Some of this and some of that

That was some weak road trip, no?

I know their heart of hearts they figured a split would be the worst they’d get out of the jaunt to Charlotte and Boston and while the two losses hurt, the manner in which they were achieved hurts even more.

There is lots and lots of work to do, there is no doubt about that.

Anyhow …

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THREE THINGS I LEARNED

Pretty obvious, isn’t it?

I don’t imagine there’s a sane-thinking person in the world who isn’t (a) disgusted or (b) embarrassed or (c) shocked that no one – NO ONE – even bothered to take a menacing step towards Paul Pierce after he kneed Chris Bosh in the groin and then took a second to stand over him and taunt after dunking on him in the fourth quarter last night.

I guess I should add (d) surprised to that list because it’s been a flaw with this team for eons, that lack of toughness.

Now, I’m not advocating fighting or something ridiculous like that but some finger-pointing, yelling, gesturing or just letting him know that kind of punk move is unacceptable would have been in order.

It was Rasho, Turkolgu, Jose and Jack who were on the floor at the time of the play and one of them should have done something and that was pointed out in just about every story after the game.

What I want to see is if all this talk is cheap or not. This kind of thing will happen again, I’m sure, because teams know they can get away with it and I’m wondering just how these guys will react when it does.

Will they cower? Or actually do something to stand up for a teammate?

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A new twist on a pre-game meal

So Antoine Wright’s irked that some of his teammates are eating popcorn and goofing around in the locker room before games when they should, you know, being getting ready to play.

Not sure exactly who he’s talking about because he wouldn’t names with his public criticism – if I had a guess, judging by the story and who spoke how, he was taking aim at DeRozan – and maybe it actually worked.

The game turned out bad – although losing to Boston at home is a rather predictable result – but the Raptors did play with far more verve and energy in the opening half than they had in Charlotte.

Wright’s seems to have become some of the conscience of this team and it’s good that someone’s speaking up. Now, if he was just a tad more productive in the actual playing of the game department, I bet everyone would be a little bit happier.

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The true troubling sign

Yes, defence was an issue in the Charlotte game but one of the more pressing issues of the last two games to me is the lack of offensive production.

Sounds strange, but it’s true. Never mind the 103 points in Boston, the game was lost when they couldn’t score for almost seven minutes of the third quarter, that’s when it got away.

And, believe you me, if this team can’t score, it can’t win. No way, no how.

Some of it had to do with Boston’s defence – at times there were three guys guarding Bosh, one on his back, two creeping in from the sides – and the Raptors were unable to get the ball swinging side to side, which is when they are their most effective.

That’s got a lot to do with the wings not moving it quickly or decisively because the longer they hold it, the more time it gives defence to get into the passing lanes and there were times when everyone looked entirely befuddled.

Unless they clean that up – and I’m sure they will at times because they have scored with regularity against all kinds of defences – they’re in for some tough times.

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And in the other news

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Luckily, to get the taste of that Raptors-Celtics game out of my mouth (and while not totally distasteful, it certainly wasn’t entertaining), a run though the dial found the Thunder-Bucks gamse.

And I will say this again: I really like that Oklahoma City team.

I have no idea how they will eventually pay and keep Durant, Green, Westbrook and Harden but, right now, they are indeed fun to watch.

My early pick for coach of the year was Scott Brooks and I believe I mentioned Jeff Green as a favourite for most improved player and, mark my words, when the Thunders get to the playoffs, I could very well be right.

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What did the folks get to read this morning in Boston? Glad you asked. How about in Arizona? Glad you asked, again.

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Don’t forget, tomorrow’s a mail day and while I’ve got plenty now, guess there’s always room for more.

But, please, no questions like: “Why do they suck? Can they trade this guy or that guy? How about Iverson? When is Reggie coming back?”

Thanks.

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In case you care, I have no idea who’ll win the big gridiron game tomorrow night but I sure hope it’s Saskatchewan.

Two reasons:

Perhaps the best football game I’ve ever covered was the ’89 Grey Cup at the SkyDome when the Riders beat the Tiger-Cats and I’ve had an affinity for Saskatchewan ever since. The passion of the fans knows now bounds, it’s a true community team that provides a huge boost to civic pride.

And, they’ve got fans who wear watermelons on their heads, for goodness sake. They carve out the innards of watermelons and PUT THEM ON THEIR HEADS!

How can you not love a team that has fans that use gutted out fruit as headwear?

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It’ll be nice to get back to a practice today and get some real work done and the first question has to be:

Whither Andrea?

I don’t know if he’s banged up or sick or what but 24 minutes last night and 27 in Charlotte are far below his usual average of about 33 going into the road trip. And they need him to play – and to score – if they’re ever going to have a legitimate chance to win.

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Comments

[niagarahoops]

Doug,
Your assessment of last night's game was dead on! Especially the reaction or non-reaction of the other players to Paul Pierce. Even Bosh himself cowered a bit.
But you gotta respect jay triano going after him (along with the other coaches).And this is where you cannot underestimate the impact that Reggie Evans will have on this team once he starts playing. No one wants to start talking about trades yet, but if the raptors want to win in the playoffs, they need more toughness in addition to a change in their attitude regarding their defense.
As much as we hope that the Raptors will change, there are certain part of the game that players have or don't have so if Reggie alone is not enough to impact the overall defense and toughness of the other guys on the team, then BC is going to have to start pulling the trigger on some trades or this team is going to lose badly in the first round of the playoffs.

[erc]

They got punked, but at least it was the Boston Celtics not the Charlotte Bobcats, for crying out loud.
A little more energy, a little more with it -- just no answer at all when Boston turned up the defensive pressure.
Hope NO ONE expects the return of Reggie to cure all this team's toughness issues. Again, they had a tough guy on last year's team. O'Neal took charges, invited contact and wasn't shy about letting other teams know he wouldn't tolerate the kind of nonsense Pierce brought.
Reggie is tough, just not extremely skilled. He won't garner huge minutes and shouldn't. Not that it matters. Toughness isn't transferable. Other players either rally round Reggie and bring some combativeness of their own -- or they remain soft. Any opponent can tell the difference after a few minutes of play.
Sorry Doug. Finger pointing won't affect the Celtics. Someone needed to give poser-boy a good hard shove. Then the ball's in his court. He will not likely start a fight, considering the tough anti-fighting rules brought on by the old Rudy T. incident.
You do not have to fight the Boston Celtics, but you have to be WILLING to fight them -- and not just one player. This is part of what it takes to win (see the team in green). Tim Duncan or Kobe aren't brawlers but they will not be pushed around.
The Raps will either toughen up and try --or go into a tail spin like last year. Reggie is only a very small part of the resolution if they choose to be a competitive team on a nightly basis.

[Tiger]

A quick and probably stupid question.
No turnovers are good, but are the players not told how to limit the worst kind of turnovers?
So many of the Raps' turnovers lead to breakaway dunks or unstoppable fastbreaks. Turnovers have nothing to do with lack of defensive effort, but they sure as heck are demoralizing and eventually erode will and effort.
And it is all so sloppy and needless: lazy telegraphed passes, desperate blind passes, passes where the recipient can't shield it from the defender.
In football, it is so cliché for the QB to throw the ball where only your guy can get it, or throw it away, or eat the ball.
In basketball, should not the player think about letting himself get tied up, or throwing low percentage passes that have a better chance of going out of bounds than of being intercepted, or calling timeout, or even travelling? Anything to get a whistle to allow the defense to set up rather than easy buckets the other way?

[John]

Good Morning

Guess it's ok for other team's to abuse Chris and basically laugh about it (I know the talking heads were getting a great kick out of it). Chris is a very rich/bright young man and I'm sure sooner then later he will want to change that. Hopefully some team in the second half is in need of his talents and will give Toronto something in return. If not Toronto is going to have a whole lot of cap room in the spring.

They were going to lose the game anyway, so getting ejected really would not have mattered. I remember a night Matt Bonner stood up for the team and the fans really appreciated it.

[Matt M]

I was hoping that Andrea minutes are a message from Triano along the lines of 'If you ain't gonna be focused defensively no matter the circumstances, you ain't gonna play". I'm know there are five other players who need the same message. Sure they need Bargnani's offense on the floor, but they need him to turn his mindset to defense first if this team is going to have any success. I know it isn't only Bargnani and when your team defense is this bad everyone gets a share of the responsibility, from the president/gm all the way to the individual occupying the 15th roster spot (the cheerleaders are exempt in my opinion, they are doing an upstanding job). Nothing is going to help this team if the starters don't start to get it together, except maybe the offseason overhaul that will be necessary when it's best player joins Lebron and Wade in Miami.

[Mason]

This might be one for the mailbag, but it's about defence: do the Raps ever employ a zone defence in certain situations? I can't recall seeing one this season and I don't think Devlin has ever mentioned it.
Thanks

[Peter D]

Doug,
Embarrassing to say the least.
Defense is all is all we hear about every year from this organization.
Yet we have a soft 7' in Bargnani who doesn't attack the offensive boards and is constantly missing assignments along with Calderon on the defense.
I admire the organization for starting Derozan but that experiment has come and gone,You need to start with Wright establish his defense on the opposing teams best forward and work from their.
Waiting for Reggie is not the answer.
And Jay has over a year now under his belt and should start holding these characters responsible for their assignments on the court.
If they continue to srew up BENCH THEM.

[fritz]

I see the Nets lost again last night,(0-16) and wondered if upcoming teams facing them will be looking forward to the game. I expect not so much as no one will want to be the first to lose to a team that bad. The Nets go against the Lakers and Mavs next and they should lose but after that its 5-6 games against teams with losing records. Do you think a team like the Raps would want to face them now or wait till they've won a game?

[doug]

as far as the Thunder go i remember people commenting on here last year when we lost to them and people saying their the lowly thunder how could we lose to such a bad team...back then i said there not a bad team, watch out for them...there talented, have a good balance between offence and defence..plus Durant is not only a skilled player but very classy, mature..focussed...also a key move they made in the off-season was signing Mo Cheeks as a assistant....hellava move...

interesting Sixers may sign A.I....now to me its the most logical move of all I have heard or situations he has been in with the Pistons, and Grizz...he can dominate the ball with the Sixers as they need that, thats there major weakness, plus the Sixers attendance is terrible...I really think its the best fit for all involved...

never saw incident on Pierce dunk..was in the kitchen makin a sandwich and gettin a beer....sometimes in those situations a event occurs so fast that it catches teammates off-guard...as their was no previous animosity in the game or tension where you could see a incident occurring...I'd remember it for the next time we played though.....

plus i am surprised you never mentioned our 3rd quarter blues...Jay coaching is supect and the players are trying to do things that just aren't there...in the pacers game we were up by 20 or whatever at half..an then Bosh tried to dominate the ball in the 3rd quarter it took all the team out of the flow, but Jay let him play the whole quarter moreorless...where it was obvious he needed to be sat down halfway through...then last night at one point we were bein outscored 28-10 or something an Jay never went to his bench fast enough, to stem the tide, change-up combos , match-ups..it was obvous again the plyers were out of sync and Jay never reacted...we don't lose games in the 1st half, or 4th quarter we lose them in the 3rd....Jay and the playes need to recognize this..

[jc]

turklu was in the bench when bosh got kneed.

[mw]

Charles Oakley words seem truer by the day. " You are going no where with a 7ft centre shooting threes all day" as well as " you can't put 5 shooters on the floor at the same time".

Changes are needed.

[Gene O]

Just a comment on Chris Bosh.Compared to most of the other top scorers ( Lebron, Kobe, Melo, Dirk.etc...)I believe he has to work harder to get his points and this might affect his defensive intensity at times.When playing for team USA ,he did not have the pressure to be a scorer and played excellent defense, according to coach K.

[Josh]

Playoffs? You're talking playoffs?!?

But seriously though, I don't believe the raps will make it to the playoffs. Bosh will fit nicely in Miami with Wade next year.

[bfesti]

Eacvh of the last two years - once with Zac Randolph and in another case (I didn't think I'd need to catalogue them), Bosh got gooned and that was the end of his season as well as the Raptors.
This team is a collection of nice players - look nice, handle nice, shoot nice - and not a single player that an opponent fears going in against.
Rupaul?? Maybe Rupaulette.

[Lee]

As far as the Reggie Evans toughness factor is concerned (see a lot of people mentioning it today), I doubt he would have did much after the Pierce dunk last night.

Right after CB got dunked on, Jalen Rose 'tweeted' "OMG the Celts Paul Pierce just dunked on the Raps Chis (sic) Bosh....whewwwww---NASTY!"

Reggie's reply, while watching the game himself?

"@jalenrose lol."

Hope Raptors fans aren't expecting a Mike Tyson-like rage when he's on the court.

[Darko]

I stopped watching the tape of Boston game last night right after
that dunk by Pierce. Still pissed off big time from Charlotte.
Said it last year and will say it again here. Chris will have to stand
up for himself first, if it means taking few games suspension so be it.
If he did it last year, we wouldn't be having this talk now. Just as
pathetic was non-reaction from other 11 guys. Oak, Oak where
have you gonne man. In my 10 year old son's house league hockey,
on his team anyway, you mess with one of them you are messing
with all of them. And God forbid you even think of touching their goalie.
Or, just a thought, is chemistry on this team realy as good as we
are led to believe.

[sara]

The way we are using Bargnani in last 4-5 games makes me wonder about the real team chemistry. How many time have we seen Calderon completely ignoring him even when he gets hot? Anybody knows that Andrea must be involved in our offence to produce also on defence and get into rythm, but is quite difficult when you get the first touch after 10 minutes or even a full quarter...
I don't know which is the problem between Bargnani and Calderon and how Triano can solve it but in any case it is insane that guys like Wright ,Jack , Derozan , with all due respect,get more touches than our second best scorer.

[Marc. A]

Hey Doug,
I constantly post about our lack of creativity and defense starting at the 1 spot.
I also stand firm when I say that DeRozan was the worst pick for the raptors this year. He is immature, passive and frankly not a starting 2 in this league. I admire the willingness of Triano to play him with the starting unit but he hasn't earned keeping that spot with what he has shown us. I would have loved to see Brandon Jennings on this team or at least someone impactful. Selecting Bargnani 1st overall which i'm sure had a lot to do with Maurizio being here was a mistake. How can you pass up guys like B-Roy or Lamarcus? Does Bryan not know the formula for winning?? It is called PG! This game has become a haven for point guards. Frankly, Jose is soft and unathletic. Jose is efficient but does not create opprtunities for his teammates. Wow Jose, great high screen and roll.....never seen that before!! Sorry for the sarcasm but I am annoyed with what could have been. Love the blog Doug, love your honesty too!
Keep writing and i'll keep reading.

Marc. A

[Wade Tomlin]

Too me the reaction of the Toronto Raptors to Chris Bosh getting bowled over speaks more to his teammates view of him then anything. If they liked him or respectted what he could do for them, they would've stood up for him. Remember, there is a reason why no one said anything about Shaq's RuPaul comment.

I don't sense the other Raptors have much respect for Bosh's abilities as a go to franchise type guy. Can't say I blame them, it's up to Bosh at this stage of his career to stand up for himself. If he doesn't what business does he or anyone have putting the onus on other players to defend him? Isn't Bosh a grown man playing in his fifth NBA season.

Bosh is becomming very Vince Carter like. A spoiled player who thinks he's owed things that he just hasn't earned. Want your teammates respect Bosh? Stop worrying about Twitter accounts and YouTube videos and start hitting game winning shots and bring it on the defensive end like a legit NBA Power Forward should.

I think Pierce's dunk symbolizes the Chris Bosh era in Toronto. Easily run over.

[Steph]

Doug, I had suggested that during the pre-season the Raptors should be putting their defensive systems into practice (pre-season games) so they could see wether they were effective or not. I know your not a fan of showing what your going system will look like but would you re-think that notion now? Because it's too late to try a different system now, it would be like a coaching change at this point.

[Don]

Doug, Andrea is getting bashed in the chat rooms today and I think it is a little ridiculous. He only had 6 shots last night! Jose basically ignored him for the first 6 minutes of the game. He is a weapon and they have to get him involved

[Rob.v]

This team needs a dose of Reggie Evans in the worst way.

I'm certain I am just as upset as the next Raptor fan however in fairness to "some" of the players... not all of them may have seen the knee on Bosh. It didnt look like a knee during the live play.

Having said this, the current squad are nice young boys... the C's are men! Until this changes, they will be at the top of the Eastern Conference and we will be life and death to make 8th. As much as you could say the team didnt defend Bosh... he didnt really defend himself either!!. Paul Pierce is not Shaq, Bosh should have been up in his face as well. I'm the biggest Bosh fan there is... wish I could have been on the floor to do something about it!!! It really offended me watching that last night. I was offended personally... and I'm not even part of the team, I'm just a fan.

I dont know how the players could let that slide. The cavalier approach to that play is absolutely SHOCKING!!!! Maybe they need some of us season seat holders to sit with the team when they go on the road. I'm not suggesting the brawl at The Palace... but then again, maybe I am!!! SOME type of response would have been nice.

I was all for the changes Colangelo made in the off season however let's not kid ourselves, he sees what's going on with this team as well. It's why some of us on this blog were not all "pie in the sky" over the win against Indy. Even if the record was 10-7... there are MAJOR concerns with this team.

As mentioned previously in this blog, they get a pass on the first 20 games for the simple fact that Reggie hasnt played.

Having siad this, if the team doesnt pick it up on the defensive end by the 40 game mark one of Bosh, Bargnani, or Calderon will be packing their bags!! This team has GOOD role players this year and as we all know, Colangelo is not shy about pulling the trigger!!!

[Craig]

Hey Doug - just wanted to debate your point about Jeff Green and most improved player. I really can't see someone winning MIP when their points per game, FG% and rebounds had decreased from the year before.

Maybe he can settle for the "Doug is Paying More Attention To Me" award instead

Blogger's note: If that's true in April, you'll have a valid point

[Kelsie]

Bosh shouldn't have to defend himself in that situation cause he's nursing his groin, but it was a basketball play and it happens.

The lack of running thir sets properly and some dribble penetration from the guards was awful in the third. Celt's defend and we don't play defence at this point so we need to score efficiently and we went into a drought.

They still have no one that can create off the dribble consistently and break down defences regardless of how good the Celtics are.

[Jerry]

Chris Bosh needs to play better defense. Maybe he should have concentrated on that last summer instead of the bulking up. He has the ability to be as good as Kevin Garnett. If he does not step it up on defense he will remain an all star , which is pretty good but he needs to take that next step.