Great progression game defensively for DeRozan/Davis

[Roughhide]

Derozan had 1 steal, 2 blocks, and 9 rebounds to go along his nice offensive play tonight.

Davis had 5 blocked shots (most on the gritty and tough Zach Randolph) in only 22 minutes of work and did this while not forcing his offensive game and maintaining confidence.

Even though the Raptors lost the game, the team showed some grit on defense and these youngsters were a big part of that.

[big red]

I'm glad I caught the second half and saw it for myself. If I had read tomorrow morning that they lost again, by a couple of points, and ended the 3pt streak, without having seen some of the positives I saw in this game, it'd be hard for me to watch the next game.

[WhatWhat]

They didn't win because the 3 point shooting was non-existent.

I bet people will still complain that Bayless can't run an offense. It's night and day when he starts, and he should be starting over Jose. The starting lineup should be Bayless/DD/JuJu/Amir/Bargs. They actually played today and the game was really close. If Blur were healthy, they probably would've won.

[blackjitsu]

If Blur were healthy, they probably would've won.

You could say that for a few games during this streak.

[TheGloveinRapsUniform]

They didn't win because the 3 point shooting was non-existent.

I bet people will still complain that Bayless can't run an offense. It's night and day when he starts, and he should be starting over Jose. The starting lineup should be Bayless/DD/JuJu/Amir/Bargs. They actually played today and the game was really close. If Blur were healthy, they probably would've won.

i dont mind if bayless starts, as long as he doesnt play point. i think its pretty evident by now that he's more of a scorer rather than a passer. he's actually a shorter version of barbosa, very quick first step and can finish at the rim. he can play the point if DD or Bargs are not on the floor with him, but if they are, he cant take the ball down and look for his shot at the same time.

no doubt. barbosa wouldve pulled the raps away on this one. the deal with barbosa is he is a momentum shifter, if he takes the ball inside, the moment can swing to the raps advantage, but if he starts tossing jumpshots and 3s, he could swing the momentum the other way. but lately, he's been taking it to the hole so i think he gets what he needs to do with this team.

[Roughhide]

Raptors now tied for 4th worst record, come on NJ keep winning

[pesterm1]

I disagree, so what if bayless is a score first point guard? so is tony parker... Bayless i young and has alot of time to improove still. I see bayless starting by the end of the season... count it. Raps will loose a little more withbayless running point at first but he brings alot of things that jose doesnt. ex. REBOUNDING and DEFENSE and POINTS.
Jose can distribute very very well but we need more. I dont see why we dont start bayless but play jose more minsutes until bayless really goes to the next level. Bayless has been playing injured alot and he is just now starting to look healthy again.

[WhatWhat]

Y'all dislike shoot-first PGs far too much. And basically +1 to pesterm1.

[AJM]

Bayless can jump like crazy, I think he can jump higher than Andrea. 7 rebounds!!!!!!!

[nubreed000]

Bayless can jump like crazy, I think he can jump higher than Andrea. 7 rebounds!!!!!!!

i could jump higher than andrea lol

[mcHAPPY]

I disagree, so what if bayless is a score first point guard? so is tony parker... Bayless i young and has alot of time to improove still. I see bayless starting by the end of the season... count it. Raps will loose a little more withbayless running point at first but he brings alot of things that jose doesnt. ex. REBOUNDING and DEFENSE and POINTS.
Jose can distribute very very well but we need more. I dont see why we dont start bayless but play jose more minsutes until bayless really goes to the next level. Bayless has been playing injured alot and he is just now starting to look healthy again.

+1

The guy had 11 assists vs. MEM.

He is 22 and as everyone knows still learning. I have been too quick to judge players this year. Let them play and see what happens at the end of the year. When Bayless is forcing things, I'd rather have him on the floor than Calderon. That 'when' is not often enough though so until he gets it consistently, Jose runs the show.

[grindhouse]

A few things came to mind when I watched this game tonight, the first is raptors finally starting out of the gate playing good basketball.

Wright played good defense on rudy through out this game most of Gay's 20 pts were when wright was not on the floor, I did think Julian should have pressed him on the last shot instead of waiting on the pick which never came but the shot was still contested so I can't say much expect Alex needs to work day and night with him to get a shot because all of the rest of his game is there. All I want from him is to hit the open jumper!

Alot of little mistakes in tonights game like demar running into the trap, or bayless driving into 3 big's but the mistakes are getting less and less which is a good sign.

[Balls of Steel]

Bayless can jump like crazy, I think he can jump higher than Andrea. 7 rebounds!!!!!!!

Eight to be exact. I agree with the effort overall. I was at the game and saw DD going after it hard, JB driving to the hoop with reckless abandon. Too bad our center couldn't be bothered with effort (finished with 5 ball-dropped-in-my-hand rebounds). Sigh.

[Tim W.]

They didn't win because the 3 point shooting was non-existent.

I bet people will still complain that Bayless can't run an offense. It's night and day when he starts, and he should be starting over Jose. The starting lineup should be Bayless/DD/JuJu/Amir/Bargs. They actually played today and the game was really close. If Blur were healthy, they probably would've won.

WHat exactly is night and day? Calderon is a better PG and a better player, at this point. Yes, they nearly won against a team that is below .500. What's your point? Bayless is coming along nicely, but he still has trouble running an offense and gets a lot of his assists by forcing the action. Sometimes that nice, but you need your PG to get more assists in the flow of the game, more.

[Tim W.]

I disagree, so what if bayless is a score first point guard? so is tony parker... Bayless i young and has alot of time to improove still. I see bayless starting by the end of the season... count it. Raps will loose a little more withbayless running point at first but he brings alot of things that jose doesnt. ex. REBOUNDING and DEFENSE and POINTS.
Jose can distribute very very well but we need more. I dont see why we dont start bayless but play jose more minsutes until bayless really goes to the next level. Bayless has been playing injured alot and he is just now starting to look healthy again.

Tony Parker IS a shoot first PG. Two things that make that okay. The first is that Parker knows how to run an offense. He's a shoot first PG, but he's still a real PG. Bayless has A LOT of work to do before he's at that point.

Secondly, Parker plays with Ginobili and Tim Duncan, two of the best passers at their positions. And the Spurs share the ball so well as a team that they don't need Parker to be a pass first PG.

Shoot first PGs work in certain, very specific situations. The Raptors do not have that situation.