Raptors: One game, two players and a lot of composure lost

Different city, same late start, same deadline issues.

So here you go; instead of seeing a fresh gamer in the late edition of the paper, you can see it here.

 

PORTLAND – Dwane Casey was dejected, Bryan Colangelo looked ashen, the players once again were dragging themselves around another locker room after another one-sided defeat.

The Raptors lost a game, they lost some players, Amir Johnson uncharacteristically lost his cool and if there’s been a lower point for this franchise in the last five years than Monday night, it’s hard to remember when it was.

With another long stretch of dull play marked by bad decisions, loose ball handling and a lack of effort, the Raptors fell 92-74 to the Portland Trail Blazers here, wrapping up an 0-5 western road trip that got increasingly ugly as it unwound and limping home with a 4-18 record that’s among the worst in the NBA.

It was about the same as so many games this season, it’s getting ridiculous. The Raptors were okay to start, had stretches where they were competitive and at the first sign of adversity they went into a shell.

And there is no easy fix. Coach Dwane Casey pointed to the short-handed lineup he was forced to use for long stretches of Monday and that may have been factor on one particular night but the funk that’s enveloped this team as the road trip wore on is troubling.

And if Colangelo tossed around words like embarrassing and disappointing about the third game on the journey, one can only imagine what he thought after his team lost its 10th game in 11 outings and 11th straight on the road.

The frustration level that had been building for days finally got to Johnson, who was thrown out of the game midway through the third quarter.

Johnson was wrestling with referee David Jones over the ball following a Trail Blazers free throw; Jones finally had enough, hit Johnson with a technical and threw him out of the game.

Johnson had to be restrained by teammates from going after Jones but did get an arm free enough to take his mouthpiece out and throw it at the official.

The league will undoubtedly come down with a suspension for Johnson tomorrow; the length of which cannot be estimated.

It was the first public display of disgust by a player but Johnson has been too valuable on too many nights to cost his struggling team like that.

“It’s out of character, my teammates know me, fans know me if they’ve been watching my career, I never lose my cool,” said Johnson. “I never say anything to the ref or get mad, the only techs I ever got were for hanging on the rim or slapping the backboard.

“Before every free throw, I always go rub the ball and give it right back to the ref. The ref didn’t let me have the ball and we kind of got into a tug of war. No words were really said and from then on he ejected me out of the game and I kind of lost my cool from there.”

It came at the worst possible time for the Raptors, who lost Andrea Bargnani to an elbow injury after just eight minutes and Kyle Lowry to an injury to his right triceps that sidelined him for the second half.

“We had so many guys go down, Andrea and Kyle and I don’t know what happened with Amir, he kind of lost his mind there a little bit,” said coach Dwane Casey.

“We can’t have that. On a night when we’re short-handed and we’re in a situation where we’re scrambling, we just have to have more discipline than that.”

But even with the guys leaving the game and Johnson’s ejection, the Raptors showed all the same atrocious traits that have marked so many of their losses.

When things got difficult they caved; when they needed someone to step up and dominate, no one could. They made mistake after mistake and ended up losing badly to a team that was missing two starters in Nik Batum and Wesley Matthews.

“Get everybody healthy, that’s the No. 1 thing. We’ve got go from A to Z and get people healthy,” said Casey.

“Linas (Kleiza) is out, (Mickael) Pietrus is still gimpy, now Kyle’s out, Andrea’s out; we’re going to have a makeshift crew and hopefully be ready by Wednesday.”

The Blazers got 30 points from LaMarcus Aldridge, who dominated a ravaged Toronto front line.

The Raptors got 20 from DeMar DeRozan and 14 from Ed Davis but the stats really don’t matter, they were out of the game by the middle of the third quarter.

 

 

 

Comments

[deaner]

And that folks is officially the season. Done.

Colangelo has stated that making moves (trades) is not the fix here, and that patience and "gel" time is what really is needed for this "talented" squad.

I wonder if it sounds as crazy coming out of his mouth to him as it does the rest of us??

[Manale]

I'm no hippie, but Kyle Lowry is all bad energy, man.

[Dan]

Blazers were missing Batum and Matthews so missing players shouldn't be an excuse. The announcers keep talking about waiting for the schedule to turn. They have lost a bunch of winnable games already. Last night Blazers were missing their best three point shooters. Utah was missing Al Jefferson. They lost to the Pistons and the Bobcats. These are not playoff teams that they are losing to. Unless they get to play the second half of the season in the D league I don't see where it's supposed to turn. Bryan had a good first year and it carried over into the second year, since then the team has not been good. Had Wayne Embry not done some of the moves he did before BC came Bryan may not have had the same success he did the first year either. He was handed a team with an established all star and cap space and managed to turn it into a long term rebuild.

[coachd]

Hi Doug,
After another miserable loss last night, do you think that Colangelo still thinks that this team has enough talent to win? If so, Is Casey the right coach to get them out of this funk they're in?

Blogger's note: Yes, yes

[Crapangelo]

Patience Doug, Patience. I'm sure this team will be near a .500 team by 2018. This team is still in position to get 10th in the conference. Everything is on track.

Signed,

Crapangelo and Mr.Doug Smith

Blogger's note: They really should insist that people be at least 8 years old before they're allowed on the internet. "Crapangelo?" Grow up.

[chris]

The team looks to need a change of some sort (trade?) even if it's just for the emotional boost of a fresh start.

Also curious - do you ever look at Aldridge and wonder what could have been? He sure turned into a heck of a player.

[AT]

Well I hope they at least listen to Amir's side of the story before they hand down the suspension....ref contributed to his reaction .. a technical foul might have been more appropriate and a chuckle afterwards...

as an aside.. nice to see the gamer here. I would be great if "all things Doug" started here. Almost missed the Colangelo piece from Saturday except looking for hockey updates and found it... I guess the tall foreheads don't want the irregulars just popping in here and leaving....

[Colin K]

le sigh.

[ray]

Losing Bargs and Lowry meant very little. The team was playing terribly, again, before those guys left. We should have stomped on team that was starting Pavlovic and Claver.

There's not offensive strategy, just long 3 pointers. Nobody pentrating, no offball screens.

[jon]

I missed the game. Did Bargnani get to shoot any three pointers?

Blogger's note: I'm pretty sure if you're smart enough to write here, you've got the intelligence to find that out yourself. But thanks for reading

[64 and 18]

It funny how much of a role perception plays. This Is a team picked to fight for the 8th seed. As the losses pile up they have become a hopeless loss to the fans. Two years ago even the mighty heat were sub 500 twenty games into the season. Peaks and valleys guys.... Peaks and valleys...

[Nick M]

‘Different city, same late start, same deadline issues’
-
That first line got me thinking about a tweet I read. I don’t follow twitter, and frankly, don’t know how but I remember coming across this tweet by Demar and somehow it stuck with me:
-
'Same chick, same trip, same flight, different story, different bed everyday the same night'
-
Now, sub in ‘game’ for ‘chick’ and ‘team’ for ‘bed’ and Demar looks like he was reading the Raps future back in August.

[Wade Tomlin]

Don't know if I buy the injury bug thing as something not indicative of a culture problem with the team. Why do so many guys on the Raptors get injured? In listening to B. Carter on the radio it seems the Raptors don't have high standards for their players in the off-season, then the real season begins and bam, injury, after injury. It's what happens when you spoil average NBA players with above average playing situations.

[Gerry Tanner]

I understand the frustration Amir showed. What I don't understand is the assistand coach getting in his face on the way to the locker room. Any coach should know that that is not the time. Raps will likely have to punish Amir for throwing a punch at him, but I can't believe that Dwayne hasn't made it clear to all his coaches that discipline will be handled by the head coach only. If he hasn't then he should make it clear to all the assistants and make sure they all understand the rules. I am really starting to wonder who is actually running this team, or indeed if anybody is.

[JHK]

So much negativity all over the Raptors related boards, blogs, news etc
It's even translating to my life wow.
We need a proper rebuild.
Trade for expiring contracts and picks, let's get a clean slate for 2014...

[D-Mac Ottawa]

I've been wondering for a couple of years just what the heck "organic growth" is supposed to mean... this can't be that, can it?
From a team that would and could compete 41 or 42 minutes per night, they have now ground to a standstill. They have nothing but quit in them at this point. I see no redemption for this season's 'team' unless some hugely significant sweeping change happens within a week or so. And I have no clue what that might be.
Cheers though.

[LeeZ]

In all my years on the planet (and that there is a LOT of years, my friend!), in all my years playing the sport, watching the sport and coaching the sport, I have NEVER seen something as surreal as what happened with Amir. Surreal is a word that's tossed around a lot, so much so that its meaning has become devalued. But this...THIS was indeed surreal. Once the heat dies down about this and the Raps start winning again (it's bound to happen at SOME point, right? RIGHT?), how much grief do you think Amir will take from his mates? Do the Raps have a kangaroo court for this type of thing?

[DaveB]

The team sure seems defeated. I still think this team is less talented than last years. Lowry's defence is worst than Jose's. I think he is a disruptive influence on the team. Casey doesn't show any leadership and therefore the players start overreacting. We have all seen Doug Collins and Pop get in the face of the referees and then get some favourable calls. The way this team is going this year, Sam or Jay would have been thrown out of a couple of games standing up for their players.

I did use the word team several times, but actually, this isn't a team. It is a group of individuals. They all hold the ball too long even if they do eventually pass it to another player who then holds it. Jonas runs all the time, seals his man in the post and almost never gets the ball. If only Sam and Jay were given this chance too improve their coaching skills.

It is becoming very difficult to watch them play because in most games there isn't much hope. However, I keep watching hoping for a miracle. Unless something turns soon i don't see how this team can win 25 games.

[LeeZ]

@Gerry Tanner: Amir threw a punch at the assistant coach? Unless I'm mistaken, what you saw was Amir throwing his mouthpiece at the ref while being restrained by said assistant, with his "follow-through" causing his hand to come near the guy's face. Actually, I thought Amir's mouthpiece toss was one of the more accurate three point shots the Raps took all night.

[Liam]

Now that's how you lose to a team that goes 0-20 from behind the 3point arc!

[Ion66]

I *finally* see Bargs go to the hoop instead of taking a jump shot and he goes down in a heap, and out of the game. This for me, was the most defeating part of last night. I can hear the interview now "I go to basket and the knock me down, so I think is safer to shoot from the 3 yes?" I love the Raps and had high(ish) hopes for them this season, but now they remind me of that thing I found in the fridge. It seems OK, but something just isn't right. I don't want to toss it out, but I'm afraid to actually commit to giving it a chance. I'm really starting to wonder how much the loss of Reggie Evans and JJ cost us in terms of defensive identity. I know that I bought into the "upgrade" for 2013 concept in terms of the roster, but I wonder if we lost something more (ala Anthony Parker) that we got back in the bigger picture?

[Mark]

A new season, same old story:

"Oh, we've had so many injuries...if we could just get healthy..."

What would being healthy fix? When healthy, this team would be life or death to crack an 8 seed in the east. Is this really the bar now?

Bottomline: This team doesn't have a single player talented enough to take over and close a game out when needed. Every team has 1, the good teams have 3.

[Derek H]

Just imagine. One more loss last year and that might have been enough to put them in position to get Damian Lilliard. Remember a late season game last year against the Cavs at home. I believe they were losing by something like 15 late in third quarter and i was thinking this is an important loss draft wise and of course the Raps actually showed some heart and come back for the win.

[Bill Duncan]

Either put a competitive team on the floor or fold the franchise. I'm tired of this BS.

Blogger's note: And then what you complain about? I'd still have a job; you have nothing to vent at.