Tip In, Raptors' Post Game: Something to Cheer About

gotta say it was a great game to watch... and it was nice to see a play that finally got the crowd excited (ie. marion's dunk) Was really getting upset with Triano in the first half after Pops only had 6 minutes of play but was going so hard... but he did give him a good chuck in the second half (even if it was garbage time early in the game)

Was quite impressed with Pops interview after the game... can't remember the last time we had a player thank the fans for showing up. He thanked them for showing up even after the poor season.... hope Bosh was listening, he could get some tips.

The Pops end-of-game chat was the kind of interview Bosh should try out more often.

Since our Bench (and the 2 spot) are priority items for next season, it's nice to see some options developing for 09-10.

I'm curious -- with all the Secondary Bigs we have now -- who stays and who goes. I'm assuming Jawai will be around, but after that ... ?

And despite Marion's "quiet" 1st half, I do believe he can be more involved, if the Raps make a better attempt at getting him involved. If his price is right, I'd like to see us resign him.

Franchise and I were talking about it yesterday, but I think having a front court that includes Pops and Hump should be a priority for the Raptors. They might be a bit undersized as a result, but I think quickness and energy from those two positions is much needed in today's NBA. There's enough talk out there of the Raptors buying out O'Bryant's contract and I don't think we can expect Voskuhl to be back, so that should slim things right down.

It is interesting how we all have become accustomed to 27/10 night by Andrea (and let's not even start talking about the efficiency those points came with) that it does not even deserve to be mentioned on a game recap :)
I am not sure about bad months from Andrea either, this season seem to have been a constant progression with one bad month (December).
Anyway, I do not want to steal Pop's thunder but I would love to point out that this blow out is the result of Andrea + Jose + Pop's efforts and when the other team members (and I am thinking of you, Bosh and Marion) will join the party, and I am not asking anything outside to what should be normal production for them, this team should lean much more towards the 50 victories than the 25. Looking at the game and think the Pacers are competing for a playoff spot, gives the exact dimension of how bad this season has been for the Dinos. Sad.

Renato - I gave him lots of props. I just think his defense was much more important in turning the tide. Offensively, he kept the Raptors in the game and made up for Bosh, but I am finding myself constantly looking at how he patrols the interior on the defensive end and continue to be impressed. His shooting will come and go, but his defense is an effort and intelligence thing that has kept on shining through.

I think the telling stat yesterday was Raptors 55 rebounds, Indiana 38. Can they do that against a bigger, better team? I'm going to hold my breath. Will Bargnani continue to roll to the basket instead of floating to the outside? No doubt about where on the court Pops plays his game. Add Marion and Graham hitting the offensive boards and I think the Raptors will be worth watching. Nice to see some snappy passing by Bargs but if Calderon keeps on ignoring the big men as they roll to the basket (and they're open quite often), they're going to start standing around again. Dribble, dribble, dribble. Jose, move the freaking ball!

Very interesting game for Howland and I to take in. The ACC was asleep (myself included) until that Marion dunk and then things completely changed. I think BC in his jump-shooting love-affair earlier forgot just how important it is to have players that can do that. Not just for the highlight reel moments but to motivate teammates at both ends of the court. You'll notice that after that dunk and his next one, Toronto's defence suddenly picked up too.

Also, it was driving me nuts when the RaptorsTV folks kept talking about Pops "effort" being responsible for his success. Yes, that's part of it, but he's also more athletic than anyone else we have at that spot, and than most other "bigs" in the league for that matter. He's longer than a lot of other players, is quicker off his feet, and has the balance and body control to finish with contact. So he's just a match-up nightmare for a lot of clubs. I really liked the second unit of he and Graham along with Parker and/or Roko. In fact if Kapono was making about $2 Million less a season, the aformentioned would be a pretty nice looking bench squad. And when you have Marion at the 3, Graham at the 2, Pops at the 4 and Bosh or even Bargs at the 5, it really causes problems for oppenents in terms of rebounding.

And yes, I can't believe I just typed that...

Vicious,
you got me wrong, I was not ranting against you, I was appreciating that these performances are recurrent enough to have become not newsworthy, a stat line like the one Andrea had yesterday, would have been the sole topic of an article in November, today it was like: nothing new, the usual 20+ performance. That tells something in itself.

Renato - Gotcha. I can get aboard on that.

Oh man, I had my comment all typed out and lost it in my bberry browser...

I agree it is a nice luxury to have Bargs' game get lost in the fold. However, had our team not been so starved for energy and rebounding, his game surely would have been the story. Swick efficiency, a blk some steals and a small handfull of assists - great to see, though the pacers suck.

A bench rotation of Pops, Hump and Rasho would be versatile and allow us to match up a lot of styles of play. (Rasho, come NBA in Toronto! For next to nothing!)

Finally!
Now this is the team I have been waiting to see all season.

Bargs was awesome as well as POPS. How many thunderous dunks did he just miss as well. That guy is becoming a must sign already. In my opinion I would much rather have him over HUMP. This guy plays within the offense and is not just looking to get his shots up. Impressive.

I am a little disappointed that the Raps haven't found a way to use Marion's athleticism on some alley's (aside from the one yesterday). That one dunk was sick!

Is Bargs their best player right now? Probably not.......but he's definitely in the conversation with Bosh.

Nice to see some smiles yesterday. It's been a while.

I think saying the Raptors outrebounded the Pacers is nothing special is simply wrong. This team has too often given up the boards even against smaller teams so for them to outrebound the Pacers is a step in the right direction.
The whole Pops discusion does bring up the fact that the Raptors have really missed Hump more than most of us will admit. Early on in the season who was 50th on Hollinger's per list which should tell you something about what he brings to the table. Too many people were dissing him while he has been hurt (along with Calderon who now looks like the guy the Raps signed to be the PG of the future) and I think that Pops is good reminder of what has been missing.

Gotta ask the question. Could Pops (assuming he continues his current play) replace Marion at the 3 spot? The both bring athletiscm, defense, & rebounding. I keep hearing that there are no plays run for Marion, and he's not a slasher by any measure so why not spend the coin on a FA starting 2? Couldn't Pops be a discount version of the Matrix? Jose, FA SG, Pops, Bosh & Bargs seems like a reasonable starting lineup. You get a steady PG, a slasher to create, perimeter & inside game in the bigs, and a defensive presence and rebounding from the 3. Fire away!

Not quite sure you can say we are missing Humphries when he couldn't work himself off the bench when healthy. Can't miss what we weren't using.

All I know is yesterdays game and remainder of March's schedule will remove us from the lottery. Not even mixed emotions from me, I want a lottery pick!

What do you think about Dough Smith Story on Ivaroni being hired as Jay assistant for next season? I am not sure Jay is the person for the job.

Tinman, Not sure how you can say we are not missing Hump when what he brings off the bench is exactly what everyone has been complaining was missing from the Raps (hustle, rebounding). Is Pops a better option? Maybe as Hump has some girth to him that Pops doesn't but Pops is more athletic.
As for him not getting off the bench, how many other players were not getting minutes that should have (Ukic and Graham come to mind) at the beginning of the season? Smitch always messed around with his benches minutes, never seeming to want to go with the same guys night after night. Hard to point at Hump and say he sucked cause he didn't play when the numbers simply don't back that up.

Saw that this morning about the former Grizz head coach. Might make an interesting assistant, but the whole situation is sort of weird isn't it? Not sure you want a former head coach hanging around when the interim has had such a tough go of it. And while Doug talks about him being an option as an assistant in the future, I'd rather they hired someone with some more NBA experience too.

One thing is for sure, between Bosh, our free agents, the draft, the coaching situation etc, etc, this off-season is going to be very interesting.

Not to belittle Pop's game,who is bringing a missing part of the roster, but 12pts and 5 rbs were in the 4th qtr vs the Indy scrubs, who had checked out 21 points down after 3 qtrs.

I believe he will be an excellent addition to the rebounding game, but do not expect the scoring to continue.

The other, and very most important, missing link to return the last 2 games was the return of a more healthy Calderon, who is key to both the ofensive and defensive effort.

His 12ast 15pts were in only 31 mins as he sat for the last 13+ mins with his work for the night done.

Also Bosh's effort was there, even tho he has struggled with his jumper the last 2 games, with 15 pts and 13 rbs, also sitting for the last qtr.

I gust saw on Italian tv a game recap and they were commenting on Pops performance with a line like: " yes, you heard it correctly, that is the same Pops who could not get ANYTHING done last year in Treviso"

And here he is, playing great in the NBA (small sample) with he fans wondering how expensive it will be retaining his services for the next season

Another point on Bosh, although he only had 15 points vs Indy, he has averaged approx 27pts and 41mins in the previous 6 games trying to get some wins, so maybe it has been slowing him down a bit the last couple games.

the thorough beating the Raps put on the Pacers yesterday makes you think aobut how poor those teams clustered around that final playoff spot really are. It would not take much more than a healty Calderon to have been close or in this year.

For some reason, the real stories of the year have been buried under the smaller ones. While everyone was talking JO and how he was doing with Bosh, the real failure was the total mishandling of Jose's injury. He should have been sat until he was a full player again, regardless of how ill prepared the back up PG's are/were. As a result, we never really had him at all this year. Considering that he was not practicing, he still had a pretty good year offensively!

The other big story is the Iavoroni thing. Was BC not the one that was supposed to bring clear vision to this franchise? Instead we are slipping into a Toronto Maple Leaf situation with revolving, unsupported coaches with a top heavy structure aimed not at developing a culture of excellence, but rather a diffusion of responsibility. Doug Evans dismisses Iavaroni's presence as not being any indication of a threat to Jay's job, he doesn't give that premise any support whatsoever. The Raps have become the Leafs. We once needed a real GM who could shut the MLSE suits out of the basketball operations. Now we need a Coach who will shut the GM out of the coaching operations. Disappointing. I'm hoping BC grows his back soon.

Renato, sometimes it takes time for the light to come on. Italian TV could say the something about Bargnani

McG -
I'm a Humphries fan myself but even when healthy he would not get minutes. Hard to say we miss someone when hurt when he was sitting while healthy.

I really do not think he would of made much of a difference. Humphries has had 3 coaches since entering the NBA and hasn't earned the trust of all three. He might be a good quote and nice with the ladies..... but he is not the solution to our problems.

Rubik,
you are opening a pandora box about Bargnani. To be honest Italian media does not follow the raptors constantly so our (competent) commentators never went really deep into the Smitch - Bargnani story but. The comments were just about Smitch not being a great technical coach and BC being cornered into having to resign him and about Andrea's body language and approach towards games as the main problem he had.

EaseMyPain: Leafs appear to have established a solid mgmt structure and are not horribly positioned long term.

With regards to Triano, if he is retained, I should hope they get him some legit backup. Iavroni and PJ would be wonderful additions. I'm not sure BC would be adverse to such a move in consideration of optics. We're all adults, BC is a consensus guy and I think JT has the wherewithal to to smartly utilize their skills and feedback if he was lucky enough to have such accomplished and well regarded assistants.

Just thought I would add a little bit of a drama to the position the Raps are in right now, I was looking a the schedule for the teams chasing for the 8 spot along with the 8th spot team milwaukee. They all have a tougher schedule than the Raps, some still have 4 or 5 games against western team, others have to play the elite in the East and the Raps have more home games than all of them. So this is it if the Raps beat the bobcats tonite, they can very well win all 5 games after that on the home stand. If they bring it like they did against Indy. So that would have them on a 7 game win streak. My questions is..should the Raps still try to make the playoff or try and get a good draft pick. My answer is once you are mathematically alive in the playoffs race then you should try and win every game until you are no longer in the race. So everybody has to win for you to be elimated and we know that is not going to happen, so I think the Raps can move to within 1 or 2 games of the 8th spot if they can win all the games on the upcoming homestand...Can't wait to see what happens next week.

S. Marion, is not giving the raptors any bigger numbers than Moon did!

RAPS4LIFE

U are a true fan but a dreamer (sleep well) lol!