Forget the game, mourn the streak

Of course someone should have hit a three at the buzzer to win that one, it would have been fitting, right?

But with this team, it would have been reviewed, ruled a two and they would have lost in overtime on a missed three

Anyway …

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THREE POINTERS

The right move?

Fair amount of consternation in some parts over the defence on Rudy Gay on the final Grizzlies possession.

No double team?

Well, I guess they could have.

But ask yourself this: What’s the one thing this team does maybe worse than anything on the defensive end?

Rotate.

So why get all kinds of guys moving when Gay had two accomplished scorers down low in Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol that he’d surely pass to the minute a second defender ran at him. And by the time it takes a second guy to get to him at the top of the key, bang, the pass is made.

As it was, they had Amir Johnson stay on the right side, where everyone knew Gay was going, the forced him away from the basket and into a fadeway shot.

He made it. Good on him.

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Good game? So-so game

Ed Davis sure looked good at times in the fourth quarter, didn’t he?

Three of his five blocked shots, solid post defence, strong play and good weak side help.

Laudable, all of it.

Wasn’t it, Jay?

“Ed played well in the fourth quarter. Blocked a couple of shots there in the fourth quarter and caused some problems but we needed him to get some defensive boards earlier and help us out on the glass a little bit.”

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But, oh, if they could

Not a bad post-game quote from Jay that kind of sums up the night.

At least the part where the Grizzlies hammered the Raptors on boards, turned 18 offensive rebounds into 27 second-chance points that was the difference in the game.

“We hold this team to 44 per cent shoot and it’s a pretty good job. Again, too many offensive rebounds for them but it’s not like we can pop a pill and get stronger for one game and then try to get quicker for another. We are who we are, we’ve got to be better.”

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Want some more?

Hope so.

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Okay, this isn’t going to mean anything to some of you but it does to some insiders.

Bryan Colangelo spent about $40,000 Monday night so (a) he wouldn’t embarrass his coaching staff and roster and (b) to give fans something close to their money’s worth.

How?

By signing Sundiata Gaines to what may amount to a one-day contract.

Early in the afternoon, there were plans to sign Trey Johnson to a 10-day contract. He’s the kid who’s leading the D League in scoring (which means very little) but they can sure use a backup 2-3 here.

And then Jose got sick.

Now, Bryan could have gone ahead with his commitment to Johnson and let Jay send out a team in front of the home fans with Jerryd Bayless as the starting point guard and Julian Wright or DeMar DeRozan, pick your poison, as the backup.

He couldn’t in all good conscience do that so they got a hold of Gaines, who hadn’t left town yet, gave him 10 more days (worth about $40,000 with his experience) and he’ll likely be waived today or tomorrow to make room for Johnson. Gaines gets paid in full, regardless, the Raptors get the wing they need to plug a huge hole and the bottom line’s a tiny bit off.

Not a big thing, no, but something.

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How’d that play in Memphis?

Well, I didn’t see a Commercial Appeal writer here so let’s see what they had.

(Not much, as it turns out)

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We mourn the streak.

Some more than others (hi, Lorie!) but I think most do.

It wasn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things but it was pretty neat. It was something no other team had ever done, it lasted about a month short of 12 years (yeah, more than a decade) and it was kind of fun. So mock if you will but we all need a wee bit of levity in our lives, right? And if you don’t, I’d suggest therapy.

Some facts, unearthed by J. LaBumbard and his crack PR staff and stuff we were reminded of every game in the notes:

On Feb. 24, 1999, Celine Dion won Record of the Year and Song of the Year for My Heart Will Go On; on Feb. 26, 1999, the streak began. The streak aged better than she did.

Since the streak began, the iPod, Blue Tooth, the hybrid car and YouTube were invented; and I don’t know how to use any of them.

If you took Game 1 off to go to the movies, you could have seen October Sky, Office Space (neither of which I recall) as well as My Favourite Martian, which did not star the Phoenix Suns centre, sadly.

The total: The Raptors made 5,876 three-pointers in the streak and you can guess the top five, no?

If you can’t, don’t scroll down quite yet. But write down the names in order and if you get them right, give yourself a pat on the back.

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Okay, so they got rid of Giorgos Printezis in the Ajinca trade and I won’t have to worry about answering questions about him any more.

And I’m quite glad that none have you have caught on to the fact they still own the rights to DeAndre Hulett (second round, 46th overall in 2000) and asked about him.

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This is why I don’t mind spending the decompression hour post-game in the Harbour Sports Grille.

Walk in there Monday, see familiar and friendly faces, and they’ve got on the blues station on the Galaxie satellite service and it’s very, very, very cool.

I got some Makin’ Whoopee, Walking to New Orleans and, because Super Son’s a Pat Carey student, the Downchild Blue’s Band doing For Pete’s Sake made me sit up and take notice.

And may make me do something about satellite radio for the stinky Ford Focus.

I don’t know music, but I know I like that.

Question of the day: Memphis blues or New Orleans jazz?

(What? You want to do all basketball? These dudes are 13-32!)

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We still mourn the streak.

Not unlike the fact we mourn the 12 arenas that no longer exist as NBA venues but in which they made at least one three.

They are:

Market Square, Miami Arena, GM Place, Alamodome, The Spectrum, The Pyramid, Reunion Arena, Compaq Center, Charlotte Coliseum, Key Arena, IZOD Centre and Amway Arena.

Of those, I miss Market Square and Key Arena the most.

(In case you were wondering).

Oh, the answer from above:

Easy, peasy, right?

Mo Pete (801), Vince Carter (551), Andrea Bargnani (478), Anthony Parker (342) and Jose Calderon (300).

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All right, off to practice soon to maybe meet the new guy and see who got hurt last night.

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Comments

[Pipit]

I knew it. It's inevitable. Doug's defense on the coaching staff on the last play. Ridiculous! Clearly, it's a wrong decision not to double the best player on the last play where almost everybody knows that there will be an isolation for Rudy Gay. It's unfathomable on why Triano simply left Julian Wright to be torch out there by Rudy Gay. And its laughable that you Doug is saying that it is hard to leave two accomplished scorers (Randolph and Gasol) down low. I'm frustrated at you Doug because do you think we don't know basketball. When you double team, it's a given that the one you leave behind will be situated outside and is not a pure shooter. Last night that would be Conley. An outside shot will always be a low percentage shot compared to the one made inside and that's what happened last night because of the coaching staff's decision to play straight up. Also, 10 ft away from the basket fade away shot. Rudy Gay will make 9 out of 10 of those shots everytime. It's an easy shot by a good NBA player.

[Pipit]

Also, Amir Johnson is not on the right side. He's near the left elbow guarding a big. He was not even near Rudy Gay when the last play develop. The closest Raptor player is DeRozan but its hard to say that he made a mistake because he's guarding a good shooter on Mayo.

[MikeH]

Mike Judge (King of the Hill, Beavis and Butthead)is who wrote and produced Office Space.

Sorry Thane.. I just couldn't let it slide haha Parker and Stone were not involved with this movie.. Check imdb.com if you have your doubts..

[Penguin]

I am REALLY hoping that a young Bayless will mature into a solid PG. Right now, the jury clearly is out. The most successful teams seem to be those that make quick passes with lots of touches and no one holding the ball too long. Bayless' tendency to dribble as much as he does is beginning to remind me of TJ Ford and that is not a good thing.
As for the streak, I can't say that I really care or am surprised that it ended. With Kleiza, Barbosa, and Calderon all out last night, Bargs was the only real 3-point shooter out there. The odds were pretty good that the steak was going to end, barring a surprising trey by someone like Gaines or Bayless (desperate to shoot because his dribbling had run out the clock).

[Sean]

When the streak started, the Grizzlies were still in Vancouver.

[Simmer]

Thanks for the link Karen, good read. Amazing to see the kind of insight BC gives to a fan.

[HopeCaper]

Hey Doug, so yet another icon bites the dust. I think Bob Macowan said it best (or didn't depending on your perspective) when he said that with this team, due to injuries, it is impossible to judge not only its value but its potential. It just is. Maybe that's why we haven't had all of the angst that we've had over the past years. Anyway whatever the reason I'm thankful because I really find it boorish how people go through the ups and downs of a player's day to day performance. Just too much of an emotional roller coaster for me. I predict that once these guys get healthy I think we are gonna be surprised at how much better this team is than it has shown so far.

[Kent]

Gay hit the exact same shot over Lebron like 2 weeks ago; that's his pet move. If he can hit it over Lebron, he can hit it over Julian Who. Not sure about double teaming, but at least force him left or shade the defense to keep Gay out of his sweet spot.

Instead of signing Gaines for one more day, maybe they should have spent the 40K on scouting reports.

[doug]

you know some mention has to go out to Bayless he played a strong game and ran the offense well, he definitely prefers starting over coming off the bench..in that situation it's a no-brainer you can't double Gay, for one the Grizz had the ball with 18 seconds left to start with, that allows the Grizz player to get set-up get their spacing etc...if their was 6 seconds left it's a different story as everyone would be bunched up etc...it was a time element, and Gay if doubled then would have just dished it off and even a foul shot would have won it...so it was played out properly...and if you can find a player that can hit that shot 9/10 times well good for you, there's not many around...but all that being said i wish a NBA coach would try this strategy sometimes, as I would and last night was the perfect time to try it...you know in the NFL if there is like a minute left, you have no timeouts and the other team is on your 5 yard line, just going to run the clock down and attempt a easy FG to win it with no team left on the clock, well now sometimes the other team will just allow them to score so as to get the ball back and at least have a chance...well last night when there were 18 seconds left, i would have told my guys, if we don't get a quick steal or have them in trouble foul them with 9/10 seconds left...why??...well for one thing they may not make both, for another we get the ball back and have a chance to tie, or in fact win on a 3 pointer or 3 point play, plus the other team wouldn't be expecting it, would be expecting you to defend looking for last shot...so ball may go into someones hands who they don't necessarily want on the line...I would do it especially at home...takes pressure off your D and changes the dynamics around...it should be done more often or in fact done at least once...coaches sometimes need to think outside the box...

[fg]

haha I knew that there would be the HOMER attitude on actually talking or wrting about the streak, like it means something.

Just shows the mentality of the organizaion, they talk about the 3 point streak , not the losing streak....
And i gaurentee that the coachs and players, and head office people actually sit at there meetings and bring that up lol....

good organizations wouldnt even have a second to look at such a silly thing.

[GM]

* It was fun reading the IGBT late last night knowing the streak had ended. It sure was mentioned a lot during the game, making the IGBT one of the best.
* With Jay lamenting the rebounding, would you still trade Reggie for a lesser rebounder? The team doesn't need more scorers (when everyone's healthy), but they sure do need some tough guys who give the scorers second-chance points.
* Blues or jazz? Jazz every single time. Even though they're often lumped together, I'm not a fan of the blues at all. The odd blues number in a jazz set is fine and dandy, but the blues' chord progressions are all the same (give or take) and it bores me silly after one tune.
* @JoeD posted a comment after last night's IGBT that might be missed so I'm going to repost it for him because it needs to be said. I was thinking the exact same thing: "Do you think Armstrong and Devlin could concentrate on doing the play by play and colour. No, we have to listen to some dribble about a lame tee shirt throughout the whole first quarter. Then in the third, at lesst 7 minutes of the qualities of the Pittsburg Steelers ownership. To add insult to injury, instead of showing any game action we have to look at Rod Black."
Matt and Jack frustrate me so much. I just want to yell "Focus, fellas!" every single game. They blather on and on making each other laugh, but probably very few others, while the game is going on. I can understand if it's garbage time, but they don't care. They'll do it anytime. Do Toronto fans still need to be infantilized? Are they told to make the broadcast as "entertaining" as possible so as to attract new non-basketball fan viewers? I'm afraid all it does is turn away actual basketball fans. You know, the streak may not be all that important in the grand scheme of things, but at least it's basketball related. The broadcast would rather make stars of the freaking announcers by having them put out CDs and T-shirts and talk about themselves for half the game. Where's a CD with players singing horribly? How about a T-shirt commemorating the streak? Something to do with basketball.
(Okay, breathe...)

[doug]

since it is Oscar nomination day..this cold weather allowed me to catch up on my movie viewing...last night after the raps game I watched "The Fighter", excellent movie, very compelling and Christian Bale deserves every award he gets for his performance...night before watched "True Grit" another fine piece of work and that young girl in it deserves a Oscar nod as she made the movie....watched "Black Swan" it to is a fine look into the psyche of a ballet dancer..Inception i have seen 3 times and one needs to do so to even grasp it...still on my list Winter's Bone, 127 hours, and the Kings Speech...there were some fine hollywood flicks last year, not common...oh and Blue Valentine is another good one...ok now that I am speaking of Arts nothing beats Memphis Blues just for it's emotion it dredges up, going to Chicago and sitting in those old Blues bars there, nothing better...starting with Buddy Guys place and ending with Kingston Mines one can't go wrong...

[Saadles]

Office Space was actually written and directed by Mike Judge, he of King of the Hill and Neavis and Butthead fame, and remains one of the most searingly bitter and hilarious look at modern corporations and the cubicle dwellers unhappy existence. I also highly recommend October Sky, Doug, it remains one of my favorite films and one of a handful of movies that everyone of all ages can enjoy. Plus it's a movie about the childhood of NASA engineers, what other movie can lay claim to such a feat?

[m]

@joeu
"And of the more important question:
B.B. King, Robert Johnson, Howlin Wolf, Junior Wells, the cradle of Sun records ... I'm going with Memphis "

Actually Robert Johnson was a Mississippi Delta bluesman while while Wolf and Jr. Wells are Southside Chicago bluesmen.

[Thane]

Right you are, Mike. My bad.

Still a great film though. =)

[sam]

@Pippit.... with your knowledge of the NBA game I'm surprized your not the head coach of a NBA team - yeesh!

[RaptorMike]

Hey Doug,

Shouldn't Skydome (Rogers Centre now) be one of those retired arenas that the streak occured in? If my memory serves me right, ACC opened in Feb 1999.

[RaptorMike]

Disregard the last post, ACC had been open a week. My bad math.

[Lawrence]

Hey Doug, I like your choice for your Top 5 within the streak. I personally would change the list to Top 17 as Donyell Marshalls 12-19 threes in a game (First one to beat the record before Kobe tied it) clearly stands out the most to me.

[DMcCalgary]

Yeah, the Jack and Matt show is frustrating sometimes, but why make such a big deal of it? Jack in particular knows the game so well that more of his insight would be appreciated much more, but frankly when play is on, I'm not listening to these guys anyway. I don't need them to tell me what I'm seeing myself. Turn the sound off and have some good tunes playing in the background. Much better.
As for the people constantly second guessing JT's decisions and spewing that he's not a real coach, do us (including yourself) all a favour: pick any of the coaches you feel are legit, follow every game as closely as you do the Raps, and see if there aren't just as many coaching decisions you'll second guess. In that position, you have to make spur of the moment decisions. Sometimes they work, sometimes not. Jay's doing a fine job with the limited talent, experience, bodies he's has on this team. Regardless of the win/loss record, this team is enjoyable to watch because of their hard work and lack of quit in them. Put that on the coach, and not nit-pick on this or that play that you may not be aware of even half the factors that went into the decision.

[Jamieson]

*sigh*...I miss Mo Pete...

[The J]

Hmm.. I can't help but wonder with this Franchise's tendency to celebrate every little detail (like the "15 years" celebration of last season, "and now a video montage of Pape Sow's contributions to the team"), I wonder how long till we have "the streak" day. Maybe they will have a big ceremony and bring the streak down to the court to honour it. They'll give away "streak" bobbleheads, and lift a banner to rafters. After the game the team will be asked useless questions about how they feel to have lossed the game on a night honouring the streak. Then they will announce a "streak" family pack of tickets in a desperate ploy to get people back to the games. "Pick up your streak family pack and join the Raptors for the second half of the season as they make their push to the playoffs".

[doug]

@DMcCalgary...kudos to you well said...I don't mind Jack and Matt at all, to me they are no different then me sitting in a bar and watching the game with some of my buddies...I don't need to have the game explained to me, or need to hear a breakdown of the action incessantly as Leo does...Jack and Matt just blab away, as my friends and i do if in a bar or anywhere watching a game... what were blabbing about is nothing game related ..but were watching the game and focus in when need be...also to some that say good at least we get a higher draft pick when the draft comes around...that kind of statement perplexes me as the draft is a crapshoot...you want a example, in last night's game there were 2 players chosen in the same draft, one on the raps, one on the Grizz...one was drafted 2nd overall, one was drafted I believe 9th overall, one had 0 points and played .08 seconds and the other played 41 minutes and had 25 points..be careful what you wish for...

[Mr. Cook]

Doug, I just had the privilege of sitting and reading all the comments posted so far with a friend of mine who also happens to be a grad student in psychology working on concepts around instant gratification / the internet / the ability to project who you want to be onto the internet. Sure, it was grounded in comedy and not in real academia but it was the best time I've ever had reading these and maybe some day someone will make you laugh as hard while soaking up the angst.

[Kent]

"*sigh*...I miss Mo Pete..."

WHY? people outside of Toronto laugh at us for giving people like Mo Pete, JYD, Anthony Parker such legendary status.

Blogger's note: No they don't, they don't care