Good game, good plays and the ticket contest is back again

Sure, everyone saw that one coming, right?

Nice night, though and with more than 18,000 in the joint it was a rather good atmosphere. Maybe everyone’s getting geared up for Friday and Phoenix?

Anyway, as we await the trades, we offer …

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THREE POINTERS

Good calls, good execution

Want to know what the Raptors got out of two crucial timeouts late Wednesday? Good plays, good execution, and points.

The first comes with about 1:47 left, tie game, Bulls had just gone on a 7-0 run and the Raptors are reeling. They call a timeout, run a high-screen with Jose and Bargnani except the play’s got another option (“single away action” Jay called it) and Bargnani hits a curling DeRozan, who finishes at the rim.

Bulls tie it, Raps are in a tough offensive set when DeRozan’s trapped in the corner and wisely calls timeout with eight seconds on the shot clock.

Out of the timeout, they run a simple but effective play, DeRozan curls off a straight line set, gets a screen, gets on the baseline to the rim where he’s fouled and makes two free throws.

See? They can do it. And against a good team with time to set its defence.

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Go at him

Raptors as bullies?

Hardly.

But as we’re chatting with Jose after the game, he lets slip that Toronto knew precisely where to attack the Bulls.

“Korver was sometime on LB, sometime on DeMar. I was trying to find the guy being guarded by Korver and play the pick and roll with them.”

That’s going at the vulnerable and a good idea.

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Helluva move

The up and under move that Amir Johnson put on Carlos Boozer to put Toronto up four with about 17 seconds left might have been the best post move he’s made all season. Clutch play, he was in control and didn’t rush and did just what he should have – go right at a guy with five fouls.

Not bad at all.

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More?

Let’s start big.

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Hey, you got three friends?

How’d you like to take ‘em to Sunday’s game against Dallas, sit in some really good seats, say high to the Miller Genuine Draft people and eat and drink as you see fit? Sound good? Yeah, we’re back again with the MGD Best Seats In The House contest, this time it’s three sets of four tickets for Sunday.

I know we’re a bit rushed on this but entering in easy. Click here and fill in the form and be warned entries close at noon Friday so we can notify the winners Friday afternoon so make sure you provide an easily-accessible e-mail or phone number.

Good luck, see some of you there.

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Now, back to our regularly-scheduled Festival of Crankiness.

And it’s just before 8 a.m. and I’m wondering what channel the all-day telethon of Trade Deadline Day news is on? Anyone help a guy out?

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Oh, yes.

Trust me (or not, I really don’t care) but, yes, the Raptors did place a call to Utah to see if Deron Williams was available in the aftermath of the Jerry Sloan departure. Just like about 24 other teams would have.

But nothing came of it, there was no suggestion that the Jazz were even serious about moving Williams (I believe they wanted to see how he’d work with new coach Ty Corbin a bit) and the Nets thing came together quickly.

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You know how some of us thought Dan Gilbert was a bit off his rocker when he wrote that love letter to LeBron after The Decision?

Well, not sure what’s happened in that zany mind of his, but he’s signed off on a deal that brings Baron Davis to Cleveland? Is the guy bonkers?

Sure, the Cavs get a good first pick out of it and they lose Mo Williams and Jamario but, wow. Baron’s unmotivated at the best of times, taking an L.A. kid out of L.A. and dropping in Cleveland in February with the worst team in the league?

Oh, yeah. That’s going to work out really well.

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Hey, let’s check what K.C. had to say about that game last night, shall we?

Without peeking, I have a sneaky suspicion the story will centre on Chicago’s lame defence.

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Know what last night would have been, right?

Well, I know some of you know but it would have been Game No. 1,000 in the three-point streak.

How conflicted would you have been had they gone 0-5 from three but still beat the Bulls in one of their best all-around games of the year?

At least you could have sat around tomorrow and talked about it over a piece of pizza.

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You know a dude’s in deep when he’s on the next stool and you hear him say:

“The Clippers just covered the over.”

That’s kind of sad, isn’t it?

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This is what all-star weekend does.

You hear Lenny Kravitz and you smile.

Dude’s good.

Very good.

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I imagine some of the Irregulars would know how much my eyes rolled when I got this quote from James Johnson, who seems a likeable sort after a day.

“My plus-minus is outrageous so I’m going to play hard every time I strap up.”

That’s so wrong at so many levels; the cliché, the odd phrasing, the thought that individual plus-minus means anything.

But, I’ll give him the Day 1 benefit of the doubt because he also said this, about his uniform number.

"I want to start from zero and work my way up."

Around the Raptors, that’s Banya-esue gold, folks. Gold.

Now, I’m off to try the soup.

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A couple of guys reached Jerry Sloan yesterday afternoon to get his reaction to the Deron Williams trade and one thought came to mind:

Jerry Sloan has a cell phone?

I don’t know what I thought but a vision of a modern day Oliver Douglas up pole talking on some old fashioned phone came to mind.

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This might be among the more disturbing, and telling, things out there in the last day or so.

According to a report – and I cannot vouch for its veracity – the agent for Raymond Felton is going to meet with Denver general manager Masai Ujiri about whether or not his client is going to start for the Nuggets.

Now, I’m not naïve enough to think that it’s out of the ordinary for that to happen but you know what? That’s idiotic and if I’m Masai, I tell the agent to go find some endorsements or something for his client and let George Karl figure out what he wants to do with his point guard.

Yes, the inmates run the asylum but at some point, enough is enough.

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Okay, almost time to go sit in the office and see what transpires on the trade front to determine what, if anything, I have to write today. But it’ll also give me some down time to do mail so …

You know what to do. Write. Keep me company.

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Comments

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Arrgghhh. Even after a W.
I'm just going to take a wild stab at positing that we just might have our doug, our GM, sam, Rob V. and J (no, not that J, the other J) as "coming from" a point of view based on X number of years on this planet, and then we have our Kent, our Eddy, Nick, Kelsey and Aditya as "coming from" X fewer number of years on this planet. You've got your veterans; you've got your rooks. Same blog team, pulling for the same dear old NBA team... We're doing a fine job of keeping it in the locker room, but, HEY, where's the chemistry, people! Kumbaya, damn it! Time for our Rodney King moment: "Can't we all just get along?"
So, in the spirit of, well, spirit, how about a quote or two for, you know, the team, to cover, you know, everyone.
First, from Lenny Kravitz: "A dramatic thing, the first time you stand up to your dad."
And from Green Acres: Lisa Douglas: "When you married me you knew that I couldn't cook, I couldn't sew, and I couldn't keep house. All I could do was talk Hungarian and do imitations of Zsa Zsa Gabor."
Oliver Douglas: "Who?"
Okay, better everybody? Cheers. Go Raps!

[DaveT (Ottawa -- er, Dublin)]

I don't really know that I care too much about the debate, but while it's possible that Toronto post-Bosh is Minnesota post-KG, it's also possible that Toronto post-Bosh is Boston pre-KG...

[doug]

@D-Mac never was a fan of Kumbaya when we had to sing it in school it just made me upset,miserable , it had the reverse effect...no touchy, lovey feeling thing going on here...in terms of Green Acres we need to give a shout out (as the younguns say) to Arnold the pig, the other Ziffels, Sam and Hank Kimball..and just down the tracks, was Petticoat Junction...a fine family indeed..ok back to the action @ Jonathon you know the NBA is all about match-ups and neither the Bulls or Bobcats have a true wide bodied center that give Barg's trouble...

[sam]

@D-Mac Ottawa - The voice of reason and a welcome response!
Cheers

[GM]

@Kent, "Toronto post-Bosh era is Minnesota post-KG era."
I'd say Toronto pre-Bosh was worse, prospects-wise. That is, only good enough to be mediocre at best, which is worse in the long run. Do you honestly believe that if they found a way to keep Bosh, the Raptors would be playing above .500?

[Jim Rootham]

Doug

I do not understand your objection to +/-. Is it just because it's a hockey stat? I understand the problems with it when comparing players on different teams, but when comparing players at the same position on the same team with them both playing a reasonable number of minutes I don't see the issue.

The idea that it's a bad thing for a player to want to keep his +/- up is ludicrous. It's the one individual stat that perfectly matches team success. Keeping it up means playing team defense and team offense.

What's going on here?

Blogger's note: Individually, it's a meaningless stat.

[Penguin]

@Doug (poster), I don't disagree with your views about Sterling. Good points, but the quote isn't attributed to him but to a commentator in LA about the Clippers. In any case, many others have made similar comments about this year's draft, including our esteemed blogger, Doug Smith. I'm just saying that the Clips deal and comment seems to confirm that view.

[EM]

Benyaaaaaa: I didn't know you liked soup Jerry!?!?
Jerry: (sarcastically) Hard to believe.

[Matt M]

Perkins to Oklahoma. Well at least Ainge did what he could to make the Atlantic division a little weaker. Still not sold on the new look Knicks but the Nets seemed to get significantly better.

[Mike kovacs]

Doug does this mean that the trade exception can now only be used after the Raps season is done?

Blogger's note: No, can be used around draft time or in any trade with a team that's finished its season, either mid-April or when it's eliminated from the playoffs

[Aditya]

if ray felton wants to start, let him......really.....let him play the first 30 seconds of the game and sub him in for ty lawson......(if he really really wants to start)

[Lorie]

@D-Mac Ottawa:
Well, I'm better, and I wasn't even part of the problem!!!
And Doug, could you ever have imagined that Jamario Moon would be the key piece in a big trade involving Baron Davis. Funny world, eh?
Cheers!

[Kelsey]

If you all read my post today I gave props to Spectator aka Bargnani. But you all making sound like he is a legit #1 for a good team its your opinion. How many wins to Raptors have?

I said before Triano is not a good defensive coach and I guess his staff as well.

Ill say it again this team is going nowhere as long as Bargnani is #1 option. Face the facts. I hope Colangelo doesnt come back. If there is a new GM I gurantee that Bargnani is traded, gurantee!!!!!

[DMcCalgary]

sam at 1:48..... precious, just precious
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GM..."If the reason is because he believes God wants him to, that's just as loopy but the bottom line is the end result." you kill me dude

[J]

@D-Mac:

Thank you, but I'm not THAT old. Just don't feel the need to cry the sky is falling every few seconds. =)

@Jim Rootham:

I agree with you if you add one more qualifier. When you have a situation like last year, where Calderon and Jack both played about the same # of minutes with the starting lineup (which meant they played against similar competition overall), then I think the +/- with that starting lineup is a useful stat. If you're looking, however, at a player who played 24 mpg mostly vs starters against a player who played 24 mpg mostly vs subs, or when the other players on the floor differ drastically, then it's still pretty useless even with "reasonable" minutes.

@Kent:

Two years ago, I told someone that Portland was going to be a dominant force for years to come. They were a great looking young team with a lot of cap space. It was pretty clear. Then Darius Miles happened and the cap space went poof. Then Roy and Oden happened and the great looking young team went poof.

Before this year started, many people were up in arms about New Jersey being a contender. They seemed pretty sure. I laughed and the Nets proved me right. Then they traded for D-Will and now look a lot better. And the Jazz are up in the air.

Fact is, it's silly for anyone to pretend they can forecast this league (outside of a few teams). No, I don't think Toronto is one of the rosier situations in the league. No, I don't think Bargnani is a #1 player on a good team, if only because good teams tend to have a lot of great players. But I will enjoy watching DeRozen and Davis develop. And if they don't, since I do live in NYC, I'll just switch allegiance to the Knicks.

(Just kidding on that last one. I hate the Knicks. Go Raptors go!)

[J]

Minor correction (left out a few words)

... for anyone to forecast the league *beyond one or two years*