Small moves end up being big things

Full house. A comeback by the home lads, close game and 100 points?

Doesn’t get much better than that, does it?

If, like me, you take most regular season games as one-off entertainment outings, you got your money’s worth last night.

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THREE POINTERS

A subtle shift

The move to put Landry Fields on Dion Waiters in the game’s pivotal possession couldn’t have worked any better.

As I believe I’d mentioned about one possession before, Waiters was too quick for Alan Anderson on a game-tying basket and when the Cavs had the ball with 14 seconds left and down three, getting Fields on him was huge.

First, Fields bothered him enough with his length that he almost caused a turnover and forced the ball out of bounds with seven seconds left.

Then, Fields did what Dwane’s been telling guys to do all year in that particular instance: He actually fouled!

And, trust me, there were some sighs of relieve on the coaching staff when he did because they’ve watched about three situations I can recall where no one did foul when they were supposed to.

Fields was actually tremendous all night, good defence, sneaky cuts on offence and he was active enough that no defender could sag off him. It’s the kind of heady play they’ve gotten out of him consistently this year; if his jump shot was in any way, shape or form more reliable I’d see a pretty bright future as a solid rotation guy for him.

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Let ‘em play

Coaching restraint in the final few minutes of close games is too often in too short supply for my tastes; I’m not a huge fan of blowing every timeout on every possession to set something up.

And one the HOTH didn’t call last night was one of the best things they did.

Raptors are up one with about 36 seconds left and everyone in the building expects them to call a timeout when Amir rebounds a miss by, I believe, Livingston if my chicken scratch is wrong.

But they don’t and they get the biggest basket of the game when Lowry and Amir play screen-roll and Lowry spins away from his man and hits that little mid-range jumper, as nice a move as he’s made a while.

Of course, when I asked Kyle about it post-game he made it clear that most guards don’t want timeouts in that spot and I see his point. You stop the game and you let the defence get set instead of making them react on the fly to a play.

On another night, I imagine they might have called a timeout and either run an iso for Gay if he’d been in the game or DeRozan if Gay was out and the opposing coach would have known it was coming and defended against it.

Dwane let ‘em play, as I think he should, and got something good out of it.

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About enough time

Jonas Valanciunas: 32:57; Terrence Ross: 28:24.

Seems like the right amount of playing time to me.

Ross was invisible in the first half and had a good third quarter, Valanciunas was energetic and demonstrative and except for the few minutes when he was eaten alive by Tristan Thompson he was quite effective.

Not sure those minutes will be the same in every game the rest of the way – I’m not sure Ross will play that much against Boston’s veterans, for instance – but they did get some extended time to show what they’ve got on Sunday and it was as expected: Okay play, some good moments, some rookie moments.

Get used to it.

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More? Just a little, sure.

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Yeah, I should have had this guy on that list of cool for sure.

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Well, the World Baseball Classic provided some moments for Canada, didn’t it?

Not a lot of good in a blowout loss to Italy, the brawl with Mexico (and as baseball fights go it was a doozy) and then the elimination by the Yanks on Sunday but moments nonetheless.

But now what?

Now the program pretty much disappears from the general public until the next one and who knows what that team will look like. Sure, there will be world championships and age-group championships and the like but, unfortunately, they don’t capture the imagination nearly as much as this event did.

And that’s the problem with so many sports in our country. It goes for the basketball, too; no one pays nearly close enough attention to the other major events on the calendar in the years between things like the WBC.

In a perfect world, that should change. We don’t live in a perfect world.

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How cool would it be to have a Pope from Canada?

Hope the dude wins.

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So I see Carleton wins the CIS title by nipping Lakehead by 50 Sunday night and that’s an amazing program that Dave Smart’s put together up there, isn’t it?

But is it good for the game?

I’ve always thought that what makes things important and interesting to fans is competition and while it’s wonderful when dynasties emerge, it’s even better when those dynastic teams or athletes have a foil to play off.

Carleton seems untouchable in Canadian university basketball and full measure to them for what they’ve accomplished.

But for the game to grow at that level in the country, and for casual fans to get a bit more enthused about it, I think the depth of talent has to grow so that there are a handful of teams capable of challenging the giants of the game.

Until that happens with regularity, I think things like the CIS tournament will elicit more yawns than screams of excitement.

Not to take away at all from what the Ravens have accomplished over the years; they are head and shoulders better than domestic competition, it seems. But there needs to be more teams capable of being at that level before regular folks will get excited.

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Hey, be careful out there this week if you’re in Ontario at least.

Kids are off school and lots of urchins wandering the streets.

At least Super Son’s got a bunch of day work shifts so I know where he’ll be. And he’ll be making money he can spend on gifts for Dad. Seems like a pretty darn good week, no?

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Comments

[LeeZ]

Re: (the Ravens) are head and shoulders better than domestic competition, it seems. True dat. But I would take it one step further: they would beat a LOT of Div.I teams in the States if they played down there. In the preseason I attended their friendly against UNLV, who were ranked among the top 10 at the time, and came within an errant pass by a second stringer in the game's final moments from BEATING them. Dave Smart had had a number of offers to take his talents south of the border for multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts, he's THAT good of a coach.

[Andy]

Wouldn't it be cool if the CIS champ had a spot in the March Madness tournament?

[511]

"How cool would it be to have a Pope from Canada? Hope the dude wins."

Not sure why I found that funny but it made me howl.

[David in Oakville]

Good Morning Doug,

Agree with everything you wrote this morning, except one thing.

Agree - timeouts are overused at the end for all the reasons you list.

Agree - Landry Fields plays great defense and may be the smartest ball player on the Raps.

Disagree - who cares if the next Pope is Canadian. I hope the spirit moves these old men to pick someone who will renew the Church and it's role in the world. Someone with the courage to confront the Church's many problems and the wisdom to know the difference between tradition and outdated thinking. I don't care if the next Pope comes from the Philippines, Mexico or Ghana, so long as he is able to lead the church in the modern world.

Back to the Raps.... I am a little troubled by two things.. Bargnani hurt again.. add chronically injured to his list of faults and now he is worth what.. 33 cents on the dollar.

Your comment on Fields' inconsistent jumper keeping him from being a solid rotation guy gives me pause. Given his salary, how can we afford not to have this guy in the rotation going forward and if he can't fix his jumper.. how do you trade him for anything worthwhile? Who is working with Fields to fix is shooting mechanics?

Blogger's note: His salary -- about the NBA average -- is not an issue; he'll work this summer most likely with John Townsend from the staff, same guy who worked with Ed Davis successfully last summer

[sam]

Landry Fields does so many good things on the court, I hope he can regain his shot.

Amir has been pretty darn good this year. He seems to be the go to interview for the TV talking heads the past couple of weeks.

The World Baseball classic has had some pretty entertaining moments. The Brawl between Canada and Mexico aside, I'm liking the Dominican team.

[marc in panama]

Hola Doug,

Congrats to the Carleton Ravens on their recent success. By fifty, wow! That is a very good basketball program, indeed. Agreeing with your point that competition is needed for the sport to grow at this level, how do you see that happening? With more quality Canadian high schoolers looking to go to the States, and with the advantage that winning has brought to Carleton in terms of recruiting to the program to maintain success, how do other CIS programs build a competitor to challenge this program?

If you need this question for the mailbox, for space for your answer, please feel free to use it there.

Ciao,

marc in panama

[jwss]

I keep hoping that Carleton will eventually have the effect on CIS basketball that Laval had on CIS football. A few years ago Laval looked like they'd win the Vanier Cup every year with their "NCAA style" program. Fortunately other schools took the challenge and put more into their programs. So while Laval is still a force every year, they're not guaranteed to win it all. Perhaps with the growth of basketball in Canada, we'll see other universities take the sport as seriously as Carleton does.

[Mike kovacs]

Re Fields - nerve damage takes a LONG time to recover. Peripheral nerves regenerate at about 1 mm a day. Measure it out from the elbow to get an idea.

[joe]

Landry Fields plays good D because he does a few things that most NBA players don't: takes an athletic stance, is square to his man, and moves his feet. Simple things like that are what make him a good defender even though his athleticism may not match what other NBA players have.

[Peter]

I wonder if any player is going to raise the point that Carlton broke the "basketball code" by running up the score. :)

It's not like point differential matters this time!

At least there wasn't a brawl. :)

[Alex Coffin]

The semifinal between Acadia and Carleton was much better with Carleton only dominating in the 3rd. Acadia had only 1 senior this year so they should be a force in the future. The Acadia-Ottawa bronze medal match was also very good going into OT. I think the final was more of a reflection that Lakehead getting into the final was a major upset. The were ranked #7 and defeated #2 Cape Breton. Not to take away anything from Carleton's obvious commitment to their program:)

[Geoff Read]

Amen on the timeouts. Let 'em play. I absolutely despise how the last 2 minutes of an NBA game can take half an hour to play.

I like Fields. I hope he sticks around - if he figures it out consistently I could see him having a trajectory like Amir's with the organization.

[cc]

@David in Oakville, it seems clear you know nothing about religion and/or the Catholic Church so why don't you leave your comments to yourself...
Just comment on basketball or Hockey Fights...

[Ron]

I have been following the Ravens for about 12 years now and this year's team is one of the strongest I have seen. It is interesting when they play NCAA teams in pre-season they usually have good success against them.
This year I believe they lost to an athletic Runnin Rebels of UNVL team by 2 points. 3 or 4 years ago they beat Kansas the year after they won the NCAA championship. Most years they win the majority of the games they play against tier 1 division teams. Congrats Ravens

[LeeZ]

@cc: It seems clear you know nothing about the English language! @David in Oakville expressed a common-sense, uncontroversial opinion about renewal that in no way betrayed a lack of understanding of religion or of the Catholic Church. Yes, he did commit the cardinal sin (pun intended) of confusing it's and its, but I would hardly say that that makes him ignorant in the ways of Catholocism!

[GM]

Not to take away from the those CIS-NCAA pre-season tilts, but the American teams play everyone but the water boy. UVic, UBC and SFU have also had decent success in those games against quality opponents.

I like Fields and think he should get more time even if his shot stinks. Because he's smart enough to not look for it. But he does everything else so well. Also, I think he's got a better chance to get more comfortable with his shot the more he's out there.

Broken record time, but did anyone here read Bill Simmons' article on the worst contracts in the NBA? Here's what he wrote about our man, Rudy Gay:

"Most fans love the idea of Rudy: 6-foot-8, defends either forward spot, good athlete, unafraid at crunch time, seems like he's good. Nobody wants to accept that he's a horrific shooter — repeat: horrific — who excels at posting up smaller defenders, and that's about it. Math doesn't lie: According to Hoopdata.com, Gay is shooting 25 percent on shots from 16 to 23 feet (the worst percentage of anyone who attempted three-plus shots per game from that range) and 23.3 percent from 3 (the worst percentage of anyone who attempted three-plus 3s per game). In other words, Gay attempts nearly 10 shots per game from more than 15 feet and makes two of them. I stand by 'horrific.'

Now, there's an excellent chance that (a) Gay needed a change of scenery, (b) Z-Bo and Marc Gasol clogged the paint and made it more difficult for him to drive to the hoop (there's some truth to that), (c) he's better off playing the 4 and exploiting quickness mismatches there (à la Carmelo) and (d) this trade could still work out for Toronto if Gay ever stops throwing up bricks. But reading Marc Spears's report that Toronto wants to lock up Gay TO AN EXTENSION this summer … I mean … what???? Why not use these last six weeks to make sure he's still competent offensively before broaching that strategy publicly? What's wrong with these teams?"

Full article here:
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9030601/the-worst-contracts-nba

[saatuk]

@Ron - Carleton has indeed done very well against the NCAA in the preseason. As we all know, though, the pre-season means nothing. College ball is no different in that than for the pros in any sport.

That being said, what a great program Carleton has come up with!

[DC]

seeing as a nerve issue is a lingering injury i will give fields somewhat of a benefit of a doubt. Having said that, I will respectfully disagree with much of the positive sentiment. I don't see what everyone else sees. Fields is an athletic body and that helps him fight through screens and keep up with his man compared with a guy like anderson who is a bit older and slower and ross who is slighter and just a rookie. but I don't see an above average defensive stopper or rebounder. at best, just average. as for his smart cuts on offense, i see defences that have made the choice to cheat off of fields on defence which generally means he gets guarded by a passive defender (if at all). taking advantage of that isn't impressive because he should have a jumpshot and back-to-the-basket post-moves to take full advantage of it. I hope he does regain a jumpshot, because otherwise he is at best a player of little to no impact and at worst an offensive liability in crunch time who tends to dribble too much when isolated with the ball (not a unique problem in the nba). His salary plays no part in that assessment, time will tell if the raps got good value for the money or another kapono-contract

John Lucas continues to be unimpressive and the raps continue to have struggles with giving up a run as soon as lowry takes a seat. I could be wrong, but I see little positive in with how Lucas handles his lack of size and how he involves his teammates.

[Derek H]

Leonard Cohen is the original artist and wrote Hallelujah? I believe so but someone could correct if I am wrong. Regards, IMO he sucks at singing this song. All the other versions and artists I hear sing it are way better.

[AT]

Starting to really Landry Fields... "garbage man" type player... no need to run plays for him, he will find ways to contribute...

And I don't care how much he makes, It's not my money.

[O.J.]

From what i've seen of the bench this year my feelings are mixed. But overall, I think there is a HUGE dropoff in production when we go to our bench. Is it as simple as trading Bargs for a competent post up playing pf and moving Amir to the bench? Along with the addition of an improvement over Lucas or are we likely resigned to pinning our playoffs hopes(next year) on drastic improvement and consistency from Ross, Fields, Lucas and AA?

[Marcus]

Nothing is better than a good dynasty and this would appear to be one. Perhaps a chance to make some money here with a "winner take all" game against the NCAA champs. A portion of the profits to go to the winning school and the rest into the pockets of the promoter. Definitly a tough sell in the US but it may sell in Ottawa and with TV networks involved the skys the limit.

[LeeZ]

@GM: "Not to take away from the those CIS-NCAA pre-season tilts, but the American teams play everyone but the water boy." At the Ravens-UNLV game I saw, BOTH teams played not just their starters but their scrubs (note: scrubs, not Scrubs; and if you don't get the difference, shame on you for not following CIS basketball!,lol). Ironically, the one player who didn't make the trip for UNLV was prized CANADIAN recruit Anthony Bennett. It may indeed have been an exhibition game, but believe me, a high-profile US program doesn't want to lose to some rinky-dink Canadian school, exhibition or no.

[GM]

@LeeZ, I got the reference. Not because I've seen Carleton play but because Scrubb is a local kid I saw play in high school. I also saw his dad play on very good UVic teams, although I think he just missed out on the dynasty years, although he may have caught the tail end of it.

[David in Oakville]

@cc

Based on my comment it's not clear what I know about religion or the Catholic Church because I simply expressed an opinion and hope, not a fact. Having attended Mass for 30 years and Catholic school for all 13 years of my grade and high school education, I do know my way around the Church. What I didn't pick up there I often got from my three great aunts who were nuns. I am entitled to my opinion as you are to yours, if you had the courage to state it.

Based on your comment, it's not clear what you know about anything.

For the record, I do not have an opinion on hockey fights because I tend not to watch.

@LeeZ, did I get it right this time.