Raptors 09/10 season thread

[octothorp]

Yeah, that third quarter was just a shellacking, even with Paul in for a lot of it. Calderon had by far his best game of the season, and Bosh just destroyed Okafor. And Bargnani looked rough for a lot of the game, but I liked that he was driving inside early even if he wasn't finishing, and then he can just get hot so quickly.

[KTown]

First time posting in this thread, but the turk signing is awesome so far. He's quickly becoming my favorite raptor, Bosh is allready benefiting from having a real jumpshot threat.

Big game tonight.

[Jesse834]

That did not take long Allen Iverson has left the Grizzlies to deal with personal matters.

[bluejays]

Just incase anyone missed it, Raps got the beatdown last night bigtime. That game against New Orleans, everything that could have gone right, did. This game, the Raps reverted back to the team they probably are, and boy did they get spanked. Bosh is tearing it up. Jose has gotta be better though. Even against New Orleans I thought he played like last year - solid but not a fantastic game like the commentators were saying. He's gotta get a better.

[octothorp]

I don't think they'll win tonight, but I'm more interested in seeing how Bosh performs against Duncan, who's owned him every time they've played. Bosh needs to start having big games against the elite big men of the league, and if he does, it might mark a change in the Raptors' fortunes. If he gets owned by Duncan again, I think it'll temper a lot of the excitement about his dominant start.

[Gozer]

I don't know how much I agree with that. Duncan is clearly a superior player to Bosh, and Duncan's "brand" matches up really well with CB4.

I'd actually like to see Bargs play Duncan even and let Bosh dominate whomever else they have on the floor.

[octothorp]

Well, no Duncan tonight so the question becomes academic. Bosh and Bargs are off to a good start, they need to just take it inside all night and get these guys into foul trouble.

[Machiavelli]

They need to figure out the defense.

[bluejays]

Their defence is totally e. How can a team with such big guys down low be such pansies? Ginobili played good, but for chrissakes, he kept dribbling to the top of the key and dishing it out behind him almost like a drop pass for the 3. He must have done it at least 10 times and the ######ed defence does not see the trend with the man left open for the wide open shot. Bargnani's almost useless when he's not scoring. The only positive tonight was that everyone was scoring on the Raps. The morons just have to learn how to play d.

[I wanna be like Miikka]

Terrible loss, a game you have to win when they don't have Parker or Duncan. This team needs to get better on the defensive end.

[octothorp]

Let me start by saying I missed most of the fourth quarter. But you know, I wouldn't normally criticize an offense that scored 124 points, but they were in prime position half way through this game to really put San Antonio in foul trouble. Instead, they fell in love with the jump shot in the second half (at least the third and early fourth), the Spurs' big men were able to get back in the game, rest up on D and focus on offensive boards. When the other team takes eleven more field goal attempts and fifteen more free throws, the shooting averages are completely irrelevant; you're going to lose to any team in the league. I hear some Raptors fans talking about how Evans will make a huge difference, but he's one guy coming off the bench. I don't see him making a huge difference, unless it's to team attitude.

And Wright should be the last option on offense when he's on the court. Offensive possessions die in his hands. And he's underwhelmed as far as the defense he's brought, too.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Let me start by saying I missed most of the fourth quarter. But you know, I wouldn't normally criticize an offense that scored 124 points, but they were in prime position half way through this game to really put San Antonio in foul trouble. Instead, they fell in love with the jump shot in the second half (at least the third and early fourth), the Spurs' big men were able to get back in the game, rest up on D and focus on offensive boards. When the other team takes eleven more field goal attempts and fifteen more free throws, the shooting averages are completely irrelevant; you're going to lose to any team in the league. I hear some Raptors fans talking about how Evans will make a huge difference, but he's one guy coming off the bench. I don't see him making a huge difference, unless it's to team attitude.

And Wright should be the last option on offense when he's on the court. Offensive possessions die in his hands. And he's underwhelmed as far as the defense he's brought, too.

I'm big on Evans because he's the one player who knows how to bang down low on the defensive side. Raps players allow every guy to come under the basket and score. Evans at least will throw the elbow or make a hard foul. I want to see more of that because players of all sizes are just coming straight down the middle and no Raps players are doing anything about it - if they do, they're getting girly fouls + the basket for the opposing player. It's so frustrating to watch when clearly the offense is clicking. I'd also like to see Rasho play a few more minutes per night. He's not a dirty player, but he makes it hard to take that layup down low, and generally he works hard on the boards. Players like those two guys allow for the Raps players to depend on them more down low, which allows those players to defend the perimeter and midrange shot more effectively. I don't expect Evans to play big at the start given his injury, but if the guy does get more confortable, I do have huge hopes on what he can do on the glass.

[Trojan97]

Best offensively efficient team and worst defensively efficient team in the association.

I'm confident they will comfortably slide in top six in the East but it's pretty obvious the D is going to be a huge work in progress all year long.

[Gozer]

"Work in progress" is charitable.

They can't stop penetration so they constantly collapse and hope for missed 3s. It's a better strategy than anything else they can run, but it just doesn't work in the NBA.

Rotate, support, collapse, run-out on an open 3. Repeat for 48 mins.

JJ Reddick and Matt Bonner are handing this team their ass.

[bluejays]

So today the Raps are up against the Bulls. If anyone caught yesterday's Bulls game, that was so far the best game (and ending) of the year. Noah had 16 rebounds (boy has the kid turned it around this year - and I have him in my pool!). I'm calling it now that the Raps will be eaten alive by Chicago's aggressiveness. It's very possible Noah gets 18 Rebs today. Bargnani better be aggressive.

[Suave]

Tonight should be a fun game to watch, just based on the contrasting styles. Raptors with one of the best offenses but worst defenses, while the Bulls are the polar opposite. The Bulls are one of the worst 3-point shooting teams, so the Raptors can collapse all they want and not worry about them swinging the ball outside for an open 3.

Also I still can’t believe how much Bosh has bulked up this year; he is having his way on offense.

[Machiavelli]

The rebounding is awful!

Bulls are on pace for 120 points; the same team that hasn't scored 100 points yet this season.

Edit: Wow, Chicago just completely lost all their energy in the second half. Props to the Raps for sticking with it.

[octothorp]

Well, looks like they got this one. Chicago had sixty points in the first half, and just 28 with a couple minutes left in the the second half. Obviously a lot of that has to do with Chicago getting tired, but team rebounding has been much better. I love what Amir Johnson has brought; his work on the offensive boards really seemed to spark the team.

[killer_carlson]

johnson had a great game tonight.
When is Evans expected back? They really need him on this team.

Calderon had a good offensive game, but it seems he is really being exposed defensively night after night. That has to stop.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

When is Evans expected back? They really need him on this team.

He posted on his twitter last week that it would be another two weeks... that's the most recent update I've heard, and that might be just optimism on his part.