Hey Hedo, what happened to being clutch? | Toronto Sun
Turkoglu had a good game overall, scoring 13 points with nine boards and six assists, but the first-year Raptor struggled as the game wound down, starting with a foul on Washington forward Andray Blatche with 38 seconds left, which put the Wizards up by four after Blatche nailed both his free throws. Turkoglu then turned the ball over to Brendan Haywood with 31 seconds left and then missed two crucial three-point shots in the final seconds with the game still on the line.
Afterwards Turkoglu stood up and took his share of the blame for the loss.
"I did bad," he said. "But I have to learn from it and leave it behind. My confidence is still sky high and I won't be afraid to take those kinds of shots (again)."
It’s getting ugly | Toronto Sun
Jay Triano certainly looked the part of a beaten head coach after the game.
"It's all the same," he said, when asked if losing a home game prior to three on the road is especially frustrating. "It's tough. We don't like losing.
"Like I said before, they're all important. I look at (tonight's) as important," he added. "I don't look ahead. I try to prepare as much as I can for the next game."
Despite his poor shooting in the fourth, Bosh led the Raptors' attack yet again, recording 22 points and 14 rebounds for his NBA-leading 16th double-double of the season. He scored 18 in the second quarter alone, tying a career high.
Clutch plays go missing for Raptors – thestar.com
Turkoglu, who got his reputation for last-second dramatics while helping Orlando to the Eastern Conference title last season, was philosophical.
"They gave me the ball when they needed it and I lost the ball that was a really big-time for us," he said. "It just slipped out of my hands. I really don't have much to say about it.
"I've been in that situation a lot in my life. I've had game winners and I've had shots that didn't go in and we lose the game. You learn from those and don't do the same mistakes in the next situation."
Raptors drop fourth in a row – The Globe and Mail
The Toronto Raptors’ Mr. Fourth Quarter was anything but.
Hedo Turkoglu, the Raptors’ high-profile off-season free-agent signing was supposed to provide the Raptors attack a focal point in the stretch of close games.
Last night Turkoglu was the focal point of an attack that could do little right in the final moments as the Raptors fumbled to a 106-102 loss at the hands of the Washington Wizards in front of just 15,776 at the Air Canada Centre.
Who's hot? Josh Smith, who has never shot better than 50% from the floor in a season, is up at 54% this year. Why? He is resisting the urge to take three-pointers.
Who's not? Joe Johnson is shooting just 29 for 84 (35%) from the floor over his last five games.
Raptors off-target in fourth straight loss – National Post
Well, where is the closest panic button?
If there is one in the Air Canada Centre, Triano is not reaching for it just yet. With little in the way of practice time to change up their schemes, an alteration to the starting lineup would seem the obvious move. Alas, Triano is against that, too.
"Were they bad?" Triano asked. "I don't think so. I don't know if it's our starting lineup. We didn't get off to a bad start. In the third quarter we were fine. I don't know if it's our starting lineup."
Well, something has to give. The attendance of 15,776 was the lowest of the last two seasons. While Toronto's slow start has not buried them in the standings yet, it has killed any momentum it had to start the year with the city.
By the end of the evening, though, most of those who did show up were booing.
Jamison Leads Wizards Past Raptors – ESPN Video – ESPN
Wizards top Raptors, 106-102
Jamison Drops 30 And 12 As Wizards Edge Raptors – SB Nation
"We just missed shots, it's pretty obvious that's the way it is right now," said Bosh. "When you lose you can't get frustrated. We've got a game tomorrow night and Atlanta don't care if we're frustrated. We've gotta play hard and get wins."
The Raptors took a five-point lead into the final period and Bosh's jumper on the first possession made it a 79-72 game.
An 11-2 run, though, a bit later from the Wizards, with a three-point play from Arenas followed by a layup from Jamison, gave the team an 88-85 lead with 6:05 to play.
Last Night’s Action: A Well Rounded Effort – DCist
even fourth man off the bench Dominic McGuire was a +15 in but ten minutes or so of work, a pretty good indicator that you're playing some damn good basketball. The Wizards needed it all, too. The Raptors had five players in double figures, and had the game within two with three minutes left. Jamison, though, hushed the crowd with a dagger shortly thereafter — make it three of four for the Wizards, who have the Bucks at home on Wednesday, the second time they've had back-to-back games in six days.
Raptors Lose, Turkoglu Still A Trainwreck : T.O. Sports
If nothing else came from this one, I’m at least happy Jay Triano has apparently realized that Antoine Wright sucks — the “defensive stopper” only saw seven minutes of action, which limited his production to one missed shot, one turnover and one Gilbert Arenas blow-by. Hey Antoine, you’re horrible whether you’re wearing a headband or not.
Highlight Factory hospitality | Hawks Fan Nest
There’s always one guy that you forget about. It’s that one guy who either comes in and has a really big game against you, or simply just makes enough of the right plays, at the right times, to throw you off your gameplan. That guy, in THIS contest, could be Marco Belinelli. He’s not another 6′10 or taller shooter, but he IS another guy who is doing better than 40% from 3-point range. He’s a backup that plays just shy of 20 minutes per game, and yet another guy who can get hot from deep.
Raptors-Hawks Preview – Sporting News
Atlanta will hope for better results against the Raptors, who are allowing 109.1 points per game – more than every NBA team except Golden State. Toronto's opponents have scored at least 100 in each of the last 10 games, with the Raptors going 2-8 in that stretch.
Toronto (7-12) has also lost five straight on the road, and is 0-3 when playing the second half of a back-to-back this season with those losses coming by an average of more than 25 points.
Coach Jay Triano's team will try to defy that trend after getting outscored 34-25 in the fourth quarter of Tuesday's 106-102 home loss to Washington.
"We've gotta try to finish the games, try to play for a full game," said point guard Jose Calderon, whose club lost for the third time when leading after three quarters. "We've been talking about that all season."
After spending the better part of the weekend trying to figure out how to stop their third-quarter collapses, Toronto shifted their melt downs to the fourth quarter. They gave up 34 points in the quarter to the Wizards, allowing them to shoot 69 percent from the floor, while shooting only 35 percent themselves.
Trailing by five to open the final quarter, Arenas hit a three for the Wizards and they went from there. With Calderon, Bosh and Hedo Turkoglu combining to shoot just 3-for-14, the trio of Butler, Jamison and Arenas connected on 10-for-14 of their attempts in the quarter.
While the Raptors kept it close thanks to 14 points in the quarter from reserve guard Jarrett Jack, the Wizards connected on 8-for-10 free throws to close out the Raptors down the stretch.
Sports Briefs – The Barrie Examiner
Unlike certain teammates, when Chris Bosh is playing poorly, his body language speaks of determination, not defeat.
To wit, the Raptors all-star forward started last night's game against the Washington Wizards shooting 0-for-6 with one rebound before being substituted out with 3:56 left in the first quarter. As he walked off the court, Bosh slapped his hands together in frustration and yelled (apparently at himself) in disgust.
Washington Wizards vs. Toronto Raptors – Recap – December 01, 2009 – ESPN
Bosh matched a career high with 18 points in the second but couldn't get anything going in the other three quarters.
"He had a great second quarter against us and I knew if we didn't do something, me personally, it could have been a long game, one of those 40-point nights," said Haywood, whose defense held Bosh in check.
Wizards kick-start busy week with victory – Washington Times
That's when Antawn Jamison coolly made a baseline jumper from 19 feet and put his finger to his lips as he jogged back down the court. The shot sucked the life out of the home crowd and gave the Wizards the push they needed in a 106-102 victory Tuesday night at Air Canada Centre.
"It's something I needed to do," Jamison said with a smile. "The crowd was getting into it, and I felt comfortable with it and was able to knock it down. I kind of wanted to let them know tonight was not going to be their night."
Bad Night For Turkoglu, Ready To Redeem | Hoopsnotes
A missed boxout, a crucial turnover and more missed jumpers than many would care to count.
It was hardly the greatest night of Hedo Turkoglu’s career, but his failures in the clutch Tuesday night have in no way diminished his role with the Raptors in the eyes of his coaches or teammates.
If the opportunity presents itself, he’ll get an opportunity to redeem himself Wednesday in Atlanta.
“I’m not going to take the ball out of his hands,” coach Jay Triano said after Toronto dropped a 106-102 decision to the Washington Wizards at the Air Canada Centre, the team’s fourth loss in a row.
“I mean, he’s a guy who’s made plays in the past and feels as bad about it as anybody. If we do it again, we give him the basketball; he’s a guy who can make plays for people.”
JR, On Fire: Chris Bosh & Free Agency
Chris Bosh of the Toronto Raptors will enter free agency when this current NBA season concludes.
Although most of the attention is directed towards LeBron James and his free agency situation, but Bosh will garner his far share of attention when the time comes.
Bosh discusses his feelings on the topic, but be careful, he may change his mind soon.
My tip is he ends up in Miami.
Your Toronto Raptors “Season Seatholder of the Game” « The Joe Shuster Awards
Too bad Jay didn’t sub in the big Slovenian to take care of Brendan Haywood. Haywood spent so much time leaning on Bosh tonight that Chris was wasted by the end. We could have used a fresh Bosh to straight up cover Antawn Jamison. Jamison spent the second half catching the ball at the elbow extended and then blowing by the late rotation, going baseline to find an open basket because no one bothered to rotated down and either guard the basket or cut off the baseline.
Return of the three musketeers « B2BR – A DC Sports Blog
Props to Andray Blatche for hitting 2 big free throws at the end of the game which basically sealed a Wizards victory and ensured that they did not let a game in which they played well pretty much from start to finish get pissed away because of bad free-throw shooting.
Brendan Haywood had an excellent defensive game and contributed tons of energy with some excellent offensive rebounding and effective play under the basket.
The Big 3 for the first time this year delivered a very strong, combined effort. Butler and Arenas took turns looking for their shots while Jamison, as he always does, scored throughout the game.
How To Fix The Raptors (Part 2) : The Picket Fence
With the season going down the toilet, the chance of re-signing Bosh seems to be getting slimmer and slimmer. Well, I might agree if it were later in the season, but since we’re barely into December, I’m not willing to lower the lifeboats just yet on the season. If the Raptors are still playing this way come February, then we can discuss trading Bosh.
HIP HOOP JUNKIES – A Toronto Raptors/NBA Blog: Wiz win 106-102, now it’s time to panic….
Colangelo said we'd get a good idea on how good this team is after 20 games. So we're 19 games in and the Raps are 7-12. At this rate, the Raps will be a below-.500 team at the end of this season, sitting outside the playoff race. You don't even have to check the boxscore any more; you know that the Raps will have a good first half, and then finish with a horrible second half. That trend continued last night with the Raps giving up 34 points to the Wizards in the fourth quarter as the 5-10 Wizards pulled out the road win. How bad is this? Well, the Raptors were known to play well at home but couldn't even stop the struggling Wizards at the ACC. Something's wrong with this picture.
Dino Nation Blog: Raptors Rewind- Zero Room For Error
Time to send Bargs to the bench. Which Triano did but I am not talking just this game. Amir has an instant impact getting a rebound as he checked in. Jack would get fouled and make a pair and the lead was just 99-97. Wizards would draw a foul and make both to bring lead back to 4.
What Has Happened to Chris Bosh and The Toronto Raptors? « Brothersteve’s Green & Red Raptor Blog
Over the past six games, Chris Bosh has shot 41.7% from the field, taken 18 shots per game, and averaged 21.3 points. In some games Bosh’s shooting has almost completely deserted him, averaging just 33 percent over four of them.
Bosh has a career shooting average of 48.7 percent, the recent drop is something worth noting. Hopefully for the Raptors, this shooting drought doesn’t last.
For most players, averaging 21.3 points is good. But the Raptors have come to rely on efficient scoring from their star player. If Bosh were to become more of a volume shooter, the Raptors as presently constructed could be in a lot of trouble.
In the recent 106-102 loss to Washington, Bosh shot just 7-22 for 22 points and was just 1-6 in the fourth quarter, scoring his last basket with 11:44 left in the game.
Post Game: Washington Wizards vs Toronto Raptors « New Leisure Blog
I was at the ACC tonight. Not a good start for December. The game is very winnable and the Raptors are not facing a good team. They played a sloppy game, turning the ball over left and right. We had a lead going to the fourth quarter and can’t close them out.
