Raptors' Rapid Recap - Phoenix 101 - Toronto 100
by Adam Francis on Nov 15, 2009 11:00 PM EST
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-Most entertaining game of the season? Perhaps, this one came down to the wire and was a Hedo Turkoglu shot away from getting two games above .500. Unfortunately it was not to be and the Suns keep their winning streak in the Nash era vs. the Raps alive.
-Bosh led the Raps with another double-double; 25 points and 10 rebounds.
-Raps got solid scoring from Hedo (20 points and two huge shots down the stretch) and Bargs (17) as well as bench play; Johson 7 points, 9 rebounds, Belinelli, 11 points.
-However the team had no answer for Amare Stoudemire who dropped 30 on the Dinos. Nash was a tough cover as well with 23 points and 9 assists.
-Two big factors emerged down the stretch in the loss; rebounding and free-throw shooting. Toronto got to the line only 14 times all game while Phoenix poured it on late in this respect, shooting 27 free throws. As well, the Raps had a tough time keeping the Suns off the glass and were outrebounded 46 to 39. A few more freebies and a few more rebounds and this could easily have been a Raptors' W, it was that close.
-Up next, Toronto takes the road trip to Denver in what promises to be a very tough match against the Nugs.
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Three Point Shooting
Not a very good night for the Raptors. In fact significantly below par. If they had made their normal percentage of 3 point shots the Raptors would have won.
The Raptors did almost match the Suns on the offensive board losing that battle 12 – 11 which is basically being even.
One would normally expect a home team to get the foul line more often than the visitors. Of course this doesn’t always happen but probably does in the majority of games especially when the home team is a very good team.
Suns Shooting and Raptors Defense
The Raptors did hold the Suns to 101 points about 10 below their season average
They also held them below their season percentages in shooting and 3 point shooting
On the year the Suns are 49% and 46% respectively
The Raptors held them to 45% and 33% respectively
The Suns have out rebounded their opponents this year 43 – 41 per game
In this one they out rebounded the Raptors 46 – 39 which is basically a +2 rebounds above their normal game totals. Two rebounds that went to the Suns that if they went to the Raptors the numbers for the game would have been 44 – 41.
So overall the Raptors defense played pretty good and it was their poor 3 point shooting that cost them the game.
Three phases
I can see three phases:
1) like now, you lost but you feel good because althought you lost, you plaid yourself in a position to win on the road with one of the current rankings top teams on the league
2) when there will be an understanding this teame HAS in itself the capabilities, night in and night out to compete with elite team, you will be upset with anything else than a performance like yestarday
3) when this team will go on a roll and will play with the confidence they should try to win every game every night (likely next year) you will be happy just with wins
I believe these first 10 games should bring some clarity on theualities of this team, they have what it gets to be an elite team, they have still to work out optimumt rotations and distribution but a season with over 50 wins should been promoted from daydream to realistic goal. Hopefully they will go on a roll and in Jan, maybe anything below 50 will be considered as a disappointment.
The ingredients are there, the pie not yet, but the cook is improving.
winnable game
Toronto had the game in the 4th quarter. Phoenix (through Nash) started putting pressure on, made some shots (Frye’s daggers), and TO panicked. They resorted to low percentage shots early in the shot clock (which contributed directly to that 14-2 run). Triano called a timeout, TO went back to the shots that gave them the lead, and they got the tie again, but by then TO had given the Suns a second win.
Finally, the last play by Turk looked like a broken play. Should have run an inside shot to Bosh down low, crash the boards if missed, hoping for an and-1 (if fouled, Bosh makes at LEAST 1 of 2). Then, defence for the last 5 seconds.
They lost this game (or the Suns won) in five minutes of play.
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