SB Nation - Reggie Evans

Game #23: Toronto Raptors (11-15) vs. Miami Heat (11-11)

DolPhanDave — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:41:31 -0000

More photos » by Wilfredo Lee - AP

Yeah...this about sums it up

It isn't often that I don't watch a game. Even when I know the results, and sometimes those results aren't pretty, I'll still watch. This time, however, I wasn't upset that I forgot to set my DVR before heading north to Jacksonville for the Dolphins game.

I kept track of the game for a while on my cell, and even without actually seeing any live game action, two free throws and six turnovers in the first quarter told me all I needed to know. I saw (or read) about Memphis getting to the foul line 17 times before the Heat took their first foul shot, which came with just seconds left in the 1^st quarter.

I had a bad feeling before the game even started though, as I first logged onto Twitter and saw that the Heat's starting small forward was going to be Yakhouba Diawara. Where the hell did that move come from? Spoelstra said after the game that he went with Kooba because he wanted to keep Dorell Wright within his role as the first perimeter guy off the bench, which I can understand.

But we have guys like James Jones and Daequan Cook who could use the minutes much more then Diawara. I think they need to give Cook as many minutes as they can spare because the only way he is going to get better and get out of this funk is by playing through it.

I'm hoping that the Heat use this game as some serious motivation. Immediately following the embarrassing home loss there was a team meeting that was about thirty minutes long. When asked about what was said in the meeting, D-Wade said that he kept quiet and only listened.

Udonis Haslem wasn't as quiet; talking to his teammates about the lack of effort they've put fourth of late, as well as the teams poor record at home. Bet you didn't realize that the Heat were under .500 at home (6-7) and over .500 on the road (5-4).

Looking at tonight's opponent, the Raptors are coming off of one of their better defensive efforts of the season, holding the Houston Rockets to just 88 points on 37% shooting in a 13-point victory. Keep an eye on Chris Bosh, Heat fans. We all know how much Pat Riley loves this guy, and more then likely is going to go after him more then any other free agent.

That being the case, just imagine what it will be like having this amazingly talented and athletic big guy dominating the post area and moving guys around in the paint, creating all kinds of space and lanes for Dwyane Wade to maneuver and score. Yea, I know that its way to early to assume anything...but if Bosh has any kind of inkling about playing in Miami with his boy D-Wade, you better believe that Pat Riley will make it happen.

GAME NOTES

After going 2-2 on a tough west coast road trip, the Heat are 0-2 so far on their 6-game homestand.
Toronto gives up the 2^nd most points in the league, allowing 108.0 points/game but are 6^th in the league in scoring, putting up 104.0 points/game.
On the other hand, Miami is right smack dab in the middle of the pack at points given up, surrendering 98.6. They aren't as good offensively, ranked 22^nd in the association by putting up 97.0.
The Raptors are a perfect 8-0 this season when holding their opponent under 100 points.
The 37 points surrendered by the Heat in the 1^st quarter against Memphis on Sunday was the second most points given up in a quarter this season by Miami. The most? So glad you asked...it was the 43 points scored in the second quarter of the Heat's visit to Toronto on November 20^th.
I wouldn't expect to see Quentin Richardson back in the lineup yet. He is officially listed as doubtful with his strained right hamstring.
For Toronto, guard Jose Calderon (hip) and forward Reggie Evans (foot) are both out.

Tuesday night tipoff from the AAA is set for 7:30.

10 YEARS OF STIFFDOM: A Decade Retrospective...

Andrew Feinstein — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:04:03 -0000

Who knew that at the beginning of the '00s - with none other than Dan Issel in charge - that the Nuggets would end up having a successful and often thrilling decade? Here's a look back at the last 10 years of Denver Nuggets basketball...

At the conclusion of the 1990s, the Nuggets were in utter disarray. As documented in detail here at Denver Stiffs, this once proud and respected franchise had been turned into an NBA laughingstock thanks to a lethal combination of ineptitude, incompetence, and ignorance. Between 1990 and 1999, the Nuggets made the playoffs just twice and Nuggets fans were forced to endure seasons with win totals under 40 games eight times (including the lockout shortened 1998-99 season in which the Nuggets would likely have "won" about 25 games had an 82-game season been played out). We witnessed five seasons in which the Nuggets won less than 24 games, and in 1997-98 the 11-win Nuggets won less games than the Broncos that year.

Making matters worse throughout the 1990s, the Nuggets never caught a break. Even though they participated in eight NBA Draft lotteries, twice sported the worst record in the NBA (1990-91 and again after that infamous 1997-98 campaign) and had a bottom-four record five total times, the highest pick they were ever rewarded was third (which Issel promptly screwed up by drafting Raef LaFrentz over Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, Dirk Nowitzki and Antawn Jamison). We missed out on all the game-changing draftees of the 1990s: Shaquille O'Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Chris Webber and Tim Duncan. And a freak knee injury sustained by rising star LaPhonso Ellis in 1994 would prove to be the undoing of the Nuggets only good team of the decade: the 1993-94 squad that had just stunned the NBA world by beating the number-one seeded Seattle Supersonics in the playoffs before taking the Utah Jazz to seven in Round 2.

But make no mistake about it, the Nuggets problems throughout the 1990s were self-inflicted. Cartoonish figures such as Peter Bynoe, Bertram Lee, the Comsat "Corporation," Paul Westhead, Bernie Bickerstaff, Allan Bristow and finally, Issel, made every wrong/bad decision possible, leaving the Nuggets organization in tatters until Stanley E. Kroenke rescued the franchise in 2000 with his purchase of the team. Upon arrival, Kroenke made it clear that he wanted to win and win now, and thus set in motion a series of events that produced one of the better decades in franchise history...

2000-2001 (40-42, no playoffs)

In an increasingly tough Western Conference, the Nuggets remarkably won 40 games but were still seven games off the eighth-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves. While a 40-win season would normally be a good thing having come off a 35-win season, team "president", "head coach" and dictator Dan Issel had already mortgaged the Nuggets future by sending away numerous first round picks in order to build that 40-win team.

Non-Stiff of the Year: Antonio McDyess

Coming off a gold-medal winning performance in the Sydney Olympics, McDyess was a stud in 2000-01. The quiet, dignified power forward averaged 20.8 ppg, 12.1 rpg and 1.5 bpg and even made the All-Star team.

Stiff of the Year: Dan Issel

The aforementioned Issel had previously (and foolishly) traded away the Nuggets own first round picks for 1999, 2000 and 2001 - all lottery picks, mind you - and after an assortment of complicated, even more stupid deals, for those picks he essentially brought back Tariq Abdul-Wahad, Kevin Willis (on the very wrong side of his career), Voshon Lenard and Tracy Murray. But that was just off-the-court. On-the-court, Issel was a tyrant with his players and the refs. At one point, his players were so fed up with the way he was treating Raef LaFrentz (a draft bust of Issel's own making) and others, that point guard Nick Van Exel led a player boycott of practice.

2001-02 (27-55, no playoffs)

After years of overpaying for mediocre players and parting with valuable first round picks in exchange for nothing, the wheels finally came off the Issel Administration and the Nuggets fell apart in 2001-02, precipitated by a major knee injury to McDyess that caused him to miss all but 10 games of the season. Prior to the season starting, Kroenke - either sensing that Issel had too much power, was too incompetent or both - astutely hired Kiki Vandeweghe as GM to a five-year contract.

Non-Stiff of the Year: Kiki Vandeweghe

After Issel "resigned" the day after Christmas (more on that shortly), Vandeweghe gutted out the roster and made a controversial move that would put the Nuggets on the path of success they still enjoy today. Knowing the Nuggets were going nowhere with the expensive roster he inherited, Vandeweghe boldly shipped out Van Exel, LaFrentz, Abdul-Wahad and Avery Johnson (another overpayee thanks to Issel) to Dallas in exchange for Juwan Howard, Tim Hardaway, Donnell Harvey and a future first round pick. When the Nuggets eventually met the Mavericks in the 2009 playoffs second round, I detailed how that major trade actually brought the two once dormant franchises together.

Stiff of the Year: Dan Issel

"Go drink another beer, you Mexican piece of shit!" Those nine words - uttered by Issel towards a heckling Hispanic Nuggets fan after a December 10th loss to the Charlotte Hornets - were exactly what Kroenke and Vandeweghe needed to kick Issel out the door. Issel, a Nuggets legend as a player, had built up so much great PR in the community (he still has some...note Woody Paige's ludicrous suggestion that the Nuggets bring Issel back to the organization last year) that he would have been tough to fire otherwise. After serving a four-game suspension, Issel "resigned" on December 26th, 2001 and unfortunately for Issel, things haven't exactly worked out for him since.

Stiff of the Year Runner-Up: Tim Hardaway

Unlike Howard who - knowing playing in Denver would be a brutal, losing situation - accepted the trade to the Nuggets and behaved like a total professional during his time here (it helps when you're getting paid $18.8 and then $20.1 million per season!), Hardaway was a petulant, angry brat who never got over leaving Dallas where he was hoping to gravy train his way into an NBA Championship. After starting 14 games for the Nuggets, Hardaway unleashed his anger on a TV monitor by throwing it onto the floor and getting himself suspended two games.

2002-03 (17-65, no playoffs)

Entering the 2002-03 NBA season, Vandeweghe purposefully compiled the worst roster in modern NBA history in hopes of tanking enough games to win the first pick in the draft (knowing that on the horizon was one of the better drafts in NBA history). The Nuggets starting back court of Vincent Yarbrough and Junior Harrington couldn't crack a 14-man roster the following season, and the rest of the roster was littered with names you already don't remember. Armed with two lottery picks - thanks to a great trade that sent McDyess to New York in exchange for Marcus Camby and the Knicks lottery pick - Vandeweghe drafted Nene and some skinny kid from Georgia, and I'm not talking about the university (more on him shortly).

Non-Stiff of the Year: Jeff Bzdelik

In spite of being dealt the worst hand ever dealt a coach in modern NBA history, rookie head coach Jeff Bzdelik refused to make excuses, worked his ass off and was able to get 17 wins out of our Nuggets. I'd argue that was 17 more wins than they should have had and Bzdelik should have gotten Coach of the Year consideration. The Nuggets were awful talent-wise, but they played harder than their opponent almost every night.

Stiff of the Year: Nikoloz Tskitishvili

Drafted fifth overall out of the Republic of Georgia, "Skita" has since gone down in history as the worst fifth overall pick of all time (and believe me, there have been some bad fifth overall picks). Given ample opportunity to succeed in his first season, Skita - listed at seven-feet tall - shot 29.3% from the field as a rookie. At a game in Los Angeles against the Lakers, I once saw Skita shoot a wide open shot in which the ball hit the shot clock first before getting anywhere near the backboard or rim.

2003-04 (43-39, 1-4 in the playoffs)

A full 10 years after upsetting the Sonics in the playoffs, the Nuggets finally got their act together and Coloradoans cared about basketball again. Unable to shake the Nuggets streak of bad luck with the Draft Lottery, Vandeweghe got lucky nonetheless thanks to Detroit GM Joe Dumars' stupidly drafting Darko Milicic (i.e. Skita 2.0), leaving Syracuse star/stud Carmelo Anthony available with the third overall pick. And with Howard's giant contract coming off the books, Vandeweghe was finally able to spend Kroenke's money. Free agent signees Andre Miller, Jon Barry and Earl Boykins joined Melo, Nene and a healthy Camby. Under Bzdelik's stewardship, the Nuggets won 43 games and put up a respectable fight against the Timberwolves in the playoffs first round. As fans, we were happy just to be in the playoffs!

Non-Stiff of the Year: Carmelo Anthony

For the first time since Alex English last donned a rainbow jersey, the Nuggets had a perennial All-Star caliber player in Melo. As a rookie, Melo averaged 21 ppg and 6.1 rpg while giving fellow rookie phenom LeBron James a run for the Rookie of the Year Award. But more importantly, Melo led the Nuggets back to the postseason in a hyper-competitive Western Conference, whereas LBJ couldn't do the same in Cleveland in the weakened Eastern Conference.

Stiff of the Year: Rodney White

Playing for his next contract after his rookie deal was due to expire in two seasons, White gave the Nuggets next-to-nothing in 2003-04 even though he appeared in 72 games and received 14 minutes of playing time per game. Just a few years removed from being the ninth overall pick to Detroit (ahem...Joe Dumars again), White would be out of the NBA completely after the 2004-05 campaign. But hey, at least he was nominated for the Denver Stiffs Hall of Fame!

2004-05 (49-33, 1-4 in the playoffs)

Wanting to build upon the Nuggets newly found success (and at Kroenke's alleged insistence), Vandeweghe spent the entire 2004 offseason shopping for a big name free agent to bring to Denver. After being turned down by Manu Ginobili and Brad Miller, Vandeweghe panicked and got duped into sending three number one picks to New Jersey for Kenyon Martin in a sign-and-trade deal. K-Mart's price tag? $90 million over seven seasons. Under immense pressure to win more games, Bzdelik and the Nuggets floundered out of the gate, starting out 13-15 before Bzdelik got sacked and replaced by a former WNBA coach (Michael Cooper) who went 4-10 as coach of the team.

Non-Stiff of the Year: George Karl

Inheriting a 17-25 team loaded with talent but without any direction and big egos to boot, Karl's no-nonsense, "my way or the highway" approach immediately turned the Nuggets fortunes around. With only 40 games to work with, Karl guided the Nuggets to a 32-8 record (the best in NBA history after a mid-season coaching switch) and had the Nuggets playing the best basketball in the NBA down the stretch of the regular season.

Stiff of the Year: Kiki Vandeweghe

By acquiring K-Mart, Vandeweghe essentially panicked while throwing away all of the salary cap flexibility he had worked so hard and smartly to cultivate. But worse than that, Vandeweghe was eerily silent while Bzdelik was left to twist in the wind as the Nuggets struggled early in the season. Vandeweghe never publicly defended the one man willing to coach the dreadful 2002-03 roster that Vandeweghe had assembled, and Kiki made matters worse by bringing in Cooper to take over as head coach. The Cooper hire cost the Nuggets a higher playoff seed.

Stiff of the Year Runner-Up: Carmelo Anthony

Melo couldn't stay out of trouble in 2004. First, he was cited for marijuana possession at DIA that his cousin conveniently took the blame for (the old "that wasn't my pot!" excuse). Second, he feuded with Olympic coach Larry Brown in Athens and found himself benched on the 2004 Team USA that embarrassingly finished with a bronze medal. Third - and perhaps the worst/dumbest - Melo was caught on a "Stop Snitching" DVD in which alleged drug dealers explain what happens to people who cooperate with the police. Melo didn't improve much on the floor, either, and found himself (rightfully) in Karl's doghouse early and often.

2005-06 (44-38, 1-4 in the playoffs)

Unable to build off the team's incredible run under Karl to conclude the previous season, injuries ravaged the Nuggets and they limped their way to a 44-38 record. K-Mart and Camby missed 26 games apiece and most tragically, Nene succumbed to the Nuggets power forward curse and was lost for the season with an ACL and MCL tear after just one game. At the time, the Nuggets marketing and PR team spun the season as as success under the guise of "Northwest Division Champs" and that the Nuggets were a three-seed entering the postseason. But this was before the NBA properly seeded division winners who have mediocre records. The Nuggets were such a weak three-seed, that the Clippers purposely tanked games to face them in the first round...and when they got their wish, the Clippers clocked the Nuggets in five games. Oh, and that was the Clippers only playoff series win since becoming the Clippers in 1978. Overall, the season was a mess from from the top down (as chronicled in detail at the time by the Denver Post's Thomas George). Vandeweghe would be let go at season's end and was replaced by Mark Warkentien (and eventually Rex Chapman, too). Dysfunction, egos and injuries had set the Nuggets back a few steps.

Non-Stiff of the Year: (tie) Carmelo Anthony and Andre Miller

Melo and Miller played in 80 and 82 games, respectively, and carried the Nuggets in 2005-06. Melo improved his scoring average by over six points per game and his field goal percentage went up, as well. Miller - the modern day NBA "iron man" even if he doesn't condition well in the offseason - was a steady hand as always, starting in all 82 games and dishing out over eight assists per game.

Stiff of the Year: Kenyon Martin

Recovering from microfracture surgery and frustrated by knee tendinitis, K-Mart was pretty surly for much of the season and was morphing into a locker room cancer. He allegedly didn't get along with coaches or teammates (according to George's article, K-Mart's teammates questioned his commitment to recovery and work ethic) and it all came to an ugly head during halftime of Game 2 at Los Angeles, when K-Mart went at it with Karl and several teammates. K-Mart was benched for the remainder of the game and eventually su spended for the duration of the series.

Stiff of the Year Runner-Up: Reggie Evans

As perhaps a microcosm of the dysfunction and lack of respect for the game that was taking over the Nuggets, "The Joker" grabbed Clippers center Chris Kaman's testicles while fighting for a rebound during Game 1 of the Clippers series.

2006-07 (45-37, 1-4 in the playoffs)

In spite of it being K-Mart's turn to succumb to the Nuggets power forward curse (he would play just two games all season) and losing their first three straight games by a total of five points, the Nuggets would win 12 of their first 21 games with Melo playing the best basketball of his career. That all changed abruptly on Saturday, December 16th, 2006. In New York facing the Knicks (who had embarrassingly beaten the Nuggets in Denver in Game 3 of the season), the Nuggets found themselves up 19 with 75 seconds to go. Karl - alleged by some to want to rub the victory in Knicks coach Isiah Thomas' face (Thomas had recently sandbagged Karl's good friend Larry Brown) - left his starters on the floor, prompting Thomas to send in his "goon squad" and make the Nuggets pay. What began as a hard, unnecessary, dangerous, around-the-neck foul on J.R. Smith by the Knicks' Mardy Collins erupted into a full-scale brawl...culminating with Melo's cheap shot punch on Collins. Melo would be suspended 15 games and Smith 10, prompting Nuggets management to attempt to salvage the season by bringing in super star guard Allen Iverson from Philadelphia in exchange for Miller, Joe Smith and two first round picks. Little did we know that the fun was just beginning.

Non-Stiff of the Year: Allen Iverson

Welcomed with open arms by Nuggets fans and his new teammates, Iverson made an immediate impact on the Nuggets (on and off the floor, in good ways and bad). But with Melo out 15 games, Iverson was able to keep the Nuggets afloat and competitive almost by himself. When Melo and Iverson finally got to play together for a long stretch, the Nuggets reeled off nine straight wins and 10 of 11 to finish out the season strong as the hottest team in the NBA.

Stiff of the Year: Isiah Thomas

In addition to sinking the Raptors as an incompetent vice president, sinking the CBA in a summer as an incompetent commissioner and sinking the Knicks as an incompetent president/coach/alleged sexual harrasser (hell, Isiah was an incompetent broadcaster, too), Isiah would sink the Nuggets season in one fell swoop by commandeering his players to take out the Nuggets starters in that game.

Stiff of the Year Runner-Up: (tie) Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith

Even though Isiah "started it," Melo and J.R. were unable to keep their heads cool and unnecessarily exacerbated an already ugly situation, ruining the Nuggets entire season as a result.

2007-08 (50-32, 0-4 in the playoffs)

Entering 2007-08, the Nuggets would finally have a training camp with their full roster participating from the get-go. With Melo and Iverson having ample time to play together, optimism in Denver was higher than it had been since entering the 2004-05 campaign. So high was the optimism, in fact, that Kroenke had over $83 million invested in the team's payroll (second or third highest in the league at the time) and Melo and K-Mart started floating out "60 wins" as a realistic goal. But even with Iverson appearing in all 82 games, Camby playing 79, Melo 77, K-Mart 71 and vast improvements seen in the games of bench players J.R. Smith and Linas Kleiza, the Nuggets weren't able to secure a playoff spot (an eighth seed no less) until the 79th game of the season with a big win at Golden State. As an eighth seed, the Nuggets got worked over by the Lakers in an embarrassing four-game sweep: a series which saw Melo bark at Karl "don't just sit there!" and the benching of Iverson early in Game 3 that didn't go over well. Prior to the Nuggets final regular season game, Melo would get arrested on suspicion of a DUI. It became evident that the A.I. experiment was an expensive failure.

Non-Stiff of the Year: Nene

After being diagnosed with testicular cancer and undergoing surgery to remove his right testicle, Nene remarkably returned to play again on March 27th against the Mavericks, giving the Nuggets a much needed emotional boost that helped them secure a playoff spot down the stretch.

Stiff of the Year: George Karl

Stuck in an admittedly tumultuous and difficult situation, Karl spent much of the 2007-08 sitting on his hands during games while the Nuggets unraveled on the court. While the Nuggets head coach got called for just one technical foul all season (second to last in the NBA), his players finished in the top two in personal fouls, technical fouls, flagrant fouls and ejections. The inmates were running the asylum as Karl's coaching record in Denver got extended to a paltry 3-16 over four years. Karl would later admit to SI.com that "...the last couple of years, I was confused." Watching Karl's Nuggets routinely take nights off that season, so were we.

2008-09 (54-28, 10-6 in the playoffs)

Disappointed with his lack of return on investment, Kroenke gave an edict to management to slash payroll during the 2008 offseason. Camby would be shipped out to the Clippers in exchange for a trade exception, coach and fan favorite Eduardo Najera would not be re-signed, Iverson's contract wouldn't be extended and things were looking grim entering the 2008-09 campaign. But what loomed as a disaster instead became a season of reformation and rejuvenation. Karl came into training camp as "Fiery George" again, Melo won a gold medal with Team USA and learned a thing or two from Kobe Bryant on what an NBA work ethic really is and K-Mart, fully healthy, came into camp with an apology to his coach and teammates and a vow to work harder and play better. With former NBA castaways Chris "Birdman" Andersen and Dahntay Jones added for next-to-nothing (by NBA salary standards) and Nene in real basketball shape for the first time ever, the Nuggets were quietly confident that they had a special season on their hands.

The lone chink in the Nuggets newfound armor would be Iverson who, upset by not receiving a contract extension, showed up to camp out of shape and several steps slow. Remarkably, Nuggets management was able to pull off one of the great trades in Nuggets history by shipping Iverson to Detroit for Chauncey Billups. By adding Billups to a roster primed to take off, the Nuggets would shock the basketball world by tying a franchise record with 54 wins and going toe-to-toe with the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. Simply put, it was the greatest full season of Nuggets basketball since the 1984-85 Nuggets made it to the conference finals and hopefully a sign of more good things to come in the decade ahead.

Non-Stiff of the Year: Chauncey Billups

The Denver-born Billups - who had been cast off by Issel years earlier without ever given a fair hearing as a Nugget - immediately proved to be the perfect leader for the Nuggets. Coming off six consecutive conference finals appearances with the Pistons, Billups would make it seven when he led the Nuggets there.

Non-Stiff of the Year Runner-Up: (tie) Nuggets Management and George Karl

After years of placing talent over character, the Nuggets GM "troika" of Warkentien, Chapman and team adviser Bret Bearup had assembled a roster stocked with good character guys and also deserve credit for not panicking after the 2008 playoff debacle. Warkentien would be rewarded with the NBA's Executive of the Year Award, but it should have been shared by all three guys. Karl, meanwhile, turned in one of his finest performances as an NBA head coach while bridging whatever gap had existed between him and his mercurial stars Melo, J.R. and K-Mart.

Stiff of the Year: Allen Iverson

The NBA will soon be announcing their "All Decade Team" and it will be fascinating to see if A.I. makes the squad. One of the greatest players of the decade, Iverson ultimately proved to be a bad fit for the Nuggets and a bad influence on Melo and J.R. This became painfully clear when the Pistons imploded after bringing Iverson on board in exchange for Billups.

Overall, the '00s were a great decade for Nuggets basketball: six straight playoff appearances, two 50-plus win seasons, All-Star players and thrilling performances (how many game-tying and game-winning shots has Melo made?!). And while it would have been nice to see a few more playoff series victories prior to last season, the memories of the Bickerstaff and Issel Administrations are still prominent enough for me to appreciate what's been going on recently.

Fortunately for Nuggets fans, four of our best players - Melo, J.R., Nene and rookie Ty Lawson - still have many seasons ahead of them and hopefully will remain in a Nuggets uniform into the next decade. At the very least, we're guaranteed that the new decade starts out reasonably well and it will be fascinating to see where this franchise is standing in 2020.

Thanks for the memories and Go Nuggets!!

Photos courtesy of AP and NBAE/Getty Images

3 In the Key - Toronto Raptors Game Day Preview vs. Washington

Raptors HQ - Vicious D — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:33:46 -0000

The Raptors may need some lessons from this movie if they hope to win again in the next month.

View full size photo »

The Toronto Raptors welcome the Washington Wizards tonight in an attempt to right a listing ship. The Raps have been absolutely atrocious on defense, there is a growing discontent amongst the fanbase, and some players seem to be questioning the overall philosophy of this team. Vicious D takes a step back to look at some of the club's issues, in particular in regards to aggressiveness.

Excuse me as this recap is going to take a little bit of a right turn.

I love Goodfellas. It's a great anti-godfather movie about the ruthlessness of the mafia and the ability to intimidate. With some of the best performances from the main actors, the Raptors could use a little Joe Pesci.

After the last game, I was pretty livid that just about every single key that I wrote about was ignored and discarded. Granted, I don't expect the Raptors to actively read this blog, but at the same time, I don't believe that I'm the only one who saw a problem. There are just no excuses for how they played. This team was supposed to be tougher and nastier this year while still not losing their offensive prowess.

Oh, I can hear the laughter now coming from the doubters.

But let's break it down a little. Colangelo's stated goal at the end of last season was to change the identity of this team and bring in some players tha would be more aggressive, or as he put "had more fight." Yesterday, Marco Belinelli iterated that the Raptors need to be more aggressive overall, which is something I've been calling for that for the past month. This should not be a new theme for this team.

We've questioned the composition of this team multiple times, but I think that a month into the season we can now take a look and really try to analyze the club in terms of its aggressiveness.

In general, there are three categories of Raptor players when it comes to aggression in my books; those that change the tempo of games, there are those that wait for others to change the momentum and they get pulled along for the ride, and there are those that may have a good aggressive game once in a blue moon. Keep in mind that this list is purely subjective.

Tempo-changing	Aggressive	Passive
Chris Bosh Reggie Evans Sonny Weems Amir Johnson Pops Mensah-Bonsu	Marco Belinelli Andrea Bargnani Jarrett Jack	Rasho Nesterovic DeMar DeRozan Hedo Turkoglu Patrick O'Bryant Antoine Wright Jose Calderon

Now, I recognize that not all these top aggression players are high level scorers and defensive stoppers. After all, measuring aggression can only really be done by seeing the players in actual games and often comes with the "little things" they do. But the reason why I want to point this out is because the players that seem to bring "it" every single night are largely people that haven't played, or are considered "end of benchers". Players like Reggie Evans, Sonny Weems and Pops Mensah-Bonsu have been considered high energy players largely because they are enthusiastic about taking the ball to the rim, hound their man on the defensive side, aggressively rebound the basketball and make mistakes at times because they can try to do too much. (Outisde of Evans of course who hasn't played a single game yet this regular season.)

In the second tier, there are some players who can turn it on most nights aggressiveness-wise if they want to, but I also believe Belinelli, Bargnani, and Jack have all been misused for a lot of this season. Jack's decision making ability at times has been a bit questionable, but he does try to take it to the rim more than a few times a game. He's actually a player who I would say is on the cusp of being in the "passive" category. Bargnani is most successful when he starts off aggressive in a game by going to the basket often and when he can be found posting up his opposing player. However, the Raptors go to him far too little and often give him the ball when he posts up at least two feet outside of the key. And of course, Belinelli has sometimes shot himself out of games and needs to learn when to go to the basket more, but has been perhaps the Raptors' most electrifying passer.

Those in the final tier are a steady presence. You know what to expect out of these players most nights and they give you effort. However, they just do not seem to attack enough on either end of the court.

So out of the entire team, three of our starters can be considered passive players, and two out of four bench players are also passive players. Two of our most aggressive players do not even get off the bench most nights unless there's an injury, and one of our best energy players hasn't played a single game of regular season ball.

And some wonder why the Raptors fanbase is more than a little concerned.

Unfortunately, the Raptors seemed locked into into a certain rotation and philosophy with Jay Triano on board. Unwilling to play some of his more aggressive players to change the tempo of the game, the Raptors are often caught flat-footed at the half as the opposition makes adjustments and comes out aggressive against Toronto. Caught like a deer in headlights, the Raps have little choice but to keep trying to shoot their way back into games, often with little success. By the time any other aggressive players hit the court, the Dinos are already often down by five or ten points.

I've questioned early in this season just what the goal of this staff and team is. Are they trying to instill some philosophy in this team and trying to prove a point, or are they actually trying to put the best team on the court to win games. This team has had all of pre-season and a month of basketball to "teach and learn". Yes, DeMar DeRozan is one of those projects and his development has sometimes led to the Raptors falling in some fairly deep holes. But I've noticed that Triano seems stubborn in clinging onto the notion that he must keep re-enforcing certain rotations. For example, Calderon and Jack continues to be used in just about every single game. DeMar DeRozan must always get at least five minutes per half, regardless of his play. Triano has continued to keep at least two starters on the court at any one time rather than trying to build a bench that actually has chemistry with each other. Oh and Sonny Weems and Pops Mensah-Bonsu? They're only going to get playing time if it's garbage time or if the Raptors have injuries, regardless of how bad the energy level of the team is.

At some point, the goals of this team have to change from "teaching" to "winning".

This season cannot continue like this and unfortunately, I think the only way that this team will get better is through injuries.

Yes, I said it.

However, there is already precedence this year. Amir Johnson has been able to get the time on the court in order to show his skills thanks to Reggie Evans's injury. Looking back on the year so far, I don't believe that Amir Johnson would have gotten the burn necessary had Evans not been injured. He certainly wouldn't have become comfortable enough to get more aggressive on the court, and he most likely would never develop the chemistry he seems to be having with Marco Belinelli.

There is no other way that Jay Triano is going to try giving the ball more to Marco Belinelli as a sort of a make-shift point guard unless he is forced into using him in such a role. Sonny Weems has already proven himself in the limited time he's been given as a legitimate alternative to DeMar DeRozan if DeRozan's development is put aside.

So instead of three keys this morning, against Washington, I want to see 48 keys; as in 48 minutes of aggressiveness.

The Wizards have been arguably the most dissapointing team in the league so far considering Arenas has been healthy and many picked the club to finish top 5 in the East. There's no better place for Toronto to start getting this ship turned around then tonight.

However to do this, the Raptors will have to at least prove they can stop Washington, sometime, somewhere. Toronto has only held five teams under 100 points in regulation so far this year. Five. The only way Dinos can do so is to build on aggressive offense, which seems to fuel their most aggressive defensive stances. It's when the club gets passive and starts shooting jump shots that the lackluster defense seems to emerge.

So in order to grab a very important win tonight, Toronto really only needs one key.

And that's aggression.

RaptorsHQ Talks with Marco Belinelli

RaptorsHQ - Franchise — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:30:16 -0000

More photos » by Pawel Dwulit - AP

The HQ got to spend some time pre-game yesterday with one of the newest Raptors...

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RaptorsHQ had a chance to go one-on-one with Marco Belinelli pre-game, and Grant Hill post game yesterday...

First off, a big thanks to the Raptors for granting us media access to yesterday's game. Despite the loss, and as I touched on this morning, it was a very interesting look behind the scenes at a team in the midst of some turmoil.

Besides facilitating our own analysis, the opportunity also presented a chance to go one-on-one with various players. While one of my original interview targets, Reggie Evans, was nowhere to be found, I did manage to get a chance to talk to both Marco Belinelli pre-game, and Grant Hill post-game.

For Raptors' fans, Marco is obviously the more intriguing interview so I've transcribed it below. The Grant Hill piece I've left in an audio file and it can be heard by clicking on the following link - Grant Hill Post-Game.

For me, it was a huge thrill to speak to Grant, my favourite NBA player of all time. My interview with him was sidetracked at the beginning thanks to Jared Dudley doing a mock interview of his own but soon after Hill and I got into various topics; from the Suns' secret medical facilities to Duke's potential this season, a topic that as you'll hear, Hill went into great detail about to the media's amusement.

As for Marco, I found him lounging in the Toronto locker-room pre-game, watching game footage from the last time Phoenix and Toronto met. He was sitting on one of those foam rollers players use to stretch and smooth out cramps with. Not long after I started to talk to him, Hedo Turkoglu came over looking for the roller which precipitated the following hysterical exchange:

Hedo (ala monotone): "Hey, I need that."

Marco (not really paying attention to him): "What?"

Hedo (again in monotone motioning to the roller): "I need that for my back."

Marco (in a similar monotone style): "I need it for my ass."

Of course at this point, I started to crack up, and they both realized how ridiculous this whole discussion was, and started laughing themselves.

Marco then gave up the foam roller, and we settled into a good conversation:

RaptorsHQ: When you were at Golden State, how frustrating was it sometimes for you...

Marco Belinelli: ...a lot of times, almost every game...

RHQ: ...you must have been thinking "when the hell am I going to play?" As a competitive individual, you've played at a high level your whole career, so this (in Toronto) must feel good to get a chance to go in there and show what you can do.

MB: Definitely! And that's what I'm doing, coming in and showing again that I can play at this level and help the team...I feel good about that. You know last year, with the Warriors was very difficult to me because I never play a lot; last year I played like 20, 22 games and I don't want to think about that you know.

RHQ: So when you first found out that you were coming here, with the trade, give me your reaction.

MB: I was on the National Team, and I heard the news about me in the trade with Marion I was so happy you know, it was like a new life. I was very happy to be here, to play with Andrea, you know, other guys, CB, Turko, Rasho, all the European guys...it's just perfect and I'm really happy to be here.

RHQ: You've already become a fan favourite, we do a Raptors' blog and everyone's always talking about you, and screaming if they don't feel you're coming into the game soon enough, and I think it's because you bring some of that energy, that spark, and something the team can really use.

MB: This is my job you know, when I spoke with Jay, he told me that when I was out there on the court, try to be aggressive and do my job. And the first thing that's really important is to try and be aggressive because if you are aggressive you can steal the ball, you can run faster, you can take a shot that other team doesn't expect; but first of all you need to have that aggression and that's my mentality.

RHQ: You're one of the more aggressive players on this team, you and that guy over there (I point to Pops who's doing a little solo dance near his locker), the team seems to need more of that lately. After that last game, can you describe the team mood?

MB: You know, we lost two games, especially the game against Charlotte, we lost by 35 and the team was really pissed off, like everybody, because we lost by 35 to them. They're a good team but 35 is too much for us and we just talked about that and we can't do that. We've got a lot of games left, we've got like 65 games...we have to do a good job on the court, try to stick to together and everything will be good. It's not easy for us because you know, we've got nine new guys. Me too I'm new. Everyday gets better though and we'll get there.

RHQ: You just touched on the fact that you have so many new players, do you think that's been one of the issues with the defence and turnovers lately?

MB: Maybe, maybe. But first and foremost you need to be aggressive on defence, more aggressive on defence, me, everybody. If you play good defense, it makes such a difference. Offense we have no problem, we can score 100, 120 points easy. We just need to focus on defence and on fast breaks.

RHQ: Now in practice lately, has that sort of been the focus?

MB: Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. Every day we talk with Jay and the staff about defence. We know at this moment that we are not a good defensive team but we can be better and we're working on that.

RHQ: And is it from a positive reinforcement standpoing? I mean, each game you do see good flashes of defence so the ability IS there...

MB: ...you're right, you're right you know, because sometimes we play good defence for like 20 seconds, and then in the last four seconds they score. That's really terrible and we have to be more focused. We work on these things every day...offence too but if we want to go in the playoffs or far, you have to play defence. That's my opinion and everybody knows that, if we play good defence and we don't have problems on offence we can make good decisions and have success on the court.

RHQ: Just talk about the pick'n' roll a bit. This is one point a lot of people have pointed out defensively as being an issue for this club. Talk a little bit about what Jay and the coaching staff has wanted you guys to do from a technical standpoint in terms of defending this type of attack.

MB: You know I think our problem is not so much style of defence; you know if we switch on pick'n'roll, double-team pick'n'roll...like I told you before, you just have to be more aggressive because if you are aggressive that plays into everything; you can switch, you can double team hard, you can do everything. But our mentality has to be more aggressive on defence and after we can do everything.

RHQ: So that's the main issue then in your opinion is it; being more aggressive in situations whether it's showing or hedging or...

MB: ...more hungry about the ball, that's my opinion. I think that in a couple of games we didn't play good defence but I remember the good defence against Cleveland, Chicago...in Chicago they only scored like 82 points and barely scored in the fourth quarter you know so we can do it.

RHQ: Thanks Marco, good luck tonight.

Tip-In: Toronto Raptors Post-Game Report - Pride

RaptorsHQ - Franchise — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 14:15:41 -0000

More photos » by Michael Dwyer - AP

Pierce's dunk on Chris Bosh might have been the death blow, but the entire Boston club showed more pride all night leading to their win.

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After yet another game where the Toronto Raptors failed to show any sort of pride when it counted, the HQ laments that should this style of play continue, it's going to be a very long season for Raptors' fans...

I started the recap off with this video.

As I mentioned in last night's "Rapid Recap," it's really all you needed to know/see about last night's 116- to 103 loss to the Boston Celtics.

In the video, as has been the case all season, Chris Bosh is left helpless under the rim, the victim of yet another onslaught from the perimeter, and being slightly late on the rotation, finds himself unable to stop an easy basket...

...only this time the easy basket comes in the form of one of the NBA season's most aggressive dunks, knocking the wind out of CB4 and throwing him to the ground.

As a fan, to watch it was revolting.

Not simply because of the play itself, but because again, one of Toronto's key pieces was essentially completely disrespected on the court, and the rest of the team failed to react in the slightest.

In fact it was Jay Triano and his staff that nearly bumrushed Pierce after the incident, furious about the treatment "afforded" the Raptors' franchise-piece.

"When will things change?"

That's the question I had to ask myself after the incident and post-game. This is now the fourthiteration of this team essentially under Colangelo (The Ford era, JO era, Marion era and now Hedo era) and only last season's combination of O'Neal and Marion showed much promise in terms of grit and feistiness. Unfortunately Marion was only here for a few weeks, and O'Neal's impact in this regard was greatly limited due to injury.

At some point this team needs to show some fight.

And this isn't just an avid fan's perspective. Twitter was abuzz after the dunk with similar thoughts from sportswriters. Take SI's Chris Mannix's tweet:

ChrisMannixSI Pierce T'd up, Toronto bench goes ballistic. Unfortunately no one there that will do anything about it.

And he's right.

Would Reggie Evans have helped? I'm not so sure.

Jalen Rose post dunk tweeted:

jalenrose OMG the Celts Paul Pierce just dunked on the Raps Chis Bosh....whewwww---NASTY!

Reggie's response?

ReggieEvans30 @jalenrose lol.

Not exactly the response I was expecting to see.

Of course that doesn't mean that had Evans been on the court when the incident occurred things wouldn't have been different. And I'm not advocating a close-line to Pierce's neck on his next drive.

But the point of this is that this team is still (and arguably more so) fundamentally flawed in terms of the grit and fight it brings to the court each night. It started with the drafting of DeMar DeRozan, one of the league's shyest and least charismatic rookies, and was completed by bringing in the Hedos and Rashos in free-agency.

I'm not saying these aren't or won't be good players.

However they're not exactly the most gritty and feisty bunch and frankly, this team needs a serious dose of it.

Outside of the Pierce dunk, this lack of aggression manifested itself in various other ways in last night's second-half. The Raptors couldn't get stops, key rebounds, loose balls...everything started to go Boston's way. And not because Boston was the better team, frankly the Celtics played quite terribly in the first half which is why despite shooting over 80 per cent from the field, they found themselves down by one on the scoreboard. No, the C's simply came out of the locker room wanting it more, and it quickly showed on the court.

The Pierce dunk may have been the final nail in the coffin, but the funeral procession was well underway prior to that point.

The fact is that aside from some line-up changes (Rasho was much more effective besides Bosh again last night but would Triano actually have the gumption to bench the "Big Rook?") the roster is exactly what you see. Even a Reggie Evans addition (should it ever occur) I doubt will do much to change this club's lack of fight. Therefore going forward, the fight has to start coming from within. The Raps need to start playing with more of an edge or else this current slide that they're on (they've lost six of their last eight) is only going to snowball into something much worse.

Post-game, Doc Rivers indicated described the first half as:

"We were just having a feel-good game; you score, pat them on the back, and then they score. We call it "Buddy Ball.""

Folks this has been Toronto's season so far.

If the Dinos can't figure out a way to inject some passion and pride into their play, especially at the defensive end, then this "Buddy Ball" style of play is going to result in another quick trip to the NBA Lottery.

3 In The Key - Toronto Raptors Game Day Preview vs. Indiana

RaptorsHQ - Franchise — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:32:05 -0000

More photos » by Michael Conroy - AP

Can the Raps slow down Danny Granger and the fast-paced Indiana attack tonight?

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RaptorsHQ makes its monthly media appearance at the Air Canada Center, this time to see Jarrett Jack's former club, the Indiana Pacers come for a visit.

When we started looking at the November schedule, tonight's game against the Indiana Pacers seemed to jump out a bit.

Why?

Well for starters, there weren't a lot of home games to choose from of course.

More importantly though, considering the tough schedule the Dinos had been involved with early on, this match seemed to mark the first of a somewhat easier stretch for Toronto.

Of course in the NBA, "easier" is a relative term.

The Knicks can get thumped one night, then take the Celtics to overtime another.

But on paper, the Raps' next bunch doesn't have the same "oh no" factor as did their previous Western Conference road trip, or even games against the likes of Orlando. Yes, they still need to close out the month against Phoenix and Boston, but apart from those two, things finally start to ease up a bit.

And talk about perfect timing.

The Raps come in a banged up bunch, already minus Reggie Evans of course, but with a gaggle of swingmen suddenly suffering from various issues. Antoine Wright, Hedo Turkoglu and Marco Belinelli have each missed time recently, and now, Amir Johnson has a tweaked knee as well.

Yesterday's reports out of practice however made it sound like Belinelli was going to be good to go, with Wright and Johnson likely as well provided no flare-ups occured overnight. It would be great to have a full staff on board for an important one tonight vs. Indiana.

The Pacers come in with a 5 and 6 record, having lost three in a row. Among those losses, some disappointing ones to New York and Charlotte. Danny Granger has been his usual phenomenal self, but he's struggled to get consistent help from teammates, especially with Troy Murphy being on the DL. Toronto will have to lock in on Granger tonight, the Pacers' main weapon, and that kicks off the first of our three keys:

1) Keep Granger in check.

Longtime readers know my affinity for Granger. He was my favourite college player in 2005 and I prayed that the Raps would grab him with their top pick. We all know how that story turned out and now he's one of the most lethal all-around players in the league. On the season, he's averaging 24 points, nearly 7 rebounds and 3 assists. He's Indiana's unquestioned stud, and a player that can easily heat up and drop 50 on you if you're not careful.

This evening then I'm hoping that Toronto limit his opportunities. While the Pacers under coach Jim O'Brien have traditionally seemed like an "all-offense/no-defense" group, this year the inverse is true. The Pacers rank 24th in offensive efficiency and 11th in defensive efficiency. Put it this way, this club struggles to score if Granger is kept under control.

Easier said than done obviously but as a first key tonight, I'll be looking to see the Raps get the ball out of Danny's hands so as to force the likes of TJ Ford and Brandon Rush into scorers.

2) Rebound the ball.

This is an area Toronto has struggled with all year but so have their foes tonight. Indiana and Toronto are neck-and-neck in terms of many of the rebounding stats (including rebounding rate) so whoever does a better job cleaning the glass should be able to tip the ball in their favour. While the Pacers likely won't have Murphy or the services of the tenacious Jeff Foster, both Roy Hibbert and rookie Tyler Hansbrough do a great job getting second chance opportunities for their club and wingmen like Granger and Dahntay Jones can cause dificulties as well.

3) Transition Defence.

The Raptors' defence has of course been much-maligned so far this year so perhaps having "defence" as a third key is again no surprise. However with an Indiana team that loves to get up and down the floor (they play at the league's second-fastest pace behind only Golden State), I'm really going to be honed in tonight on Toronto's ability to stop Indiana from getting easy looks in transition. I felt that against the Magic on Sunday, the Raps did a better job defending the paint and the perimeter, but far too often still were getting either beat down the floor, or were unable to slow down the charging Magic attack.

The Pacers have the ability to blow things wide open early based on this style so Toronto's back-court, Jose Calderon in particular, need to ensure that they lock things down as best as they can. As well, this point links to the previous one as if Toronto can't control the boards, this will likely lead to quick outlets by Indiana's "bigs," leading to quick transition points.

This one isn't quite a must-win game, but I think it's safe to say that should Toronto lose, this is one the club could look back on come April and having some serious regrets about not getting. I actually think a healthy Pacers' club makes the playoffs this year so again, it's quite likely that this is one of those teams the Raps will be competing with for playoff seeding.

Tonight's match could therefore go a long way in deciding future outcomes.

As well, Howland and I have media access to tonight's game so we'll be live-blogging from the ACC. Be sure to send us any questions you'd like us to ask the Raps post-game, and we'll have a full recap along with game photos tomorrow morning.

Raptors Rapid Recap - Orlando 104 Toronto 96

RaptorsHQ - Howland — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:01:51 -0000

This was simply a game where one team has more talent than the other. Toronto for the most part played a solid game, but the Magic, even with Howard and Lewis in foul trouble, were just too talented. They just don't miss a beat even when relying on guys like Reddick and Ryan Anderson. The Magic have now beaten the Raps twice. The final today 104-96.

In back-to-back games the Raptors opponent did some serious damage on the offensive glass. Given their defense as of late the Raps simply can't give up this many second chance opportunities. Hopefully when Reggie Evans returns the Raps won't have this issue.

The Raps bench, even without Belinelli were solid. Amir was amazing in the third quarter and even Weems did some nice things while on the court. Unfortunately Triano is still using that J&J back-court.

DeMar DeRozan is taking his lumps right now. After getting schooled by Wade in the last game he was matched-up against Vince Carter who decided to play. Triano is throwing the rook into the deep-end of the pool and looking to see if he will sink or swim. Lately he needs a life raft.

If I am Orlando I feel pretty good about letting Hedo go and replacing him with Carter. Carter looks focused and is a perfect addition to this Orlando team. I mean just ask yourself. If you could have Carter or Hedo on this Raps team who would you prefer?

Pissed off Elton Brand leads Sixers to 86-84 win

jsams — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:47:29 -0000

Box Score

After one good game, I'm not ready to remove the "Reggie Evans 2.0" tag from Elton Brand, but tonight was a step in the right direction. He played inspired basketball from the get-go, showed off his three-inch vertical, positioned himself for offensive rebounds, and used his long arms to disrupt the awful Bobcats offense. In other words, he did everything an 80-million dollar man should do, including getting the game-winning deflection. I never watched Elton in Los Angeles, but I'm starting to think that he was never the "explosive" athlete we thought he was, and his 20-10 numbers were product of him playing on a bad team (except for one year), and having the offense run exclusively through him. Not to sound like Jon Gruden or anything, but that "explosion" we're looking for from Elton in terms of athleticism might never happen. That said, he might not need explosive athleticism to be a good player, which was evident tonight. Elton turned in his best game of the season, and the rumors of him being benched clearly lit a fire.
When the Sixers struggled defensively -- mainly in the first quarter -- Lou Williams was the main culprit. Lou cannot stop penetration or rotate correctly. (Thaddeus has trouble rotating as well.) The most frustrating thing about Lou is that he has all the tools to be a good defensive player, but things like stopping penetration and rotating correctly don't show up in the stat sheet, nor do they reflect directly on him. Point being, Lou is either lazy, not a team player, or both. On offense, Lou played pretty well, but not well enough to make up for his bad defense, in my opinion.
The Sixers biggest offensive problem is settling for too many jumpshots. You can see why this would be an issue, considering the team's biggest weakness is... shooting! Last year the Sixers were 6th in the NBA in free throws attempted and free throws made; this year they're 18th and 15th respectively.
Rodney Carney is the Sixers best backup (now that M16 is hurt) and he showed why tonight. He should be the first guard off the bench every game. I'd even go as far as saying that he should replace Sam Dalembert in the starting lineup, moving Thad to the four and Brand to the five. Eddie had the right idea with benching one of his starters, but wanted to bench the wrong guy. Carney rebounds well, his defense is very, very good, he can make threes, and his athleticism is beastly. *Nickname Alert* RC Cola *Nickname Alert*
FREE JRUE!!! FREE JRUE!!! FREE JRUE!!! NO MORE ROYAL IV!!! NO MORE ROYAL IV!!! NO MORE ROYAL IV!!! FREE JRUE!!! FREE JRUE!!! FREE JRUE!!! NO MORE ROYAL IV!!! NO MORE ROYAL IV!!! NO MORE ROYAL IV!!! FREE JRUE!!! FREE JRUE!!! FREE JRUE!!! NO MORE ROYAL IV!!! NO MORE ROYAL IV!!! NO MORE ROYAL IV!!!
Overall, the Sixers are still a very mediocre/bad basketball team and did nothing to disprove that tonight. How many times are we going to say, "A win's a win" this year? The best part about tonight was we hardly mentioned Eddie Jordan's name.

Player of the game: Elton Brand with 19 points, 11 boards, 6 blocks and 3 steals.

Raptors' Rapid Recap - Denver 130 - Toronto 112

RaptorsHQ - Franchise — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:44:39 -0000

-As a Raptors' fan, you knew this was going to be a tough match going in. Toronto managed to hang with the Nugs for essentially three quarters, but then a combination of poor shot selection, defensive letdowns, and a superior talented Denver squad did them in.

-It didn't help that minus Hedo Turkoglu (and of course Reggie Evans), the team ran out of gas for stretches in the second half. Jay Triano tried to keep things fresh by extending his bench right down to Patrick O'Bryant, but it was not to be.

-Not too much to be upset about in this one. Toronto did as good a job as could be expected throughout most of the game, but the Nuggets talent shone through in the end. Outside of points in the paint and a slight free-throw edge, Toronto actually outrebounded Denver (and killed them on the O boards 19 to 3!), and were neck-and-neck in various other statistical categories. The real difference again was just the talent level; Toronto had no answer for the hot-shooting JR Smith (5 of 9 from downtown) and Carmelo Anthony (32 points on 12 of 15 shooting!)

- DeMar DeRozan actually lead the Raps in scoring turning in a career-high 17. Offensively, it was his best game as a Dino. Chris Bosh's streak of consecutive +17 point games ended (he finished with 13 on the night) but he did grab 1 game-high 14 rebounds.

-Raps now face the Jazz tomorrow night in a back-to-back situation. No word on if Hedo Turkoglu will be a go, but let's just hope the refereeing is a TAD bit better.

3 In the Key - Toronto Raptors Game-Day Preview vs. Denver

RaptorsHQ - Franchise — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:42:14 -0000

More photos » by Garrett Ellwood - NBAE/Getty Images

The Raptors face the tough task of stopping Carmelo Anthony and the high-scoring Denver Nuggets this evening.

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RaptorsHQ sets up tonight's match, a tough one on the road against the well-balanced Denver Nuggets...

I'm a big believer in "balance = success" in the NBA.

To me the best teams in the league have that perfect mix of O and D, and a variation of players who perform all types of functions on the court; from scoring to getting loose balls.

When the Denver Nuggets acquired Chauncey Billups last season from the Detroit Pistons, I felt that they cemented a fairly balanced group; one capable of scoring with the Lakers of the league, yet being able to bang with the Celtics as well.

And, while the team didn't make the NBA Finals, it did make it to the Western Conference's Big Dance before bowing out to the eventual NBA Champs, the Lakers.

This year, Denver already has raced out to a Northwest Division-leading 7 and 3 record, and that's in the absence of some key pieces. The team looks just as strong as last year, if not stronger in some ways, and it's that balance that leads the charge. Check the resume:

-Pass-first point guard who anchors the team's D? Check - see Mr. Billups.

-Scoring wing who creates mismatches on offense? Check - see Mr. Anthony.

-New-school athletic big-man? Check - see Mr. Nene.

-Rugged rebounder and defender who does the dirty work? Check - see Mr. Martin.

-Wing who can create his own shot and hit clutch baskets? Check - see Earl...er...Mr. JR Smith.

Add in a bench that features a shot-blocker (Chris Andersen), a hustle and garbage man (Renaldo Balkman), a shut-down defender (Arron Afflalo - who actually starts at the moment with JR Smith coming off the bench), a seasoned playoff-tested back-up point guard (Anthony Carter) and a lightning quick sparkplug (Ty Lawson) and you've got a pretty solid group.

And that's not even counting Joey Graham!

The point here is that this Nuggets team in my eyes is one of the most deadly in the league, showcasing a unique blend of depth, athletic ability, defensive feistiness, and offensive effeciency. And the stats bear this out.

Denver is fifth in the league in offensive efficiency, sixth in "true-shooting percentage," and yet despite playing at the league's fifth-fastest pace, have one of the top point differentials in the league, scoring on average 106 points and limiting opponents to 100.

No, the Nuggets haven't quite hit the same defensive stride as last season, but it's still early and coach George Karl is still tweaking the roster with players returning from injury and suspension.

To me, tonight's game will be Toronto toughest of the year, and for them to get the W, they need to excel in three areas:

1) Rebounding.

We've been through the Raps' rebounding issues all season and sans Reggie Evans, it's hard to say that things will change in this fashion overnight.

However interestingly enough, the Nuggets statistically rank right alongside Toronto in this department, despite the likes of Nene, Martin and Andersen.

The Nuggets like to score so it's imperative that the Dinos not allow second-chance looks tonight. I'm hoping to see solid close-outs, and in particular, bodies on the Denver wings who have the athletic ability to cause havoc on the glass.

2) The Small Forward Match-Up.

There's another 2003 draft class alumnist besides Chris Bosh who's making an early-season MVP-type run; Carmelo Anthony. Melo is averaging a shade under 30 points a game, shooting nearly 45 per cent from the field, 36 per cent from long-range, and over 85 per cent from the line. Oh, and toss in 6 rebounds and and nearly 3 assists a game on top of that.

Not too shabby.

It sounds like Hedo Turkoglu, despite continuing hip issues, will play, so it will be up to him to contain Anthony. I'm not expecting a shut-down performance here, but Toronto can't let Melo go off thus opening things up for the rest of Denver's explosive offense. With Antoine Wright a question mark again, the onus will really by on Turk to keep Melo somewhat in check, and it will be interesting to see who else Jay Triano rolls out in a stopper role, and what the Raps' defensive plan for Anthony will be should Wright be unable to go.

Additionally, while Melo has been playing at an all-world level, he and his teammates at times still fall victim to what a scout last night described to me as a "type F personality," that is to say they can become easily frustrated and allow their emotions to get the best of them, especially in tight games. Hedo might not be an all-defensive team member, but he's got that bit of Vlade Divac in him that hopefully he uses to give Anthony a rough go tonight.

And hopefully his Raptor' teammates follow suit.

3) Bench Play.

With JR Smith back from suspension, and Ty Lawson making NBA GM's regret passing on him already, the Nuggets feature some very explosive offensive options off the pine. The challenge for Toronto tonight much like against Phoenix on Sunday, will be to match Denver's subs' energy level when they enter the game to ensure this one stays close. Players like Amir Johnson and Marco Belinelli will likely be counted on again to give the club a shot in the arm, and whichever team's bench does a better job dictating tempo and intensity, could end up being the deciding factor in a W or an L.

And after all, the last thing Raptors' fans want to see is a replay of this, only with Lawson finishing on top of two Dinos en route to a blowout Toronto loss.