnson getting in really hurt Calderon's shot.

My advice, start warming up that rant. =(

by Costa on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

Costa - I'm hoping Bosh gets voted in as a 5...Big Z and Wallace don't deserve spots. Then I go Jose, Pierce, Hamilton, Jamison, Butler and Billups...

But we'll find out in 5 minutes...

by Franchise on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions

Last night was satisfying.

Kinda glad my Mighty Mouse prediction died. At least we can hate him again...if he would've signed with Celtics that would've been bloodlust.

Just kidding, I'll let it go...seeing as he's an oldtimer at 33 and went nowhere fast after leaving here. I Hope the Spurs don't have any afternoon playoff games at 4:20.

Someone list the reserves, what's up?

by DayOner on Jan 31, 2008 12:00 AM EST reply actions