All in all, a pretty fun game, wasn't it?

No idea if there will be any residual effect of that Friday win but you have to admit, it was a gutted-out victory thanks to coaching creativity and enough late-game playmaking that it might prove to them that they can win when things are not going well.

Or not.

Either way, it was a fun night.

-

THREE POINTERS

Play of the night

Just about a minute left, Raptors up three, game’s pretty tight.

Marco Belinelli comes off a screen and whips a left-handed bullet of a pass to Chris Bosh, who finishes with a dunk, Toronto’s up five and the game, pretty much, is over.

It’s not that Belinelli saw the play, it’s how he made the pass that impressed me.

Lefty. Hard. Right on the money.

It’s the kind of creative play by a Raptor wing you haven’t seen in ages and one of the big reasons I don’t have a bit of a problem with Belinelli finishing games over the rookie.

An aside:

Equally impressive was Bosh’s catch and finish. We’ve seen him bobble those hard, short passes before (primarily from Andrea on high-low feeds) but he was aware and ready and finished cleanly.

-

A lovely byproduct

Yes, the zone was a wild success – and you have to give Jay credit for managing one of the best games of his coaching career – because it energized the defence, befuddled the Bucks and got some juice in the offence.

But it was a decision made for another reason altogether: To get Chris Bosh a better matchup. Here’s Jay:

“The key was, for most of the night, Bogut stayed away from Chris, he guarded Rasho, he guarded Amir, he guarded whatever other big was in there.

“It wasn’t so much us wanting to go with smaller guys out there, we wanted Bogut to guard Chris. We put Chris out there with four playmakers, he set screens for whoever was closest and Chris rolled and they had to help and that’s what opened up the floor for us.”

It’s the same thing we talked about the other day in Cleveland, when they went with Marco rather than DeMar to force LeBron to have to guard someone instead of playing rover.

There seems to be some method to what some people see as madness.

-

Better, at least for one game

Yes, Hedo missed eight shots in 10 attempts and committed five fouls and sat out a lot of the second quarter with foul trouble.

But even the most vociferous critics have to admit he was pretty good last night.

Aggressive on the boards (seven rebounds), making the right passes to teammates who scored (five assists, including four in the first eight minutes) and the and-one late was a huge play.

The missed shots? That’s the shooting slump he’s in and no one connected to the team has (a) a problem with him taking them or (b) concerns that he won’t some day get out of that slump that he’s in.

But the thing I saw was effort and intensity and that’s been lacking for a good portion of the season.

There was one moment late, after he’d made a basket, when he was walking back to the bench after a time out and he looked angry.

Not at that specific play but angry in the “where the heck has that been all along, I know I’m better than I’ve been playing” angry and it was maybe the first time in a while I’ve seen some open emotion from him.

A good start on a road back? We’ll see but I think there might be something to that.

-

Oh, right. Other stuff:

-

I will venture a guess you will never read the following sentence again:

Patrick O’Bryant had more assists last night than Jose Calderon.

He had one, Jose had none, and, oddly, the assist came on a Calderon shot – the desperation heave at the end of the first quarter.

Of course, we now know the subjectivity of assists because I can vividly remember a near-perfect pick and roll that Calderon and Bosh pulled off in the fourth quarter, Bosh went hard to the basket, Jose threw a lob, Bosh caught it and finished.

But, no, there was no assist on the play.

A reminder, I guess, that the system has its flaws.

-

Charles F., Mr. Tom’s right hand man in Milwaukee, sums that one up thusly.

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Bring money, people.

Lord knows there are some flaws to Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, and while I quite enjoy pointing them out every now and then, here’s a good thing they’re doing and you need to help if you can.

Sunday against the Lakers, they’ll be collecting cash for Haitian relief and for every dollar you give, Maple Leaf Sports will match it. And then they’ll turn it over to a government agency that’s matching dollar-for-dollar so if you give, say, $5, it turns into $20. That’s with five more from Maple Leaf Sports for $10 and then $10 as a match from the government.

Even with my horrid math skills, that makes a lot of sense and you need to help out if you can.

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Last call for mail. I figure I’ve got the late afternoon to sit and sip and answer and then an evening at the desk to finish it off so if you’ve got a question, send it here and we’ll see what we can do.

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I will take Luke Ridnour on my basketball team any time.

Just sayin’.

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Here’s one to look for next time you watch a New Jersey game.

(And it’s going to take readers of a certain age to get this).

Take a look at Our Friend Hump, who’s once again sporting hair.

He looks like Tony Dow!

Seriously. Nets-Warriors was on in this little bistro I visit every now and then and when they showed a close up of Hump, I swore I was looking at Wally.

All I needed was Barbara Billingsley as one of the June Taylor Dancers and it would have been crazy scary.

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Since the Lakers won’t do anything today – no practice after a Thursday-Friday back-to-back – and since tomorrow’s mail day, let’s catch up with what the papers are saying about them.

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Comments

[marc]

Great little tidbit on Hedo. That's the kind of stuff that tv viewers will almost never get from the telecast. Would love to see more of these types of observations in the blog. Great work...great blog.

[Dr_luca]

what about Andrea, will he play on Sunday against LA?

Blogger's note: Don't know

[Blake Kennedy]

I think at this point, I'd rather look at Peter Billingsley as one of the June Taylor Dancers than Barbara in her advanced age.

[Richard]

Gritty win. They played focussed and with energy down the stretch. Three team oriented stats that don't get a lot of attention but I believe lead to consistent wins: Get to the free throw line 30+ times a game; limit opposition's offensive rebounds to under 10; and finally limit our 3 point attempts to a max of 20. I think if you track those team stats you will see a correlation between them and consistent success.
And all it requires to achieve those stats is discipline and commitment.

[Kerry O]

A Leave It To Beaver reference? This is so my favourite sports blog.

Blogger's note: We try to entertain in a few different ways. Thanks

[Gary]

The comments are always entertaining, here's a link to a bucks blog and what the armchair gm's had to say about their team.
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/82455967.html

[Penny]

Doug - when do you think Jose will start getting more playing time? That lineup he was on with at the end of the first and start of the second was hopeless. JC made quite a few nice passes into either POB or Amir and neither of them were able to finish. Must have been quite frustrating for him. Also when Turk went out with his second foul, it was really obvious that Jack cannot run the offense - he had no assists at all. He plays well when it is a fast tempo but doesn't do much when he just walks it up the court.

Blogger's note: More? Not sure he will get more

[jimt]

Doug the gov already reached it cap on donation matching it was set at 50mill.

My Q is do you think coach T should reduce CB4s minutes,even with the light sched and him being in excell shape? Personally id like him to get about 5 less a game with those min going to Rasho as I feel he is not getting enough. thx
Ps just till the playoffs.

Pps just curious but why is there less shots of raps brass at games,it would be nice to get reaction shots back again

Blogger's note: No

[:)]

NO Andrea! NO hope for the raps on sunday!

[:)]

Marc gasol would look good in a raps uiniform!! (if bosh leaves that is)

[Richard]

Just a bit of a correction on your math Doug.

The government will only match private donations rather than corporate donations. Even so, you cannot ignore a 3 for 1 deal.

I found this out with our collection at work. Bruce Power employees raised over $95,000 which was matched by Bruce Power and with the government matching was almost $300,000!

I encourage everyone to contribute. As many more eloquent than I have said, this is one thing that Canadians are rightfully world leaders in. We live in the best place on earth and when we see people who need help, desperate help, we reach out and help.

[Matt M]

Just out of curiosity would the Raptor Brass be adverse to shifting Turk to the power forward spot on a more permanent basis eventually? Maybe turn him into a PF/SF swing ala Odom to try to exploit his quickness against some bigger defenders. Or would they worry too much about his lack of rebounding/toughness at that position?

Blogger's note: Yes, they would be adverse to that

[erc]

There was some intensity at the close of last night's game and it certainly appeared that some of it was generated by Hedo, of all people.
As you point out, maybe it will inspire them (and him) to continue in that mode -- and maybe not.
Thought it interesting that, a couple of times in the past few days, you've pointed out that Milwaukee is a team that works hard practically every night.
I' ve wondered, since the Bucks definitely seem to have less chance of 'going places' this season than does Toronto -- why haven't the Raps been a team that works hard almost every game?
You asked one writer if they approached every work day at max effort? None of us do, but everyone who really LIKES their job seems to go all-out most of the time and most of them do not make what the Raps pay in income tax.
Hope the culture is changing and that the frustrations of the early part of the season are behind us. This is a reasonably talented team, not Celtic-like-talented yet, but a lot better than they've shown many nights.
It should be the rule, not the exception, that they go all-out. That's all most of us ask of them.

[Joe]

Doug,

A few questions:

1. How come Rasho doesn't play more than he does. He's such a smart player.

2. The link you had to the story on the Lakers indicates that the club is struggling with toughness issues. Wasn't the signing of Artest supposed to help with that issue? Has he returned yet from the injuries he suffered during that fall he took last month at his house?

Blogger's note: Smart, yes; they like a three-bigs rotation; Artest is back

[LeeZ]

Doug, not having attended the game, I have no way of knowing this: when Jennings went the length of the court and ran up behind DD to swipe the ball from him, was no one shouting or screaming at DD to warn him of this? I mean, I was at home, and yet despite my screaming at DD, he didn't hear me. So much for our modern-day interactive technology...
Also, José on at least two occasions passed up WIDE-OPEN 3's(and by wide open, I mean no one within a country mile of him, and all the time in the world to shoot). Yes, one of them was fairly early in the shot clock, but with Triano harping on his team to shoot more 3's, and José arguably the team's best 3-shooter, what gives? Is José being selfless to a fault?

Blogger's note: He probably should shoot more and they'd like him to

[James Online]

Too bad Triano punished Belinelli in Milwaukee by only playing him three minutes. We saw last night the difference Beli's energy and multiple skills can make.

Belinelli is a basketball player. Hit the three, make the jumper, constant motion, drive the lane, draw the foul, harrass the opponent on D. Creative. Exciting. Balances the floor beautifully. He's especially good when Jose is out there.

Give him the minutes and you'll get great results. His +/- is almost always better than Derozan's. Nothing against Derozan, I like him on the Raptors, but Beli is a much more skilled and interesting player overall.

[Dan W]

Hopefully Hedo will get out of his slump soon. I heard the problem was his shooting coach is also his acting coach.

[Jim]

Whether it is one or none or even two assists last , Doug - totally unexceptable from Calderon. He had a few good games coming back from inury, but now has put up three bad games. Calderon loses focus often, that, his non-existing defense all for 8 million towards the cap, is what makes him a liablity to this team. The last two games vs the Bucks Calderon was CARVED up by Luke Ridnour (a back up) - he made Calderon look silly both games. The game last night at the end with Bell hitting athree in Jose's face on Calderon's defensive mistake becuase he didn't stay on him, and it should have never came down to that. Then when Jose had a chance to burry two free throws (at a very important time of the game) he misses one! 8 million for no defense a few good games then a few bad games (money badly spent). Every other basketball forum (even the Fan's Jack Armstrong agree) the money could be spent better in helping this team win consistantly.

[T I]

Haha i found a picture of a young Tony Dow on the net.. definitely looks like hump! Check it out: http://www.fiftiesweb.com/tv/tony-dow.jpg

P.S. Doug I couldn't agree more about the passion from Turk comment. It's been lacking so much so that I started wondering if he could use a couple weeks off like Jose to get even more rest. Definitely saw some emotion from him last night which is a positive.

[GM]

Turk may not be playing great, but he's not playing bad. And hasn't been. Even in one of those games he was villified for he had 9 assists, I think. He's a good facilitator. Maybe everyone just expects more considering how much he gets paid. I don't think physically showing emotion means anything. If he needs to do it for show, to make people feel better, fine. But it means next to nothing. That was always the knock on Kareem, too, that he didn't show emotion. People are different. They don't all exude emotion the same way.

[Tiger]

Hedo's biggest play?
About a minute to go, he trapped Delfino in the corner, forced him pick up his dribble, then harassed him into throwing a wild pass that Jack easily picked off. That led to two Bosh free throws for a lead that not even Ridnour could overcome.
How the Raps have (not) handled Bogut is a bit of a head-scratcher, and that Skiles had no answers for the zone was somewhat surprising (although making even a couple of their 3-point chucks might have forced the Raps out of it).
Great adjustment by Coach Jay, for sure, and I've often wondered why NBA teams don't seem to throw different defensive looks at opposing offenses more often. Forcing players to figure things out on the fly often takes a team out of their rhythm and comfort zone. But you hardly ever see any random pressure in the backcourt, almost never any full court presses, almost never any changes possession to possession. It's almost always do-or-die man-on-man until a substitution can be made. Maybe some different looks coming out of a timeout to counter the set play of the other team, but then right back to the same old same old.
Of course, that's probably too much to ask of guys who need a timeout to be told to close out on 3-point shooters.

[Roxanne G]

Great blog Doug - fun reading this morning after a fun game to watch last night!
Thought I'd let your readers know - that the PM announced earlier this morning that the government is lifting the 50M cap to match Cdn donations. There will no longer be a cap so everyone should give as generously as possible to the MLSE initiative this weekend!

[Phil A]

Great 4th quarter by Jarrett Jack! He's the main reason why the raptors were able to come back and win the game.

[Perry]

I enjoyed that game. I think Hedo isn't getting enough credit, though. He was terrific in a non-scoring type of way. I recall Jack Armstrong, a few minutes into the fourth after Hedo drew contact, say something like, "I know he missed his last shot but he was aggressive there"- implying that Turk hadn't been aggressive earlier just because he didn't get a whistle or score a basket.

I'd ask anyone to watch the last six minutes of the THIRD quarter again to see all the activity Hedo was doing behind the scenes, especially on the glass. He was aggressive, in spite not getting the numbers. He was tapping balls to teammates, wrestling them away from Bucks, doing active things to save the Raptors at least three or four possessions. My point's that it didn't start in the fourth when he made his +1. He was active for a lot of the night, putting in good basketball minutes and helping the team. I'd go so far to say that he saved the game from getting away from the Raps in the third because no one else was doing much. Turk was in the middle of everything, playing solid Turk ball at a time when it was most needed.

Jarrett Jack was also incredible. If that had been Calderon, we'd be hearing All-Star talk from the writers today! I think Turk and Jack, in different ways, won that game for the Raps and ought to be recognized. Great job guys.

[City Country]

Doug, I was at the game last night and I have to say I find your analysis to be pretty off on this game.

First, the Raptors stunk all night long and they only won because of terrible shooting in the second half (esp. the 4th) by the Bucks and a bit of an energy spark by Jack and Bellinelli on a team that was zombie-struck all night long. It wasn't the Raps great zone D, it was just the Bucks stinking it up.

Second, Turkoglu was TERRIBLE. All game. Not a single redeeming quality to his game last night. Lackadaisical, uninvolved, committing stupid fouls out of frustration, taking bad shots that take his team out of the game. TERRIBLE. So I don't see where you're coming from at all with your blurb on him.

Great to see they managed to win it, but the Bucks handed them this game on a silver platter on a day where they definitely didn't deserve to win, or to get to 100 points.