The Goods On The Game, Vol. 27, The Revenge of Bonner?

Hello, kiddies. Everyone here? Doubt it, actually. Surely on the Saturday before Christmas some of you have lives. Hope you at least get this in the morning, I'd hate to think I'm doing it for nothing.
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One thing that's going to take some getting used to: Matt Bonner, Starting NBA Centre.
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They're getting a lot of use out of those "alternate" black jerseys, aren't they?
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If Matt Bonner's guarding Chris Bosh, as he is now, there's no reason in the world that every play -- at least every other play -- should be for Bosh in the post.
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Kapono makes a three and I don't hear J Killa from the broadcast crew.
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Roger Mason Jr. is a good guy and I'm very glad he's getting a good run with a good team. It was just a matter of him maturing and finding the right fit. Toronto, sadly, didn't have time to wait for him to develop.
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Did you see how far off Moon they just played to give him that three-pointer? It was about 15 feet. He waited, faked, waited, fired and missed. And I bet the Spurs play even further off him the next time.
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Matt Bonner commits a foul. Raises his arms in bewilderment. Only saw that about a billion times when he was here. It was his second personal and his night's going to be limited, I fear.
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The Raptors do seem to have more energy tonight. But we've seen energetic first quarters disappear quickly, haven't we?
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Raptors 15, Spurs 11 with six minutes left.
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Another good defensive possession leads to a rushed Duncan shot with about two seconds left on the clock and, as you'd expect, the Spurs get an offensive rebound. Argh.
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I remember the day Tony Parker came to Toronto for his pre-draft workout. He was with Jamaal Tinsley and someone I can't remember and Parker couldn't work out because he had a bad ankle. Too bad. Who knows what might have happened.
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Anyone else notice the Raptors are getting hammered on the boards again? I think the Spurs have four offensive rebounds already. Oh oh. Disaster lurks.
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Did you see Manu on that drive by Bosh a few minute ago? Didn't try to flop. Shocking.
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Roko Ukic doesn't have a problem trying to get to the rim, does he? Trouble is, he usually goes only when the shot clock's under six.
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Andrea just absolutely lost Kurt Thomas on a Spurs miss. Didn't turn around to find him, didn't jump to get the rebound.
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Raptors 25, Spurs 20 after one.
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Hmm, Raptors play well for a first quarter and lead. Wonder how this one turns out?
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Jake  Voskuhl? And I missed the debut? Darn it. A moment in history I have to witness on TV. Interesting that he's in and Hump can't get any burn? Know what they tell me about Voskuhl? He's not afraid to hit somebody in the head. Which makes him stand out on this team, doesn't it?
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The Voskuhl basket? Another moment in history.
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Parker comes back and I can't believe Jose didn't follow him right to the table.
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Joey, two shots, two airballs. There've been better nights.
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You can put Kurt Thomas on the list of good, under-rated veterans who'd help any team they're on.
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Extended rest for Bosh and Calderon. It's a gamble but  the game isn't getting out of control. Most 'caus the Spurs are shooting about 30 per cent.
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Gamble's over, at least for Calderon.
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That's an awful lot of shots, three, for Voskuhl. Not sure if that's the greatest of things.
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Matt Bonner with an offensive rebound. Wonder if that's his career high. (I kid)
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Go figure, Raptors trail 'cause they can't get an offensive board.
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Spurs 38, Raptors 33 with 6 1-2 until halftime.
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Bonner has his second offensive rebound, pure hustle. Finds Mason, he hits a three. This is really getting tiring, isn't it?
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Will Solomon at this point (five left in the second quarter and the game getting out of hand) for Jose makes me wonder what's wrong with Jose. I'll see if I can find out.
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And I can guarantee you Solomon taking a three that early in his stint will not endear him to his coaches, or his teammates.
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Jose's got an upset stomach, I'm told. Unsure about a return.
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Moon with the headband? Not sure about that look, to tell you the truth.
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Of the 21 Spurs three-pointers already tonight, how many do you think could be considered uncontested? I'd say half just off the top of my head. The rotations are slow, and in the odd case non-existent.
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Ooops.Will just sort of lost track of Tony Parker, who made 'em look foolish with a backdoor cut. I think the scouting report probably said something like, "watch out for back door cuts from Parker, we'd rather he shoot jumpers than get layups."
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See that Ginobili three with a minute to go? That's what I'm talking about with horrible rotation. Moon was about two seconds too late, which is an eternity.
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Toronto only had an eight-point lead in that half, it's not like they're blowing a double-digit lead or anything.
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Spurs 56, Raptors 48 at the half.
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You know, the world was a much worse place before they invented two-bite brownies, wasn't it?
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How many of you out there with RaptorsTV switched over to watch some of the Jazz-Bulls and were late getting back to this gem of a game.
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Tim Duncan's probably made a billion 15- or 20-foot jump shots in his career. I'm pretty sure the Raptors know this. Why they don't get up on him is a mystery. The one he hit early in the third as his third of the game.
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Moon, a three. Virtually unguarded. Think the Spurs are happy he's taking them?
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Know what the best thing about tomorrow is? No game. Monday at 10:30 on TSN2, though? Bet that's a rating giant. And I i'm still trying to figure out what I'll do. Cooper's? I can see that happening.
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If the Raptors were playing even passable defence for the last quarter and a half, this might be an entertianing game. They aren't, it isn't.
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Jermaine O'Neal's been working ref Derrick Stafford for about four minutes and just got a call on an Ducan hook for an offensive foul. Coincidence? Probably.
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San Antonio 68, Toronto 60 with about six minutes to go in the quarter.
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I'm a little bit surprised it's taken this long to get Joey in the game this half.
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Oh yeah, the San Antonio Chicken is a Coyote and it's the sickest looking thing you can imagine. Looks emaciated.
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Hmm, there was just a play where the Raptors had numbers on a break, Kapono was trailing, Jose went away from him and got the ball to Joey who dribbled right at Tim Duncan and his jumper blocked. That's just bad decision making all over the place.
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Jose looks sick, doesn't he. Better get some Maalox or Pepto Bismol or something. Or some time off.
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I've got to think O'Neal's done for the night with that shoulder. The grimace when he's on the bench being treated sort of gave that away.
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You've got to give them a little credit, they are hanging around.
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Spurs have made 12 threes at this point, the most a team has ever made in a game against Toronto is 17. You have to think that record's in jeopardy.
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Spurs 84, Raptors 73 at three.
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I take it back about O'Neal, he's back in the game and I'm wondering if that's wise.
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Sick or not, Jose's still in there and with a day off tomorrow, I'd leave him until the one's either won or lost.
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Manu doesn't look all that much like Manu, does he? Not as frenetic as usual, not handling the ball as much. Guess it's taking him longer than anyone thought to get over that ankle issue.
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I believe this one is over, folks. A 14-point Spurs lead with about 10 left? No way they come back from this one.
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Manu's got the same hair thing going on that Sam had, the little bald patch on the top. But I'm thinkng maybe Sam's is growing back now that he's living the life of leisure.
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I'm not sure if Pop looks like a thin Santa Claus or a healthy homeless guy.
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I don't know how many times Bosh has been in the post on Bonner but it hasn't been enough.
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San Antonio 96, Raptors 85 with 6 minutes to go.
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They are still playing hard, aren't they? I guess if you're looking for good signs, that's about all you get out of tonight at this moment.
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Bosh just passed up a jumper to feed Joey in the post. That might have been one of his better offensive decisions in a while.
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Kurt Thomas just whacked Bosh on the left hand and I can't imagine anyone not feeling pain when Thomas hits you.
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Six point game with just over two minutes left? Didn't see this coming, did you?
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Tim Duncan shoots banked jump shots better than anyone I've seen in 15 years watching NBA games on the beat. It is a lost art. And one that's really, really cool to watch.
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Down eight, two minutes to go, a timeout. A Kapono hook shot? Surely that's not what they came up with, was it? Maybe that's exactly the time JK's gotta take a pull up jumper.
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Bosh takes his obligatory three-pointer, which was a desperation shot, pure and simple. It's over.
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Short story: They played well and hard but not well enough and not hard enough. Do you want to hear "We saw some good signs tonight" or do you want to hear "I don't give a hoot about good signs, we lost and that sucks and Monday is an absolute must-win?" Me? The latter.
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See ya Monday from somewhere I presume.
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San Antonio 107, Toronto 97.

Comments

[Adam]

Should I be watching this game with the expectation of losing?? I remember when I use to watch tough games with optimism.

[Saad R]

Sigh... let's see what the Raps can do tonight.

Not entirely optimistic about them beating the Spurs tonight, but checking out the blog periodically is all I'm going to do instead of watching the whole game...

[eni]

Doug,
check out the leaves, 7-2 with 10 min left in the third, in pittsburgh!

[Jamie]

Will Soloman is awful

Blogger's note: Yeah, but how's Will Solomon?

[kevin]

maybe getting killed on the boards once again will slap colangelo to move someone. maybe we can sign sam micthell as a player to get some boards??? I expect something after xmas tho - trade bargs, parker and moon... just hope its not for another euro-princess...

[Jamie]

My apologies on the Solomon typo. It's 02.40 where i am, and i'm exhausted. I've no idea why i put myself through this...

Blogger's note: 2:40???? Neither do I. But thanks for being here.

[CARLoS M.]

what's with Bonner swaggering out there? you think he thinks he's better off since his Raptor days? I sure do.

I'd like to see Voskuhl take somebody's head off. Maybe Soloman ;)

Blogger's note: As long as he leaves Solomon alone, sure.

[Greg]

It's getting to be a tiring refrain of the Raptors constantly getting out-hustled. It's almost like the team collectively decided that "we're not good enough so what's the use in trying." The Raptors need someone on this team that they would be afraid of facing if they gave anything less than their best effort.

Blogger's note: You win the prize, by the way. This is the 10,000th posted comment since we started this little thing.

[Adam Houghton]

I just pray this slump doesn't make us take on a terrible contract like Maggette or GWall.....now if we were to get another max (or near max) player that also happens to be expiring and fills our need for defense and slashing out of a wing....

I can't imagine how BC spins Parker, Humphries, Graham and a 1st into Marion and makes Riley buy it, but I can dream, can't I???

[Rob]

Thanks for the work Doug, makes all these depressing losses somewhat entertaining.

[Adam Houghton]

Can we sign Charles Oakley?? He can probably still out rebound our entire team; no way he'd put up with this lack of hustle in the locker room; and since Mitchell left, the post game has been very boring (something Oakley fixes immediately as well)

[DW]

Watching the FSN feed for San Anto, the analysts are really picking apart the raps saying there's no way they should have more than 10 losses with JO, Bosh and Calderon. First time I think I've heard a US take on high Raptor expectations.

3am here, worth sticking around for the rest of the game?

Blogger's note: Heck, no. Get some sleep

[Adam Houghton]

Bosh has missed both free throws in a possession, in the 2nd half in 3 straight games now...he use to be absolute money from the line down the stretch

[Jamie]

As big a fan of Bargnani as i am (I lived in Toronto during his rookie year), I can't help but feel that a move away would do him good. He has zero confidence, and that's only going to get worse on this team.

[Rob]

I think the NBA should give Tim Duncan an award for being able to play so many years without ever actually committing a personal foul. I know you love him Doug but when all you ever see on TV is him whining and his incredulous body language it makes me and many others totally dislike him. Keep up the good work on the blog.

[Jesse Neary]

Spoke too too soon. I guess we can add 4th quarter to list of things we're doing wrong. My bad.

[Jesse Neary]

battling...love it..good sign...still need to make a move

[Adam Houghton]

At least the Raps aren't dying easy...they are battling and that's something that has been missing of late

[WildAce]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_NBA_Draft

All I have to say is WOW. Can't believe Grunwald had a really big brain fart that draft with Bradley. Quite a few role players came after:
*Zach Randolph (minus the attitude, he's a BEAST)
*Brendan Haywood (half decent center if at a reasonable price)
*Gerald Wallace (no we should not trade for him)
*Sam Dalembert (overpaid for his talents, kinda whiner)
*Tony Parker (how many championships has he won? and he's started each playoff game)
*Trenton Hassel (a good role player if the contract is right, he will hussle & play D, just ask Cuban)
*Gilbert Arenas (the biggest mouth in the NBA, for an all-start he needs stronger knees)
*Mehmet Okur (sold rotation guy in Utah, we coulda had him a long time ago if we wanted to)

Raps fans: I wonder how many of those players you wished you had today.

Blogger's note: Wow, you're really going back in history, aren't you? I can't even imagine why this is coming up now but thanks.

[Peter Moptiy]

Better effort tonight but still not a playoff team. Need to make some serious trades

[hao]

yo bryan, why did u dealt matt bonner. Look at him now. He plays very well with spurs.

[Joe T.]

Thanks again, Doug. I actually had this game on in the background for about a quarter before I decided it was a better read than viewing experience. Question: Back in the pre-blog days, would you have watched these games (especially last night's Thunder storm) all the way to the end? Or, since you didn't have to write a game story, would you have changed the channel and read about it in the morning?...

Blogger's note: Ah, I would have watched. It's part of the job, you've got to stay up on stuff, no matter how ugly it gets.

[WildAce]

The 2001 draft topic came up because tonight's game featured the best "sleeper" of the draft: Tony Parker

[Sal L.]

Hey Doug,

I've gotten into the habit of reading your goods on the game after the games are over. It's much better than... you know... actually having to watch the game. I don't get that empty feeling of wasting 2-3 hours of my life (Ref: Last night against Oklahoma City).

Great job!

Am I the only one thinking they're going to go 0-6 on this road trip?

[Casey]

Doug, people are reading, keep up the good work. I'm finding it easier on my blood presure to read your recaps then to watch the games these days and with a couple of parties to attend to tonight I think I made the right choice again. Here's an early Merry Christmas to you and yours!