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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

[Anthony]

Okay Doug I am disgusted with how CBC has screwed the Raptors schedule.... Sunday 1:00 pm games against the best teams (Phoenix, Orlando x 2, Dallas, Boston....) during the NFL season.

Now the Lakers, the premier marquee game @ 6:00, right in the middle to the NFL Divisional finals...... At the game vs. Lakers, so I hope both games are 40-10 mismatches....

Had to see what the CBC is airing..... Curling...... Wonderful.....

Can you confirm how scheduling works? Obviously the Raptors ask for top matchups on Sundays, many in the first 50 games, and then the CBC picks the one's they will televise and the time (12:30 or 1:00).

Didn't check the CBC schedult when they played the Spurs Sunday @ 6:00 too, but should I be surprised if it was curling????

Blogger's note: Actually, Sunday's game is on The Score

[Earl]

PIZZA!

:D

[Anthony]

Doug, just to clarify, I know tomorrows game is on the Score. What I was asking is how schedules are done. Obviously the Raptors ask for quality Sunday matchups (vs. premier teams) early in the year for the CBC schedule. Then I imagine the CBC chooses those games to air. I was asking in particular the San Antonio game and Lakers games are 6:00 pm starts, not 1:00. I also see the Canadian Game Curling is on tomorrow where the Raptors generally would be and imagine (all conjecture on my part) that it was moved to 6:00. Is this all the CBC's doing or am I off base stating that it is.

The NBA and Raptors knew that this is the second biggest NFL weekend and there are two other NBA games Sunday both @ 1:00..... C'mon, there is no doubt that the CBC was the one who is responsible..... Heck I bet the Raptors & Lakers would rather be watching the NFL then playing @ 6:00 tomorrow.....

Blogger's note: It's got nothing to do with the CBC or The Score or TSN at all. NBA broadcast regulations grant ABC exclusive "windows" on Sunday afternoons. When ABC has a game, teams are precluded from showing theirs at the same time. Toronto could play Sunday at 1, or at 3:30 but they couldn't show the game on television.

[Kyle]

Hey Doug;
What do you think about changing the Pizza Pizza promo from getting a free slice if the raps score over 100, to getting one if the defence gives up less than 100? Im thinking there would be alot of disgruntled fans!!

Blogger's note: How about doing away with it entirely? You don't think there wouldn't be boos if they were winning 110-99 and gave up a basket with 15 seconds left in a game?

[observer]

Very dedicated and interesting blog.

Question: I really only watch Raptor's games. I also have very loosely followed online NBA 'rookie rankings', and DeMar Derozan is virtually not on the radar at all. I think I've seen him mentioned once, as an aside, all year. Having seen more games, how does he compare to other rookies? Do we have an overinflated opinion of him in Toronto?

Blogger's note: I'm not sure, actually, why he isn't getting more recognition among rookies around the league. I don't know the criteria they use to rank them but they may want to change it.

[Lorie]

Hi Doug, Thanks, as always, for the great blog today (after the fun game last night), and especially for the delicate words you enlisted to identify your readers of a particular demographic..."Aging Hoopster Fans" does not have the same cachet for me as the more gentile term you used: readers "of a certain age". And as a person who did not have to google "Tony Dow" to see the resemblance between he and Hump, thanks for the memories! (Although I personally preferred the delightfully smarmy Eddie Haskell..hey, don't you think Kris' teammate Lopez bears a slight resemblance to Eddie?)

Blogger's note: Brook Lopez as Eddie Haskell? I can absolutely see a mild resemblance

[J]

The problem with rookie rankings is they go by volume statistics. If you look at Yahoo's latest ranking, only three of the top 10 play for decent teams (Blair, Thornton, Harden). The rest mostly play for piss poor teams, and as a result, get plenty of minutes to put up stats. DeRozan could very well be one of the top rookies if he played for Milwaukee, Detroit, Minnesota, Golden State or Sacremento, but he's constantly the 5th option among the Raptors' many offensively talented players. He's also a lot more raw (read: potential) than most of the top rookies, with their pro careers (Jerebko, Casspi and Jennings) or more considerable NCAA careers (pretty much everyone else), and that's a big reason why he was drafted over the likes of Terrence Williams and Gerald Henderson.

[doug]

it wasn't so much what the raptors did in playing a zone it was what the Bucks didn't do...you shoot to beat a zone, over the top of it...they shot all right just badly...5-26 on 3 pointers...plus a it was Skiles that was dictating the strategy of the game and Jay just responded, he had no choice....how Wright received 20 minutes of playing time is mind-boggling, he was 1-8 shooting and worse yet he was 1-5 on 3 pointers, that guy shouldn't be jacking up one 3 pointer never mind 5!!....if Bell's was benched for his rebounding defieciencies the other night, then to be consistent Wright should be have been benched for his ofensive ones, and by offensive i mean both meanings......plus the Raptors went on there run in the last 6 minutes or so when Wright was on the bench finally he destrots any offensive ball movement....its just perplexing,

[D-Mac Ottawa]

The Hump as Wally, and Brook Lopez as Eddie Haskell? Classic!!!!
Guess I'd have to nominate George Karl as Lumpy, and how about Kevin McHale as The Beav: http://dimemag.com/wp-content/Images/coaches/_MIN_McHale_Kevin.jpg (okay, if not, then Ben Mulroney...)
Cheers! Go Raps!

[Anthony]

http://espn.go.com/nba/schedule

I wasn't born yesterday. I don't mean to be a troublemaker in any case and do apologize..... But there has to be a reason there are 2 1:00 pm games tomorrow and the Raptor game is smackdab in the middle or the NFL Playoffs..... Only 4 more Sunday games, 2 @ 12:00 and 2 @ 6:00 (and surprise no more marquee matchups).... I am being obtuse, but please don't tell me this has nothing to do with the "mothership" (aka CBC)......

Blogger's note: I don't give a rat's butt whether you believe me or not, honestly, but it has nothing to do with the CBC. And the discussion is over.

[james]

...and if Lawrence Frank was still coaching the Nets, he could be the Beaver.

[GM]

NFL... NHL... all the same to me. As Kevin Meaney would sing, "I don't care, I don't care!" The NBA should never take a back seat to any other sport. Too often it does. Sports shows include NBA highlights only when there isn't anything else going on. If you want to watch NFL, CFL or whatever, fine. We all have to make choices. I'll be watching the hoops.

[Joe]

Doug,

Now that we're on the Leave it to Beaver Connections, how about Stan Van Gundy (sans his mustache and with a redone hairstyle) has The Beaver (aka Jerry Mathers) and Turkoglu (sans the facial hair and with some hair colour) as Eddie Haskell.

[Aditya]

Blogger's note: I'm not sure, actually, why he isn't getting more recognition among rookies around the league. I don't know the criteria they use to rank them but they may want to change it.
-------------
He's getting fine recognition for his work... The other guy's are playing more, producing more and are the focal point of their own team's offence (or 2nd or 3rd option) and yes, they are worse teams (most of them anyways)

[JHP]

Doug - love the blog and have no idea how you keep your cool. Malted beverages come to mind. I honestly believe this team is better then last year's edition and have won a few close ones. So all the negativity is just not warrented. I work North of Chicago and get to see none of the games. I follow on your blog and the internet. And to topt all off several of the local establishments will not even put the game on when asked.

Only way it could be worse is to be a Nets fan :-)))