It was fun to watch Stephen Curry tonight. That was my reaction after Bosh missed the layup that would’ve completed a Raptors comeback which would have been as undeserved as a loss in Philly would’ve been. Bosh’s missed layup is the farthest thing from my mind because we should not be in a one point game at home against a Golden State team missing Monta Ellis and playing a 7-man rotation with three D-Leaguers. The main difference between the Raptors and Warriors is that the Warriors have an identity, however insane that identity is, it’s an identity and philosophy which they stick to. Why they’d take a jumper with 20 seconds on the clock when up 16 in the fourth is probably why Don Nelson has never won a title and never will, but that mentality is good enough on nights like these when the opposition is a Raptors team that struggles dealing with quickness at the wings.

Other than Bosh, our starting lineup shot 11/45 (24%) with Bargnani being the main culprit going 7-23. I usually don’t have a problem when he shoots poorly and has a decent rebounding game (9 rebs), but his shot-selection was so poor that he should’ve been playing for the Warriors. Actually, even they’d have an issue with a line-driver jumper from 7 feet. Believe it or not, Bargnani is our best post-option, when he sets his mind to it and the team makes an effort to establish him inside, he usually produces results (when he’s not fading towards the baseline in the face of a double-team) as seen earlier in the game. It also has a pleasant side-effect of him being in better offensive rebounding position (5 off. rebs), so why we didn’t continue to clear out for him in the post and run some sets around him after the second quarter is confusing.

We were making an attempt to establish Bosh and Bargnani early in the game and did an honest job of it by giving those two touches every chance we had; a bit of a departure from the team game but with the playoffs approaching, I can see why Triano would try to get these two in rhythm. However, I fear that that this wasn’t Triano’s plan at all but just more of the random stuff that happens during Raptor games. Nonetheless, Bosh was going at Maggette and had Turiaf guarding him on the switch, the latter’s no match for Bosh’s quickness and credit to Bosh, he didn’t settle for the jumper and went 20-23 from the line. Bosh getting to the FT line was the only sure thing tonight and he deserved a touch on basically every possession down the stretch. It should be noted that he took a terrible shot at 0:39 with the Raptors down 4, a right-handed hook-shot which was more of a push is not what you want to do with the game on the line. Other than that, it’s really unfortunate that he couldn’t ice his 42 point game with that layup.

When a guy has 29/12/8 as Stephen Curry did, it’s hard to say that anybody stopped him. What you can say is that jacking up a game-high 23 shots and playing 44 minutes might be a little exhausting which could leave him prone to defensive vulnerabilities which could be exploited. There are three major issues I have with how we played Curry tonight:

1. Until Jarrett Jack in the fourth, we didn’t make him play any defense. Jose Calderon’s work on him gets him a straight F and Curry was coasting while playing one side of the ball for 37 of his 44 minutes.
2. For the defensive genius Marc Iavaroni is supposed to be, I haven’t seen a single moment of brilliance from him all season long. It’s plenty obvious that Curry is Golden State’s little engine and that they struggle to create off the dribble (especially without Monta Ellis) without him. Perhaps extending the defense, trapping him and getting the ball out of his hands would’ve been effective, instead we let him pick us apart. After watching the Bobcats/Bulls game the night before, I swear that this can be an effective strategy. It’s like there were no lessons learned from the game in Golden State.
3. How many jumpers does he have to nail before we start hedging him hard or going over the screen? That early fourth quarter sequence where he nailed three threes was an example of a defense that just isn’t thinking on its own but reacting to what the offense is doing, and doing so exactly the way the offense wants.

I have to give props to Jarrett Jack for being assertive against him in the second and fourth quarters, he finally said enough is enough and decided to put a hurt on the rookie who was playing with the confidence of a playground player who knows nobody can stop him. Jack has 16 fourth quarter points and this was the first time somebody on our team took an initiative against Curry. To me, there is no question who is the better defensive PG on the Raptors, who can lay a beating on the opposing PG and who can pick-up this team when it’s down.

In building their 13 point lead, scoring 37 points and shooting 58% at the end of the first, Golden State had exposed what our defense was going to be on this night – soft in transition and unable to adapt to their quick-fire offense. We were always a step slow on the perimeter against them and Wright, DeRozan and Weems were tortured off the dribble early in the shot-clock too often. Any pick ‘n roll sequence involving Bargnani was a disaster and Bosh was unable to cope with Maggette who was canceling out the former’s offense in the fist half and finished with a highly efficient 31 points on 10-14 shooting.

Amir Johnson’s inside play off the bench and our dominant rebounding (+15) brought us back in the second quarter. He also got absolutely robbed of a steal when Joey Crawford called him for a foul on what should’ve been a jumpball. We had 14 second-chance points in the first half to their 0 (20-5 for the game) and it’s clearly what kept this one close at halftime. The introduction of Jack also helped matters as Curry only had 2 points in the second.

Golden State was getting theirs by swinging the ball and knocking down jumpers as our wings struggled to cope with the constant ball-movement and paid the price brought on by their own over-helping. When it was all said and done they were 13-26 from three and the Raptors were 3-12. The shocking part about this stat is that Golden State is the worst team in the NBA when it comes to defending the three. My theory is that in trying to establish Bargnani and Bosh, we went away from team-ball and didn’t have the spacing and East-West movement in our offense which generates those threes. The -16 assists bear that out.

There are nights where your shot just isn’t falling and tonight was one of them, we shot 39.1% FG, Weems missed everything, Bargnani was firing blanks and what not, I can live with that, what I can’t live with is Golden State coming in and shooting 58% after the first and 50% after three quarters. We were not prepared to play defense against a Golden State team which only knows one way to play. I can excuse the Knicks for getting blown out at home a couple nights ago against them because they got nothing to play for, but we have Chicago breathing down our necks. How much motivation do you need?

Down 16 in the fourth quarter after Curry’s barrage of threes, the game was far from over because Don Nelson has no sense of clock management. They turned the ball over, missed bad shots and the Raptors took advantage through Bosh and Jack. Suddenly it was a three point game late on and instead of letting the Raptors hoist up an attempt to tie, Nelson played the foul-game. It almost backfired as Curry missed two FTs and Weems stole the ball to setup Bosh with a behind-the-back pass, but Bosh couldn’t decide whether to lay it directly in or use the glass. Whenever that happens you’re in trouble and Bosh was. Chicago now stands a game back.

Hedo Turkoglu didn’t play between 6:52 and :10 of the fourth quarter. Perhaps he was pulled for hugging GSW players during the fourth quarter or maybe he was pulled because he flat-out sucks. I’m not sure, I’m also not sure what level of the doghouse he’s in but you have to play him for two reasons – Weems is having a crappy game and it’s not like he’ll make our defense any worse. It makes no sense to not have him involved in the clutch offense at this point in the season, if we make the playoffs we’re going to need his experience and shot-making ability. As nice as Weems has been for us, he’s not going to be the guy that’ll win us a playoff round, Turkoglu could actually help with that and it’s time we make our lineups with that in mind.

Let’s review the final stretch for the Raptors and Bulls. The Bulls are 1 game behind us with both teams having played the same amount of games, 76. We hold the tie-breaker.

Toronto:

@ Cleveland
v Boston (B2B)
@ Atlanta
v Chicago
@ Detroit (B2B)
v Knicks

Chicago:

v Milwaukee
@ Cleveland
@ New Jersey (B2B)
@ Toronto
v Boston
@ Charlotte (B2B)

Obviously the game against the Bulls is huge, but what’s scary about this schedule is that Milwaukee are now without Andrew Bogut and Charlotte might have little left to play for. Charlotte is 2 games ahead of us and 2 games behind Milwaukee so if things stay that way, they’ll have nothing to play for as the Bulls game is Game 82 for them. Plus, the Bulls just beat the Hornets a couple days ago and will be confident heading into that one. As for the Raptors, the only sure thing is the Knicks game at home since Detroit is a road game on a back-to-back. I’d say Milwaukee on Tuesday night is a must-win game for Chicago and I got a feeling this will come down to the tie-breaker.

I had this game penciled in as a W so I’m a little nervous.

I’m a bit worried about today’s game, I’ll be honest. Not because Golden State is a great team, but they score the crap out of the ball from the wing position, and play small ball. We know how that goes for the Raptors right?

I checked in with Rasheed from Warriors World about his team:

Q. You guys have found some gems from the D-League, can you talk about Williams and Tolliver? Both those guys killed us the last game.
A. I wouldn’t go as far as labeling Reggie Williams and Anthony Tolliver as “Gems” but they were good finds by GM Larry Riley in particular Williams who secured a guaranteed contract for next season. Williams is a scoring two-guard who can shoot, handle the rock and finish inside. He’s a good player but a redundant layer on this team especially going into next season when they’ll have Kelanna Azubuike returning and a possible draft pick in the backcourt as well. Anthony Tolliver is a prototypical Nellie big man who can spread the defense with his shooting and allow Nellie to create mis-matches on the floor. Tolliver doesn’t consistently rebound and isn’t much of a defensive presence which is precisely why the Warriors love him.

Q. What’s Monta Ellis’ future on this team?
A. Monta’s future with the team is under a cloud of mystery. Monta is a very good player but a horrible fit next to Stephen Curry and with Curry being the new face of the franchise its not hard to tell which one is on the way out of town. The Warriors turned down a potential deal with Memphis in which they would’ve received OJ Mayo, Hasheem Thabeet and a 1st round pick in exchange for Ellis. If the Warriors get the top pick in the draft then I believe they trade Monta, a deal such as Rudy Gay for Monta would be a great deal for the Warriors.

Q. A lot of folks in Toronto love Stephen Curry and remember his sweet stroke as a young kid when his dad played for the Raptors. Can you gush about him a bit?
A. Curry has been spectacular this season, plain and simple. He came into a tough situation with so many things going on with the team off the court but he’s managed to weather the storm and become the leader on the team. Curry brings a flair to the game without trying to do so, he makes the difficult plays look easy and is the ultimate teammate. Curry’s true potential won’t be realized till the Warriors get better players around him because Curry is the type of player who will stand out even more so on a winning team, as the team gets better, so will Curry.

Q. Talk about Larry Ellison and what he can mean to this team? How do you guys feel about the situation?
A. No one truly knows what to expect if and when Larry Ellison purchases the team but we do know it couldn’t be worse than the Chris Cohan era. Ellison would present a change to the status quo and rid the Warriors of the bad management its been plagued with for close to two decades. Ellison is a known free spender who will do what it takes in order to succeed and win which would be a welcomed change in Warriors land. Larry Ellison might be the only owner with a bigger ego than Mark Cuban, no small feat.

Q. Would you give up a package including Curry for Bosh in a potential trade (lets start the rumour here)?
A. I don’t see the Warriors dealing Curry anytime soon. If the Warriors are to make a run at Bosh, it would be centered around Monta Ellis, Andris Biedrins, Brandan Wright, Anthony Randolph, some combination of those individuals is what the Warriors would offer. I personally don’t see the Warriors dealing for Bosh because the expect Anthony Randolph to return next season fully healthy. The word around Randolph is that he’s making dramatic changes this off-season and looking to come into camp next season primed and ready for a breakout season, multiple scouts and execs have told me that Randolph will be better than Bosh, for Warriors sake I hope it comes to fruition.

Keys to the game

• Stop both Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis: the last time we played the Warriors, the two combined for 66pts 10rebs 12ast 6stl 1blk. If Calderon and Jack aren’t cutting it early, then Triano needs to give some time to Banks. If the Raptors go with Calderon/Jack at the same time, you can expect the same result as the last time.
• Protect the glass: Bargnani has been rebounding better lately, so this should work itself out naturally, but the last time out, olliver and Hunter combined for 19rebs. The Warriors pulled down 18 offensive rebounds to go along with that. That’s a lot of second chance points.
• Protect the ball: Golden State leads the league in fast break points with 24.4/game. Last game, Toronto turned the ball over 18 times leading to 24 fast break points; nothing turns into easy transition points like a turnover.
• No zone: I’m getting nervous thinking about Curry and Ellis mangling our zone with sweet looks from beyond the arc./li>

If the Raptors take this one down, they will be 1 game behind Charlotte and 2 games ahead of the Bulls. Each team has 6 games to go after today. No excuses.

Hang your heads in shame boys, what you guys did (or didn’t do as the case may be) last night was nothing more than going through the motions. Enough of you have checked out, for some reason, and the ones who are still fighting are doing it alone. This team is in worse shape than the one that started the year 7-13; at least that squad was trying to make sense of 9 new players (who still don’t speak the same language) and a new coach who doesn’t appear to have done anything at all except…no, he’s got nothing.

If I were planning for this game, I would have made it a point to address a few key things:

1. Dictate the pace of the game: the Warriors like to get up and down the court and jack up shots. Don Nelson has given them the green-light to take whatever shot they want…and most of these guys can hit them. So yeah, you need to worry about quick transition shots. Also, when you have the ball, there is no need to push the ball and force anything when there is no defense being played against you. Be aggressive, but don’t force the issue. It’s key you play the game you know how to, not the game you want to.
2. Protect the glass: with so many shots going up, you have to get the rebound. You have 4 guys who will get heavy minutes that are 6″9 or taller, and the Warriors have 1. You have to use the weapons you have. Since the Raptors are a bigger/stronger team, boxing out and keeping a body between your check and basket is a key thing. Nothing hurts more than a team taking a wild shot, missing badly, only to grab the offensive board and lay it back in quickly.
3. Perimeter defense: you have a team that is strictly built for run-and-gun without any big bodies who play in the paint. To me, I start thinking about ways to protect the perimeter, not give them anything easy. Zone defense maybe. Not switching on screens. Not doubling anyone who might not warrant a double. All these actions open up space for a shooter to shoot. Maybe you want to get your best perimeter players out there.

The game started with both teams hot from the field. The Raptors would pound the ball into the paint and score; the Warriors would run it back and quickly answer within 16 seconds. Jack and Turkoglu were orchestrating the offense perfectly: feeding the post, finding slashers, penetrating and dishing…ball movement at it’s finest.

DeRozan was attacking off the bounce. Taking his man off the dribble, or slashing through the paint off the ball, giving a target and converting. The fact that the Warriors play no defense helped, but he was committed to driving to the rim. When that commitment is there, good things will happen.

The Warriors had no idea what to do with Amir. The guy was furious in his 4minutes of play. Rolling to the rim, hitting everything, grabbing every rebound he could. He even had the block of the year on Maggette who was trying to dunk the ball in the open court. Vicious.

It was so frantic though. They bait you into playing that up and down game that every NBA player wants to, but that only a few can do effectively, and in the first quarter, it was working in the Raptors favour because they were being aggressive, but they moved the ball around until they got the shot that they wanted (and was appropriate). The Raptors assisted on 10 of their 15 1st quarter baskets, and all those baskets (except for Calderon’s three at the end of the quarter) were within 15 feet. Great, clean looks that allowed them to close out the 1st quarter on a 15-2 run.

The second quarter saw the Raps move away from the things they were doing well, and all-together stop doing everything else. They started the 2nd with Bosh and Johnson pounding the paint; then Weems gave them a 12 point lead with a layup in the paint when the Raptor off-switch was flipped, and they went scoreless for 5 minutes. It wasn’t even a matter of them being defended, they just stopped doing the things that constitutes team basketball. They weren’t sharing the ball, took shots early in the clock, and most of those shots were deep jumpers. Yes they hit a few, but it all came at the expense of the interior game which was what got them the 10 point lead.

In that 5 minutes, the Raptors only mustered 5 shots. Five bloody shots in a frantically paced game. Pathetic. Three of them were outside of 23 feet, and two were missed layups by Turkoglu (who somehow got past his check at walking speed). In that 5 minutes, the Raptors did commit 3 fouls and 3 turnovers though, so the stat sheet got filled up. What happened in that 5 minutes? The Warriors showed a really weak zone defense that totally blind sided the Raptors. They weren’t even pressing that hard, just were in a zone formation, running around and such.

The Warriors did crash the hell out of the boards. They missed 17 shots, but grabbed 9 offensive rebounds. The Raptors were absolutely invisible on the glass: Amir and Bargnani only mustered 1 rebound between the two of them in 20 minutes of play. Pathetic. The Warriors weren’t quite ready to take the game over, but it seemed as though the Raptors were willing to give it up.

…and boy did they do just that in the 3rd quarter. The Raptors came out absolutely flat. They did nothing. Had 2 points (a DeRozan layup) in the first three and a half minutes. Committed a few fouls, turned the ball over gladly. Scored a couple buckets, then went cold for another two and a half minutes. Then with about 4:30 left, they gave it a bit of a go, but couldn’t sustain any real momentum. The Warriors had their feet on their necks, and applied just enough pressure at the right times to stop any semblance of anything. To cap it off, some guy named Hunter had a put-back dunk with four-tenths of a second left in the quarter. The game was done at that point. The 4th quarter was a 12-minute death rattle.

So back to the game plan I outlined earlier:

Dictate the pace of the game

The Warriors took 95 shots, 27 of which were three-pointers. They had 25 fast break points. They grabbed 36% of all offensive rebounds. 55.7% eFG. Sure the Raptors had an eFG of 61.8%, but they turned the ball over 17 times, allowed 18 offensive rebounds. The Warriors ran, shot, missed, grabbed the rebound, and put it back before the Raptors knew what hit them.

Protect the glass
The Warriors had a 36% offensive rebounding rate. That means that they grabbed 36% of all available offensive rebounds. Given that they missed 50 shots during the game, that’s a lot. Guys called Chris Hunter and Anthony Tolliver had 6 and 5 offensive rebounds respectively.  I mean seriously? Both these guys were cold-calling people at night trying to sell Foreman grills while playing in the D-League two months ago. Tolliver is a 6″9 center for crying out loud. Blame Bargnani and Johnson for grabbing less rebounds combined than Tolliver did.

Perimeter Defense
Monta Ellis: 45min 31pts 4rebs 2ast 2st
Stephen Curry: 42min 35pts 6rebs 10ast 4stl 1blk

These were the only two guys we had to plan for, and they did what they wanted. Marcus Banks, our best defender at the point, and possibly the best defender on the team got exactly zero minutes. Ellis/Curry did what they wanted, when they wanted and as much as they wanted. Not sure what Triano planned to do this game, but clearly these two weren’t being accounted, and if they were, the plan had to have been to let them do what they wanted, because they did.

The highlight of the night for me was Jack Armstrong who had a few gems:

Tonight the Raptors get the Blazers on the second night of the back-to-back. The pace will be slower, but the result will be the same. Arsenalist will check in with the pre-game in the afternoon.