Bad game, good job and some Vince for good measure

Next stop: The Riverwalk in San Antonio.

But first …

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THREE POINTERS

Slow, slow motion

One play, fourth quarter, that pretty much sums up one of the worst games Andrea Bargnani’s had in some time.

He gets the ball out beyond the arc on the left side with, I believe, David West guarding him.

Bargnani waits, and waits, and waits. He makes a head fake and a jab step and goes nowhere. He can’t decide whether to shoot or drive or what. The seconds tick off the clock, I think I might have dozed off for a minute or two and, finally, you can almost hear him say, “screw it, I can’t figure out what to do” so he passes the ball back to Jose, who has to fire up about a 27-footer at the shot clock buzzer that misses badly.

Terrible possession late in a very bad game and if he’s playing like that, they’ve got no shot to win.

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Helluva job

Let’s say you’re an NBA head coach and you’re on the road and your team’s playing its third game in four days against a pretty good team.

You look down the bench and see:

Ed Davis, rookie; Sundiata Gaines, still learning the names of his teammates; Joey Dorsey, game but under-sized; Solomon Alabi, rookie.

There are no shooting guards or small forwards. No experience, no shooters, no nothing.

And someone your team is in the game until the final seconds?

I tell ya, they should have fully guaranteed the third year of Jay’s contract last night for the way he managed that motley crew.

“We tried to keep it as ugly as we could.”

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Knowing your opponent

First Toronto possession of the game, Andrea – when it looked like he might be okay – gets the ball on the left baseline, makes a move on David West, who’s the only guy covering him, and draws a foul.

While Bargnani’s at the line, Hornets coach Monty Williams finally gets the attention of Trevor Ariza, who is guarding Julian Wright and makes sure Ariza knows it’s okay to go double Bargnani when that situation arises again.

Bargnani never really got a clean post up again and the Hornets knew that Wright wouldn’t kill them.

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A wee bit more.

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Have to say: A piano, a clarinet, a bass, a drum kit, a couple of friends and an Abita or two makes for a lovely Bourbon Street evening.

Fritzel’s, if you’re ever here.

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Ah, Jarrett.

Caught up with the familiar face on the bench before the game and he seemed quite content.

No harsh words for the Raptors (although he said he was disappointed with how the final day in Toronto unfolded) but overall he sounded like, as they say, in a happy place.

“It’s a peace of mind just knowing what it is. There was a lot of, I guess, things that were unspecified when I was in Toronto, I didn’t know if I was going to play 40 minutes or 17 minutes or 20 minutes. Here? I pretty much know what it is.

 

“I mean, would I like to play more? Who wouldn’t? But it’s the situation and you have to know it’s bigger than you and you have to go with it. It gives you some peace of mind when you know what it is every single day when you step on the court. You know when you’re going in, you know when you’re coming out. It kind of relaxes you in a sense and that kind of relaxation I didn’t have in Toronto my last year.”

Pretty valid point, I guess.

And then he goes out and has 17 points just to make his point, I guess.

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Oddest sights from a couple of nights on Bourbon?

The seven or eight rather, um, beefy fellows, obviously over-served, walking up the street on a quite cool Sunday night wearing nothing but jeans and aprons.

Ugh.

A wedding procession of about 40, led by bride and groom and a horn player, walking up the middle of the street, making us all feel like wedding crashers.

They didn’t seem to care.

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Here’s what Jimmy Smith had to say in the pages of the Times-Picayune.

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I don’t know if it was just for us but the trumpet player who did O Canada in New Orleans was named Glenn Hall III.

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Got this out of the mail and more than one of you pointed it out:

Q: Hey Doug. I was shocked to notice today that Vince Carter scored his 20,000th career point, making him 37th on that list. Now, I am not suggesting VC is a Hall of Famer, because I personally believe to be a Hall of Famer you have to win something or be pretty darn close. Of the 36 people ahead of him, only Mitch Richmond (#35) and Tom Chambers (#36) are not in the Hall of Fame. (Of course the likes of Shaq, Kobe, Garnett, Payton will be in there eventually). I can't help but look at that stat and just dwell on what could've been? Not what could've been of Toronto, but what could've been of Vince Carter. He had the skills to be one of the greats and I can't help but seem disappointed by how is career turned out. I feel like he had all the talent in the world to be in the Top 15 of all time, but he did not have that desire that MJ or Kobe or even LeBron has. With that said, when VC's career is over, what would you take from it? What would you remember him for?

 

Dave R, Markham

A: My first reaction:

Wow.

20,000?

That’s a lot of points, wonder how many I saw.

Anyway, there is a phrase I use to describe Vince that I’ve been using for quite some time and it’s this:

He did not take responsibility for his greatness.

I mean, that kid could have been special but he just couldn’t come to push himself to the absolute limits of his abilities because he wasn’t strong enough of mind, or interested enough in maximizing his talents or what.

And when his career is over, I will be left with an empty feeling when I think of what he was as opposed to what he could have been. I feel a bit cheated. I also feel very lucky to have seen him when he was pushing himself – and he did at times, just not often enough – and the few moments of jaw-dropping moves and dunks will have to do.

I do know this: There are people in the game – players who had more desire but not as much talent, coaches who saw so much untapped talent – who are angry that he wasn’t more than he was.

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Here’s a travel Did You Know

Did You Know that you cannot fly from New Orleans to San Antonio without stopping somewhere? Seriously. Two major centres, pretty close together and you either have to change in Houston or Dallas to get from one to the other.

Yep, long day ahead pour moi.

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Hey, you want to do mail, or say hello, or whatever?

Do it here, make my day.

Comments

[MrManswell]

What are the odds that Chris Bosh gets named to the Allstar Game for the East? You have Garnett, Amare as the two forwards and most likely Hortford or Andrea backing up Dwight.

Blogger's note: Slim

[Tom]

I am envious of your bourbon street experience. For myself, sitting here in cold and snowy Sudbury ON, I've had to make do with a fireplace and itunes. Been listening to a lot of Chet Baker late at night. Give it a listen as I think you'd like it. He has lots of stuff on youtube. Me recommendation as a starting point is "Almost Blue".

As for our HOTHC, I am finding it more and more difficult to watch. I can only imagine how it feels to be a pro athlete and try to keep your concentration as you enter the dog days knowing that wins are so hard to come buy. I want to give special kudos to Calderon who has played very well this year despite being traded once, belittled endlessly on the interwebs, and playing through injuries. All the while expressing how much he loves Toronto and loves being a Raptor. He's a special kind of pro athlete and I, for one, would love to see him continue, and eventually end, his career in Toronto.

[Michel G]

I like Andrea, but if he doesn't score, he's invisible. My goodness, he had only 4 rebounds in 42 minutes on a night when the Hornets shot 39%. Jose couldn't score if his life depended on it, but he contributed 13 assist, 5 boards and played decent defense on Paul. There's different ways that Andrea can help his team win. Maybe he'll get that one day?

[Michael]

Haha, I doubt that Andrea will be backing up Dwight, maybe if the Raptors had a better record...

[Geoff Read]

Michel G - couldn't agree more on Jose. He's a great team-first guy who may not be an A-list point guard but is a pretty darn good B-list one.

I wonder if Bargs was just tired last night? Or maybe he's sick or something. Sometimes we forget that pro athletes go through the same ups and downs we all do over the course of the year.

[sam]

Andrea is a bit of an enigma. Just when you need him to step up the most he has what can only be considered a notihng game. Now I don't know if he was under the wearther - or what, but it seemed he was just lost out there yesterday. He couldn't buy a basket if his life depended on it.
DD seemed to rise to the occasion as did Amir -

[LeeZ]

Two images are etched in my mind about how to rebound and how not to rebound. Image no. 1: Reggie Evans. I was watching a game earlier this year where Reggie was drawn out to the top of the key because he was guarding an Andrea-clone. So Reggie, who will never be confused with a speed demon, lunges out (TO THE TOP OF THE KEY) and gets a hand in the shooter's face. The ball bounced off the rim but only bounced about a foot away. So. Who do you think got the rebound? Reggie, of course. Because as soon as he contested the shot, he pivoted quickly back to the basket. And this isn't just an isolated incident. He does that all the time. Image no. 2, taken from pretty much any Raptors contest. Andrea is guarding his man about 10 feet from the hoop. Stands fully erect, with both hands straight up to contest the shot. So far, so good. And then, once the shot goes up? He maintains that same pose. One one thousand, two one thousands, three one thousands...yes, Andrea still hasn't moved. It's like he's posing for a Rodin sculpture or something. So my question, Doug (yes, I do have one), is this: can Reggie not teach Andrea how to not, um, well, be a stiff? Is there in fact no one, fellow player or coach, who works with him on this stuff? And do you foresee a time when Jay gets so pissed off that he benches him for a game?

Blogger's note: A game? No, can't ever envision that.

[Lorie]

@Tom
I couldn't agree more about Jose. If I didn't think the resulting backlash from the Debbie Downers and Morose Malcolms around here would sweep this little blog right off its cyber moorings, I would suggest that plans should be initiated to honour Jose Calderon when he retires (one hopes in a Raptor uniform) in some manner recognizing his outstanding commitment to the team, to Raptor fans and more importantly, to the game - with or without a Championship. Just a superb athlete and person. But to suggest something like that, well, that would be silly of me wouldn't it??? (Now if he personally were to be the one to nail that 3-pointer taking The Streak to the 1,000 mark....!) And "Almost Blue" followed by his "Time After Time" and then "My Funny Valentine" fulfills a personal trifecta of soothing sounds. Let it snow. Cheers.

[Mike Ulangot]

Thank you Jarrett for proving that Triano sucks. Guy still can't manage playing time and player rotations.

Haha "things that were unspecified"?! What kind of coach doesn't specify playing time and player rotation?

[neil]

Doug, what was the issue with JJ's last day in Toronto?

Blogger's note: Having it out in the media and having to duck out of practice. Just a tough day

[kyrie irving]

Dear Raptors can we please stop playing Andrea as a C. He is my fav player but lets get real. he is not a centre. let's start using him the way the mavs use Nowitzki. the mavs have lost 9 of last 11 (since losing Dirk). & Raptors media made the raps win over mavs sound like the biggest upset in franchise history. What a joke...

Blogger's note: You mean at the high post or elbow shooting jumpers or going into the lane and shooting 12-footers. You know, like Bargnani and Nowitzki do? Can we please stop getting hung up on archaic position names?

[Jay Menard]

Chicken reference on SI! Zach Lowe gives the Raptors' mascot its due. Thought you'd be interested: http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2011/01/17/monday-musings-playoff-picture-takes-shape/

[Pipit]

Pretty nice take on the Vince fellow. Guess for him, basketball is not his only world that is why he didn't have that kind of passion and desire the greats have. That won't make him less of a man. Nevertheless, he's still one of the best and scoring that much points in his NBA career is a great achievement any man could have.

[CM]

Agree with Mike Ulangot. Further proof - look at how Hedo was used vs how he is being used in Orlando. All of a sudden he is effective again. He isnt a spot up wing shooter, which ws how Triano used him much of the time. Bryan Colangelo put together a very good team last year with one huge mistake..having an unproven coach lead a veteran team.

Blogger's note: Spot up wing shooter? Did you take last season off?

[The J]

I have been a prototypical VC-Booing Raps fan over the years, but on many levels I have wanted to see him succeed. I was dissapointed in many of the things he did here in TO, but perhaps more disappointed that he never went on to become the player we all knew he could become. At least he gave us a lot of entertainment and a lot of thrills before dunking became overrated. And I still can't help but wonder what would have happened if he skipped convocation and got his degree in the mail. Come to think of it, why didn't I skip my convocation? Man, that was boring.

[HopeCaper]

Hey Doug, thanks for keeping the Raps alive and trivia in its place. It would be interesting to see how many games the Raps have lost by fewer than 10 points this year considering the staggering amount of injuries they have had and what would their season look like if they had won those games?

[GM]

* I have the benefit of rewatching plays on the PVR so it's understandable you might miss something. In that Bargnani play you mention, he actually got the ball to Jose with 5 seconds on the shot clock. Your bigger point still holds, though, but it's not as if Jose had to jack something up immediately. As we all know, five seconds is a lot of time in the NBA.
* Similar to that, during the in-game blog, I commented that Jose should shoot when he gets to the rim rather than whip it back out to, in this case, Gaines for a 3-point attempt. For one thing, you yourself note how bad the Raps 3-point shooters are. You responded that I didn't see THREE HORNETS (your caps) at the rim. My trusty PVR, on replay, showed there to be but one. Granted, it was Okafor so Jose's shot may have been swatted. But I'd take my chances. It looked to me like he was there in time and had a decent attempt. He could also shield the ball and try to draw a foul, which would still be a better option. The drive and dish to a 3-point shooter is great if the guy hits, but if not, not so great. It used to drive me nuts when Tim Hardaway did it with Riley's Heat. He'd be at the rim then go for the money ball.
* One of the reminders I have that I am no spring chicken anymore is that I saw Chet Baker play live in a small club in Vancouver, probably around 1981. He's one of my favourite trumpet players -- but one of my least favourite singers.

[doug]

some of the comments here just leave me shaking my head incredulously at times...Andrea had a bad game, it happens, it's not at if he wasn't trying...the more he was missing and couldn't get into the flow the more you could see him losing his confidence and starting to aim and not shoot ...it happens and Hedo's lack of success here had nothing to do with Jay, as Doug said did some of these people even watch the games last year??...and in Phoenix it was the same playing with one of the best guards in the game, Nash, he was also a bust...you know why he is so effective in Orlando??, it's not rocket science you have a immovable force in the middle in Howard who makes all around him better...Hedo just hangs around the periphery, watch the Magic games, he can get away with playing lazy whereas as we saw with other teams it never worked...Jay and his staff are doing a excellent job, if you see the progress of DD, Davis,Amir...how Jose is playing...coaches rotations, court time allocation can always be questioned and quite frankly Jarrett Jack is full of s**t, he received the court time he deserved, when he was having effective games he played, when he wasn't he didn't...and look at the box scores for Jack since he's been a Hornet , he is what he is a middling guard, he is a "tweener" and effective in spurts...he looks for his own and can't run a offense on a full-time basis..

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Howdy Doug,
Hope Texas is treating you right proper. Fully agree with your assessment of HWSNBN. But as much as his NBA peers and sports writers and fans will likely always have that hollow, sort of bitter-tasting impression about what "could have been", think about how he's going to end up feeling about himself one of these days not too awfully long from now. What a monumental waste of over-the-top god-given talent he'll be living with into his dotage. I'd hate to be in those shoes. I'd hate to be in a position to have to maybe answer to a daughter's questions about how her dad once had something pretty special going on, and then...
@Tom, nice props for Jose. Nice props for Mr. Atkins, too. I listen to a lot of Chet, and love his music... until he opens his mouth to sing, and then it all goes to hell because all I can think of is those old Droopy Dog cartoons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q84oP5JilU&feature=related
Ah well... cheers. Go Raps! Get Bargs some smelling salts and a hypnotist, quick!

[Lawrence]

"With great power comes great responsibility"

That's Peter Parker's Uncle Ben telling him why he's got to be Spiderman.

It's also Doug Smith's take on Vince Carter. Pretty cool.

[Kent]

Vince definitely underachieved but he will make the Hall of Fame. He will be regarded as the Dominique Wilkins of this generation.

Andrea making the all-star team ahead of Bosh? putting up 19 and 8 on a team with Wade and LeBron is 100 times harder than putting 22 and 6 on a team with nobody else. Put it this way, if Bargnani was on Miami, what would he average? 10? 12?

[sam]

Apparently it's Jays turn to be whipping boy by some of the huddled masses.

Jarrett Jack said things weren't specified - and somehow this makes Triano a bad coach? Jay has done one heck of a job in the last couple of weeks putting a competitive team on the floor with out the aid of a full roster of healthy bodies.

[Mike kovacs]

When you are on the RiverWalk do you still have to be careful of all the bird droppings?

[Tom]

@Lorie

Thanks for the response Lorie. A hot apple cider cheer back atcha. I stumbled across Baker's version of "as time goes by" the other day. Wow!! Also, "sweet smell of success" comes out on blu ray soon and the soundtrack to that is fantastic.

Sometimes it's nice to drown out our announcers (no offence guys) and let the tunes play during the game and jazz seems to suit basketball very well although, in regards to the current state of our beloved Raptors, perhaps a little Buddy Guy blues are in order.

[Kenny]

One of the best takes I've read on Vince's career with the most succinct closing: "I just could have done without the diabolical casualness of his career. And I could have done without the 48-point reminder that he was an Allen Iverson heart away from burning this place to the ground."

http://www.hardwoodparoxysm.com/2010/02/09/vince-carter-went-nova-sigh/