What the hell happened guys? I only watched up to the 3rd quarter, and our rhythm was going well. I'm going to blame this on Sam again, just to make me feel better as a Raptor fan.
-Varejao completely shut down bosh for the last 5. It made me feel pretty uncomfortable. I'll give bosh a pass this time given the pink eye etc... If we're going to label him "franchise guy" long-term then I think we deserve a better performance out of the last 5 minutes. -Our rotation tonight was out of sync again. I'm not sure what Chris Humphries is supposed to accomplish in 7 minutes off the bench but it didn't really do much for me. -While we did keep the players that were hot on the floor we failed to get them the quality shot opportunities they needed. AP could have put up 5-10 more points tonight with some help from the playbook (assuming we actually have one). Bargnani could have been helped with some set plays as well. -Our over reliance on the ISO is gross... I'll leave it at that. -Bargnani's interior D (from what i saw) was decent. Getting out on the shooters in the zone seems to be a problem though (but we could say that for our whole team). -With the exception of the 4th i thought TJ Ford played really well ... more in control than usual.
<div class="quote_poster">a13x Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">-Varejao completely shut down bosh for the last 5. It made me feel pretty uncomfortable. I'll give bosh a pass this time given the pink eye etc... If we're going to label him "franchise guy" long-term then I think we deserve a better performance out of the last 5 minutes. .</div> bosh aside for the home opener has played like crap. and there were a bunch of occasions where he settled for jumpers in the closing minutes and when he did get in the post or drive, he refused or didn't recognize the open man.
The silver lining is that Boston and New York both lost. And Philly looks like they'll lose too, so nothing changes in our craptastic division. I missed the game, but how was Bargnani as a whole? He's been the major reason for me to keep watching.
<div class="quote_poster">Chutney Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Honestly, that's what Chuck gets for being so damn arrogant. Its been slowly building up to this for the last week. I'm just glad it didn't manifest itself into a 90 pt. performance by Lebron.</div> For the last week? More like for the last year or so.... At first I was only annoyed with his bashing, but now I'm starting to get pissed. I'm getting tired of saying "shut the hell up Chuck" every time the Raps have the lead and he puts down the opposing team. Seriously, you'd think the guy learned his lesson after the Kobe game.
<div class="quote_poster">Chutney Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">The silver lining is that Boston and New York both lost. And Philly looks like they'll lose too, so nothing changes in our craptastic division. I missed the game, but how was Bargnani as a whole? He's been the major reason for me to keep watching.</div> Bargnani looked decent except for a few occasions where he forced up shots late in the clock. Overall he looks a lot more calm on the court. Defense against the Cavs bigs was decent.
<div class="quote_poster">deception Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">bosh aside for the home opener has played like crap. and there were a bunch of occasions where he settled for jumpers in the closing minutes and when he did get in the post or drive, he refused or didn't recognize the open man.</div> Bosh's inability to pass out of double/triple teams is starting to become alarming. When he drives to the bucket, he needs to learn to not force the issue too much when the defense collapses on him. It may work at home, but on the road he's not likely to get too many calls go his way.
<div class="quote_poster">dunksworth Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Bosh's inability to pass out of double/triple teams is starting to become alarming. When he drives to the bucket, he needs to learn to not force the issue too much when the defense collapses on him. It may work at home, but on the road he's not likely to get too many calls go his way.</div> your preaching to the converted- i've been saying the same thing on these boards for over a year. he's the franchise guy, its time he received some franchise guy criticism. i was watching a little kg after the game and he of course is much more offensively refined (better post game and passer) but he never forces shots.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting dunksworth:</div><div class="quote_post">For the last week? More like for the last year or so.... At first I was only annoyed with his bashing, but now I'm starting to get pissed. I'm getting tired of saying "shut the hell up Chuck" every time the Raps have the lead and he puts down the opposing team. Seriously, you'd think the guy learned his lesson after the Kobe game.</div> Its always been a trademark thing of his, but I was referring specifically to this season. Our early slump forced him to backpedal on the stupidity he was spouting during the summer, but our recent winning streak (which wasn't really much to brag about) had him back at it again. When I watched the games against the Knicks, Hornets, and Pacers the TV was on mute half the time. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting a13x:</div><div class="quote_post">Bargnani looked decent except for a few occasions where he forced up shots late in the clock. Overall he looks a lot more calm on the court. Defense against the Cavs bigs was decent.</div> Yea, the latest development with Bargnani seems to be a willingness to absorb contact on the defensive end and an increased effort in not giving up position in the post. Against Boston, he may not have played the greatest overall defensive game, but their were 3 or 4 possessions where he actually stood up against his man pretty well. Specifically, I remember Al Jefferson taking it against in consecutive possession early on, but Bargnani moved his feet and didn't step back when Jefferson laid his shoulder into him. Obviously he Andrea wasn't going to get much time against the Knicks, what with Eddy Curry and all, but its encouraging to see that this might be a trend. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting dunksworth:</div><div class="quote_post">Bosh's inability to pass out of double/triple teams is starting to become alarming. When he drives to the bucket, he needs to learn to not force the issue too much when the defense collapses on him. It may work at home, but on the road he's not likely to get too many calls go his way.</div> He's really regressed in that aspect. I remember in the beginning of his 3rd season (first full season as the focal point of the team), he couldn't handle the double teams and increased pressure that defenses were putting on him. It took him like 2-3 weeks before we saw him stop dribbling straight into traffic and passing out of a double team. The last few games I've noticed it come up again. Either its because he's too confident in his own ability or, with the loss of Mike James and Villanueva, our team can't spread the floor as well and he's facing even more pressure than before. He's definitely got to address that, along with his defense, though.
I've been accused of being a bargs hater, but even I have to admit he looked good tonight. He played sold position D, blocked shots, and was very good on the offensive end. Usually at somepoint in the game he looks lost and usually takes a bad foul or gets burned in the paint, but it didn't happen tonight. Jones/Marshall back to back 3's after chuck said they were on the ropes turned the tide. Bosh looked terrible down the stretch.....maybe Marty York was right and the person he talked to was actually Mo because I don't think Mitchell and him are seeing eye to eye. Could this be happening at a worse time for Mo being his contract year?
<div class="quote_poster">Chutney Wrote</div><div class="quote_post"> He's really regressed in that aspect. I remember in the beginning of his 3rd season (first full season as the focal point of the team), he couldn't handle the double teams and increased pressure that defenses were putting on him. It took him like 2-3 weeks before we saw him stop dribbling straight into traffic and passing out of a double team. The last few games I've noticed it come up again. Either its because he's too confident in his own ability or, with the loss of Mike James and Villanueva, our team can't spread the floor as well and he's facing even more pressure than before. He's definitely got to address that, along with his defense, though.</div> bosh has never figured it out. last year mike james took all the shots so it wasn't as glaring, particularly the important ones.
<div class="quote_poster">deception Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">bosh has never figured it out. last year mike james took all the shots so it wasn't as glaring, particularly the important ones.</div> thats exactly right. this is only bosh's 4th year in the L. his first year, he didnt even start every game, and vince was on the team. 2nd year vince for a bit, and the rest of the team started to realize that we have a guy like bosh, and he started to get some touches and figure it out. 3rd year he had it figured out, but james took all his shots away. this is really the first year he's getting the ball consistantly in crunch time, and its still not happening enough. parker, garbo and ford all took jump shots down the stretch of this game and missed. half the time we're giving bosh the ball in the WORST situation and the rest of the team is just standing around waiting for him to do something. he's taking deep jumpers because mitchell isnt running good plays to get him the ball on the low block there are of course still some holes in bosh's game...im not saying he's perfect...but he hasnt even come close to hitting his peak, or realizing his full potential. but right now the guy is playing on one leg and without 100% vision, and he's giving a huge effort. i give him all the props in the world i thought jose was invisible tonight...he had a horrible game. careless fouls, turnovers, bad descisions...he was awful i hope this good game out of jones will put some confidence into him and it'll bring him out of his slump. i KNEW that 3 ball was going in because he started by getting a few easy buckets and free throws. thats how he should be playing every night bargs with another good game too. i cant wait till bosh starts returning the gifts that bargs keeps hooking him up with. we've seem about 3 highlight dimes from bargs to bosh so far this year. man am i ever excited about this kids future. i was a BIG skeptic before the season...and really high on rudy gay. thats sure been put to rest
