Starters Pg: Caledron sg: Derozan sf: Hedo pf: Bosh c: Bargs Bobcats Pg: Felton sg: Stephen Jackson (explosive offensive player) sf: gerald wallace pf: diaw (great creater) c: nazr mohammed key reserve: flip murrary notes: wont have access to a computer until halftime (8pm i suspect) so im posting this early. -jackson has historically had big games against us -bosh should be able to score at will on diaw but diaw could abuse him on the other end as well with his creativity; coach brown might put diaw on bargs and nazr on bosh -speaking of nazr, he's having one of his best years as a pro prediction: raps win 109-103 and the girl...
notes -looks like jack doesnt have it tonight (0/6 with 2 turnovers, no assists) -hedo looks terrible tonight; i noticed that guys are really attacking his dribbles away from the basket -bargnani needs to box out -bosh is playing hard but he looks kinda spent -i dunno why amir isnt playing more minutes tonight because he seems to be the only dude who has it tonight -look for chandler to play really physical on bosh with his 4 fouls
unacceptable effort, mediocre team, sub par coach and capricious general manager= hell for raptor nation
it seems like the raps give up an average of 110+ points a game wtf is up with that? seriously its pathetic.
Nope, only 108.6 ppg. What's even more disturbing is their DRtg (points allowed per 100 possessions). More on that below. In spite of their "European" style of play, the Raptors actually play at a rather average pace. Prior to tonight's game, their Pace Factor was 93.0, 13th in the league. It will probably go down a little once tonight's results are included. Now, here's the disturbing part. Prior to tonight's game, their DRtg of 116.2 was on pace to be the worst in the entire 62-year history of the NBA. And, again after tonight's results, it will be even worse - updated: current DRtg = 116.4. To put that in perspective, the current record for worst DRtg is a three way tie between the 11-71 1992-93 Dallas Mavericks, last year's 17-65 Sacramento Kings and the 20-62 1990-91 Denver Nuggets. You may remember the latter. They were coached by Paul Westhead and he tried to bring his 4 second offense that worked well at Loyola Marymount to the NBA. The results were disastrous. They led the league in scoring at almost 120 ppg (119.9 to be exact), set a record for pace that still stands (Pace Factor = 113.7) and gave up an average of 130.8 ppg. Early in the season, it was actually much worse. They were routinely giving up over 140 ppg, and gave up over 160 three times in the first six games - including the all-time record of 173 points allowed in a regulation game. After the team got off to a 1-11 start, Westhead was told to slow it down a bit as his team was in serious jeopardy of breaking another record - fewest wins in a season. Westhead was fired after the season and hasn't had a head coaching job in the NBA since. And, the current Raptors are actually a WORSE team defensively (based on points allowed per 100 possessions). This should not come as a surprise to anyone anyone based on the all-offense, no-defense roster Bryan Colangelo assembled over the off season. Your defense was bad last season (22nd of 30) and Colangelo saw fit to trade away your best defender and replace him with yet another poor defending, perimeter oriented player. Of course, this year's Raptors have more offensive talent than that 1990-91 Denver team. So, they will win more games than they did. But if you hope to make the play-offs, you need to find a way to consistently hold teams, especially the bad ones like Memphis and Charlotte, under 110 points. BNM
