Stats and surgeries and some long ago TV memories

Oh yeah, it’s crazy early here, 4:25 a.m. by the clock in the corner of this screen, but there’s an early flight and no way I’m making you wait until after I get back to read these pearls of wisdom.

Have fun.

And if you see Super Son, make sure he’s got the driveway shoveled before I get back, would you?

Thanks.

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THREE POINTERS

Is he back?

Probably not, but that was the most active I’ve seen Ed Davis in the last couple of weeks, especially in the fourth quarter when he was able to find space in the Suns zone and had a couple of big buckets off great passes from Bargnani and Calderon.

Davis ended up with eight rebounds – the most he’s had in about five games – and he was far more into the fray than he’d been.

Who knows, it might translate into more playing time each night and the people who are shocked he’s not playing more simply because it’s that time of year will take it easy.

The Raptors know he’s a longer term piece than, say, Reggie Evans but they also know he’s got to play well to get some time and, before last night, he hadn’t been.

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Time to get cut?

Maybe not.

We were chatting with Leandro at shootaround Wednesday morning and the conversation, as it often does with him, got around to his health and, specifically, his wrist.

And it sounds like surgery, which we all expected right after the season ended, may not be such a sure thing.

“I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to have the surgery or not. I’m doing okay right now … It’s something I need to talk to the trainers about it and the organization and Bryan, too. It’s almost the end of the season, we’ll see.”

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The exuberance of youth

Twice in the first half, there were loose balls near the Raptors basket and twice they saved them from going out of bounds, only to throw them right to Suns for easy baskets.

Hair-pulling time for the coach, if he had more hair.

And it’s when he gave me the top quote in the game story.

“We saved the ball twice for them to get baskets. I mean, what is that? You can’t say that’s a bad play, you’re chasing after a loose ball, good hustle, experience says don’t throw it into the back court, throw it one of your teammates, don’t save a ball where you don’t know where it’s going.

“The energy and the effort is there, the basketball smarts has to keep improving.”

Seriously, that should be the working title of the post-season wrapup video.

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And, some more?

Okay.

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Hmm.

There are college games today?

A long flight back allegedly arrives late in the day?

Well, I see a night on the couch in my future and in the crystal ball, I see Duke, San Diego State, BYU and, sorry Jim, Butler, winning those college games.

Now, don’t go putting any wagers up on those but that’s where the interest will lie at Casa Doug.

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A little chance meeting the hallway after the game really hit home just how skewed my idea of professional athletes is.

Micah’s standing there with a couple of really regular looking guys chatting away and I have to stop to say goodbye and have fun in California and to maybe get some insight into what had just transpired.

Now, these two guys are obviously in pretty good shape and look like they know their way around the gym but, really, they are quite normal.

“Doug,” says Micah, “do you know these guys?”

Nope.

“This is Joey Votto.”

Oh, the Joey Votto? Extraordinary baseballer, great hitter, all-around good guy from everything I’ve read?

Yep.

And I guess it’s because I’m around rather giant guys so many days, the 6-8, 6-10, 7-foot specimens who play the game I cover, I was taken aback at how “normal” one of the greatest hitters in the game looked.

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All right, only two days left to get into the big contest to see who gets to go to the Bucks game next week – which will be then next time I see these fellows, by the way.

Click here to get into the MGD Best Seats In The House draw for one of six pairs of tickets. Good luck, hope it’s a handful of Irregulars who get to come and hang out but, believe me, aside from talking about it here, I have nothing to do with who wins or what.

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My Man Coro took the night off, the lucky sod, so here’s how his backup played that one in the pages, so to speak, of the Arizona Republic.

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Lots of Leandro time yesterday, as you’d expect.

A couple of guys got him at shootaround, along with the Toronto locals, of course, and when I came around the corner from the court to get Jay pre-game, Leandro was conducting a scrum with about 10 writers, and broadcasters.

You got the news about the wrist up above but the other cool thing?

Barbosa knows how to play the real estate game.

You should know that the Phoenix area was the hardest hit, housing-wise, in the US during that economic meltdown and there are more foreclosures and walk-aways here than anywhere.

Barbosa? Seems he’s like the Brazilian Trump.

"I had a house ... and I had condo, too.

“I actually was building a house here and I went over there to see how it was for the guy that I sold it to. It was pretty, man. It was pretty. That really gave me emotion. The market isn’t good so it was a good thing for me to sell.”

Yes, he really called the place “pretty” and that’s not a word you hear too many NBA guys use.

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Okay, this is going deep into bad-afternoon-TV-watching-while-writing stuff and not sure how many will get it.

Las Vegas is on in the background – I know, there was no CSI to watch – and it’s late in the series when Tom Selleck as Cooper had replaced James Caan/Ed Deline as the big shot.

Anyway, I’m listening and there are two guest stars who sound quite familiar and as the show goes on, it hits me:

It’s TC and Rick!

Talk about worlds colliding.

It’s like they dropped a casino in Hawaii!

(Now, go figure that one out)

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This has nothing really to do with last night’s game except it’s a stat I found out while reading pre-game notes.

Steve Nash has eight games this season with at least 20 points and 15 assists.

The rest of the NBA has seven.

Not bad.

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Okay, one more shot at the mail for you.

Write, click, send.

I’ve got some idle time coming up and what better way to spend some of than reading your innermost thoughts.

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Comments

[AT]

TC? Rick?? Should we know who they are?

Did you catch Hump's line from last nights game? 18 points and 23 rebounds. New career high and apparently set a record for Quickens Loan Arena

[Peter]

So was there a Ferrari and a cranky guy with a doberman or two as well?

[Tom]

Doug, now that making the play-offs is not mathematically possible what do you think of the idea of shutting Barbosa down and having surgery early. I think I read earlier that it would take 5+ months for recovery. With the development of the younger players being a priority, would it not make sense to go ahead with it and just play out the season with the young guys getting more minutes?

Blogger's note: Nope, not to me

[Lorie]

Dear Doug,
Ahhh. Magnum PI. You're talking to someone who never missed an episode. Just for the scenery. I swear. And those adorable dobermans. Now, about last night's game? I understand that Steve Nash has continued his own personal streak of not losing to a Raptors' team since 2001. Pretty impressive (and the Raps have had some decent teams in all those years) but I'm so conflicted. Cheer Steve? Boo Steve? I guess it's best to just appreciate what he does in a fan-of-what-is-best-about-the-game sort of way. Cheers and Safe Travels!

[Ken Leduc]

What no Jonathan Qualye Higgins the 3rd?

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Morning Doug,
Last night was all about Experience vs. Experiments, and it was still close. You look at all of that depth on the Suns roster – hell, in 15 years, Toronto has never had anything remotely close to a Nash or a Hill, and there's still another nine guys on the Suns that would have looked great on any Raps team over the years (plus one who did) – and really all you can do is give these young guys some credit for having a chance in as many game as they have. Jose's 13 assists were impressive, as were ED's 9 boards. Sonny had a good game going, until he decided to single-handedly shoot his team out of a nice little lead there in the fourth.
It's a strange sight, but well earned, watching HWSNBN play the role of cheerleader from the pine at crunch time.
Good travels and enjoy some down time, Doug. Cheers. Go Raps!

[LeeZ]

@D-Mac Ottawa: I think we Ottawa boys have a keen insight into what's going on, because you took the words right out of my mouth re: Weems. He made two nice plays on tough layups in the fourth, and then: 1) took a contested three with about three hours left on the shot clock; 2) took another ill-advised jumper, also early in the SC; 3) took a decent baseline mid-range jumper, but completely bricked it; and 4) made a nice steal, only to then completely lose control of the ball with no Sun within a square mile of him, then kind of regain control of it only to bounce it off his wrist right into the hands of a Sun player. All of that took place in the span of maybe two minutes at most. And that, as they say, was that. The Raps could have put away a tired team had we scored a couple of points in that stretch. Why Jay left him on the court I have no idea. Later on, Gortat was simply ABUSING Davis down under. I really felt sorry for Davis. Very much a case of man vs boy; not a fair fight at all. And so I started to curse Jay for not subbing in for Davis when he called the timeout. Until, that is, I asked myself who he could put in that would have a better shot at Gorat. Sadly, the answer was no one. Oh well. Oh and that block by José on Nash was MAGNIFICENT. You could tell José knew exactly what Nash was going to do, and after reading his mind, he picked his pocket.

[Peter]

Thanks for the blog Doug,

Now I'm going to have the Magnum PI theme song in my head all day!

[John D.]

With a stat like you mentioned about Nash, as his body of work over his career is finally measured, will he be a first ballot hall of famer without a championship?
Of course, I'm still hoping he gets one, I just hope it's when HWSNBN is on another team - of course if it happens when they are together, is it okay that I hope HWSNBN is off attending a ceremony for his post-grad degree or something like that!?

[Jack]

So everyone was talking about James Johnson and his defensive capabilities. Where was he during the end game? I would have thought that you counter Phoenix' offense with a good defense, so where are the defensive stalwarts? Toronto tried to match their offense with offense and it didn't work. Where was Triano's strategy of putting defensive specialists when they were on the defense? He did that a few times before and it worked. So their offense worked and Toronto's didn't.
Yes, Doug. This team needs hearts. A lot of hearts. And they will not come from the current line-up. Colangelo better use his monetary assets wisely.

[Felix G.]

Kris Humphries with 18p, 23r. Isn't he a more complete player than Bargs?

Great work, Doug, as always.

[Lyndon]

Hi Doug,

My buddy from Germany is traveling to Dallas just to see Dirk and the Mavs play a couple games. I'm going to join him to watch the Suns @ Mavs. So we're thinking its kind of funny how a two friends, one Canadian and one German, are traveling to Dallas to see two friends, one Canadian and one German, play against each other.

I was wondering if anybody, in the Mavs front office or in the media, would care to do anything special for my buddy considering how far he's traveling to watch the game, and that its his first and probably last time he'll be able to pull it off. So do you have any suggestions as to what type of person I would contact? I was thinking community relations guys or even the president's office.

Cheers. Love the blog, read it every day.

Blogger's note: Mark Cuban tends to answer every e-mail he gets

[Andi]

Hey Doug, long time reader, first time poster. Quite shocked to find out that you watched Las Vegas, one of my favourite shows, I was quite sad that it never got renewed for another season because they never closed out any of the story lines. Regarding the raptors, would you consider this season a failure or success? Personally, I would consider it a failure because my expectation for this season was defensive improvement, even a tiny litte bit of improvement, which on many nights is inexistant but on some nights we can see a hint of it. On that basis, I consider the season a failure (sure, there are alot of other positives). Until they learn to play defense, they arent going anywhere, and I'm not sure Jay is the right man for that. Cheers.

[The J]

Really thought last night was the time to finally pull out a win on Phoenix. Playing a back to back after going to triple overtime, I thought they would be sitting ducks. Goes to show you what a deep bench and well planned minutes for starters, especially Nash, can do. Also a reminder how far the Raptors are from where they want to be.

If it's 5 months of recovery, do they want to miss Barbosa at the end of this season, or the start of next season? My guess is it doesn't really matter either way. But I would still suggest get the surgery sooner than latter. The young guys can take advantage of the minutes now, and Barbosa can be ready to go as soon as the next season starts. That being said a lockout would make the discussion moot.

[Lake Simcoe]

Yes ED had some big plays, but I will argue that he is the (main) reason why Raps lost down the stretch. He allowed Gortat to score or pass at will. He was wide open at the other end which means the other Raps were locked so the offence went dead. When he got the ball, you knew what happened....

[Dee from Sauga]

Hi Doug,

Let's play a game of "NAME THAT GUY"

Here are your clues:
He was born in Detroit, Michigan.
He was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity
Was a member of the USC Trojans basketball team (on a scholarship)

Can you guess who he is?
Here's the gimmie clue that should help you out - He is also widely known for his moustache.

Interesting huh?

[Mr. Cook]

Just like to throw it out there that yesterday one of the NBA.com articles noted that Grant Hill leads the league in offensive fouls drawn. That's how you play the game kids--I hope one day they make a solid documentary about the character of Mr. Hill and what he went through and accomplished.

[Richard]

Well Doug, we can't say you didn't warn us yesterday. And though the first 3 quarters looked like they were positioning themselves for the win, letting a smart, experienced playoff sniffing team hang around is bound to bite you in the a$$. Even if that team is coming off a triple OT heart-breaker approximately 20 hrs. before. But your story this morning was bang on about their lack of "basketball smarts". For the Raps to win they had to run, run, run and play some tenacious D to wear the Suns down and take their legs out early. Instead, we play our usual jump-shooting game (though, to be fair, the shots were falling), some casual defense with slow rotations and going under screens to let them take/make 3s rather than running them off the line and making them work to score. A tired team with good 3 pt. shooting is only too happy to establish their scoring that way to keep it a 2 or 3 possession game and save their legs for the finish.
The Raptors needed to be (and could have been) up 20 or so mid-way through the 3rd Q to close out a weary, fatigued and injury depleted Suns. A little attention to defensive intensity and pushing the ball a little more on the break in the first half would have done the trick. Instead, it's all tied up with 12 mins. to play and and a playoff desperate team can smell "winning time".

But like you said (or quoted Jay) basketball smarts is probably where they need the most improvement. So thanks again for yesterday's reality check. That and the fact it helped keep Stevie Canada's team in the playoff hunt made the let-down a little gentler.

One other point, I made the mistake of watching the post game interviews on NBA TV (gotta stop doing that) and, again guys are talking about missed shots and stagnant offense. I don't get it. They shoot 48% and put up 106 pts. The focus is in the wrong place. To follow that logic, they need to shoot over 50% and put up 115 pts. to be successful. Good luck climbing that mountain.

And a quick question for you Doug. When they are consistently going under screens like last night, on Brooks and Carter (in the first half) is that typically a game-planning decision about how they want to play those specific guys or a player decision in the moment?

Blogger's note: Generally-speaking, a game-plan decision but, I warn you, players sometimes take the easy route and periodically disregard, or forget, what they're supposed to do

[bill]

@ Lorie - I loved Magnum PI for the scenery too...went to Hawaii as a 6 yr old (in the midst of Magnum PI) and fell in love...it's why I watch Hawaii 5-0 (which isn't very good at all, but the scenery is amazing!)

[Rob M]

Magnum P.I. is one of only a very few shows that is considered to have never jumped the shark.

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Hi @bill, I may be talking out of school here, but I'm guessing @Lorie may have been talking about a different sort of scenery... hey, I find beaches pretty, um, scenic too, even if I have to hide under an umbrella and seventeen layers of sun goo!
And @LeeZ, hey thanks! Maybe all that keen Ottawa insight was provided by all this wonderful, unimpeded sunshine we've been enjoying for so many day here... snow free... hiding under umbrellas and seventeen layers of sun goo... at a balmy plus 2...
Cheers. Go Raps!

[Lorie]

@D-Mac: Well, now. I guess my reputation precedes me. Or something. But can you blame me? I mean...you just had to look at his...I should say, you know, the way those shorts just...ahhh...well, heck...he even had my grandmother hyperventilating. I'll just try to sum this up as tastefully as possible that thankfully Mr. Selleck had none of your issues with exposure to the sun. And @bill: Yes. The beaches were lovely, too.

[John]

Doug, I must say I dont agree with Leandro waiting for surgery, unless of course he doesnt neet it at all. Get it done now. 11 games is not going to change the mentality of the young players or the team.
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The season has been a tough one and chances are they are going to have a bunch of new faces on the team next year. It would be very beneficial to have a full training camp with all your players, especially if you have a team as young as they project to be in the fall.
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Of course all this whole discussion is meaningless if there is a lockout...

[Kent]

The real reason why Sonny Weems is such a terrible shooter: When he goes up, he is doing long division in his head to figure out how much money the shot is worthed. He has been chasing numbers and chasing money all season long. This approach has paradoxically lowered his value. All he needed to do this year was be semi-solid and he would have gotten Jamario Moon-type money from somebody. Instead, he loses his starting job. Good work, Sonny.

[GM]

That bad Sonny stretch was the killer. Sure, there were other factors, but had he not been so shot happy -- or simply made a couple of those bad attempts -- the result very well may have been different... I also don't understand why JJ isn't good enough to play in the 4th quarter. Yes, he takes some bad shots during the course of the game, but I think his bball IQ is high enough to know not to work on his jumper during crunch time. And his defense would be helpful.