When these two clubs tipped off a fortnight ago, the ensuing blowout was a shocker because the Raptors are not that much worse or better than the Wizards. Especially without John Wall. Ed Davis described the reason for that loss as the effort not being 100%, and stated that the team wanted to rectify the situation this time around. Last night we witnessed what a Raptors team giving 100% is capable off when playing a team still seeking their first win on the road. The Raptors domination of the Wizards was such that the entire second half was rendered garbage time.
John Wall started on the bench and Amir Johnson got the start ahead of Dorsey because of his matchup with Andray Blatche. Right from the get-go, the Raptors had it going offensively. Jose Calderon shrugged off his poor performance against the Hawks by hunting down his jumper against Kirk Hinrich. The ex-Bulls guard got a few scores on Jose as well, but the impact Calderon had was far greater. Calderon played a compact first quarter to get the team off to a great start, his comprehension of the options available to him is much improved and you can tell that he truly understands that there are easy points to be had if he just looks up. For example, he might not have “risked” this pass a year ago (or the one linked later in the post). His chemistry with Amir Johnson has been well-noted (and he found him for an alley-oop on the break early), but what’s gone under the radar is that him and Sonny Weems hook up on the 1/4 to 3/4 court pass all the time, and if Weems has an edge on his man it turns into an easy layup or sets up the grounds for one.
Defensively, the two players a Raptors fan might fear would be John Wall and Gilbert Arenas, and the two combined for only one field goal in the first half. A key play to note is Amir Johnson setting the tone on the first defensive possession by blocking Arenas’ sure layup and sparking the break. Andray Blatche reminds me a lot of Andrea Bargnani at times, a very gifted offensive player that doesn’t play a lick of defense and can drive his fans crazy because of it. Blatche was giving Johnson a lot to handle early and the latter, not helped by a sprained ankle, had trouble containing him. The other big spot saw Andrea Bargnani struggle to find his rhythm against uber-athlete JaVale McGee and it kept the Wizards somewhat in the game at 27-23 of the first.
Things soon changed. Ed Davis was brought off the bench and he immediately tipped in an offensive rebound for a layup, a fitting start to an NBA career that is to be predicated on hard work, hustle and most of all, a serious attitude that is welcomed on the Raptors. Davis played 24 minutes, had 11 points on 5-7 shooting to go along with 6 rebounds and 2 blocks. A brilliant performance, even though a lot of those numbers came in the second half when the game was comfortably in hand. Thing you notice about Davis: he’s very quick off his feet, contests the offensive rebound, tries to be in help position and, after a summer of hard work, has improved his jumper (knocked three down). One of his favorite players was Chris Bosh, so I’ll draw a comparison.
People always talked of Bosh being a great athlete and that reputation led many to believe that he was a good defender. That was never the case and Davis is the counter-example. Any defense Bosh played was the result of his athleticism, the defense Davis plays is because of his intelligence, instincts, and desire, his athleticism simply supports what he would do on the court even if he was 5’7″. The offensive game is obviously raw and the jumper, as you saw, is coming along just like it was with Bosh. Bosh probably had a head-start on him in terms of the jumper-development, but it’s also safe to say that Davis’ post-game is ahead of Bosh at that age (to be honest, Bosh still doesn’t have much of one). Funny coincidence, how did Bosh fare in his first game ever? 11 points in 24 minutes.
Calderon described Davis best: “He can be a very good player for us. For sure”. Here’s another very interesting take on Davis’ season and injury.
Back to the game, the Raptors went on a mammoth 30-8 run between the first and second quarters to put this one out of reach of the defensively allergic Wizards. Andrea Bargnani starting to attack McGee and rookie Trevor Booker . After starting slowly, Bargnani attacked from all areas, even using down-screens to free himself on the baselines to knock down jumpers like a guard. The Raptors bench outscored the Wizards’ 22-9 in the first half with Barbosa leading the charge with 8. Not to be discounted was Jerryd Bayless’ impact in his first half stint, he came in at 3:36 of the first when the score was 23-21 and exited at 7:33 with the score 47-33. That’s about eight minutes of great point guard play where he picked up three assists, and more importantly was very keen on sparking the transition offense. The Raptors had a 16-4 fastbreak edge by the time he went to the bench, and a lot of that is his doing. When he was signed he spoke of the opportunity to play in with like-minded players and a suitable system, we might be seeing what he could be capable of, but let’s keep ourselves in check because after all these are the Wizards. Also liked his defense in the first half against Wall, keeping him quiet was key to building that enjoyable 72-52 hafltime lead. One negative: that foul on Wall at the end of the half was completely unnecessary and something he needs to work on. Don’t foul, man, you don’t need to.
Bargnani had 18 points and 8 rebounds on 8-13 shooting, he actually missed his first two shots so he really finished going 8 of 11. It’s a total cliche but I am forced to say it. When he starts off inside, he gets his jumper going much better. He doesn’t just need early touches, he needs early touches inside and once he decided to setup shop in the paint, his jumpers started falling. DeMar DeRozan’s twelve first half points seemed quiet because they were spread out, he did hit a back-breaking three late in the half which was a sign of this being the Raptors’ night. His movement off the ball also deserves a mention. The tongue-in-cheek article from yesterday might lead some of you to believe that I’m not a fan of DeRozan, but if you care to read what I’ve written about him over the last year, you’ll find that I have more faith in him than most. I just feel that he needs to grab the opportunity presented to him on a platter with more enterprise.
The second half was a Raptors showcase, the Wizards run never came and the lead ballooned to as much as 27 before the night was over. Other than Wall in the second half, the Wizards did not look threatening by any standard. Some stats from this carnage: 52-30 rebounding advantage, 51 field goals and 58% shooting. It was a night to enjoy but also quickly forget because up next is OKC at home on Friday, be sure to join us on Raptor Fan Fridays at SCC.
Quick injury note. Reggie Evans had surgery Wednesday to repair his broken right foot and is expected to miss eight weeks, one really has to wonder where he’s going to fit if Davis continues to play well (or even if he doesn’t).
