Early morning after a bad night

The 4:15 a.m. wakeup call came awfully early out here today. Pardon the typos you’re going to see, I’m sure; it’s not like I’m all fresh as a daisy.

Oh, and it’s a San Antonio-Chicago-Toronto travel marathon, not sure when I’ll get to read comments and get ‘em up, but will do it as soon as I can.

See ya tomorrow.

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THREE THINGS I LEARNED

Troubling times indeed.

The question, in the wake of Saturday’s slaughter in Dallas, was how they would compete against the Spurs.

Hmm.

Not so good.

Yes, offensively they were fine but that’s the easy part of the game. It’s doing the, pardon the expression, grunt work that separates bad teams from even mediocre ones and the Raptors failed miserably in San Antonio.

Sixteen offensive rebounds surrendered? It was like volleyball at times on the glass and all it would have taken was a modicum of effort.

And it’s even more than just putting a body on someone.

Two cases”

Late in the first quarter, a shot goes up, it bounces twice in the lane before someone, I believe it was McDyess, calmly bends over and grabs it, with Raptors on three sides of him.

Third quarter, right in front of us. A shot goes up from the wing, long rebound bounces back towards the shooter and George Hill comes from the other side of the lane to beat everyone in a black uniform to the ball.

That’s just not trying hard enough.

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Fans are? Well, fans are …

A bit nuts.

This may not be what anyone wants to hear, and it’s certainly not what many of you thought, but you’re not supposed to win games, no matter who’s on the other team.

Never mind there was no Duncan and no Parker, those were NBA players out there in the Spurs uniform and anyone who expected Toronto to simply come out and win because they had all their guys is naïve to the Nth degree.

Doesn’t work that way, never has, never will.

Doesn’t necessarily make it easier to win, either. Different matchups with different guys cause more problems than the usual, expected ones, do. Toronto has never seen the kind of small, quick lineup the Spurs had out there and that, in part, led to San Antonio’s dominance on the glass.

No, the loss doesn’t hurt more because two guys didn’t play, that loss hurts because of the manner in which it was accomplished. Against legitimate NBA players.

Hill would be a key rotation player in Toronto, so would Bonner and Blair and Richardson, McDyess, Finley and maybe Bogans. Ginobili’s outstanding against any competition.

No, the Spurs didn’t have Duncan or Parker, but that’s a pretty good team they put on the floor. I can’t think of eight that are better than them in the East.

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Odd matchups

Richard Jefferson on Andrea Bargnani? Mike Finley on Chris Bosh?

Yeah, we saw some odd stuff in that game.

And it all added up to the most entertaining game of the season. By far.

No defence at either end, lots of great shots, good ball movement at times and a game in doubt until the final minute.

No, Toronto fans didn’t get the win they wanted but, tell me the truth, it was fun to watch at times, no?

And isn’t that why we watch sports? To see good entertainment and have a good time?

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And in other news:

Oh, that zany Chris Bosh.

We’re talking about rebounding and how it’s not all that hard, you find a guy, box him out, go look for the basketball.

And, of course, an aging grunt, more than half a century old and decades removed from the days of athletic ability, suggests it’s not all that hard.

Says Bosh, with what sounded like scorn:

“You don’t have to be talented to do that. You can do it.”

Tough to do carrying a defibrillator and a six-pack but if he says so …

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A quick and rather strange chat with Matt Bonner before the game last night, he was lying on the floor in the middle of the room working some kinks out of his back and stretching while a handful of us stood around asking him questions.

Great line on the TTC fare hike (“Will the old tokens still work, though? I have some left”) and, yes, he’s still quite interested in playing for Canada next summer.

But, as much as I like Matt – and he’s a great guy and a good player – that’s not enough, in my opinion.

If he’s going to go through with this thing, he’s got to give Canada Basketball a three-year commitment.

Look, the truth of the matter is that Canada is not going to compete for a world championship medal next summer whether they’ve got Matt or not; it’s got to be about getting some young players significant international experience at the highest level.

So the best thing he can do is commit to playing next year, at the Olympic qualifier in 2011, which is a huge tournament, and the 2012 London Games, if Canada gets there.

The national team program is on the right track, I truly believe that. But it can’t be about trying to grab one year of success at the expense of program development.

Having a guy like Bonner around will be a huge help; it’s just got to be for more than a one-off tournament.

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In San Antonio, here’s what they’ve written about that one last night.

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Oh yeah, the San Antonio guys were telling me the 131-124 final score was the highest scoring non-overtime game in the Gregg Popovich era.

And while I’m sure he’s glad they won, I’m also sure he was dying with every defensive lapse the Spurs made, and there were dozens.

As one of the Express-News guys said, if that game had been an important one in March, Pop’s head might have exploded. Last night, it was a good win for a stumbling team minus two of its best players.

But Pop wasn’t looking a gift win in the mouth.

“Wins are always enjoyable. If one can’t enjoy a win, that’s a real problem.”

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Know what this is like?

An eight-game road trip with one of the games in Toronto.

Seriously. Wake up in San Antonio, fly to the next city, have a night off. Get up, go to shootaround, do a game, get some sleep and get up early the next morning and fly to the next city.

Only change is I get to spend time with Super Wife, Son and Dog instead of some other grunts or Raptor types.

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Oh yeah, the floor.

With all the technology available to arena staff these days, it was odd to see about three dozen workers two hours before game walking up and down the AT&T Center floor stubbing their feet trying to dry up the oily substance that threatened the start of the game.

Reminded me of the two other times serious floor issues arose.

One, of course, was in St. John’s when they ended up canceling an exhibition and absolutely screwing the fans out there by reneging on an organizational promise to come back.

The other was the 1996 Naismith Cup in Calgary when water seeped up through cracks in the court and the game was delayed and almost called off. But because it was such a big deal as a Naismith Cup, they did everything they could to get it in.

Not sure what it is with these guys and courts but that’s a relatively large number of issues for one franchise.

Comments

[metal]

What is going on?!!You give up 131 to the spurs minus duncan and parker???Where is this alleged defenses?Turkos Defense on Jefferson was making Jefferson look 25 again. What is with Bosh taking the long-range jupmpshots down the stretch. THe D relaxes and gives him the 20 footer because they know hell miss. Why is it that they play inside to outside good basketball the who le game until the 4 th wquarter and start playing permimeter outside to inside attack and failÉ WHat is wrong with this team...it`s the same old storey...Bosh gets his 30 and 15 but cant hit shots for the life of him in the clutch. No DEFENSE! THis is the same old storey...no excusess.

[George]

What did you think of Sonny Weems performance last night? He brought a ton of energy, there were a couple of lapses, but he also drove to the bucket which seemed to many Raptors on the floor at the time. Do you think he's shown Jay enough to warrant some playing time or at least will dress every game instead of Banks?

Blogger's note: I would think so

[George]

Meant driving to the basket was a foreign concept to many Raptors at the time. Sorry!

[erc]

Good to see you telling it like it is. Lack of effort stinks -- last year, this year, any year.
Angst will build even more for Reggie Evan's return. If Reggie brought 20 ppg along with his rebounding and defensive skills, it would be cause for rejoicing. He won't.
Evans is a good, tough journeyman. By himself, he will not cure the Raptors lack of rebounding and/or heart. Will he inspire the kind of effort required from his teammates?
Time will tell. Team toughness, like team defense, doesn't fall upon the shoulders of just one player. Evans biggest value isn't intimidating other teams. Good hard-nosed basketball players aren't that easily intimidated. I remember Rasho giving Evans a well-deserved whack upside the head .
Reggie's biggest value is -- can he inspire/scare enough teammates into putting out the effort required to win what their talent dictates? Jermaine was no shrinking violet -- a very tough guy. One tough player won't do it.
Reggie will not be the cavalry. Let's just hope he can inspire the rest to man up and mount up. This is not a great basketball team but they are better than their current level of effort allows them to be.

[Michel G]

I guess the Raptors are what they are. A good offensive team but soft defensively. It doesn't matter what sport you play, there is only one thing you can control - the amount of effort you put in. Unfortunately, it was sorely lacking last night. Good luck to the coaching staff, they have a considerable task changing the identity of this team.

All that said, they're my team and I'll cheer for them as usual against the Bulls.

[coachd]

Hi Doug,
A couple of observations. First, I don't plan on either getting too up or too down with each Raptor win or loss, because I think that it might well be into next season that this group of players really get to know each other and play the kind of defense it takes to be successful in the NBA. Having said that, I really did the get feeling while watching last night's game that this team may be assuming the Joey Graham approach to basketball. Some nights we'll see "good joey" and other nights "bad joey". I just hope it's more "good joey" than "bad Joey". Second, I hope that Triano and his staff don't panic and stay the course with the defensive philosophy they're trying to employ. I've heard several times in post-game interviews, reporters ask Triano if he was planning on changing. To his credit, the answer has been "No." every time, but how long do you think this will last?

[Joachim T]

Doug,

I guess you are correct to say you can never assume guaranteed wins because the other team is missing its 2 best players but that was pathetic. If the Raptors can't beat a San Antonio team who uncharacteristically played no defense and didn't have their 2 best players, this team has no chance of getting out of the 1st round of the playoffs if they make it there. Yes, you can say its one game but this is the Raptors' forte so to speak for the last 3 seasons or so. Lose against other teams who are severely short handed or are missing their best players. It happened against Orlando who didn't have Carter, Lewis, and Pietrus and somehow the Raptors let Anderson and Reddick to destroy them. It's not a matter of other guys stepping up for the other team but rather its about the Raptors allowing their guys to have ridiculous games.

On a separate note, I don't really understand Jay's rotation of "defense" when the Raptors are losing. Sure, you want to prevent the other team from scoring so the Raptors get a chance to catch up but at the same time, it has not worked thus far this season (going with a defensive lineup when the Raptors are down and trying to catch up especially in the 4th Q). Why not just have Bellinelli in for Wright to give the Raps another legit offensive option? The other teams always cheat so much on Wright and end up double teaming or providing some help defense against Bosh and/or Turk.

[Andrew23]

In the paragraph where u mention the Spurs good players u called Richard Jefferson, Richardson. U made a great point about matchups, that is what the NBA is all about. However, the Raptors need to make adjustments. I think at their next practice, they should work on rebounding 4 the first 30 minutes.

[Jean-Marie]

Another night when hustle and rebounds don’t come this way. Why? Who is to blame? Let’s see.

As usual, after the game Bosh says the right things, speaking as if he wasn’t on the court. Again, his teammates doesn’t want it enough. So, it’s not Bosh. And it’s not Calderon either; he’s the perfect guy from Spain, and cannot be blamed anyway. DeMar? He’s just a rookie, such a nice boy, it can’t be him! Jarrett Jack and Wright: such strong defenders, who dare deny this? And, for all the penetrations in the paint, there must be someone not helping up there.
So what? Maybe just another bad night for Bargnani? If DeJuan Blair catches the rebound, if Manu Ginobili walks all the way to the rim, it can’t be anyone else, there must be on Bargs. This is the fashion of the moment: we all know how he is soft and inconsistent!
But…

Can a single player (not named Iverson) be so noxious? If we kick Bargnani out of the door tomorrow, will this team be a powerhouse? Are there, maybe, other reasons if the Raptors defend like the Knicks? Was the “Marion for Turkoglu” switch a right one? Being the players what they are, is the teaching staff working well?

91, 115, 125, 99, 90, 128 and 131 points allowed so far: it’s hard to see the trend changing.

[jimt]

Seriously what a waste of offensive firepower,this team would be perfect for Dantoni.It will be a true Circus show when the raps and Knickers shoot the lights out in Madison Sq Grdns I will go on a whim and predict the final score to be NY185-TOR176 in regulation.haha.On another note the refs acted as though there was a pre game buffet set up for them in the spurs locker room complete with Bat soup,raptor burgers and an original TTC Gold Whistle with instructions to use to the tune of 35-22 a 13 foul diff.Ive heard of home court advantage but this was beyond puzzling and if i was the raps id ask for the nba to review this.As for the solution to some of the raptors defensive woes three words come to mind REGGIE,REGGIE,REGGIE!!!

[Mark L]

I think if the Raptors were minus Calderon and Chris Bosh, it's probably 90-10 that they would lose.

[Jack]

Wasn't Iavaroni hired to be the defensive coordinator? The way he taught defense in Phoenix and Memphis? Jeez, what's their points against average, 115? That's defense.

[Paul]

I disagree that these are troubling times. Everyone had to know that defense would suffer early this season, but they're still picking up some wins with their offense despite the tough schedule. If they can escape November with a .500 record, they'll only improve.

[Wilber]

Does the infamous Fire Guy incident count as a floor issue? Or is that just a poor entertainment choice?

Blogger's note: Good one, but I chalk it up to silly entertainment gone awry

[oliveira]

Have to disagree with you on whether this was a game that they should've won. yes, the SA newspaper did mention that the spurs were short-handed. So, TP and Duncan do make a difference and are startes, not to mention all stars.

If the Raps had played better defence and did a better job rebounding, then we would've easily won this game. another win in a tough schedule would be a huge bonus.

[Logan]

The 'blow-byes' are getting really obvious and are killing our defense. The rebounding effort is often quite poor. It doesn't really matter how much you can score if you can't stop anyone. I hope Reggie Evans will help when he comes back, but how do you improve the on-the-ball defense?

[Baya]

Have you ever seen that a guy scores 36 and only 4 as a two point shot, as Manu did last night - 14 free throws and 6 threez?

[Matt M]

So much for the sound bites about 'stepping up the defensive intensity' we heard all training camp. I guess we'll have to hear another day of Raps fans whining that Calderon is a sieve and Jack should be starting. The Raps have the personnel to play winning basketball and they proved it against Detroit, Cleveland, and New Orleans. The collective defensive intensity (and chemistry) was apparent in those games at least. They need to find a way to bring it consistently. Maybe this game will serve as a wake up call. We can only hope.

[Rudi]

Doug,

From where you stand do you think they'll learn to defend better? Or is it an exercise in futility with this group of players? They don't seem to get better from game to game, quite the contrary ......

Blogger's note: Considering that they have , at times in the whopping seven games they've played so far, defended well, there is anecdotal evidence that they can.

[Kelsie]

'No, Toronto fans didn’t get the win they wanted but, tell me the truth, it was fun to watch at times, no?

And isn’t that why we watch sports? To see good entertainment and have a good time?'

While that might be the 'truth' Doug, it's also a painful truth that this is the type of team and basketball played that BC tends to put together. High scoring entertaining basketball that keep fans happy (generally), attendance up, profitability maintained, but doesn't produce a contender (outside of that Nash, D'Antoni led Phoenix team, and this Rap's team is not that Phx team).

Where is the 'house' defensive theory? Not only are teams hitting their outside shots, they are getting into the lane with ease. The help scheme is ensuring that teams are selecting the method on which they can score on us and right now it's driving at will and hitting open shots. The pick and roll defence is non-existent and the question on everyone's minds is how do they improve this? Internally? From what we've seen this year so far and what we've seen in the past how can anyone conceivably expect drastic improvements even over 82 games?

Jay said there is no problem with the system so the problem lies with the players, no? When are we going to employ some players that realize that stoppping your opponent can work as well as scoring, in getting wins?

I don't believe it's just the players at fault. I think the players are not committed to playing sound defence, and the system is not suited for these type of players we have. We are supposed to let them shoot from outside and protect the paint but they don't protect the paint and the shots they are taking from outside are open rhythym shots. How did Manu get so many clean looks in the 2nd half? Help defence is not helping anyone right now and these strategies and theories are useless if they can't be executed.

I don't disagree that high scoring basketball is 'fun and entertaining' but losses are not, and when you play defence like that you are going to lose more than you win. It's not that fun as a fan to know that we won't be able to make stops or get boards when they are needed, which are usually the small things that the good teams do to win and they bad teams fail to do to ensure losses.

[Ted S]

"And isn’t that why we watch sports? To see good entertainment and have a good time? "

Yes, we love to be entertained....but personally I prefer winning....and dare I say: win Championships (a word rarely mentioned in Toronto anymore). The fans want this team to get better. A handful of games in, nobody is panicking. Go deep into the play-offs - that would be something. Without defence and rebounding, I feel like we are annually setting ourselves up for disappointment. Is it: entertainment, escape, or delusion that keeps us coming back? I want to witness history. But being a Toronto Raptor fan seems to imply expecting anything else beyond entertainment value is unrealistic......Last night was frustrating. After reading the blog I figure the Raptors have been teaching us a 15 year lesson: if you want to be a happy Raptor fan, lower your expectations and enjoy the entertainment.

[Mike Kovacs]

The shoe was reversed years ago when HHSNBN went down early but the Raps pulled together and won the game. Many times the cornered wounded animal is the one to be most feared. That still doesn't excuse the Raps terrible defense!

[Wade T.]

Sorry Doug, but Tony Parker and Tim Duncan not being on the floor does make this loss worse because the Raptors didn't show the intensity of a team looking to make the playoffs. Maybe sports reporters like to overanalyze things they're maybe a little to close to keep in perspective.

Chris Bosh said it himself; they gave the Spurs hope by allowing so many early points. Players the caliber of Parker and Duncan can fight through bad starts and tough defense, that's what makes them special players. The Raptors played the same game that they always do, which was the problem.

A team looking to make the playoffs and win 50-games shows a hunger for victory and smells blood when they can. Being impressed by anybody in a NBA jersey is inexcusable. This team should've come out last night sensing blood in the water.

That's why I've never been impressed by Chris Bosh, last night the Raptors had the two most talented players on the floor (Hedo T and CB4) but were out-hustled and muscled by the Matt Bonner's of the world. If Bosh were serious about winning, his team would've been scared of the consequences of losing, which is why he's not a max money player. You said it yourself they were out-boarded; let's not pretend Chris Bosh isn't a part of that problem.

[Andrew Holland]

Doug, I am not taking anything away from a victory for the spurs and a bad performance defensivly by the Raptors, but these refs, I don't know if its cause its a canadian team or it is because the Raptors don't have enough high profile players, but the raptors never get the calls other teams do. I remember one play when bosh went up for a defensive rebound and he was tossed to the floor (no call) the spurs got the ball back and scored, (many other examples). Your thoughts on officiating this season?

Blogger's note: Getting more attention because of the lockout but has been about the same; maybe games are called a bit more closely. And I guarantee you that if you spoke to Gregg Popovich or any Spur they'd have as many complaints about last night as the Raptors

[chris]

Doug - Agree about the different lineup/matchups....very hard for the team to be prepared. Still, the raptors are way too dependent on whether their shots drop to win......doesn't seem like they do anything else well (defense, boarding, overall hustle, easy baskets in transition, etc etc)

How is Ginobili a future hall of famer? You said it in your chat last night.

Blogger's note: The guy has won, what? An NBA title, an Olympic medal, a world championships silver? That's enough credentials for the Hall of Fame. Remember, it's the Basketball Hall of Fame not NBA Hall of Fame