3 In the Key: Toronto Raptors Game Day Preview vs. Minnesota
by RaptorsHQ - Howland on Mar 22, 2010 6:00 AM EDT
in 3 in the Key
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Coming off a win against the worst team in the league (New Jersey) the Raps now head to Minnesota to face the second worst team - the Timberwolves.
Facing a key stretch of games where the Toronto team faces the likes of Utah, Denver, Miami and Charlotte getting consecutive wins would go a long way to building some momentum.
Talk about the perfect time to face both the Nets and the Wolves.
Having slid into the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference the Raptors couldn't have asked for a better "break" in the schedule.
The Nets are just hoping to win 10 games this season while the Wolves have been a major disappointment and head into tonight's game having lost 10 in a row.
It has been another long season for T-Wolves fans and it all started with the draft. Despite having two high lottery picks the Wolves passed twice on Steph Curry and Brandon Jennings and instead ended up with Jonny Flynn (fine) and a player that won't be making an appearance in a Wolves jersey any time soon in Ricky Rubio. In addition to a questionable draft Al Jefferson has not fully recovered from his knee surgery and Kevin Love has had a brutal time just trying to stay healthy. It's been another long season for fans in Minnesota. Like they say, when it rains it pours.
Facing the Wolves and the Nets does help you feel a little better about being a Raps fan. Despite the ups and downs of the season things could always be worse - the Wolves are starting Darko Milicic at center.
Tonight should provide an opportunity for players other than CB4 to get their respective games off. Bargnani has a clear match-up advantage against Milicic, Hedo should have success against Ryan Gomes and DeRozan can more than handle Corey Brewer. Out of all of these players the one I will be watching the most closely is Bargnani. Lately Andrea has struggled and tonight provides his a great chance to get his confidence back. After a difficult night in New Jersey it will be interesting to see how he responds. He needs a big game and must find his confidence. If the Raps have any hope of making a late season run getting consistent solid play from Il Mago is required.
Securing the W tonight should not be that difficult of a task but as the season winds down and the seating in the Eastern Conference playoffs remains up for grabs it is an important game. When you look at the top four teams in the East, Cleveland has clearly established itself as the cream of the crop and would be a nightmare of a first round match-up. That's not to say Orlando or Boston would be "favorable" per se but seeing the Raps against either of them would be preferrable and allow for a glimmer of hope.
So what are the keys to tonight's game? Here they are.
1. More Bosh: Looking like his old self in New Jersey there is no reason not to go back to the well time and time again. Chris is a tough match-up for the Minnesota front court as none of Al Jefferson, Kevin Love or Darko Milicic have the defensive quicks to stay ahead of him. Look for the TWolves bigs to sag back allowing open J's or constant double teams thus leaving the team's shooters wide open.
2. Solid Start: In the second half of Saturday night's game it was the Raps talent and superior skill level that helped secure the win. The first half was not however, a pretty affair. After the first 24 minutes the Raps actually trailed the Nets. Hopefully tonight the Raps can come out swinging and put together a complete game, once again against an inferior opponent.
3. Protect the Paint: The Wolves are not a team of sharp shooters. Their offense relies heavily on Al Jefferson and getting into the paint. The answer? Collapse the D. Tonight the defensive strategy should be a simply one - live and die by the jumper. By forcing Jefferson and Love to give up the ball and making the likes of Flynn, Brewer and Gomes jack up shots from the outside should ensure an easy win, and the Wolves 11th straight loss.
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Agreed
This should be a resounding win for Toronto if they stick to those 3 keys. Andrea really needs to put in some work this evening so hopefully he comes out firing.
Even if this is an ugly affair, the Raps have to find a way to grind out a win.
Adam Francis - Publisher - RaptorsHQ.com
by RaptorsHQ - Franchise on Mar 22, 2010 8:27 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
More heat on Andrea
I agree with your comments on Andrea. I watched the post game interviews against the Nets and CB4 said that players urged him on to put up 30. Why don’t the players do the same with Andrea? He is normally a taller and quicker matchup against most teams… 20ppg should be easily reachable. In the interview, Bosh has eluded to Andrea’s lack of focus in the game, but he has to call him out at gametime.
In his shadow
I agree with your comments and would add: Will we only see the real Bargs once Bosh is gone? I get the feeling that Bargs is lost in Bosh’s shadow most games and just sort of shuffles through the game. Potential lost. It may be the Bargs ppg goes up without Bosh in the lineup but don’t look for any other numbers to go up, ie, rebounds. It’s time to cut bait and see if we can swing a David Lee for Bargs deal. That would make Chris happier than stink.
Bargs has turned out to be another “potential” guy, albeit a better product that all-perenial potential guy, Darko.
BOSH GONE WHERE?
BOSH IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE SO ANDREA BETTER FIGURE IT OUT
NO, NO, NO, NO....
I thought we all agreed on this… After the recent span of games where Bosh was out and Bargani actually got WORSE, the whole "Bargani would be better without Bosh" argument has no basis in reality. Let’s move on shall we.
I may not agree with how you got there, but defiately agree with your conclusion. Would lobe to see the Raps cut bait on Bargani. But that’s not going to happen with BC in charge.
Interesting article by Feschuk, pretty much echoing your point over the past month about benching players who don’t deserve PT.
Feschuk stinks
Many people on this site inlcuding myself have been saying this for pretty much the whole season. It shouldn’t have taken so long for him to notice. Jay isn’t going to change now. He’s already been through enough bad games and losing skids to nail some guys to the bench, but he hasn’t.
No doubt. The media could’ve picked up on this story, oh, I don’t know… in 2009!
by RaptorsHQ - Defensive Stance on Mar 22, 2010 7:22 PM EDT up reply actions
Better win this one... or kiss the playoffs goodbye
Because the schedule gets a whole lot uglier coming up… the Heat, Bobcats, and Bulls have a bunch of easy games (Wizards, Nets, Pistons, etc.), and the Raptors get Utah, Denver, Cleveland, Boston, and Atlanta (plus AT Miami and AT Charlotte) over the next 2 weeks.
SCHEDULE
The Raps schdule is the perfect schdule to get tuned up for the playoffs. They are playing all the teams ahead of them in the East except for Orlando, even if the Raps doesn’t win all of them, a great effort night in against these teams will help build their confidence. I have no doubt that the Raps will make the post season but going in with confidence would go a long way in how they do in the playoffs….Everyone thought Kansas would win it all in the NCAA tournament and see what happen, anyone can be beaten on any given night, so it doesn’t matter where you finish..well it does but you have to play the cards you are given and if its going up against the Cavs or Magic or Celtics or Atlanta so be it. Coming out of the 1st round would be a great accomplishment considering the season that the Raps have. Its just a game at a time from here on in. All the players know that this is no time to slack or slump and if you are slumping then JT has to do what all good coaches do and bench you until you figure it out. Once you get on the floor you have to produce, if not you can produce by being a fan on the bench…..Raps4Life
That would be true too if the NBA played single game knock off tournament like the NCAA does. Unfortunately, the NBA plays 7 game series which is a lot harder for a team playing as poorly as the Raptors have to overcome a good team. Most of the upsets of lower seeds over higher seeds in the NBA are about match-up problems and I do no think Cleveland will really have a lot of problems sending the Raptors home early. I say forget the playoffs and let’s hope they free fall the rest of the way. Bosh is gone anyway so at least let’s keep our pick.
wuts funny
U guys know what’s really funny bout the match ups we would have in the first round? Out of the 3 teams (cavs, magic, celtics) we played our best games against the cavs..I mean we got blown out in all the games against the celtics, and all but 1 against the magic ,against the cavs we beat them once and was close in the other games.maybe we just match up better with the cavs than the other 2
by sherwin316 on Mar 22, 2010 12:40 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Agreed
That’s why I don’t really care about our seeding. We will make the playoffs and some momentum would be nice. But, can anyone put forth an intelligent argument why finishing 6th or 7th would be better than 8th?
The Celtics just intimidate us, the Hawks our run us, the Magic wear us down and the Cavs out LeBron us (they have one, we don’t).
Of those four, I think our best changes are still facing off against the Cavs or the Magic. What’s the point in finishing 5th and going out in 4 against the Hawks?
Therefore, with the self destruction going on in Chicago, I’m not that worried about how many wins we must get. The only thing I’m focused on is getting some confidence up going into the playoffs. So we do need to start winning. But the season is not exactly lost if we lose tonight.
If we make the playoffs we lose our pick to miami but if we don’t we keep the pick is that who it goes?
by sherwin316 on Mar 22, 2010 2:00 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Meant to write how not who lol
by sherwin316 on Mar 22, 2010 2:02 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
That’s correct……Miami gets our pick if we make the playoffs. I tend to agree with Zona, it really doesn’t make any sense to make the playoffs because we are not going to knock out the Cavs realistically. The only thing is just missing the playoffs does not give you a really good pick, it will be middle of the pack 10 to 14 at best. and if that’s our pick we might as well enjoy a few playoff games, who knows we might even win our home games and take the cavs to 7…..raps4life
Don’t forget Thadeus Young was drafted in the 10-14 range and Danny Granger was taken with the 17th pick (one after Joey Graham). Who knows, maybe they will pull off a miracle and get the first pick over all (lol okay, sorry I got giddy for a moment). The point is I would rather have a 30th pick then no pick at all at this stage as if we assume that Bosh is leaving we need to draft another potential franchise player (even a mediocre one). I don’t really trust BC to come through here but we really have nothing to lose.
Mauer
I think T’Wolves fans will be doing flips tonight because of the Joe Mauer signing—an event roughly a zillion times more important that a “battle” between two teams in the sludge of the NBA.
Damn Rockets
Were up 10+ on the Bulls, then sucked in the 2nd half. Aaron Brooks 3-17!!!
Chicago stays within 2.5 with the win.
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