The Morning After The Night Before, LVXX

It’s sunny outside but it’s dark, scary dark, around these parts. Had another couple of e-mails overnight from fans – regular fans I hear from often – who are done with this season. It may be a bit drastic but I can understand frustration and have some sympathy.

Right now, they’re horrible and not showing any signs of getting much better. I still think when the schedule turns easier they’ll end up finishing sixth and get Orlando in the first round but I can also see them losing two of the next three and then watch the angst grow.

Tough time to be a fan, isn’t it?

And from yesterday we’ve got:

Three Things I Learned

Blame Rasho

No, not for the loss; dude’s playing out of his head. But when he missed a layup late in the fourth, he robbed Bosh of his first career triple-double. And, it shouldn’t really be surprising giving the inadequacies they’ve had in wing players over the year, but it’s been seven years a day now since any Raptor had a triple double. That was Alvin Williams against Atlanta back in the day.

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Disgruntled, quite disgruntled

Heard a smattering of boos when T.J. hoisted a horrible shot late in the third quarter, which was a bit surprising. Of course, they changed to raucous cheers a minute later when he made a layup. But maybe everyone was snoozing with nine minutes to go when he took another bad shot and they loafed back on defence, losing Iverson in transition and then couldn’t get to AI before he made a three for an 85-80 Nugget lead.

That’s the kind of play that should tick everybody off.

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Where’d he go?

What happened to Bargnani, you wonder? Well, a confluence of things robbed him of what could have been a big night after his 16-point first. The two shots he got in the 2 1-2 minutes he played in the second were pretty good looks he just missed; in an 0-for-4, 12-minute run in the third the Nuggets played much better defence on him and then he sat the entire fourth ‘cause Rasho was playing well. The interesting thing, to me, was Sam leaving Bargnani in after he got his second foul six minutes into the first. Usually that’s when he goes and sits until after the half but Mitchell stuck with him and he made all three shots he took before the quarter ended. Since Bargnani seldom plays in the fourth, I’ve always thought Mitchell should stick with him with two fouls every night.

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A trip to the mailbag, apropos with yesterday’s opponent:

Q: Is it still possible that Denver finishes the year with 50 wins and doesn’t make the playoffs? Would they still be a lottery team and get a crack at the number one pick overall?

Darwin N, Swift Current

A: Oh yeah, it sure is. Their lottery odds would be less than one per cent but they can get it.

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Quick query: How’s the pizza taste today?

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Not sure if you remember, but there was a mailbag question a week or so ago about whether or not Alex English wants to be a head coach? I said I thought he did; having a conversation with him yesterday, I found out he definitely does and, for all he’s done – coached in the minors, been an assistant, one of the greatest players of all time – he better be on some short lists this summer.

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Here’s how yesterday’s game played out in Denver.

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More mail

Q: Doug, I am surprised that you would drive to Cleveland for the game!  Can't the mighty Star spring for a flight!?!  Where else do you have to drive to - Detroit, New York?   Dumb question but the team would fly? Right?

Carlos M, Toronto

A: Dude, it’s easier to drive and if you spend enough time in airports and get jerked around enough times by Air Canada, staying away from planes is best.

Takes me about 4 1-2 hours to drive, if you fly you’ve got to get to the airport 90 minutes before an hour-long flight, get downtown from the airport in Cleveland and to Pearson so the whole process takes about the same amount of time. And if you drive, you go on your own schedule, no one makes you stand in line and take off your shoes and open your laptop.

But, yes, the team flies, and gets to land at a downtown Cleveland airport right on the lake that’s about a three-minute drive to the hotel or the arena.

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You know what today is, don’t you?

It’s the anniversary of one of the most improbable victories in Raptor history. On March 24, 1996, before 36,131 fans at the SkyDome, the little expansion team knocked off the mighty Chicago Bulls.

I remember vividly Brendan Malone walking off the court and pointing to salute the fans in the 500 level across the stadium.

Tracy Murray – remember him? – might have had the best post-game quote, culled from The Star’s game story.

"We came together so much at the end, it brought a tear to my eye …We kept fightin'. To see us mature and make progress and finally win a game against a team like Chicago is great. This game meant more to me than the championship (with the Houston Rockets) last year.”

It was indeed one of the highlights of the season.

And check out this quote from Steve Kerr:

"We just didn't have anybody who could stop (Damon Stoudamire)," Kerr said of the Raptor, whose six three-point shots helped him set the NBA rookie record for treys in a season, 127. The old mark of 125 was set in 1989-90. "He's too small and quick for Michael, and he's obviously too quick for me. He's got the speed to go around you and he can step up and shoot the three. Most guys with speed can't shoot. Most shooters don't have the speed. He's got both."

Funny, now maybe we know why GM Steve Kerr was thinking of signing veteran Damon Stoudamire earlier this year.

Comments

[Sean Smith]

Ryan, you're right, they're just not good enough yet. BC *did* make some moves over the summer, to mixed success. He had to see what he's got, which isn't enough after all, but I'm certainly glad to see he didn't make a rash move at the trade deadline and instead wait for this summer.

And this Bosh calling out his teammates crap is hilarious. He might have had close to a triple-double last night, but the numbers were very misleading. Kenyon Martin ATE HIM down the stretch on defence. Maybe it's because he's still coming back from injury, but....

As many others here have, I've watched Bosh and the Raps night in and out for years. Look at every other team in the NBA that has a better record than the Raps. Now, you might quibble with me on one or two, but each of those teams has a "franchise" player that simply put is better than Bosh. Those people make plays when the game is on the line, and carry the team totally on other days; otherwise, it's hope to make a few jumpshots, kind of like our Raps.

He's good. But he's got a very limited skill set and not "franchise" good for a team that hopes to win it all. Though we hope someday...

[Shawn]

Bosh was spot on about the team getting contested jumpers towards the end of close games.

It's a combination of our personnel not being able to create outside the pick and roll (which other teams KNOW we're going to be doing), and inept coaching.

I'd like to see TJ and Kapono and Bargs close out games (along with AP and Bosh) if we need buckets in place of Calderon and Moon and Rasho. TJ can create when he's on and penetrate, Kapono gives us a legit shooter behind the arc when we need a bucket (not Moon), and Bargs give us another legit shooting threat. There's no way our team can set Rasho up in crunch time.

This team simply lacks CLUTCH players.
Bosh isn't clutch as shown in the playoffs last year.

AP isn't clutch as shown in the playoffs and tight games where he turns it over or misses free throws.

Calderon isn't clutch as evidenced by his game 6 pass in the playoffs and turnovers in crunch time.

Those are our 3 "go to guys", but because NONE of them are clutch, we're constantly exposed at the end of games.

It should be:
TJ
AP
Kapono
Bargs
Bosh

Just like Colangelo envisioned to start the season!

[Paul M.]

Petro, you need to look "fanatical" up in the dictionary. A fanatic is "a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal, as in religion or politics." That is far from a bandwagon jumper. Unless there were mass conversion AWAY FROM Christianity over the weekend, because the second coming has yet to occur. And while I take your point about disappointment, I wasn't referring to that at all. Disappointment and giving up on the season aren't necessarily the same thing. I agree with Doug (surprisingly enough..."I keed, I keed") that giving up on the season is drastic.

[Travis]

Nobody likes to see Moon jacking up 3 pointers late in the game, even if he is wide open. But what other options do the raptors have? You can't put Kapono out there against Melo, and even though Kapono is a great shooter there is still only like a 15% greater chance that he makes that 3 pointer Moon misses and there is no way Kapono gets that wide open of a look. So Kapono at best is only an option for offensive possessions but then you need to try to get him out of the game for defense which isn't really possible if you don't score. The other option is Delfino, who has totally disappeared of late. I know he is still a really streaky player, but for every game he goes 7 for 9 he has like 2 games where he goes 2 for 9, and he hasn't exactly been a shining star on defense either. Reality is that the raptors team we are watching right now is not the raptors team we are going to be watching next year or years after that. Colangelo has been running this team for just about 2 years now, it takes time to build a contender in the nba. Ultimately next year will be when we find out the true worth of Colangelo. He has a ton of expiring contracts that he can work with for trading and he has a starting caliber pg who he might have to move this summer. If one year from now the raptors are 35-35 then Colangelo hasn't done his job, but I don't envision that scenario happening.

[ro]

Shawn, did you not see Calderon score the last 5 pretty clutch points vs. Boston (i.e. the only game the Raps one against the Celtics?).

[Alex L]

Doug do you know where I could legally purchase classic Raptor games like that win against the Bulls?

Blogger's note: I don't, but if you check out the Raptor website and find a way to contact them, they'd be the only ones who could help. And if it's money maker, I bet they'll do it.

[Kevin]

Bosh may not be clutch now but will he be in another two to three years? I think people need to remember that the Raptors had nothing but Bosh a few years ago. BC retooled to win a weak division last year. Kapono, Moon and Delfino were upgrades but you really can't go from 0 to 100 in a season or two.
This doesn't mean the BC master plan is flawless, but perhaps a plan is in place.

[CatintheHat]

Doug...you are a topic of discussion.

http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=774461&start=0