The Raptors come out of the all-star break, and take it right to the Magic. They shot the shit out of the ball, forcing Orlando to keep pace offensively. There was no defense to be found by either team this game. Makes me nervous with a month or so left in the season, that the Raptors defense sucks is suspect at best. I don’t even know where to start right now. I have never yelled so many times in disgust in a Raptors blowout win.
To start out the game, Bargnani got the nod to cover Howard on the blocks. He did as good a job as a soft, 7-foot euro could hope for. Howard scored 8 easy points off 2 baby hooks and 2 nasty dunks. Mitchell ended the experiment, and brought in Rasho, who did a good job of putting a big body on Howard, making life a bit more difficult for the rest of the quarter. For some reason, unbeknowest to me, Rasho didn’t play much after a few minutes into the 3rd, and Howard ran amok the rest of the game, putting down open-nasty dunk after open-nasty dunk.
I thought Bosh did a great job attacking the rim, and knocking down jumpers in between to keep the defense honest. From the tip, he was on a mission, and was rewarded with an efficient 40 points on 14-16 shooting from the field (1-1 from behind the arc), and 11-11 from the line. The one knock was his rebounding, where he only managed to grab 5 rebounds. And it wasn’t like he was battling Howard in the blocks for most of the game. He had Turkoglu or Lewis on his back for most of the night. 5 rebounds just isn’t going to cut it man.
Moon…man; imagine if Moon won the dunk off. He would have put up 22/23 shots tonight. I can’t believe some of the forced jumpers he put up. I lost my voice yelling racial/offensive obscenities at the guy. Why he has such leeway, offensively, is beyond me. Seriously though, he is on my last nerve. Maybe even beyond my last nerve if that is possible. I will give him credit for three things:
- He took Rashard out of the first half of the game (along with Delfino).
- He grabbed 12 boards.
- Somehow, he put up 17 points. I really thought he had like 6 or 8 points, but I guess taking 12 shots will rack you up some points.
The Raptors won this game by shooting the shit out of the ball 47-80 from the field 58.8%, 11-20 from behind the arc 55%, and 22-25 from the line 84%…all that adds up to 127 points. Pretty incredible, but they were only a +17 for the game, because they let the Magic drop 110. So no defense, much like a few of their other big wins this seasons, the shots were raining downing. Definitely not something you can sustain on a game by game basis. I would like to see the Raptors develop some good habits going down the stretch.
The biggest disappointment for me was how Orlando worked their way back into the game in the 4th. With the Raptors up 20 heading into the final quarter, Mitchell thought it prudent to sit Bosh and Calderon, knowing full well the Magic would make a run. What happened you may wonder? The Magic went on a 9-2 run in the first 1:50 to cut the lead to 13. In a quarter where Bosh and Calderon shouldn’t have played more than 3 minutes each, they each ended up playing about 8.5. Think about it, the Raptors won the game by 17, but Bosh played 39 minutes, and Caldeorn played 38. Talk about bad management.
Oh yea, the Raptors got outrebounded 40-34, giving up 17 offensive rebounds, and scored on in the paint more than the dirty $20 hookers on Sherbourne and Gerard:
1st Quarter:
- Man, these IBM strategies are the same every game: rebound, defend the best player(s) on the other side, hit your shots. Thanks for the advice guys.
- Bosh takes it right to Howard on the first possession, he misses, but I will live with it.
- Bosh comes back and pops a jumper over Howard, gotta make Howard work on defense.
- Howard gets an open dunk off Turkoglu’s penetration.
- Bargnani to shot happy to start the game.
- Howard gets another open dunk off Evans penetration. Bosh didn’t commit either way, gonna be a long night.
- Bosh draws a foul on Howard on the drive, he hits both.
- Parker misses another layup off the curl.
- Bosh penetrates and kicks out to an open Parker who nails the trey from the corner.
- Howard hits another baby hook deep in the paint.
- Bargnani misses another jumper, but Bosh cleans up under the boards, and converts the layup.
- Ole Jose curls off Bosh’s screen and hits a jumper.
- Moon misses from the corner, he was open, off of Parkers penetration.
- Thankfully Smitch substitutes Rasho in for Bargnani, who can’t cover Howard for his life. Rasho should have started.
- Bosh shoots over Cook from the elbow.
- Raptors play solid help defense, and force the Magic into a shot clock violation.
- Bosh hits a sweet fade-away over Howard in the paint.
- Calderon nails another jumper off of Rasho’s screen.
- Orlando runs a great play on the timeout, with Nelson hitting a wide open trey.
- Moon grabs an offensive board off Rasho’s missed shot, and converts on the reverse layup; then comes back and blocks Turkoglu’s layup.
- Calderon is on fire with that jumper.
- Van Gundy looks like a porn star, LOL!
- Raptors force the Magic into another shot clock violation with some great collapsing defense.
- Calderon comes back and drops a sick dime to Rasho deep in the paint.
- Moon fakes the shot and drops a nice pass to Rasho who hits a soft jumper deep in the paint.
- Bosh takes it to the rack, and draws a foul on Cook, he hits both.
2nd Quarter:
- Kapono steals the ball from Bogans, dishing to Bosh on the break for a layup on the break.
- Delfino has no conscience shooting the three, burying a triple off an inbounds play.
- Bargnani needs to stop shooting right now, pass it to Kapono, please.
- Humphries should never shoot the ball, but he continues to.
- Humphries does take it back to the rack, drawing a foul on Foyle, but misses the FT.
- Humphries swats Rashard in the paint.
- Delfino hits another jumper at the top of the key.
- The bench is giving some good minutes.
- Rashard finally gets open, and nails a trey.
- Magic hit another open three, Raptors timeout.
- Raptors come back with Bosh, Calderon out of the timeout, and Humphries gets the call for the shot, and throws it fucking away. FUCK.
- Delfino nails a deep three, WOOT!
- Howard puts back Turkoglu’s missed layup with a nasty dunk.
- Bosh grabs Delfino’s airball, for the put back.
- Howard draws a bullshit foul on Bosh, a late call at that - he hits 1 of 2.
- Bosh blows by Howard ont he baseline for a reverse dunk.
- Bosh grabs another offensive board off Delfino’s missed shot, and puts it back.
- Howard puts down another open dunk.
- Moon finally draws a foul in the paint.
- Bosh forces Howard to travel in the paint, he almost got called for a bullshit foul though.
- Bosh penetrates and kicks to a wide open Delfino who NAILS a trey in the corner. WOW.
3rd Quarter:
- Turkoglu hits a ridiculous shot as the buzzer expires. Raptors played good defense, lucky…
- Bosh takes it to the rack, and draws a foul on Nelson, he hits both from the line.
- Parker curls off the high screen and nails the jumper at the top of the screen.
- Bosh hits a three over Howard.
- You know things are going well when Moon nails a trey, and I don’t get pissed off. I lied, I am a bit pissed he shot it.
- Bargnani shakes free, but misses the dunk in the lane…I spilt my drink…what a waste…
- Bosh draws a foul in the lane, and Van Gundy gets T’d up - Raps hit all 3 from the line.
- Howard tips in a missed shot. Gotta put a body on him.
- Everyone is hitting everything from all over the floor, this is next level shooting on the Raptors part.
- Evans nails a three.
- Bargnani gets fouled on the break, hits both from the line.
- Bargnani grabs an offensive board, but forces the shot, and misses.
- Howard backs Bosh deep into the paint, then turns around and dunks the ball in his mouth, Raptors timeout.
- Bosh is an animal tonight, attacking the rim and actually getting calls.
- Parker missed the swing to Delfino, and misses the three.
- Howard comes back and puts down another nasty dunk.
- Delfino comes back and nails a trey from the corner.
- Moon finally hits a jumper I am happy with: Delfino swings to Parker, Parker swings to Moon, Moon steps inside the arc and pops.
- Delfino hits another trey from the corner, with Turkoglu in his grill.
- Bosh gets blocked attacking the rim, but sticks with it, and hits the layup.
- Calderon turns the corner, and hits a layup under duress.
- Moon fakes the jumper, and kicks to Dixon in the corner who steps in and nails the jumper.
- Howard grabs an offensive board, and puts it back + 1.
- Kapono wraps up the 3rd with an off balance jumper on the baseline.
4th Quarter:
- Raptors start the 4th with Bosh and Calderon on the bench, and Magic go on a 5-0 run in the first 40 seconds of the quarter.
- Dixon throws the ball away, but Lewis throws it back away.
- Moon has an open lane on the inbounds, doesn’t dunk the ball, and misses the layup. Luckily he gets fouled and hits 1 of 2.
- Chuck: “who plays better D, Raps or Cavs”?
- Magic on a 9-2 run in the first 2 minutes of the 4th, Delfino shoots a terrible trey, and misses.
- Rashard misses a jumper, Howard rips the rebound away from Delfino, and dunks the ball in the Raptors collective mouth, fuck. Mitchell calls a time out, after the Magic cut the lead to 12, what an idiot.
- Moon turns the ball over on the inbounds play, which leads to Evans putting down a nasty dunk in transition, lead down to 10.
- Delfino shows Moon how to take it to the rack, picking up the foul, hitting both from the stripe.
- Nelson penetrates through the entire Raptor team, and lays it up over Bosh.
- Bosh penetrates, picking up the foul on Howard.
- Moon decides to shoot an extremely bad shot, again.
- Parker stops the bleeding, hitting a jumper from the baseline.
- How many times are the Raptors going to let Nelson get deep in the paint?
- Moon shoots another trey, Calderon grabs the offensive board, and Bosh hits a turn around jumper on the baseline.
- Bosh steals the ball, then turns the ball over on the other end.
- Howard put back jam on Nelsons missed layup.
- Calderon misses a contested jumper in the key.
- Delfino drives to the rim, and draws a foul, he hits 1 of 2.
- Moon misses another jumper from the corner.
- Lewis crowns Bosh, all off of running down a long rebound.
- Calderon extends the Raptors to 13 with a trey.
- Calderon nails another trey.
- Calderon throws a sick alley-oop to Moon.
- This game is over, I’m done with the notes.
Technorati Tags: Andrea Bargnani, Anthony Parker, Brian Cook, Carlos Delfino, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Hedu Turkoglu, Jamario Moon, Jameer Nelson, Jason Kapono, Jose Calderon, Juan Dixon, Maurice Evans, Orlando Magic, Rashard Lewis, Rasho Nesterovic, Sam Mitchell, Stan Van Gundy
February 21st, 2008 at 1:27 am
Bosh always plays well against Howard, he doesn’t shut him down but does enough to offset him which is all we needed tonight given how well we shot the ball. Good win.
February 21st, 2008 at 3:04 am
This is the type of game that we have Rasho for. Mind you, we are paying 7-8 mil for the privilege.
There was a strange stunned silence in the arena in the 4th. It was like you could feel fans watching the game, see the Magic score, and then raising their eyes to see the score move closer and closer to a tie. It was almost eerie.
I thought of you when Moon jacked that 3 after shortarming a 14footer on the previous possession in the fourth. Pathetic. I want to run down to the court and wipe that stupid grin off his face.
February 21st, 2008 at 8:27 am
sam I love you sooo much…. I went to the Box Score and pulled Jamario’s #s…..
41 minutes
6-12 Shooting
1-2 3 Pointers
4-4 - Free Throws
He was 50% Shooting from the Floor with only 2 attempts in taking a 3 pointer…..And he went 1-2 - and was 4-4 from the free throw line with a total of 17 points……
That sounds like a very good game to me……. Albeit many of the misses were shots, and many of the mades were dunks. Overall, he had a very good game if you also include the fact that he 12 rebounds and 4 assists….
I remind you, he’s a rookie….still learning the game…
Prediction for Today: Bryan pulls the trigger on Jaun Dixon and Joey Graham… Rumour: Mikael Pietrus…… Not super excited about this trade unless someone says something different… did my research not exciting at all….
February 21st, 2008 at 9:09 am
ron, hes 27 years old. it was like calling garbajosa a rookie last year, just doesn’t fit. this is it for moon, he wont be getting better. for me, that 17 points came out of nowhere. i honestly thought he had like 8. all i am saying, is he shoots the ball too much, and at the wrong times.
altraps, there was the same eerie feeling at my place watching the game. this game would have been a blowout if bosh and calderon started the 4th, and they put it away.
hopefully we land someone today who can rebound, 34 a game isn’t going to get us out of the 1st round, against anyone but the hawks.
February 21st, 2008 at 10:04 am
Gotta say I disagree with you on the Moon comments. He definitely has made a habit of taking too many jumpshots and too few drives to the lane, but I thought Orlando’s game might have been his best of the season. From tipoff he crashed the boards with a mission, being credited for twelve but should really have had 15-16, as he flew in the air for a few only to have them snapped down by AP and Delfino. He played aggressive and used his incredible hops. He took a few jumpers, but most were in rhythm. 17-12 on 50% shooting is a pretty good night, but it was his body language that I applauded last night.
February 21st, 2008 at 10:08 am
big win for the raps, now they have a good shot at moving into 3rd if they can knock off the knicks twice and the pacers twice. the rest of their schedule looks pretty good too. Chris bosh was a monster, Jose was clutch with those late back to back 3’s, Delfino shot the lights out, Rasho was impressive off the bench on both ends of the floor.
bring on Isiah and the crappy Knicks
February 21st, 2008 at 10:47 am
Sorry Raps Fan + AltRaps, I’m with Ron Gersh on the Moon subject. I thought he didn’t do too bad, and am thinking that his form actually looked better than it ever has + we will need him to make open shots if we don’t want his man to start cheating on D.
I was even encouraged when he passed up an open 3 on occasion and stepped in for the short jumper (major improvement).
What did anger me was what looked like open dunk attempts and he either bobble passes, or makes a short jumper (instead of an empathic dunk).
February 21st, 2008 at 11:27 am
I have come to the recent conclusion that AltRaps and RapsFan punch themselves in the nuts right before they post on their blogs. So that’s the best you can do, slam Moon for a 17-12 night and pretty much rendering Rashard Lewis useless for 3/4 of the game?
Oh wait, there’s also Bosh who got “only” 5 rebounds, discounting the fact he had a 40 point night and was perfect from the line and drove at will. You guys are both hysterical. Which superstar in this league can “put a team on his back and win games” except LeBron, Kobe and Duncan (and now, it appears, CP3 is approaching that territory). Bosh is one of the 15 BEST players in the league, in a league with 30 teams, and has made major strides since his slow start to the year. What’s he gotta do, cure cancer?
The fact is, Orlando IS a solid team, back-to-back regardless; the Pistons played their 2nd game in 2 nights as well and gave up over 100 points to Milwaukee and lost. If AltRaps and RapsFan were Pistons bloggers they would now be slamming the Pistons for their obvious lack of defence (heh) and lamenting the fact that they don’t truly have a franchise player.
P.S. If you want me to be critical, I can. The reason the Magic came back last night in the 4th was that not only because Bosh and Calderon were on the bench, but Kapono, Dixon and Hump were on the floor, and all three of them “consistently” play defense like ass. But that’s okay, let’s blame Bosh and Moon!
February 21st, 2008 at 12:04 pm
SiC: moon had a good game, his defense on rashard was solid. just his shooting gave me fits. he took 4 really bad shots. do we really need moon taking more shots than calderon, delfino, kapono, parker? is that his game, the jump shot? he should be slashing to the basket, not putting up jumpers.
jjdynomite: i am a bit critical of moon, i admit it. but do you want him taking the second most shots on this team? seriously? his defense and rebounding have never been an issue for me, just his offense. he took 12 shots, of which at least 4 were really bad decisions, a third of his shots are horrible. that bails out the other team. he did knock down open jumpers, that if i remember right, i gave him credit for.
i would also add wade, carmelo, nash, nowitzki and maybe baron davis to that list of guys who can put a team on their back and win games. i never said bosh isn’t a top player either, just not top 10, for now.
i agree with you on why the magic came back, that was all smitch’s fault, there is no killer instinct on his part to put teams away, and not let games linger on longer then they should.
i appreciate the jab, i just don’t like this team in the playoffs, and with no moves to address the weaknesses, i don’t want to see the cavaliers in the playoffs.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Raps Fan > true, I concede that right now, on the floor, Moon is the last guy I want taking a jumper, when he can as easily move closer for dunk etc.
Now here me out though, if we don’t get a quality player to replace him in the 1st line (did I just write 1st line? ARGH!), then when it counts (ie playoffs), teams could very well cheat off of Moon to consistenly double/cheat on others. Think about it for a sec. he doesn’t have a great shot, but it’s improved from the start of the season. Now if he doesn’t take those shot now, I doubt he’d be comfortable enough to shoot come play-off time.
We both agree though, that his shot selection (most times), has a lot to be desired–BUT, just look at it with an open mind, and you could notice that it has really improved.
*I just hope with my luck Moon doesn’t go 0-12 next game*
February 21st, 2008 at 1:26 pm
i agree man, he will be getting a lot of open looks in the playoffs, and the only way is to make the other team play. he need to practice hitting good shots, not jacking when he feels the need. catch and shoot after a couples swings is different then getting the ball, hesitating, and launching a hopeless three. i could go for more of the former.
i think he is shooting about the same, he takes less bad shots than earlier in the season, but he still takes them. just doesn’t sit well for me considering we have other shooters, who are better shooters, who don’t take close to as many bad/forced shots…save dixon and martin, lol.
i would be suprised if he shot that badly against the knicks, they play garbage defense.
February 21st, 2008 at 3:54 pm
You know I love your stuff RapsFan, your negativity notwithstanding, so I shall break for this blog an actual trade for the Raps. Juan Brixton’s been traded for an unnamed player who is not a PG:
http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/305735
Doesn’t sound like it’s Pietrus since he makes more than Juan, so it’s probably a raw Big. I guess Delfino will be handling the second-string point until TJ’s healthy enough.
February 21st, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Oh wait, just updated, it’s Primoz Brezec! AltRaps, get your Euro Bigman dis-stick out now!
February 21st, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Too bad, JJ…if you were on our site, you would have had the scoop earlier.
I have nothing against Euros that don’t move like their feet are in cement.
Let’s hope he sees more than 5 minutes a game. Add this to Maceo, and you have almost $12mil tied up in bigs that will rarely see the floor. Excellent.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:10 pm
I’m just being goofy, Alt, I could care less about this trade myself. However, Primoz was pretty decent in 2004-2006 on an expansion Bobcat team:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3426/career;_ylt=AtCgMiZTe.myuurW.R3Qr8.kvLYF
He averaged 12.5 points and 6 boards, and then had a back injury and some sort of long-term illness. No way he gets 10 shots per game on the Raps (and I would have preferred Herrmann) but maybe he’ll be a better sparring partner in practice for Bargs than Maceo or Rasho… nah, probably not.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:51 pm
I like how the headline on raptors.com states “Raptors Make Minor Deal” in big red letters underneath a smug looking Liar.
Bet both players in this deal are happy at being labelled minor. Should bring nothing but confidence to Primoz.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:52 pm
i’m not sure how i feel about this just yet….