There's this and there's that about a really good game

Great game, no?

I know there’s nothing like a moral victory in the big leagues but that one had to feel good. What they did, they did well; they were one shot away from stealing a pretty big win.

Oh, seriously, don’t get used to this stuff getting posted so early, this time zone crap is still really messing with an old guy’s body and mind.

-

THREE THINGS I LEARNED

What else could you want?

I am certain – and it’s mainly because I’ve had an e-mail or two on it already – that there are those out there who take exception to the offence they ran in the final 38 seconds of that game.

Let me ask you this:

When Turkoglu took the three, and when he took the shot at the buzzer, did anyone think there was a better idea? The three was an open look on an obvious two-for-one situation that went about halfway down and back out. The two came off a switch, was a relatively uncontested 20-footers and when it left his hand, it looked good.

The only thing I might have done differently was run high screen and roll rather than some action on the side so there’d be a better chance at penetration and a drive-and-kick but if they end up with two good looks by Turkoglu in the last 30 seconds of one-point games the rest of the season, I’m sure they’d be quite happy with that.

-

A little teaching time

I imagine none of you see this because the lights aren’t on and the broadcast hasn’t started but about 90 minutes before each game, assistant coach Eric Hughes and DeMar DeRozan sit down for a little tutorial that I finally got around to asking about.

It’s either on the bench or in the seats but they sit there with a laptop for about 10 or 20 minutes deep in conversation.

Because I’m an astute observer of things, I figure they’re not watching GruntTV (although who could blame them if they are) and I ask Eric about it last night.

Seems what they’re watching is video of DeMar from the previous game, going over what he did right, and what he did wrong.

With some many people offering so much advice to a 20-year-old rookie, the staff figures if he gets some quiet time before a game going over what happened the last time out and what he can correct, it’s going to do more to stay fresh in his mind when that night’s action gets under way.

It’s a good teaching tool, and a smart thing to do. Make fresh in his mind the mistakes he might have made so he doesn’t repeat them.

Small thing but, perhaps, with big dividends.

-

Give the coach credit

The one thing that’s stood out over the last three games has been the willingness of Jay to make changes mid-stream and the willingness of the players to accept those alterations.

Chicago? They switched the coverage on Derrick Rose and won in the second half.

Clippers? They doubled Kaman and then didn’t and entirely befuddled Los Angeles in the second half.

Phoenix? They switch everything to stay in contact with shooters, leaving guys like Jose to guard Stoudemire on the block until help comes but the aggressive double-team works well most of the time.

What that means to me is twofold:

It shows Jay’s not adverse to changing things up depending on the strengths of the opponents.

But, perhaps more important, the fact that all of the moves worked to a large degree now means the players will feel comfortable the next time he says, ‘hey, we’re going to do this tonight.’

Having tangible evidence that changes in strategy will pay off is a huge boost for a coach in the minds of his players and buys him a lot of goodwill.

-

And in the rest of the news:

-

A guy fighting a stupid head cold wanders across the street from his luxuriously appointed hotel to find some sort of drug store or pharmacy and there’s Fry’s. Perfect.

Find the pharmacy part of the store and the Tylenol display and notice that it’s a bit odd that you’d have to take a piece of paper up to the desk to get a bottle of cold remedy but what the heck, when in Rome …

Gets weirder from there, though.

Mr. Pharmacist asks for a driver’s licence and drops off a form where you have to fill in name, address, date of birth and everything except next of kin before he’ll sell you some stinking cold medicine.

A huge pain in the derriere.

And the cold’s still there.

-

Oh yeah, I held the sunny and warm crap over you in L.A. and Phoenix so I should mention it snowed in Denver on Sunday and there’s a high of 40 F expected today.

GruntTV’s outside shots are, I believe, over.

-

My buddy Paul Coro sums up the game this way.

-

Seeing John Shumate before the game was pretty cool, he’s one of the few Day 1ers still actively involved in the game.

And it struck me that if they are into “recognizing” people from the past 15 years, why not do him when Phoenix comes to town in a couple of weeks.

After all, he was on a pretty good staff of a team that over-achieved in a 21-win expansion season.

Can we make this happen? Dredge up a Notre Dame highlight or two; maybe an assistant coaching moment? Let’s get it done.

-

By every quantifiable or anecdotal measure, there is no way in the world Channing Frye equals Shaquille O’Neal, right?

Then why is he such a good fit in Phoenix when the sure-fire Hall of Famer wasn’t?

Horses for courses, is how you explain it.

Frye’s a big who can shoot – not quite as good consistently as the 6-for-8 night he had from beyond the arc on Sunday – and on any team with Steve Nash orchestrating things, bigs who can shoot are a must.

Frye’s not necessarily a good inside presence (watching him stumble and bumble his way out of double-teams proved that) but he’s going to make the Suns far more dangerous on offence this year than Shaq did a year ago.

-

Remember how, on opening night, we gave props to Marcus Banks for a 26-second stint in which he played good defence, worked hard and did what he was asked to in an instance when a lot of players would have coasted through the one possession they were going to play that night?

Well, Sonny Weems did that for 8:26 against the Suns.

And he deserves some credit.

He didn’t mess up defensively, made the only two shots he took and, just what you want from a guy who knows he’s going to be buried on the bench for almost every game, he was ready when he was called on.

That’s impressive because a lot of guys would have tried to do too much or made some kind of impression in another way. All Sonny did was his job. Sounds like an easy task, right? Well, lots of guys don’t.

-

The schedule for today? Glad you asked.

After a night in Phoenix (and I can highly, highly recommend the Half Moon sports bar out by Camelback), it’s practice this morning here, a late-day flight to Denver and, hopefully, a nice quiet night of dinner and, perchance, a cocktail.

But there’s no indication of when, or if, there’ll be wireless access before so if the posting of comments is tardy, there’s not much I can do.

See ya from the Mile High City.

Comments

[Nick]

Turk's shot was half decent. No need to question that. I would definitely question Jose's D (again), and Jack's support. Nash should have not gotten that 'and1' at the end. Just give him the lay up if you got beat, no need to foul him WEAK like that. As for Jack... I only saw one good play of him all night - the drive and kick to the corner for Beli 3. He should be looking to create those kinds of play all the time. He definitely shouldn't be jacking up threes.

[Gary Mugford]

Doug,

Ask Shumate about the game that ended UCLA's 88-game win streak. I watched the game on an old black and white 10-incher while holding the antennae just right to catch the Rochester broadcast. Course, when Clay hit the corner jumper, I lost the signal completely. If nothing else, ask which was worse, the dino getups the Raptors wore or the Shamrock tops the Irish donned that day.

NBA question: Any other teams in the league where the switch-everything defence works as well as it did last night? I thought Calderon might have had his best game on defence last night, but not every squad has a big man with as lousy a set of passing skills as soon-to-be-maxed out Stoudemire.

Blogger's note: That's why they'll use it judiciously.

[Bob Wesley]

Hey Doug,Will the cocktails taste stronger in the Mile high City?

Blogger's note: Hope so. :)

[Juan]

Doug
Thoroughly enjoyable game last night. Do you think it represents in any way a key milestone for the season so far in terms of giving the guys confidence? It looked to me like they had much more jump and quickness to their team D as well (which I think comes when you're mentally more certain of what you're supposed to be doing).

[Mark L]

Doug,

Thoughts on Jackson trade? I think it's a bad gamble. Jackson wanted to go to a contender. I wouldn't consider charlotte anywhere close. Do you think Raja Bell will now opt for surgery?

Blogger's note: No clue. Trade's a gamble on Charlotte's part because of the long-term money issues

[Kelsie]

Also wanted to add that midway through the second quarter I thought to myself that it's much better to watch players that have some skill level and can contribute in this league than the type of basketabll we saw last year with marginal role players playing big minutes for this team. Raps are far deeper this year and are employing some skilled hungry players (no intended disrespect to Solomon and Ukic, just fact).

What happens when Reggie is able to play again? Triano will have a hard time deciding if he should sit Amir down as he has been energy central the past few games. Tough question to answer but how do you think Reggie gets worked into the rotation upon his return and who loses minutes because of it?

Blogger's note: I think it'll ease the load on all the bigs, as much Bosh and Bargnani as anyone, by having another capable player to throw in the mix

[Andrew Gregg]

Hi Doug:

Down by one with :13 and they opt for a 20 foot jump shot by Hedo. I can see the wisdom in riding your hot horse to victory, but I'm with Jack Armstrong, who was virtually yelling into the mic all game to get the ball into Bosh. With Bosh going to the line more than anyone else in the NBA, I would say the chance of him either getting a layup or shooting foul shots would trump taking the jumper.

But that's just me and I have trouble coaching 7 year olds.

I have a question though--I've read a few times that Calderon can jump out of the gym in practice and I've seen him in warmups go straight up and throw down a reverse slam. If he did that at the ACC in a game the place would explode--so why doesn't he? Or maybe I've misunderstood and he's limited by gravity as much as the rest of us are.

AG, Toronto

Blogger's note: "Jump out of the gym?" Not so much, no

[Yama F]

I don't want to sound like the Leafs fans, but I'm pretty impressed of the record the Raptors have. Besides the other team, to me it seems like they also have to overcome sub-par officiating. (I don't want to call it one sided because that would be wrong). Perfect example is the two phantom calls on Amare's and Nash's last shots. That "and 1" gave the Suns 2 points. Kind of makes a difference when it's a close game.

[Zoran]

Nash wasn't fouled on last play. It was clear that Stoudemire pushed Calderon from behind toward Nash. I don't know how nobody didn't comment that crucial call. It was classic home town discount.

[Jordan]

Does Jay tell Bellinelli to go out there and shoot? Is he purposely trying to mold Bellinelli into Toronto's JR Smith or Nate Robinson, or is the coach getting increasingly frustrated at Bellinelli's frequent, possibly ill-advised (and off-balance), three point shooting? (for the record, I think what bellinelli is doing is great)

Blogger's note: Ah, he just wants him to play; and if he's got a shot, take it

[DougG]

Doug, I was under the impression that almost all the Raptor games would be televised this year. Did I get that wrong?

Blogger's note: No, all 82 are on TV

[David]

Hey Doug! I have three questions for you so you may want to wait for the mailbag but here goes:

1. Preseason Triano emphasized more transition baskets where the rebounder pushes up the floor and doesn't wait for a guard to come back to the ball. I remember watching this in early games but lately I seem to be seeing a lot of coming back to the ball rather than it being pushed up by someone other than the point. Has this been a modification in the offence or are old habits creeping back?

2. This past years draft was documented as "weak" or less than stellar by many. Raps had 7th pick. I appreciate it is still early but it seems that DeRozan appears to be a pretty good pick up considering the quality of the draft. How does he seem to be measuring up compared to other rookies this year. (and/or years past) I know...its early.

3. Ten Million hit on your blog, fantastic. Although I don't write as much, I still follow you daily. Can you put 10 million in perspective for me? How does that compare to other blogs at the star? I know were not the pucks, but I think that number must enhance your credibility with the corporate bigs.

Thanks for being good enough that the Star will continue to subsidize your total season coverage. It wouldn't be the same without your insight and ...humour.

Blogger's note: Yeah, this has got to go to mailbag; no room or time to answer here

[MC B-Rad]

so you and grange have differing opinions on the possible return of The Legend...interesting...could this result in a coming to blows??

[Steph]

Did the game, one of the best the Raptors have played in a while have any impact on the number of hits the blog got?

Blogger's note: No, not really; marginally above average but no huge spike

[Darko]

My 2 cents to Andrew and few more re: last shot to be taken
by Bosh. Phoenix had Grant Hill sitting in the paint all night
(if it went any longer they'd charge him rent for it) being help
defender on Bosh. What amazed me was that he got called
only once for def. 3 sec's and when they did he immidiately
raised his hand, turned to the ref and said like yup, you got me.
Never seen a player addmit D 3 sec's let alone that fast.
That and as Zoran mentioned Amare push for Nash and-one and
many more calls or no-calls is why I think refs were bad,
nice little con job in a very subtle way.

[John]

Was that RESILIENCE we saw emerging yesterday??.....not a trait most would associate with Toronto, especially against top teir teams. With the Suns making several runs in the second half, the Raps held firm, even coming back in the last bit from a 5 point deficit to tie the game. Lot to like about about the character displayed in this game. The finish? Well even MJ missed those shots.....congrats to Hedo for backing himself. If they can show that effort day in/day out this will be a totally different team.

[Rob.V]

We'll I've given it close to 24 hours however last nights loss still stings!

The problem I have with Hedo taking those shots is that just because he is the guy we want the hands of the ball in at the end of games doesn't mean HE is going to have to shoot it each and every time! He is a good play maker as well.

As another astute blogger pointed out... no one else touched the ball.

I'm all for putting the ball in his hands however we had 2 7 footers (Bosh close) that they couldnt guard all night!!! Maybe there was a rebound and a put back.. or a foul!

The easy (lazy) thing to do for the rest of the season will be to simply say Hedo, go get a shot.
I mean, come on!! Bosh had Dudley in him? The play should have at least a STARTED inside with Bosh.

Hedo is another weapon but not the only weapon. Giving Hedo the ball and asking him to do it alone is just as bad as it was asking Bosh to go it alone with the game on the line in previous seasons... not a smart way to play out the final possession.

Just because Hedo is known for 4th quarter dramatics doesnt make it a smart decision to let him go 1 on 5 for the majority of clutch plays.

Having said all of this, they lost becasue they didnt attack the rim... and get to the line.

I definitely dont like that play to end the game however the truth is they just were not aggressive enough in trying to get to the basket and it cost them a very winnable game.

But that was yesterday - I guess we'll really see what this team is made of tomorrow night. Will be very interesting to see how they respond.
On some level tomorrow nights game may be indicative of what we can expect for the rest of the season. They're either going to match the Nuggets physical play.. or wilt.

Really hope they don't wilt!

[doug]

it was just a good game last night...plain and simple....it came down to the last minute, ....you sometimes just say things to 1) create talking points as Bobcat does or 2) hide behind them later....as I saw in your in-game blog one of your last comments was "another hedo miss'....you did that on purpose to illicite response or as you are keen on saying you have no "emotional" response as you are a journalist...well that is a lot of hogwash as you have covered this team for how long??...you experience the highs an lows as we do...., you can "snark" all you want ( as i don't commment on or participate in in-game blogs anymore as your "snark" is over the top sometimes, and unwarranted))...but both Hedo shots were fine, the one was in an out an the second was not a foot long as you say, it was a good shot just a miss just as Bosh missed last year against the Bulls...but it was just a good game...my rule of thumb is this, down 2, go for a two or a three...down one go for a drive as a official will give you the call...but thats just me.....the Raps need to build on this, they are a talented team so much more then last year, this team has a high-ceiling....Jay just has to get them to see it and believe in one another....when we get Reggie back, an Antoine gets his head set right we will be fine..as Antoine not getting getting his "ankle loose" or deferring to Jay when he was asked to go back into the game a bit ago is hogwash in my book...sometimes going on with that dude...an believe me his teammates see it,.also team policy aside Reggie should bo on this road trip ...that's a self -defeating team policy...they save what $600,000 on Douby...Reggie on this trip would cost what $5,000 at most, in terms of air fares, hotel per diem etc??....get him out there....he's a hell of a cheerleader that the guys listen to....

[paddyc]

last twelve seconds should have been a quick as all hell down low pass to bosh from the first player to catch the ball off the inbound. he was scoring above fifty percent the entire game. they lost the game because they couldn't get bosh the passes.

[Kevin A.]

"Frank Isola of NY Daily News reports Donnie Walsh says Knicks have interest in Allen Iverson"

Of course they are.

Imagine you covered the Knicks? How much fun would that be?!

[Dave]

I understand what everyone is saying about Turk being the creator we need, but I think the commentators had it right last night. In the last 5 minutes they took too many outside shots and didn't get it into Bosh enough. Only basket he had in that time was a put back.

[Craig A]

Re: The Denver Post article - There's been a few players lately puffing their chests about how they shut Kobe down. The guy's been nursing a strained groin. None of the flattering articles have mentioned that.

I'm mostly angry about it because Kobe is on my fantasy team this year...