We can’t play defense because we don’t know how to play defense. There’s little anybody can do to teach us defense because defense doesn’t work that way. There’s no prosthetic for laziness and indifference which is what we’re seeing on 80% of the possessions. I’d subscribe to the “defense needs time to gel” argument if there was something there that could actually gel, but when you have two poor defensive players in Turkoglu and Calderon out there with average or below-average defenders like Bosh and Bargnani, 30th in the league sounds pretty reasonable. If it doesn’t, consider we’re playing a defensive scheme that is stretching the hell out of our players. Let’s leave defense alone, I’m used to the team letting me down there, what about our offense? Our 9M/yr PG let Steve Nash off the hook, our 10M/yr free-agent signing was invisible for 3/4 the game, we were 5% from three, and were reduced to one-on-one play. That is unexpected.

Were you one of those people who thought that since we lost by one on the road we’d surely win at home? Oh you were, well, you failed to realize that this Raptors team (like last year’s) puts out varying levels of effort depending on variables nobody has quite figured out. One thing was consistent early though, Triano switching on Nash/Amare and having a big guard Nash. I wasn’t a big fan of the strategy two weeks ago and I remain unconvinced. The only reason it worked last time was because Phoenix was a bit lazy moving the ball around and missed some pretty good looks, in that game their wings made 1 three, today they made 7. Also not a fan of conceding the advantage inside (Amare 8-10 again after going 10-15 last time) while having your bigs at the mercy of Nash. Bargnani, Bosh and Johnson were all giving him space on the switch and he was still either blowing by them or hitting jumpers – what gives?

I honestly think that simple man-defense and simple switching (1/2, 2/3 and 4/5) is the only scheme this group can play. That or zone. The idea of helping preemptively is killing us, Nash made at least three cross-court skip passes which made a weak-side defender pay for cheating over to the strong side without cause. We seem to have have this zonal switching policy that sees us switch when an offensive player moves to a different part of the court, usually when dropping down and cutting across the lane. You might remember Hedo yelling (apparently correctly) at Bargnani for not picking his man up when the replay showed that it made no sense for Bargnani to be guarding Hedo’s man. At least to me.

Phoenix anticipated Triano’s little switch strategy and went to work quickly: immediate lob pass into post leaving defender with little time to resist and the help with even less time to help. Easy buckets followed. Hedging on the PnR also wasn’t working because Nash was splitting the Raptors duo to find Amare going to the rim; with their efficient PnR working in either situation, the Raptors were already in trouble. The first time the Raptors successfully defended this play after a switch was at 3:54 of the 2nd quarter when Amir Johnson doubled Channing Frye hard after a PG had switched on him. The double came from the weak-side and left Frye with a very tough pass to find a shooter cross-court.

The Raptors were running their own PnR with moderate success, Phoenix’s defense wasn’t very good either and Calderon made some nice passes to the bigs going towards the rim. Bargnani’s head was into the game (24pts, 7rebs) and he mixed it up by hitting a three early and then having a go at Frye and Lopez on a few drives. He had 12 first quarter points (4-8 FG) and made-up for the struggling Bosh, despite that the Raptors were down 8 after the first. Why? Well, Phoenix shooting 65% might have something to do with it or maybe it had to do with the Raptors shooting 33%.

Let’s talk about passive/aggressive. DeRozan early was aggressive, he ran the break, swept across the lane and forced his teammates to look for him. He had 8 in the first quarter and was making Richardson chase him around the gym, his defense isn’t great but part of me is thinking he’s as lost as you and I when it comes to figuring out what the Raptors are supposed to be playing. It pisses me off how Jose Calderon let Nash off the hook tonight, he got outplayed in every way imaginable. He made his only field goal at 6:20 of the third quarter when it was a 13 point game. Before that he didn’t even attempt making Nash play any sort of defense, I don’t think Nash broke a sweat on D other then when Jack was going at him.

Nash is a perfect instance of the old adage of the best defense being a great offense – wear him out and he’ll have less of an impact on the game. Calderon didn’t do any of that and Nash quarterbacked and picked apart the Raptors to the tune of 20 points and 16 assists. We need more from Calderon, both offensively and defensively, and we need him to be a lot more consistent. Look at his last 6 points/assist games: 5/10, 16/4, 21/7, 6/8, 9/4 and today’s 2/7. If he can’t be a high percentage 15 ppg scorer, a consistent three point threat and an opportunistic assist man, he’s dead to me. The standards for him are higher than when he was a backup and I’m not sure anybody holds him to it. Actually, I should correct myself, Leo Rautins was indirectly ripping him a new one by praising Jack’s insistence on taking Nash to the hoop. AltRaps thought Calderon was tired from guarding Stoudemire on the switch, I don’t buy it.

If the first quarter was about Bargnani, the second was all about Bosh – 16pts and 9rebs in the second quarter, 30pts and 16rebs for the game. He was 7-10 in the quarter and as great as it was watching him to hard at Frye and Amare, it was equally painful to see our offense so stagnant and lazy that they just wanted to do the easy thing and dump the ball down to Bosh. Those who think he’s padding his stats might enjoy this analysis. The second unit’s defense was again pretty damn good, other than Jack being broken down by Goran Dragic a couple times, the defensive effort was there and to be admired. Amir Johnson (I was wrong about him) expending energy on both ends, running back down the floor to get a block in transition, and even Belinelli was fighting through those Phoenix screens effectively. Barbosa lit us up a little but overall, our defense was much better, maybe it had to do with Nash being on the bench and Jack pressuring Dragic enough that their PnR didn’t runs so smoothly.

The score at the half was 50-49 for Phoenix, the second unit had given us a lift and Bosh and Bargnani had kept us in it offensively. Our heavy dependence on one-on-one play was concerning but you hoped that our starters would pick it up defensively and our effort would be better in the second half. Hedo Turkolgu was 1-4 with 0 assists at the half and a complete liability against Hill and Richardson, he looked slow, lazy and was overall terrible. Did we overpay for him? Yes, but we already knew that. I still think Triano needs to run the offense through him much more and as we saw in the second half at times, he can actually score, you know. Phoenix’s percentage fell to 53% and the Raptors were up to 39%. Not great by any means but at least a hot Bosh/Bargnani and a cold Phoenix meant that this was still a game.

That foul on Bosh. It wasn’t a flagrant by any means and even though it was more than your average foul, I’m not sure this was one where a “reaction” was needed or sought from the team. I thought it was absolutely hilarious that Devlin was pretending that the Raptors had somehow reacted differently than to how they did in Boston. To me the reaction was the exact same – indifference and mild interest. Note to Iavaroni: You don’t need to hold the bench back, they wouldn’t come out to cut the nets if we won the championship.

Another hilarious Toronto bullshit media moment. Elliotte Friedman reports that the Suns all wanted their video guy to cue up the Bosh/Pierce incident so they could see if the Raptors were pussies or not. He then posed a stupid question to Nash at halftime regarding the incident and Nash was like, “I have no idea what happened on Friday”. I don’t say this much but….LOL!!!

Onto the second half and after allowing a 33 point first quarter, we allowed a 34 point third. We gave up a 16-4 run which I blame firstly on the players for coming out as if they were in a haze and leaving Frye, Hill and Richardson wide open for back-breaking threes. Jose Calderon was brutal in this period, couldn’t get his own offense going, couldn’t set up shots for his teammates, conceded everything to Nash on defense and wasted chunks of time off the shot-clock leaving the tail end of it for Bargnani and Bosh to chuck up contested 1-on-1 shots. Hedo Turkoglu did not even attempt a shot in this stretch which is unexplainable and something Colangelo is bound to note. The transition defense suffered as well as Phoenix ran it back make-or-miss, we were slow to pick up our checks in transition and Phoenix barely had to make two passes before they found an open shooter. Classic Raptors D.

Secondly, I blame Triano for once again not calling a timeout until the team was down 17 points. How do you let a 1 point deficit turn into 17 without calling a timeout in between? As I said after the Boston game, this team needs serious hand-holding to get through tough times and Triano’s completely wrong in his thinking that the players can pick each other up and find their way. He needs to do some, you know, coaching. I thought he should’ve inserted Jack and Johnson much earlier in the third quarter since those two were bringing the most defensive energy offensive enthusiasm, both of which we desperately lacked.

After being down 17, the Raptors went on a 9-2 run, Hedo finally drove the ball to the rim and got a three-point play out of it, Jack took Nash to the rim again for two and Bargnani attacked for a dunk. Three things that should’ve been happening all game long, not sure why our PGs didn’t attack theirs every chance and no idea why Hedo was so invisible. You have to look at coaching here, Triano should’ve communicated to his PGs and team that Hedo needs to be more involved, maybe even run some high-screens for him against Dudley who has little chance of staying with him. This little spurt meant we were down only 8, could we finally hold the defense to something like a 20 point quarter and win this game?

No.

We gave up 29 points in the fourth and scored only 18. It started nice enough with another Hedo three-point play but after that things went south as Phoenix went on an 8-2 run to push it to 11. Hedo was being aggressive but the defense was up to task as Phoenix collapsed to slow him down. This Phoenix team, unlike previous versions, can play defense in spots so they could be a threat in the playoffs this year. The Raptors offense tried to keep up and finally started moving the ball, they got rewarded by getting clean looks at threes which Belinelli and Jack just couldn’t knock down. Belinelli got burned by Barbosa on a key hoop and couldn’t provide any offense or playmaking, he’s basically in ‘famine’ mode these days. His last five games P/R/A: 0/3/0, 5/0/0, 7/0/2, 11/2/3, 4/0/4. Yeah, he’s struggling. When you get that kind of production from him and another 0-4 from Wright, two key bench players, you will shoot 39% from the game.

Worst of all, we ended up going 1-20 from three and our most potent offensive weapons of Bosh and Bargnani combined to go only 1-6 in the final quadrant. Those missed Jack threes really hurt and I felt if they had gone down the team might’ve played a little more inspired down the stretch. It’s a bad loss and we’re four games under .500. At some point this team needs to figure out what kind of defense to play, one that doesn’t ask too much of the players but at the same time is reliable enough to be 18-23 in the league or so. Triano, ball’s in your court. Iavaroni too, he’s supposed to be a defensive specialist, right? It will be very interesting to see how the team approaches three winnable games this week, anything less than 3-1 will be a disappointment.

I’m trying to stay positive. We’re 7-11, the December schedule is slightly easier and we need to go 10-5 or 11-4, taking us to a couple games over .500 by the new year. We’re 10th in the conference right now and the record doesn’t bother me, the defense does.

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The Orlando game for me was a bit of a nightmare. It showed just how dependent we are on scoring, we went cold for 5 possessions and suddenly the Magic scrubs had taken the game over. Not having your defense to fall back on when things aren’t going right on offense is going to be the main challenge for this team. This could entirely be a personnel issue in that we simply don’t have good defensive players, but Triano needs to be held accountable because he publicly spoke of his faith in this unit’s ability to play team defense and he apparently also had a say in all summer transactions. Fourteen games in and it turns out both our GM and coach were way off on their evaluation of this team’s defensive abilities. Should we wait more before passing judgment? Does it really matter? I’m starting to hope that we remain around .500 or so till January and pull off a trade for the stretch run.

Positives

Marco Belinelli: I said he was feast or famine and last week he was all feast, hopefully he stays that way for us. He’s played like the super-sub we expected him to be and I like that he’s got a swagger about him. He had two big time performance against the Nuggets and Jazz where he averaged 17.5 pts and 4 rebs. The Miami game saw him handle the ball more and he notched 4 assists in only 15 minutes of play. He missed the Orlando game and his absence was felt as the Raptors bench struggled to score early in the crucial fourth quarter.

Amir Johnson: Too bad the team couldn’t pull through against the Magic because his great 14/8, 6-7 FG performance needed to be admired. He’s starting to have stretches in the game where he’s a defensive and offensive factor on three or four straight possessions, leading the opposing coach to call a timeout. The aggression he’s playing with is being rewarded which is usually the case. He wasn’t doing that early but having a chance to look at the team from the bench it’s not hard to figure out what’s lacking. He saw it and went about providing it. If Reggie Evans does come back and Johnson continues his good play, we could pack a hustle-punch or two.

Jarrett Jack’s lack of turnovers: Three straight turnover free games, a 17-point effort against the Heat including a couple big shots and an 11 assist game against the Magic. I don’t know what it means but he’s playing better and is driving more, which is what he was hired to do. Haven’t seen him get sucked in by those 20 footers too much last few days which bodes well. The defense isn’t what it was advertised as over the summer, but considering how awful he’s been to start the season it doesn’t take much for something to count as an improvement.

Negatives

Pick ‘n Roll defense: First and foremost, I blame the coach for not figuring this out. Everybody from Carlos Boozer, Eric Maynor, Dwight Howard to JJ Redick took turns exploiting what the Raptors give away on this set. The hedging is non-existing, the switching is random and the effort is minimal. Calderon, Jack, Turkoglu and DeRozan all get caught behind the screen leaving the ball-handler with multiple options. In the pre-season against Philadelphia I saw some trapping but that’s never happened since, no idea why not because it make sense to cause turnovers (2nd worst in league) since we’re unable to stop teams in their regular sets. It’s one thing to get physically beat on a play, another to play the incorrect strategy and further worsen your chances at a defensive stop. This is nothing less than shocking to me after my ears went sore listening to Triano laud the team’s defensive work.

Andrea Bargnani: Other than a strong showing against the hapless Heat, he struggled to get anything against the better teams as Nene, Lewis and Kirilenko all outplayed him. Averaging 9 rebounds for the week is a great jump from the usual 5, but the 10M dollar man needs to have an impact on both sides of the floor and that too, consistently. The return of the pull-up 20 footer is not a good sign, especially when it comes against slower big men who prefer you take that shot. When he does “put it together”, he does it for 5 minute stretches and we’re all waiting for him to put together a solid string of games where he’s a dominant force. Or am I asking too much?

Hedo Turkoglu’s utilization: Devlin’s reminded us to death about how he’s a “big time playoff performer” and we get it, but that shouldn’t mean Triano should give him the license to do whatever he pleases in the fourth quarter which so far has been going 1-on-1. He’s not an Ace of Spades that you can hang on to and unleash only when the game’s on the line. I still maintain that we should be going through Turkoglu a lot more in the first three quarters. The combination of Calderon/Jack is being scored open too often, they’re giving up 136 points per 100 possessions, this is well below the team number of 116. If Triano’s obsessed with having ball-handlers out there, Hedo’s a pretty good option. Turkoglu’s usage rate is 18.7%, that’s the lowest its been since the 2003-04 season.

Jose Calderon’s defense: Yes, I can blame him for other PGs having big games. Yes, basketball can be that simple at times and the box-scores can be that straightforward. AST/TO for the week was 2.3 but who cares, all I can remember is him being on Deron Williams’ hip instead of in front of him, Jason Williams going past him without a screen and Ty Lawson pulling some crazy sh*t on his watch. The offense is coming along with two 16 and one 14 point games but at what cost? Sorry, even after three years I haven’t accepted that we have a below average PG who will usually concede what he earns.

Coming along…

Using Chris Bosh: Technically, I should be putting him under positives every time but that would get old. Take the Denver game out and he’s had another great week. The five rebound total against the Magic was low but when you have Dwight Howard responsibilities you have to rely on your teammates to pick it up, they didn’t and we conceded 14 offensive rebounds. Taking one-shot in the fourth quarter didn’t jive well either. The Raptors forget about their best player far too often, he couldn’t get a touch in the fourth quarter on Sunday and didn’t have as many iso sets as he needed on the West coast. Sometimes we forget that he’s our main advantage and I find that hard to believe/accept/fathom. Triano, take note.

Looking ahead

Tue v IND: My man Roy Hibbert is averaging close to 12/9 for the 5-6 Pacers and playing big, I said it then and I’ll say it again – we never should’ve traded that 17th pick. Hibbert’s exactly the type of player we need, a 7’2″ 280lb C who plays his weight. Danny Granger’s pulling the weight of his contract with 25/7 and our old friend T.J Ford is dropping 10/4/3 as the starting PG. They started off losing three straight, won six straight and have lost three straight. All things considered, they’re probably in the same tier as us and since they got creamed in Charlotte on Sunday, it should make us weary of our next opponent.

Wed @ CHA: Where the Raptors suck at D and excel at O, the Bobcats are the opposite. Larry Brown’s got these guys playing defense and it shows in their 4th place defensive rating of 100.6. However, that’s offset by their 28th place offensive rating of 94. They’re cracked the 100 point plateau just three times and have been held below 80 five times, including a 59 against the C**tics. They snapped a 7-game losing streak at home to Indiana and at 4-9 are fighting with the Wizards and Knicks for something I’m not quite sure of. Keep an eye on Gerald Wallace, he’s netting 14/11 for them and is liable to explode against us. We should also see Stephen Jackson guarding Chris Bosh at some point.

Fri @ BOS: Can we f*&^%$g beat them already? Just once, in my lifetime!? The mega-c**t hit a game-winner on Sunday too which didn’t sit right.

Sun v PHO: If we lose by one on the road we should win at home, right? Phoenix will be in the second game of a stretch where they’ll be playing 8 of 11 on the road and trust them to try to get a couple wins early. It’ll be interesting to see whether Triano repeats the switching strategy on Nash/Amare, if he does the Suns will be ready with a plan. Fool me once…

RapsFan says 2-2, I concur, and phdsteve goes with 1-3. Here’s the podcast:

Click on the play button below or listen directly in iTunes, you can also download the file.

[audio:http://raptorsrepublic.com/audio/2009-11-22-weekly.mp3]

Let’s check out the positives, negatives and so-so’s.

Positives:

Team Defense: After giving up 131 against San Antonio we’ve allowed only 93ppg in our last three games. Holding the Bulls to 89 might be considered routine and the Clippers are the Clippers, but the energy shown against the Suns in holding them to more than 11 below the season average on their home floor says something. Slowing the pace of the game to match our desired tempo and energy was the key, if you get the other team to play at the pace you prefer, your conditioning is less likely to be tested and the Raptors are doing that. We’re still dead last in defensive rating at 115.1 but there is a silver lining there – our defensive effort is better and we’re more comfortable with Triano’s schemes. The Raptors were also only a combined -8 in rebounding in the last three games, I suppose going -12 against a Duncan-less San Antonio woke the boys up a bit. We’ve also prevented teams from dominating us inside by giving up dribble penetration which has resulted in us allowing only 35 PINP this week. Triano’s strategy of making shooters make contested shots is paying off, opponents shot 14-50 from threes this week, that’s 28%!

Belinelli’s a factor: After a barren pre-season, Marco Belinelli is finally coming around and edging into the top 7. He went 15-28 FG (53%) this week and hit some big threes against the Clippers and Suns. 11ppg for the week is modest enough but with Jack struggling, he’s been the main threat off the bench. He also had a couple 3 assists game showing that when given the chance to facilitate, he can do it. The offensive firepower that was promised after the trade is starting to show, question is can he keep it up?

Turkoglu’s assertiveness: He averaged 10 shots per game in his first four games but has upped it to 13 in his last four. He had two 20 point games and shot 47% for the week; that’s including a miserable 4-12 against Chicago. After hitting some big shots late against Phoenix, he missed a couple he usually drains, but at least we know he’s still looking to be the man. The initiation of Turkoglu is close to complete and the only thing we should worry about is his health, a tweaked hip needs to be sorted out early. We don’t want that hanging around.

Honorable mention: Amir Johnson averaging 6.5pts and 6.75rebs for the week and hustling all the way.

Negatives:

Jarrett Jack in general: Is he a 1, is he a 2 or does he just suck? After being called out by ESPN as one of the most disappointing signings of the summer (5.8 PER), he didn’t do much to alter that opinion. 6 assists and 9 turnovers for the week, including one against Phoenix that literally cost us the momentum and eventually the game. His play can be characterized as lazy which is the last thing I expected of him, his passing has been terrible and he’s shown some signs of playing scared, killing his dribble early being one of them. He shot 36% (8-22 FG) for the week and his defense was porous, it can’t get much worse. Oh wait, his PER just fell to 5.26 which is sixth worst in the league!

Coming along…

Bosh keeps chugging along: For the week he netted 26.5 ppg and 11.25 rpg on 47% shooting. He’s laughing his way to the bank. Third in the league in rebounding, fifth in scoring, second in PER only to the injured Chris Paul. Can we give him a Player of the Week or something.

Bargnani’s still the same: The only center in the league that can average 4 rebounds for the week and still avoid the negatives sections of these posts. Much like one tunes out a nagging wife, I’ve accepted his faults and have become numb to his suspect defensive effort. As long as he keeps shooting high enough percentages people will be willing to look past his rebounding, he was 46% for the week which is acceptable. However, being 6/17 from three is not, that’s 35% shooting and frankly I’d rather have Belinelli or Turkoglu jack those up than Bargnani. He got lit up by Kaman, Frye and Bonner so what he took on offense was given right back.

Nesterovic: I wanted to add him to the negatives considering what a pointless signing he’s turned out to be, but then AltRaps reminded me that he’s nothing but insurance. Still, I’d like better insurance.

Honourable mention: Jose Calderon for averaging 14.25 points and 8.75 assists with a ridiculous AST/TO of 10.33. Would’ve been in the positives if it weren’t for the stinker in Phoenix.

Looking ahead

Tue @ DEN: The 7-3 Nuggets are beating teams by an average of 15 points at home, this includes a 105-79 shellacking of the Lakers. They finished their longest roadtrip of the season by going 3-3 and have settled in to play 7 of their next 9 at home. You might remember this as the 39 point loss that finally got Mitchell fired last year. Anthony is averaging 30/5 and it would be nice to have Antoine Wright suited for this one, should be fun. No altitude excuses.

Wed @ UTA: The 4-6 Jazz are also coming back from a long trip and will face the Raptors after a three day break. They’ve already lost at home to Sacramento and Houston and are a surprisingly bad defensive team – 26th in the league in defensive rating at 110.6. Injuries to Harpring, Korver and Miles have definitely had an impact and the Raptors could catch a break as Deron Williams is listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game for personal reasons. Bargnani will take on Okur in a battle of perimeter oriented centers as Boozer and Bosh go at it again in what should be a physical affair. We’ve lost 8 straight to the Jazz, the most memorable loss being the TJ Ford implosion in those green jerseys.

Fri v MIA: The 7-2 Heat have played 7 home games, the most in the NBA. They’ve had a relatively easy schedule and have had one impressive win, beating the Nuggets at home. Other than that they’ve been feasting on the Wizards, Nets, Knicks, Pacers and Bulls. They’ve lost to the other two quality opponents they’ve faced, Phoenix and Cleveland in rather unconvincing fashion. Wade’s averaging 30/5 and bailed out the team with a game-winning three against the Nets at home, a loss that would’ve truly burst the bubble. Jermaine O’Neal has only missed one game and is averaging 13.6/7.8 on 57% shooting. This season means nothing to them, they’re lining it up for a big summer signing.

Sun v ORL: The 7-3 Magic have cooled off since we last saw them, they’ve gone 4-3 since losing by 28 in OKC, dropping one at home to Cleveland and losing in Detroit. The most impressive feat since has been a 122-100 demolition of the Suns at home. Rashard Lewis will be available after serving a 10 game suspension and this could be a Vince Carter appreciation night at the ACC. The Raptors had a great second half against the Magic but couldn’t overcome a lazy first half performance, that has to be on their minds and I’m thinking it’ll work out in our favor.

I’m going with a bold 3-1 with the only loss coming against Denver.

Sometimes it hurts bad to lose a game and this one brought that hurt big time. A one point loss to the Suns when we easily could have and probably should have won. Turkoglu misses one at the buzzer capping off an evening that saw the Raptors compete at every level against the NBA’s best. Nobody had given the Raptors a chance in this one (including me) but they proved everybody wrong by giving a great effort that deserved better. There aren’t many moral victories to be had in the NBA but last night was one of them, we were an inch away from a win and should have had it if it hadn’t been for some execution errors in the strategy deployed to handle the pick ‘n roll.

I’m not sure what to make of switching on the Amare/Nash screen. I figure you try that out for a few possessions and if things work out, great, if they don’t you try other ways of stopping them. You definitely don’t let him go 10-15 FG, 10-11 FT, and have his short chart looking as concentrated as this. I don’t have an issue with the philosophy because it takes away penetration which means no wide open threes, but you also have to consistently provide help on the big once he gets the ball in the post, if you’re late on that it’s suicide. The Raptors strategy played right into Phoenix’s hands and even though we had some success with it, over the full 48 Phoenix was more than content to play along. Phoenix adapted well to Triano’s strategy and worked the advantage they were handed. Watching poor Jose Calderon get scored on from four feet over and over again was painful, he did pick up two steals by swiping the ball away but that was the highlight of that matchup. Triano explained it later:

It’s a team that feeds of penetrating and picks you apart on screen and roll action and kicks it for threes. We wanted to really restrict the number of threes that they took, that meant two guys had to score for them – Nash and Stoudemire – and they had to be two pointers for the most part. We were going to switch and stay up on guys, we knew we were going to have some mismatches inside but we had to come with some help. We didn’t want to come off shooters, it really restricts where you can help form.

Another resultant of this was a big being switched over to Nash as he victimized Bosh and Johnson on 16-footers early. Late in the fourth quarter it was Andrea Bargnani who was defending Nash with five fouls, something he did a solid job off despite visibly trembling; if he would’ve picked up his sixth foul that way, Triano would’ve had a lot of questions to answer. The big on small switches we gave up killed us and our refusal to alter our strategy despite Phoenix proving that they can beat us at it didn’t make much sense. Perhaps the effect was most felt by Phoenix’s wing quartet of Grant Hill, Jason Richardson, Leandro Barbosa and Jared Dudley who were a combined 8-for-28 from the field and struggled to get clean looks. However, Frye’s five threes offset any advantage gained.

Both team started the game on fire, Phoenix running everything through Nash who bailed them out in several short-clock situations and the Raptors going inside to Bosh against Stoudemire whose defense remains brutal. Bosh took him for 10 early points and Stoudemire did the same, only difference is that half of his came against Jose Calderon. DeRozan started off the game with great energy, he was D’ing up Richardson, beating him down the floor, helping and recovering against Nash, even had a great sweeping move for two which he followed it up with a jumper. Whatever went wrong for him in LA was going right early, a good comeback performance from the rookie. Turkoglu’s shot was on early and he didn’t show any sign of the hip problem that’s been bothering him, he had 8 in the first quarter. The Raptors shot 58% in the first while the Suns were at 62%, we had kept pace with the Suns’ offense so far and held a 2 point lead, but I also got the feeling we couldn’t sustain this kind of game and needed to slow things down to keep pace. Either our transition defense needed to significantly improve or we’d need to slow the pace down just a tad.

The first quarter point total was 64 but the second quarter only saw 39 points being scored. A big part of the reason was both starting PGs taking a big breather, Nash missed close to half the quarter as Goran Dragic got some run and Triano went with Jack who was once again atrocious. And I mean he was bad. Will Solomon bad. His ridiculously lazy pass got picked off for a steal, he couldn’t facilitate anything on offense and his jumper was clanging rim. The bright spot for the Raptors here was Sonny Weems who got in and looked agile and athletic, he was found by Marco Belinelli for a alley-oop slam that’s sure to be on a few highlight reels. The Italian also stepped in to knock down some solid threes with his mouthguard hanging out, I love his swagger.

Bosh and Bargnani were the well we drank from in the first half and Belinelli and Johnson gave us the lift off the bench. Amir Johnson (9 rebounds) was making Amundson a non-factor and our interior defense in the latter half of the second quarter was downright solid. Johnson deserves a lot of credit for bringing the intensity and effort, something that really wasn’t an issue at all tonight.

As Jack’s struggling to do anything positive, Belinelli’s showing a little more diversity in his game. He took some questionable shots, made some and missed some but I was impressed by his defensive work-rate, it’s consistently effective. He’s not a stopper, not even an above-average defender but the guy does fight on defense which is more than I can say for Jack. I suggest easing back Jack’s minutes and trying Belinelli as a point-forward, it can only be a positive and it’ll send Jack a message that minutes aren’t guaranteed around these parts.

After the Raps got themselves an early 5 point lead, it was Channing Frye time. Up until now Bargnani had gotten the better of him, Frye had knocked down a three in each of the first two quarters but had remained relatively anonymous. He was left wide open for three in the third and he knocked them all down. If you give back on defense what you score on offense, you haven’t had much of a game. Bargnani had 17/4 on 6-15, Frye had 20/7 on 6-9. I think the number’s speak for themselves. It’s hard for me to believe why Bargnani would leave Frye open without reason, if you look at those three plays, there is no reason Frye should be getting those looks. There are no screens set for him, Bargnani doesn’t have urgent help issues, it’s just mind-boggling. I don’t want Frye’s offensive display to take away from some of the good things Bargnani brought to the mix, I thought he created very well (despite having zero assists) by pulling the defense towards him and kicking it out efficiently, his drives on the baseline were solid and his jumper was good enough to keep Phoenix honest. Still, wouldn’t you like to see Bargnani punish the frail looking Frye in the post?

You also have to give Phoenix credit, they are the best at finding the open wing man after even a mild double. It literally takes them a second and a half between attracting a double and finding the shooter, an area the Raptors have to work on. As well as Bosh played last night, he needs to be more aware of where the shooter’s are on the floor. Phoenix was very keen on cheating off our wing men to help on Bosh all night long and we didn’t make them pay enough. This will need to be looked at in the film room and Bosh needs to be made aware of this.

After going scoreless in the second, Turkoglu returned to score 5 in the third and got some help from Bosh and Bargnani as well. Weems got off the bench again to knock down a good-looking pull-up jumper and played sound defense on Richardson who was held to 2-9FG through the first three quarters by the combination of DeRozan, Belinelli and Weems. Nash wasn’t allowed to run rampant and the Raptors defense did a good job of keeping him in front of them by switching taller wings on him, this was the quarter where we defended their high screen the best by providing quick additional help whenever Amare got deep in the post. A two point lead at the end of three, not much to complain about except if we had only contained Frye, we would’ve had a much bigger cushion.

We needed some real leadership and focus at the start of the fourth and didn’t get it. Jack made one good play – a drive and kick to Belinelli for a corner three – but other than that the offense under him was awful as we conceded a 14-2 run. An ill-advised Bosh three, Jack missing a step-back three early in the clock, Dudley blocking Jack on a weak drive, and the killer – a Jack turnover leading to a Richardson fast-break which gave the Suns a 5 point lead. Why Jack was even handling the ball is a mystery since Jose was also on the floor (I’ll resist going into a diatribe about them playing together). Mother momentum had switched sides after that play. I don’t understand why we are so comfortable giving Turkoglu the ball late in the fourth quarter but don’t let him handle it early in the fourth? Is there a difference? I don’t think so.

We also forgot about Chris Bosh for a long stretch after the smaller Dudley was given the assignment, instead of going inside to what worked, we launched jumpers. It’s partially Bosh’s fault for not demanding the ball and fighting for position against a smaller player, but Jack needs to take some heat for not correcting a misguided offense. On the next possession we ran the hi-lo which netted him a foul and he went 1-2FT. In a one point loss you have to point to these sorts of plays. Not the l

After battling back from 5 down thanks to a great Jose Calderon drive and a Bosh score, Frye’s final dagger hit us hard at 2:19. A wide open three after being left open by Bargnani, a defensive error to say the least. Bargnani made amends on the ensuing possession by driving for two but after that the officials, who were really giving Phoenix the benefit of the doubt on charges and personal fouls all night long, handed Stoudemire two FTs. Triano called Turkoglu’s number who hit two long contested jumpers to give the Raptors a 2 point lead with 0:51 left but the lead was short-lived. Nash missed a three and Triano called another iso only to see Turkoglu’s long-range effort rim out. Nash then drove past Calderon for an And1 (there was no foul anywhere in sight) to put Phoenix up one with 12 ticks left.

I thought the final play was going to be a drive and happen early enough so that we’d have a chance to go at the offensive rebound, and maybe that was the intent, but Turkoglu held on to the ball too long, bumbled it and was forced into a shot he’d rather not have taken. Game over.

Liners:

• Anybody wonder where Sonny Weems went in the fourth?
• From chat on Amare: [21:56] birdmanpresents: We know u didnt hurt ur eyes on the court, ur ugly ass just looked in the mirror.
• Bargnani’s fifth foul which sent him to the bench was very stupid. I appreciate the hustle but going after an offensive rebound that you have on chance of getting is not the way to go, especially when you have four fouls.
• Jose Calderon could’ve been more aggressive today, 8/3/7 on 3-7FG with zero turnovers is a clean stat line but there’s no reason he couldn’t have gotten 15+ tonight. Also saw some very conservative play from him today, something which hasn’t been there this season.
• All three of Jarrett Jack’s turnovers were lazy and unprofessional. If this guy’s getting flustered playing in Game 10, how’s he going to hold up if we’re in a playoff race? I’m not going to give up on him, but it’s hard to stay with him.
• Raptors were -7 no the glass but held Phoenix to 44.9% while shooting 45.5%.
• Belinelli missed a clean look at 6:37 which would’ve stopped the bleeding in that 14-2 fourth quarter run.

This was a loss but there were many positives to be taken from it. Rest easy Republic.

Check out the game preview thread we got going, it’s a great place to catch up on lineup changes, injury etc.

The 8-2 Suns used to be 8-1 with everything going smoothly as ever, they were surprising people, dominating teams and proving the experts wrong. Then they went to LA and got theirs handed to them by the Lakers sans Gasol. The pundits gave the age old, worn-out but correct analysis that the team is built for the regular season and as soon as the playoffs come, so sets the sun. No arguments here. After a demeaning loss there’s nothing worse than waiting for three full days to get a chance to set things right, and unfortunately for the Raps, they’ll be looking to set things right at our expense.

To have a chance here we’ll need to defend the best pick ‘n roll combo in the league since Stockton and Malone. Nash and Stoudemire have perfected the play and teams have been unable to stop them because of pure perfection in execution. The unpredictability of what happens after the screen is what throws defenses off to the point where the most common play in basketball confuses them to death. Whereas traditional teams use the high-screen from certain areas to initiate their offense, the Suns use the play two or even three times on the same possession from any point on the court, even after broken plays. After Stoudemire has set the initial pick what follows can be a pop, roll, slip or simply a pass to an open shooter as help comes to deal with the uncertainty of what could happen next.

Teams have tried putting taller, athletic players on Nash (like Odom most recently) so that they can switch on the screens and give Nash space while contesting the jumper. Even though the strategy doesn’t always work it’s still proven to be the most effective of the lot. The Bulls did something similar with Stockton by having Scottie Pippen and Ron Harper check the playmaker through the two epic NBA Finals series. We don’t have Scottie Pippen but we have Antoine Wright who should be used tonight in a similar fashion. The Calderon on Nash matchup isn’t going to be easy for Jose and the best he can do is wear Nash out on the other end, you know he’ll have his opportunities against a loose Suns defense which happens to allow more points than the Raptors’ (106.44 vs 107.1) and lets opponents shoot higher percentage (46.7% vs 48.3%). The last time we faced Nash he dropped 18 assists on us as the Raptor PGs kept getting stuck behind the screen, got to give a better effort in PnR situations.

While the Suns may be the top scoring team in the league at 111ppg and second in FG% at 49%, they do have weaknesses as pointed out by the blogger below, namely interior defense. Channing Frye is their starting center and after that it’s down to Jarron Collins, neither of them defensive stalwarts by any means. I’ve always liked Frye, I was surprised the Knicks gave up on him so early and do think he’s a very reliable role player who can be very consistent in his production, as he’s showing this year by averaging 13/5. There’s also Louis Amundson to worry about, he had 20/10 on 9-11FG last time we faced them, so even though on paper we’re supposed to have an advantage with Bosh and Bargnani, you just never know which Sun will turn out to be the X-Factor.

I’m thinking Bargnani takes Collins while Bosh checks Stoudemire which makes sense since the latter’s the more agile player and needs to be guarded by a player who can move his feet. As great as Bosh has played this year, his defense still shuts off frequently and he gets scored on when he really shouldn’t be getting scored on. If he even has two of those stretches which last two minutes each, that’s enough for the Suns to put up 20 points in no time. It’s easier said than done, but defensive concentration is a must and we can’t hang our heads after Phoenix makes those 8-2 and 6-0 runs. Remember that we can score too and the first team to make a true defensive stand will have a great shot at winning. The Raptors’ main offensive advantage could be Bargnani if he decides to play it right, Collins is no contest and if Frye is switched on him, he should (based on salary, overall pick and hype) be able to take advantage, we’ll see.

Will Belinelli’s great showing against the Clippers be followed by another one or will he go back to being 1-5? DeMar DeRozan was terrible in LA in every facet of the game but tonight there definitely will be opportunities for him to get some points, it’ll depend on how hard he plays. On one hand it’s good that the rookie is composed and plays within the structure of Triano’s offense, but at the same time he doesn’t present himself to his teammates nearly as much as I think he can. Instead of wandering on the perimeter waiting for his number to be called he should at least make it a point that he gets a touch or so every possession, just so he doesn’t forget about himself. His “dead periods” need to be reduced.

Grant Hill’s quickness against Turkoglu could be problematic, especially if Turkoglu isn’t healthy which would mean we’d have to dedicate Wright to him, it would be nice to see one of our other wing step-up to this challenge and shut Hill down. I’d also be weary of Jared Dudley, we’ll need somebody to match hustle with him because he’s liable to have a major impact on the offensive boards if we decide to just go through the motions. Barbosa on Jack is intriguing from the standpoint that these are the types of matchups Jack is supposed to even out for us, so far he’s struggling but the Phoenix defense can cure a lot of ills.

Matchups to Watch: Jack vs Barbosa, Bargnani vs Collins, Amundson vs Johnson, Stoudemire vs Bosh

Blogger’s Take

The Phoenix blog on the TrueHoop network is the Valley of the Suns.

What did the Suns loss in LA mean?

It means the Suns will struggle against teams with big, athletic front lines, but really we already knew that. Being beaten pretty thoroughly without Pau Gasol also means the Suns are still a good chunk behind the Lakers in the Pacific, but really we already knew that as well. Overall, having played seven games in 10 days, I take more from the first six games (5-1, win over Boston) than a buzzsaw game like this against a rested, motivated Lakers squad.

Would you do an Amare for Bosh trade? Why or why not?

No, I’d rather have STAT than the “RuPaul of big man.” Just kidding on the nickname, Raps fans, but the biggest reason I wouldn’t do it is because of the familiarity between Nash and Amare and how well he knows this system. As we saw last year with J-Rich, it takes time to get used to this system even for a player like Richardson perfectly suited to it. I’d also be a bit worried about using Bosh as the primary center as the Suns often do with Amare.

What will the Raptors have to do to win this game? What’s the Suns’ weakness?

Interior defense and rebounding. The Lakers just pounded the Suns for 76 points in the paint, and when Channing Frye is your center, this isn’t such a surprise. The Suns have actually been much better rebounding the ball than anybody could have expected, out-rebounding opponents by 2 boards a game, but as the self-described smallest team in the NBA it’s still far from a strength.

Prediction

The sims are 6-3 so far and I’m inclined to agree with Visser‘s PS3 on this one: 114-103 Suns. We’ve never beaten a Phoenix team with Nash on it and although I do think we’ll keep up our scoring pace, they’ll just do it better.

Over/under is at 229.5.