Sometimes, you get what you deserve

I think it’s pretty easy to figure out what happened on Sunday afternoon:

The better team won.

And, you know, sometimes that happens.

THREE THINGS I LEARNED

DeRozan’s struggling mightily

We all knew there would be times when the kid would look a bit overwhelmed and out of place during games this year but, seriously, I don’t think anyone expected it to be this often, this early.

The numbers are mostly awful: A point, a rebound and four fouls n 17 minutes yesterday; seven and seven against Miami on Friday is okay but two points and no rebounds in Utah is bad, the 17 points in Denver’s a fraud because most of them came in garbage time and he was invisible with six and two in Phoenix and a non-factor against the Clippers.

But more than the numbers, it’s the “other” stuff he’s not getting done.

There’s very little energy, his defence is lax and while there seems to be effort there, it looks wasted at time. All those little things, like running, rebounding, setting good screens, aren’t happening often enough.

I don’t think it’s time to make any drastic changes or anything – I wouldn’t even think about altering anything until at least 20 games into a season – but they need him to work harder and be better.

-

Little things, again

It’s an age-old problem with this team and it popped up again Sunday at a crucial time.

They are somehow creeping back into the game, down six and the momentum seems to be going their way. Dwight Howard, who turns into some Jose Calderon free-throw shooting clone when he gets to Toronto, is at the line with about 1:47 left. The Raptors get the two misses they need but somehow don’t box out Rashard Lewis, who comes along the baseline and grabs the rebound of the second miss.

They run some more time off the clock, Howard’s fouled again, goes 1-for-2 at the line and down seven with 1:20 left is too much to overcome.

Pure hustle, purely a missed defensive assignment, purely a blown chance to make a late rally.

Seems they have one of those mental glitches at precisely the worst time more often than not.

-

Don’t score, can’t win.

This is a perfect example for anyone to hold up that says stats don’t tell the whole story.

If you look at the boxscore, Toronto did pretty much exactly what he wanted to do: Hold the Magic to less than 42 per cent shooting, defend the three-point line (Orlando’s 9-for-32), force Carter to take 24 shots to get 24 points and hold their own on the boards.

So, how’d they lose?

They didn’t score enough. Mostly because the Magic played great defence when it mattered most; they did a delightful job in shading Chris Bosh with Howard on his back that made it next to impossible to get the ball inside and that’s where a lot of Toronto’s swing-swing offence begins.

And the Raptors, usually one of the most powerful offensive teams in the NBA, couldn’t get the ball movement they needed in any other set.

Chalk that one up to great defence because, as we’ve seen, the Raptors generally can score on anyone.

Again, it comes down to this:

The better team won.

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And in other news:

-

The tribute was understated and I still say it’s silly to be celebrating 15 years – mostly of mediocrity – but it was nice that someone remembered Brendan Malone because I presume a lot of fans in the arena had no idea of his contribution way back in ’95.

Stan Van Gundy did:

“I did hear them mention Brendan as the first coach and I think that’s great because I was in the league as an assistant and that’s the best job I’ve ever seen anybody do coaching an expansion team. I knew his reputation, but that first year I knew how good he was. That team competed every night and other than Damon Stoudamire, they didn’t have a whole lot and they were in there all the time.”

Now, the next time a head coach disses one of his assistants will be the first, of course, but Stan didn’t probably have to go over the top like that.

Nice that he did, though, and everything he said was the truth.

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Speaking of the truth, here’s Brian’s take on yesterday’s affair.

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So, as I’m lounging last night – you take your rest where you can get it – caught some of the Suns romp over Detroit on TV.

And lo and behold, there’s Good Old Sam doing the NBA-TV show.

I say again, he should be on TV more often because he’s a natural.

I haven’t spoken to the young fella in a while, I presume we’ll catch up this week, but I’ve heard from shared acquaintances that he’s doing fine, got a lot of business deals in the works in Atlanta and the surrounding area and he’s quite content.

I do know he’d like to coach again and I still say he will. I think now, with the passage of time, he may have to come back as an assistant before landing a head-coaching gig but I remain steadfast in the belief that he’ll coach again.

And he should.

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Big, big night, isn’t it? And, no, not because Vesa-mania is sweeping the nation after a glorious weekend win.

Nope, it’s the finale of DWTS and I’ll probably be cheering openly for my gal Kelly.

Remember: Vote early, vote often.

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More good Stan quotage, passed on by My Man Perk:

“I think it’s just become a tradition now. Half the people probably don’t know why they’re booing him. I’m going to say half the people booing never saw him play here and don’t have any idea why. It’s just a tradition. He think it’s funny; we thinks it’s funny. It’s really irrelevant.”

Of course, he’s referring to HWSNBN.

Comments

[Bill Wong]

One play yesterday really caught my attention: CB faked his defender to jump and try to block his shot and he jumps into the defender to draw a foul and a chance for two free throws. Isn't this how the game should be played (i.e. Kobe, Reggie Miller, etc.)? We almost never see that happen with our other players. Every time AB got his defender to leave his feet he would drive around him for a shot (as if this is soccer!). I am not saying an open look for AB is a bad thing, but wouldn't getting a foul on an opponent be more valuable, in terms of getting more free throws, getting into the penalty situation earlier in the quarter and just to boost team spirit?

[anthony.mackay]

Doug,
How would you rate Jose's play during the first few weeks, do you think he can play much better or is currently playing near his peek? I ask because with 2 healthy hammies I expected him to be driving like crazy for easy layups or easy pass/lobs. With all the attention Bosh gets shouldn't he be driving more, we got enough shooters on the floor to keep the D spaced out.

This is just a rough patch, we are better then a .500 team!

[The J]

My thoughts on a few points:

*What Vince did before he left (quitting on the team, feigning or exaggerating injuries, "Dunking is overrated", and demanding a trade when he had brought his stock to as low as it could go) was completely unnacceptable. Yes time has passed but should we be expected forget? Plus we are there to have fun and booing him is fun for most fans. Unfortunately we have a team that does not necessarily rally around our passion, otherwise the whole "he plays better when you boo" would be mitigated by "the Raps play better when you boo a hated opponent". SVG's comment shows ignorance of the subject. That or he is another typical star player appologist.
*To me the game could have been won if a few more players knocked down the open shots they had. Guys like Jose, Turk, and even Jack missed a lot of open opportunities. Bury a few of those and we win.
*I like the idea of starting Belinelli or Wright and playing DeRozan off the bench. But I do say they should increase his minutes. Right now he has a lot of pressure as a starter, but not a lot of opportunity because of the minutes. Make the switch and reduce the pressure and increase the opportunity.
*Finally, I loved what Brendan Malone did for us that first year. I am still surprised he never was made a Head Coach in the league again. To me Sam is better suited for an assistant role, but Brendan Malone deserves a head coaching job.

[Patrick]

People like Wince make it hard for regular people to watch professional sports. He is everything that is wrong in professional sports, and Raptors fans witnessed it first hand. That is why we boo him. That is why we will continue to boo him. He deserves to be derided and booed in every arena he plays in.

[Jim K]

Doug! Illegal screen on Garnett maybe? Didn't know refs allowed you to push somebody if you don't get into position early enough to set the screen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVmhn6LLzHw&feature=player_embedded

If that was Andrea, all three refs would have blown their whistle.

[Andre]

Chris is right... Derozen is still young, very coachable, and is doing his best... give him some time... Ill say this: Live by the outside shot, DIE by the outside shot... GO to the rim.. dang

[InsideHoops.com]

Is DeRozan a slightly better Gerald Green?

[Matt]

In my opinion, a player only playing 17 minutes in the game, is a very small part of the reason, the Raps struggle on defensive. More assessment on the players who actually play most of the game and give up big scoring night in, night out (starting PG), would due more justice in describing the state of Raptors defense.

[T I]

How could you not boo vince carter. In fact, I think it's a slap in the face from Van Gundy to suggest half of us don't even know why we are booing him. As if our city doesn't have a real basketball audience type of comment. Vince gets booed because he deserves to. He will always be booed by the real fans.

[Mike]

The Raptors have a lot of fire power but need to start putting up more 3's to stay in the game. Btw: it's time to forgive VC and move on...www.sinpaid.com

[Wallace]

"The better team won."

Thank you for saying it. You spend a great deal of time in post game scrums. Instead of a variation on the following themes:

We need to come out with more intensity.
We need to play 48 minutes.
We need to close out on shooters.
We need to play better help defense.
We need to rebound the basketball better.
We need go to the basket more and not settle.
We need to close out on teams and not let them back in the game.

Wouldn't you love to hear just once:

Their players are better than ours.
They have a better team.
They have better coaches.
We're trying the best we can.

Just once...maybe?

[sump]

The Raptors are too soft. We need some toughness and can people stop saying because Reggie Evans is out we are losing. Bosh/Bargs/Hedo/Jose ... THESE GUYS NEED TO BECOME A LITTLE TOUGHER. Bargnani is playing tag on the floor and Hedo prances around. Jose can't play a lick of defense. Somewhere out there Smitch is having a field day. -MO SHATS

[Darko]

While I agree that Orlando was simply better team, we did not help
our cause in the way we defended that high screen, where our bigs
were showing so soft that wasn't even funny. On the other end
Orlando's bigs did much , much better job with their hard show
where they were literaly bumping our ball handlers every time.
No wonder Jose said that our offence has to be more fluid. Took
us 15 sec's on average just to start it.
Derozan is not doing anything that was not expected out of rook.
He'll make his share of mistakes, like leaking on that stiff JJ.
I guess he missed that class during rookie orientation where they
taught how it's somewhat hard to score on a breakway if the opponent
still has the ball.
Bill: before you slam people for booing Vince, let me ask you how
many times did you pay $ 200- for one ticket only to get half ass
effort from Vince, providing he even played that night and was
not "injured". Never mind how he left Toronto.
Kelsie: glad you point out that bball is business. I don't know what
business you are in, but in mine if I do what Vince did I can only
wish all my clients do to me is boo.

[DougG]

The Raptors appear to be somewhere between a Miami or Chicago and Orlando, on the skill and depth chart. I guess that means we might have aspirations to win one round of the playoffs. My impression was we were shooting a little higher than that, this year, so we don't lose Bosh. It looks like the GM needs to find an extra bump up, unless mediocrity is acceptable. Listening to his recent interviews my guess is, it is not.
.
As for Carter, I was at the game yesterday and my sense is he is not about to be forgiven any time soon. Although there were a few occasions when it seemed like the passion to boo just wasn't there. The real reason I think he is hated, is not for wanting to get out of Toronto (although I don't understand why anyone should cheer for that), it was the manner in which he did it. He took our best asset (himself) and reduced it's value. That is why we essentially got no value for him. That trade set the Raptors back by years. I see no reason why Van Gundy feels a need to downplay that fact, other than to reinforce the arrogant attitude toward Toronto and Canada that many perceive to be a common trait among americans observers of basketball. Now that he has Carter on his team I'm sure that it is no sweat off his brow that Toronto got nothing for him

[Aisen]

hi Doug
since you've been an nba writer for more than 10 years, have you noticed any trends in rookie developments?
Did you have any critique on t-mac or carter or any other notable rookies after their first 12 games? or was it clear from day one that they were going to be exceptional nba players.
thanks

Blogger's note: No, no real trends. I knew Carter would be great in his first month; no one had any idea that McGrady would turn out to be what he's become in his first year; knew from the minute I saw him that Araujo would be a project at best. But a trend? Nah, not really

[J E M]

Jose Manuel: Come back home. You are a nice guy and a good player. Yo don't need to take so much crap after every game.You are world champion and Olympic silver. You are already shown you are good. Come back home. You will get a nice contract and the respect you deserve. These guys can always sign TJ again and complain later . It will be funny to watch

[erc]

SVG thinks booing Vince is 'funny' and ' irrelevant'. Good for Stan. VC is one of the key pieces to a Magic team he hopes will take this season's title. Right or wrong -- a wise coach backs his players, particularly the gifted ones.
Of course anyone with half a brain knows that Toronto fans don't boo Vince to be 'relevant' and if VC thinks thousands of people directing very real ill will his way is 'funny', he is as soft in the head as he is on the court.
Vince Carter threw games when he was in Toronto. He became a parody of himself while still collecting a huge paycheck. If his situation in TO was that unbearable he should have aired his views of Babcock, the Raps,the City, the fans -- whatever was causing his great desire to move somewhere else, BUT he should have kept giving his best on the court.
He signed a huge contract that gave him mega-dollars and long-term stability. When he quit and kept collecting the money it was a sick joke on his team, his fellow players and any poor schmuck who invested time and money in watching a Raptors' team that VC was supposed to lead.
Players who purposely stopped playing well in order to collect money from bets have been banned for life -- college kids earning a lot less than VC did.
Carter shouldn't be booed. He should be banned. He was tanking every bit as much as any run-of-the-mill fixer. His motives were slightly different. His actions the same.
Anyone who thinks he should be 'honored' would be happy to see Chuck Gandill enshrined in the baseball HOF. The only difference is, Chuck KNEW he was being crooked. Vince, apparently, doesn't.

Blogger's note: Pretty bold statement. Please enlighten us with undisputed, concrete proof of one game he "threw." Not opinion, not unproven speculation, not urban myth. One game where he knowingly went out of his way to ensure his team lost. One game. Proof. If not, as Jack says, get that garbage out of here.

[Mike kovacs]

Doug there is one good thing today - no more home games against HWSNBN until ( maybe ) the playoffs! The lack of Blogger's Comments today says it all! Nothing new today!

[Dave]

Here is a quote from Carter in Orlando paper after victory.

" I enjoy playing in that atmosphere and I enjoy coming back here and just being part of this," he said.

If he enjoys it, why keep booing him ??

Why does he enjoy it??

Cause it motivates him.

When are T.O faqns going to figure this out ??

Try booing him when he shoots and misses...try SOMETHING else !!

[Kelsie]

Kelsie: glad you point out that bball is business. I don't know what business you are in, but in mine if I do what Vince did I can only wish all my clients do to me is boo.

Darko, I'm in the 'grow up and man up' business.

What I am saying is that he is a player. A commodity that has been traded from the team almost 5 years ago. You can boo him fine but Vince is no longer a part of this team and either are the players and picks he was traded for. All i'm saying is let's just focus on the team we have and stop worrying about Carter. No one likes how he exited as it was unprofessional but it happened and who cares about it anymore. I'm not saying you have to cheer him but we always get so jilted when players don't want to be here. Do you even remotely think this happens in other NBA cities when players who dogged it and were traded get booed everytime they touch the ball?

Stop being so emotional about the past, and focus on the future. Did he hurt you emotionally or scar you from loving another? As talented as I think he is and can be at times, I'm glad he's no longer on the team.

[Don M]

Overall defensive play by Bosh, Calderon, Bargs and Hedo is not good enough for starters who get most of the teams minutes. Could we not package these four in some combination for Blake Griffin, Brook Lopez and Devin Harris?

[bill]

Darko: I would never spend $200 on a ticket for a basketball game. And nor should you, especially after you knew what type of effort you were going to get from Vince. Clearly you have money but no sense.

By the way, my uncle is a Nigerian business man, please give me your bank details so I can transfer millions of dollars to you.

[Aditya]

sam mitchell as an assistant ....never gonna happen...mark my words....he will be a head coach before he becomes an assistant

[Fan]

Doug, don’t tell fans how to be fans. We pay for our tickets, and if MLSE does not throw you out of the arena then you are able to boo any player you want. I really don’t care if I annoy an old grunt with thunder sticks, booing, or yelling during the game from behind said grunt.

This is what Toronto and its fan do. Many arenas have their own fickle fans and idiosyncrasies. Leave us with ours. Beside, just how would you know how a fan should react, your not one.

[paddy]

OH MAN. i really thought that as a group of mature, intelligent "fans" of the NBA and the RAPTORS that we would bury this silly vince carter thing. wow. MEN/WOMEN, i grew up with the three-peat beat of the pistons. do i give a slit about what some players or other players did?????? who played on that team????? you can defend your purchase of a high priced basketball seat at the ACC to BOO some guy. good on you. it takes all types for this beautiful world we live in to go around and around. me? unbelievably crazy/bizarre/backfire/ignorant/ignoranttosports/don't watch other sports/ and i could go on. how come no one who defends the BOOING defends the GM at the time?????