Even with Manu going off like an air raid siren.
Even after being down 9-0 and 18-6.
Even after being outrebounded, once again.
Even if, ultimately, we didn’t deserve it.
Even still…
We could have had this one.
The Spurs might be old, they might be slow, but they’re the defending world champs and they are SMART. All you have to do is watch their seamless rotations, crisp ball movement, and trust in one another to appreciate how cerebral the sport is. Same goes for Detroit. All the athletes in the world (Atlanta and Charlotte, listen up) don’t make up for a lack of BasketBrain™. The Raptors played right alongside The Best for 36 minutes last night, without their star, without their supporting cast, without their coach, and still came within a 3 of tying the game.
Duncan was his usual boring Big NotSoFundamental self, an efficient 22 and 13 despite Bargnani’s solid efforts on defence. He’s just outclassed, similar to me chasing a monkey from branch to branch. He hit a deep two late in the 4th to knock a surging Raptors team back on its heels.
No point guards? No problem when your SG and two PF’s combine for 14 assists. Damon and Jacques could have just taken the night off for all the impact they had. The game becomes remarkably easy when Horry/Oberto can feed Duncan for an easy deuce OR kick it out to a WIDE OPEN MANU for one of 6 his six backbreaking, soul-crunching threes.
Crafty stepbacks, pumpfakes, and of course the flippity-floppity makes Manu probably the most frustrating player in the NBA to watch your team get torched by. But he does it to everyone, and tonight the Argentine pinata dropped candy all over us. His 34 points and 6 uncontested three pointers stung, but it was the 15 fucking rebounds that killed us. Are the fundamentals of boxing out that complicated that our PROFESSIONAL athletes, guys who have been doing this since they were popping pimples in gym class, can’t figure it out?
Jose had the game of his life, going into an unconscious ‘gimme the rock’ zone that I didn’t know he had. TJ’s sore wrist negated any influence on the game, so it was up to Jose (who’s NOT an All-Star due to some glitch in the Matrix) to singlehandedly pepper the best team defence of the last decade…and he didn’t disappoint. I don’t think he hit the rim once – is he the best shooter on the Raptors? Starting to look like it.
Delfino had a series of successful penetrations in the third quarter to keep things close, but you can’t revert back to your jumper when it’s not falling. He got what he wanted in the paint, so of course he proceeds to sit back and hoist jumpers. Why stop something that’s working?
Bosh made Fabricio Oberto* look like a defensive mastermind after being rendered useless following a knee-to-knee with Jacques Vaughn. One can only hope it’s the bump that cause Chris to revert back to his complacent ways. Instead of storming his way to the rack like he’s been doing of late, he settled for low-percentage fadeaways. Why, Chris? Did Mike Evans tell you this was a good idea?
For those who don’t know, Mike Evans coached this game because Smitch is taking the week off to be with his family following the passing of a loved one. Clearly Mitchell and Evans have differences of opinion when it comes to how the team is run, because Evans wasted no time in putting his stamp on the game. Unfortunately, his ‘stamp’ was similar to a class of ritalin kids stuck inside on a winter day with a fresh-from-college substitute teacher: You could practically see Jamario salivating at the prospect of jacking up numbers without reprocussion, which he did over and over again. TJ and Jose on the court together? Did he sleep through the last 44 games?
*When really, he looks like this guy.
Finally, after going 0-6 and 2 offensive fouls in the first 7 minutes, we remembered that you’re allowed two steps before shooting and began penetrating the Spurs defence. No surprise that’s when the buckets started falling. But we played catch-up the rest of the game, and San Antonio’s not the type of team to let you back in the game easily. When you’ve only got ONE scoring threat on the court, and that guy’s also responsible for distributing the ball, you’re in a tough spot. Sam would have busted a button on his fancy suit on more than one occasion this game, and between the Moon jumpers and TJ/Jose playing at the same time, I find myself for once missing Sam Mitchell.
Finally…I’ve been patient, I’ve been kind, but I can’t bite my tongue any longer: The Kapono Situation is driving me mad.
How many games in a row now has our ‘three point specialist’ not taken a heave from downtown? Dude’s reigning 3-pt champion, league leader in 3-pt percentage, and can get his shot off quicker than a gangbanger on a crowded street. So why does he only have 1 three pointer in the month of February (5 games)? In 2008, he’s taken ZERO threes in 13 of 20 games. He’s taken 9 three pointers since December 28th (Manu took 12 last night alone), making 4 of them. It just doesn’t make a lick of sense to me. I’m sorry, I appreciate the ‘he needs more looks’ argument, but if your game is that one-dimensional that you can’t get a shot off, you might want to think about expanding your repertoire. 8 mill a year, my ass. His biggest contribution to last night’s game was a defensive 3 in the key call against.
Look, I know that Kapono’s had a rough go of it. This is hardly the fantasy he signed up for when he left Pat Riley’s wrinkled iron claw in Miami. I’m sure he expected to run amok draining 6 threes a game. But let’s just say that didn’t happen. Then he’s taken out of the starting lineup, gone from the marquee free-agent signing on an up and coming team to a Damon Jones, Erik Piatkowski-type single threat bench option. That’s gotta sting. Maybe he’s a warm weather guy – decent career in Miami, great college career in Cali. Another knock on Toronto winters: it makes good players bad.
Sorry for going off, but kid’s got me frustrated.
One more game against the Nets before we settle into the All-Star break, which hopefully BC will spend finding us someone who knows where the perimeter is and how to defend it.
Ma-gge-tte….Ma-gge-tte…
P.S. I know I saw Matt Bonner on the court last night, but apparently he didn’t play a minute (but somehow picked up a foul). Hmmm.
