Pretty doesn't count, winning does

Well, that certainly wasn’t pretty (the urge to stick a pin in the eyes was omnipresent as the game unfolded, actually) but I don’t imagine anyone connected with the team really cares.

It was a game they pretty much had to have and they got it by hook or by crook.

And since you’ve all already read the game story here (right?) here’s the usual fare, a tad late but still here.

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THREE POINTERS

Minute management

Worried about throwing a rookie out there in what was a pretty important game and knowing there was no matchup that would have even given Aaron Gray half a chance at making a contribution, Dwane had to roll the dice with his only two healthy big men.

And he did a masterful job, I think, especially in the third quarter when the Raptors actually took control of the game.

In that quarter, he used both Ed Davis and Amir Johnson for the full 12 minutes, the only quarter he did that in, and they avoided foul trouble, anchored a defence that held the Sixers to 44 per cent shooting and helped an offence that shot 63 per cent from the floor.

Most importantly, Davis didn’t pick up a foul in those 12 minutes and Johnson only had one, assuring they’d be able to go in the fourth as well.

It’s not something they can plan on getting away with too often – nor should they try – but Casey managed it well for one night when it really mattered.

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Those little moments

You know how Dwane – and every NBA coach – seems to harp on those little moments when clarity is needed on the court?

Teaching moments.

Smart basketball plays.

Well, at the end of the first quarter, the Raptors had one, blew it and, yes, the coach was ticked.

Sixers got the ball with about 12 seconds left down five; Toronto had committed only two team fouls to that point. Everyone in gym should have known they’d take a foul to disrupt the Philadelphia possession, probably with about four or five seconds left in the quarter.

Dwane’s screaming “zebra, zebra, zebra” (that’s the code word for “take a foul you ninnies” and I’m not sure why so don’t ask) and what do the Raptors do?

Watch Evan Turner dribble the length of the floor, get into the paint and make about a 10-footer the buzzer.

Didn’t mean much in the long run but it was a bit of a brain fart good teams don’t usually have.

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The shot

No, it’s not all that big a deal and please don’t make too much out of it but, yes, Jose tossing a lob to Fields with 15 seconds to go in a game that was over was not the right thing to do.

Like I said, it’s no big deal but getting the ball back with about 27 seconds left they should have dribbled just over halfcourt, pounded the ball while the fans left and tossed up a 40-footer with three or four seconds left.

I imagine next time, they will.

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And, in other news …

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I never had to deal with Brian Burke on a daily basis, in fact I don’t think I ever interviewed him, but I did know him a little bit through introductions and conversations with Bryan and I recall one day having a rather lengthy chat about NBA reporters’ travel while standing on Bay Street outside the arena with Burke and Maurizio.

To me, he was bombastic, a bit loud, opinionated, friendly, a bit brash and I’m sure a huge pain in the ass to deal with if you covered his team.

Big whoop.

He was not at all corporate, it seems he held grudges and, no, he didn’t seem to fit the MLSE “brand.”

Did he deserve to get fired on the eve of a bastardized season? Probably not. But one of the best reads about the whole thing comes my friend Rosie and it hits the nail pretty much on the head, as far as I can gather from being around that building an awful lot.

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Oh yeah, the headline.

The Philadelphia Daily News can be a bit cheeky when it comes to the city’s sports teams – it works for the fans and we know how they can be.

Might have told this one before but for some reason I cannot remember, I ended up in Philly on an early basketball off-day and was somehow assigned to cover an Ottawa Senators-Flyers playoff pucks tilt.

Senators win, take the series, the Philly goalie plays like me and we awake May 5 to see this headline:

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Speaking of Philly, and I can’t believe I remembered again, here’s how that game played down there in the papers this morning, courtesy of my man Bob Cooney.

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So I wander into the press room at the arena about 3:30 yesterday afternoon B. Arthur (not to be confused with Bea Arthur) is doing a live standup TV hit, there are camera people everywhere and the place is thick with stressed puck scribblers. And I get to thinking: Man, it’s fun to cover the most stable of the three main franchises the MLSE collection.

Think about it. How classic is that.

But since Bryan Colangelo go here, the HOTH have been in the playoffs twice and the pucks zero time and the TFCs? Well, they should be buried again this season by the time the guy they hired to maybe coach the team sometime in May if he can get out of his professional contract and doesn’t have to fly monthly to New Zealand to play national team games.

Since Bryan Colangelo got here, the Raptors have had, um, one general manager; the pucks have gone through John Ferguson Jr., Cliff Fletcher, Brian Burke and now Dave Nonis. The TFCs? I have no clue but the number of men in charge is large.

Since Bryan Colangelo got here, the Raptors have had three coaches – Sam, Jay and now Dwane – and the Leaves have gone through Pat Quinn, Paul Maurice, Ron Wilson and now Not Rick Carlisle. The TFCs? Don’t get me started.

So the next time someone holds up the Leaves as the model of the organization, pardon me if I do a spit take and laugh uproariously.

The pucks can only wish they had the recent history and stability that the basketball does.

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Comments

[Bob Wesley]

Hey Doug,do you think Jose throwing that Lob pass at the end of the game will be some kind of ralling point for the Sixers next Friday when the Raptors play in Philly?@ Boko did you used to live in WPG?

Blogger's note: No, I don't. They have far more serious issues to deal with

[DMcG]

Disrespect over 2 points at the end? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeez. The Sixers disrespected themselves and the game by not playing it until the buzzer, and Jose & Fields respected the fans paying their huge salaries by playing it until the end and providing a little entertainment at the end of a not so entertaining game.

[LeeZ]

@David in Oakville: It is evident that we need to appeal to a higher power to adjudicate our Alan Ashby dispute before it becomes litigious and clogs up the court system. So I shall take the liberty of invoking said Higher Power in the person of one Doug Smith: Doug, who's right, David or me? Does Alan Ashby suck on tv or does he not suck?

Blogger's note: I much preferred him on radio

[LeeZ]

Hey Doug, we haven't had any contests in AGES! How about my old Be A Grunt For A Day contest idea? The Irregulars send in an essay explaining why they'd make a great beat grunt, you and Not Grace Kelly choose a winner, and said winner covers the game with you, interviews the players with you (and asks the type of cutting questions that you can't get away with asking, such as: Andrea, why do you SUCK!!!) and writes the game story. And maybe have Ruth Chris sponsor the whole thing so we can go have a great steak dinner afterwards! Come on, Doug, it'd be GLORIOUS!!!

[Lorie]

Hi Doug,
First off, I'd rather an ugly win than a pretty loss. (Hey, is that even possible???) I too saw Jose head into the 76er's dressing room immediately after the game and thought to myself "What a classy fellow" and combined with his wonderful performance last night, well, can we all finally agree that the Raptors are fortunate to have this terrific person and athlete on the team right now? And I would also like to say here that his parents should probably be commended for raising such a fine person. Parents don't always get noticed when things go right. :) Just one other comment for my Jose Amor-Fest today, at one point in the game - might've been the third quarter - Calderon seemed visually agitated by something that happened on the floor and during the next time out his team mates were giving him wide berth. Do you know what it was? Was he annoyed with himself, an official or one of the 76ers? Or something else entirely perhaps? Go Raps! Cheers! Now bring on those Crepusculing Bobcats from Charlotte! So, along those lines, a little (spirit in the) night music....
http://youtu.be/J_clVaH9h0Y

Blogger's note: He was annoyed at being scored on two or three times in a row by Holiday; mad at himself he told me today

[LeeZ]

Oh, and as part of the contest, the winner would get a free hat -- you know, that fedora or whatever you call it that newspaper men would always wear in those old time movies. Surprised you don't wear one yourself!

Blogger's note: What makes you think I don't?

[LeeZ]

Blogger's note: What makes you think I don't?

Well, if that's the case, you gotta wear it to the next game so we can see it on tv! And make sure you have one of those cards with "PRESS" printed on it, jutting out of the band. Come on, class up the joint!

[Ken L]

First time on OTR?

Blogger's note: For a full show, yes; have done short hits in the past

[doug]

I hope the next commish in the NBA addresses the issue with the officials, and tries to instill some credibility in them as they have had a rough few years and it comes form the top....this from last night was unreal and just shows that the refs aren't allowed to do their job, whose giving this crew this directive??...Stern should have stepped down a few years ago, the new commish Silver? I believe his name is, needs to address game issues not just financial ones although I am dubious...no IGBT for me last night rogers internet was down in large area, guess they never paid their bill....cheers...

http://nba.si.com/2013/01/09/referee-kennedy-caught-on-hot-mic-telling-coaches-hes-stalling-for-tv/?sct=hp_t2_a11&eref=sihp

[Penguin]

It's disturbing to me that not only was there no room for your game story in print, but it's not even available on the Sports home page of this site or when you click basketball. I found it more or less by accident when I scrolled down your blog. This puck mania is driving me to distraction.

Enjoyed reading the Philly Daily News story. And did you catch another story on its site about the demise, more or less, of the lingerie football league?

[Bernard Balian]

Did you happen to catch the AJ Dickey interview with Bob McCowen yesterday? He's a pretty smart guy and doesn't sound like your typical athlete interviewed. Just wondering your thoughts and if you ever encountered anyone like that in your Basketball experience?

Blogger's note: Sorry, didn't hear it

[Hope Caper]

Great win and I liked Jose's dish to AA for a 3. AA's night had not been going well and it kept him in the game.He showed his appreciation.

[Andrew Gregg]

Hi Doug:

Pretty sure lines like this one from Cathal Kelly's article today are why Coangelo still has a job and Burke doesn't:

“A successful year would be making sure we take another step forward in the process of building a basketball team.”

That means absolutely nothing. It would be funny if it wasn't for the glacial progress of the Raps under Coangelo. I'm enjoying watching them now--Amir Johnson is my new favourite player--but Coangelo still stuck with Bargnani too long and they are still a marginal NBA team on the outside looking in. I understand why there is an interesting and intense debate around Coangelo's future here. Part of me wishes they'd tie the can to him as well as their other two GMs. Then again, part of me wants to see what he does next. That's the curse of being a Raptors' fan: the best stuff often isn't even on the court.

AG, Toronto

[J]

@GM:

This rarely comes into play, but in the case of a standings tie, one of the tiebreakers is point differential, so it could actually come back to bite a team in the butt. I think it was the 2009-2010 season where, had the last several games played out a certain way, they might have needed to use point differential to determine which of Charlotte, Chicago and Toronto would miss the playoffs via the tiebreaker. Fortunately (or unfortunately?), it didn't come to that.

Why might some people take issue with tacking on extra points at the end of a game? I imagine if you've already conceded the game, putting in your scrubs so your starters can rest and avoid injury, it might be a tad offensive if the other team ignores your waving of the white flag. It's a classic game theory problem. The moment one team breaks from the unspoken agreement to essentially stop playing, the other team feels compelled to do the same. The theoretical end result has both teams playing hard up until the end, risking injury unnecessarily. While more entertaining for fans, this is a sub-optimal result for the two teams. Tensions can get high, and all it takes is one hard foul for it to be a lost season. Instead of "what's the big deal with scoring two more points," the question then becomes "why bother scoring two more points?"