Good games, a dance recital and a day that will live forever

Couple of entertaining games on a Sunday, no?

Good basketball, finally a football game that kind of lived up to the hype and the fact that it did has to make the NFL happy because if it had been a dog of a game, we’d all be talking about the half hour blackout.

How ridiculous was that?

Anyway …

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THREE POINTERS

Dividing time

It was about the first couple of minutes of the fourth quarter when my mind was wandering a bit and Rudy Gay and DeMar DeRozan were piling up the minutes.

And I got to thinking about rotations and who should play and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

It came to this:

I understand that Dwane likes Alan Anderson and all that but shouldn’t the bulk of the backup minutes between those two guys go to Terrence Ross?

Good three point shooter, kid needs to play even through his inevitable struggles and it’s time to take whatever constraints there on him off.

They can still use Anderson a bit when Gay moves to the four but Ross would benefit greatly, I think, from the space created on the floor with Gay, DeRozan and even both of them.

I don’t know how good the kid is going to be but I suspect he’s going to be quite an effective player and now is the time for everyone to find that out.

Here’s one for you, and I have no idea if it’s doable or any names or anything but if there is a true backup point guard out there that you could get for Anderson, I’d pull the trigger on that deal yesterday.

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Time’s a’coming

Time for Andrea Bargnani to come back, that is; every indication is that it’ll be Wednesday and they need him. A lot.

Forget this notion of “showcasing” him right off the bat simply to move him, I think they need to spend two weeks finding out how effective he can be in what is a brand new team since he last played.

It’s wonderful that Aaron Gray is on this scoring binge of late but a lot of it is because teams don’t particularly guard him all that closely and the big that’s barely paying attention to him generally makes life difficult for either Gay or DeRozan.

When Bargnani’s back, he comes back as an experienced and legitimate stretch four who defences have to pay close attention to and that has to make life even easier for the two wings.

So forget the notion of a trade for a little bit, let’s see what he does to help the team in other ways.

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Other aspects of his game

Amir Johnson didn’t have a particularly good game Sunday – and he’s allowed to have an off-night every now and then because he’s been so consistently good – but one part of his game is improving immensely every day.

He has started catching passes in traffic as well as anyone in the league.

All those little shovel passes in the paint, where big guys are looming and little guys are sneaking around with hands waving, are hard to collar, it takes co-ordination, knowledge of where the ball is coming from and when and Johnson is exponentially better at it today that he was even six weeks ago.

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More? Just a bit, some football related.

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So, if I’m watching the ballyhooed halftime show of the big game, I’d rather it not be more dance than music. Wouldn’t you?

Yes, Beyonce is hot and that’s all well and good that the Destiny’s Child reunion happened in front of millions of TV viewers but it’s going to dance, use a holograph of Fred and Ginger or something.

But it was nice to see Kelly and Michelle and Beyonce back together, saw ‘em one night at halftime of an NBA all-star game in Philly back in the day and wondered if they’d ever do a show again. That was the game where they got booed by those warm-hearted Philly fans because one of ‘em had the temerity to wear a Kobe Bryant jersey the February after the Lakers beat the Sixers in the NBA Finals.

Not a great career move.

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Not sure how I missed this yesterday but Sunday was The Day The Music Died.

And while I’m sure I know all the words to this epic (I must, I vaguely recall singing it late, late one night in full throat with Jack Armstrong and Matt Devlin in some Irish place in Charlotte around the corner from Ri-Ra) I’m also sure no one knows them in the right order.

And I’m sure you’ll be singing in a second.

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So I’m telling my man Bobby as were chatting when I leaned back from my stool (Hello, Jack Astor’s at Square One) that San Francisco would win. Made his Niner fan friends pretty happy.

Until they didn’t win, that is.

I still got it, don’t I?

And now you know why predictions aren’t my bag.

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That’s pretty cool about the Davis Cup lads, no?

Not that there was any doubt seeing how there was a Niagara Falls dude playing and we all know that means certain victory but even beating Spain’s B or C or D team is a pretty good thing.

But isn’t that one event that falls far below the radar?

Yes, it’s a team representing Canada and that always gets some of the juices flowing but it’s also an individual sport and I’m not sure how that translates into a team game.

It’s like the Ryder Cup or the President’s Cup, something along those lines, where we are curious but not caught up in the patriotic nature of it all.

I’m proud of those guys and it’ll be a nice story whenever they play whoever they play whenever they play them in the next round but I wonder if it’ll ever truly catch on with even casual sports fans.

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Wind chill minus-18 today?

Yeah, guess it’s that time of year up here but isn’t that what winter in Canada is supposed to be?

Now I’m off to find the parka.

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Comments

[Tim H.]

Hey Doug:

Is this what you mean when you say the NBLC has to develop a 'grass roots' interest in the teams:
"St. Gregory Elementary School Night at the WFCU - Wednesday Feb 6th
St. Gregory’s great extracurricular clubs and teams perform and play at a Windsor Express Professional Basketball Game on Wednesday Feb. 6th, 2013.
Come watch St. Gregory’s Boys and Girls Senior Basketball Teams play a full game on the Windsor Express official basketball court at the WFCU Centre 4:15 - 5:15.
At 7:00 pm as the Windsor Express Pro Basketball Team takes on the Oshawa Power the amazing School Choir of over 70 students will sing the National Anthem. The St. Gregory School's Rock Band will be performing at the exciting Half Time Show. After the game students will have an autograph session with Windsor Express Players."
Great outreach job, Express!

Blogger's note: Excellent

[ronmor]

Let's get this right. The Canadian Davis Cup team beat a Spanish team missing 4 world class players two of whom are ranked in the top five in the world and the Canadian media is responding as though the Chicago Cubs had won the World Series.

Basically, Milos Raonic won the event for Canada against a opponent of no-names and never will-bees. So be it; hardly Joe Namath and the Jets upsetting the Colts in Super Bowl III .

Keep the outcome in perspective.

Ronmor

[Boko]

FROM OUR PERSPECTIVE ...

Very Keepable: Kyle, Rudy, Amir & DeMar

Keepable: Andrea, Jonas & Terrance

Tradeable: Alan & Landry

Very Tradable: Aaron, Linas, John, Quincy, Mickael & Hamed

The other teams perspective is another thing ...

[Mike kovacs]

Sorry for a question but this from David Aldridge today:

The Grizzlies said they made the deal to allow them to make future moves without worrying about luxury-tax implications. They also got a $7.5 million trade exception out of the deals, which they could use to trade for a player making up to that amount for a future Draft pick. (Of course, having traded their first-rounder this year to Minnesota and the 2015 first to Toronto, the Grizzlies can't trade their 2014 first under the Stepien Rule, which prohibits trading first-rounders in consecutive years.)

Is it correct that the Raps have Memphis' 2015 1st round pick? If so from where? Thanks.

Blogger's note: I do not believe that to be true; will try and find someone this afternoon to confirm. After I get a haircut, that is; allegedly a day off :)

And add:
Just heard from someone who'd know: That is incorrect, as we assumed. No idea where David got it from but it's not right.

[Mike kovacs]

Has Chris Andersen ever looked in a mirror? Obviously yes if he gels his own har.

[truth be told]

Haven't we already seen what Adrea can provide (and not provide) for the last 7 years?

What is there that is new to discover in his game?

How many one dimensional scorers can one team employ? lol

By this time next year everyone will be wondering how Colangelo managed to put the Raps franchise in the dire condition they will be in. No vision, no planning and no patience. That will be the summary of the Colangelo regime.

[john]

@hopecaper,
When you say warrior do mean a warrior who quit playing after the allstar break cause he decided to join the other two guys in Miami and didn't want to get hurt. A warrior who kept deceiving both BC and the fans with his intentions to stay in TO while all along knew he he had no intention to stay. A guy who thinks hes a HOF shoe-in cause of all his AllStar appearances which he got after begging fans through YouTube to vote him into the AllStar game. You mean that warrior?

[Geoff Read]

Boko: KL in the "very keepable" category? Wouldn't it be nice if he actually played a few good games before we anoint him as an untouchable?

[cc]

@ronmor, Canada defeated "no-names" in a sport where most of the countries in the world plays.. just sayin....

[GM]

I don't think the refs cost the Raptors the game, but that's not really the point. The Raptors got their fair share of free throws but what really galls me is the phantom calls star teams and players get. A star player misses a shot so the refs assume he was fouled. Here's the thing: the Heats of the world are good enough to win without any extra help from the officials. Poorer teams are not able to win when they're getting called for stuff that didn't happen.

You hear the meme, "NBA refs are the best officials in all of sport" but I think maybe that's just something that was once true and no longer is. I know stars have always got the calls throughout time, but it just seems way worse now. Of course, there's no way to prove that.

[sb]

Did I miss your commentary on the punk move by Butler at the end of the Clips' game?

Blogger's note: Had other things to do, probably will let it go

[GM]

Jose alert: He's cleared to play tonight! Go Detroit!

[coachd]

Hi Doug,
I took the Raptors over 8 years to finally replace VC with a reasonable facsimile in RG. I think they should think long and hard before they trade away AB who as a stretch four has a pretty unique skill set. What's the old song say,"don't know what you've got until it's gone."

[Bryan]

There's value in Bargnani now that the pressure's off him to be #1. There's much less urgency to trade him now which is a good thing since his trade value is as low as ever. Plug him into a secondary role and watch him average 18 and 5. Crack the whip on the defensive end and the Raps still have a chance at a playoff run.

[Bryan]

I've got a better one akashsingh, Barns for Lebron straight up. In all seriousness, making a trade doesn't guarantee that your better off. Now that the pressure's off, give the guy a chance.