Most of the action was in the mid-range with a few of those deeeeep jumpers; I’m not even showing the misses. It’s not like the Suns are super deep in the front court or anything, getting one or two of their guys who open up the paint nice and wide, but no, didn’t see any of that; shoot the ball against a weak defensive team, makes sense to me…

I reached out to my man, J.M. Poulard from Warriors World about the game tonight:

We were big fans of Ekpe Udoh (got him on a podcast) before the draft; gotta love big, athletic forwards who defend like champs. What’s your take on him?
Imagine a game in which the Los Angeles Lakers are playing and then suddenly they pass the ball to someone wearing a Celtics jersey; that would be weird right? In a nutshell, that’s Udoh. On a team that is so concerned with scoring, his defensive contributions just stand out when watching the Warriors play.

He does a good job of always playing hard and sprinting up and down the court to beat his man to the spot. He does not yet have the strength to match up with most power forwards and centers, however he does little things to try and throw off the timing of players he defends. For instance, he’ll shade his man to one side and dare him to drive to other, and then on the following possession he’ll shade to the opposite side or simply send the offensive player towards his help.

He always stays active and makes sure to get a body on someone once a shot goes up. Ekpe Udo is learning on the job, but he is doing a good job of doing so.

If you could take back the David Lee transaction from the summer, would you?
Initially, I was not a big fan of the David Lee move given the steep price the Warriors paid for him.  But the important thing is to look around the league and compare him to other players with relatively similar games and ages, and then it’s easier to gain some perspective on the move. Have a look below:

Player	Age	2010-11 Salary*	PPG	RPG	FG%
LaMarcus Aldridge	25	$10.7	22.2	8.7	50.0
Andrea Bargani	25	$8.0	22.0	5.4	45.0
Carlos Boozer	29	$14.4	18.0	9.3	52.3
David Lee	27	$10.8	15.9	9.5	49.1
Paul Millsap	26	$6.2	17.2	7.8	53.2
David West	31	$8.0	18.7	7.6	50.8

*Salary figures obtained from Hoopshype.

We are all aware of Lee’s shortcomings on defense, but he is still able to score efficiently and rebound the basketball, which is what teams ask their big men to do. Furthermore, you could even make the case that he should get more touches than what he is currently getting. With that said, I do feel as though he is a bit overpaid, but not necessarily by that much; his market value should be right around $8.0 million per season.

So to answer your question, I would probably still have made the transaction; although I would have tried to sign him for a bit less.

So there’s always been the perception that Curry and Ellis wouldn’t work well together, what do you have to say to that?
Stephen Curry helps out Monta Ellis immensely on the offensive end with his playmaking ability as well as his ability to stretch the floor. Monta benefits from some driving lanes just by having Curry on the floor and also does not always have to handle the ball to get his points since Steph can lead the break and feed him once he gets a full head of steam.

On the flip side, the former Davidson star defers far too much to Ellis and I’m not sure that Monta would have it any other way. At times, Curry is asked to just stand in the corner and wait for the ball, which isn’t really his strong suit.

Also, both players put the word defense to shame; which is kind of relevant when teams traditionally seek to keep players out of the paint. Ellis and Curry struggle in that department, thus opposing backcourts usually have good scoring nights against them. For the time being, the perception seems to be true, but to be fair I would like to see them play under a head coach that stresses defense. That’s when I feel like we’d get a better indication of whether they are truly doomed to fail.

The front office and coaching staff could look very different come next season; barring any lock out. Have they earned their keep? If not, who could be there replacement?
Although I do not have any insider info to confirm this, it seems to me that management wants a team that gets out and run and puts points on the board. As a result, Smart was brought in to have the team do just that. However, the defense has been atrocious which has made for several high scoring games, but a lot of losses.

Management has done a semi-decent job with the personnel, bringing in Dorrel Wright and David Lee last summer. Mind you, the rest of the roster does not seem to fit. There are several offensive minded players on the team, none of which are exactly fans of passing the ball. At times, it’s as if there are four J.R. Smith’s out on the court.

I would love to see Kevin Pritchard get a shot in Golden State. Save for the Oden over Durant draft move, he’s been very good at acquiring talent on the roster through the draft and also through trades. He was behind the drafting of Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge (this happened with team president Steve Patterson serving as interim general manager but Pritchard was credited with much of the negotiation of the trades to acquire the picks that made the moves happen), he also acquired Rudy Fernandez and Nicolas Batum through the draft, signed Andre Miller in free agency and acquired Marcus Camby via trade.

As far as a head coach, Jim O’Brien would be my pick. He has figured out ways to overachieve in the past (think of the 2002 Boston Celtics) by instilling a good (not great) offense but a solid defense that managed to keep his teams in games.

How do the Warriors match-up with the Raptors? What are you expecting to see tonight?
Dunks, lay ups and more dunks. The Raptors allow the most shots directly at the basket in the league while Golden State allows the fourth most; so we should expect to see some highlights in this one. Furthermore, the Warriors 3-point shooting should be a huge factor in this game given the fact that Toronto surrenders 37.3% shooting from deep on the season. If the Warriors settle for outside shots while the Raptors keep getting attempts directly at the rim, expect the Raptors to roll at Oracle Arena.

Mind you, if the Dubs can blend their shooting from deep with their interior scoring, the Raptors might be in trouble. I would have to think that the Dubs should be able to hit shots at home while the Raptors will stay close in this one.

Injury Report

Toronto
Linas Kleiza – Out
Reggie Evans – Day to day
Amir Johnson – Day to day
Joey Dorsey – Day to day

Golden State
Andris Biedrins – Out

Player Report

Jose Calderon
He’s going to get raped by Stephen Curry tonight. Yea, he will get  some of it back, but he wont match Curry’s production (34pts 5rebs 4ast 3stls from the last time they played). In all fairness, Curry did that damage against Jack, but I’m pretty sure it’s safe to predict the same result.

DeMar DeRozan
Ellis has seen a recent dip in his production, 15pts 4.6rebs 5.4ast over the last 5, but the Raptor defense should revive him. He dropped 28 on 59% shooting the last time out, and wont be an easy check. DeMar has size and strength on him, but Ellis is a freak off the dribble, and will prove too much.

James Johnson
Both James Johnson and Dorell Wright escaped a bad situation with the team that drafted them, and have gone on to much better things where they landed on. In Dorell’s case, the improvement has him as one of the favourites to win the Most Improved Player award. Johnson is a better defender, and has more hop to his step, but Dorell will keep him on the perimeter and away from help as much on defense.

Power Forward
Amir starts, Reggie gets more minutes, and Ed throws in his contribution. However, all three stank up the place against the Suns on Wednesday, so I’m lumping them in together now. They got Ekpe Udoh, and we get our first glimpse of the kid against the Raptors. This should be a lame match-up.

Andrea Bargnani
He’s gonna score 30 on Lee; Lee will drop 24, but add 19 rebounds.  I think that about covers it.

The Line

The Warriors are 7 point favourites with an over/under of 215. Like J.M. said above “Dunks, lay ups and more dunks.” Expect an exciting game, but this one smells as though things can get out of hand.

Alabi: face it, this space will never be filled with floor time related content for 98% of the season.

Andersen: hanging with my mom tonight, she says “who the hell is that?!? What does he do?” I said, matter of factly, he’s our new Chris Bosh. Her response: “looking like THAT??” I love my mom.

Banks: Tiffany at the House of Lancaster is happy the Raptors road trip is over….she misses her little Mushroom.

Barbosa: left the game early with a shoulder irritation (Muggsy Bogues?) and while the statline seemed insignificant, his court time wasn’t. Pesky and disruptive, something that this team needs.

Bargnani: Wally and Liston will tell you that his –17 is really kinda good because you need to look at his stats in a mirror, while spinning around 8 times and drinking a 2L Red Bull through a straw…making the stats come out as adjusted +/-. No matter what they say, I say he shot 50% grabbed a single rebound and fouled like he was playing pattycakes with Leo. Not his finest 21 minutes.

Calderon: I saw 2 things that sucked hard today: I was passing a construction site where the Port-o-lets were being “emptied” and Jose Calderon playing basketball against the Golden State Warriors.

Davis: 3 things that are fine: Rosario Dawson, peach cobbler, and Ed Davis’ fashion sense.

DeRozan: debated with someone on if that was a cheapshot against Ellis in the 4th. I kind of thought it was a punk move, but not cheap. Otherwise DeMar had a decent game. Can’t throw him to the sharks, but you can’t make a case for him being the second coming of Morris Peterson either.

Dorsey: look Ma, no skill!!!

Evans: evidently Reggie heard it was my birthday and decided to join Jose in taking the night off, hoping to influence Parliament Hill in making it November’s national holiday.

Jack: you put a feisty kid in front of him and he decides to ball for the first time in a while. He challenged Curry, he facilitated some nice plays, he was actively talking and he appeared to make reservations at Jack Astors in the third quarter. Impressive use of skill.

Johnson: the fouls returned, but his game didn’t completely disappear. Showed some passion (which I still say was missing in the first 4 games) and had his nose looking for the ball on both ends of the floor all night.

Kleiza: costly foul late, but he was a workhorse tonight both in minutes (38) and effort. On a night where 2 starters just weren’t up to snuff, Linas carried some of their weight as well.

Weems: 12 and 6 in 23 minutes and playing with a chip on his shoulder. Me like. Pringles are on sale at Shoppers if you need some more motivation, Sonny.

Wright: on again off again in Jay’s rotation. Tonight was an off night.

Driving The Bus: Jarrett Jack

Under The Bus: Jose Calderon

Game Theme :

After putting up a big fat donut after four pretty tough games out West, the Raptors return home to face the Warriors in a game that folks wil be anxious about who’s on the other team: Stephen Curry. I really love this kid, and that sentiment is shared by many of you. We miss him until we realize that he’s a murderer, averaging 32pts 11ast 7rebs against the Raptors.

I checked in with Jim Del Favero from Warriors World the team:

Ekpe Udoh was one of our favourites at RR, we even got in a pre-draft interview with him, I know he’s been injured, but what were your thoughts of him before he went down?
Unfortunately we didn’t get to see anything of Udoh before he was injured. We had heard that he injured it while lifting weights at the practice facility. There were some rumors that he did it before the draft, but nothing confirmed. He has been traveling with the team recently so there is hope that he will be in playing shape soon. Ethan Sherwood Straus did a piece on Udoh before the season to project where he would rank amongst the other picks in that range. Matt Steinmetz was a little more positive about Udoh’s post game and shot blocking abilities.

Warriors fans have a direct comparison that leaves them wary of investing too much hope in Udoh’s prospects. Adonal Foyle, a defensive shot blocker from a second tier program, who left the Warriors as their all time leader in blocked shots, but didn’t make much of an impact on the floor. Udoh certainly has a better NBA body than Brandan Wright, but it remains to be seen what impact he will have in the NBA. Monroe has looked like an awful pick so far, so that takes some pressure off Udoh.

A big coup this summer was landing David Lee, who will be a great pick-n-roll partner with Stephen Curry when he gets back. How has he fit in so far? Was too high a price paid to land him?
Lee’s offense has been worse than advertised but his rebounding is where we thought it would be. Defensively he is still a liability, but playing with Andris Biedrins is benefiting both players. They combined for over 30 rebounds against Utah last week, and are challenging shots, and cleaning the boards on both ends. Against teams with only a dominant center, or dominant power forward the tandem is perfect. When playing teams with 2 quality front line players Lee’s defensive challenges are more apparent. With Curry back in the lineup Lee is going to get more easy looks on offense, and his numbers should improve.

A bigger move was getting new ownership. What does geting out from under Chris Cohan’s hands mean for this team going forward?
New ownership is huge for this team, but only if the team organizes to win. Cohan and his ownership is remembered for extracting maximum value with minimum investment. Lacob and Guber talk a good game, and some decisions like letting Don Nelson and his 6 million this year go in favor of new blood and a focus on defense and coaching is a good sign. New ownership still isn’t approved and that may be due to the additional partners being added to the ownership group. The group may end up with 2 majority partners and as many as 8 minority owners before it’s approved. Certainly fans would rather see Larry Ellison, his billions, and his willingness to spend what it takes to win. Lacob will be a hero if he can build a team that gets into the playoffs and wins a championship.

4-1 to start the year with impressive wins over Houston and Utah, and without Curry. What’s been the secret sauce?
Strange I know, but it’s defense and rebounding. The Warriors are playing some scrappy defense with steals, significantly better offensive rebounding, and playing with discipline. Last season you had Biedrins with his worst season, and an undersized power forward and lineup. There was no help defense at all, so Biedrins would be saddled with fouls, and the warriors would go to an undersized lineup with no rebounding. With Lee in there it takes the pressure off Biedrins, and is providing plenty of second chance points. Ellis had 7 steals Friday night, and the Warriors are more active on defense, hands up, hands in the passing lane, contesting shots, stealing passes. They aren’t going to be a lock down defensive team, but they are playing better more active team defense which will result in fewer blowout losses and more wins in close games.

What happens with Ellis when Curry gets back?
The myth that those two can’t play together is busted. They play well together and there aren’t that many point guards with a strong post up game to take advantage of Curry, Ellis’s speed offsets any size disadvantage he has against larger 2 guards. Ellis has also shown a lot of maturity and leadership this season, improving his defense, and understanding when he isn’t getting his shot off to work on other aspects of his game. When they are both on the floor they each get easier shots. Curry can get the ball to Ellis where he wants it to take advantage of a seam in the defense, Ellis can penetrate and dish to Curry. Curry being out has exposed the Warriors lack of bench depth. We went from CJ Watson coming off the bench doing a reasonable job of managing the team to Charlie Bell who hasn’t shown anything so far. Lack of depth at the point is something Larry Riley needs to address soon.

I would be remiss not mentioning Dorell Wright and what a great pickup he has been for the Warriors. He has been an excellent fit, better than advertised. Corey Magette may fill up a stat sheet but Dorell makes a difference in the W-L column. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some discussion of Dorell Wright as most improved player if he keeps up this pace.

Injury

Toronto
Ed Davis – Out (still can’t remember what’s wrong with him)

Golden State
Brandan Wright – Day-to-day (Flu)

Match-ups

PG – Jack vs Curry
This might have been a total rapage until you remember that Curry is just getting back from an injury, so he wont be in full form; although he dropped 20pts 6ast Friday in a win over the Jazz. I’m erring on the side of him having a standard game against the Raptors and lights things up. Neither Jack nor Calderon has the chops to stop this guy, but you can take him out of his comfort and just play up tight on him. I’d make him put it on the floor and hope to Jah the defense rotates and you contest a shot; just don’t double him. He will find his man.

Edge: Curry

SG – DeRozan vs Ellis
Apply what I said about Ellis, but realize Ellis doesn’t like (want, feel the need; the list goes on) to pass the ball, can score in more ways than Curry, and is even more devastating on the offensive end this year than the past. DeRozan is coming off a brutal game against the Blazers, and it wont get much easier. Ellis is quick, strongish, has good hands and is a thief (7 steals against the Jazz who are awesome at protecting the ball). Not going to be easy, but DeMar did a good job on Kobe and Batum (not Roy so much) over the the weekend.

Please note the different areas on the floor that both Ellis and Curry shoot AND score from; bloody scary.
Edge: Ellis

SF – Kleiza vs Wright
All it took was a change of scenery to not speak about Dorell as an afterthought. Since getting here, the kid is shooting 54% from behind the arc, lighting up the boxscore and playing some really good defense. Gotta say, he got some hype in Miami, but is really living up to it now on the left coast. Kleiza will have his hands full, and if he plays like he did against Batum, will be in for a long night. His shooting has been pretty bad (40% FG 27% 3FG) and he doesn’t get to the rack like he can. I’d be happy if we didn’t see Wright get open threes all night.

Edge: Wright

PF – Evans vs Lee
The forward match-up can be interchangeable for the Warriors, but they play Lee at a 4 for the most part, so I’ll base it on this comparison. Lee’s offense hasn’t been at the same levels as years past, and much of that has to do with playing with Ellis and Curry (not as many shots to go around), since he’s getting about 4 less shots than last season. He’s also not shooting the ball as well as he was in New York, but a lot of that has to do with going into a new system. He gets the benefit of the doubt, since he’s playing the best team to come out of a funk against; the Raptors. If history has taught us anything about this team, it’s that players always have career games against us. While Evans has done a bang up job on the glass, his energy and hustle hasn’t made up for his weakish defense (which to his credit is much improved). Reggie is in for a tough night since he can go toe-to-toe with Lee on the glass, but wont put up the same scoring numbers.

Edge: Lee

C – Bargnani vs Biedrins
I’m going to be honest, don’t know a whole lot about Biedrins other than he’s a beast on the boards. He wont give Bargnani much problems on defense, but will really challenge him on the glass. Bargnani should win this duel, no questions asked; there’s really not more to this match-up than that.

Edge: Bargnani

Keys to the Game

Protect the Glass
Lee and Biedrins combined for 35 rebounds against the jazz, and are averaging about 20 for the season between them. It’s a 1-2 combo that could prove a bit too much for Andrea to fight against. While Bargnani’s rebounding has started to come around, it will need a kick start tonight since these two have made careers rebounding the crap out of the ball

Energy and Hustle
The Warriors have got out to a great start to the season with their rebounding (4th 46.5/game) and playmaking (4th 24.2/game). The things that made the Raptors successful against the Lakers should be adopted here: athleticism, crashing the boards, as well as defensive rotations.

Play Big
The Warriors have long athletes, but the Raptors have bigger/stronger cats to throw at them. They didn’t come at the Blazers with their size effectively, and it cost them. The Warriors don’t even have a post presence like Aldridge to throw the ball into. This has to be an area of the game where the Raptors have to dominate; from 1-5 we have a stronger team that has to take advantage of what we have.

Protect Home Court
It was a long week, and there would be no other way to put it behind us than to stop the four game losing streak; gotta play with some hide and a sense of urgency. That’s all their is to it.

The Line

The degenerates have the Raptors as 2 point favourites at home, which is as close to a push as you can get without actually saying so. What we can expect is a close game that will come to the wire. Three of the next seven are against the easts elite (Orlando, Miami and Boston), need to handle business and stop some of the bleeding now. End of story.

We got live chat, twitter and facebook for you; pick your poison.

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.

On paper we win this, but on paper we should’ve also won against Philadelphia and Sacramento. It’s a matchup of the third and fourth highest scoring teams, and the worst and third-worst defensive teams. The Warriors have 17 wins on the season and have lost six straight by an average of 10.2 points. I wish their recent poor run would fill me with some sort of confidence heading into this one but no such luck. Wait, maybe this will: Our 10-26 record against teams over .500 might make you question whether we can handle good teams, but there’s no doubt about whether we can kick the crap out of the minnows: we’re a whopping 22-5 against teams under .500.

This back-to-back thing, we’re 4-10 in them and the wins have come against New York, New Jersey, Washington and Chicago. The only road win has come against New Jersey so with all due respect to the Raptors, tomorrow night in Portland is a write-off. I hope Triano sees this as the gettable game and goes all out instead of holding back for Portland or Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

The Warriors have been hit by injuries and have lost Andris Biedrins, Kelenna Azubuike, Raja Bell, Anthony Randolph and Brandan Wright for the season. Even that doesn’t fill me with confidence because you just know one of their scrubs will be eyeing this game as a chance to get some points on the board. My pick for who that scrub will be is C.J Watson, profiled here by our TrueHoop colleagues or of course, the great rookie Stephen Curry. Even though the Warriors are clearly a rather pathetic injury-riddled squad, the oddsmakers seem to have little faith in the Raptors making them only a 1.5 point favorite. I really am torn which way this game will go. Also of note, this will be Monta Ellis’ second game back after missing the previous six due to a back injury.

I’m sure this will be an up-and-down no-defense game but as with any NBA game, it’ll come down to playing fourth quarter defense (or in our case, third quarter defense). After a fairly solid first half, we gave up 43 in the third quarter, the Warriors did something similar against Portland. They led them 96-83 heading into the fourth but scored just nine points in the final quarter. They shot 3-14 shots and had six turnovers in the fourth, completely blowing their solid play of three quarters (shot 53%). RaptorTalk did some analysis of our third-quarter struggles and concluded that Jay Triano’s talk at halftime does us no good.

This will be Marco Belinelli’s first game back in Golden State so I’m looking forward to seeing him in the first half tonight. If I don’t, Triano doesn’t know what he’s doing. We’ll need to maybe even see if he can use his length to cover Curry as I’m sure PG defense is going to be a high-priority after Beno Udrih’s impersonation of an in-prime Isiaiah Thomas. We cannot expect Calderon and Jack to cover these types of guards, if they would’ve been able to do it they would’ve done it by now. It’s time to start getting creative defending this position and perhaps even throw Marcus Banks out there who I recall as someone wanting to play defense.

Tom Liston was busy flogging dead horses on Friday night and trying to come up with a starting lineup that would fix our issues. He concludes that replacing Wright with DeRozan makes the starting lineup better defensively, yeah, no kidding? Other than Bosh’s offense and Jack’s desire to get to the rim, there’s hardly a consistent element on this team and even though Wright might have a couple good games (after doing nothing for the last 8 – 16/56, 29% + countless blown coverages) by getting the nod as a starter, there is simply no way he’ll maintain that level of play for more than 4 or 5 games and we’ll be having this same discussion two weeks from now.

DeRozan should not have played the entire third quarter against Sacramento, as much as I like him his defense has been disappointing and he should’ve been yanked after failing to fight through the pick set on him in the first minute. However, to state that taking him out of the starting lineup is going to mend some of our problems is a fallacy, the first quarter has been DeRozan’s strongest, he gets about 50% of his points in the first and is very attack-minded, something you need to be early in games. I hardly care though, take him out or leave him in, players like him are red-herrings when it comes to identifying problems.

There’s an article in the Star today which is talking about how the Raptors have been plagued by injury. Really? Losing 96 man-games is now considered being ‘plagued’? Especially when Reggie Evans accounts for 51 of them which the article fails to mention. From what I recall, the only significant injury we’ve had is to Chris Bosh recently and to Jose Calderon a while back. Injury cannot be used as an excuse this season.

Taking a quick reluctant peek at the standings we find that the Raptors are now in 8th spot after wins by Miami and Charlotte. The good news is that we’re three ahead of Chicago in the loss column who, like us, also blew a back-to-back road assignment (Miami and Orlando). They’ve lost 7-straight and have road dates with Memphis and Dallas before returning home to face Cleveland. Chuck Swirsky must be pulling his hair out. If the Raptors current slide continues, we have every chance of making the playoffs only because Chicago is playing awful basketball. Question becomes what does making the playoffs really mean if it’s going to happen like that? BTW, there is no chance for another team to come and steal that 8th spot as Detroit in 10th is a full 10 games back of the Raptors.

Finally, March Madness is around the corner and we’re having a pool. Get the info here, create the bracket and prepare to have your ass kicked.

GSW tonight, let’s do this now. Love the late-night games.

You have to love moves that have no negative possibilities and the Belinelli trade is just that. This one falls in the “doesn’t hurt” category. As in, it doesn’t hurt to have some more insurance at shooting guard. Or, it doesn’t hurt to have another ball-handler who can get hot from time to time and finally, it doesn’t hurt to give Bargnani a real friend on the team. The 6′ 5″ Italian was lost in the shuffle in Golden State and a change of scenery will do him some good, but the stark reality remains that he’s unlikely to get the 21 minutes he got last year, unless of course Delfino is out of the picture. Look at it this way: it’s better to have a deep and meaningful bench that could come in handy than have Devean George at the end of it playing tic-tac-toe with Marcus Banks.

Why did we do it?

Credit to Colangelo for creating something out of nothing and believe me, Devean George was nothing. At best he was going to be third on the depth chart at any position and I’m sure he wouldn’t have been thrilled. Colangelo nips the possibility of a disgruntled player in the bud and acquires a young, skilled player who will have a chance to crack the rotation in training camp, that’s more than what you could say about George who is coming of knee surgery to repair cartilage damage.

After recognizing the crappy qualities of Will Solomon and Hassan Adams, Colangelo’s tried to acquire Belinelli last year in November but the offer which apparently involved Kris Humphries was promptly turned down. Sources in Italy continued to link him to the Raptors for obvious reasons and when the trade didn’t happen by the deadline, everyone was silently surprised. After all, we needed help in the backcourt and Belinelli wasn’t playing in GSW. It only made sense. Now that the point-guard position is settled it’s time to worry about the backup wing and he’s perfect insurance in case we can’t get Kleiza or Delfino to sign. If Colangelo deems him worthy of significant minutes it’ll allow us to fill out that final roster spot with a big man instead, something we need even more.

What do we have in him?

He is a scorer, a dramatically inconsistent and frustrating one but he is a scorer. On any given night he could be our Vinny “Microwave” Johnson or our Fred Jones, you just don’t know what you’re going to get. When he’s on, he’s unstoppable and when he’s not, he’s terrible. He dropped 37 in a summer league game in 2007 and the Raptors received first-hand punishment last year in Golden State when he dropped 23 on us circus-style. That inconsistency is what kept him out of the lineup in GSW who already have enough players who take terrible shots. He played the majority of his minutes at SG last year and spent the rest of them at the SF, but take that with a grain of salt because Don Nelson’s offense doesn’t define positions, just players. He’s a basketball player that can make stuff happen if you give him the freedom and he’s going to get that chance. Just like Douby, he’ll have an opportunity to steal minutes away from Antoine Wright and Jarrett Jack at the SG. Whether he has the discipline to stay in control of his talents and harness his offensive urges remains to be seen. Even if he doesn’t, at the end of the day we get a 23 year old for a 32 year old.

Is he good enough to get time?

His playing time will depend entirely on whether we manage to sign Delfino because that’ll determine if he’s 2nd or 3rd in the second wing depth-chart. Suddenly signing Delfino isn’t that important and we’ve gained a bargaining chip in the negotiations – we already got somebody inconsistent! Belinelli’s lack of strength on the defensive end is a concern but you could easily argue that he’s a better offensive weapon than Delfino. Belinelli’s a career 40% three-point shooter (Delfino is at 36%) and has a quicker first step, something coaches in Golden State and Europe felt he doesn’t utilize nearly enough. He’s got the slashing ability to use screens and then unleash a shot using his high release-point, something similar to what Anthony Parker did well his first year with the Raptors.

Theoretically speaking, if Belinelli could usurp Wright as one of the off-guards and get consistent minutes at the position, we could move Jack over to strictly backup PG duties, but I don’t see it happening because of Belinelli’s defense. Jack is just too good and strong of a defender to not guard the tougher SGs out there. Belinelli’s best shot at making a mark is at SF where the competition isn’t as stiff. If Delfino is out than all he’s got to do is beat Wright which isn’t inconceivable. Really, can’t say much about his role on the team until we know what we’re doing with that final roster spot.

Salary Impact

None. George makes $1,600,000, Belinelli makes $1,547,640 and both are going to enter the final year of their contracts. Belinelli has a team-option followed by a qualifying offer which works out to the Raptors’ advantage since if he shows something good, we can get him cheap ($2.4M and $3.4M, respectively). The Raptors send some cash to Golden State to make up the difference in talent and age. The amount can’t exceed $3M and it certainly isn’t even going to be close, I’m almost ready to call the amount negligible. The cash does not count against the cap for either team and if anything, we end up shedding $52,360 off the cap. Why Golden State would do this trade is a mystery and the only thing that I can conjure up is that maybe it’s easier later on to trade a player who doesn’t have options and qualifying offers attached to him. That and they believe in Anthony Morrow.

Keep in mind that the salary cap and tax will be lower next year and if Bosh signs an extension at the max, we’ll have to cross the tax level to sign these players.

Check back later in the day for a podcast.

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1. Sacramento
2. Washington
3. LA Clippers

I’m predicting Sacramento gets screwed, and the Knicks win the Lottery – taking take home Blake Griffin, stay tuned…

• BC representing, let’s hope he brings some luck (last time we got the #1 pick)
• Joel Litvin shouldn’t be allowed in front of a camera
• Hopefully Hoiberg isn’t there for Sota, he got screwed last year, that look on his face was priceless, lol.
• Reggie Jackson in the house…the Knicks win the draft, no doubt
• Kevin Love for Sota, they should be in better shape then last year
• C-Web reppin Sac? WTF?
• Raptors pick 9th, I’ve lost interest…
• Kings get F*CKED! So did the Wizards…
• Clippers get the #1 pick…hopefully Griffin is no Olowakandi

Arse made a good point tonight, that the Raptors are too concerned about protecting the paint, and their perimeter rotation is late weak sucks. Triano needs to think about this, since it is great to protect your paint, but until the ball is back in your hands, you need to keep rotating and defending. That means switching, closing out, and generally communicating with the rest of the team. Things the Raptors are weak suck at.

The Raptors were gunning offensively, but playing the Warriors means you have to make defensive stops, and the Raptors didn’t. The Raptors got good looks down the stretch to tie the score or take the lead, they got really good looks, but both Calderon, Kapono and Parker missed their opportunities. Dribble penetration reared its ugly head again with the Warriors hitting their key shots. Golden State

Sadly, defense wasn’t the reason the Raptors lost…it was offense. The Raptors  out-rebounded the Warriors 49 (20 offensive boards) to 37, got 27 assists, and protected the ball reasonably well(13 turnovers), which led to 17 more possessions, but they couldn’t knock down a shot to save their life. Down the stretch, and down 2, the Raptors had 5 possessions to tie or take the lead; they got good looks (Calderon, Kapono and Parker) but just couldn’t hit THAT shot. Again, not because of anything the Warriors did, the Raptors just chocked, game over…

Calderon came out very aggressive offensively, hitting 3s, jumpers off the screen, driving, and finding open shooters. Logging 44mins, he put up 21pts 16asts 6rebs, but his poor defense on Watson late in the game really put a damper on a fine performance. Bosh had another monster game, doing whatever he wanted (30pts 14rebs), not much else to say about him…

Triano employed some very questionable lineups, and substitutions that left me scratching my head:

1. To start the 2nd, both Bosh and Calderon were sitting, which really killed the rhythm and momentum the Raptors were building in the first quarter.
2. Still in the 2nd, Voshkul got the call, and in a span of 4 minutes, he amassed 4 fouls that put the Warriors in the bonus with 9.5 minutes left in the quarter. With a lineup of Solomon, Voshkul, Bargnani, Moon and Graham, the Warriors go on an 8-2 run. No energy…why Humphries wasn’t in is beyond me. Just a thought, how did Hump fall to 4th/5th in the depth chart at forward? I’m not his biggest fan, but the guy is athletic, gets out there, makes things happen, is aggressive on offense and grabs boards…Voshkul isn’t.
3. In the dyeing moments of the game, the Raptors employed a lineup of Calderon/Bosh/Parker/Kapono/Graham…didn’t work out as we know. Parker/Kapono couldn’t hit a shot for their life, Graham penetrates the lane and throws it away, while the Warriors stayed at home with Bosh and Calderon. never thought I would say this, but Moon should have been in for Parker s he is playing better defense, and was shooting reasonably well from the perimeter (3-4 form beyond the arc).

I appreciated O’Neal giving it a go with the flu, and had he not banged his knee when getting all tangled up, he would have finished the game. But I thought it a blessing in disguise that he couldn’t go tonight. To start the game, he really forced things in the paint, going 1-4 in the paint. I thought it a blessing because Nellie plays small-ball, and O’Neal would have slowed things down for the Raptors, and taken shots at the expense of the perimeter players. Triano couldn’t take this blessing in disguise and turn it into an advantage by giving Hump more burn. 10 minutes in a game like this? I just can’t get over it. Kris didn’t see the floor till the 3rd, and what did he do? Get 10pts and grab 4rebs…again, I’m at a loss here.

On the Bargnani front, this was exactly the type of game where he could have exerted himself, and really made an impact with the lack of defense and up-tempo style of play. He showed a couple flashes; grabbing an offensive board and aggressively putting back a dunk; stepping inside the arc and hitting jumpers; grabbing some boards; some decent defense on Jackson…but just couldn’t put it together. With all of Italy watching, Belinelli came out the prodigal son.

Irregardless of all that, the Warriors won this game in the second quarter during two key stretches:

1. Start of the 2nd Quarter – Voshkul’s meltdown and weak perimeter defense that allowed a three by Jackson, 4 free throws by CJ Watson, Azabuike dunk on the break off of Bosh’s turnover, and a Jackson jumper created by bad perimeter defense by Moon.
2. 3:15 left in the 2nd Quarter – Turiaf blocks Bosh in the paint, which leads to a Watson trey in transition; next possession-Turiaf blocks Calderon which leads to an Azabuike trey in transition; Turiaf gets the ball at the top of the key, swings it to an open Belinelli who sticks an open trey; Jackson nails an open jumper inside the arc.

It all comes down to a personnel issue, the Raptors don’t have the players to really make a stand on the perimeter. Man defense…nothing. Zone defense…zilch. Divine intervention….zero. This team, as currently constructed, and contrary to any suggested lineups, can’t win big games against talented teams. A shake-up is needed and the clock is ticking.

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