Ajinca: sweet suit, gotta give him that.

Alabi: at least he can use his Target card again.

Barbosa: rumour has it he had family in town to see him..and after seeing how he played tonight, I believe it. True he took a lot of shots, but he was in good spots most of the night and he was making people work to cover him. Top 3 game of the season for him.

Bargnani: 1 of 13. How does that roll off your tongue? He possibly may still be fighting “the flu” but he had a pretty poor return to the floor tonight. I’m sure Jay already has the video guys breaking his night down.

Bayless: bit more under control tonight, no? It’s like he sees the end of the season closing in and he figures he might as well slow down and relax.

Calderon: back down to earth but still willed this team to win. Had guys in good position, Reggie’s and Ed’s boards got him the ball, but you still gotta think he could have done a number on Collison a few times.

Davis: a double double feature event that will go down on the DVD they are creating to mark this rookie season. He is proving a lot of people fools who passed on him and he is quietly stealing teammates thunder without them knowing it.

DeRozan: speaking of someone who didn’t force it tonight, DeMar has to be put into that category. Some turnovers that could have hurt, but some nice makes that cancelled them out. His aggressiveness is beginning to wane, though….needs to get back to the stripe.

Dorsey: played some dirty bridge minutes. Inconsequential.

Evans: hello sir, would you like your massive rebounds back?  He did what he is supposed to do: attempt no shots, grab a bunch of boards and foul until they tell you to stop. Speaking of fouls, those pair of free throws in the second half (with the second one barely touching net) were probably the most hideous things I’ve seen since Megan Fox’s thumbs.

A. Johnson: pimp walkin’, injury restin’.

J. Johnson: quietly comes in, does his thing, and hopes to God that Jay doesn’t realize he isn’t as good as he thinks he is. So far it’s working and tonight was cookie-cutter for him since coming to the Raptors. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

Kleiza: a recliner and some bratwurst. Nice.

Weems: sure, not as pretty as the other night, but he still didn’t suck like he has many nights before. I’m glad he’s angry because he should be. So should we be for paying to see him.

Wright: right.

Driving The Bus: Leandro Barbosa

Under The Bus: Andrea Bargnani

Game Theme:

Ajinca: here’s a guy that has arms the length of Italy, hands that could wrap around the top of your head, and the intimidating look of me looking at you reaching for the last chicken wing……and we keep him nailed to the pine against a team that was running drills on us early.

Alabi: nobody more excited than him when it comes to new video game releases.

Barbosa: spent the game reading the instruction manual for his snow plow.

Bargnani: the guy has a couple of bad games and he’s hated more than the “no touching” rule in RapsFan’s bedroom. He had another game that he won’t write home about, but he kept is attempts under 20, his rebound number was almost half his point number, and he barely broke a sweat so no need for a shower before heading out into the cold. What’s not to love?

Bayless: had to check him for clown shoes after that over the shoulder circus shot. Not a bad game from the little one…he was making the Pacers work and he at least made the illusion like he was trying to get his team moving.

Calderon: heavy minutes with diminishing results. Never a good thing when your point guard plays almost 40 minutes and you barely notice him. Still would love to see him get the ball into Ed’s hands after a drive and kick a lot more than what happens now.

Davis: stellar first half that brought his team back into the game. Not to sound overdramatic, but he WAS the Toronto Raptors in the first half, seemingly everywhere doing everything. I’m sure when the team heads to the bus tonight it will still have the shine he left on it after cleaning it at halftime.

DeRozan: poor shooting night that was offset a little by him grabbing some boards, but not offset at all by making it to the line. His aggressiveness has been taking a break lately and it shows in our poor results. Time to find it again.

Dorsey: he may be healthy but he’s as played out as a Katy Perry song.

Evans: he don’t need a snowplow he just yells at the snow as it falls and it goes back up.

A. Johnson: nothing like a night where he has one less shot attempt as Andrea. Another hard fought effort rewarded by him being the leader in points & rebounds tonight. Fought off a twisted ankle and remained the posterboy for everything heart and hustle represents.

T. Johnson:  using his Torch to see if his PPG lead is holding up. Be back soon Ma!

Kleiza: preparing his best snow angel outfit.

Weems: that halftime interview almost made me sick. Quit your whining or, better yet, donate the money you made for doing nothing for 2 months to a charity. You are “healthy” now so hit the gym with DeMar and do something productive for your team…while you are still on one. No trips to the line, 5 turnovers and the voice of a cartoon character. Give me a break.

Wright: those jumpshots of his reminded me of The Tourist. Pitiful, revolting and never to be seen again. But, hey, he is a hell of a defender and a dead ringer for someone that could be in the next live action Fat Albert movie.

Driving The Bus: Amir Johnson

Under The Bus: Sonny Weems

Game Theme:

Alabi: like flat soda

Barbosa: started off like a house on fire trying to ignite a spark but then fizzled out like a bonfire at a homecoming. Maybe he got unnerved by the Utah-like crowd.

Bargnani: can’t tell me you didn’t like the a) flop and b) nonchalant elbow to Dunleavy’s face. Those were things of beauty to all the Andrea-is-soft peeps. Otherwise? Non-impressive and very laidback.

Bayless: I’m guessing yesterday took a lot out of him. 2/10 2 assists 3 fouls is not the type of line you want to see too often, but does lead credence to the flash in the pan argument.

Calderon: good shooting night coupled with his traffic direction-like hand movements made me look back fondly on his second season. Sigh.

Davis: liked his game tonight. Very active, flashed quite a bit, tried to make himself avaiable. One of the few that actually exerted effort on the defensive end.

DeRozan: attacked the bucket 2 or 3 times the whole game and literally floated the rest of it. Just an ugly all round game from him.

Dorsey: bless garbage time for giving bottom feeders impressive PER number fodder.  Joey had 3 rebounds in 4 minutes. He’s a machine.

Evans: his stocking is the one wrapped in gauze. Again.

Johnson: another good game. Near double double, and again it looked like he was actually concentrating. He so easily checks out when given the opportunity, but something is under his skin and it’s good.

Kleiza: 3 fouls, 4 turnovers, 4 rebounds, 1 soon to be traded basketball player.

Stojakovic: Philadelphia is his kind of town.

Weems: hate to agree with Leo, but unless this guy attacks, he’s worthless to us. He isn’t being taken out of games, he is taking himself out of games. Attack the rim, dish it off if nothing is there (see Leandro for training) and help your team win, not sputter out of the gates.

Wright: heaven help us that we relied on Julian Wright to bring defensive energy late in the first quarter. It’s the first real sign that 2012 is just around the corner. Hug your loved ones.

Driving The Bus: Amir Johnson

Under The Bus: DeMar DeRozan

Game Theme:

Q. How did the Knicks do this off-season? Talk about drafts, trades and free agent signings as well as ownership/management changes.

Kevin McElroy: The answer to this question is necessarily relative to expectations. By any normal measure, this was the Knicks best summer since the mid-90’s. Their failed pursuit for LeWyane Bosh aside, the Knicks brought in Amare Stoudemire, a five-time all-star with three top-ten scoring seasons who also happens to be the active career leader in true shooting percentage. While concerns about the riskiness of the acquisition (especially those relating to Stoudemire’s injury history) are understandable, the rarity with which players of Stoudemire’s caliber can be had without forfeiting any tradeable assets makes the signing a worthwhile gamble. The David Lee trade — in which the Knicks gave up a player that they had already made redundant and received two valuable role players and a freakish athlete with world-class upside in return — was the best player for player(s) swap the Knicks have made since they brought in Latrell Sprewell and Marcus Camby; if Anthony Randolph develops, it will go down as even better than those trades.

I worry about Raymond Felton eating up valuable cap space, but I get the feeling that his signing was about keeping Amare happy enough to keep telling his buddies how great things were in New York — Felton’s contract should be moveable if he becomes the final obstacle to bringing in another star. I hated the Knicks’ play-it-safe strategy on draft night, but based upon the summers that Landry Fields and Lance Stephenson have had, my opinion on the matter has softened. Fields will hang around for 10 years and be a useful role player for the Knicks in the near term.

Q. Who came out the bigger winner AND loser in the Atlantic Division?

KM: I’ll exclude the Knicks from the conversation here since I’ve already discussed their offseason. I think the Celtics are the winners by default, mostly because they were the only Atlantic Division team good enough to focus their off-season on filling their remaining needs rather than blindly overhauling the team and hoping it would work out. I’m not crazy about their Shaquisition for the same reason I wasn’t crazy about it when he was Shaquired by Phoenix or Cleveland, but at the veteran minimum it’s a low risk move and they can always tell him to go away if he becomes a problem.

As for the biggest losers, the Nets’ mind-bendingly bizarre assortment of free agent signings gets the nod even in a division where Toronto lost their franchise leader in scoring and rebounding just as he was entering his prime. Better build that arena, Brooklyn, or Johan Petro will be plying his trade elsewhere!

Q. Last season we saw a dog fight from 5-9 in the East for a playoff appearance (the Raptors dropped from 5th to 9th rapidly at the tail-end of the season). What are your predictions for this upcoming season? Who are your dark horses to watch out for?

KM: Obviously the Heat jump out of that dog fight and into the top 3, arguably the top 1. I think this will be another season in which the Eastern Conference can be separated into pretty well-defined tiers. The Tier 1 teams — Miami, Orlando, Boston — seem fairly insurmountable at the top of the pyramid, although if the Celtics all get old at the same time, they could feasibly drop into Tier 2. For now, Tier 2 is Atlanta, Chicago, and probably Milwaukee, all of whom should qualify for the postseason comfortably and will be primarily concerned with finishing 5th or better and thus avoiding the Tier 1 teams in the first round. Tier 3 is where it gets a bit hairy: Charlotte has to be viewed as the 7th best team going into the year, but New York has much greater upside and is the only team outside of Tiers 1 and 2 with a chance to vault into the top 6 if everything goes right.

If things implode for the Knicks — and, let’s face it, why shouldn’t they — The Pacers, Sixers, and Cavs are all in the picture for one of the last two playoff spots. One more quick point that nobody is talking about: I will not be surprised if strength of schedule becomes a decisive factor in the Eastern Conference this year. The Bobcats have to play a whopping 15 games against the Heat, Magic, and Hawks, while the Knicks and Sixers will play each other five times and have 10 games each against the Nets and Raps. Could be enough to bump the Bobcats down to ninth in a tight East.

Q. Is what happened in Miami bad for the league? On the one hand, players are taking control of their own futures (as best as possible); but on the other, the rich just seem to get richer.

KM: I swore a lifelong oath of hatred against the Miami Heat the day that Pat Riley hopped the fence back in 1995, but the answer to this question is still “no.” In the long-term, this has to be viewed as good for the league, and not just because it will allow us to see something we’ve never seen before (which it will) and give other fan bases a unifying enemy (which it also will). The reason I’m glad it happened, and happened when it did, is that it has placed everything from cap rules to player tampering to the merits of “Superteams” at the forefront of the conversation, just before a watershed CBA renegotiation. This is the best way for basketball fans and writers to have any kind of a voice about the future of the league. Maybe I’m dreaming on that but, at a time when the NBA seems desperate to drum up demand for its product, it will have an unprecedented opportunity to gauge public opinion on nearly every issue that is likely to come up this summer. We may all be thanking LeWyane Bosh before this is over.

(Was that convincing? No? Darn it. I really hate the Heat.)

Q. Do you share the view that playing in Toronto is similar to playing in Europe, and not very appealing to American born players? What’s your take on the Raptors and Toronto as a destination for the NBA elite?

KM: I think there are five or six “destination cities” in the League right now — LA, Miami, New York, Chicago, maybe one or two of the Texas cities — and I don’t think Toronto is one of them. But I think it’s still a long way up from playing in Europe and doubt the Canadian border has much of a practical effect on players’ decisions. Most NBA cities become appealing destinations if and only if their resident teams employ players and executives that are appealing to NBA free agents, which the post-Bosh Raptors probably don’t. The problem is that Toronto’s previous attempts at building around a franchise player were based upon guys whose personalities were not conducive to being the first major building block on a team in a non-destination city. It only takes one super-talented, super-loyal star — think Tim Duncan, Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard — to attract top players to a place that once seemed to be on the NBA periphery. The problem, of course, is finding that guy. Clearly, Vince Carter and Chris Bosh didn’t fit the description.

Q. What’s your take on Bryan Colangelo and the job he’s done for the Raptors? Could he have held on to Bosh had he made other choices? Did he make a huge mistake by not trading him earlier? What about the type of team he is trying to build in Toronto?

KM: I think Bosh was always leaving — he’s a very good second option alongside an elite scoring wing with good court vision; now he gets to play with two of them. It’s interesting to think about how things would have played out for Toronto if Bosh and T-Mac had come along at about the same time — they would have complemented each other brilliantly, maybe well enough that they both would have wanted to stay. As for Colangelo, I think he was probably doomed from the start. His mandate was to focus singularly on the retention of a player who was 1) probably always going to leave and 2) probably not good enough to be the best player on a great team anyway. To the extent that this strategy has failed (in the departure of Bosh) or set the franchise back (due to the shortsightedness of some of Toronto’s acquisitions), that failure is more associated with the flaws of the mandate (which fall at the feet of ownership) than with any flaws in execution (which would fall at the feet of Colangelo). That said, Toronto clearly needs to dive head-first into overhaul mode and that necessarily involves a conversation regarding whether Colangelo remains the right man for what is now a very different job.

It’s hard to pinpoint where it’s coming from, but there has been considerable speculation about a trade which would send Jose Calderon trade to the Pacers. Michael Grange had reported this on July 14th and at that time Roy Hibbert was Colangelo’s apparent target. Recently Hoopsworld reported further interest in a trade so I’ll go ahead and believe for a second that where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

Whether Calderon is a better fit than Jack doesn’t matter very much at this point. Jack’s lower salary, better perceived defense, durability and ability to switch over to play the two in spots, puts him ahead of Calderon in the depth chart. His appearance at summer league had to have gone well with the club and his recent 7 pound weight drop and fitness routine has also got to be respected by the franchise.

What would we want in a Jose Calderon trade? I’d be willing to take a defensive center, a small-forward or another point guard. Since the Pacers are looking to cut costs and taking on Calderon goes completely against their current thinking, you would have to believe that any deal would see the Raptors taking on more salary, thus using their TPE. So you can throw out individual trades like Calderon for Dunleavy out the window, especially since the latter is an expiring contract valued at $10.5M. Same goes for Troy Murphy, who is expiring at $12M. The Pacers have a lot of faith in A.J Price, but he’s not ready to start just yet, and it is conceivable that they’d want him to be Calderon’s understudy of sorts for a season or two, but that alone isn’t worth it for them.

If the Pacers are looking to cut costs, the only way a Calderon deal makes sense is if they’re willing to trade Danny Granger, one of only two pacers (Dahntay Jones) to have a guaranteed contract beyond 2011-12. Whereas Calderon is owed $29.2M through 2012-13, Granger is owed $49.9M through 2013-14. Granger has missed 35 games over the last two season and Calderon has missed 28; it’s safe to say both have had trouble staying on the floor, but you can actually make a case that Calderon is the more valuable player. In Granger’s five season in Indiana, the team has made the playoffs once, losing in the first round. The win totals in those five seasons are also disappointing: 41, 35, 36, 36 and 32.

With the NBA lockout looming, teams would be reluctant to take on a contract like him; even if you leave that aside, it’s difficult to sell him as a player because he’s shown very little other than being a good player on a bad team. At this point in his career, you can argue that he’s either reached his ceiling or is very close to it and no team would take him on expecting him to improve on what he’s already shown. That’s close to $50M for an injury-prone player who hoists seven more shots than anybody on his team while the team racks up mid-30s win totals. If the Pacers are to truly rebuild, can they afford to have a player like him on the roster? They can’t, but it makes sense for the Colangelo-led Raptors.

If Colangelo is aiming for a quick fix or a way to revitalize interest in Raptors basketball, all he has to do is acquire Granger and the fans will love him. We already have fond memories of Granger because we passed on him twice, once in favor of Joey Graham, so getting him now would be like the prodigal son returning home. Colangelo could sell him as part of the “Young Gunz” package and tomorrow we’d be talking about making a run at the fourth seed. Talking that is, not actually doing it. Throw in Roy Hibbert, a young center with that dreaded word ‘potential’, and you could even say the Raptors won the deal and used their TPE most wisely. Colangelo would make a big splash in the summer market just like he has in the last two. The Raptors would have a starting five of: Bargnani, Johnson, Granger, DeRozan and Jack; backing them up would be Hibbert, Davis, Weems, Belinelli and Barbosa. On paper, that reads like a solid core which you can sell some season tickets on.

With seven expiring contracts the Pacers are in rebuild mode, and the final piece of the puzzle for them could be shipping off Danny Granger so that they can lose 60 games, get a high pick and go from there. From their perspective, they just shed $20M in salary which is a lot in today’s economic climate, even if it happens to be over four years. Calderon’s overpaid, but his contract could be considered reasonable by a team who’s looking to get some stability and become more conservative in the back-court, especially in a year or two, so it is possible that the Pacers could parlay him into something else down the road. There’s a good chance that as Granger goes older, he’s going to become more injury prone. It’s a trade-off the Pacers could be willing to make, and more importantly, so could Colangelo.

The Raptors notched another confidence-building, team-bonding, towel-waving win in the stretch of very winnable games, disposing of the Indiana Pacers 117-102. The Pacers turned out to be a pesty opponent, one that seemed to be improved from earlier battles with a healthy Mike Dunleavy and a pine-riding TJ Ford. But this Rap team has become even better in the last couple of months, due to whatever you want to call it, the schedule balancing out, players starting to gel, Andrea Bargnani’s acknowledgement that defense is that phenomenon that occurs between offensive possessions, the improved play of Jarrett Jack, or the return of Jose Calderon as the Super Sub we all came to know and love a couple of years ago. Whatever the reasons are, you knew it would take something special from the Pacers to steal this one.

The Raps got lucky with Danny Granger getting into foul trouble early on in the game. I don’t know if lucky is the right word, because Granger was assigned to cover Bosh. This worked quite well when the Pacers beat the Raps back in Indiana, and Jim O’ Brien predictably went back to it to start off the game. The difference was that the coaching staff were quite prepared for this and looked to establish Bosh early with some high-low passes.

Not sure about the wisdom of putting your best player (Granger) in a unconventional matchup on defense, against the other teams best player, to boot. Granger picked up quick 3rd and 4th fouls as well. After the 4th foul, he was kept in the game and the Raps did a good job of going at him on defense as he provided minimal resistance in fear of picking up the fifth. It’s important that Chris Bosh had a good game in this situation, because it makes some sense, to put a smaller, quicker player on him to take away his drive. This did happen to an extent, Bosh did only attempt 2 free throws, but his jumper was dead-on tonight, and that made up for it. If his shot’s a little cold, it looks like something that might work on him, but tonight’s performance should serve as a deterrent.

Without Granger as a major factor, the Pacers employed the 2008 Raptor offense: shats, shats, and guess what, some more shats. To their credit, they made a whole bunch of them. The Raps didn’t do a horrible job at closing out, as the Pacers were shooting with even a little bit of daylight, but the realization that they had to play tighter on guys like Luther Head and Troy Murphy did help in the 3pt % falling in the 4th quarter. Antoine Wright did a great job defending Granger in the fourth, just as he did on Wade a few nights ago. Makes you wonder if he’s not a much better fit for this team than the Man of Few Words, Actually Just One Word: BALL. Had to do it. This is a team that’s got a couple of very capable ball handlers, but is still pedestrian when it comes to defence. You know what else? He’s playing smart, responsible ball. There are fewer of those wtf? moments on offense. Much better spot up shooter recently. He’s hitting that corner three that Anthony Parker used to with such effectiveness. That open set shot is the one the Man has not been able to hit this year.

Another thing of note, Chris Bosh is developing some court vision and this team is going to become even deadlier on offense because of it. Seven assists today. He found Andrea on more than one occassion. You know how people say that the Lebrons and Wades of the world make players around them better, and that’s one of the reason why that are “true” franchise players? Performances like these take CB4 one step closer to that designation. And it’s a valid argument. Tonight was overall one of his best games of the year, great balance of aggression and finesse tonight.

Speaking of finesse, Amir Johnson continues to tease us with skilled offensive moves. He’s too quick for guys his size, kind of like Chris, and now he’s beginning to exploit it. The usual energy was there, and he even made Jose Calderon look competent in throwing a lob pass. I kid, I kid, we all love Jose right now, just as much as Jose loves playing off the bench. That’s what he’s telling everyone, at least.

Finally, let’s not forget the former Pacer Jarrett Jack. This signing is starting to look like a real bargain. He’s been aggressive at all the right times and his shot is really starting to fall now. Earl Watson and A.J. Price are adequate NBA point guards, but JJ they’re not. He looks like he really enjoys playing against Indiana, and I’m sure he would enjoy nothing more than picking up a season-high 6th consecutive victory at the Conseco Fieldhouse on Tuesday.

Or maybe he’s just happy that there was so much BALL to go around. Teehee.

February is a key stretch of games for the Raptors as their schedule, seemingly, gets lighter in that 6 of the 10 teams they play are under .500. It starts today with a home-and-home with Indiana. This will be the third time this season they have played a home-and-home, with the Raptors going 3-1 in those games; the only loss coming to Milwaukee on the road.

In addition, not only are there no back-to-backs, but there is at least a day off between games. If the Raptors can steal one of Memphis, Portland or Cleveland (all home games) then they have a great chance of finishing February 32-25. Miami on the other hand has two back-to-backs in the same week, and a much tougher schedule. Considering where this team was two months ago, to put things together and make this run is quite the accomplishment.

The goodness can start today against Indiana; the Pacers are 16-31 heading into this game, 4-6 in their last 10 with the last two games 20+ point losses to the Lakers and Cavs. What’s worse is that the fan-base holds out zero hope of this lot making the playoffs. The Raptors seemingly have a better chance of moving up to 4th in the East than the Pacers have of making the playoffs.

Tim Donahue from Eight Points, Nine Seconds (a great Pacers blog) projected where the Pacers will end up, and even though I’m not much of a Pacers fan, it depressed me how bad this team is and their outlook for the rest of the season. When words like; spitballing, battered, on pace to win only 28 games are being said and no one is disagreeing, the team is done.

With how the Raptors have been playing, and the manner in which they have been closing out games, the Raptors still can’t take this Pacers team lightly. They still have big guns in Granger, Murphy and Dunleavy. All of whom represent a type of player that the Raptors have historically been unable to defend properly.

Of the three, Murphy poses the biggest problem for the Raptors. For some reason, these mobile power forwards who can spread the floor with perimeter shooting give us big problems. When they pull Bosh or Bargnani away from the paint, they open the lane for penetration. More often than naught, Granger will just jack a gawdawful three and rim out, negating the space. In terms of strategy, though, you can’t count on an ill-advised shot as your way out of a situation.

Fortunately, Antoine Wright has been giving the Raptors EXACTLY what they need at the 2/3 with his defense, and occasional spot up shooting. With late game defensive duties falling on his shoulder, and the bulk of the offensive burden on Weems and Belinelli, the shooting guard by committee should be strong.

So after watching that Knicks game again, Hedo actually didn’t get that many more touches than he normally does. I mean, he did, but he seemed to do more with the ball than he normally would, and by that, I mean shoot it. Where normally he would try and create for a teammate, he created for himself. He averages 10 shots a game, and took 16, but got 2.4 less assists than he has been averaging for the year. Maybe ‘ball’ means to let him do what he wants, which doesn’t sit that well with me. Regardless, I think we can all agree that he has been under utilized this season, and based on his game and post-game comments, the ball (*groan* sorry) is squarely in Triano’s court.

I’m looking for both Italians to bounce back tonight after pretty rough performances in New York. The Pacers just don’t have anyone to defend against Bargnani, and with Bosh probably getting the most attention once he gets the ball inside 15ft, Bargnani will have a field day. As far as Belinelli goes, that step back-fade-away three point off one leg should be looking good after 3 days of rest.

The gamblers have the Raptors as 9 point favourite, with an over/under of 217.5. Should be an exciting one, and the Raptors should extend their winning streak to 5 for the first time this season.

#freeamir

I’m not even surprised the Raptors blew that lead, not in the least. If you expected them to sustain a 23 point lead for a whole half, you have them confused with a team with a killer instinct. They had Indiana at their mercy in the first half and inexplicably took the foot of the gas; this coincided with the fatigue kicking in and all that was left to see was Indiana running rampant on the break finishing with And1′s on every other play. When it came to execute down with the game on the line, the offense failed as Hedo Turkoglu (2-9 FG and a game-worst -18) took it upon himself to ruin possessions and Triano once again went with the two-guard lineup of Jack and Calderon only to see it flounder. I wouldn’t call this a heartbreaker, this is more like a gut-wrenching, vomit-inducing, migraine-causing slap across the face.

Indiana’s offense was laughable in the first half, they were getting no guard play from Earl Watson or A.J Price and were taking the first available jumper on every possession. If Triano had only read the pre-game post I had done earlier in the day, he would’ve known that Murphy is a Raptor-killer and not to be left open from deep. Other than his four threes in the first half, Indiana was missing everything, and the Raptors were making them pay at the other end. Jarrett Jack was getting into the paint and picking out options all over the court and Chris Bosh couldn’t be stopped on the glass. Roy Hibbert was having issues handling him and Solomon Jones didn’t fare much better. The starters had given us a nice 24-18 lead when Jose Calderon and the second-unit made their way late in the first quarter.

Indiana’s poor offensive play continued and our bench jumped on the opportunity. The unit of Calderon, Belinelli, Johnson, Weems and Nesterovic went on an 18-4 run to make it 48-26 in the second. Jose’s pressuring of Watson led to turnovers and the Raptors maintained great shape in their offensive sets to get well-constructed scores out of the half-court sets. Calderon’s court vision also yielded easy scores and just like they had against Philly, Belinelli and Weems ran at the Pacers to get theirs. Rasho Nesterovic had a great cameo going 3-3 with 6 points and 3 rebounds in only four minutes. Shockingly, he was never heard from again. Ever. That was the apex of the Raptors’ play on the night.

After that something happened. Granger had been quiet on the night with only one field goal up until he picked up a double-technical with Sonny Weems. This happened when Indiana was down 21 points and it seemed to fire the man up. He scored 8 of the next 11 Pacer points and picked up his intensity which also inspired his teammates, seen most clearly in Earl Watson picking up Jarrett Jack in the back-court and forcing two turnovers which signaled a change in the game. The Raptors failed to respond defensively to this shift in Indiana’s attitude and what we saw was embarrassing. Indiana was clearing the defensive boards and attacking us by putting the ulra-quick A.J Price (younger version of T.J Ford with a better jumper and a grip on the game) and the deceptive Earl Watson in pick ‘n roll situations with their aggressive bigs (Hansbrough, Jones, Hibbert) who although weren’t scoring but were causing the Raptors defense to collapse enough that their wings (Dunleavy, Granger) got the looks they sought.

The halftime lead of 13 looked very precarious as the fatigue had started to set in (I think it’s more mental than anything) and the transition defense was becoming a problem. Indiana was starting to beat us down the court and got And1′s on every other play as the Raptors showed their true colors – a poorly conditioned team that doesn’t know how to defend without fouling. The only above-average defensive effort on the night came from Andrea Bargnani who had a monster 17 rebound game which included three blocks and as usual, a few shot alterations. The big man’s defense on the night was a fun thing to watch, if only his offensive had shown up.

Indiana’s wing play continued to be the story in the third quarter as the halftime break didn’t seem to change the theme of the game as it was late in the first half. Indiana’s pick ‘n rolls initiated by Granger and their PGs continually carved us open and Granger’s drives against Weems, Turkoglu and Bosh were paying instant dividends. The swingman showing why he’s regarded as one of the premier wing players in the league. The Raptors offense went dead as Indiana decided to switch on the high screens that are the bread and butter of our PGs and Turkoglu. With the PGs neutralized, Andrea Bargnani struggling mightily and sticking to the perimeter (4-14 FG – shot chart) and Hedo Turkoglu playing like Hans Moleman, the only recourse left was Chris Bosh and he was seeing doubles. His FT shooting (15-20) was the levee that kept Indiana’s storm from reaching us early. He spoke about the FT shooting and team losing focus later:

I don’t think we relaxed any. We missed a lot of shots. We have to do a better job of not letting our offense dictate our defesne. I think when we miss a lot of shots, we hang our head a little bit.

I wanted to be aggressive, on a back to back situations I don’t like to shoot too many jumpshots because most of them are shot. I was just trying to be aggressive and get to the line, try to put pressure on them.

The second-unit didn’t have the same impact as they had in the first half. Belinelli, Weems, Turkoglu, and that god-damned D-Leaguer Antoine Wright were all firing blanks as Indiana breathed down our necks. Wright deserves special mention, he was passed the ball in the middle of swing sequence where the logical next pass would’ve been to kick it back to the wing for a three or to lob it to Bosh in the post, instead he chose to drive and made a muck of the whole play. I suppose Triano had the “defensive specialist” in there to cover Granger but that didn’t work out, he was getting lit up like the Olympic torch. The Pacers hit 11 threes in the game and sadly, most of them were wide open and the result of dribble penetration against our wings.

After shooting 52% in the first half, we went ice cold in the second and shot 7-34 (20.6%). We would have surely surrendered the lead in the third quarter if it weren’t for Rush and Price missing clean looks from three, their bigs missing offensive rebound tips and Bargnani contesting shots which others would’ve given up on. 84-78 at the end of the three and you just knew Indiana would complete the comeback. Indiana outscored us 26-19 in the third and if it weren’t for Bosh’s FTs, it would’ve been a whole lot worse. Take a look at the concentration of shots in the paint for Indiana and compare it to what we had going. You can’t even see their makes because they’re all top of each other in the paint. Basketball’s a simple game, there’s a better chance that you’ll score from close than from far. Triano doesn’t think we shot too many jumpers.

Before I narrate the sorry tale of the fourth quarter, I want to talk about DeRozan. There’s a disturbing trend developing that sees him nailed to the bench for the entire fourth quarter even though he’s played no worse than any of our other wings. He didn’t play a second past the 3:57 mark of the third as Triano opted to have Jose and Jack in there with Turkoglu. If anybody deserved to be benched, shown a mirror and ordered to run 100 suicides, it’s Hedo Turkoglu who’s playing like…well, Hans Moleman if he played basketball. At the risk of repeating myself, I have to point out the glaring lack of slashing in a lineup consisting of Calderon or Jack at the two. An entire avenue of scoring, offensive rebounding and defense is extracted from the lineup any time those three play together. Other than more ball-handlers, I fail to see a single benefit of keeping those three on the court, so ask yourself this: Do we really need three ball-handlers?

Jose Calderon started the fourth and got torched on the first defensive plays by A.J Price, he got shook for an assist and then failed to cover Price as he drained a three and a two. 7-2 run to start the quarter and the lead whittled down to a single point. In this little stretch our $53M man jacked up an ill-advised three and forced another one-on-one pull-up (BTW, the ball was “in his hands” at the start of both plays so he can’t complain about that). Bargnani also committed a clumsy offensive foul which gave Indiana possession.

Dumping the ball to Chris Bosh and hoping he gets fouled was our best shot at scoring as none of Turkoglu, Calderon or Jack provided the dynamic, drive-and-kick offense that the Pacers had going for them. Skill, athleticism and creativity at the wing positions is what is needed in crunch time and we didn’t have any of it. Jim O’Brien’s decision to go small and have Granger play PF was a stroke of genius which Triano failed to adapt to. Danny Granger took the challenge of guarding Chris Bosh singlehandedly and did a solid job, once stealing it and once forcing a bad shot. Bosh did get fouled more often than not (8FTs in the fourth) but the fact that the Pacers didn’t have to send help neutralized any offense that might’ve resulted out of a Bosh-double.

The ills of the two-guard+Turk lineup was most evident on the “play” we ran down 96-97 with less than two minutes left. After all three stood on the perimeter and wasted valuable clock deciding which of the three would play the role of PG on the play, Jack finally heaved a miss which was promptly turned into an A.J. Price three to make it a two possession game. The defensive coverage broke down because our backcourt was still deciding who’s guarding who.

A defensive stand in a two-point game with less than a minute left was needed and the small Pacers lineup worked again. After Watson penetrated, the ball found it’s way back to Granger who was being guarded by Bosh on the perimeter as part of the small-ball switch, the swingman drove right to the rack for two as the Raptors help never came (note that it wasn’t late, it just never came). That was the game right there, Triano just stared into space not knowing what had hit him.

We played the FT game and Murphy obliged by missing one, giving us the ball with 10 seconds left and down three. The play that we came out of had Bosh dribbling the ball at the three-point line as the clock ticked down to 5 seconds, which is when the Pacers realized that that it’s better to concede two FTs. Game over. Funny part was that even though our three ball handlers were all on the court, none of them had a chance to actually make a play. Give the ball to a PF covered by a SF at the three-point line when desperately needing a three, Triano sure screwed that one up. Have a look:

Who do you lay this loss on? Bosh for being unable to score FGs in the fourth and getting stripped by Earl Watson late? Turkoglu for playing like utter crap? Triano for insisting on his lineups and failing to adapt to Indiana’s smaller lineup? Lack of conditioning? Drop in intensity after our early lead? Whatever the case, it’s losses like these that further cement this team as nothing more than .500. Some are content with that, some are angry with that, and some – like me – are just annoyed with it.

The trend of blowing big leads is becoming the norm. Last night we were able to hold off Indiana by executing brilliantly down the stretch, but this cannot possibly be a sustainable method for winning games. This one was Exhibit A of how potent our offense can be even with two of our big guns misfiring. The bench, headlined by Jack and Belinelli, lead a 59-point performance which let us get away with mediocre games from Bosh and Bargnani, although both were useful down the stretch. Throw in a perfect Jose Calderon (21/3/7) performance and you saw that there’s reason to be excited about this team. Defense though, is another matter and something that remains a cause for concern.

Any time weak opposition comes to your building you have to jump on them and destroy their will to win early, we did something like that with rookie DeMar DeRozan being highly aggressive in getting six early points against the surprised Brandon Rush. A sign of a man in a zone is when he’s nailing his jumpers regardless of situation – Calderon’s play early was impeccable, he was sticking his jumper off the screen, on the break and spotting up on the wing. Indiana decided to test out their three-point efficiency early and got nothing in return, the Raps took the long rebound and ran with it as Turkoglu and Calderon got us off to a great offensive start – up 7 early. But as you know, a 7-point lead means little to us and all it took for that to evaporate was a TJ Ford And1 against Jose and a great quarterback pass from Ford to Murphy on the break for another And1 against a trailing Bargnani. The two point-guard’s were trading punches as it became a guard’s game – Bosh and Bargnani were a combined 2-9 as Indiana was paying a lot of attention to Bosh.

Triano got Rasho Nesterovic (miserable all year but 12/7 today) off the bench instead of Amir Johnson to contend with second-year man Roy Hibbert who’s looking more polished than most imagined. Rasho provided a boost and kept Hibbert in relative check by scoring 4 on him, although the Raptors draft pick showed us something we all desire in a big man – size, strength and aggression. Danny Granger and crew were misfiring on looks they consider open as Turkoglu started to take advantage of the inexperience of Brandon Rush and Dahntay Jones, both giving the Turk too much space to operate. Granger picked up two fouls early but still managed to get 8 in the first, (6 from the FT line) and kept Indiana in it. They almost erased the lead after Earl Watson came in to spark the offense (he faked Jose 2 feet in the air at the three-point line), but Turkoglu hit a step-back three and Jack came off the bench for a great drive right at the end to punctuate a 39 point quarter for the Raptors. Up 8, shooting 56% while conceding 44%.

Jose Calderon’s passing was crisp all game long, he made decisions in a fraction of a second, whether it be finding Rasho on a bounce for a lay-in or keeping the swing going after a Bosh double. If Bosh is drawing the double, Jose’s facilitating the offense like that and the Raptors are hitting their outside shots, it’s game over for the defense. Jose was aggressive against Ford who has no chance of blocking his shot and to worsen his chances, tends to concede the jumper too easily for a guy with his quickness. Even if you were a TJ backer, you saw today which PG is more suitable for us.

The second quarter made a case for the two-guard lineup of Jack and Calderon. Having two ball-handlers on the floor against a defense that doesn’t move in transition proved to be too much for the Pacers. The tempo increased as Jack and Calderon used quick initial passes to move the ball into the front-court, the Indiana bigs (Hibbert and Murhpy) had trouble coping. Amir Johnson’s agility showed against them as he wrested a couple rebounds away, fed them to Jack and Jose and off they went. Rasho Nesterovic’s jumper was on and that brought Hibbert further out, giving the Raptor guards driving space which they took. 7 points in the quarter for Jack including a three set-up beautifully by Belinelli who was focusing on being a playmaker today. Indiana dared Jack to shoot and he made ‘em pay. When Jack’s spacing the floor, it creates a lot of room for the big guys setting screens for him to slip to open areas and find their jumpers – just ask Bargnani who benefited twice today.

74-53 at the half. Good news, we scored 74. Bad news, we let Indiana score 54. The Pacers, who only shoot 30% from three, were even worse going 2-11 from downtown to help the Raptors’ cause. It was clear that they couldn’t handle the pace we were playing at, the question was whether we could maintain that pace. It’s very difficult to play up-tempo basketball for 48 minutes, at some point you’ll need to ease up and catch a breath and it’s in those times that good teams fall back on their defense. The Raptors currently need to score at a very high rate to maintain any advantage they’ve gained and the law of averages says that you will go cold, it’s inevitable. Right now if we’re not scoring we’re giving up big runs. A better situation for us would be to concede 4-6 points in a 7-possession stretch we’re struggling in, not 12. That’s half the points and the difference between a bad and an acceptable defensive team.

Great players come up big. As the third quarter started, so did DeRozan’s punishment. Danny Granger administered 11 points on the rookie who gave him way too much room despite being warned by the coach. After the 11th point was scored, the bench came calling and in came Wright. It was too late because Indiana had already sliced a 22 point lead in half by the 6:41 mark. The Raptors didn’t have the energy to play like they did in the first half and Indiana was starting to settle in and have success on the offensive glass, Jeff Foster giving them three extra possessions in the quarter. This was going to be a close game and the Raptors needed to dig in to pull it out.

Indiana scored 39 points in the third as the Raptors offense went cold. We went down to Bosh who was defended well by Murphy, Jim O’Brien sent additional help making the outlet passes difficult leading to turnovers. They gave Bosh space to shoot and he wasn’t making them which gave them a lift. It became so bad that we even saw Wright going 1on1 which obviously went nowhere. After Tyler Hansbrough had hit two hooks over Bargnani in the first half, he came back to crash the offensive glass and run the break to bring Indiana within 7. Earl Watson played well in his second stint, the calm collected PG set-up Brandon Rush for open looks and ran the Indiana offense much smoother than TJ Ford, even though the latter had shown great ability to penetrate early in the third. Jack’s And1 against Jeff Foster pushed the Raptors lead from 7 to 10 at the end of the third and gave the Raptors a huge psychological boost. Another boost was provided by Bosh’s defense as he blocked two close-range efforts by Granger and Solomon Jones that would’ve, he finished with 4 blocks and 12 rebounds and had an overall solid defensive game. I don’t know if this is bad defense or good offense but it’s one of my favorite plays this year. Triano spoke of the attention Indiana was giving to Bosh:

They were leaning on Chris a lot, giving him jump shots. They watched the Orlando game and he wasn’t making them. We told the guys if we move the ball side to side and set screens for each other, we’ll get any look we want and in the first half we had a lot of guys that contributed and scored.

The Raptors’ two main defensive problems are providing unnecessary help and helping from the wrong places. Three of Indiana’s threes in the third quarter resulted from a weak-side defender helping on a PG drive while leaving a legit three-point threat open. Help-defense is part of the game and Triano hasn’t able to implement a strategy that is cohesive enough that it comes natural to the players. I see too many players scrambling to get where they have zero chance of getting. Bargnani flailing at Granger, Belinelli 10 feet away from Rush, Jose on the wrong side of the court as Watson etc. The good news is that they’re at least scrambling, but sooner rather than later Triano will have to figure out why we’re the league’s worst defensive team and do something to stop it. Or maybe he believes that more games and more familiarity will pull us through, I think the issue is more technical than that.

Granger set-up Rush for three after we over-helped and soon after T.J Ford drive and kicked for a Granger three. Luckily for us those two plays were sandwiched around two Bargnani jumpers. He had been awfully quiet till now going 2-5 and was outplayed by Hansbrough and Foster on the glass and in the block. He made a conscious decision to be more aggressive in the fourth quarter and found his niche in the mid-range game. Jack found him on the slip for a jumper and then he passed up an out-of-rhythm three to step-in and nail a baseline jumper. He went 4-5 in the fourth quarter including six straight point early, consider the amends made. Murphy was left open on the perimeter as Bosh and Bargnani got confused as to who was guarding them and he touched us for a three cutting the Raptors lead to 7 with 8:08 left. The Big Turk responded with a trifecta of his own on the next possession as the Indiana defense appeared gassed. It appeared to be a dagger.

Give Indiana credit, after Bosh missed a couple chances to put the game away, Murphy was left open by a lazy Raptors defense and he hit another deep bomb, the lead was 7 again with 5:37 left. It was either time to step-up or crack and the Raptors relied on their ball-movement to get Jarrett Jack a clean look for three. Answer supplied. The Pacer’s were tired on offense and were simply passing it around the perimeter and firing, Granger hit another three (nobody’s fault really) to put the pressure back on the Raptors before Bosh and Bargnani answered with scores to ice it. Bosh’s post-move was pure determination, he fought through non-calls and a loose whistle all night and got bumped twice on this play but managed to finish with a hook. With 2:57 and a 12 point lead, the game was over.

A quick word on Belinelli, really liked his aggressiveness in going to the rim. He didn’t just step-back and launch the long jumper today and probably felt he could take Jones and Rush off the dribble and did. He got to the line 10 times and displayed a slashing ability in the half-court set, something we haven’t seen much of. DeRozan should take a page from his book and add that to his game. Triano alluded to the gelling of Belinelli, Jack and Calderon:

Everybody’s starting to get to know everybody a little bit, at one point they’re probably thinking they’re competing for a postion. Now they’re realizing that they can play together on the floor as well as give each other relief.

It’s good to see the Raptors win with Bosh going 5-19, but that’s not saying we can with with Bosh going 5-19 again. Getting 59 points off the bench while they shoot 65% is much more of an anomaly than Bosh’s poor shooting night. A loss can sometimes disguise the bad things that happened in this game and some of the clean looks we gave up in the third quarter should alone warrant hours of video analysis and practice. This team will go nowhere if our defense doesn’t improve, on the bright side we’ve played the second hardest schedule in the league and have come out of alive. Things can only get better, right?

Check the live blog for the game as it happened and the Roll Call for individual ratings. At some point on Wednesday we’ll post another session of Breaking it Down where we’ll look at some defensive breakdowns.

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