Tip-In, Toronto Raptors' Post-Game Report: Back on Track?
by RaptorsHQ - Franchise on Nov 5, 2009 8:39 AM EST
14 comments
After a solid 110 to 99 win over the Detroit Pistons, Franchise lauds the play of TO's big 3, but worries about Jose Calderon as the team embarks on a tough West-Coast swing...
Bosh - 25 points, 20 free throw attempts.
Bargnani - 22 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocks.
Turkoglu - 16 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.
Those numbers were from last night's win over Detroit, and I'll venture that if the team can get production like this from their big three each night, they will be tough to stop.
Or at least we hope so, because the Raps are about to embark on a tough Western road trip, and play only one of their next 8 games at home.
That's why last night's win for me was a big one.
Besides stopping the two-game slide the team was on, the Raptors also showed many of the elements that Bryan Colangelo had envisioned when he discussed this team's strengths prior to the season. And for the first time, I really began to see some cohesion between TO's key starters.
With Bargnani getting off to a good start, it wasn't necessary for Bosh to dominate the ball so much and take on the scoring load himself. And by putting the ball in Hedo's hands a number of times last night in order to orchestrate the offence, this lead to increased efficiency on his behalf as well. And as for Bargs, this was by far his best all-around game of the season as he did a nice job on the glass and in the paint, as well as showcasing his usual long-distance offensive skills.
You knew however that the Pistons were going to come out firing however and they once again got some great back-court play from Ben Gordon, Will Bynum and Rodney Stuckey. The three combined for 62 of Detroit's 99 points and made life miserable for TO all night.
Fortunately for the Raps, these three got little assistance from anyone else and in the end, two major factors swung the W Toronto's way.
The first of these was Toronto's ability to get to the line.
Bosh, as mentioned, was relentless once more in this capacity, deferring to his post-mate Bargs for the team's field goal offense. CB4 in fact took only 10 shots from the field, and following his lead, the Raps got to the line an incredible 47 times, making 36 of these. In years past, you just didn't see the Raps able to take advantage of being such an excellent shooting team from the charity stripe but this year the club is getting there on average 33 times a game, best in the league outside of Denver! The constant parade to the charity stripe was too much for Detroit.
Also tipping things in Toronto's favour, bench play.
Toronto got some excellent production from the likes of Amir Johnson, Marco Belinelli and Antoine Wright at both ends of the court, and Jarrett Jack was key in leading the troops in crunch time. In fact it was Triano's second unit that wrestled the lead away from Detroit in the second quarter and provided the boost the team needed. Thanks to injuries, the Pistons didn't have much of a second unit outside of Will Bynum and in the end, Toronto's depth and aggressiveness wore Detroit down.
Outside of those two factors however, there really wasn't much of a difference between the clubs.
The Pistons for instance equalled the Dinos in rebounding, shot a better percentage from deep, and almost equalled Toronto in terms of field goal percentage. I had to wonder if things wouldn't have been that much tighter between these clubs had Prince and Hamilton been in the line-up.
In any event, the Raptors, despite a brief let-down in intensity to start the fourth quarter, took care of business when they needed to most, and now head off to New Orleans to take on Chris Paul and the Hornets, before facing the Mavericks and Spurs within the span of four days.
Biggest concern for me heading into this road trip?
Jose Calderon.
I'm not sure what's going on, but Jose's looked like a D League player through four games this season. He did show a bit more aggressiveness last night in terms of getting to the rim, but one assist? And 4 of 11 shooting?
If this team wants to beat some of the West's elite over the next few days, not only are the Raps going to need their big 3 clicking like they were last night, but they also need a lot more from their starting point guard.
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No to jose, turk needs ball
I hate to sound like a Jose basher, I have never liked him, but I admit he at least has been an average to above average player the last 2-3 seasons. However, his play is killing us.
Bargs and Bosh may not be all nba defenders, but they are looking like fools as Jose constantly loses his man on screens or gets wrecked by the blow by or crossover. He was never the quicknest guy, but at 28, I feel that his physical traits are in a rapid decline.
Furthermore, his cardio just isn’t there and his shot has fled to the hills. The raptors run stopped when he came back on the floor and the lead got eaten up. Also what is with the Jack-Jose backcourt, gah!
Turk needs to be the primary ballhandler, he makes things happen, by god he does and he already has better chemistry with everyone not named Bosh than Jose ever had or will.
Jack needs to stay on the bench, we need him to light a fire under our asses in the second. Toine Wright is getting trigger happy, but his defense is the best we have seen in a raptor since 06-07 Parker.
New Orleans finally played a good game last night. However, they have terrible wing production. Peja is now a spot up shooter (best in the league imo), Posey has declined, and Julian Wright needs to go to the d league. Can we steal one friday? Maybe.
The Houston Rockets
One more thing.
Morey is a freaking genius and Adeleman is rock solid…this team of role players and scubs play some of the most organized defensive and offensive basketball I have ever seen.
They might get 8th seed. Im calling it.
How many games do we need before we become concerned? I agree it is early but Jose needs to get up to speed quick or we are going to have a problem going forward. He is suppose to be a top 10 PG in this league and yet it is obvious he isn’t fitting in with the new system yet. Maybe he will get it going on the west coast swing. I hope so.
This game was a push in my schedule look and not having Hamilton or Prince should be auto win. I still think it is too early to judge where the team is at based on who they have played but I am much more concerned with the losses to Memphis and Orlando then the wins they had against Cleveland and Detroit.
Jose
I think Jose will be OK. I hope he is hanging out with Dave Hopla on a daily basis perfecting his shot. At that point this offense becomes deadly.
The “Barnyard” looked great last night. What ever happened to the guy who was good for 2 awkward charges every night?
Antoine Wright looks like the stopper we have been waiting for! Demar is hopefully learning about how to play D against a quick backcourt
Amir played well. I for one love a player that just does his job and doesn’t try to go back up with any or every offensive board they grab. I’m looking at you HUMP! Good riddance.
DD’s sick tomahawk attempt would have been sweet.
Hedo just looks better and better every game. So solid and a phenomenal passer.
Bit nervous about the schedule coming up but hopeful we can stick near the .500 mark.
Jose Can You See?
I’m concerned about Jose, but I also haven’t given up on him.
There’s a reason why Jose wasn’t drafted into the NBA — or even signed by a “better” team. These guys all have major flaws. JC’s has always been about defence, and his ability to make 18+ footers. Remember year one? It was awful. And forever whatever reason, hard work, repitition, bonk on the head, he started hitting the 18+ footers. His defence didn’t get any better, but everyone saw those wavy three up fingers up in the air and fell in love.
His other great strength had been in the half court offence. But the addition of the long range shot was that he became an effective pick and roller. Without the range, he because a backup PG at best.
What gives me hope? Well he was able to come from being one of the worst shooters in the league, to a very efficient one in one off season.
So hopefully its just a bonk on the head.
Easy on Jose
He will be OK. So will Hedo.
I don’t expect too much success on the upcoming road trip. The Hornets are due, and then we are off to Texas. I’ll be happy with one win, and overjoyed with two.
I believe the season should be divided in sections ad we should analyze the situation at the end of each section:
Here are my proposed sections:
- First 10 games
- Second 10 games
- First half of the season
- Second half
First impressions (also debunking some summer considerations)
- Bargs can definitely average more than the 15 points per game some predicted given all the additional scorers we have on the team, he is averaging 22 ppg with high efficiency (and the average is heavily affected by one lonley 12 point game)
- Bargs seems to be the ultimate X factor for this team meaning when he is on usually the whole team is on with him and the opposite seems to be true as well with the exception of Chris who seems to stay on his level independently of others team mates performances, but who seems not to be able to bring his team along with him with his (good) play.
- This team has deep and flexibility, It seems to me JT planned this ahead in the last game: he took out Andrea first and early because he could bring balance to the second unit and the second unit delivered.
- The gelling between Andrea, Turk, Chris is still a work in progress.. but it is progressing….
- Two players have yet to make their presence and contribution felt : Marco and Jose. I believe it is going to be easier for Jose to come out of his slump/rust as he can see consistent minutes, JT at the moment is investing in him, bringing him along will help the team a lot. For Marco the story is a bit more complicated as he is used in burst and he has plaid at his best, when given constant minutes. If those two guys could produce as we know they can, this team would be much , much better.
- Reggie Evans did not yet have the chance to contribute, although in preseason he shown he has something to bring to this team’s table.
- We are 2 -2 we had a serious chance to be 3-1 and we were still in play with Orlando till the very end.
To me, the glass seems to be half full……..
While Jose certainly has not been playing well, he’s too good a player to not come around eventually. My prediction is that a month from now, he’ll be playing again at his borderline All-Star level and everyone will forget the start of the season.
The most troubling was the Raptors defense, giving up 99 points to a team that doesn’t score much AND was missing two key offensive players.
My game analysis here:
http://www.wearingfilm.com/picketfence/2009/11/the-apocalypse-is-averted/
Tim W.
The Picket Fence
Thanks for the tip, but the fact is that the Raptors had trouble stopping a Pistons team, missing two of their three leading scorers, from scoring for most of the game. It’s not as if there were a ton of fast break points. Each team scored 9. The Raptors gave up 99 points to the Pistons not because of the pace of the game, but due to bad defence.
Tim W.
The Picket Fence
Dee...troit... Basket... ball
I was glad that my brother convinced me to see the game on Wednesday. At first, the game appeared to have the makings of a Piston romp, but the Raptors benched stemed the tide. I can’t say enough about the play of Jack… he impresses me everytime he steps on the floor. It is a given that the bench has made a commitment to playing defense and its now time for the starters to follow suit.
The thing that surprises me is how DeMar is being replaced so quickily to begin games. I realize that Demar had a tough assignment covering Gordon, but Jay needs to allow him to make mistakes on the floor. I do believe that if he is given consistent minutes he will have a good chance to win ROY.
I hope that Bryan Colangelo can work his magic and get rid if POB… I could not understand why in the world he was taking threes during Raptors warmup????
All about Jose...
I’m not ready to give up on Jose yet either, but he just looks “off.” Even Jack Armstrong called it out last night. One of the open 3’s he took looked like a shot I would have jacked up, it wasn’t even close. That’s what’s really strange to me; last year, if Jose was off, it was never to the side, always too long or too short a bit, this year he’s just plain off.
On top of this, he looks slow but my hope is that he’s trying to figure out his role still in the offense; when to shoot, when to pass, when to take the lead and when to let Hedo orchestrate. Remember, this is the third style he’s played in the last 8 months. First it was Mitchell’s “pick and roll you to death,” then Triano’s “give it to Marion and fill the lanes,” now, it’s a mix of the two, with two other very competent ball handlers in Hedo and Jack playing with him at times.
I’m hoping it’s just a matter of time before he gets things straightened out.
by RaptorsHQ - Franchise on Nov 5, 2009 3:51 PM EST reply actions
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