SB Nation - Andrea Bargnani

Game 23 Preview: Houston Rockets at Toronto Raptors 11:30AM CST

UofTOrange — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:12:30 -0000

3 days ago: Philadelphia 76ers' Samuel Dalembert, center, tries to hang onto a loose ball under pressure from Houston Rockets' Carl Landry, left, and Aaron Brooks in the second half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Dec. 11, 2009, in Philadelphia. Houston won 96-91. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

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Point Guard
Aaron Brooks - He's like good and stuff. I wish he would attack the basket with fury every single night, but for a guy his size, not named Iverson, that's probably not as good of an idea as it sounds in my head. Either way, Aaron has taken a huge step forward, he's clearly a top 10 point guard right now, right? Can anyone name 10 better?
vs.
Jarrett Jack - I was surprised to find out that Jack has only been in the league for 4 years. I swear it feels like decades ago that he was with Portland. Good basketball player that really is a 6^th or 7^th man. He has a long career ahead of him in that role. Starting in the NBA is only a stop gap measure for a team though.
Edge: Rockets

Shooting Guard
Trevor Ariza - His shooting has picked up a quite a bit in the last 5 games and shot selection has a lot to do with it. Of course only playing one good defense, and having his worst shooting night of the five against Portland, has helped. Sometimes the NBA is all about momentum and I think this recent stretch can go a long way towards Trevor's confidence.
vs.
DeMar DeRozan - I like this kid. He was a good player at USC and while he's somewhat raw it may be exactly what the Raptors need. He's a strong attacker and finisher and he's energetic. Like most young players his shot leaves a lot to be desired, but that will come if he's willing to work hard.
Edge: Rockets

Small Forward
Shane Battier - Another season, another great season long effort by Battier. Every single team in the NBA would put him in their starting lineup no matter what it meant to other guys they have on the team. I think I can say that with supreme confidence.
vs.
Hedo Turkoglu - For Portland fans I'm ecstatic that this signing didn't work for them. For Raptors fans, I honestly thought it would be working out better right now. Not because Hedo is a superstar, he's simply a really good basketball player, but because there isn't a lot to take away from his taking another step. I don't know what has been happening with him, maybe it's the style of ball they are playing, but that 9MM contract is looking horrible right now
Edge: Rockets - Yes Hedo scores more but Battier's effect on the game is infinitely more.

Power Forward
Luis Scola -
vs.
Chris Bosh - With Calderon out, Bosh is the only guy on the Raptors that has the ability to scare you night in and night out. I am not in any way a fan of the Rockets signing him in the off season. He makes a team better, but not in max dollars ways. And the Rockets have two PFs that could be here for the next 4-5 years together pretty easily. And under no circumstances is Bosh a better center than even a hobbled Yao.
Edge: Raptors

Center
Chuck Hayes - Chuck has done his job for the most part all season. He has defended everyone that he has been asked to with heart and determination. Early in the season he seemed to take on the need for scoring, and has since realized it isn't necessary. Though part of me wishes he would go back to that same effort on the offensive end to score.
vs.
Andrea Bargnani - Shows sparkles all of the time, but never seems to truly break out. For Raptors fans, some of the best, and oddest, in the NBA I wish them more from him. Considering he makes 6.5MM, he's actually a heck of a basketball bargain at 16 and 6 a night.
Edge: Raptors

Injuries/Suspensions
Houston Rockets
OUT - Tracy McGrady
Toronto Raptors
OUT - Jose Calderon

My Prediction: Rockets build a lead early, keep it up most of the game, Raptors go on a run in the late third or early fourth and the Rockets pull back away to win by 8-14

3 In the Key: Toronto Raptors Game Day Preview vs. Houston

Raptors HQ - Vicious D — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 14:47:24 -0000

More photos » by Chris Young - AP

The Raptors are going to need a lot of this kind of play if they hope to keep pace with an extremely balanced Rockets team.

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Vicious D looks at today's game and is quite envious of the Houston Rockets who are extremely good despite not having their two best players. The Raptors will be in it tough today if they don't play like a team.

Oh hey.

If the last two Raptors games gave you a migraine, I don't blame you. I'm starting to think I'm a sadist as this will be the third game that I'll be attending in this young year. In all honesty, I usually make it a rule to go to games in the second half of the season after the Christmas break, just to make sure the team has started to hit their stride. The Raptors, after having a flash of "let's play defense" for two games against weaker opponents, have now lost against two fairly good teams who have exposed the Raptors' "improved defense" for what it is: a paper tiger.

Now you might say, "ok, the Raptors were down Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani as both weren't 100%". Ok, but our opponents today are the Houston Rockets. They're a team that has been arguably down at least one of their two best players for what seems like an eternity, and yet, they remain competitive, focused to win, and have depth in spades.

So much so that they could even cast off Pops Mensah-Bonsu without even batting an eye.

However, it's not like we were all gun-ho about all the moves that were made. It was back in the middle of the summer when most of the Raptors' Nation was in awe of Colangelo's Great Canadian Raptors Makeover Part Deux. Bryan Colangelo decided to let Pops walk, go for Hedo Turkoglu, fill his rosters with a coveted European and signed Jarrett Jack. At this point, while most of the Raptors nation was marveling at the moves, Franchise and Howland were both grumbling. We had one of our Raptors HQ meetings where I posed the situation and question:

Bryan Colangelo for all his flaws, has always been a good GM because he's left himself flexibility to get out from players that have underperformed. He's always seemed to have expiring contracts that he could trade away and get something back for. Now let's say this team is merely good at best, and at worst, terrible. Who can he trade away and change? Besides Chris Bosh, just about everyone is locked up for the next 3-4 years at least. That's starting and backup point guard, starting small forward, starting center. That doesn't exactly allow you make changes if you need to.

And so here we are, a team that will need to play extremely hard just to get a mediocre defensive effort. A team that has to rely on a high powered offense, which by the way, isn't all that high powered having lost in every good ol' fashioned shootout with just about every team out there this young season.

Yup, that almost just screams at Chris Bosh to stay.

But back to Houston. The Rockets are a team that have managed to stay relatively consistent thanks to some veteran leaders, some smart drafting, and keeping their roster full of athletes who have good basketball IQ. In fact, you could even argue that the Rockets are a much more dangerous team without T-Mac than with. Coming into today's game having won two in a row, having beaten both L.A. and Cleveland, the Rockets are a team that wins thanks to true balance throughout their roster. They are the well-oiled machine to the Raptors' own greasy mess, so our boys will have a tough time. To keep things competitive so that we can see a rare Sunday win, the Raptors will need to:

1) Minimalize the Loss of Calderon
Everyone's taken shots at the Spaniard this year. I've always defended Calderon over the years for his abilities, and he's been one of the players on this team who actually stands up for himself and his team. Those who wanted Jarrett Jack to start will now have a healthy dose of Jack for a while. The question is just how the bench will respond. We've long proposed to have a lot more Belinelli instead of Banks since he's comfortable with the ball and quick enough to defend against most point guards, but the trickle down effect should also mean that Sonny Weems will get more play time.

On the other hand, a lot of people have mentioned that this will maybe give Turkoglu more minutes handling the ball, but I'm not convinced that the reason the Turk has struggled has been because he doesn't have the ball enough. In any case, the Raptors have lost a leader, a guy who has been a fairly good shooter, and one of the hearts of this edition of the Raptors.

How the Raptors will overcome that will need to start today.

2) Team Play
The only way the Raptors will play good defense against the Rockets is if they communicate and act like a team. One of the reasons for the Rockets' success is that different players have stepped up over the course of the season to make big plays. The tough part about playing a team like the Rockets is that anyone can be a potential threat. So the Raptors will need to be organized on defense, they'll need players to have personal responsibility while they're defending their man, and they'll need to communicate. Otherwise, the Rockets will find that one or two weak spots and the whole defensive scheme will fall apart.

3) No Sleep For the Bench
In Friday's game against Philadelphia, the Rockets had six players in double figures. Their top scorer? Carl Landry off the bench. The Rockets are a team that are unabashed about playing their bench. With players who can get double digit nights when needed, and consistent rebounding that doesn't seem to drop off, the Rockets' bench has always seemed to be an X-Factor. Kyle Lowry and Chase Budinger are both ready to come in and steady the shop along with Landry when the starters aren't getting it done. It's allowed this Rocket team to weather storms and pull out some close victories.

Outside of last Saturday's win, the Raptors have lost on every single weekend game so far this season. This win won't be easy to come by, especially since the Raptors will need to make adjustments to compensate for the injured Calderon. But the Raptors have traditionally been fairly strong against the Rockets at home. Here's hoping the Raptors figure it out and manage to pull out a much needed quality win.

Preview: Wolves at Kings

Ziller — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 21:00:19 -0000

by David Zalubowski - AP

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THE OPPONENT

Despite a record worse than Stevie Wonder's baseball career, Minnesota isn't as bad as they look. Mind you, they look really, really bad. Being "not as bad" as that isn't saying a whole lot. Mikki Moore is a better rebounder than Andrea Bargnani, you know? The Wolves are still 1-5 in December. But only one of those losses (last night's visit to the Lakers) have been by a 10-point or greater margin. Progress!

Seriously, though, Kevin Love's return has meant a lot. Love's been back five games, and he's shoved Al Jefferson back to center and Ryan Hollins down in the rotation. (Blessed Earth!) Hollins is basically Moore, but younger and less endearing. As we know from experience, you cannot boast a starter as bad at rebounding for his position as Hollins and survive defensively. Of course, the Jefferson/Love frontline -- while beastly on the boards -- hasn't proven to be a defensive wall. No matter. Love is a big boost from all angles.

Love should make the Kings work on Sacramento's own defensive glass. That's actually an optimistic way of saying that Love could very well end up with 10 offensive rebounds. The Kings still have problems there, problems the team may soon need to accept, supposing Jason Thompson and Spencer Hawes are the frontcourt of now and tomorrow. Tyreke Evans and Andres Nocioni are rebounding defensively as well as you could reasonably ask for ... and the team is still 20th in the league in this category.

Luckily, the Wolves are phenomenally bad on offense: 28th in shooting, 29th in turnovers and 29th in foul drawing. Sacramento's weakness is defense; Minnesota should have trouble exploiting that. The Wolves have scored 100 points all of five times this season. Sacramento might be a good opportunity for No. 6, but it's always a struggle with the Wolves.

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Al Jefferson	21	32.9	6.8	15.0	45.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.4	3.4	71.8	2.5	6.4	9.0	2.0	1.6	1.2	1.0	2.3	16.0
Jonny Flynn	23	29.4	5.0	11.6	43.4	0.9	2.7	32.8	3.0	3.7	80.0	0.3	2.1	2.5	4.3	3.2	1.2	0.1	1.4	13.9
Kevin Love	5	28.4	4.6	9.8	46.9	1.2	2.0	60.0	2.8	3.4	82.4	4.0	7.6	11.6	1.8	2.4	1.4	0.8	2.8	13.2
Ryan Gomes	23	30.5	5.2	10.9	47.8	0.9	2.0	42.6	1.1	1.4	75.8	1.4	4.0	5.4	1.6	1.5	1.0	0.2	2.6	12.4
Corey Brewer	23	30.2	4.3	11.1	38.7	0.3	1.5	17.1	1.7	2.7	60.3	1.0	3.2	4.2	2.2	2.1	1.8	0.6	2.7	10.5
Ramon Sessions	23	22.1	3.5	6.7	52.3	0.0	0.3	14.3	1.3	2.1	63.3	0.8	2.3	3.0	3.3	1.7	0.7	0.0	2.0	8.3
Oleksiy Pecherov	20	14.2	2.8	6.3	43.7	0.4	1.8	22.9	0.7	0.7	92.9	1.0	3.1	4.1	0.4	0.9	0.3	0.4	2.0	6.6
Ryan Hollins	23	19.3	2.6	4.8	53.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.3	1.9	65.9	0.9	2.0	3.0	0.9	1.4	0.3	0.5	2.8	6.4
Wayne Ellington	21	16.8	2.0	5.5	37.1	0.4	1.9	20.5	0.6	0.9	72.2	0.6	1.6	2.1	1.0	0.9	0.4	0.0	0.7	5.1
Damien Wilkins	22	15.7	1.7	4.1	40.7	0.1	0.7	20.0	1.1	1.3	82.8	1.3	2.2	3.5	1.2	0.8	0.5	0.1	1.5	4.6
Sasha Pavlovic	22	15.2	1.9	5.4	35.3	0.6	2.1	28.3	0.2	0.5	40.0	0.4	2.3	2.6	1.3	1.0	0.5	0.1	1.4	4.6
Nathan Jawai	17	11.8	1.5	3.2	47.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.1	1.4	82.6	1.4	1.6	3.1	0.4	0.6	0.2	0.3	1.6	4.2
Brian Cardinal	14	9.7	0.6	1.6	36.4	0.1	0.4	16.7	0.3	0.3	100.0	0.1	0.5	0.6	0.9	0.1	0.3	0.1	1.8	1.5
Jason Hart	1	4.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

THE KEY BATTLE

Jason Thompson vs. Kevin Love. As stated, keeping Love off the offensive glass as much as possible will be a key. But further, Thompson needs to exploit his (massive) size advantage here. Love nor Jefferson block shots with any regularity, so the Kings -- led by Thompson in the post -- should attack attack attack. On the other end, Love is most dangerous cleaning up at the rim. Thompson has done better defending the rim, but again (broken record): it comes down to boxing him out and securing those plentiful Wolves misses.

INTERESTING SIDESHOW

I didn't make Evans vs. Jonny Flynn the key battle because, well, Flynn's going to need a bunch of help to slow Evans. But remember how high Sacramento's front office had been on Flynn. If Evans had gone #2 or 3, there's a real chance the Kings could have spent the 4th pick on Flynn. In that sense, seeing how far Flynn how to grow while Evans excels (at a younger age, no less) is striking. And will be striking.

BOLD PROCLAMATION

Corey Brewer will have more steals than Mario Elie.

NUMERIC PREDICTION

Kings by 12.

DETAILS

7PM Pacific on Comcast SportsNet and KHTK 1140AM.

Raptors Rapid Recap - Atlanta 111 - Toronto 89

RaptorsHQ - Franchise — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 02:38:43 -0000

-Another 20+ point loss, Toronto's 6th loss this season by 15 points or more, as the Hawks wacked the Raps 111 to 89.

-Despite a decent start to the game in which the Dinos only trailed by two, the Hawks' bench took over in the second quarter and finished the half outscoring Toronto's pine crew, 31 to 10. This was a pivotal stat early and it allowed Atlanta, despite some hot Toronto shooting, to grab the lead and never look back.

-The Hawks shot 52 per cent from the field, outrebounded Toronto, out-assisted the Raps, and generally dominated in every way. Looking at the box score though, outside of the final score, the disparity in most categories wasn't that big. However Atlanta's athleticism gave Toronto fits once again and little plays made at both ends by the Hawks resulted in easy baskets and the eventual final score.

-Toronto was lead scoring-wise by Andrea Bargnani with 17, but no one on the Raps, Chris Bosh included, was able to really dominante their match-up all night.

-The Hawks were led by Joe Johnson who had 20, but six Hawks reached double figures with two others just on the border of the 10 point mark.

-So now what? Well, I'll be discussing that tomorrow morning but for now it's back to the drawing board for Toronto. After three straight wins the team falls badly twice in a row with three very tough match-ups looming.

Raptors Rapid Recap - Toronto 95 Milwaukee 117

RaptorsHQ - Howland — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:37:09 -0000

- The Raps were short both Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani on this evening but even without two starters it is hard to defend what went on against Milwaukee. The Raptors, outside of Bosh, played with little intensity and the team couldn't continue their recent winning ways.

- Old habits die hard. The Raps allowed the Bucks to get open looks by getting into the paint and the defensive rotations were late more often than not. The Raps did a solid job making the likes of Luke Ridnour and Roko Ukic look good.

- Give credit where credit is due however. The Bucks played a great game. Their ball movement was more than commendable, the played some hard-nosed defense and the hit shots down the stretch. They also got a terrific performance from Brandon Jennings who is the real deal.

- Should we send out a search party for Hedo Turkoglu? The Raps needed someone to step-up tonight and help Bosh and one would think that the guy getting paid mad loot would be up to the task. Not so. Hedo was all but invisible in this game yet was smiling and hugging it out with the Bucks after the game. Good one.

- Bad loss. These are the opponents the Raps have to beat. They will be fighting with the Bucks for the lower playoff positions when it is all said and done.

Perkins vs. Bogut Had an Old School Feel to It

Greg Payne — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:26:50 -0000

More photos » by Michael Dwyer - AP

Bogut wins the individual battle, but Perkins team takes the win.

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Heading into last night's game against the Milwaukee Bucks, rookie Brandon Jennings had my attention. It would be my first time seeing the kid play and after a rookie goes off for 55 points, it's difficult not to want to see him for yourself. I figured Rajon Rondo would present a formidable defensive challenge unlike anything Jennings had seen in his still very young NBA career and for the most part I was right.

While the plight of the point guards was entertaining (mainly due to Rondo being one rebound shy of a triple-double and finishing with 11 points, 13 assists, nine rebounds and five steals), the battle of the big men stole the show. Kendrick Perkins and Andrew Bogut did not appear to like each other on the court last night, but Perk was pivotal to Boston's success and Bogut was one of the main reasons Milwaukee kept it close for far too long.

The final lines for the pair:

Perkins: 7-8 shooting, 15 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 0 blocks, 2 turnovers

Bogut: 11-17 shooting, 25 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 7 turnovers

Advantage to the Aussie, I suppose, and give him credit for playing so well against one of the NBA's premiere interior defenders. But the tussle itself between these two was worth watching, as the paint proved to be quite the battleground last night.

I missed out on the '60s, '70s and '80s when the vast majority of the NBA's big men actually played in the paint and brought legitimate offensive repertoires down there with them. Hook shots abounded, along with the five to seven-foot turn around and didn't the '80s serve as the 8-10 foot jumper's hay day? I've watched a ton of footage from the decade and I swear EVERYBODY had that shot, including the majority of the league's big guys.

Now come back to last night and with Perk and Bogut going at it, one might have felt like we had taken a step back in time with the moves we were seeing. Bogut was an absolute whiz with the hook shots, whether they be of the stop and pop kind or of the sweeping brand. It looks like he's turned that shot into his go-to move, although, when the Bucks needed him to utilize that go-to move when they were hanging on for dear life with minutes left, Bogut came up empty on two consecutive possessions, primarily due to outstanding defense by Perk (and a helping hand from Rondo the first time around). But despite Bogut's shortcomings in the final few possessions, he really does possess a nice touch down low, and in terms of old school post moves, he's right up there for tops in the league today (along with guys like Al Jefferson and Pau Gasol).

For Perk, has any NBA center in today's league mastered the short fade away jumper in the lane the way he has? He typically begins his move on the right block, backs his man down and buries him into the paint to the point where his defender is almost under the rim, then plants the right foot, turns, fades, and buries the shot. Speaking of go-to moves, Perk has shown he can fall back on this shot whenever he needs to, particularly early on in games when he's establishing his own rhythm.

I think it's fair to say Bogut is a naturally more gifted offensive player, meaning he did not need to develop as much of his offensive game as Perk did when he entered the league. When Perk first stepped onto an NBA floor, if a dunk wasn't an option, he pretty much wasn't going to score. But it's a testament to Perkins' work ethic, along with Clifford Ray's tutelage when we recognize how Perk has developed into a legitimate offensive threat.

But last night it was nice seeing two legitimate interior players really play where their respective games thrive. Bogut didn't drag Perk out to the perimeter, but instead went at him relentlessly down low, and even though I might be forced to say Bogut got the better of Perk for three and a half quarters, watching a skilled big man with legitimate post moves go up against an equally legitimate interior defender is arguably a rarity in today's game. Many of the 6-10 and up guys in today's league possess outside jump shots, or prefer the perimeter in general. But the paint really was a battleground last night and it was somewhat captivating seeing these two continue to go at it, with the hook shots and the up and unders and the reverses, especially when their teammates cleared the lanes and just let them play each other straight up.

I sure hope Perk treats Rondo to a nice dinner when this team heads off on its next three-game road swing, because of the 13 assists Rondo racked up, a bunch of them went through Perk in the paint. As much as we talk about the unspoken on-the-court chemistry between Rondo and Kevin Garnett when they're executing their alley-oops, the relationship Rondo shares with Perk is equally crippling to an opposing team. With Perk always parking himself down low, whenever Rondo slices through the defense and draws the help defender, he can usually count on Perk being wide open mere feet away from the basket. And if Perk isn't always in pristine position, he's usually lurking somewhere nearby, cutting to the hoop or battling for position for an offensive rebound.

I'm not entirely sure which big men helped spark the wave of the 15-18 foot jumper. Perhaps it was Hakeem Olajuwon or Karl Malone. Or maybe it was those drafted in the mid-to late '90s like Garnett, Rasheed Wallace and Dirk Nowitzki. Whoever was responsible for the transition, Perk's had to deal with a steady crop of perimeter based big men this season, including Channing Frye, Andrea Bargnani and Mehmet Okur, which takes Perk out of his natural defensive element.

But Perkins vs. Bogut proved the NBA can still go retro every once in a while, where the emphasis isn't necessarily on the pure athleticism, but rather on the quickness and the finesse, as well as the intelligence it takes to play quality low post basketball. It's difficult to tell whether the big men of tomorrow will resemble a Bogut or a Perkins as opposed to a Garnett or a Nowitzki, but regardless, games like last night's proved that we can still be treated and reminded of the NBA's low post glory days from time to time.

Tip-In: Toronto Raptors Post Game Report - A Beautifully Ugly Win

RaptorsHQ - Franchise — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:41:33 -0000

More photos » by FRANK GUNN - AP

Hedo Turkoglu couldn't get it going from outside, but helped lead the charge to the free-throw line last night for Toronto; a crucial point in the Raptors' win.

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It wasn't pretty, but the Toronto Raptors got the win they needed in a 94 to 88 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves last night. Franchise breaks it down and tees up tonight's match against the Milwaukee Bucks...

If you missed last night's win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, give yourself a round of applause.

If you stuck around and either watched the game live on TV or in person at the Air Canada Center, I hope you managed to grab a drink or two...

The Raps grinded out a 94 to 88 victory yesterday evening in a game that is probably best summed up Clint Eastwood style; the good, the bad, and the ugly:

-The Good:

Let's start with the most positive thing about last night's performance, Toronto in the end got the win. As one of our readers described it yesterday evening, this was the perfect "trap game;" a sure-fire win on paper that hardly played out the same way in reality. While the T-Wolves are lacking in talent, they don't take a possession off and fought this one down to the wire. I found the game quite similar to the Raps' second game of the season against a stubborn Memphis team, only this time, Toronto put in the necessary effort to ensure the match didn't end up in a loss.

This effort was especially apparent on the defensive end where Toronto did a fairly good job for the third straight game as well. We're not talking lock-down D here, but not all of Minny's 38 per cent shooting on the night was due to poor shot selection and simple misses. The Dinos dug in and got some key stops, especially down the stretch.

On the individual plus side, Jarrett Jack did a reasonable job replacing Jose Calderon, who sat out this game with a sore left hip, and Chris Bosh, despite missing practice earlier with a cold, threw down a workman-like 21 points and 16 rebounds.

Outside of the win itself though, the biggest plus for me was the number 48; as in the number of free-throws the Raps attempted on the night. In past years (and even past games this season it could be argued) Toronto has stubbornly continued to hoist up jumpers even when they weren't falling, neglecting one of their biggest strengths; free-throw shooting. Last night however, especially late in the game, players like Hedo Turkoglu and Jack were relentless going to the whole and considering Minnesota as a team only took 23 foul shots, this was the difference maker in the win.

-The Bad:

Outside of Bosh and maybe Jack, it sure is hard to give any other individual kudos on the night. Andrea Bargnani had some key rebounds but again struggled offensively going 6 of 18. And despite getting to the line 12 times, Hedo Turkoglu was a horrific 2 of 11 including 0 for 5 on 3-pointers.

And let's not even get into Toronto's bench, which was a combined 3 of 16 from the field chipping in a measly 10 points in 64 minutes of action.

Finally, while some may put the fact that Toronto extended its NBA record 3-point streak in the "Good" section of this recap, I'm placing it firmly in here. Andrea Bargnani dropped in a long-range bomb with about 5 minutes left to keep the streak alive but this topic became way too prevalent in a game that simply needed to be won, 3-pointers or no 3-pointers. Yes, it's an impressive streak and if the Raps can keep it up, great stuff. However at some points last night it looked like the Dinos were chucking them up just to keep the streak going, not because the 3-pointers were in the flow of the offense or necessary to get the W.

-The Ugly:

This was indeed a case of "winning ugly" as Toronto shot only 9.5 per cent from 3-point range and 32 per cent from the field. Jay Triano described it as a "lid on the basket" post-game and he was absolutely right - the Raps just couldn't buy a basket. If you're into stats, check the box score from this one because there are some hideous metrics indeed.

One stat that really stood out for me was Toronto's 14 assists on the night, a number that has to be close to a season low if not a season low. While I felt that Jarrett Jack did a good job overall (17 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists), the team really missed Jose Calderon's offensive leadership. The ball just didn't move at times and it seemed that there were more desperation heaves with the shot-clock winding down then there have been all season. This would account for some of the poor shooting numbers on the night and if Toronto wants any sort of shot at beating Milwaukee tonight, they need to get that offense running on all cylinders again.

And with the Bucks on the docket tonight, that brings us to our first key:

1) Offense vs. Defense:

Milwaukee is one of the least efficient teams in the league in terms of offense, but is one of the best defensively. They are holding opponents to 98 points a night on average, and force opponents into 17 turnovers a game on average, third best in the league.

Essentially, they are a bit of a mirror image of the Raps.

Therefore if Toronto struggles on O like they did last night, this one could be over quickly.

The Raps need to come out aggressive and attack from inside to out with Bosh leading the charge. If they can get some easy looks on the interior, or get to the free-throw line early, this should open things up on the perimeter.

Back-to-back scenarios have not been kind to the Dinos this season and considering TO's offensive woes last night, it's the latter point that's especially crucial this evening. Hopefully Jay Triano emphasizes it and we see players like DeMar DeRozan, Jarrett Jack and Chris Bosh going to the rim with abandon all night if the jumpers aren't clicking.

2) Point Guard Play:

The Dinos need to do a much better job tonight of running their offence and this falls not only on Jarrett Jack if Jose Calderon sits again, but also on the likes of Hedo Turkoglu and gasp...Marcus Banks. Banks hardly won over many fans with his play last night but hopefully this evening he can provide a bit more boost in terms of running the O. Banks' play had many of our readers last night clamoring for Marco Belinelli and I'd have to agree; while the Mad Bomber hasn't been able to get his offence going consistently of late, he's a terrific playmaker and perhaps some shot-creation duties will in turn help his shot-making abilities.

Outside of the match-up at center pitting a reborn Andrew Bogut (nearly averaging a double-double a game this year) against a struggling Andrea Bargnani, it's this positional match-up that I'll be keeping the closest eye on. Rookie Brandon Jennings hasn't been as unstoppable as he was earlier in the season but make no mistake about it, he and backcourt mate Luke Ridnour form a perfect PG combo and could give Toronto fits. Ridnour injured his left arm last night and did not return so he may not play tonight, but regardless, Jack and co. will need to keep Jennings and his penetration skills at bay as much as possible.

3) Sustained Effort:

A final quick point here; as much as last night's game was tough on the eyes, it was a strangely satisfying win because Toronto pushed through a poor-shooting game and did the little things necessary to eke out a victory. I've spoken at length this season about doing "the little things" and the past three games have been major steps forward in this area.

Tonight Toronto faces a Scott Skiles led club that specializes in "doing the little things" and if the Raps fail to execute or bring a sustained effort level throughout, the Bucks will certainly capitalize. The last three wins have been nice in terms of evening out the team's won-loss record, but tonight's match and the ones that follow this week should really go a long ways in showing fans if indeed this team is back on the right track.

Raptors Rapid Recap: Washington 106 - Toronto 102

RaptorsHQ - Franchise — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:16:33 -0000

-In what many considered a must-win game, Toronto fell yet again, this time 106 to 102 to the Washington Wizards despite big offensive games from Chris Bosh, Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani.

-The Wizards got good offensive production from their big 3, and a bigger boost from role players like Brendan Haywood (15 points, 9 boards and 3 blocks) and Earl Boykins (8 points and 5 assists.) This was one of the key differences in the end as outside of Jarrett Jack (18 points), the rest of the Raptors' bench was very quiet offensively, and as usual, the defence didn't exactly hold up.

-The goat of the evening was Mr. Turkoglu. With the ball in his hands down the stretch in a very close game he came up well short...

...unless you want to count his buzzer-beater which got the ACC fans their pizza.

Even in other key moments he failed to make necessary stops on D, or good decisions with the ball. His stat-line looked ok (13 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists) - but the Raps aren't paying Hedo $55 Million to fill the stat sheet - this team expected him to help deliver wins.

-Speaking of which, suddenly the w's look hard to come by. Tomorrow night the Raps face a tough test against the Atlanta Hawks, then later this week, it's Washington again before taking on the Bulls on the second night of a back-to-back.

Suns-Raps Rewind: In Defense of Amare's Defense

Mike Lisboa — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:26:21 -0000

More photos » by Chris Young - AP

We know he can dunk, but can he defend? (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Chris Young)

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If you go back and read the game thread, Sun Tzu takes a whole lot of abuse for being checked out of the game in terms of rebounding and defensive activity. So, when I re-watched the game, it was with the idea of watching him on the defensive end and on the boards to see where he was and what he was or wasn't doing. What I saw was pretty eye-opening.

1st Quarter:

Throughout most of the first quarter, Stoudemire was covering Chris Bosh 1 on 1 (Frye had him for a couple possessions too) and doing a pretty good job. Aside from 1 pick and roll that gave Bosh a wide open dunk, Amare did a good job of denying Bosh the ball both offensively and defensively.
Bosh took 4 shots in the 1st quarter: the aforementioned dunk, a wide-open lay-up (that he missed) in which he blew past Channing Frye, an open jumper in transition and a face-up jumper contested by Amare. Bosh also made it to the line once on a shooting foul on another play where he beat Frye to the hole.
Bosh finished the quarter with 3 points and 0 rebounds. Amare finished with 8 points and 2 rebounds.

2nd Quarter:

After 10 1st quarter minutes, Amare sat on the bench until the 5:51 mark of the 2nd. At this point, he was still guarding Bosh.
On the Raps first possession after Amare checked in, Bosh missed an open jumper from 17 feet or so when Amare got screened out of the play. On the following possession, Turkoglu and Bosh worked the 2-man game. Amare switched out on Turkoglu and did a good job of denying him the lane forcing a jumper. Bosh scored by, um, "overpowering" Jason Richardson on the putback.
At the 4:18 mark, Bosh beats Stoudemire on a drive to the hoop and Amare hits Bosh with a flagrant foul. At first, I thought Amare did it out of frustration at Bosh, but as we have seen, when Amare's been on the floor, Bosh hasn't been much of a factor. In retrospect, while it seemed like excessive force, I think Amare was just trying to prevent an easy bucket and got Bosh harder than he meant to/needed to. With only 1 foul against him and only 4 minutes left to go in the half, it wasn't a terrible play.
After the ensuing inbounds from the flagrant, Calderon and Bosh ran a screen and roll at the elbow. Amare came out and showed on Calderon. Calderon attempted an entry pass to an open Bosh, but a combination of a recovering Stoudemire's waving arms and a helping Jason Richardson denying Bosh position resulted in a Raptor turnover.
After 3 possessions in which Stoudemire and Bosh aren't really a factor, disaster strikes in the form of Amare's 3rd foul.
As opposed to the Bosh flagrant when Amare was making up for a lapse in D, this was a solid defensive play. Amare was covering Bosh in the low right post with some help from Jason Richardson (who had let his man leak out to the 3 point line... more on this below this will be a separate post). Bargnani had the ball at the left elbow with Frye on him. Bargs pump-fakes, Frye bites, and Bargnani drives past Frye. Amare slides over to take the charge and help a beaten Frye.
Whether Stoudemire was a hair too late or his heels were on the circle (or both), it's tough to tell on the replay, but the result was a blocking call for foul number 3 and a trip to the bench for the remainder of the half after only 3 minutes of court time.
Amare's line for the 2nd quarter: 0 points, 0 FG, 0 rebounds, 2 personal fouls. Bosh's 2nd Quarter when Amare was on the floor: 5 pts (1-2 FG, 3-3 FT), 3 rebounds (2 def., 1 off.). Notable is that the made FG and offensive board came on a switch that left Amare on the perimeter with Turkoglu.

3rd Quarter:

Stoudemire played almost the entire 3rd quarter. This is where he took the bulk of his punishment in the comments (which started at the same time as his flagrant on Bosh).
1st Toronto possession: Bosh gets the ball 13 feet or so away and goes baseline on Amare for a relatively easy lay-up. Amare seemed to give Bosh a wide berth so as not to pick up his 4th foul.
On the Raps 2nd possession, Amare gets active fronting Bosh, denying him an entry pass.
On the 3rd Raptors possession... the Suns adjust defensively, putting Amare out on Bargnani and Frye on Bosh. Bargnani promptly scores over Grant Hill on a Stoudemire switch.
The 4th Raps possession of the 3rd quarter is probably Stoudmire's most "damning" play of the game, because of what everyone saw at the end of it: an uncontested Calderon floater "over" Amare and no attempt by Amare to go for the board. Here's how the entire sequence plays out:

Calderon brings the ball up to the left side of the arc.
Bargnani and Bosh set a double screen. Nash goes under the screens, Frye stays home on Bosh and Amare shows on Calderon sending him about 5 feet above the arc.
Amare and Nash successfully switch back to their men with Stoudemire effectively cutting off a pass from Calderon and Frye locking up Bosh at the elbow. Calderon opts to drive right on Nash who effectively stays in front of him, denying the lane.
Calderon dishes to DeMar DeRozan (covered by Jason Richardson) in the right corner.
DeRozan brings the ball back toward the elbow, where Grant Hill has sagged off of Turkoglu to meet him. DeRozan leaves his feet to pass back out to Turkoglu who is a good 4 feet behind the top of the 3 point circle.
Bargnani sets a pick on Grant Hill, forcing Stoudemire to switch out on to Turkoglu who drives left. Turkoglu gets around Amare, but Richardson is in perfect position with the help D to deny penetration from the baseline side.
Turkoglu leaves his feet, making an awkward pass to Calderon near the weakside corner with Nash covering him.
Nash plays up on Calderon denying him the jumper. Calderon makes it around Nash heading for a wide open lane.
Amare, in the protected area under the rim, crouches as if he's going to make an attempt at a block, but apparently thinks better of it (we're just over 2 minutes into the 3rd quarter) as Calderon sees him and, in anticipation of the block, releases the ball early.
Calderon bricks the floater. Amare is alone in front of the basket with his hands just below his shoulders as the ball rolls off the rim away from him to Jason Richardson who's going at it hard with Turkoglu and manages to corral the ball and get it to Amare as he's falling out of bounds.

To be fair, in real time when you get to the end of this play it totally looks like Stoudemire has just mailed in an effort at the rim. I re-watched this sequence in slow motion for about 20 minutes to pick up on all this. Upon further review, it looks like he did everything right on this play with perhaps the exception of stepping out on the Calderon floater. It's really 3 plays later that Amare has his one true moment of inattentiveness.
The next Raptors possession would end almost immediately as Amare recorded a steal on a Calderon entry pass to Bargnani.
The next time down the court, the Raptors went at Frye via Bosh. Bosh misses a jump hook over Frye. Stoudemire is underneath boxing out Bargnani when a leaping DeMar DeRozan apparently comes out of nowhere (seriously, given the camera angle it's impossible to tell where he comes from) for a putback in front of Amare.
And now, Amare's one truly lazy defensive play: After sagging in the paint to help on Bosh, Amare waits too long to step out on Bargnani (the Raps trailer on the possession) who gets the ball with all kinds of space at the top of the arc. Amare runs out and Bargnani dribbles around Amare and pulls up for a wide open jumper, uncontested and Amare, having given up on defending the play lazily meanders toward the rim as the ball bounces off toward a waiting Grant Hill.
At this point in the 3rd, Amare doesn't see much action on the defensive end. He appears tentative on a couple weak side help plays. It's seems pretty apparent that the early foul trouble paralyzed him in that respect.
Also, the Suns went to a zone around this time in which a lot of the plays went away from Stoudmire's side of the court.
It may have been coincidence, but on the Raps first possession after Amare checked out of the 3rd quarter, Bargnani swooped to the hoop for an easy dunk.
Bargnani's line in the 3rd versus Stoudemire? 1-3 FG, 2 points, 1 rebound and 2 assists.

4th Quarter:

By and large, the Raptors offense early in the 4th quarter focused on going through Bosh versus Frye and Turkoglu versus Dudley. This left Amare Stoudemire lingering on the perimeter with Andrea Bargnani.
However, having survived the 3rd quarter with out picking up a 4th foul, it was as if a switch flipped when it came to be Amare's overall level of aggression (See below in rebounding).
When the Raps did go to Bargnani, he was completely ineffective missing 4 of his 5 shots in the 4th quarter while being defended by Stoudemire.

Rebounding:

Amare and the glass has been a source of frustration for Suns fans all season. Here's what I saw in this game. When Stoudemire has a body nearby, he's at his best. Perhaps sensing the urgency of a competitor, he's pretty good at getting a body on the nearest opposing player and looking for the ball. What he lacks in these circumstances is a professional rebounder's nose for the ball.
Often times he'll be boxing out only to see the ball go away from him OR he'll be so focused on keeping his man away from the ball that he doesn't attack the rim. Richardson and Hill end up with many of those boards.
His apparent weaknesses on the glass are when he's out of position or there's no one around. If Stoudemire does not have position or is away from the hoop he probably will not fight for position.
While in the Raps game, he probably didn't want to pick up another foul crashing the boards from outside, I'm curious to watch him in other games to see how he does.
The other rebounding shortcoming I noticed was his lack of activity when alone near the rim. On a couple of plays, with no one around, Amare just watched the ball roll off the hoop to someone else. It seemed that lacking any proximity to a member of the opposing team, he saw no reason to be aggressive on the defensive glass.
Offensively, if he's under or near the rim, he shows a lot of effort (Amare likes him a putback), but again, if he didn't have position already, he wasn't fighting for it.
It's also important to note that in the 2nd half, Amare covered Bargnani almost exclusively which kept him out on the perimeter. Many times when the Raps fired and missed, he simply wasn't in a good position to crash the boards.
Ironically, this is when he collected his 5 of his 7 rebounds. Not surprisingly, 4 of them were on the offensive end.

Conclusion:

No one is going to accuse Sun Tzu of being a world class defender or rebounder. However, after watching the game footage, Amare was definitely more active on the defensive end than I was giving him credit for. Yes, he had a couple of lapses, but he more than held his own on his defensive assignments. Bosh and Bargnani shot 4-11 from the field when covered by Stoudemire and only pulled down 5 rebounds. Combine his defensive activity with his absolutely silly offensive efficiency (18 points on 8-10 shooting) and his +20 for the game makes a lot of sense.

Gameday Preview vs Toronto Raptors

David Arnott — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:42:42 -0000

Pump Up Music: Superdrag -- "Sucked Out"

The Big Picture: The Bobcats and Raptors are bizarro versions of each other. The Raps are first in offensive efficiency and last in defensive efficiency, while the Cats are second in defense and third-worst on offense. In other words, we're going to see a contrast in styles, if ever there was one.

Jose Calderon, Andrea Bargnani, and Hedo Turkoglu are all devilishly difficult to guard, but none of them have ever been considered defensive stalwarts, and Chris Bosh... well, Bosh has played the first 15 games of the season about as well as he's ever played over a long stretch. Even if his defense isn't the greatest in the world (I don't think he's as long as KG), it's certainly decent, and he's no walk in the park for anyone, let alone a tag team pair featuring a 32-year old who never played great defense to begin with and a defensive specialist coming off a back injury.

Key to Victory: I don't think there's a solution for the Raptors' front court. Bargnani is shooting threes at better than 40% this season, and Bosh is first or second among East centers right now with Big Bad Dwight, so it's kind of a pick your poison situation. I think we'll end up seeing Boris Diaw on Bargnani and Chandler/Mohammed on Bosh, and we can just hope Bosh doesn't draw them out to 18 feet then either shoot or put the ball on the floor, because they'll get eaten alive if the Raptors can consistently force that choice.

There are two things the Cats can do, though. First, they can make a concerted effort to dominate the glass on both ends of the floor. Gerald Wallace is our primary weapon here, since he'll be charged with guarding Turkoglu when both first units are on the floor. Hedo hasn't been anything special as a rebounder, but Wallace has been a monster on the glass. The Cats can't afford to give the Raptors any "extra" possessions.

The second thing they can do is give Diaw more minutes at center and hope he can give Bosh problems. That would put either Stephen Jackson or Wallace on Bargnani, and allow Ronald Murray and (dare I dream) Gerald Henderson to take on DeMar DeRozan or Jarrett Jack when they go small in the backcourt. It's less than ideal for rebounding purposes, but might make sense if it contains Bargs.

Detail That Might Interest .08% of You: The Raptors have only 9 players who came out of the NCAA Div I-A. They could play a lineup entirely of foreigners (Calderon, Belinelli, Turkoglu, Bargnani, Nesterovic), and then Amir Johnson came out of high school.