We're talking about motivation and a reason to watch the Final Four

So the chatter at practice Monday got around to motivation and what drives these guys in the final two weeks of the season and we got a lot of the predictable answers about wanting to get better and gain experience and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

But the one point that I liked to hear was the talk about wanting to finish strong because they owe it to the fans.

You know, the people who pay the money for the tickets and still come out even though the season – to steal a line oft-uttered by The Great Dave Perkins – was shot behind the ear a few months ago.

I’m thinking that professional pride, along with the sense of obligation to the paying customer should be enough to assure maximum effort as the final nine games of the season unfold.

That may be a bit Pollyanna-ish but isn’t that the way it should be?

One point that Jay brought up – and it’s the basis of the Bryan quote that’s in today’s story on the coaching situation that I’m sure you’ve all read – is that the makeup of the roster lends itself to a group playing hard as the string runs out.

“These guys have been very professional and maybe it because they’re young and we don’t have an old vet who’s riding it out. The guys who are the veteran guys … are looking for ways to extend their basketball livelihood.”

Sure, there have been some dog games – we all remember Golden State – but overall, he hit the nail on the head. Maybe these kids just don’t know how to mail it in quite yet.

I hope they never figure it out.

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Hey, remember how I picked Notre Dame to go to the Final Four? Probably caused some scoffing out there among you, no?

Well, I was right. Nyah, nyah!

Just had the wrong gender.

But now you need to pay attention to the women’s Final Four, which goes Sunday and Tuesday in Indianapolis because it’s got the only Canadian left playing college ball.

That’d be Guelph’s Natalie Achonwa, who played 24 minutes off the bench with two points and six rebounds with a couple of steals as the Irish upset top seeded Tennessee 73-59 last night.

Now, Irregulars will remember Natalie from the stuff we did on the women’s national team at the worlds last summer and if you can find Mr. Peabody’s WABAC machine (figure that out if you can) you’ll recall this epic from a couple of years ago.

Anyway, we’ll try to get more on her and the team this week because it’s a pretty good story.

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Hey, don’t look now but the top of the East is starting to get a wee bit interesting, isn’t it?

Chicago’s 53-20, Boston and Miami are both 51-22 and the final two weeks of the season have some juice left in them.

At stake, of course, is home court in what’s shaping up to be potentially outstanding second round series.

Maybe we should start living vicariously through good teams?

Got one to root for?

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This is kind of fun:

Q: Hey Doug. Now that the Raptors are mathematically eliminated I thought I'd ask a question that is really just an excuse to have you wax snarky for a bit. Toronto's fans seem to love to kill their local players for any weakness, real or perceived and I wanted to see if you could make up some fictional comments that you think you might get if certain players laced up for the Dinos. I'm going to suggest Amare, Carmelo, David Lee and Kevin Love would love it if you added some stars that you think would get ripped in the GTA.

Thanks!

 

Nik W, Gyeongju, Korea

A: Let’s go.

Amare?

What’s he ever done that didn’t involve Steve Nash and you think Jose’s Steve Nash? Besides, he’s got those bad knees and had that eye issue and he’s a function of a system.

Carmelo?

Oh, great. A one-dimensional scorer! We need defence, I tell you! Defence. What’s a gifted scorer ever won?

David Lee

Yeah, right. Anyone can get big numbers on bad teams, can’t they?

Kevin Love

Just ‘cause he player for Jay doesn’t mean anything and he defends like Andrea.

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I’m sitting there watching the Bulls-Sixers on Raptors TV, or whatever it’s called now, and they kept playing this same commercial.

I saw Jimmy King and Clifford Rozier clips, and Garth Joseph and Rod Strickland and Mike James and I’m thinking one thing:

What kind of mushrooms were in dinner because this can’t be happening.

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You know me and numbers, right?

How much I love them.

Well, how’s 21 and 24 sound to you as something to think of as the final couple of weeks unfold.

That’d be the second- and third-worst records ever put up by the HOTH, the 21 in the very first year, the 24 in the injury-riddled Last Lenny Year.

(The worst ever was 16 but that’s way in the rearview mirror)

Can they get to either of them this year?

I’m guessing they blow 21 out of the water but with just nine left, it’s going to be life and death to get to 24, methinks.

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Speaking of injuries, Reggie worked a full practice Monday and should be okay for Wednesday, not sure about Andrea, who didn’t work Monday and Jay had this to say about “shutting people down” for the rest of the season.

“Not unless it’s an injury that’s going to be harmful to somebody down the road and cause future consequences. We owe it to our fans to continue to play the guys that are healthy. If a guy can’t play and he’s not 100 per cent, we’re going to treat it the same way we did in mid-January but we’ve got to play the guys … If it’s something that’s going to jeopardize someone’s career, then we would shut him down.”

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Here’s something to keep in mind.

The good folks at Miller, who’ve graciously given us the seats for the Bucks game tomorrow, are going to make the same offer for the Miami game to end the season.

Nice of them, no?

-

 

 

 

Comments

[Matt M]

Just duct tape Reggie's desire and effort with Bargnani's body and shooting ability and you will have a player that everyone can love. We're talking Kevin Garnett in his prime. If they can't do that then you might as well get rid of Bargnani, hopefully to a team where he can thrive (Magic or Bulls might be best). It is sad watching all that talent go to waste because he doesn't put the effort into anything on the defensive end.

[Dave]

Good teams to root for, eh Doug? Well, I for one, find it hard not to root for the Bulls, as it seems they caught the perfect storm of offseason success last year, and turned a team that was at the Raptors level last year, added a couple nice FAs in Boozer, Brewer and Korver, and got lucky with a rookie who is a defensive factor in Asik, and BAM! Tops in the conference! The young guys - Rose and Gibson - developed like few other in the league, as well. To me it shows that big jumps are possible and defence is the most important factor in 'greatness' (on a team level). I guess the Thibideau factor is there too.

Here's a question (I also welcom the criticism that is sure to come with these assertions) - I feel like they should clean up at award time with the MVP in Rose, COY in TT, and Exec as well. If Love wasn't a lock with the MIP, I would argue Rose should get that too. Has the MVP ever gotten the MIP as well?

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Morning Doug,
Must be the same mushrooms they put in Andrea's pasta, because, you know (cue helium voice), "Before Andrea hits the court, exercise and diet must keep Andrea healthy...". Not sure which is more mind-numbingly repetitive, though: the commercials or Matt "No Props Needed" Devlin.
Comforting little tidbit about the Madness bracket business this year. 5.9 million ESPN entries produced exactly two (2!) correct Final Fours. Cheers. Go VCU!

[Mike D.]

(cue the Chief Wiggum voice) By golly, that's some good rippin' there, Mr. S!!

And don't forget the Raptor Fan Rule of Short-Term Extrapolation: no matter how good the player, if a player has a bad game (or, heaven forbid, a string of bad games) for any reason, including visible injury, fans must immediately forget everything good he has done earlier in the season and assume that his recent problems will continue indefinitely.

[511]

Interesting little exercise on the imaginings of criticisms for those what-if Raptors stars. Made me laugh cuz it so sounded like ... us.

[Lorie]

Doug! (and this is said in a big whiney voice)
Great blog as always BUT you would have hit it out of the park (couldn't resist) with a DWTS mention! Read it through twice just to make sure I hadn't missed it. Sure, I expect you to do SOME basketball - but, seriously - not a word about Hines' flawless quickstep? Ralph's frenzied jive? Kendra's "chesticles"? Tomorrow? Pleeeeease? And @Matt M: Fun concept: duct taping some of this with some of that from two players to make one great (serviceable???) player...Now which other two Raptors could we do that with???

[Justin]

It's surprising in your article today you were so dismissive of the talents of Amare, Carmelo, and such, but then suggest that the loss of Reggie Evans for 47 games cost the team 8-10 wins. Reggie Evans' career average for minutes is 19. He's been a back up player his entire career on teams that have done little.

Blogger's note: Wow. You sure missed the point of the whole exercise, didn't you?

[Striker 77]

Hey Doug,

Its been a while since I have commented... still read every day though...

Nice job on the article today about Triano. I have been thinking and talking about the coaching issue with the Raps for some time now..

Obviously, the Raps have had a disappointing three years... There have been plenty of changes on the roster, problems with handling Bosh and Turk, and an inability to defend well.

Of these three issues, which one is the biggest reason for the poor records? In my opinion, the heaviest factor is the defending. I have always liked Triano, but when does it become reasonable to figure that the inconsistent defense should fall on his shoulders? Should it be reasonable?

Its easy to blame one person, and I am not doing that... i do however wonder how this team would do with a different leader... Its been three years, three different rosters, three chances, etc..

What do you think of Lawrence Frank? He is assistant to Doc Rivers now, right? I m too lazy to look up the stats, but how was he as a defensive minded coach? I would figure that this is what this team needs. They can score, we now that...Its the D that wins games though... Thoughts?

Blogger's note: I think if this team had better defensive players at two key spots -- point guard and centre -- it'd make all the difference in the world.

[doug]

good article on Jay and his situation does present a conundrum...first it depends on the status of BC first and foremost, as no BC no Jay...but beyond that, does Jay's performance merit him getting let's say a 3 year extension? ..not in my books...the jury is out on far to many issues with him, so to me the only possibility I would consider if I were BC were to be to pick-up his option year and let next year play out and go from there....I think Jay is the right guy to work and develop these young guys, but his he the guy to take them to the next step in the future i don't know, and at this stage I don't think so...

[Kevin]

I think I became a history major thanks to Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine. (and thanks of course to his boy Sherman).

[Sump]

Imagine a team of Carmelo, Amare and Andrea

They would score 100 points and allow 200.

[Peter]

Mr. Peabody and Sherman, via Rocky and Bullwinkle, nice reference Doug!

[doug]

you do nostalgia well on here...so here are some photos of a group of guys that bring back some memories...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-marion/lost-beatles-photographs_b_840775.html#s258101

[Justin]

Doug, I think you missed my point as well. Your argument that the team has a lack of talent is correct. Your argument that Reggie Evans' absence may have cost the team 8-10 wins is incorrect.

[jimt]

OMG MGD WOW THX UGR CYA LOL

[g.t.]

Justin, Doug was saying, hypothetically, these are the things that naysayer fans would say. Hypothetically.

[doug]

@Justin how can someones opinion that Evans absence cost the team 8-10 wins be "incorrect"?...that perplexes me, it's just one person's opinion, not to be confused with fact...it can't be "incorrect" you can disagree or question it but how do we know what Evans absence meant? although it's obvious it did mean something... who knows exactly what but I would tend to think along the lines of Doug...

[Mich G.]

@Justin, if you extrapolate the .420 winning percentage (8-11) with Reggie over the next 54 games (12-42 actual record) you would currently have a record of 22-32, which is a 10 game improvement.

I know that you can't assume a consistent winning percentage but Doug's case is not all that far off.

[Justin]

Jimt, in re-reading the article, I do not see Doug distancing himself from the opinion. He mentions more than once that the argument is hypothetical and his point is that if the team won 30 games, then the season would not be as big of a disappointment as it is currently viewed. But his point is undermined by the erroneous assumption that Reggie Evans delivers the team 8-10 additional wins in the 47 games that he missed. I simply disagree that Evans has that type of impact on this or any team. Recall last season when he returned from injury, the team was fifth in conference and looking like a playoff team.

Blogger's note: Dude, it's not an "erroneous assumption." It's my informed opinion and I stand by it. I don't really care whether you agree or disagree. And we're done with the topic for now

[Lorie]

@doug:
Thanks for the link. Nice photo from that Toronto show. The reporter interviewing them looks so familiar, but I can't come up with the name. And I believe the actor whose home the lads rented in LA, Reginald Ownens, was at that very time filming 'Mary Poppins' where he had the role of Admiral Boom. Remember, "Posts, everyone!"? Kind of a basketball call to arms, too.

[jimt]

the way i look at it (and mind you ive just been celebrating puff puff pass tuesdays with snoop on ustream,lol) i would say reggie healthy is 5-7 wins,kleiza healthy another 4-5 wins,barney defending 3-6 wins,coach errors 2-3 wins,nba schedule 3-4 wins.ok great lunch time :)

[Cluck Kent]

I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but what in this world is as it should be? They guys will play hard because they are young and still have an overidding competitive instinct. And I think this group really loves playing ball. What's the best that happens if they win the rest of their games? They feel better about themselves? Going into a near 7 month layoff? These guys are young, but they're still men and a week after the end of the season all any mentally dibilitating efects of a losing season will be gone and forgotten.

This is a fun team with some good, young core pieces. Get out there and play hard boys, and keep the losses respectable. Another 9 losses isn't going to scar any one of these guys irreparably.

And while I understand Jay is just saying what he needs to say in order to be politically correct, no one should be looking at nagging injuries the same way today that they did in mid season. But come on, imagine the fines Jay would have to pay if he suggested playing anyone but his best players.

Team to watch in the playoffs - well I might as well keep this post far left of centre and say Philly could do some damage. They've cotinued to improve all season and had a pretty good showing last night against Chicago.

[J.R. MacLean]

There's plenty to dislike about the Boston Celtics (Garnett's nastiness, Pierce's strutting) but I'll be rooting for them in the playoffs. Why? Because they are an incredibly widely disparate cast of characters (Rondo, Ray Allen, Shaq etc.) who are as thoroughly a glued together team as any in the league. And who can't root for a group when one of them bears the nickname of Big Baby? Oh year. One more reason. I've got a sneaking suspicion that they are going to win it all.

[Vancouver]

"What kind of mushrooms were in dinner because this can’t be happening."
zing zing zing!!!!
Hahahahaha

"Maybe we should start living vicariously through good teams?

Got one to root for?"

I'm thinking since Boston is a divisional rival, and Miami is not liked in these parts for obvious reasons - Chicago is the defacto team of choice. Does that work for you?

[Robert Bertuzzi]

I'm not sure what constitutes informed opinion when dealing with speculation and projection. I mean if Jose turned the corner on screen-and-rolls more consistently and went north-south, rather than east-west creating potentially easier opportunities for his teammates this team might have three-to-six more wins. Or if bigs hedged hard on screen-and-roll action and had help on the backside with rotations until they could recover then maybe this team would have two-to-five more wins. Is this informed? It is based on observation and deductive reasoning the hallmarks of scientific progress. Perhaps it really means authority figures have imparted this from on high with the keenest nuance of technical detail and that the plebs who buy the tickets and merch and watch the games on TV or listen to the radio should not challenge this authority. For how could we ever fully understand the complexities of an undertaking as grand as the game of basketball.

------------------------

This is not only elitist and anti-democratic since it presumes that specialized knowledge invested with authority is not to be challenged. It also works on a second presumption that the general public is stupid. But this is not the point I intended to make at the outset of my argument. Overlooking what was just stated above, the galling proposition is that the fan base should be satisfied with 30 wins rather than 20 wins. Now granted, all franchises stumble. The Spurs had to to land Duncan, the Celtics had an ugly stretch in the mid-2000s and the Lakers once started Kwame Brown and Smush Parker in the recent past. But where the Raptors differ is that they have an all time regular season winning percentage of .412. In the history of the NBA, taking into consideration only active franchises, only the Clippers, Grizzlies and Bobcats have worse winning percentages (yes, the Timberwolves and Nets are ahead of the Raptors). And since nearly everyone would agree that the Clippers, Grizzlies and Bobcats are awful teams and franchises we can now safely extrapolate and reach the same conclusion regarding the Raptors.