It's the time of doom and gloom

Well, well, well. Wasn’t that something? Not sure what, but it was something.

Despicable? Passionless? Disappointing? Yeah, those words fit.

But here’s one to think about, and some may yell at me for pointing it out, but it is best not to get too high after big wins nor too low after bad losses.

I’m sure there were people singing praises on Thursday who were booing on Friday and the mood swings will unquestionable continue for the next 34 games. It’s what makes it so much fun to read comments and questions.

Here we go:

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Action: Team chemistry

Reaction: Is it good enough?

Now, I’m not suggesting these guys don’t like each other and there’s never been an issue of tempers flaring or fingers pointed (except for the night Chris Bosh killed Jamario Moon in Atlanta) but there just seems something amiss.

Try to remember the last time this team played with joy, with some obvious love for the game, looking like they were truly having fun out there.

There may be a minute or two during each game but consistently? Nope. And until they get that kind of all-for-one, one-for-all passion on a regular basis, there will be more nights like last night.

And that was no fun for anybody.

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So Super Son’s checking out the paper this morning and he’s looking at the NBA standings and he says:

 “The Raptors looking really sad down there second from the bottom.”

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Action: The refereeing

Reaction: Bad, but so what?

Yes, the crew of Monte McCutchen, Courtney Kirkland and Leroy Richardson did not distinguish themselves – inconsistency, odd calls, missed calls – but to suggest they had much to do with the outcome is to diminish the sadsack performance of the locals.

And while the call on Jermaine O’Neal for driving his knee into a Buck while trying to make a layup was particularly confusing, it really had no bearing on the outcome of the game. The Raptors were down 17 at time and unless they made the right call and made it a 14-shot foul, I don’t think a rally was in the cards.

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It was kind of refreshing to hear Jay after the game say he’d made a mistake by leaving Bargnani on the bench so long in the first half. Of course, it would have been far more refreshing if Jay had been talking about a career night by Bargnani, which he might have got had he played a few more first-half minutes.

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They weren’t exactly dancing in the streets in Milwaukee, but they were feeling pretty good, as this story indicates.

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Action: O’Neal’s ejection

Reaction: First time since …

Can you remember the last time a Raptor was tossed from a game?

I barely could. It was March of last year, in Utah, when T.J. Ford went berserk during a game in Salt Lake City.

Ah, the good old days.

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When good Chickens go bad

Check this out if you haven’t already seen it.

Best leprechaun story: M. Grange ™ ducks his head into an establishment in New Orleans during all-star weekend festivities a year ago and what’s he see? The leprechaun doing back flips off the stage into the crowd while the band belts out a Journey tune.

No, he was not in uniform.

The Chicken, I mean; not Mike.

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A point well made:

Q: This is probably an impossible question for you to answer, but has there ever been another case where a player got ejected on his own bobblehead night? I think the fans in attendance may have witnessed history.

Alex H, Toronto

A: Yes, it is impossible to check and I can’t remember one anecdotally but it is pretty cool to think the fans might have seen history. That’s about the only good thing they saw Friday night.

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Action: Two free throws

Reaction: A typical failing

With 7:37 left in the third quarter, Francisco Elson committed a foul that was Milwaukee’s fourth of the quarter.

Perfect time for the Raptors, down seven at the time, to pound the ball inside, get into the penalty and start living at the free throw line, right?

Wrong, Bonus Breath (A little Johnny Carson for the oldsters).

They shot precisely two foul shots the rest of the quarter, by Anthony Parker after he fouled on a fast break with 46.8 seconds left.

In that time, the play-by-play shows 22-foot jumper, 16-foot jumper, 13-foot pull up, a 16-foot jumper, a 21-foot jumper and three missed Bargnani layups.

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Action: Jose’s streak

Reaction: You knew it had to end

With all the stories and videos and chatter these past couple of weeks about Jose’s string of consecutive free throws, I’m surprised the streak lasted as long as it did.

Figures

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From the department of Beating A Dead Horse:

Q: Please tell us dedicated Raptor/NBA fans that there is SOMETHING we can do to speed up these so-called 'negotiations' regarding Rogers and TSN2. If you come across any unified front (petitions, protests, mass sign making project) please inform your readers. This has gone on long enough. If you're unaware of anything, please let me know and I am going to look into starting something. If Rogers is banking on the fact that most subscribers won't go out of their way to cancel their subscription, then maybe that's just what we'll need to do. To some people this is "just" basketball, but to a loyal fan this is like telling someone they can't order their favourite meal even though it's clearly available on the menu.

Stan C, Toronto

A: There’s nothing you can do except stop giving Rogers or Maple Leaf Sports your money (you don’t give it directly to TSN so I can’t include them in an economic boycott).

You, and tens of thousands of others, are being screwed by three giant companies that exist primarily to make money for themselves and any garbage they give you about customer service is just that: Garbage ‘cause when it counts, they disappear and go count their money.

Comments

[GM]

Sigh.

[Manale]

I'm pretty sure it was 'Morris Peterson statue night' a couple years back when The Nets were in town and Mo Pete got tossed for slapping Vince.
Can anybody else confirm or deny this?

Raptor tradition?

[D. Walker]

It seems like a lot of readers are frustrated by the Rogers situation but no one is doing anything to corect it. Posting comments will not solve the problem. The only thing that will do it is to switch suppliers. If 300-400 customers all cancelled Rogers in the same week this situation would be resolved in a heart beat. Get a group together and follow through as boh satellite groups do carry TSN2 and probably would love to have you as a customer.
Canadians, on a whole, are being held hostage by cable and satellite providers thanks to a protectionist law passed during the Trudeau years. Is this the only business that wants you to buy something that you don't want in order to get something that you do want? Even then it sometimes doesn't happen.

[Gusser]

In every game that I have seen JO play consistent minutes, he has outperformed Bosh, both defensively and offensively. He changes shots and takes charges.
Offensively, he gets position, makes up his mind, and takes his shot quickly early in the shot clock, taking up enough space to get his own rebound.
He sometimes doesn't show up on the stat sheet, but I think he changes more games than Bosh does. In my opinion anyway.

[Jeff]

Nice one but I watch every single Raptors game and havent missed one in the last two years, plus I have TSN2 so I can watch those as well. Some games Scott Skiles pulls Villa out of the game with only 12-15 minutes, you definately have to let someone play for more than twelve minutes to see if hes playing good that night. Villas last three games hes had 27, 26, and 28 points.... because hes starting and getting more minutes... In January hes been starting and has been averaging 20 and 7 with 30 minutes... Again, good minutes, good points and consistency. And please dont make assumptions about me being a part-time watcher of the Raptors, because I follow them and the rest of the league every single day. And I read Dougs blog everday as well, which is awesome by the way.

[Tim W.]

Jeff, I never said you were a part time Raptor fan. What I meant was that you mainly watch one team, so the most you watch a team like Milwaukee is four times a year. Do you really get enough of a sampling to be able to judge the team and each player? I really don't think so. Villanueva's problem has never been talent or consistent minutes or anything other than the fact that he doesn't often lacks focus on the court. That was his rap in college and it's the same in the pros. He'll put together a bunch of good games and then regress. It's amazing how similar Villanuava's game is to Bargnani's. Both are very skilled offensive players who are inconsistent scorers because they aren't very good at getting to the line. They also aren't great rebounders (Villanueva is a bit better), can score from the three point line and are very mobile for their size. They also both can disappear frequently, and for that reason, have had trouble getting consistent minutes.

I'm amazed that fans think that coaches don't seem to understand that a player needs minutes to perform. Of course coaches know that. What fans don't seem to understand is that a coach knows a lot better than most fans when to take a player out because he's not performing. He and his assistants know warning signs and other things to look for to see whether a player like Villanueva is going to be productive or mail it in. They're pretty good at that sort of thing, believe it or not.