Because i’m sure it had nothing to do with the 5 fouls Andrea had (how do i roll my eyes on the internet?)

But if it makes you people feel better to write your own narrative regardless of facts or truth i guess you have every right to. Its just a shame that you can’t get it right. The hate blinders for Andrea on this site is a joke as are the rose-colored glasses when it comes to Bosh.

Good recap.
DeRozan came out motivated and Amir’s work in the fourth won us the game.

Lets hear it !!!!

Bargnani couldn’t guard playes from Sisters of Mercy. To start the game Taj Gibson lit up Bargnani like a Xmas tree on Dec 25th.

Last night was Johnson’s best game as a Raptor on the defensive side of the ball. I saw him come into numerous games with the Pistons the last two years and have that same effect.

No doubt that Triano will and should play Evans once he returns. So the question regarding Johnson is: Will Evans take up all of Johnson’s minutes, or will Triano find a way to give both of them 15-20 minutes a game when Evans returns?

Having both Evans and Johnson on the court together would be interesting from a defensive and rebounding aspect but I am not sure that from the offensive side of the ball that will work.

Stay tuned

Question for the audience, is Jack doing anything to warrant his PT ahead of Belinelli? Marco could part time bring the ball up and he seems to be better as a distributor and as a creator for others, maybe their roles should/could be swapped. Andrea’s play seems to have regressed from last year and even from the beginning of the year, and on top of that he seems to be in a shooting slump at the moment. Let’s hope he ( and Turk) are just a little slower in adjusting to whatever equilibrium they are trying to establish (or maybe to find).

On a side note I would like to remind all the “quick gunners” on this site, this team has so far performed better that they had anticipated as the general consensus among this site authors seemed to be a 2-8 or 2-10 start. With all the flaws this team has they seem to be way better than a 2-8 or 2-10 team and they are cruising trough a tough initial schedule

Honestly I was thinking this BEFORE last night’s game, but do you think the Raps would be more successful this season if they emphasized making Demar DeRozan a focal point of the offense. Talent wise this team should win a lot of games, but I’m starting to appreciate that guard (especially at the 2 and 3) focused teams seem to hold up well regardless of their “big” talent. Think about MIami. Really is Miami comparable talent wise to the Raptors? Even Chicago only has reasonably talented “bigs” and yet they both teams are doing a good job so far competing. Imagine how effective the Raptors would be if they too were guard oriented. Some of you will respond to this by mentioning San Antonio or Boston, but I argue that they are considered elite because of Ginobli and Pierce respectively. What moves them into a different stratosphere is that their bigs are way more talented than most teams they face. I would say the Raptors are doing themselves a disservice by orienting their offense around their “bigs” instead of trying to be more guard oriented. Until this year, the talent wasn’t there, but now that it might be, the team can take major steps in the right direction by emphasizing the right pieces.

The way the game is officiated, in part due to the increased entertainment value of good guard play, suggests that the elite teams will always by default be the ones who “feature” their guards in their game strategy.

This is a TEAM, dependent on 12 players contributing, game by game. Nobody is going to perform to the top of their ability every game, Bosh excluded for at least 8 games, has excelled in each game, the only one, who has.

The TEAM still is, and will be for some time a Work in Process on defense and offense, as the coaching staff gets their message across, and the players accept it, and learn to play together as a TEAM.

While Bargnani continues his education on how to bring his unique skill set to the Center position I will glady take his avg 19/20 ppg and 6/7 rpg contribution, to the TEAM..

This game was a perfect example of the importance of playing very tough and good defense in the 4th quarter.

The Bargs bashing has been a little out of control.You complain that he stands outside the 3 point line and chucks shots all day but every time he gets good post position he never gets the ball.so what do you expect him to do?I will also say bosh is a glorified Zack Randolph and while bosh put up good numbers against the grizz he did horrid on defense on Randolph but didn’t hear a peep outa you guys about it.As far as his rebounding goes i don’t think he is hopeless on the boards because if you watch he differs a lot to bosh and almost never gets the easy boards.he also is a better shot blocker than bosh. with all this said i don’t think him and bosh can co exist because its like building a team around Al Harrington and Zack Randolph

Just a few observations
- Although we stifled Chicago in the second half, they sure looked like they ran out of gas. Agree Triano’s half-time message woke some people up.
- Tired or not, that was the best defence we’ve played all year. A glimmer of hope.
- A lot of criticism was leveled early at Jose, but those with cooler heads knew it would come around. He will never be a defensive stopper – very few PG’s are capable of shutting down their counterparts.
- Although I am confident that Jarrett Jack will eventually be that defensive-minded back-up PG, he has yet to deliver. Anyone questioning who our starting PG should be are wasting (cyber)space.
- Jay Triano has been handling the development of DeRozan extremely well. With the roster we have, at this point of season, there is absolutely no need to rush his development. By season’s end he will have earned more playing time and touches.
- Amir Johnson deserves a chance to succeed or fail. Except for odd matchup, play him before Rasho(who’s skills have diminished but still is a bargain for the $$$).
- Without playing a single regular season game, Reggie Evans has become my favourite Raptor.
- Albeit it is only 8 games in, but Chris Bosh has made me do a complete 180 regarding whether he is a max money player. Can’t name 3 other players playing more inspired ball them him. I don’t see him whining about non-calls anymore.
- Antoine Wright’s addition will pay as many dividends as Hedo Turkoglu’s.
- I don’t know where Sonny Weems fits in but he deserves some burn.
- I fully accept current Bargnani’s defensive limitations. He will grow into an above average defender and there is too much positives from his current game to dwell on this one aspect. I am willing to wait on him because the rewards will be fruitfull.
This team is currently 4 and 4 against tough competition and has yet to reach its stride on both offence and defence. We have seen good and we have seen bad, probably split about 50/50. Two players who stood out in preseason, Evans and Weems, have yet to contribute anything.
I feel better about this team now than I did two weeks ago.

did we release Douby? if this is true, is BC up to something?

You know, postings are pretty upbeat today, are they not? Not bad for a game where we played horrible basketball for 3 and a half quarters.
F and H, and my forgiveness, DQ you all know you have deserved earned the best Raptor’s following out there. Your readers are both thoughtfull and knowledgeable with their postingsand the conversations in the comments are the best going.
And when the Raps lose………………KABOOM!
Granted, they were two stinkers laid in Texas(btw Spurs sans Parker and Duncan beat the Mavs last night) but the venom spewed by Raptors faithfull borders on insanity.
 
Want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that the Toronto Raptors won 33 games last year. This team has managed 4 wins based on the individual offensive skills, for the most part, alone. Players are getting to know each other tendencies better, and although it’s not showing now, I have faith that our defence will improve as the season progresses. Couple that in with our potent offence gaining more confidence and I really do see better things on the horizon.

 Am bracing myself for this upcoming roadtrip because I, the most optimistic fan out there, think it might get rough. Just want to remind everyone to look at their preseason’s predictions for the month of November. The schedule hasn’t changed. If this team is sniffing @ 500 then this team has done better than expected.
Oh yeayh, with the Jekyll and Hyde tendencies of this team, there might well be another stinker or two coming up…..don’t worry, better days are coming..

Meant DS – (funny brought my kids to DQ for dessert, 1/2 price cakes)

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Howland,
I’ll acknowledge that Andrea hasn’t upped his defensive game enough, but I also think CB has a long way to go before he can boast "defensive specialist". And yes AB did look lethargic in the early stages of the Bulls game. Part of me wonders if not getting a shot until 4:32 left in the 1st quarter might have something to do with it. Part of me also wonders if the mindset has become "AB is a 2nd half shooter" as Leo alluded to (I believe), hence, let’s just wait until then before we engage him. What would really concern me, is if this attitude started to permeate Bargnani’s thoughts as well.

I think Bosh is playing great, but there are times when I get frustrated by his inability to look to another scorer (like Andrea), when he’s near the basket and being surrounded. I don’t know the stats, but I’d guess 9 out of 10 times he’s going to the net – damn the alternative. He’s a great player, just not worth a Lebron or Wade max in my opinion. And for the simple reason he needs to become a leader not just by scoring, but by directing this Raptor team to reach that level we dream about … as a team. That’s a real MVP.

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[ "He (Andrea) HATES contact. Even when he is out on the perimeter and uses the pump fake he doesn’t use it to create contact."]
As to above quote, I have to disagree completely. If anything, it’s those pump fakes of his – sometimes repeated twice – that look to me, to be an attempt to generate contact.

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I know that Bosh is a better player than Bargs – you’d be hard pressed to get a sane opinion that says otherwise. But shouldn’t that be a given for someone who envisions himself a 22 million dollar a year Baller?

I think part of the reason some fans have been favouring Bargs, is the simple fact that he’s signed. Bosh — we all get the feeling he’s going — and how does that play out with the whole team concept we know is needed to get us heading upward. Calling oneself an MVP candidate, and expecting a Max contract (which he’ll get somewhere), just makes Rap fans see themselves heading for a brick wall. Either the airbags work, or the lawsuit (a trade return) makes it more bearable.

RapthoseLeafs