Warning: This is the worst thing I’ve ever written in my life. Much like Kleiza, I didn’t give it 100%.

It’s really getting hard to write these pre-games with any level of predictability. The Raptors roll-over to the Wizards, then two nights later, they fight tooth in nail against a better Hornets team. Could it be that these guys play up to their competition much like the Spurs play down to theirs? Also, we (I do anyways) keep saying that this team doesn’t have much talent, but when you just take a second look, there is a bit; it’s just that the team isn’t very well constructed. They are a bunch of athletic guys, who can ball, who’ve just been thrown together and told to play nice.

While I ate some of my words about the match-ups from the Hornets game, each of Paul, West and Okafor played crucial roles in the tight win. Okafor and West especially, who combined for 26 rebounds with both grabbing more offensive rebounds than the entire Raptors team – 16. Whatever…

I checked in with Andrew McNeill from the aptly named Spurs blog 48 Minutes of Hell about the team and the game tonight:

This Spurs are my gold-standard for how a franchise should be run. Unlike the Celtics/Lakers/Mavs, the Spurs compete while being fiscally responsible. This question is a bit lame, but what is it like to be a fan of this team?
A lot of times, you’re going through your head or discussing / arguing with someone about something in particular that you think the team should do. Whether it be trading for someone to defend the rim or play Tiago Splitter more, etc, nothing’s perfect so it’s natural to think that. But in the end, and oftentimes the discussions in the comments end this way too, you just shrug and say, “you know what, the front office knows what they’re doing.” I get that feeling that fans of a lot of other franchises don’t enjoy the same luxury.

International players sometimes take a bit longer to acclimate themselves to the NBA. After getting signed to a lot of fanfare, Splitter has seen a steady decline in minutes and production since the season started. Is this a matter of not enough minutes, others stepping up, or Tiago learning to play in Pops system?
Tiago is becoming one of my favorite things to write about, just because it’s coming kind of easy with his lack of playing time. Long story short, he played a full season last year in Spain and won the title, had a couple of weeks off and went on tour with Brazil ahead of the FIBA World Championships and then played in Turkey. He picked up an injury training for the World Championships and then another during the tournament. After a couple of weeks off he was in San Antonio for training camp and picked up yet another small injury. This one forced him to miss the vast majority of training camp and all of preseason. With so little practice time in the NBA, especially for veteran teams like the Spurs, he had very little opportunity to learn Pop’s system. And if we learned anything from Richard Jefferson last year — and, to a lesser extent, Antonio McDyess (an underrated story is how much improvement Dice has shown this season) — it’s that Pop’s system takes some time to learn. Basically, he’s a good sport and he’ll be a good rotation player, but it might not be until next season.

Career low in minutes played for Duncan, points and rebounds, yet the Spurs are the best team in the league. Do tell?
There are a number of factors for Duncan’s career lows. The Spurs always try to limit Duncan’s minutes and they’ve been able to do it this season by blowing teams out. Duncan has been able to sit out a significant chunk of the team’s fourth quarters this season while not missing a game. Offensively, the Spurs don’t run everything through Duncan in the post. The offense is predicated on ball movement and lots and lots of pick-and-rolls with Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. But if they need to, they can still go to Duncan in the post and get a basket. Defensively, he’s still a rock. And about a slow as one when it comes to defending the pick-and-roll. But he still knows the defense and communicates with the defenders in front of him as good as any player in the league.

The Spurs have dropped a few games to the Raptors over the years, splitting the last two season series (I just wanted to throw that in). How do the Spurs match-up with the Raptors, and what will they have to do to win the game?
I’ll be completely honest and tell you that I can’t remember if I’ve caught a Raptors game at all this season. The Spurs have a habit of playing down to their opponents, but that hasn’t been as much of a problem this season… other than that Clipper game. Although, with the way the Clippers have looked lately that doesn’t seem as bad, and it was the second night of a back-to-back. Anyway, I digress. If the Spurs show up with decent energy early in the game, not the way they started against the Nuggets on Sunday, and don’t go completely cold from 3-point range, I fully expect them to beat the Raptors comfortable and give Tim Duncan another fourth quarter off.

Injuries

Toronto
Reggie Evans – Angry Birds Steez: Finished each level with 3-stars
Leandro Barbosa – She’s keeping him company while he gets better
Peja Stojakovic – Favourite Drink: Lady Saffron from Black Hoof cafe
Sonny Weems – Most expensive tweet c/o EverythingBlaxx
Linas Kleiza – Hope he’s ok, but glad Wright’s getting his minutes

San Antonio
Matt Bonner – Day to day

Match-ups

Point Guard
For Jose, this is the week from hell; Chris Paul, Tony Parker and Nelson/Arenas in the span of five days. Each is a totally different kind of player that poses his own set of problems. Against Paul, Calderon turned in a pretty gutsy performance if you ask me. Keeping Chris to 6 points is an achievement onto it’s own; doing that while dropping 13 dimes and keeping the game within reach is damn good. What really hurt Jose was 7 turnovers on 13 assists; especially when you consider Paul had 0tos  on 11ast.

Parker is also a devastating player off the dribble. Containing him off the hi-screen may prove to be impossible since he’s such a triple-threat (shoot, pass and drive) once he turns that corner. Expect the Raptors to get pick-n-rolled to death, and Triano to call a zone every so often to counter. Maybe he wont, maybe he will jedi mind trick them into thinking a zone is coming, when it doesn’t, forcing them to execute some weird variation of their offense that sputters and fails. Maybe it wont matter.

Jose has proven that he can run with the elite point guards in the league, the question has always been how hard is he going to make them work on both ends of the floor. I don’t mind Parker doing 20pts 11ast if Jose produces his share on offense and contests on defense.
Edge: Spurs

Shooting Guard
Again, another solid kool-aid outing for DeRozan who seems to have reduced the number of bad games between the good ones. Consistency is the key with the young one, and he’s held up his end of the bargain for the most part. Listen, I like the kid, but it just feel that his game is a little too one-dimensional at the moment; a luxury we cant afford him considering Bargnani should be the only person on the Raptors with that that role.

Much like Parker, Ginobili is also a triple threat on offense, but is truly unlike anyone DeRozan’s played all season. He is a very crafty, unorthodox offensive player that attacks from every spot on the floor. Defensively, he is all over the place and will make DeRozan work on both ends of the floor. Would be nice if DeMar can return that favour.
Edge: Spurs

Small Forward
I held onto Richard Jefferson for far too long in my fantasy draft. It’s definitely cost me some points in my match-ups. With Kleiza out (or he could return as mysteriously as he got injured), Wright will get the chance to shine from the tip; hopefully. You never know with Triano, really, you don’t. With Julian on the prowl, we can rest assured that Jefferson wont be sticking any wide open shats from behind the arc, he’s going to have to work for his baskets. Neither will be breaking out to lead their team to a win, but both will provide key moments.
Edge: Even

Front Court
I’m lumping PF/C together because of all the cross-pollination of potential match-ups. The Spurs will field a rotation of Tim Duncan, Antonio McDyess, Matt Bonner, Dajuan Blair and Tiago Splitter. There is a little bit of absolutely everything you could want in a front court that is the 3rd best in the league after Boston and LA, IMHO of course.

The Raptors will need an encore from the performance Ed Davis and Amir Johnson had against the Hornets, but I think they deliver the goods. They both hit the ground running and are becoming quite a formidable duo. The two accounted for almost half the Raptors rebounding, and all the heart in the paint. Seriously, had they not pulled more than their weight, the game wouldn’t have been close.

After a very solid stretch, Bargnani was pretty brutal. How bad? Calderon out-rebounded the guy. For the Raptors to have any chance at winning tonight, he has to put up at least 24, and get the Spurs bigs in foul trouble; at least enough to make them think twice about defending a penetrating DeRozan/Calderon aggressively.
Edge: Even

Keys to the Game

Seriously, I don’t know where to start; the Spurs are 5th in the league in points scored, 7th in rebounding, 5th in assists and 12th in defense.  I guess the key will be to defend hard, crash the boards, challenge passing lanes and hit every single shot you take.

The Line

The gamblers have the Spurs comfortably taking this by 11, with an over/under of 203.5. Thankfully, it’s Wednesday, so you can flip back and forth between the game and Dragons Den to keep occupied.

After nursing a double-digit lead for most of the game, the Raptors made things nervous for everyone down the stretch but big plays from Bosh, Bargnani and Jack held the Spurs at bay. The defensive energy was more or less there for 48 minutes and the Spurs did their part in bailing out our 43% shooting by hitting 41%. There were times in this game where both teams looked out of sync and when Greg Popovic reluctantly called upon Tim Duncan to stir the Spurs’ rustic offense, the Raptors responded by not only increasing their defensive attention, but did one better by changing the tempo to a level which the Spurs don’t like playing.

The way Tony Parker started this game you wondered if Jarrett Jack would have a working ankle to stand on by the time the game ended. Parker’s hesitation-filled, drive intensive play was leaving the Raptors guard with a lot to think about. Not only wasn’t Parker scoring at will by easing himself into the paint using crossovers, quick usage of screens and blow-by quickness, he was setting up things for his bigs and wings. Parker had 13 in the first quarter and it’s a total shame that his mates could only get him 2 assists in the frame.

Parker’s play was affecting Jack’s offensive game as he looked to be deferring to just about anybody. He gave up the ball to Bosh and Bargnani in the high-post leaving his bigs to do the playmaking. Bosh fed Bargnani a sweet pass for two after the Italian was being fronted, but those plays were few and far between. Most of what we saw was Bosh settle for the jumper (10-24 FG) presented in great sincerity to him by the San Antonio defense. The effects of not having Hedo Turkoglu in there to guide Jack along were visible and deep down my appreciation for the Turk grew a little. Although both our bigs are rather poor at exploiting height mismatches, I’d say Bargnani is better than Bosh. He showed a bit of that in the first half as he backed down Blair and Jefferson for scores and overall tried to do the right thing by attacking where the Spurs’ bigs were vulnerable. The play where Bosh unsuccessfully tried to score on Jefferson in the post was a reminder at how vulnerable he is against quicker defenders despite having a height advantage. Bargnani’s flashes into the paint have improved and it’s good to see some of that work being rewarded, he had a poor shooting night of 5-16 but that becomes forgivable when you’re active on the glass and everyone watching the game can tell just how hard you’re trying. Also, he deserves special thanks to keeping that miserable three-point streak alive.

DeMar DeRozan’s aggressive early play deserves mention, he took Bogans off the dribble for an And1 and then pushed the issue on a break. Throw in a baseline jam after a good cut and you got yourself energy and 7 points. He picked up three fouls by the second quarter but Triano didn’t react by the book by giving him the hook, he left him in there and got rewarded by a hoop. The slow first quarter tempo suited the aging Spurs far more than the Raptors and if the game had been played at that pace, we would’ve lost to their experience. The bench came in late in the first quarter and changed everything; the lineup of Banks, Belinelli, Weems, Johnson and Bargnani caused turnovers and increased the urgency on offense. This change of play caught the Spurs by surprise and their transition defense during the stretch was poor. Banks’ offensive play (4-5 FG) was nothing short of shocking, his drive against Hill for the reverse layup blew my mind. Pure and simple. I’m typing this in disbelief but the man looks like he belongs as a third-string point guard. Belinelli didn’t have a field goal but took it right at the Spurs defense in transition and got himself 7 FTs out of it, Weems did the same and did a good job of recognizing that the jumper wasn’t there tonight and only hoisted 3 shots. His assist to an otherwise ineffective Amir Johnson was a thing of beauty. The second unit was largely responsible for our 22-9 edge in fastbreak points.

The introduction of Duncan off the bench didn’t have a say in the game until a brief stretch in the fourth. He struggled going 8-22 FG and came up short in several key possessions when the Spurs were knocking hard. Last time around the Spurs had burned us using their drive ‘n kick sets and they tried the same with Tony Parker and George Hill. However, this time around the Raptors were coy to the ploy and didn’t cheat off their wings, and instead chose to send help from the middle. Tighter, shorter interior rotations combined with contested outside shots resulted in the Spurs going only 4-13 3FG, 3 makes below their season average and 7 less than what they made last time against us.

By the time Duncan got going the Raptors had built a healthy 40-27 lead and Jack was starting to find himself, a few drives right at the Spurs bigs got him back in the game. He got an And1 against McDyess and soon found Bosh with a gorgeous no-look for two, the Raptors were clicking. There was effort in the overall team defense and the individual play was sound; Bargnani’s man-defense on Duncan was solid all game (the dunk in his face quite an exclamation mark), Belinelli and Banks were hounding their checks and wasting valuable ticks off the shot-clock which threw the Hill-led second unit off on quite a few occasions. All this led to the Spurs going 8:40 without a field goal in the first half and the Raptors went into halftime with a well-deserved 48-34 lead.

Both teams were on a back-to-back situation and the Spurs showed it more. Their threes were short, their guards only looked to truly exploit their quickness in the first quarter and during the fourth quarter run. I’m not sure if this is the Spurs being in cruise-control or just playing, dare I say, lazy basketball. I tend to think the Raptors’ effort level and dedication to playing defense caught them by surprise, especially given how the first game went.

Other than Jack continuing his aggressive play from the second quarter, the third was a pain to watch. The Raptors settled for way too many jumpers and the 3Q shot-chart reflects that. The Spurs tried to get Manu Ginobili going in this frame by running him off of multiple screens and curls but the Raptors held the schemer to only 2-9 FG. Wright also did a good job of not falling for his shoulder-fakes and he only went to the line 3 times, a far cry from the 14-16 FT earlier in the year. Wright (I cringe every time he dribbles) also had two pretty good drives for four points in the third but I’d still rather just see him pass the ball.

The Spurs offense went through Parker early in the third (just like the first quarter) and Duncan for the rest of the quarter, I felt they used Duncan too much and should’ve just milked Parker who we had no answer for. It was a quarter of missed opportunities for both sides, the Spurs only shaved 2 points off the Raptors lead despite our poor shooting. On the other hand, the Raptors had the chance to put the hammer down against the lethargic Spurs but settled for a 12 point lead going into the fourth because of offensive execution lacking ball-movement or any sort of true direction.

It wasn’t till the final quarter that the Spurs guardplay as a whole became problematic, Ginobili and Hill’s penetration gave them some momentum early but the real killers were the Raptors turnovers. We had 5 turnovers in a 3:17 stretch (including a classic Bosh-Butterfingers one) and thanks need to be given to a huge Bargnani three which relieved the pressure when the Spurs were making their charge. They went down to Tim Duncan who was being defended brilliantly by Bargnani but still managed to get 5 crucial points late on. The Raptors offense wasn’t pretty and on another night things could’ve easily turned sour; relying on Bosh isos 20 feet out is never a thing of surety and I would’ve liked to see Jack and Belinelli take a little more charge. The Spurs were showing help against Bosh from the weak-side on every touch and the Raptors didn’t have the motivation to either make a skip pass to the open guy on the corner or go top-corner for a clean look at three. As I said, with Hedo Turkoglu out, these things are somewhat expected.

The experienced Spurs had cut it down to three with less than a minute and with the Raptors desperately needing to score, they gave it to Bosh who didn’t settle for the offered jumper, but drove it right at Duncan for two and the game.

It’s a solid win in a back-to-back situation against a very good team, no idea why the same defensive effort was lacking the night before in Boston. I suppose that’s the reason why most people pick this team to be around .500. Next up is a trip to Orlando to face a team that has kicked our ass three times. Hedo Turkoglu should return from being “under the weather” and it will be the Raptors’ toughest test in three weeks. Let’s see how they fare.

We got a Flipbook coming your way later.

Matt Bonner drives in for the two-handed slam! Those are words that have never been uttered before and it’s for good reason. It’s just not supposed to happen, but leave it to the Raptors to make the impossible possible. Giving up 129 against Dallas was terrible enough but we had the back-to-back excuse to use but what about tonight? We got ours handed to us by a Spurs team missing Tony Parker and Tim Duncan for one reason: they wanted it more. Full credit to the Spurs who didn’t use their two All-Stars being out as an excuse and came out fighting against a Raptors team which was all too content to play only one end of the floor. Losing despite shooting 59% says all you need to know about a defense, a defense which got exposed for what it is at its core – fundamentally cracked and to top it off, lazy.

You had to like the way the Raptors started this game. Jefferson was checking Bargnani who didn’t hesitate in taking the smaller player into the post-area for short jumpers and drives. No complaints there, but what goes around usually comes around. Jefferson conceding Bargnani size meant Bargnani conceding quickness and more importantly, coming even further out to defend a small forward. This was a background story for most of the game – Jefferson coming straight at slower defenders like Bargnani, Wright (awful tonight) and Belinelli for slashing scores. Good ‘ol RJ, he’s switched two teams since his NJ days but things haven’t changed. Bargnani had 14/4/4 but Jefferson had 24/8/7, and it says something about a guy collecting 8 rebounds when the other team shot close to 60%. Don’t fear, we’ll get to Bargnani’s four measly rebounds and his defense on the great Hall of Famer Matthew Bonner in a bit.

Bosh had 9 first quarter points against Theo Ratliff who really shouldn’t be in the league. Credit to Bosh for starting strong just like he has all this year, no messing about, straight to the rim on most possessions which meant a good share of camping out at the line, he made 15-17FT. The defensive warning signs came early, and it was George Hill planting the seed in the Spurs’ brains that this team can be had if you only drive it at them. As well as Jose Calderon’s 9 first half points looked, there’s nothing to celebrate when his check, Hill, goes for 11. Any arbitrary screen set to clear out Jose Calderon is emblematic of our pick ‘n roll issues, which have not improved from last year.

If a screen is set behind the three-point line, either Jose Calderon should come under and get back in position on the other side OR we should hedge to buy Jose some time to recover. None of those two things happen, what happens is that the other PG will just use the screen to go past both our defenders while Jose is still on the wrong side of the screen and his man. WTF? Of course we gave up 131 points! Not to single out Jose here because it was a problem with Jack and even Wright.

The second quarter saw the introduction of Matt Bonner and DeJuan Blair. Bonner immediately hit a three after being left open and then followed it up by an Oscar Robertson-like drive for a floater. Now I know you want to make a shooter drive but is the only other option that he glides to the rim like an eagle in flight for two? Is there no middle ground? Can’t Bargnani or Wright just crowd him at the three-point line, force him to either pass or dribble into a turnover by moving their feet? Apparently not. Help defense shouldn’t even be an issue here, you shouldn’t need to provide help against players like Matt Bonner, Keith Bogans and the fossil that is Michael Finley. They are role players that rely on others creating for them, when they started creating for others it’s a problem!

So 32-31 at the end of the first after Jack hits a three at the end. Blair came in and brought with him some intensity on the boards and frustrated Bosh and Bargnani with his physicality, the guy is huge, his biceps are the size of Bosh’s thigh. Combine this with RJ, Manu and Hill driving to the rim and our tendency to help on everything and you get yourself a weak rebounding core that is over-matched in one-on-one play and out of position because they’re being told to help. Fact is that you can’t collapse/help so often, the human body isn’t designed to go inside-out, rotate, close-out on every defensive possession, you have to make an initial stand and avoid all that mayhem that’s bound to follow if you get beat.

Ginobili and Jefferson started to heat up in that second quarter because the Raptors were too busy trying to deal with Blair and McDyess who were both crashing the offensive glass. Once the Spurs got the ball back, they kicked it out to their wings who waited for a close-out that was easy to negotiate, drove to the rim and either finished themselves or teased us with a couple more swings. The Spurs had 19 first half second-chance points and were beating us 11-2 on the offensive glass. That, folks, nullifies our 63% shooting. The bench scoring was 30-14 in favor of the Spurs thanks to the legend that is Bonner and Ginobili. Hedo Turkoglu was scoring but he was also being scored on by Jefferson and Ginobili with ease. Our defensive stalwart, Wright, was being shaken by eye-fakes and jab-steps 23 feet out. I mean, what can you say to that? That’s just…..unacceptable?

We had good offensive performances from Belinelli, Bargnani and Bosh in the third quarter but we gave everything right back on ensuing possessions. Chris Bosh went to the bench at the 5:09 mark of the third quarter and our bench did a great job of keeping the offense going with him out; Jack, Belinelli, Johnson were very effective in that stretch and helped the Raptors nurse a 2 point lead into the fourth. It was apparent that the first team to either go cold or play any defense would win this game.

When Bosh returned for the fourth quarter I expected us to put this game away but our defense failed us, an 11-2 San Antonio run which followed a Belinelli three turned the momentum against us. Worst part about that run, every shot they took was open. Let me comment about that early fourth quarter in bullet form:

• Jarrett Jack should not be getting beat by George Hill so easily, high-screen or no high-screen.
• There is no reason for Wright to be helping off of Ginobili.
• There is no reason Andrea Bargnani (who is not involved with the ball in any way) should be leaving Matt Bonner to wander aimlessly.
• If you’re Chris Bosh and your man is setting an elbow screen for Ginobili to get open, you can’t just do nothing and allow Weems to get caught without stepping out.
• Belinelli should be hanging on to RJ instead of letting him get to an open baseline spot for a fake and a J.
• It should not be an ordeal for us to get Bosh the ball in the low-block against Matt Bonner or McDyess.
• The inexperienced Sonny Weems is probably not the guy you want guarding Ginobili during crunch time. Play the cards you’ve been dealt and rely on your defensive stopper, Wright.

For the season we’re allowing opponents to shoot 45% from threes. It’s clear that we’re helping/forced to help to such a degree that our opponents are getting very clean uncontested looks. I’m starting to wonder whether Triano’s help-scheme is suitable for the players’ physical ability, which he insists isn’t the case:

There’s nothing wrong with our coverage, we just need to close out better

The Roll Call has the player ratings but let me touch on a couple special cases:

Hedo Turkoglu: He made me look like a god-damned fool in the Daily Dime chat after I said that he’s actually a pretty good defender and knows how to use his size. I’ve never seen a 20 point, 8-12FG performance get washed out so easily by bad defense. Anybody caught how he fell for the fake-left move by RJ? When has RJ ever gone left? I know he’s got that sleepy-eyed look about him but it sure doesn’t look like he’s spending any energy on moving his feet or rushing for a close-out.

DeMar DeRozan: I know he struggled early on defense but what’s with not getting any minutes past the 7:22 mark of the third? Were Wright and Weems that much better? Do substitutions like these follow a pattern or make any sort of matchup sense? I’m trying hard and not seeing a thing.

Andrea Bargnani: 4 rebounds in 31 minutes when the team is -12? Piss-off. Players get 4 rebounds by not doing anything, if you play for that long the chances of four balls rolling your way are pretty high. I counted one real rebound by him and that came in the fourth quarter. Maybe he was out of position because he was guarding perimeter oriented players tonight but that is no excuse. We have high expectations of him on both ends of the floor and he failed defensively. I’m also surprised Triano didn’t see how easily he was getting beat by Jefferson and didn’t switch earlier.

Antone Wright: Terrible defensive performance and what’s with trying to go one-on-one? This is the first team he’s been on where he feels he has the freedom to get creative with the ball. Triano should nip this disease in the bud and inform him that his role is to hit the glass and play defense. Nothing more.

This game was all about our wings (Calderon, Jack, Turkoglu, Wright, DeRozan, and to a lesser extent, Belinelli) getting beat far too easily on the perimeter and our big men losing rebounding position to concede second chance points. Ginobili scored the easiest 36 points he’ll ever get, hitting wide open jumpers with his defender about 8-12 feet away mangled between a screen set by his own teammate. Ask a coach, every single one of them will tell you that defense is about communication and we can’t even communicate first order things like “fight through”, “hedge” or “rotate”. Oh Triano, what the hell did you spend training camp on?

Terrible way to lose.

You really can’t expect much when you role into the Spurs house, and they are healthy. The road to championship in the West still leads through them, and the House that Popovich designed and Duncan built is still the standard of excellence in the NBA. Forgive me if my expectations are low non-existent. Actually, I expect my Bacon n Egg McMuffin to slow down the Spurs more then the Raptors (clog their arteries).

True to form, the Raptors came out, and played a pretty solid 1st quarter, holding on to a 5 point lead after 12 minutes. This was done on a combination of things, but mostly the Spurs poor perimeter shooting – 2/12 from behind the arc in the frame. Parker got into the lane whenever he wanted, and kicked to an open wing, who just couldn’t make them stick. You knew, I did anyways, that this wouldn’t last. Giving guys like Finley, Mason and Bonner open looks will end bad, as the Raptors found out int he 2nd quarter, when those shots began to fall.

Beating the Raptors is nothing more then a recipe at this point of the season:

1. Add one part dribble penetration
2. Add two parts double team
3. Add a zest of kick out to the open shooter
4. Let simmer at medium intensity
5. And you get an easy basket that no one in the organization can do anything about

“It’s tough to beat a team like that,” Raptors coach Jay Triano said. “We forced the ball to the perimeter and they made the shots. Pretty awesome display of shooting.”

Seriously? That was the strategy tonight? Make the Spurs hit shots from the perimeter? Have you not been watching what the Spurs having been doing for the last decade? You really want guys like Finley/Bonner/Mason/Ginobli getting open looks at the rim? Although he may be old, Bowen can still knock a fair number of looks down, especially if they aren’t contested. Would it not been better to try to get the ball out of Parker’s hands, and make Duncan score 50? OR, if you want to make them beat you with shooting, why not leave only certain people open…say….Tolliver, rather then leaving guys like Roger Mason Jr., who was specifically targeted and signed by the Spurs for this very reason.

I must be taking crazy pills, because O’Neal seemed surprised by the Spurs ability to make shots too:

“Those guys just really seemed to make a lot of 3s.” O’Neal said. “Every time we would stop them it seemed like they would come back on the next possession with a 3. When we didn’t score, they did, and it mostly was 3s.”

This is the result of a well made team, the balance they have is incredible:

• You have guys who can knock down jumpers/3s
• You have guys who can create their own shots
• You have guys who can penetrate at will
• and You have Duncan, who hasn’t made a mistake in 10 years

It’s actually beautiful watching them play, Parker penetrates then either takes it to the rack, or kicks it out for an open jumper after everyone collapses The Raptors force perimeter plays, when their franchise player has a mismatch on the offensive end with almost every team/player in the league. It upsets me when Bosh has a player on his hip, is battling in the paint, calling for the ball, only to see Moon launch a three after hesitating with whether to shoot it or not. And you guys are wondering why Bosh doesn’t look very happy recently.

‘Dribble-Penetrations’ ugly sister reared her head too – the slut ‘rebounding’ was again another issue. I don’t have much to say about it really, other then to question why Humphries doesn’t get more burn. Actually, in general, why doesn’t Humphries get more burn? He is an energy guy, hustles, battles on the boards, sure he forces it on offense a few times too many, but he competes. Which is more you can say for this team that seemingly isn’t playing for Triano is in a funk at the moment.

What the Raptors do a terrible job of, IMHO, is getting Bosh the ball at the right time. How often have we watched him with with a mismatch on his hip, only to watch the ball get swung to someone say…Moon, who clanks a J off the back of the rim. Recently, I have been noticing the Raptors get the ball to Bosh late int he shot clock, and while he is out of position. Khandor always says this is a game of matchups, well, part of any matchup is timing. And if your timing is off, then you’re in big trouble.

Is it safe to say the Bosh/O’Neal experiment has failed? We are a third of the way into the season and…nothing, I got nothing. I wont get too dramatic, it’s not like teaming Randolph and Curry together, but it’s not much better. One excels while the other is stuck in pergatory. In fact, aside from interior defense, this O’Neal thing hasn’t quite worked out how BC planned. The Raptors are still need of a legit second scorer (sorry, but Kapono isn’t the answer, really, he isn’t; rebounding hasn’t improve dramatically, in fact, it hasn’t improved very much at all. Going from 37rebs a game, to 39rebs a game, and winning less games isn’t an improvement.

I’m just putting it out there, but do you think Bosh likes this new system? It seems as though he was much happier under Smitch. Before, Bosh was the centerpiece of the offense, he was charged with help defense, and was leading the fight on the boards. Now, seems like Kapono and Graham are getting a chunk of his shots. At least he isn’t being played for 42 minutes a game, thats good right?

Am I alone when I think the Raptors were better off with Smitch on the bench?

Anyways, sorry for the late post, I planned to do it this morning, but fate conspired. Follow us on Twitter, and grab our Feed. Free Ukic!!

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Twitter Updates

• 107-97 is the Final. Can’t let SA walk into the lane anytime they want, we’re not good enough to recover from that for 48 minutes. 3 minutes ago
• Down 10 Bosh launches his usual three with about a minute plus left. A shot that says, “Who cares man..” 9 minutes ago
• TD with a classic jumper off the glass against Bosh 13 minutes ago
• -6!! Jose finds Kapono in transition for three…2:25 left 14 minutes ago

• 101-92 with 3:12 left..JO rejected by TD twice on the same play..at least he tried to go inside 14 minutes ago
• RMJ with yet another three. This time against Kapono. JO back with a score. Respect. RMJ: 6-10 for 16 pts 16 minutes ago
• Jose just doesn’t have the physical characteristics to play good D. Very sad seeing how he just signed a long term deal as the starting PG. 18 minutes ago
• Devlin: “All of a sudden a 10 point game, don’t go anywhere”. We really are searching for positives. -9, JO’s our best offensive weapon 19 minutes ago
• From chat:
  Pickstar: Our defensive is so garbage that scrubs go one on one 22 minutes ago
• It’s Boys vs Men here. Everything for Spus is going to the hole, the best we can do is take 14 foot jumpers… 24 minutes ago
• What? The Smooth Play of the Game goes to the Raps? 25 minutes ago
• Roger Mason Jr. with a three and a 2 against AP. Where’s Carlos Arroyo so we can get this party started…Bargs drives hard but no dice 28 minutes ago
• Really, Popovic looks like Wolf Blitzer. Seriously. 30 minutes ago
• Chat: “We need a Festivus miracle to come back from down 11″
  OntarioTeachers: They shoved the aluminum pole up jose’s ass to stop the flow 31 minutes ago
• 84-73 SA. Raps are -11 on the boards and are once again giving up too much dribble penetration. What’s new? Spurs 48%, Raps 46%. Even now. 33 minutes ago
• Who is Parker helping that he needs to leave Ginobili? Manu hits a 3 off another offensive rebound setup by TP dribble penetration 35 minutes ago
• Tim Duncan has never committed a foul in his life. He’s the choir boy of the NBA. Raps stuck 10, mostly thanks to Tony Parker and their 3s 36 minutes ago
• Hahaha…AP just hit the side of the backboard on one of his “patented” fadeaways 37 minutes ago
• O’Neal’s icing his left shoulder…looks depressed. 39 minutes ago
• We were only -4 after that and a Jose 3 but TP breaks down JC AGAIN and sets up TD for a 3pt play 39 minutes ago
• SA missing open looks, this could’ve been a 20 pt game…..JG with another And1!! Where you been baby?!?? Now get Hump off the bench 40 minutes ago
• Jeesus, Jose, can you please at least TRY to stay in front of Tony Parker 40 minutes ago
• Graham with a 3pt play off the OREB and then JC fucks up a 4 on 2 break and Finley burns us with a 3 on teh wing in transition 41 minutes ago
• The Spurs mascot is a pedophile. 44 minutes ago
• Greg Popovic looks like Wolf Blitzer. JO with two post-scores against TD to make it a 8pt game. Let’s go Raps…please? 46 minutes ago
• Sorry, I meant his man and the rim 48 minutes ago
• Jamario Moon is a terrible defender, guy can’t stay between his man and the basket. 48 minutes ago
• O’Neal looks like he regrets coming to Toronto, lot of head-shaking, body-language not the greatest. 48 minutes ago
• That ball’s off O’Neal but JO’s moaned so much to Derrick Stafford that he just didn’t bother calling it to avoid the BS. 49 minutes ago
• Wow..look at this Score babe…Laura Diakun…googling her up, can’t find pic 51 minutes ago
• 65-52, 9:30 3Q. Tony Parker’s getting too much dribble penetration man, Jose’s like a turnstile. 52 minutes ago
• Remember in the 1st Q when TD dared Moon to shoot a bad three and he did. Well, Finley did the exact same thing. And he bit again. 53 minutes ago
• JO really bitches to the refs after every missed shot 55 minutes ago
• Bosh and JO start the game with post-scores (turnaround jumpers), both against TD. Finley with another three…please check him Kap 55 minutes ago
• Jose looks “relieved” to be back out there 56 minutes ago
• Spurs shooting 44% and Raps shooting 46%, its all evening out now. 57 minutes ago
• Magic vs Lakers stream: http://tinyurl.com/93w8sg about an hour ago
• stream for game: http://www.justin.tv/burgers4everyone about an hour ago
• Jose’s taking a long, deep, satisfying shit right now. He should let it rip and come back for the 2nd half light and ready to D Tony Parker about an hour ago
• Half 56-48 Spurs. Raps were up by 8 once upon a time. Effort was there, need to go tighten the D and prevent Spurs from drive ‘n kicking. about an hour ago
• If Bargnani can’t make open threes, he’s about as useless as an appendicitis about an hour ago
• It’s all drive ‘n kick guys…Manu for three on Finley penetration. Great spacing by SA about an hour ago
• Now we’re just losing our man on defense. All SA wings have to do is lift one leg on the perimeter and we’re broken on D. about an hour ago
• Remember thso shots SA was missing early, well, now they’re making them. Finley for 3. -10 about an hour ago
• -8, seeing how we struggle defensive rebounding and with second chance points, why the hell isn’t Hump in the game? about an hour ago
• From chat, OntarioTeachersFund: Raptors coaching staff are scrambling to find a Spanish People magazine to help Jose on the can about an hour ago
• From chat: OntarioTeachersFund: Moon likes to make those grab the rebound with one hand and SLAP THE BALL to MAKE THE REBOUND LOOK FIERCE about an hour ago
• Lineup right now is Solomon-Kapono-Bargnani-Moon-Bosh about an hour ago
• Chris Bosh with another bad jumper. Leo just called Will a “very good shooter”. ROFL LMAO ABCD XYZ about an hour ago
• Jose Calderon has an upset stomach and that’s why Will is in the game. I’d rather have Ukic in there if it’s all the same. about an hour ago
• TP shook him so bad that all the change in his pockets fell to the floor. -12. Getting out of hand, Le’s talking about Eva. Pervert about an hour ago
• Raptors vs Spurs Live Blog, Chat and Stream – Twitter! http://tinyurl.com/82acwx about an hour ago
• Will comes in and takes a bad 3. He misses and TP beats him for two on a forced break. Then he fouls TP after CB gets stopped by Bonner. about an hour ago
• We’re out of position on the defensive rebounds because we help on everything and are constantly moving. Perimeter D is the root cause about an hour ago
• Bonner outhustles Bosh for the OREB and kicks it to RMJ for 3. Why do ex-Raptors always kill us? about an hour ago
• Stat of teh game so far, Raps -6 on the offensive glass. Calderon and BOsh are back along with O’Nael Parker and Kapono about an hour ago
• -4. Too many OREBS, Roger Mason Jr hits a 3 like he does against us always. So does Matt Bonner as he loses Voshkul on a South-North cut. about an hour ago
• I had warmed up to Voshkul after his post-up move against Bonner but I take it all back after that airball from 20 feet. about an hour ago
• Matt Bonner: Loves indie music, enjoys cribbage, sandwiches and was the high school valedectorian. He is also mediocre. about an hour ago
• These cunty officials have it in for Ukic. What’s a little left-arm push-off between friends? about an hour ago
• Joey Graham left his jumpshot in Oklahoma. Two airballs….Kurt Thomas update: he’s now with the Spurs about an hour ago
• Kids who are PVRing thsi game, 11:20 of the second quarter tells us how not to play PNR defense. Bonner for 3…woot woot about an hour ago
• Spurs shooting 30% and the Raps shooting 47%. You know that’s not going to last. Raps -5 on the OREB. Voshkul about to check in. Excited? about an hour ago
• +5 at the end of 1Q. Hopefully SA keeps missing those shots OR we tighten up our perimeter D. We help way too much to be a good D team. about an hour ago
• Ginobili drove on Parker and made him look like a creaky old door. I don’t like this matchup. Hedge guy on PNR is useless for the Raps. about an hour ago
• Ukic was real pissed that Hill was D’ing him up. Took the little bitch straight to the rack for a foul. Freee Ukic. about an hour ago
• Raptors are stretched on D. Too much Parker penetration, luckily Spurs aren’t hitting their Js. Triano sees the issue. Timeout. -3 Late 1Q. about an hour ago
• Spurs moving the ball well but can’t finish with the outside jumper. Bown finaly makes a corner three. TP pushing it vs JC. Every time. about an hour ago
• AB with a great right-left crossover on Duncan for the layup. JC is finding cutters today, Moon on the break, CB on the baseline cut. +6 about an hour ago
• Matt Bonner seems like the gritty player this team needs. Never thought I’d say this. about an hour ago
• Jamario Moon now wears a headband. Is double-dared by Duncan to shoot a 3 and he does – misses! Bad decision. Bosh yells at Moon, gently. about 2 hours ago
• Dribble penetration and scores for Tony Parker by Kapono and Calderon have hit early Js to keep it tied at 11. Popovic wearing a red shirt. about 2 hours ago
• Bosh’s first shot is an 18-foot jumper against Matt Bonner which he misses. about 2 hours ago
• JO starts off with two low-post scores against Duncan. A late rotation on Finley leaves him open for three. Matt Bonner is in the Spurs SL about 2 hours ago
• Jermaine O’Neal is in the starting lineup. about 2 hours ago
• The Raptors and Spurs split their 2 meetings last season, but the Spurs have won 12 of the last 16 and six of the last seven at home. about 5 hours ago

WINNING DOES NOT EQUAL PROFITABILITY!

Well-well-well, what do we have here? The Raptors made more money then the Boston Celtics and San Antonio Spurs, both of which have won championships. In fact, MLSE’s profit margin is staggering compared to the two:

Raptors: 20.1%
Celtics: 13.5%
Spurs: 13.8%

Other interesting facts:

• 2 of the top 10 most profitable teams haven’t won a championship
• 6 of the top 10 haven’t had any post-season success in a decade
• The Bulls are more profitable then the Lakers and Spurs (who have accounted for 7 of the last 10 championships)
• 2 of the top 7 teams were built by Bryan Colangelo

So getting back to the Raptors, who controls this franchise? What do they do? Again, not treading any new ground here, but:

• Ontario Teachers Pension Fund – 58%
• CTVglobemedia – 15%
• TD Bank Financial Group – 14%
• Kilmer Sports Inc (Larry Tanenbaum) – 13%

The ownership face is Larry Tanenbaum, but 87% of the ownership lies with corporations and a pension fund, all of who’s sole purpose is to make money for their stakeholders. You think TD shareholders care if the Raptors wins a championship? Does the pension fund care about who plays with Bosh? Does Bell care about anything other then screwing consumers (TSN2, are you kidding me??)?

MLSE owns sports franchises (Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto FC, Toronto Marlies), but they also are property developers & owners, TV station operators, merchandisers, marketers, capitalists (how much does it cost to get a slice of pizza at a game?)…elitists.

What was their first order of business when attendance was dropping during the post Vince Carter era? Get the guy who ran the 6th most profitable NBA franchise -> Bryan Colangelo.

So back to the question at hand, does winning mean you make more money? Lets examine the payrolls of the favourites to win this years championship vs the Raptors payroll:

• Boston Celtics – $80,781,018
• Los Angeles Lakers – $78,848,027
• Cleveland Cavaliers – $90,531,126
• San Antonio Spurs – $64,628,813

The Spurs may not be the favourites, but the road to the finals still runs through them in the west. So the average payroll of a championship contender is $78,697,246. Can we all agree this is the cost to win a championship (not including the cost for your GM, coach, assistant coaches, scouts, medical staff, etc)? The Raptors current payroll is $67,376,354. So to get to championship calibre, it will cost another $11,320,892, we subtract that from the Raptors profits, and you are left with $16,379,108. You think BCE/TD shareholders and Ontario Teachers are willing to accept $11mill less to win a championship? Seriously?

“Let’s just say the language was PG.” That was the phrase used to describe Bosh’s demeanor in the third quarter by Rod Black who hasn’t figured out the motion picture rating scale just yet. When this was reported out of the huddle by the extraordinary journalist, the Raptors were getting spanked soundly by the Spurs at home and CB4 was in the midst of a miserable 3-11 FG performance where he looked exactly like the second-tier star that he is. Apparently Bosh was angry and agitated with his mates about the teams performance, the funny part about that is that the team wasn’t doing all that bad, it was Bosh that stunk the joint up by being a no-show in a statement game.

Pretend you didn’t watch the game and somebody told you the Raptors lost, what two reasons would you guess for the loss? Think about it, take a few seconds while I type a few ellipses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . if you picked rebounding and perimeter defense you’d be spot on. See, it’s come the point where you don’t even have to watch the game to know why they’ll lose. We got outmanned 46-34 on the glass and got burned by the Spurs’ perimeter ball movement which continuously carved us out with lot of the effects being felt in the paint. You’d figure that we’d defend Manu Ginobili a slightly different way after he’s already dropped 25 but no such luck, and there’s not even Sam to blame. The loss drags our record against the quality teams even further lending a significant hollowness to our overall record which stands at a seemingly constant 4 games over .500. Now when the month began, most of us had already circled this one as a L but to see it happen this way is disheartening. The loss isn’t bugging me as much as the way we lost it.

There were two plays that epitomized Chris Bosh’s performance, one of them was in the first half when he had Damon Stoudamire guarding him one-on-one at the top of the key and Bosh chose to uncork a fadeway jumper from 17 feet instead of getting the two easy point. The other play was a replica of the first one except it was Jacque Vaughan who was guarding Bosh when he launched another ungodly fadeaway. We needed him to go at Oberto and Elson with a vengeance but he chose to lay back, neither of the Spurs PF/C combo has the quickness to stay with Bosh but once again, he let them off the hook. With Bosh being a non-factor, it was left upto Jose Calderon to be the primary offensive threat and he tried his level-best to keep the Raptors in it but never got the help he needed from Parker, Bargnani or Kapono. Icy hot Carlos Delfino was the only other player who was ready to take on the challenge of the Spurs and his Argentinian pals. Not enough contributors on a night where we needed everybody to play at their level or better.

Let’s talk about Andrea Bargnani for a bit, he’s been playing a lot better of late even though his shooting percentage nor his rebounding is where we’d like it to be. But when you compare how awful he’s been for most of the year, you look at a 3-11 FG, 2 board performance and go, “Eh, he could be worse”. Or you try to justify it by saying that he at least tried to do some things right by attacking the rim and playing sound but ultimately ineffective defense on Duncan. Bluntly put, we need more output from him and I don’t even care about the boards. Although his size might suggest otherwise, most of us are starting to live with the fact that he’ll never be a great rebounder and are coming to grips with the reality that 80% of his contributions will come on offense. So on a night like this when Bosh may as well be on the bench, it makes his contribution even more important and when he comes up short, we don’t stand a chance. It’s only because of Calderon that this game was even close.

I was officially sick of it last week but now I am disgusted by Jamario Moon shooting jumpers like they were part of the game-plan. Leo’s lone good (and obvious) point in this game was that the jumper should be a supplement to Jamario’s game, not his primary offensive weapon. It’s when he starts thinking that his perimeter shot is the endpoint in the offensive set is when he needs to be benched, taken aside and given a lecture. The fact that one of the first shots of the game was a Moon deep jumper should tell you that the Raptors are a little unprepared. The Raps are one of those teams that need the first 15 plays of the game scripted, exactly what they do in important football games. It’ll get them off to a good start and help them avoid digging a 9 point hole which you struggle to get out of for the remaining 45 minutes. My point from yesterday about the Raptors coming out without any intensity at home was in clear view today as the Raps came out ball-watching instead of trying to kick-start the game.

Getting to the numbers, we shot 44% and allowed the Spurs to shoot 49% and grab 10 offensive rebounds including the most critical one when Manu Ginobili rebounded his own miss (for what seemed the 16th time) with 10 seconds left. A player who wasn’t boxed out ends up costing us a chance to tie the game. The defense on Ginobili was extremely suspect all game long, when you have a player that’s “in the zone”, you put a guy on him and tell him to not worry about anything but his man. I mean he shouldn’t look at anything but his opponent’s face and force him away from the things that he’s doing well. The Raptors simply didn’t do that, when Moon was guarding him, he was inexplicably offering help on Jacque Vaughan and Finley drives! WTF man? Just worry about Ginobili and make him put the ball on the floor and at least make him think about driving. Every time he did drive, he either didn’t finish or passed the ball off. If you’re a big Manu fan, check out this article which gives him the fellatio he deserves, apparently Greg Popovich’s PG interview consisted of two words:

“Manu Ginobili”

Deep, fucking deep. A word on the Spurs though, they were awesome to watch. The perimeter ball movement was crisp, the speed at which they recognized perimeter doubles was unbelievable and their inside-outside and outside-inside ball movement was timed perfectly enough to elude any Raptor defender hoping to make a rotation. Despite their efficient offense and our typically bad rebounding and defense, we were right there in the game and if we had just gotten a little push from Bosh, maybe if he had just canceled out Duncan’s 22, we would’ve been singing a different song. As it is, the Raptors lose to another top-tier team.

TJ Ford was ineffective, while he was on the floor he canceled out Damon Stoudamire but ended up spraining his wrist and was never heard from in the second half. I thought this was one of those games where he could’ve exploited Stoudamire or Vaughan off the dribble but watching him play you realize that although John Lucas has done a great job of keeping him in shape, he’s not ready for primetime minutes just yet. The rust is surely wearing off but his jumper is a little flat, just like it would be if your legs aren’t in your shot. It’ll come back, give it some time.

Up next for Jay Triano and the Raptors are the revenge-seeking Nets at home. I can guarantee you that Jersey will actually be up for this one and won’t have forgotten the 37 point drubbing. Let’s hope San Antonio’s the only team who’ll end up getting the payback they so desperately seek.

Liners:

* This was one of the most perimeter oriented games the Raptors have played and the offense never looked more stagnant. Aside from the high screen ‘n roll, there was zero movement.

* Bosh’s aggressiveness dictates the Raptors’ aggressiveness and when he’s not playing with fire and energy, we tend to lay back a little. Either his love with the jumper needs to stop or he needs to become a better shooter, status quo is not cool.

* Manu Ginobili had 15 boards, he knew where the ball was going before anybody else.

* Fabricio Oberto’s defense on Chris Bosh was suffocating. It’s one thing to shut a player down by forcing the jumper, Oberto played great ball denial, tight post defense, never allowed Bosh to catch the ball in an advantageous spot, used the baseline effectively and simply outsmarted Bosh.

* Andrea Bargnani didn’t have a good game but as I said before, I’m finding it really hard to criticize him because relatively speaking, he played fucking great!

* Anthony Parker’s perimeter defense needs to get better, I sound like a broken record but he needs to stick to his man and stop relying on playing recovery defense – he’s just not quick enough to be cheating and then trying to close-out a shooter like Ginobili or Finley.

* TJ and Jose played at the same time at the end of the first half. This tells me Mike Evans wants to experiment playing both PGs at the same time and it’s Mitchell that has some unwritten rule against this phenomenon.

* It’s a pity to see Jose Calderon’s awesome performance go to waste, I wish Chuck and Leo would just STFU about Calderon being more “selfish”. To top it off, as soon as he missed an open jumper, they point out how the move wasn’t “aggressive”.

* Tim Duncan’s line: 11-19 FG, 22 points, 13 rebounds.

* If you’re sick of Chuck Swirsky and want to listen to the game on the equally bad but less annoying Fan 590, check out this piece of software, it gets rid of the TV delay by syncing your radio.

Till tomorrow.