Dwight Howard is an absolute MONSTER! 25 points, 22 (6) rebounds and 5 blocks was more than enough to lead his team to victory in game 1 over the Raptors. There isn’t anyone on the Raptors roster, or in the NBA, that can shut down Howard - especially when he’s hitting his free throws.
The Raptors will need to forget all about game #1 and focus on what they’ll need to do for game #2 on Tuesday. They know they can’t stop #12, but preventing the supporting cast from killing them should be their primary concern.
TJ Ford and Jose Calderon will need to play better defense on Jameer Nelson and someone needs to get a hand in Maurice Evans face when he’s behind the arc.
Starting 5:
TJ Ford/Jameer Nelson
Anthony Parker/Maurice Evans
Andrea Bargnani/Hedo Turkoglu
Chris Bosh/Rashard Lewis
Rasho Nesterovic/Dwight Howard
Key’s to a Raptors Win:
TJ Ford needs to be better on both ends of the floor. Jameer Nelson was able to get to the basket at will during the second quarter. Calderon came in and did a decent job, but the Ford/Calderon combination needs to compliment each other if the Raptors want to steal one in Orlando.
Putting Bargnani back in the starting line up was a bold move by Head Coach Sam Mitchell, but unfortunately it didn’t work. Turkoglu did whatever he wanted against El Mago. Expect Jamario Moon to replace Bargnani in the starting line up and bring a little more defensive intensity.
Game Notes:
Raptors shot an abismal 37% from the field in Game 1, compared to the Magic shooting 53 %; Jason Kapono played well off the bench, scoring 18 points, including 4 triples; Anthony Parker scored a team high 24 points; Chris Bosh finished the game with 21 points, even though he was double teamed most of the game.
The Magic hosted their first opening round playoff series since 1999; the Magic turned the arena blue and white, by giving t-shirts away at the door; all 5 Magic starters finished in double-digits in scoring; the Magic’s 43 points in the first quarter were third highest playoff history; Orlando’s nine 3-pointers tied the Boston Celtics record for most in a playoff quarter.
Technorati Tags: 2008 NBA Playoffs, Andrea Bargnani, Anthony Parker, Boston Celtics, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Hedu Turkoglu, Jameer Nelson, Jason Kapono, Jose Calderon, Orlando Magic, Sam Mitchell, TJ Ford
Popularity: 41% [?]
April 22nd, 2008 at 5:58 am
Im really clueless why Barg replaced Moon in the starting five… Anyway great point, I wasn’t able to watch the game but have watched the replay and for me I feel the backcourt D has to tighten up a little bit and if youre gonna let guards penetrate then it would be the same.. Kickout or drop pass… And smitch always gets outcoached!
Melvin’s last blog post..New Orleans will beat Dallas
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:17 am
———————————————————-
re:
Starting 5:
TJ Ford/Jameer Nelson
Anthony Parker/Maurice Evans
Andrea Bargnani/Hedo Turkoglu
Chris Bosh/Rashard Lewis
Rasho Nesterovic/Dwight Howard
———————————————————-
If the Raptors are going to start that 5-man unit … and play them significant minutes, as a group, in tonight’s game … they will suffer a fate similar to Game 1, and Orlando will take a 2-0 lead in this playoff series.
khandor’s last blog post..An icon in the making
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:26 am
i’m having joey graham flashbacks from last years playoffs…it’s incredible how idiocracy keeps rearing its ugly head with this team.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Sam Mitchell is a goon
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Rasho might be starting, but it isnt going to stay that way. See doug smith (star) and grange (globe). Raps are going small. What do you think about this?
I reckon:
Not a terrible idea assuming the raptors can hit their shots. Bosh does need more room to operate and shit was more plugged up in the middle than a baby after eating a brick of cheese.
Really, what i think this whole series comes down to is who is hitting shots. And it hasnt been the raps for quite sometime.
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:55 pm
*sigh* i am not a fan of raptors small ball, they don’t know how to play it for extended periods of time. also, hard to play small ball when the magic are big long and athletic.
April 22nd, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Wow, that’s a gutsy move by Sam Mitchell.
Who’s going to guard Dwight? Probably Bargnani. That’ll be very interesting. But it will force Dwight Howard to guard Chris Bosh and I like that. I remember Stan Van Gundy saying that Bosh ‘destroyed’ Dwight back on that 40 point night. Bosh did the same to him last season too. That’s a good matchup. Dwight has no choice but to guard Bosh if they play small ball, it’s the only way he can stay around the paint. Bargnani would drag him outside, which is even better for the Raps.
Reminds of the Bob McAdoo days, where they’d play him at centre and say ‘give up 20, score 35 and we’ll by 15′.
Bosh has to win the scoring battle between himself and Dwight for this to have any chance of working. If he can get the space to work over Dwight, I feel pretty good about those chances.
nbaroundtable’s last blog post..Skiles Signs With Milwaukee
April 22nd, 2008 at 5:53 pm
*shudders at the thought of raptor small ball*
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Well that just sucked balls… Bosh settled for the jumpshot.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:50 pm
No d…no rebounding…high turnovers…lack of mental toughness…poor coaching…bad shot selection…Jason Kapono, of all people, playing well…when JK is lighting it up, you know things are very dismal indeed.
And this is the one match up that looked good for us in the conference…
Time to ditch this tandem guard experiment, get a big body who knows how to play physically and defend…time to ship out Il Mago…His career will be stifled here…
Mitchell is done too…
chris’s last blog post..Cheap Beer in Somalia: Website Lists Prices of Pints Around the World
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:41 am
Let’s go muthafuckas……let’s bitch about Game 2
Arsenalist’s last blog post..Game 2 Heartbreak: Mitchell draws up middle-school play with :09 left
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:15 am
No doubt that Carlos Delfino had a great game but I wish the Raptors could have won this game.
Now back in Toronto, lets hope they will game 3 & 4 to tie the series. I have faith in them, always.
http://mundoalbiceleste.blogspot.com/2008/04/playoffs-news-manu-parker-takes-spurs-2.html
john’s last blog post..Postgame Locker Room - Manu Ginobili
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:27 am
We should have won this one: 9.6 seconds to go and the best play Smitch can come up with is for Bosh to take a 20 foot jump shot? GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK.
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:13 am
disapointing end to a good game I thought, but you cant fault Bosh. The guy was knocking down shots all game and he did have a good look. i would have liked to see him drive to the lane, but that’s what Orlando was expecting and you know that they would have only called a foul if it was a hard one.
over the last 2 games have you guys noticed that Dhow isnt getting called for a lot of fouls? if Bosh drives and forces contact the guy who’s reaching in is getting the call when it’s obvious that the contact is the foul. you could argue that the reach in was before, but Bosh still shoots 2, which means he was fouled on his shot not before onthe reach. the refs were better in game 2, but still a foul is a foul and i dont care if you are D12 you should be called for it.
the raps really need to start out better. they’ve battled back twice and even led in game 2, but they need to come out and attack the basket. I like the way Bargs is playing, but the Magic had 5 dunks and 1 lay up in the first 5 minutes and 2 of those dunks and 1 lay up was from Hedo. bargs should play 30 minutes, but let Moon start and play some D. the guy is excited and knows his role, let him play 15 minutes of strong defensive basketball on Hedo.
Smitch needs to realizes this in the first quarter. also, TJ isnt playing well and you can see that he’s mad. if he doenst see some court time you know there will be a huge stink in the offseason, thats just the way he is. Calderon is earning his minutes and playing good D so he deserves to start.
the key point is that the raps need to start strong. get TJ and Bargs out and play Jose and Moon. Kapono is having an awesome series, scoring 38 points in 2 games, Delfino looks good out there when he takes the ball to the rack, so these guys should continue to see big minutes. Primoz should get some time to rough up Dhow
the acc will be pumping for G3, but the raps will need to make some adjustments to pull out some wins.
Calderon/Parker/Moon/Bosh/Rasho