A little news on an injured Raptor

The things you see sitting around the concourse of the Air Canada Centre waiting to be summoned to Raptors practice.

Tuesday morning we witnessed DeMar DeRozan, in obvious pain from what looked like a bad right ankle, limp out the door, around the corner and into the elevator, leaning on team trainer Scott McCullough.

There is, of course, no word on the seriousness of whatever injury DeRozan suffered but he was putting weight on his legs as he hobbled downstairs.

McCullough was back in the gym about 30 minutes later.

The 20-year-old DeRozan is only one of two Raptors to have started each of the team’s first 45 games, Chris Bosh being the other. He’s averaging 8.2 points and 2.9 assists rebounds in 21 minutes this season.

DeMar's got a big fan; and so does Marco

Something of a slowish day yesterday as they basked in the glow. A far cry from some day-after-game sessions, that’s for sure.

But a dearth of truly entertaining nuggets so you’ll have to do with these:

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The other morning, a few of us were standing around talking to Kobe Bryant after the Laker shootaround (including his Close Personal Friend Cabbie, whose Kobe stuff is, like all Cabral’s stuff, excellent) and the conversation gets to DeMar DeRozan.

Kobe lauds the kid for his work ethic and desire to improve and when I asked him if that’s a trait most youngsters lack, he was quick to agree.

“I think it’s the times that we live in. Players at an early age get spoiled too much, everything gets given to them … I think DeMar – (O.J.) Mayo is another one that I knew for a while -- those couple of guys are some of the few that actually work and enjoy playing the game.”

And I guess that’s one of the most impressive things about DeRozan, his willingness to put the work in to get better.

There’s no disputing his jump shot has improved since the first of the season – it’s still a bit wonky and he doesn’t have three-point range yet but it’s smoother – and his ball-handling skills are better. He spends a lot of time in the gym working, he spends a lot of time watching video with assistant coaches and he does take instruction to heart.

And what’s interesting to me is that 45 games into the season, he really hasn’t had a long lull. No collisions with the rookie “wall” it appears and I think that goes to how Jay’s handled him.

Consistent, but not overwhelming minutes, no wearing him out in the first 30 games and the fact he’s now played more games at a higher level this year than he’s ever played before haven’t had an impact.

They’ve fed him a lot but haven’t forcefed him a thing.

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Had a couple people wonder just how odd it was for a game to be decided on last-second free throws.

I offer last night’s Cleveland-Miami game as proof that, while rare, it’s not like it never happens.

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We were trying to think the other day if there’s ever been a Raptor quite like Marco Belinelli. You know, a guy who’ll try anything, always playing at a rather frenetic pace and capable of astonishing moves one minute and confounding ones the next.

I couldn’t come up with one very much like him at all and that’s why he’s become such a personal favourite to watch. You have to watch him because you never know.

Like Sunday. On one play, he catches a pass right in front the Lakers bench, pump-fakes a closing defender so badly that the guy goes right past Belinelli and almost lands in Phil Jackson’s lap.

So what’s Marco do?

Set his feet, square his shoulders and drill a wide open, standstill three?

Hell, no.

He sort of shakes his shoulders, splays his legs, and takes a inward-leaning odd-looking shot that gets nothing but net.

Classic.

And the kid can deliver a good line, too.

When I asked him about that specific play, and about what goes in that mind of his to make him try some of the things he tries, he looks at me, laughs at bit and says:

“I don’t know. That’s me. Maybe I’m a little crazy.”

How can you not love the kid.

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Know what I did last night?

I “lived” a mailbag.

In a very, very cool night set up through Ernst and Young with some hardcore Raptors fans-slash-way smarter than me financial gurus, a quite good question and answer session unfolded after a fine dinner.

A very good night, fine discussion, some very good probing questions and it affirmed my point that the level of basketball intelligence floating around this city is far, far greater than some think.

Thanks.

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I need some help here.

Is Reggie Evans most like:

Bill Russell?

Wilt Chamberlain?

Whatever deity it is you worship?

Seriously, if he doesn’t come back and get like 25 rebounds a night and leave a consistent trail of bloodied opponents in his wake, I swear some people are going to be disappointed. I can’t remember a guy who got this much better when he was hurt.

I like Reggie Evans, he’s a nice guy and a pretty good basketball player. But there needs to be some toning down of expectations. Even if he takes every single backup big minute away from Amir Johnson, and I don’t imagine that happens, we’re looking at a 16-minute-a-night defensive specialist.

Lord help us if he struggles.

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Here’s one for you:

In a discussion with one of the biggest shots of all around the Raptors yesterday, the topic was the relative euphoria around the Heroes Of The Hardcourt after Sunday.

The conversation, almost verbatim:

He: Yeah, but I was ticked off when I got home.

Me: Remember a bad play or something?

He: No, I watched TV.

Me: I know, no Dancing With The Stars re-runs, what a crappy night.

He: Shut up. I watched Sportsnet. We were like the 10th story on the news. Beat the Lakers for goodness sake. The Lakers! We were after the Edmonton Oilers skills competition. The Edmonton-freaking-Oilers skills competition. Do you believe that?

Me: Ah, yeah.

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A bunch of Bargnani and some other stuff

Great game, no?

Best of the year by far and it has to be in the top 10 all-time, I imagine.

Well played, close all the way, dramatic win over a very, very, very good team.

If Jay had channeled his inner Brendan Malone and looked up at the fans on the far side pumping his fist at the buzzer, it would have been perfect.

Anyway on to the usual fare.

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THREE POINTERS

Talking it through

As they walked out of the final Toronto timeout, just before the game-winning drive and free throws, Hedo and Bosh were having a rather animated discussion about 15 feet in front of me.

It began right after the huddle broke and continued as they sauntered past halfcourt and it was calm and cool rather than heated.

At first I figured Hedo was saying “man, if I take this shot and miss it, these people are going to kill me like they kill Vince Carter” and then we had a chance to ask Jay for an explanation.

“He knew they were going to switch and that’s why he and Chris had that little talk on the way out. He said ‘if there’s a switch, let me have the middle of the floor’ and he came back to the middle and had a quicker step on a bigger guy.”

And watch Bosh if you get a chance to see the play again. He does set a first screen and the Lakers defend it perfectly. He does come back to set a second but as soon as he does, he moves a couple of steps to the far side of the court, giving Turk room to get around the corner.

It was just a heads-up play by a couple of vets who knew what they wanted to, what the Lakers would do and how they would counter that.

Impressive.

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An unstoppable shot

Raps down two, about 8 1-2 minutes to go and there’s a timeout.

What’s Jay call?

A post-up for Bargnani, who gets one-on-one coverage on the left side, takes a couple of dribbles to the paint, no other defender comes and he drops in a delightful jump hook over an over-matched Lamar Odom.

The ball’s not even through the net yet when Phil Jackson has Bynum up off the bench to go in for Odom because he realizes Bargnani will get – and likely make – that shot any time he wants.

We’ve seen incredible maturation in Bargnani’s game this year, especially near the basket, and that was a perfect example of the kid realizing what he could and doing it; and of the coach realizing what the kid can do and letting him do it.

The thing about that move is that he’s so long and shoots it so far over his head that it’s virtually unblockable, if that’s a word. And when teams figure out what he can do down there and start sending a second defender to help, I think Bargnani’s shown already that he’s a good enough passer that he’s going to be effective against double-teams.

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Oh, and one more

The final Lakers possession, fraught with peril that it was (and I know there were people in the arena dead sure that Kobe was going to make some heroic shot because I was one of them) was partially disrupted by a late change of mind by Jay Triano.

It wasn’t until the last second that he decided to put Bargnani on Luke Walton throwing the ball in and Jay would have used Bargnani regardless of which Laker was making that pass.

Bargnani was active and disruptive and made it hard for Walton to even see where he was passing, let alone make a great one. And the pass was just a tad off, about a foot this way when Bryant was going that way and threw him off just enough.

Watching Bagnani on that play kind of reminded me of one other great defence of an inbounds play in Raptors lore.

It wasn’t exactly the same but I remember one night in Detroit, way, way back in the day when Butch Carter put two long, active guys on an inbounder in the dying seconds of a close game, got a turnover and a Raptors win.

That took guts.

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Snippets and comments and stuff:

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How in the world did that conspiring David Stern let that foul be called? Didn’t he have his mind-meld going with the refs at that moment?

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Those three jump shots that Kobe Bryant made on consecutive possessions at the end of the first half, little fadeaways on the right side, were three of the most picture-perfect shots in rapid succession I’ve seen in a long, long time.

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Saw an interesting visitor at the game Sunday.

As I was walking the bowels of the joint at half time, saw Richard Peddie wandering around with none other than Adam Silver, who is only David Stern’s top henchman.

Haven’t had a chance yet to ask just what he was doing here (that pesky in-game blog and story to write kind of occupied my time) and it was probably just a routine visit to check out the new digs on the west side of the concourse.

Or maybe Silver wants to buy a condo.

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In Los Angeles, one of the eight writers following the Lakers filed this about that.

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Mavericks 128, Knicks 78.

Not sure what’s more surprising: That the Jason Kidd-less Mavs put such a beat-down on Knicks or that a 50-point drubbing wasn’t the most lopsided defeat in New York history.

The Syracuse Nationals once edged the Knickerbockers 162-100. That would have been a doozy.

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Not sure how many of you raced to rewind the last-second attempt by Kobe to see if he got it off in time but it was one of the first things the coaching staff looked at when they got back to the office after the game.

And I sure made sure to take a quick glance.

Yes, it would have counted had it gone in and that would have been one of the most incredible shots I’ve ever seen.

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So, what’s this week got?

Miami here Wednesday, at the Knicks Thursday and Indy here on Sunday, right?

I imagine 2-1 is probably how it ends up – and I can’t guess which will be the two and which will be the one, I just have sneaking suspicion that’s how it turns out.

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The Goods On The Game, Lakers at Raptors

Good evening.

As regular season games go, this one has a little bit more juice, it being the lone visit of the year by the Lakers.

Have fun.

This hefty mailbag will keep you all busy

Holy smokes. I know I probably missed a couple of good ones that were e-mailed on Saturday but this is a huge mailbag as it is and I’ll have to get to them either during the course of the week or even next week.

You people are out of control (and I say that in the best possible connotation).

Anyway, have at this and, sadly, staffing levels at The Home Office preclude a game-day question-and-answer session today so this will have to get you through until the 6 p.m. in-game blog thingy.

Have fun.

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Q: Hey Doug. What can a scout see sitting at a game that they can't see on video?

Thanks for all your hard work, I greatly enjoy reading your insight and opinions.

Kim A, Toronto

A: It’s as much what they hear as what they see, as a matter of fact.

One of the key jobs of any advance scout is providing play calls to team he’s working for so that defences can be ready whenever a specific set is called. Scouts not only scribble furiously to diagram plays – and many are using computer programs now – they write down calls with corresponding times on the scoreclock so they can later watch the video and link the two.

The other thing they get in an arena they don’t get on a monitor is all the stuff TV viewers don’t see, either. Who goes and sets screens away from the ball, what kind of weak-side action a team uses to free up its shooters, for instance.

Now, the teams that have dropped full time scouts don’t get this; but the fraternity of scouting is such that if a guy desperately needs a call or a set, he can reach out to a friend who’s seen the team play for a little help.

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Q: Strange question for you and the mailbag. Does "The Chicken" talk? I assume he/she/it does, but does he/she/it make that a regular part of his/her/it's routine, or does he/she/it only talk when absolutely necessary?

Peter L, Toronto

A: I tell ya, if you’ve got the special ‘Cluck-to-English’ translation program that I’ve got on my nifty computer, you can’t shut her/him/it up.

Seriously – if you can be serious discussing someone known as The Chicken to friends – we’ve had many a conversation over the years.

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Q: Hi Doug. I am a big fan of the Toronto Raptor. Not only the team, but also the mascot. I was just curious. Does he have a "day job" or is being number 95 a full time job? What else can you tell me about him? Is he allowed to talk to the players on the court? Do the referees get mad when he taunts them? Does he ever get into trouble for his antics? I think he does a terrific job. His garbage can hand stands are bar none.

Carrie B, Milton

A: More Chicken stuff? No, being a stuffed animal is a tough, full-time gig.

And she/he/it has a pretty good sense of where the line is for antics with players, coaches and refs and has a pretty good relationship with all of them.

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Q: Hi Doug: Thanks for insightful comments in "3 Pointers"; especially for those of us currently outside the country ( P.S. Don't forget we cannot see the games in Mexico so, especially in the 4th quarter it is SO appreciated when you tell us the score down the stretch.

Q: How do we now evaluate that special team meeting that took place a while ago? Many people disparage such meetings but it feels as if the (cross cultural?) communication issues that were discussed/resolved led to more productive team dynamics and play. Do you agree?

Charles N, Mexico

A: I’m generally one of those who disparages most, as a matter of fact, but whatever transpired in that session in Washington certainly worked. A large amount of credit for the better play since then can go to the coaches for making changes in style and the players for implementing it more successfully but the attitude has improved substantially since then.

Two examples: You see far more dialogue on the bench during timeouts now than you did before and very, very seldom do you see the kind of ice glares you used to see after blown defensive assignments. I think a lot of that can be chalked up to better personal relationships that were enhanced during that chat.

As for the fourth quarter scores, NBA media regulations say I can only give the score twice per quarter but I try to get around it with things like “Raptors up five with 90 seconds left” or some other vague reference that doesn’t give the actual score.

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Q: Hey Doug, it's Abacus from the pre game chats. Great character win on Friday vs those unrelenting Bucks! It's amazing Jay's switch to the zone defense made such a difference. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember zones were not allowed in the NBA all that long ago. A while back you wrote about Spud Webb and how more stringent handchecking rules today would have helped him play better back in his time. Conversely, how do you think the rule change permitting zones has affected the NBA now? Do you think permitting zones back in the salad days of the Celtics or Bulls would have impacted those teams at all, helped lesser teams to win, or hindered the development of any of the big stars like Bird or Jordan? Thanks for your time.

Andrew H, Toronto

A: The tightening of the hand-check rule has fundamentally changed the game, no doubt, but I don’t think you can say the same thing about allowing zone defences.

First, the defensive three-second rule makes it impossible to anchor a big man under the basket and dissuade any driving (a great codicil to the rule, in my opinion) and the fact is, NBA players – for the most part – are excellent passers and the ability to make cross-court passes, or find open teammates against zones often render them ineffective.

And I think that would have been the case back in the day, too.

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Q: Hey Doug. I always enjoy reading your columns after a raptors game; I like your honesty with people and their usually ridiculous comments about trading someone after a bad game, signing old players past their prime, etc.

I went to see Rent on Thursday with my wife to get some culture (great show by the way) and sitting three seats to my right was coach Triano! Every part of me wanted to say hi and tell him he was doing a good job but I figured he probably doesn't want to talk shop when he is out to enjoy himself. I always wonder how the players / coaches deal with people thinking they can walk up to them and say things they would never say to a regular Joe they have never met. Even though part of the responsibility of being a professional athlete and making that kind of money is dealing with the public, it still must be a pain when people rag on you as I am sure people are starting to do with Turk.

Have you had any scenarios where you were star struck by a non-sports related celebrity?

Stephen W, Toronto

A: Most of them handle it with grace and aplomb, as long as the fans or interlopers or what have you are respectful and polite. I’ve been out in social settings with players and coaches where others in the establishment simply interrupt conversations and have a sense of entitlement that’s simply wrong. But, it’s also been my experience that a polite request for, say, an autograph or an offer of congratulations or whatever has been welcomed and returned in kind.

Being accessible to fans is one part of the job but being interrupted in a private moment or having someone snap a photograph without asking for no other reason than titillation or, in the worst case scenario, in hopes of catching a player, coach or celebrity in some embarrassing situation crosses the line.

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Q: I suppose different players have different ways of getting out of a slump (like we all do). You mentioned that Marco was putting in extra shooting practice when he was in a shooting slump. Just wondering what Hedo's style is?

M S, St. John’s

A: He’s pretty much doing the same, getting up more shots in and after practice than he usually does.

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Q: Hi Doug. In light of the Iverson aberration what, in your opinion, can the league do to improve the way in which fans interact with the all-star game? I really agree with Jalen Rose when he said it is insulting and disrespectful for other players to be voted out because they're not as popular!

Octavio G, Bolton

A: You know, as much of a travesty as it was – and I still find it incomprehensible that almost 1.3 million people went to the trouble to vote for Allen Iverson this year – I don’t know there’s anything that can be done.

The fans feel connected in the voting, it’s not a big deal to the players because they know the coaches generally get things right and, for the most part, things work out right.

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Q: Hi Doug! It's been forever since I've sent in a question but I'm still reading the blog daily! Just thinking about the Raptors lack of offensive rebounding on Wednesday and practically all season, do you think Jay Triano has ever taken the "tough coach" approach to this issue? Obviously neither of us has seen the practices but do you think he's ever had a practice where all they focused on was offensive rebounding with consequences for lack of effort? If they don't box out during a scrimmage they run laps, etc? I'm no coach, but it seems to me the Raptors could use this kind of practice to help establish the habit of making the effort to grab those offensive rebs or at least box out. Your thoughts?

Amanda F, Barrie

A: It has been a while. Welcome back.

They don’t do specific “rebounding” drills all that often during a the course of a season – the last thing they want is someone getting banged up seriously and missing games because of a practice mishap – but they do them during camp and every now and then.

What they work on is scrimmaging a lot, at full speed when they have the chance, and that approximates game conditions and lets them work on such things as finding guys and boxing them out.

I do remember one day in Denver, under Sam, when they ran the age-old drill where he’d put a ball at midcourt, put two bigs on either foul line, blow a whistle and tell them to go get the ball however they could.

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.

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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:

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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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The Goods On The Game, Bucks at Raptors

Hi everyone. Welcome back.

All set for real men's professional basketball?

No, really. It is.

Time for awards and other all-stars

Well, that was an entirely boring day. No hassles at the airport, no practice to race back for, no game, no big Raptors news. A nice day to do pretty much nothing.

And with it being so quiet around the Heroes Of The Hardcourt, let’s do a bit more league-wide stuff than usual.

Like …

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I’m prone on the couch watching the Lakers and Cavs last night and, like everyone I imagine, the attention is on Kobe vs. LeBron.

Now, Irregulars know I think Kobe’s a better player because he can do more offensively, I think he’s better defensively and there’s just so, so much to appreciate about his game.

Not that LeBron’s a stiff, of course, but it came to me last night just why I go with Bryant.

I’m much more for grace than power, especially in basketball, where I can appreciate nuance more than brute strength.

And maybe that’s the genesis of Bryant over James, there’s a style to Kobe that I appreciate. The head fakes, the pump fakes, the cutting off screens. The immaculate jump shot that might be the best in the game.

LeBron? A fullback on a basketball court and for raw power and an incredible ability to get to full speed so quickly, he’s unrivalled.

To me?

I’d rather watch Kobe play than LeBron.

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Okay, some real quick halfway awards since everyone’s getting to that point in the season.

MVP: Kobe

See above, also see (last night’s game notwithstanding) the best player on the best team.

Rookie of the year: Tyreke Evans.

I haven’t seen an awful lot of him but enough to know this kid is polished, and fearless and very well-rounded.

Sixth man of the year: Jamal Crawford.

He could be the best Eastern conference pick up of the year.

Coach of the year: Scott Brooks.

There’s going to be a lot of love for Larry Brown when this is all over but taking a young team like the Thunder to where they are gets him the nod.

Biggest surprise: Memphis.

You could put Oklahoma City in here and I’d have no problem with it but the Grizzlies are going so well, getting so much good play from so many guys and I don’t imagine too many of us saw this coming.

Biggest disappointment: Washington.

Let’s see: Guns, injuries, guns, suspensions, guns, losses, guns. This might be a unanimous choice.

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So the fans got nine out of 10 right, I guess, in the all-star voting.

I can live with Kobe, Nash, Carmelo, Duncan and Amar’e in the West and Wade, LeBron, Garnett and Howard in the East.

But Allen Iverson?

Simply a ridiculous choice as an all-star and perhaps the single greatest embarrassment in the history of fan voting in any sport. A travesty.

I have no idea why anyone would have punched his number in the first place, either when he was in Memphis or in Philly. And seeing how he was coming off a wretched season that he quit on in Detroit, not sure recent history played a role in it, either.

But, anyway, like I said, nine out of 10 are understandable and we can be thankful enough people came to their senses and got Tracy McGrady out of the starting West lineup.

The most interesting thing to me?

That Chris Bosh had the 10th largest number of votes of all all-star on the ballot, finishing third to James and Garnett among forwards.

Guess this whole “they’ll never pay attention to him because he plays in Canada” stuff might be a bit of a fallacy.

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Random thought, apropos of nothing really:

As I sit there and watch all the hugs and high fives and enough elaborate and secret handshakes that would put The Loyal Order Of The Water Buffaloes or the Raccoon Lodge to shame when the Raptors take to the court, I figure it out:

If they put as much energy and thought into, you know, the plays and defensive assignments, it might be better for all concerned and give them something to really celebrate about.

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They’ve hit the halfway point in Milwaukee, which is what the local fishwrap is writing about today.

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What do you think we see tonight when the Bucks and Raptors renew hostilities?

Well, I would suspect the Raptors would pay more attention to putting bodies on people on the boards, I would suspect Bargnani, whose back acted up in Cleveland, will have benefited from a day of rest and treatment, and I would suspect more consistent energy from the heroes of the hardcourt.

One thing to look for, and this came out of a question I asked Jay in Milwaukee about the use of point guards down the stretch.

(The premise of the question being that he went with Jose in Cleveland and Jarrett in Milwaukee, hooking Jose with about six minutes to go after he’d been playing very well). Said Jay:

“At one point, we thought Jose was a little bit fatigued and we suspected, as they do sometimes, that they might come back with Ridnour and Jennings on the floor at the same time and we wanted to make sure Jose was prepared to come back had they gone small. It was just a rotational thing.”

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All right, since we know the all-star starters, let’s figure out who else makes the teams. Here’s the deal, the coaches, who can’t vote for players on their own teams, have to choose seven subs – two guards, two forwards, a centre and two “wild cards.”

They have some leeway in what’s a guard or a forward or a centre or a forward and can choose players they think will give their team the best chance to win the game.

Some of them decide who goes on the strength of a team’s record, some choose on personal bias, some choose because they are lobbied by friends in the business? Me? I choose off the top of my head.

(That’s a bit of a joke but I offer these as a first-draft, if I had to pick today; they could be revised by this time next week, when the subs are to be announced).

So, without further ado …

East

Guards: Joe Johnson, Rajon Rondo.

Johnson’s a lock, I go with Rondo because despite the roster, they’ll need a ball-handler on the team somewhere.

Forwards: Chris Bosh, Gerald Wallace.

Complete no-brainers here. If there’s an argument against them, it’s so radically flawed I don’t want to hear it.

Centre: David Lee.

It’s a tough one, no doubt. There’s got to be some love for Andrea Bargnani out there but I don’t think enough coaches know his game well enough.

Wild cards: Josh Smith, Paul Pierce.

Toughest group to decide although Smith’s pretty easy. Pierce probably gets it on reputation but I could see them going with someone like Andre Iguodala here, or maybe even a Stephen Jackson. If they go all crazy on me and take, say Derrick Rose over Rondo as a guard, all bets are off.

West

Guards: Chris Paul, Brandon Roy.

Duh! I guess you maybe make a case for Tony Parker in here, or even Jason Kidd since he’ll be at home but it’d be hard.

Forwards: Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Durant.

This might be even easier than the East forwards. Dirk’s at home, Durant’s spectacular and the all-star game should suit his talents perfectly.

Centre: Pau Gasol.

This is where I’m giving the coaches a break. The leeway they have fits perfectly in this situation.

Wild cards: Zach Randolph, Deron Williams.

A toughy again. Randolph should go on his numbers and the fact the Grizzlies are going well but the coaches may like Rudy Gay better. And Williams is a reputation pick and maybe the coaches go with Gay and Chris Kaman of the Clippers here. Me? I’ll stick with Zach and Williams but could be convinced otherwise.

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Don’t forget, we’ve got to go at noon eastern time, 9 a.m. central, late afternoon or early evening for our European friends, with the game-day question-and-answer thingy today.

See you then?

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And mail. I could use mail.

Of listening and watching and seeing an old familiar face

Join Doug Smith for a live Q&A at noon Friday, as the Raptors prepare to take on the Milwaukee Bucks.

Angst? Oh, there’s angst among the masses, that’s for sure.

That Dallas win seems about an eon ago, doesn’t it?

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THREE POINTERS

Good seats to hear

Never mind seeing the game, the baseline seats we’ve got in Milwaukee are excellent for hearing the game, especially the byplay between subs and players on the court.

(The more alert among you will remember that last we were here, it was interesting to hear Bargnani, who sat out the game, being a relative chatterbox on the bench, calling out instruction and being more engaged than I had recalled).

Anyway, last night it was all about screaming defensive encouragement and a lot of angst over offensive rebounds being allowed.

“Get on the boards.”

“Grab a rebound.”

“Box out.”

And I’m sure some less nice words in there, too.

And the chief talker?

Marcus Banks, who was up repeatedly yelling encouragement and pointing things out.

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Game-deciding sequence

It doesn’t get much worse than this.

By the play-by-play I see, there were 15 seconds left on the 24-second clock and the Raptors were down three and there was more than a minute left in the game when Antoine Wright, a 32 per cent three-point shooter this season, hoisted a terrible miss from the corner.

Chris Bosh at that time had scored 42 of his 44 points, Andrew Bogut was on the bench having fouled out and I wonder if that wasn’t the time to, you know, drive the ball and be aggressive or get it to the guy with the hot hand.

Just sayin’.

Oh, and after the Wright miss, the Bucks come down, Brandon Jennings misses a layup (just one of the 16 misses he had on 21 shots) and the Raptors still have life, right?

Wrong.

Ersan Ilyasova shrugs off Hedo, tips in the miss, gets fouled, makes the free throw, it’s a six-point game with 1:28 left and it’s over.

That’s two horrific plays at precisely the right time.

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Speaking of …

Marco Belinelli, he played a grand total of three minutes, all in the first half and the only category in the boxscore he notched anything in was turnovers.

No shots. No rebounds. No assists. No fouls. No nothing except one turnover.

And when I asked someone who was privy to the decision not to at least give Marco a bit of time in the second half, this is pretty much the verbatim response:

“When he was out there, Jerry Stackhouse got five offensive rebounds in three minutes, that’s why.”

Actually, I think the 72-year-old Stack only had three but you get the drift.

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In other news …

(And by news I mean little items I couldn’t figure out what to do with)

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As good as it gets

That, folks, was as good an offensive performance as I’ve ever seen Chris Bosh put on.

Got to the free throw line 15 times, making 14, got Andrew Bogut fouled out, hit jump shots from every conceivable spot on the court.

He had 12 rebounds, four assists, played 43 minutes after going 42 the night before in Cleveland and was as good in the fourth quarter as he was in the first.

When it came time to decide the game, he watched Hedo Turkoglu dribble the ball out of bounds and Antoine Wright, a 32 per cent three-point shooter, take that corner three with 15 seconds left on the shot clock.

And when we got to talk to him after the game, it was the most disappointed and down I’d seen him this season.

Go figure.

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From the department of Celebrities In The Crowd, we had one in Milwaukee.

Seriously.

Saw the guy signing autographs after the game and he sure looked familiar. Not quite being up on my pop culture but vaguely recognizing the dude, it wasn’t until we were in the locker room waiting to talk to Raptors that someone let me know who it was:

“Did you see Master P here?”

Yes, erstwhile Raptor, and father of DeMar DeRozan’s college roommate, took in the game and the memories started flooding back.

I don’t know what was more fun to recall:

The night we were in Dallas for a pre-season game and the fans were chanting “We Want P, We Want P” until Butch finally put him in.

Or a night or two later in Edmonton when I watched with great delight Master P running the fast break on the wing while 7-3 Alex Radojevic handled the ball racing up the court.

Both of them are forever etched in my mind.

And no matter how hard I try, I can’t get the recollection out of my head.

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Finally got to talk to Jay at length before Wednesday’s game and a bit of the conversation was about what happened n Tuesday in Cleveland, mostly the reason for Belinelli and not DeRozan down the stretch.

(Wasn’t that much of a surprise to me, actually, since that’s what he’s done all year but there were a few questions from readers).

He brought up a point I, frankly, hadn’t thought of or noticed.

When DeRozan was on the court, LeBron James was covering him and by covering him, Jay meant not covering him. James was playing defensive rover and causing all kinds of issues for the Raptors.

Since DeRozan hadn’t really asserted himself going to the basket after the first quarter the Raptors wanted someone on the floor who would try to get to the rim, who could stretch the defence and who James would actually have to pay attention to.

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Oh, My Man Tom was Sammy Sidebar last night for the folks who run the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, here’s what his sidekick Charles came up with.

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This has nothing to do with anything. Or maybe it does

I was reading Vanity Fair the other morning at the shed at Pearson (how they can build a new billion dollar terminal and not make it. Big enough is a mystery only solve by the dolts at the airport) and there's a story on tweeting and those that do it far more than they probably should.

And there's a quote there from this woman, who as far as I can tell is quoted only because she tweets a lot, like that's some sort of accomplishment.

It says:

"Sometimes, when you're Twittering all the time, you even start to *think* in 140 characters."

That, dear readers, may be what's wrong with a lot of the world these days.

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Let’s see, seven of their next nine at home. Against the Bucks, Lakers, Heat, Pacers, Nets, Kings and Sixers, before the all-star break hits.

Yeah, 5-2 is the absolute worst they can go if they’re serious about being in the race for fifth, I think; 6-1 would be far better.

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Oh yeah, if you’ve got a minute and a puzzling question that needs to be answered, send it along to give me something to do before Sunday morning.

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Okay, having had a relatively easy day at Pearson (they’ve dumped the second pat-down of passengers for some reason), it’s time to head to the airport here and see what delights await.

See ya.

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The Goods On The Game, Raptors at Bucks

It's probably going to be lonely in this arena tonight, the Bucks don't really draw well.

So I'm glad to have the company.