<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">AST RUTHERFORD, NJ, March 23, 2007 -- I've watched a lot of Raptors' games this season and I've been impressed with some of their wins, the talent Bryan Colangelo brought in to surround Chris Bosh, and how they've grown more confident as the season goes on. But I can't say that any particular aspect of the Raptors offense or defense has impressed me all that much. I don't come away from a Toronto game saying, "Wow, they're really good at _____." And if you look at their numbers, neither side of the floor stands out. Their offensive efficiency of 108.75 ranks eighth in the league and their defensive efficiency of 107.81 ranks 15th. Efficiency = Points per Possession multiplied by 100 So, when I had the opportunity to interview Chris Bosh on Tuesday, one of my first questions was "How do you win games?". His answer: We win games by moving the basketball, playing team basketball and making sure that everybody gets a touch. Passing and cutting and trying to get a couple of points on fast breaks. I think that's the thing that best helps this team out. A fine response that made me say, "You know what? He's right. They do move the ball well." But of course, I wasn't going to trust my own Swiss-cheese memory or some All-Star power forward. I needed to break down the numbers. The Raptors' season can be separated into three distinct parts: Part 1: The first 19 games. The Raps go 7-12 (.368). Part 2: Games 20-31, a 12-game stretch in which they go 6-6 (.500) without their All-Star, Bosh, who is out with an injured left knee. Part 3: The last 37 games, where the Raps are 24-13 (.648). The 6-6 record (including three straight wins) without Bosh tells me that the season started to turn around for the Raptors and they really started to find their stride once he returned to the floor in January. I went on to discuss with Bosh how his absence actually forced the team to share the ball more. Let's see if the numbers bear that out, looking at assist-field goal ratio to measure sharing the ball... </div> Full story Great read
