What I tell you about the Cavs game? Something didn’t seem right about the line, and although they gave it a go in the first quarter, the Raptors were able to storm back, win the 2nd quarter, then take the game. Wont be so easy tonight against Boston. Seems like we play the Celtics once a week or so doesn’t it? Fortunately this is the last match-up until next season.

The Celtics are coming off a huge win against the Spurs, where they went small ball and put the Spurs in their place. Small ball is actually an option that makes me nervous for tonight’s game since it nullifies Bargnani’s ability to put the ball on the floor and take his man off the dribble. Sure he will shoot over anyone from 18 feet out, but he doesn’t post-up enough when he has a defender on his hip enough  to punish the other team.

I checked in with Ryan DeGama from CelticsHub about the Celtics and the game tonight:

With so many injuries to start the season, and currently sitting 1st in the East, you guys must be feeling good heading into the second half of the season. Will anything less than a championship be a disaster this season?
Disaster’s a big word but if the Celtics drop another Finals to the Lakers, then it might be the right one. It would be disaster-level painful for most Celtics fans, who still aren’t really over the second half collapse in game seven of last year’s Finals.

The bottom line is this team was built to win championships and this might be the best team that Danny Ainge has put together for Doc Rivers, so expectations are sky-high. The fact the Kevin Garnett-Paul Pierce-Ray Allen core won one championship means they’ll be looked on favorably by history, however, a second would cement their legacies in Boston, where winning one title is only sorta, kinda impressive.

Who do you not want to play in the Eastern playoffs, and if you get there, the Finals?
Eastern Conference: Probably Miami. Also Chicago. And Orlando. The problem with this year is that to just get to The Finals, the C’s will have to go through at least two of those teams. Miami may be a year of frontcourt reinforcements away from being able to topple Boston, and Orlando may not have a true second star behind Howard, so, counter-intuitively perhaps, I’ll nominate Chicago. Rose is a matchup nightmare, and they’ve got an athletic frontline that can give Boston problems. If the Bulls can upgrade their 2-guard, they’re going to be a handful.

The Finals: The Celtics would probably be best served playing the Spurs but even though it’s a tougher matchup, I think everybody wants the Lakers (see also: revenge).

Rondo’s improved every year he’s played in the league, but to average 14 assists a game is very impressive. It seems to have come at the expense of his offense, but his improved shooting efficiency has made up for it some. What can you attribute to the big jump in playmaking for him this season?
To quibble, scoring numbers aside, I think his offense is actually a level beyond where it was last year. He has a newfound consistency of effort and result from game-to-game and he’s shooting a career high 44% from the mid-range.

His assist numbers are up for a number of reasons including: his natural peak-years evolution as playmaker, because Shaq has replaced Perkins in the starting lineup, and also because Allen and Pierce remain lethal shotmakers.

Perkins is a free agent after this year. What do you think he’s worth on the open market, and will be a Celtic come next season?
That first question may be above my pay grade, particularly with us all unsure of what the new CBA is going to look like, but as a blind guess, how about $8M per? Ainge has been reluctant to sign any player beyond 2012 except Pierce and Rondo but I think he’ll re-up Perkins to a multi-year deal after the season – lest he undercut the C’s chances for a 2012 run at the title.

Assuming there is a 2012.

(You can take that as a reference to either a potential lockout or the Mayan doomsday prophecy).

What’s going to be the plan heading into the game tonight against the Raptors?
Nothing you haven’t seen. Doesn’t it seem like these two teams are always playing each other in clusters? Over at CelticsHub, Hayes Davenport refers to it as Raptors Week.

As usual, the Celtics will test the Raptors willingness to play defense on multiple offensive options for 24-full-seconds and try to keep your athletes from crashing the offensive glass and getting to the rim.

Injuries

Toronto
Reggie Evans – Out
Peja Stojakovich – Out
Sonny Weems – Day to day
Jerryd Bayless – Day to day
Jose Calderon – Hurting but should play

Boston
Kendrick Perkins – Out
Kevin Garnett – Out
Delonte West – Out

Match-ups

Point Guard
Rondo’s back, and he’s playing like a champ again. Wednesday against the Spurs he dropped a magnificent 12pts 10rebs 22ast 6stl 1blk gem. Can he do it tonight against the Raptors? Yes. Will he? Probably. My preference is to take away his options and force him to hit some shots, but he’s been hitting those at a 53% rate…so yea…

Jose can regain some lost ground with another monster game, but Rondo is no Mo Williams or Ramon Sessions, and plays great defense. 20pts 17ast may not be possible, but something like 17pts 10ast will help fight the good fight.
Edge: Boston

Shooting Guard
I keep saying it and saying it, and nothing, but DeMar needs to study Ray Allen and follow his lead. Sure DeMar is super athletic, but so are most shooting guards in the league; degrees of athleticism isn’t really an advantage. Regardless, DeRozan’s been on a bit of a tear of late, with a bad game for him being 13pts 3rebs 2ast…I’ll take that. Tonight will be more of the same with Ray Allen inflicting a great deal of pain on the Raptors. Barbosa wont fair any better.
Edge: Boston

Small Forward
The Truth, nuff said. Would be nice to get Julian Wrights defense on him, but it wont help.
Edge: Boston

Power Forward
As much as I loathe Glen Davis, the guy is having a great season. Against the Raptors, he’s averaging 15pts 6rebs 4ast which makes my blood boil to no end (death by 1000 cuts). With Garnett out, there’s very depth at the 4, which is where the Raptors can make up some lost ground in the match-ups. Both Amir and Ed are playing very well lately, and will give Davis a run for his money on the glass.

What has me concerned is that Doc Rivers going small ball, which will see Marquis Daniels switch to the 4 and Davis to the 5. This could pose a lot of problems for the Raptors as Daniels plays about 15ft in, pulling Amir/Ed out of the paint making help defense and rebounding that much tougher. On the offensive glass, Daniels will do zero to counter Johnson/Davis though, so there is a silver lining with this strategy.

At the end of the day, any advantage the Raptors may have here will be far outweighed by the Celtics advantage at the wing. To close, here’s Glen Davis doing the dougie:

Edge: Toronto

Center
Shaq can’t cover  Bargnani for long stretches on defense, so we will see some interesting lineups thrown at the Raptors. Bargnani will have to deal with a combination of Shaq, Jermaine O’Neal and Glen Davis, each bringing a different challenge for him to deal with. If/when the Celtics go small ball, Bargnani will struggle with defending Davis on the perimeter and his bull-doggedness when he gets into the paint with his interesting post-play (always has these moves where I full expect him to flop to the ground and airball the layup, but it works). Unlike the power forward advantage the Raptors enjoy, if Bargnani puts up a 30+ point night, he might be able to keep things very interesting for much of the game.
Edge: Toronto

The Line

The gamblers have the Celtics as 9.5 point favourites with an over/under of 200.5. Unlike the Cavaliers game, the Raptors can’t spot the Celtics a 32-19 lead in the 1st quarter and expect to take the game. With the game in Boston, the Raptors will need to hit the ground running from the get-go and do all the little things to have a chance.

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One love

The ovation Peja received when he checked into the game on Wednesday was legendary, the crowd may have been sparse, but boy do we love us some Peja; and to his credit, he didn’t disappoint in very limited minutes. Wednesday against the Sixers, the Raptors rolled off their 4th win in a row, in pretty good fashion. They got out to an early lead, Philly started to chip into it, came close, then the Raptors closed out the game after a scare. Good, done deal.

The fact that we’re heading into Boston on a 4 game winning streak, one of them came against Boston, shouldn’t be discounted. Look, we all know that this team isn’t a very good one, but they hustle, are active, and are fun to watch, but the Raptors just don’t have the horses. That being said, the East is an interesting situationt: 5 games separates 5th and 15th, so going 4-6 in their last 10 games has the Raptors half a game out of the playoffs.

Yes yes, I know it’s far too early to talk about the playoffs, but you need to consider that only a week ago this team was in a race for last pace in the East/League. Took a 4-game winning streak to climb 6 spots in the standings. Don’t think that this has gone unnoticed in the upper ranks either. All the moves BryCo has made have been both tactical and strategic. There are made with the intention of making the playoffs that year, but also providing flexibility should they not work out, and the Raptors are once again in that position to either blow it up and get as many balls in as possible to get a top 3 pick, or add a couple guys who can push them to the playoffs, and possibly not as bright a future since we wouldn’t be getting a lottery pick.

I’m straddling both sides of the moment: I’m always for going to the playoffs, but it would be nice to get a nice young stud in the draft to mold into a major part of this teams future. I have the luxury of flip-flopping back and forth though, BC doesn’t.

We get the Celtics for the 2nd time in a week, and normally I’d be saying this game is going to be messy. It still might, but the things that won the game for us at home last week, haven’t changed: namely Rondo’s injury and Toronto’s athleticism. The Celtics did take the Raptors lightly, but they lots of trouble running with us and keeping up. Two things happened last game that really made my day: 1) Garnett sat on the bench with a lost look on his face. He’s owned Bosh over the years, but Bargnani abused last week 2) Watching Glenn Davis roll around on the floor clutching his face in pain after getting a shot to the head, loved it.

Injuries

Toronto
Ed Davis – Wearing his warmup suit at least
Leandro Barbosa – Achilles, should play

Boston
Rajon Rondo – Hamstring, Out
Delonte West – Wrist, Out
Jermaine O’Neal – Out
Kendrick Perkins – Out

Match-ups

Point Guard
This match-up couldn’t be any better for the Raptors: Rondo/West are replaced by Nate Robinson/Avery Bradley, Bradley of the DNP-CD variety. Robinson put in a pretty good performance last week, but most of it came in the 1st quarter. While his shooting was hot, he wasn’t moving the ball around, and the offense became dependant as a result of him going one-on-one and hitting the shot. I’ll take that any day of the week since his shooting went downhill after the 1st quarter, and the rest of the Celtics were left holding the bag. It took a game, but Calderon found his rhythm after the Jack trade, dropping 16pts 9ast Wednesday against the Sixers. Bayless came out like gangbusters in his first game with the Raps, but I don’t expect to see him go 3-for-3 from behind the arc, and finish the game with 13pts. Keeping Robinson out of the paint, and chucking shots from the perimeter is the move tonight, I’d go with that.
Edge: Toronto

Shooting Guard
Ray Allen should be who DeMar DeRozan looks too for a role-model in this league. The guy doesn’t yap, keeps in primo shape, and shoots like an angel (he also moves and plays defense like one as well). So go down to the AV room, and get as many DVD’s of Ray-Ray doing his thing over the years, get into the gym and shoot 500 jumpers a day, and stay in shape. DeMar’s contribution during this winning streak has been negligible at best; averaging 7.5pts 2.8rebs a game. It’s actually very troubling considering he’s being counted on for so much. Based on recent history, I don’t see DeRozan contributing his due share tonight, but he can play hard, and get back on the right track with a strong defensive performance highlighted with with attacking the basket off the bounce (no jumpers, just drives).
Edge: Boston

Small Forward
Paul Pierce has a knack for killing you in slow motion. It must be such a treat for Celtics fan to watch dudes play ball with their heads like they are playing Risk. Pierce is one of those guys who kills you in the right way at the right time; last time against the Raptors, he got to the line 13 times hitting 9. Weems and Kleiza mint have some success defending him off the dribble, but keeping him off the line will prove tough. Staying in front of him, not falling for head fakes and making him take are what’s necessary to attempt to stop him, and even en he can kill you. At the end of the game, if we keep Pierce out of the paint and off the free throw line, I’ll be a happy camper.
Edge: Boston

Power Forward
Reggie is seriously playing himself out of town; come February, some playoff team is going to come calling for his rebounding and expiring contract. While he’s here, his work on the glass is protecting Bargnani far more than many of us would want to believe. Last week, Reggie out rebounded both Shaq and the big fat baby (the highlight of the win over Boston for me was Davis getting chopped in the face and rolling around the ground in pain; hate that guy) quite handedly. What would have changed in a week, especially after Evans pulled down 22 against the Sixers two-nights ago? Nothing, that’s what. I like Reggie to dominate the boards and hopefully catch Davis in that fat nose of his with an errant elbow or something equally unfortunate.

Amir’s athleticism and rebounding will be crucial off the bench. He’s had some foul troubles the last few games (even fouled out against the Sixers), but has been uber productive otherwise. Davis does a lot for a fat bastard, and Reggie will have trouble guarding him. I like Amir on Davis much better as a match-up. Shaq I’m not too worried about either way; he’s going to have a couple possessions where he’s unguardable, then he’s going to stink.
Edge: Toronto

Center
it’s not that Bargnani is a better player than Bosh for handling Garnett as he did last week, it’s that he handled Garnett like a little girl last week on-route to win over an elite team that’s the important thing to take away from that game. Il Mago is the perfect player to shut Garnett up: he’s long, athletic, shoots the crap out of the ball and pulls KG away from the paint and glass where he is most needed by the Celtics.

That said, I’m worried about this match-up tonight since KG can just decide to stick to Bargs like sauce on pasta, and not let him get going at all. This would absolutely change Boston’s defensive rotations and rebounding assignments, but could also prove the right recipe to shutting down the Raptor offense by stopping the one guy who can carry this team on his back; when he feels like it of course.
Edge: Even

Keys to the Game

Rebounding
A key to the win against the Celtics was grabbing 10 offensive rebounds, resulting in 5 more possessions. Without Perkins/O’Neal and Garnett out on the perimeter defending Bargnani, the Raptors need to crash the boards and clean up some of the missed shots. The Raptors scored two-thirds of their points on the perimeter, and need a couple of those cheap put-backs to compensate for the offensive execution the Celtics are going to ram down their throats.

Stay Active
The Celtics really had a hard time with the Raptors athleticism all over the court. Without Rondo, they don’t a very key part of their team who can run the court, as well as play the half-court. Another problem with Rondo being out for the Celtics is that he was the first line of defense. Without him, and West, Nate Robinson is helpless against the Raptor offense. Toronto needs to attack every single possession, and just wear this team down, especially with no elite perimeter defender to stop the ball, and their defensive anchor getting schooled on the perimeter by Bargnani.

Dig a Little Deeper
You know what’s better than 4-wins in a row? 5-wins in a row. With the Hawks and Thunder both coming up in the next week, would be nice to have a little cushion, especially since we get the Wizards on Wednesday, and can extract some revenge after a brutally listless showing the last time they played.

The Line

The Celtics are 10 point favourites, which is absurd considering their injury situation and the fact that we already beat them…however…and I say this with conviction: this game can go terribly wrong for the Raptors quickly. If Garnett and Pierce are motivated tonight, it will get ugly. The Raptors don’t have an answer for the type of fire these guys can spit.

If I were Triano, I would look to Bargnani early to keep Garnett out of the paint, and hope the shots fall. A lot will rest on Calderon leading the break, and owning Nate off the dribble in the half-court, which he definitely can do. That said, I am not very optimistic about tonight’s game.

Photo Credit: Ron Turenne/NBAE via Getty Images

Arse has been up since 7am doing laps, push-ups and cursing at the mirror in preparation for the Celtics today. You hate, them, I hate them, everyone hates this team accept people who live in Massachusetts. I actually don’t hate them anymore, I just hate Garnett. Everyone else is a classy player who acts like a man; Garnett is a bully who’s drunk on his championship.

Lots of action the last couple days in Toronto huh? Unavailable for tonight’s game are Jack, Banks and Andersen; hopefully Stojakovic and Bayless available. 77% of you think this was a good trade for the Raptors, and I have to agree. In one swoop, the Raptors got younger, saved some money, and have a big asset that should come into play as the trade deadline gets closer. Gotta give Colangelo some credit, this could have been the best trade he’s made in a while since we will still have Reggies expiring in play as well.

Just a quick recap of some assets as the trade deadline approaches:

Peja Stojakovic – $14.75mil
Reggie Evans – $5mil
TPE – $14mil’ish

That’s a lot of toys to be playing with, and with a lot of broke teams, and teams looking to add a dead-eye(ish) shooters, it’s very possible something good/big can happen by February. The only thing not acceptable for me is buying out Peja’s contract right now. I guarantee you Riley is whispering sweet nothings in BryCo’s ear to try to make that happen.

We have a game to get too…Raptors host the Celtics today. I had a chance to speak with Brendan Jakcson from Celtics Hub, and he had some really good things to say about this team:

He’s the man on the one of the three best teams in the league; at what point does the list of best point guards begin with Rondo and not Paul, Williams, Westbrook or Rose?
Many people believe that Rajon Rondo will not fully ascend to the upper echelon of premir point guards until he develops a consistent jump shot. I disagree. Friday marked the first time this season Rondo failed to record double digit assists (finishing the game with 7) and he say out for much of the fourth quarter with a hamstring issue. Ranking the league’s best point guards is usually problematic on the outset because no one really agrees on the criteria. Should they be the best passer? Best basketball player? Best decision-maker? Should they be better offensively? Should they be better defensively? At this point, if Rondo is not ebing mentioned within that group of aforementioned points, than the person doing the talking has not been paying much attention.

Are the Celtics more worried about the Heat or the Magic?
First and foremost, the Celtics are most worried about themselves. If healthy and focused, the Celtics feel they can beat any team on any night. However, those are two huge “ifs”. So far this season, the Celtics have handily beaten the Heat twice. At this point the Celtics cannot really say they are worried about the Heat. As for the Magic, the Celtics have yet to play the new-look Magic (Quentin Richardson has replaced Matt Barnes and Stan Van Gundy is actually playing Brandon Bass) but even the Magic do not stroke fear in the hearts of the Celtics. Kendrick Perkins is probably the best at defending Dwight Howard one on one which gives the Cs so much more leeway on the defensive end. Less cheating/helping begets better close-outs on shooters. Despite handily beating the Magic in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics have yet to play them this year. The easy answer is the fear of the unknown.

The Celtics lost a couple key guys (Tony Allen for one), added another couple (West and Wafer) and added two O’Neal’s who might be limping into the playoffs. Were these moves enough to even get out of the East, much less beat the Lakers?
The Celtics came out of the East last year with a far less complete team. As for the Lakers, the Celtics lacked the necessary size and length in the middle to compete with Los Angeles on the glass. The additions of Shaquille O’Neal and Jermaine O’Neal will likely change that. The Celtics may still lose the battle of the boards but now they are more well-equipped to battle other players for rebounds.
Delonte West may end up being the most underrated move of any team this offseason. I do not blame teams for taking a pass on West but also totally understand why the Celtics did not. The Celtics’ bench lacked a necessary glue-guy last year as evident by how much burn Ray Allen got with the bench warmers. West changes that. He can play the one, two, or even the three if the Celtics go small.
Losing Tony Allen was a definite blow for the Celtics wing defense off the bench. Luckily for the Cs, Marquis Daniels appears to be hitting his stride (well, hitting it enough, anyway) to be a serviceable replacement for TA. Daniels is not a “lock-down” guy like Allen was for the Cs, but he’s still capable of spelling Pierce when necessary.

Speaking of Lakers, if the Celtics don’t win it all this season, how much sleep does Danny Ainge lose before breaking things up?
Danny Ainge actually did a brilliant thing last offseason by only singing players for two years. This way, whether or not the Celtics win this year they are poised to either go into battle with largely the same team intact or use the plethora of expiring contracts as trade bait. Win or lose, Ainge has options and with options a man can sleep easy.

What will the Raptors have to do to beat the Celtics tonight?
Catch them on an off night? No, but in all seriousness, the Celtics biggest weakness is athleticism. If Toronto can use their athletics wings (Sonny Weems, DeMarr DeRozan) to out run and jump the Cs, than it could be a long night for the men in green. Andrea Bargnani should also try to draw Kevin Garnett out of the paint for as long as possible to clear driving lanes for the Raptor’s more athletics players. If Garnett sags down to help, Bargnani can make him pay by hitting open jumper after open jumper.

Injuries

Toronto
Ed Davis – Out
Leandro Barbosa – Shoulder, Should Play
Linas Kleiza – Achilles, Should Play

Boston
Rajon Rondo – Hamstring, Game time decision
Kevin Garnett – Elbow to the head (LOL), Game time decision
Jermaine O’Neal – Knee, Out
Kendrick Perkins – Out

Match-ups

PG – Calderon vs Rondo
His first case as the undisputed leader of this team, and he gets Rondo; it’s almost funny actually. If you haven’t been paying attenion, Rondo is the best point guard in the league right now, averaging 11.2pts 14.3ast 4.8reb 2.5blk in about 40min. Jose isn’t. To make matters worse for Calderon, Rondo’s defense is probably better than his offense. On offense, Rondo likes the paint/elbows. Jose can expect to be attacked a lot off the dribble.

Rondo also gets a chance to welcome Jerryd to the Raptors, should be fun.
Edge: Rondo

SG – DeRozan vs Allen
DeMar has played very well the last week or so, and seems to have taken things up a notch in his game. This afternoon against Allen, he will have to leverage more than his athleticism to be effective. He’s going to have to take notes and do what Allen does. It will be fun to watch him chase Ray-Ray around, but he needs to return that favour in kind on offense.

Repeat after me: Don’t. Leave. Allen. On. The. Perimeter. For. Any. Reason. He will stick ‘em from the perimeter, and can finish at the rim. Good luck.
Edge: Allen

SF – Weems vs Pierce
I get that feeling that Weems athleticism wont be helping him as much as usual. Unlike Ray Allen who is able to run around, Pierce doesn’t, and for some reason, he seemingly doesn’t need too. To have any success, Weems will need to get out and make him run in transition. Run up the court, run around screens, run into the corner, fake rolling and pop out…just keep running. If Pierce is tired enough, he wont punish you on offense with that slow first step that has raped and pillaged defenses across the league.

Pierce likes to play in the paint, but his perimeter game needs to be respected. I feel like I should be putting more here, but I’m super tired.
Edge: Pierce

PF – Evans vs Garnett
I suspect there will be a switcharoo on defense were Shaq covers Evans and Garnett jumps out on Bargnani, but whatever. The only thing I’m hoping for today is when KG starts jawing at Calderon, Evans grabs him by the nuts and head butts him. That would make me very happy.

Edge: Garnett

C – Bargnani vs Shaq
The only match-up where the Raptors have an advantage, and I suspect that it will be mitigated with Doc switching Garnett to Bargnani for defensive purposes. Shaq has zero chance of keeping up with Andrea on the perimeter, we all know that. It’s not a secret weapon or anything. Garnett though…he can do it. Bargnani should be able to hang with Shaq defensively, but there will be moments where Shaq gets good position and puts it down. The one area where the Raptors have an advantage, and it’s an easy fix to get around it. Sucks is all…

Edge: Bargnani

Keys to the Game

Rebounding
The Celtics are the 2nd worse rebounding team in the league. Even though they a size advantage against almost every team, they can’t grab a rebound; which really baffles me. Regardless, the Raps need to get out in transition and get the Celtics running back on their heels, as well as keeping possessions going with an offensive rebound. The only way to do that is to have the ball, which means grabbing rebounds. Make sense?

Be Athletic?
I guess you are either or you aren’t. The Raptors are, the Celtics aren’t. The Raptors need to get the geriatrics running up and down the court pleading for the Bengay. The Raptors have to get them tripping over their knee braces and such to have a chance.

Hit your shots
This is more a plea than a strategy, but the Raptors have an advantage in this area, and they need to use it to enhance the other aspects of their game. If this boils down to a slow-paced halfcourt game, it’s over. But if speeds up and gets into an up-and-down match, the Raptors will give themselves a chance. That’s all we’re asking for, a chance.

The Line

The gamblers have the Celtics as 5.5 point favourites, which isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The Raptors just lost one of their most important players in a trade, and with the roster shaken up a bit, it could provide the fire to get after it a bit more than they have been to start the season.

Beating Competing against Playing the Celtics has become a mental exercise for the Raptors. The proof was in the pudding when they were humiliated last week by a shell of a team. We excused the game simply by saying that the Raptors can’t win them all, and that even without Garnett/Pierce/Rondo, the Celtics are a good team that you can’t sleep (which they aren’t). Fact of the matter is that if the Raptors did win that game like they should have, they would have be in the middle of a 9 game winning streak, and sitting 5th in the East.

It’s only one game, but it only takes that one thing to make or break a team. If Courtney Lee hit that layup last year in the finals against the Lakers at the end of the game, the whole complexion of that series would have changed. The same goes for the Raptors against the Celtics. Although the Celtics are unquestionably a better team, they are the big bullies on the block. Two years ago, they got into our heads and have lived there ever since. Last weeks game was such an important one because, even though the Celtics were injured, a win (on the road no less) would have been engraved in the Raptors brains. And for a team that has had so few positive things to hold on to over the last few years, it could have been used as a catlyst for the rest of the season.

Fortunately the loss didn’t affect the Raptors as they went on to beat the Spurs, Magic and 76ers in succession since, but I just can’t stand losing to the Celtics anymore. I really want the Raptors to go out and beat the crap out of them today, enough’s-enough.

Bosh and Bargnani have been playing phenomenal together ever since the beginning of December. In fact, I have a bit of a man-crush going for Bargnani recently. The kid’s got ice in his veins, and has been making big plays at important points of the game. Both Bosh and Bargnani need to use their quickness advantage to get Wallace and Perkins into foul trouble. Last game, they made no such effort which allowed them to combine for 30pts 16rebs 5ast. Without Garnett, the Celtics front line is weak, and this HAS to be exploited. I’d even go so far as to say if the Raptors do nothing else this game, they should take the ball right into Wallace and Perkins, and force them to make a defensive play. Oh, and the forwards who sit on the bench for the Celtics have no business contributing much today either. Amir needs to elbow Big Baby in his mouth and not let the fat bastard make us look stupid again.

The Hawks shot 58.9% from the field in the second half of their  win over the Celtics on Friday, bust most of those came on jumpers. The Celtics perimeter rotations have not been as crisp as they were, and a lot of that has to do with their injury situation. Sharing the ball will become paramount. When Bosh gets doubled in the block, he needs to kick it out quickly to the perimeter, and the ball needs to be swung until a good shot presents itself. The Celtics don’t switch on screens, so when Jack/Calderon/Turkoglu come off the high pick, they need to turn the corner and attack the paint forcing the Celtic defense to collapse and kick out to an open shooter.

I’m not claiming to have the recipe for a win, but if the Raptors:

• Attack Wallace Perkins early and try to get them into foul trouble
• Come off the high screen aggressively and force the Celtics defense to collapse (then find a shooter)
• Kick the ball out quickly when the double comes
• Rebound the crap out of the ball
• Pop their collars after hitting a shot…

…they should have a good chance at taking this one. Beating the Celtics requires a swagger we haven’t played with yet. I stress yet, because the Raptors have shown some recently. Save last week against Boston, they haven’t rolled over when the chips were down.

The line has the Raptors as 1 point favourites, with an over/under of 198. It’s going to be a a tough game that will boil to who wants it more, but I have to go with the Raps for no other reason then to put out some positive energy. The Celtics are vulnerable having lost 4 of their last 6. Not saying it is going to be easy, but it needs to be done. I think I speak for all of us when I say I am sick and tired of the Celtics, and am calling for a 100-98 win for the Raptors (Bargnani with the game winning three).

On a scale of one to Chris Brown, how upset/mad/depressed/pissed-off/violent were you feeling after the Charlotte game? Terrible. Just terrible. There was one positive that came out of it though: timing. We got that game out of our system before we rolled into Boston. Imagine if we posted a performance like that against the C**tics? What would we be talking about…179-65? I may have jumped ship if I had to endure a game like that.

The C**tics are -10.5 favourites in this game (over/under of 204), which means we need to buckle down and expect a Bobcats level whooping. Never thought I would utter that – Bobcats level whooping, fml.

Blogger’s Take

We checked in with Zach Lowe of CelticsHub.com, and asked him a few questions about his team:

Q. You guys had two close ones against the Knicks and Philly.  What did those teams do to keep the game close?

The Knicks hung in because the Celtics missed a ton of open shots and Al Harrington hit some threes that ranged from mildly difficult to ridiculously difficult. It happens. That game didn’t worry me–the Knicks have played the Celtics fairly tough since KG arrived.

As for the Sixers, the Celtics appeared to take them lightly with Brand, Williams and Speights all out (and the C’s basically admitted to taking them lightly after the game). They also had a difficult time adjusting to the Sixers small line-up; slow rotations for the first three quarters allowed Philly (and your old pal Jason Kapono) to go off from three.

Bottom line: The C’s just aren’t attacking teams with the fury they showed last year. And I think that’s a good thing. They are experimenting with line-ups and strategy instead of going for the kill in November games.

Q. Are the Big 3 showing any signs of slowing down?

Two of them are. Pierce remains as solid as ever. He’s shooting 51 percent from the floor and playing lock down defense, particularly down the stretch of close games. His D against Andre Iguodala on Wednesday was a sight to behold.

As for Allen and KG, their stats are down across the board. Ray is shooting 29 percent from three and his PER has actually dipped below 15 for the first time since his rookie year. KG’s jumper has been off (41 percent so far) and his mobility is not what it was in 2008.

The shooting doesn’t worry me. Both guys will come around. They are vets. The team remains optimistic about KG working himself back into prime health. The jury’s out.

Q. Would you trade Kendrick Perkins for Andrea Bargnani?

No, but the “no” isn’t as emphatic as it would have been last year. In general, I think this Celtics nucleus functions best with a center who focuses mostly on protecting the rim and working his ass off on screen/roll defense. That obviously doesn’t describe Bargs. That said, as the C’s core players age, it would be nice to have someone take
more of the scoring load off of the Big Three. That was the idea with Sheed. Fifteen games in, Sheed’s shooting has been a disaster.

At this point, Bargs has convinced me he’s a legit offensive player. But the C’s defense would tumble if you replaced Perk with Bargs. So: No.

Q. Why is Garnett such a douche-bag?

No comment, though I’m on record (to the chagrin of some readers) as saying KG’s sideline antics during the ’09 playoffs were (at times) embarrassing. But he’s like Jordan in a way (and that is NOT a basketball ability comparison, so settle down, MJ’s the best, etc.): He’s a maniacal competitor, for better or worse. It serves his team well when he’s on the floor but may not serve him well in, you know, normal social situations.

The Raptors need to rebound from the Charlotte game, and I don’t mean they have to win, because they wont. What they have to do is give a full 48 minute effort. Rebounding and defensive rotations are going to be crucial, because the Raptors play the type of game where struggling opponents get good looks and can shoot themselves out of a funk.

The Match-ups

The Point: Calderon/Jack had problems with Felton/Augustin on Wednesday, but Rondo poses a problem for everyone in the league. If Rondo is blowing by, or hitting half-assed contested jumpers, he is going to be trash talking our guys into crying. Me-thinks Rondo posts a triple-double tonight. IF Calderon is shooting the ball well and protecting the ball, and IF Jack attacks the paint and kicks out to an open shooter (or finds a forward rolling to the rim), the Raptors won’t fare too badly in this match-up, otherwise, it’s going to be bad.
The Edge: Boston

The Wings: The Raptors forwards surrendered 63pts and 18rebs against the Bobcats forwards on Wednesday. Jesus and The Truth (and a couple other guys) vs Turkoglu/DeRozan/Wright/Belinelli…not going to be good. I suspect Ray Allen will be getting some premium looks at the rim and shoot his way out of his early funk. Pierce will be Pierce, he has been a God-send for me in one of my fantasy leagues so far. This is going to be bad as well.
The Edge: Boston

The Forwards: This might be our best match-up considering how Bosh has bulked up and isn’t as easily bullied in the paint. Garnett has owned us the last couple of seasons, but Bosh will give him a surprise tonight, I believe. Bargnani has had a couple lackluster games in a row, but Perkins represents someone who he can abuse on the perimeter. I look forward to watching Amir (#FreeAmir) battle in the paint tonight, he is the kind of guy we need battling Garnett/Perkins in the paint on both ends of the floor.
The Edge: Even

Simulation

Visser’s sims are 12-4 this year and this time the crystal ball is predicting a 115-107 Raptor loss:

The Raptors fought back from a 28-point halftime deficit but fell short, losing to the Celtics 115-107 in Boston. Chris Bosh did everything possible to make it respectable, finishing with a season-high 39 points and grabbing 16 boards.

Aside from Bosh, Toronto got 17 from Hedo Turkoglu and 11 off the bench from Jarrett Jack. The Raptors were out-rebounded 44-35, with Amir Johnson the only player other than Bosh to grab at least five boards.

Paul Pierce led Boston with 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting and Rajon Rondo had eight points, five boards and 12 assists. The Celtics had a big bench effort, with Eddie House (18), Marquis Daniels (12) and Sheldon Williams (11) all scoring in double digits.

I have to go with the SIM, the Raptors don’t match-up well, they aren’t playing with any sort of purpose, the game wont even be close. Hopefully we don’t wear ourselves out tonight and leave something in the tank for Sunday at home to the Suns. Happy Thanksgiving to the folks down south.

CHECK OUT RFF TONIGHT!

C’mon man, try to stay positive, it’s only pre-season. That’s what I was telling myself after the game, to not lose faith so early and give Triano a chance, a chance at a full training camp and pre-season. Since pre-season isn’t over yet I won’t pass judgment on whether we’re an out-of-sync unit or just a unit on its way to finding the light. As disappointing this home performance was, let’s show some faith in Triano and let him get the pre-season the management felt he needed to instill his philosophies and principles. This game made you cringe because you saw the worst of some of our supposed rotational players and another very sub-par performance from our star. But hey, it’s the C**tics, we’re supposed to lose to them, right?

Fist up, as much as I loathe that team you have to be impressed by their defensive energy, communication, teamwork, effort and most of all, ball movement. They move the ball till the seams wear off and always get a shot that they want. I counted maybe 5-7 possessions where they were “forced” into a shot, the Raptors on the other hand were forced into a shot they’d rather not take every third possession. I hope that this has all to do with our offense being very raw and not a more severe problem such as lack of creativity on the part of players and coaches. Hey hey, it’s pre-season. I got to stop getting ahead of myself.

I think I covered the individual performances well enough in the ratings post so there’s not much more to say, I suppose I could talk about the game flow, how we started poorly, picked it up in the early second only to drop the ball in the second half. The pattern was similar to the previous Boston game as in the C**tics’ quality and depth slowly and surely pulled away and fatigue hit us like a ton of bricks. There’s more to it though, the major story lines are our vaunted defense allowing them to shoot 76% in the first quarter, Bosh’s performance against the Boston bigs, Amir Johnson failing his first real test in a likely role off the bench, Bargnani showing some mettle, Calderon and DeRozan picking up their games without having the stats to show for it, Turkoglu getting into the groove, Belinelli and Rasho megafails and finally, how our offense needs to be sorted out BIG TIME.

I’ve said it a thousand times and I’ll say it again: I don’t like the way Bosh allows himself to be neutralized. A weak front by Kendrick Perkins should be easily negotiable, even if there’s a weak-side defender waiting in case the lob is made. Just look at the C**tics, in those cases they use a pass back to the top followed by a hi-low to get an easy layup, a foul, or force the whole defense to collapse in the paint thus spawning their ball movement. If Perkins is on you, you don’t fade. Period. No excuses, nothing. You use your God-given advantage over hm which is your quickness, you don’t fade because that’s what he wants you to do. It doesn’t matter if you happen to draw a couple fouls that way, it’s still what Doc Rivers prefers. Garnett was given the Bargnani assignment leaving Bosh with the easier matchup of Perkins but we couldn’t gain an advantage. And that muscle you added, put it to use because you sure don’t need it to fade.

Bosh’s third quarter performance was terrible, it was a key stretch in the game where he went scoreless, conceded offense rebounds and became offensively anonymous. After Turkoglu sliced the lead to 5 after two quick scores, Boston went on to outscore the Raps by 10 the rest of the quarter. Bosh in this quarter had zero points and zero impact. Game over. Sometimes crunch time comes early, today was one of those days. Not to rip on the guy too much, but am I being unfair if I expect a certain level of excellence from him? Triano commented on how the team ran out of gas again:

“(In the) third quarter we were on borrowed time, really,” Triano said after the Celtics out-scored Toronto 47-33 in the final two quarters. “Right now, due to the injuries and guys getting late starts in training camp, we’re just over half a game ready. “And then you can see it, physically we can’t do it and when the physical part goes, the mental part of it goes and we’re not thinking as far as coverages are concerned.” “Thirty-one (minutes) for Chris right now is probably a little bit high and we’ve got to find a way to get that up another eight minutes (before the Oct. 28 opener),” Triano said. “Hedo struggled a little bit as far as his wind was concerned, but we tried to play them enough and push them.

Let’s get the PF position out of the way – Amir Johnson. Oh man, you let me down today. I was hoping this could be your real coming out party against Kevin Garnett and Baby Davis but you let me down. What is up with posting up like a hunchback? What is up with trailing Garnett back on the break? What is up with the defensive rebounding positioning? What is up with the footwork? He looked terrible out there, he was given a real chance as the first big off the bench and just wasn’t into the game which is scary because with his chief rival out, he’s supposed to come out firing and make Triano’s decision simple. At the end of the day, Reggie gained points on him by not even playing.

Kudos to Bargnani for showing some pride out there today, his attitude was right and that’s a big part of what needs to be right if you want to beat a team like Boston. 3 rebounds in 21 minutes is bad and but half of his 6 fouls were utter shite. Calderon and him showed some great chemistry in that second quarter and it’s very obvious that Turkoglu and DeRozan are on the same page as him, at least on offense. I liked how Bargnani took on Kendrick Perkins in the post and shut him down, he peeled off screens looking for his shot and made a couple sweet, sweet passes from the high-post, something I think should be a part of our offense. Put him in a position where he gets to use his vision and passing ability, sure beats giving it to Bosh in the post and waiting…and waiting…and waiting…

Battier’s battering woke up Turkoglu and he looked very good – fluid movements, confident jumpers, excellent screen usage and clever with the ball. He even hit the boards on his way to 16/5/3 in 28. The offense runs much smoothly when he’s controlling the play because he’s a dual threat – can sneak by you any time for a shot and is always looking to pass to a cutter, if there is one. He’s got a PGs radar on that old head of his and I’m liking him as the point forward. Part of the reason for that is because I’m hating the Calderon/Jack backcourt combo. Neither of those two plays like a SG on offense, they just stand there on the perimeter as a three-point threat, that’s all. There’s very little off-the-ball movement by either of them and they become easy to guard, but hey, it’s early and we haven’t worked on the offense yet.

Jack had a very subpar defensive game, it’s like he hadn’t read the scouting report on Eddie House and Ray Allen. There were a lot of turnovers on his watch and the ball kept getting stuck in his hands for far too long. 4-8 FG is a nice shooting display but in a game like this we’re counting on him to do more driving ‘n kicking and break down the defense than just use a screen and pull-up for a jumper. Rondo and House over the last two games have shown us what quick, penetrating PGs can bring, it’s an element that remains lacking on this Raptors team and that’s something our offensive sets will have to compensate for.

I’ll end with Belinelli who came in as a first half sub and looked very passive. Again, Triano hasn’t put in his offense yet so I’m not sure how much to blame his confusion and incoherence on that, but it would be an understatement to say that he looked lost with the ball in his hands. Just like Johnson, he’s used to playing an open style no-defense game this pre-season, but Sunday was different. It required him to shorten his game, make it more compact and get him thinking about how to get his offense in a structured manner. He had no clue. In contrast, DeRozan knows that when somebody’s up in your face you drive on him and he did that to the tune of 7 legit FTs – excellent work man, very, very pleasing to see. His pull-up shot’s not there yet but once he gets that going he can be deadly.

A word about Calderon – he looked stronger, more confident in his approach, looked to turn on the screen and got up in Rondo’s face. The box score isn’t impressive and if you didn’t see the game, take my word that he looked more season-ready than he’s ever looked. I’d say this was the most intense he’s played and it’s not surprising, he doesn’t like the C**tics and wants to beat them badly. Too bad for him and us that we’ll have to wait…and wait…and wait…

Boston Celtics

My Prediction: 0-4
Nov – Fri 27 @ Boston L
Jan – Sat 02 @ Boston L
Jan – Sun 10 vs Boston L
Apr – Wed 07 vs Boston L

Easily the cream of the crop of the Atlantic, and quite possibly the East (I still contend that if they were healthy last year, they would have won it all). The Raptors were 0-4 against them last season, and I expect the same this year. The Raps will struggle with Boston’s size up front, it’s not as though foul-prone Johnson is rounding out an elite Raptors front court. If they can counter that front court somehow (which they will have a very hard time with considering the Celtics just replaced Leon Powe with Rasheed Wallace), they still have to figure out what to do with Pierce and Allen. Excuse me if I don’t like our chances.

New Jersey Nets

My Prediction: 4-0
Dec – Fri 18 vs New Jersey W
Feb – Wed 03 vs New Jersey W
Feb – Fri 19 @ New Jersey W
Mar – Sat 20 @ New Jersey W

I have a feeling the Nets are going to be an interesting team. Thy don’t have a whole lot surrounding Harris, Lopez and Lee, but looking at this roster, they seem like a tough lot who is sure to be a well coached one. The Raptors were 2-2 against them last season, but in those two losses, VC had 39 and 27 points respectively. That first loss of the year was the gut wrenching one where VC sent the game into OT with a clutch trey then won it with that reverse alley-oop…we wont have to worry about him doing to that to us with the Nets, the Magic get that honour now. Anyways, they have no one that will give us any trouble, and we sure as hell can’t afford to lose even one game against them if we have post-season designs.

New York Knicks

My Prediction: 4-0
Jan – Fri 15 @ New York W
Jan – Thu 28 @ New York W
Mar – Fri 05 vs New York W
Apr – Wed 14 vs New York W

They will score in bunches and be exciting to watch, but wont be very much better then the 32 wins they got last season. The David Lee situation has not been resolved as of today (to my knowledge), which is a disaster as he has been one of their best/most consistent players over the last few years. Jordan Hill brings much needed size/toughness, but the only way the Knicks beat the Raptors this season is if they score loads and it comes down to a coaching battle. In any event, they can’t be slept on, they have the type of team that can get hot and run you off the court, but that will be few and far between. The Raptors went 2-2 against them last season, but have improved athletically and and bulked up. I have a feeling the Knicks will be worst team in the Atlantic.

Philadelphia 76ers

My Prediction: 3-1
Jan – Fri 08 @ Philadelphia W
Feb – Wed 10 vs Philadelphia W
Mar – Sun 07 vs Philadelphia W
Apr – Sat 03 @ Philadelphia L

They lost Andre Miller, signed a gangster and replaced Cheeks with Jordan. Forgive me if I don’t get too excited for them. I don’t follow the Sixers too closely, but for a team that went .500 last season, got the 6th seed in the playoffs, and took Orlando to 6 games, they sure as hell regressed (IMHO) this past summer. It’s not all bad for them. They went to the playoffs last year, have a slew of talented young wings that can get hot and give folks fits on the perimeter and a healthy Brand. Philly will be nipping at the Raptors heels, and be one of the middle-tier teams in the East fighting for the 5-8 playoff spots (the Hawks have 4 locked up, especially with the addition of Joe Smith up front). Each game against these guys will be a very important one, as the Raptors and Sixers will be neck-in-neck in that playoff hunt. They split the season series last season.

Boston aside, I have the Raptors going 11-1 against the Knicks, Nets and Sixers. Seems very ambitious, but if the Raptors want the 4th seed (which they wont get), they have beat these type of teams each and every time they play them. Even going 7-4 against them – and they steal one against the Celtics, drops them to 42 wins in my scenario, which will probably get them into the playoffs kicking/scratching/clawing and screaming, but with a 7th or 8th seeding.

Boston Celtics – 60+ wins
Toronto Raptors – 45 wins
Philadelphia 76ers – 40 or so wins
New York Knicks – 32 or so wins
New Jersey Nets – 30 or so wins
* please note, I had accidentally switched the Knicks and the Nets predictions, apologies.

That’s how I see the Atlantic shaping up this year.

Well that sucked, eh? I don’t know what’s worse, getting blown out completely or blowing out the other team for the first half and then choking your chicken in the second. The first half was too good to be true, our movement was too perfect, the scoring was too balanced, our execution too sound, it was nothing like the real Raptors. You just knew it wasn’t going to last for two reasons: 1) The second half is where the pressure is at and 2) We weren’t getting production from Bosh. No matter how good the supporting cast is playing, road games against great teams are won by your superstars. Paul Pierce stepped up the scoring for the Celtics in the fourth quarter and our superstar got neutralized by Kevin Garnett. Again. And once more the overarching reason for the loss was the pathetic fourth quarter offense that resembled that of a middle-school JV team.

Paul Pierce had 22 points in the fourth quarter. Chris Bosh had 0. Box. In fact, he had 2 points in the entire second half and took only one shot. Let me say that I’m thankful to Bosh for saving us against the Bobcats and coming through against Golden State and hitting tons of clutch shots for us this year but all that doesn’t mean a damn thing if you don’t even wake up for the big games. This right here was a big game and we needed him, we needed his scoring, his intensity, his leadership and his passion and we got nothing. Jermaine O’Neal carried the team in the first half and Jason Kapono did all that’s in his power to keep the offense chugging along in the second half. Jose Calderon didn’t have a great game but when you have Kevin Garnett’s sweating dripping on your face you’re going to look at your big man for help and when its not there, you’re going to struggle. Even Joey Graham and Kris Humphries came off the bench to give us a spark. The guy that was missing was Chris Bosh and what made things even worse was that Garnett was bringing the intensity, trash talking every Raptor, D’ing up Bosh on the perimeter, fronting him in the post, playing him physical and we didn’t manage a whimper in response. We just sat there and took it. Disgusting. Chris Bosh, go look yourself hard in the mirror tonight.

Let’s talk about wing production again. You’ve been reading these posts now, I don’t need to dig up the Detroit and Atlanta numbers up for you to guess that we got killed here again. Pierce/Allen outscored Moon/Parker 55-20. That alone is a stat that should lose you the game but thanks to our strong rebounding effort (even at 39) and good ball movement (25 assists), we were somehow in the game till late but just never got the boost we needed. Obviously Chris Bosh didn’t provide that boost so we looked at Andrea Bargnani who picked up 4 fouls in 11 minutes and went 1-4 for two points and 0 rebounds. We can’t really ask more than we got from O’Neal so we looked to Jose to provide that boost but its hard when you’re running the same play 30 straight times in the second half and Boston keeps negating the pick ‘n roll by not allowing you shooting space and not allowing the pick setter to roll. What do you do then? Nothing. Nothing because that’s all we’ve got. That’s all Sam Mitchell’s pathetic excuse for a playbook has in it. All that movement we saw in the first half doesn’t work in the fourth quarter because the Celtics are awake and playing defense, not just loafing around. We needed somebody to demand the ball and want to win this game by attacking and putting the onus on the defense to stop them. Never happened.

This team just isn’t able to get easy baskets. In the seven games we’re played so far, here are our fast-break points:

4, 6, 4, 0, 3, 2, 2

I don’t know who’s fault it is, maybe its Jose not being aggressive enough or our wings not running the break or making attempts to leak out, bottom line is that we can’t run or play transition basketball. This would be more than acceptable if our offense functioned properly but since we labor to get good shots and struggle to score when it counts, it becomes crucial that we make up for it elsewhere. Having a strictly half-court offense while being crappy at it will only lead to losses like these. We need points and need to be creative in getting them. High pick ‘n roll only takes you so far.

It’s no surprise that Sam Mitchell’s playbook is thinner than a menu at a hot dog stand but at least we can expect some sensible substitutions, no? Is Jason Kapono qualified to be guarding Paul Pierce in the fourth quarter? I mean, you’d think after Pierce’s first 30 points he’d switch and let Moon or even Graham check the man or maybe God forbid double him since our rotations weren’t bad last night. I’d even settle for Kapono checking Ray Allen instead of Pierce, at least he wouldn’t have gotten blown-by and posted-up on the same play. I understand that if Bosh is choking to death you have to keep Kapono out there because he’s the only guy who’s got something going but does he have to guard Pierce? We didn’t even do offense/defense substitutions late in the game!!! How appalling is that?? Hey Sam, what’d you think of Kapono guarding Pierce:

“You look at the shots Paul Pierce made. He drove the basket a couple of times, but he was making a lot of 18, 19-foot shots with guys contesting him.”

No you clown, he had Jason Kapono guarding him and Paul Pierce has made a career out of hitting the 18 footer. If you think getting a token hand in the face is called a “contest” then you’re sadly mistaken. Once again Sam throws his hands up in the air and goes “Oh well, what can you do”. No, this should not be tolerated. We need to get him some coaching help ASAP, maybe a willy old defensive-minded assistant coach or a guy who can remind him when to play offense/defense. Something. Anything to keep him from doing shit like using Bosh as a decoy for an entire quarter.

There was a key play in this game. Trailing 84-81, Boston called timeout and came out with a great play that got Ray Allen a wide open three and he drained it to tie the game. The Raptors in response brough the following out of their timeout:

2:41        Jermaine O'Neal bad pass                                    84-84
1:50        Kendrick Perkins blocks Jermaine O'Neal's 15-foot jumper    84-84
1:17        Jermaine O'Neal turnover                                    84-86	
0:52        Jose Calderon misses 13-foot jumper                         84-88	 
0:30        Anthony Parker misses 26-foot three point jumper            84-90	 
0:17        Jason Kapono misses 26-foot three point jumper              84-92	 

Pretty pathetic eh. What these lines don’t tell you is that we took most of these shots with less than 3 seconds on the shot-clock and basically threw the ball into O’Neal when nothing else worked. There was no semblance of a play being run here, just us running around like chickens with our heads cut off.

One of the substitutions that hurt us the most was Jose Calderon being pulled for Will Solomon for absolutely no reason. We’re just coming off the third quarter break and there’s no reason to give the reigns to Will Solomon in this pressure packed environment. We’re nursing an 8 point lead and should be focusing on extending it rather than letting the Celtics back in the game. Mitchell goes with Solomon and here’s what our offense does under Solomon who struggled to get anyone the ball without at least 16 seconds running of the shot-clock:

10:57        Will Solomon enters the game for Jose Calderon                       69-61	 
10:41        Will Solomon bad pass (Tony Allen steals)                            69-62
10:18        Jason Kapono bad pass (Eddie House steals)                           69-63
10:00        Jermaine O'Neal offensive foul (Leon Powe draws the foul)            69-65

It’s only three possessions but its three fourth quarter possessions that we get nothing out of and continue giving the momentum back to Boston. We have a day off tomorrow and our big guns need to be in there to see this thing through, there’s time to rest later. I’m just singling out one substitution but there’s also Joey Graham who had a great first half but didn’t play the entire third quarter and then was brought back in the game in the fourth ice cold.

Give kudos to Jermaine O’Neal for getting the Raptors off to a hot start, his 19 first half points were the main reason the Raptors were in this one and I’m starting to think that if it weren’t for him this game could’ve gotten out of hand early. He’s also the only guy that showed some real intensity by getting in Kendrick Perkins’ face in the first half and backing people down like a man possessed. In the second half we stopped looking for him and when we did, he got doubled and passed the ball well out of it. For the Raptors to win games consistently we need three scorers, tonight we got one and it wasn’t our main guy. I’m shocked we didn’t get blown out, oh wait, we did: 58-39 in the second half.

Is it me or did you want to throw a brick at your TV when you saw KG trash talking Calderon as poor Jose couldn’t believe it. Or how about Pierce crying out at the sky as he sinks another clutch jumper. Did you wish we had players that did that kind of stuff? Show outright emotion, play with their hearts on their sleeves, get pumped up and inspire their teammates, not settle for a loss and will their teams to big wins in big divisional games. I’m sad, it makes me sad that we don’t have anybody like that.

The Raptors last year beat the weak teams and lost to the good ones and this year appears to be no different. We just took one up the arse!

Sometimes I question why I even keep a blog but losses like these remind me that it’s because frustration and anger needs an outlet and this is it.

Let’s keep everything aside and state that Chris Bosh was dominated by Kevin Garnett to a tune of 9 straight crucial points in OT where the double-team (mysteriously) remained at bay. Those 9 points cost us the game. Ray Allen’s game-winning, heart-breaking, puke-inducing, mind-blowing, eye-gouging three wouldn’t have happened if Bargnani had switched on the Garnett screen on Anthony Parker. With 3 seconds left you have to make Ray Allen make a play that he can’t make in his sleep, not a wide open three pointer which he drains while taking a piss. There’s the short and sweet summary of why we lost, but of course there are deeper issues.

Here’s what we learned, we can play with the Big 3 of Boston if Bosh/Bargnani decide to show up. Bosh/Bargs were non-existent for the first half (I’m not a CB4 hater, just bear with me) and Bosh’s offensive decisions were ranging from somewhere between bad to foolish. I know he’s coming back from a knee injury and we should cut him slack but bad mental decisions have nothing to do with being injured, trying to challenge Kevin Garnett with another guy wrapped around you when you’ve picked up your dribble is just a sick idea. Final thought on Bosh: horrible overall offensive game but he salvaged some respect with his block count and by going to the FT line, overall him and Bargnani’s bad early play probably cost us the game.

Bargnani had a game where he just missed his jumpers, that’s all. He actually played pretty damn good defense on KG whenever he was matched up with him and held his own on the glass with 8 rebounds. What’s unfortunate right now is that if his jumper his not working, he becomes completely useless to us, it’s not like he has another part of his game where he can fall back on. If he had a post-game (which he’s apparently working on and I’m sure will develop), he’d actually be contributing in the fourth quarter rather than riding the pine. Serenity now. Serenity now. Serenity now.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: TJ Ford is the only mismatch we have on the court, nobody else comes even close. A huge testicle performance by TJ where he took and made big, big, ballsy shots. What a player he can be, I thank God for having him on this team every day. But when the rest of the team (Parker, Bargnani, Bosh, Dixon, Rasho) all have sub-par games, we’re destined to lose. Come to think of it, we’re lucky we even kept this one close given how poorly we played and how stagnant our offense was. Boston was unable to put us away which is a credit to our resilience when our offense was struggling.

Sam Mitchell. I have a real problem with his substitution pattern concerning the point guards. Is there a rule somewhere which says that Calderon and Ford can’t play at the same time? It was inexplicable to take out TJ early on when he was the ONLY person scoring for us. Seeing how Boston’s got some PG issues, I’d say make Ray Allen guard Calderon and have TJ Ford abuse Rondo in parallel. At least give it a try? No? Watching the Raptors cut a seemingly constant 10 point Boston lead down to 4 only having it bubble up back to 10 all game long was frustrating to watch and begged for a fuel injection, something Forderon could’ve provided. Even broken record Leo Rautins had the audacity to suggest it. (BTW, thank you Chuck Swirsky and Leo Rautins for explaining the defensive three second violation and how many timeouts are there in an NBA game for our new audiences in Nunavut.

We’re a jump shooting team we live and die by the jumper, it’s an old cliche but it’s 100% true. In the first half we were dying, nobody could drain a shot and the misses were so off that they made you cringe. 31 points at the half for the whole of Canada to see. Even George Snuffleupagus must’ve been regretting doing that intro in the beginning. It was almost like we were playing with so much pressure that we forgot how to play, not until later in the second half did we even start to come close to looking like the team that beat Philly and the Nets. How do you explain this? Nerves? Boston Defense? I’d go with the former because Boston wasn’t doing anything special on defense that might’ve prevented us from doing what we want to do.

Make no mistake, this was a huge game to lose. It’s only 1 of 82 games we play but an early season defeat here only gives more validity to the claim that the Atlantic Division has already been decided. Obviously, it’s not and I do think that given a good Bosh performance we would’ve won this game. Another important note to be made here is that the Celtics bench isn’t as pathetic as many had suspected, James Posey and Eddie House are real threats to score against leaky perimeter defenses like ours. They’re still hollow as a donut inside but when our big guys fail to take advantage of harmless flies like Kendrick Perkins, Scott Pollard and Brian Scalabrine, you deserve to lose.

I’m not scared of the Celtics, we showed we can beat them even when playing like dogs. I know it’s hard to take a good feeling out of this afternoon, but it’s true, we’re right there at the top. This game was just an anomaly. The f**king Hype Guy was right about the Celtics taking this one. Three games in four nights coming up. We want all four. Grab the feed.