Another night, another series of oddities and questions

Okay, quick show of hands here.

Who watched the second half Saturday?

I did, but it’s my job; I wonder how many of you stuck around?

Anyway, on with the show:

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THREE POINTERS

Unanswered question

Obviously, I didn’t get a chance to ask Jay or any of the coaches what specifically had occurred late in the first quarter but there was a notable substitution pattern that, if I remember, I’ll check on tomorrow.

Jerryd Bayless went in about his normal time for Jose Calderon, entering the game with 3:32 to go in the quarter.

But 76 seconds later, he was back on the bench, replaced by Sundiata Gaines.

Even in these times of moving guys in and out quickly to find something that works, that was a fast hook.

Now, I know Bayless has been banged up, his ankle is still a bit of an issue, but, as we’ve pointed out before, he remains a wee bit tentative on offence after a rather quick start to his time with the Raptors.

I know the coaches are working with him to improve his game-management skills and to teach him how to run a team but he still needs to play to his strengths and he isn’t right now.

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Three on five

Yes, they did some scoring in the second half last night – and there’s not many things easier to than play against a team that’s up 30 and coasting – but that was out of the ordinary of late.

Before getting to 103 against Heat, the HOTH had gone five straight games without getting to 100, the longest steak of offensive woes since a six-game stretch back in December, 2008.

Why? Well, at one point they had both Julian Wright and Sundiata Gaines on the floor and because they are both a bit offensively-challenged, it allowed two Miami players to kind of freelance defensively and take away much of what Toronto wanted to do.

That’s not taking away from either of those two Toronto guys but that’s just a simple fact.

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Haven’t seen this often enough

If you’re looking for one good thing, I guess you could point to the fact DeRozan went for 30 and Bargnani scored 28 against Miami.

On a team starved for offence (the absences of Kleiza, Weems and Barbosa kicks the crap out of this team’s ability to score a lot) those two have to each have big nights for them to win and it’s good to see that they can.

It’s just not been often enough.

Saturday night was the first time in eight games – stretching back to the win over Sacramento – that both had topped 20.

Not surprisingly, that’s the last time they won.

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A few more unrelated but wildly entertaining points.

Really.

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Hmm.

I see someone named Rob Base is doing the halftime gig at the Fan Night thingamabob next Friday.

What?

Vanilla Ice is playing one of the casinos with the remnants of Chicago and a guy who used to write choruses for The Eagles?

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Hey, big day for Sundiata Gaines.

His 10 days are up and while he’s done nothing to hurt the team and has, in fact, looked quite passable at times, I wonder if he sticks around for one very good reason: They need wings.

I haven’t heard a word about Sonny Weems, who knows how long Linas Kleiza’s knee is going to act up and I heard last night that Barbosa is probably a week away from getting back on the court.

So, with no disrespect to Gaines, can you envision a scenario where he’s let go and replaced for 10 days – which will be games against Memphis, Philly, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Indy and Atlanta – but someone who can play small forward?

Know anyone like that?

How about Ronald Dupree?

I have no idea if Bryan’s thinking like that but if there are going to be lingering issues with Keiza and more uncertainty about Weems, maybe he should be.

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Carmelo Anthony did not get traded yesterday.

(You’re welcome for another breathless update to The Never-ending Story).

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Quickly, from the mail:

Q: Greetings, possible two-parter. I would be curious to know whether the coaches/players are aware of the degree of interaction you have with your readership. And if they are, does it in any way influence your relationship with them?

Doug T, Brantford

A: Some of them are quite aware, actually. Mostly because every now and then I’ll have to ask them a question to get a good answer here and I’ve had guys come up and say “you should put this in the blog.”

Or, I may, perchance, point out some of the more zany trade suggestions to the GM or one of his henchmen and ask that they get right on it.

But, no, it doesn’t have any impact on any relationships with anyone in the organization.

(Okay, I know some poobahs are reading this today, go out and sign Dupree, okay? Make me look like I know what I’m talking about.

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Did you know that Mike Miller hadn’t scored a single point all season in Miami before last night?

Sure made up for lost time, didn’t he?

Here’s what Ira had to say.

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A question:

Should I do chili or pizza or sit on a stool to let someone else handle the cooking this afternoon whilst watching gridiron action?

Oh, and I’ll need to knock off tomorrow’s extended mailbag so feel free to say hi by writing here.

Thank you.

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Speaking of trades that didn’t happen, I’m told by people I trust that whatever transaction they’ve got cooked up for Alexis Ajinca won’t happen any sooner than Monday.

Bet you’re all waiting for that, aren’t you?

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Okay, mail to answer, some shoveling to do. You all have a good day.

Enjoy the football, if that’s your idea of fun.

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Comments

[Joe U]

Chili, hands down - easy to make (especially with a slow cooker) , tasty good, and great reheated.

[Blake Kennedy]

Doug, I'm glad the Raptors seem to be investing some sort of teaching and discipline in Jerryd's offense, but where is that kind of thing going on for the defensive end? Has any player suffered any consequences for poor defensive play this year, other than the mildest of benchings possible for Andrea?

IMO, Jay has done a very poor job of getting this team to compete defensively. Last year, per possession, we were the worst defensive team in the league. Thsi year, we're 29th. And that's after adding another really good defensive big man in Davis and a defensive wing player in Wright. Why has Jay failed to enact any sort of discipline or prioritize the defense in any identifiable way?

[Jacques]

put your feet up and enjoy the day. Ask Super wife to go to Wild Wing and get you some Home on the Ranch wings. Green Bay by 12.

[Matt M]

I didn't watch the first half (other than the first five minutes) because sometimes you can tell pretty quickly if this team is going to compete or not. I flipped back at around the beginning of the second half, saw genuine effort, and so stuck around until the point where James had two or three 'and ones' in a row and DeRozan was once again getting no respect from the officials at the other end on what appeared to be very similar plays. Very frustrating to watch and of course that was where Miami was finally able to put away the game. Almost makes one want to break out the old conspiracy theories.

In the end it was good to see the Raps compete in the second half. You can almost sense this might even turn out to be a very good team when Bargnani learns how to compete every single night, both he an DeRozan become passable defenders, and the Raps add a couple of legitimate three point threat somehow. Still a very long ways to go I guess, but at least it appears as though the team is starting to move in the right direction

[Lorie]

Afternoon, Doug:
Well, I watched the second half of the game last night, because that's the kind of fan I am: loyal to a fault. (Plus was stuck at home drinking hot rum concoctions, I mean "nursing", a stinkin' head cold. And, I had to watch until they looked after That Streak Thing.) Anyway, I thought our wounded warriors put up a fight. But - there was a sharp intake of breath when Jose appeared to turn his ankle late in the game. Would you have any information you can share on the severity of his injury? Thanks! (And how about homemade chili and pizza for Game 1 followed by a wee jaunt to a local establishment for a nightcap whilst enjoying Game 2?)

Blogger's note: Day off today, no information forthcoming

[prez]

Same old question how can Triano sit AMir on the bench when he can score doubles each time he is out there in minimum minutes only had 3 in 4th 4 in 2nd and still came in with 14 and is averaging 12.5 in last 5 games n shooting 58% from 2' n 81% from FT +- ala in all he has best on the team n getting his share of reebies n assists. Ih he had the minutes JOse or Brbg gas he wold be in the 18 point range n 12 reebies dont know what it is with Triano's attitude about AMir to keep insulting him by even taking him out of start line up for Dorsey, n then if he gets it's for just 11 minutes a game .

Blogger's note: Don't you ever get tired of whistling the same old tune?

[doug]

it was a good effort in that they could have just mailed it in the for the second half but they didn't, so kudos...in terms of Bayless I was watching him last night and it occurred to me that he needs to be in a offence that calls out every play, that is a scripted one...or when he is out there Jay needs to run set plays as when he free-lances he's just not that good at it at this stage of his career, too many times he gets indecisive, confused as to where to dish the ball, when to, how to...he's a scripted offense type guy in my opinion...this is the problem i have with this new "tech" rule, you have the one extreme of the Timberwolves getting 5 in 10 seconds which is absurd, but then you have instances that I see all the time like last night where LeBron was harping after every foul call he received and yet no tech...it's just a poorly laid-out rule and far to subjective..let's see how many are called in the playoffs when believe me players will be chirping at the refs all the time...and speaking of that sort of thing in the NFL Goodell wants to cut out all the trash talking that goes on before the games, come on it's part of the marketing, etc...what he should be concentrating on and what truly annoys me ok pisses me off, is after every play a player poses, does there hulk pose etc...count today how often it occurs, that's the kind of crap he needs to clean up and coaches are as much to blame, my players wouldn't be doing it...Barry Sanders, Walter payton the two top leading rushers, scored a touchdown and either gave it to the official or laid it down no showboating...and yes Chilli is the right call with Stella in her rightful place...

[GM]

* I watched the whole second half. And the whole first half. I don't stop watching when the team is losing.
* How bad is it that the only way I know there's a football game on today is by reading here? I don't imagine it's the Super Bowl yet or I would have heard about it all over the place. Oh well, doesn't matter because I've never once seen a Super Bowl and don't intend to start this year.
* Wright's offense is pretty bad but I think he's talented enough and has a high enough bball IQ that he shouldn't be that bad. I'd like to see him take x-number of shots every day in the off-season and work on his offense. Alex should work with him. Because if he develops a decent outside shot, he'd be way more valuable and wouldn't find himself sitting on the bench when his teammates are healthy.
* Can't wait until Barbosa gets back. And Evans, for that matter. Those are two players that bring something different into a game and can change the dynamic. No one can match Barbosa's speed and Evans' hustle.
* Is it true the Raptors are 29th defensively this year? Why do they seem better than that, despite the losses piling up? Is it just because they were atrocious last year? Or are the numbers misleading?

[GM]

During the Orlando game, Jack Armstrong kept going on about how much better shape Turkoglu was in this year compared to last year in Toronto. But that makes no sense as an explanation for why he's doing relatively well in Orlando because he's played there for a grand total of 18 games, and played the previous 25 in Phoenix, where he was even worse than in Toronto. Did he magically get in shape since coming over from Phoenix? Also, it might be a case of perception being more than reality. If you look at his stats in Orlando this year compared to last year in Toronto, the only thing that stands out is his shooting percentage. Every other stat is just about the same. He started off on the wrong foot with the Raps and then everything was viewed through the lens of him being fat, lazy and discontented even though that wasn't exactly true.

[J]

Liked Davis' block/foul on a LBJ dunk attempt in the 4th quarter. Of course, it only motivated LBJ even more, but I'm definitely looking forward to Davis' continued development. Was also nice to see DeRozen's "reply" to LBJ. He still has a long way to go (still needs an outside jumper, better handles, better defense, the ability to create for others, etc., and his rebounding seems to have regressed a bit since last year), but things look hopeful.

Unfortunately, I missed all of Bargnani's solid offensive performance, and only caught the bits where he fumbled a pass, stumbled into a travel, turned the ball over on a drive, and missed several rushed or poor shot attempts. Definitely not a good finish for him.

[Vincent]

Hello Doug,

I hink that the Raptors need to keep Sundiata Gaines, even at a time where they may be depleted on the wings. The Raptors can manage with having two of Gaines, Bayless and Calderon on the court at the same time if it's for 6-10 minutes a game. There's been a couple of games over this past stretch where I think he's been more productive than Jerryd Bayless. That's not to say that Gaines is better, or that he's a better fit for the future.

Another observation: I find that Gaines is pretty shot happy, though not as much as Bayless. He's not as limited offensively for his position in comparison to Julian Wright.

Once everyone gets healthy, I think it's a good idea to keep him around as the third point guard. He's definitely better offensively than the last two guys he's replaced (Ronald Dupree, and essentially Marcus Banks). He plays hard, he's a passable backup for whenever Calderon or Bayless need time off. Definitely more passable than Ronald Dupree in my opinion. No need to panic because Kleiza is going to miss a few games. It's more important to have capable point guards than capable wings.

[Michel G]

Watched the whole game and was impressed with the fight they showed in the second half. I think Jose played the whole second half and played well with Bayless who ended up being on the floor for 30 minutes. I think your right about bringing in Dupree (or someone like him).

[Rob.V]

Dude, of course I watched. But I do acknowledge that I am a "sick" Raptors fan. Also probably why I am an irregular of course... and probably why I come here every day as well.

Now, I'm not saying I'm proud of it, but yes, I personally watch every possession, every turnover, every missed assignment, every god awful play... sick I say... SICK!!!... but at least I'm aware of it... which is a good first step for me.

Perspectives really are interesting though because as you say - You're paid and still feel as though you are forcing yourself to sit thorugh this... while I (and others) PAY MLSE to watch the Titanic sink night in, night out. Interesting, in a very odd way I suppose.

Unfortunately the Raptors are that car crash... that you just can't seem to pry your head away from. Yep, sick alright!!