After a summer full of debates on the Jermaine O’Neal trade, the fruit of Bryan Colangelo’s transaction was on display in the season opener for the Raps this evening against the Philadelphia 76er’s. With worries about the health of JO, the fatigue factor of Bosh and Calderon after playing in Beijing, a depleted bench from the stocked one last season, and the enigmas of Andrea Bargnani and Joey Graham, the Raps came out and won a hard fought road victory against the 76er’s, and spoiling the home debut for Elton Brand in Philly, winning 95-84.
The expectations of the Raps this season with the new addition of JO faced off against a Philly team also picked by many experts (not PHD STEVE) to have a vast improvement and be the 3rd seed with the addition of Elton Brand in the Sixers. The Raps win tonight signified a step in the right direction. This team, when healthy, can compete in the much-improved East and win on any given night. I am not saying plan the parade route tonight( at least think about it), but this team will compete nicely.
The Raps were led this evening by All-Star Chris Bosh, who scored 27 (9-16) points and 11 rebs (42 min) and Jermaine O’Neal who poured in 17 pts and 8 boards (34 min). With a solid effort this evening from Jose Calderon with 13 pts and 7 assts (1 TO in 26 min). The only bench contribution worth mentioning was that of Jason Kapono, who shot 6 for 8 (3-4 from 3pt land) adding 15 points, 10 of which came in the fourth quarter. The enigmas of Bargnani and Graham stayed the same.
The Sixers were lead by Lou Williams off the bench with 16 pts and 4 boards, followed by Elton Brand who had 14 pts and 13 rebs and Samuel Dalembert with 9 pts and 17 rebs.
The Sixers started the game on a 13-6 run, but the Raps fought back ending the first quarter trailing Philly 21-18. The raps then outscored the Sixers 33 to 24 in the 2nd quarter to take a halftime lead of 51-45, a lead the Raps would not relinquish.
The Raps extended their lead to 74-65 at the end of 3rd quarter, and Philly cut that lead to 6 with 9 minutes left. A scary moment as Calderon falls awkwardly on his right elbow and leaves with 7 minutes to play, and Philly cuts the lead back down to 6. It looked like the Raps might succumb to the pressure of Philly. With the return of Calderon at the 4 minute mark helps as the next possession down the floor, Bosh hits his patent 15 footer, then helps cause a Dalembert turnover at the other end. Next possession for the Raps sees a miscue by the Sixers leaving a wide open Kapono (and I mean WIDE OPEN- a shot that Jamario Moon couldn’t miss) who hits a three to seal the deal with 2 min to play.
POG (Players of the Game):
Raptors
Easily Chris Bosh. The Franchise scored 27 points and 11 rebs and was a force on defense as he and JO gave Philly fits in the paint.
76ers
Elton Brand with his 14 points and 13 rebs and Dalembert with 9 pts and 17 rebs.
Magician of the Night: My award for the player who played but was so magic that they were invisible. Offensively it was Bargnani, who played 20 minutes with no points on 0-4 shooting. This award could have also gone to Anthony Parker who was not much better playing 38 minutes going 3-11 (3-5 from 3pt land) for 9 points. He was also a little shaky on defence.
Surprise of the Night:
The Raps were able to keep the ball safe on the road, allowing only 10 turnovers resulting in only 4 Sixers points, while forcing the Sixers to commit 18 TO leading to 26 Raptor points. Their defence was tenacious, giving Philly fits as 2 and sometimes 3 Raps (CB4, JO and Moon) would be crashing the paint looking for blocks. They combined for only 3 but they altered at least 5 times that.
Need(s) to Work On:
Obviously team rebounding. When out rebounded by the Sixers 56 to 33 and giving up 23 Philly offensive rebounds, the concept of team rebounding might be in the post game talk of Sam Mitchell. The Raps will not always be so lucky to have their opponents shoot 35%.
Coach’s Corner:
Sam kept his team under control, calling Time Outs when needed but more importantly, not allowing Philly to overrun his team when the momentum shifted in the 4th quarter. How much of this was Sam’s doing or that of the players is yet to be seen but on this night I will give Smitch the benefit of the doubt.
Things that make you go Hmmm……:
With all the hype around Philly, everyone forgot to mention that besides Brand, who else will consistently score? Yes, they had 4 players in double figures tonight, but if these 4 guys score only 16 points or less, like tonight, no advantage of rebounds will save this team. Rebounds help, but baskets win games. I know they won’t always shoot 34% but come playoff time, when defenses and games get tighter, this problem will be at the forefront.
Report Card:
Offence: B+
(Scored when needed and hit timely buckets down the stretch)
Defence: B
(3 blks by JO, CB4, and Moon does no justice to the amount of shots altered….but hard to give an A when outrebounded by 23)
Coaching: B+
(Cause he didn’t lose the game for them and keeping them composed)
Overall: B
(They played incredible defence, kept their composure and showed the rest of the East they are for real. But can they stay healthy.)
Box Score (by quarter):
Toronto Raptors at Philadelphia 76ers
October 29, 2008
Technorati Tags: Andrea Bargnani, Bryan Colangelo, Chris Bosh, Elton Brand, Jamario Moon, Jason Kapono, Jermaine O’Neal, Joey Graham, Jose Calderon, Lou Williams, Philadelphia 76ers, Sam Mitchell, Samuel Dalembert, Toronto Raptors
October 30th, 2008 at 10:30 am
mitchell didn’t do anything that really bothered me last night. he called a couple timely timeouts, and thwarted the philly runs. the right people, for the most part, got the right looks, and the shooting from deep was on the ball. o’neal, after a shaky start, did about what i expect him to do for the season. meh, good times.
i wont get too excited cause it’s the first game, but a good start.
October 30th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
great article Gino! I can see this is going to be a nice addition to my morning coffee and box score reading!
As for the game, the Raps looked good and did the things they needed to - for them to be a successful team:
-they got poitns and boards from CB4 and Bosh
-they got turnover free minutes from Calderon and Ukic
-they used Kapono off the bench to punish opposing teams who double down low
-they hustled.
love it….start the parade!
October 30th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
This is the Sam Mitchell I can get used to and appreciate. Twice in the fourth quarter he called a timeout and the Raps came out with a plan that worked and scored a bucket to halt momentum.
Like the look of JO in the Raps uniform, and when he and Bosh combine for 40-50 pts and 20 boards, this team will be dangerous.
October 30th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
I think you are being a little too hard on Anthony Parker. He played decent in the offence that Sam Mitchell ran. The sixers didn’t leave him open at all. Most of the double teams were coming off Moon to defend Bosh and O’neal and that’s when Kapono got in the game and nailed those open shots. That was a good move by Sam to get Kapono in and take Moon out. Also Ukic had a decent game. He came in and got some nice assists and didn’t turn the ball over. I thought it was odd that Sam didn’t put Hump in the game for some rebounding. Humphries humped the bench all night long. I’m going to the home opener tomorrow. Should be great.
October 31st, 2008 at 12:11 pm
i have to agree with jeishan, parker didn’t great looks. kapono needs to start imho, defenses would have to pick their poison on who to double, or if they will double at all.
October 31st, 2008 at 12:14 pm
big win for the raptors! but…if they want to be sucessful this season they are going to need to cut down JO’s and CB4’s minutes. Bosh 41+ and JO 34+. great that they won, but 82 games plus playoffs, the raps will only be as successful as their big 2. bring hump in for 10 minutes, have bargnani in for 25. that’s 15 minutes taken off JO and CB4.
Kapono looked good, Ukic looked good (thought it was funny that they tried to pressure him with the ball, but he has mad handle)
October 31st, 2008 at 12:17 pm
maybe during the long season the raptors should look at what the Cavs did last year with their 4 big men. during the 2nd and 3rd quarters they would team up Z/Varejo and Wallace/Smith to eat up minutes. the raps could do this with Bosh/Hump and JO/Bargnani. at crunch time you would put Bosh and JO together, but this might be a good idea so Bosh is averaging 40+/game
October 31st, 2008 at 1:22 pm
it could be a good idea hater, but i’m not sold on hump for extended stretches i.e. i don’t see him playing 15+ minutes a game, and having a positive impact on a consistent basis. if he gets about 10-14 minutes, and doesn’t force it on offense, he would be a valuable reserve.
October 31st, 2008 at 4:31 pm
You’re right Rapsfan, hump wouldnt be consistant enough for extended minutes, 10-15 would be ideal to get Bosh and JO some rest. I like Humps energy and when Smitch utilizes hump in this way then the raps are a better team.
Ive been a ElMagohater for 3 years now, but this may be the season he impresses me. even though he didnt get any points against the 76ers, he played good d and rebounded the ball well. he’ll get more minutes as the season goes on. if he can live up to half the hype being 1st overall then the raps are in good shape
October 31st, 2008 at 8:43 pm
That was a good win to start the season, gets the team off to the right note.
Rapshater,
I’d rather use the three man rotation of Bosh-Jermaine-Bargnani and have each guy play around 32 minutes, well probably Bosh a tad more with the other two slightly less. They’re too important to the team, I don’t want them sitting more than need to.
This is only true if Bargnani can sustain his early encouraging play through preseason and the opener, if he can’t then Humphries needs to be brought in for rebounding/hustle. But if Bargnani keeps it up? Well then I want a three man big rotation. Hump only called upon when fouls hit or some dreadful performances happen, but not a regular.
Part of the reason Cleveland went four deep for such extended periods was because Wallace+Varejao couldn’t play together. Their offensive limitations killed Cleveland. The Cavs were forced to play Joe Smith significant minutes - which was no harm because Joe is a high quality role playing big man.
The same isn’t true about Toronto’s top three big men. They can all play along side one another. Bosh+O’Neal, O’Neal+Bargnani and Bosh+Bargnani - I’m happy with each one of those combinations.
Another thing to consider is it’s hard to stay in the rhythm of the game if you’re playing less than 30 minutes. When you’re sitting that long you can get cold. Jermaine is going to be the Raps second or third best player, and second scoring option, so you want to keep him in rhythm as much as possible.
As I write I keep thinking of other reasons, another one is that I don’t think this bench is strong enough to have a stereotypical second unit. The Raps lack of scoring on their starting wings limits their options on guys who can be used to bolster the second unit. So if you want to rest both bigs at the same time then the only guy who can create his own shot is Jose Calderon, and he’s not exactly a top scorer. I’d rather use one of the big men. Add the bigs 20ppg scoring ability and their post games giving a good starting point, or fail safe, for the second unit’s offense. I think the bench needs that high level quality to function well.
I thought I was out of reasons, one more, I promise it’s the last one. Having Bosh and Jermaine playing some minutes apart allows them the opportunity to be the de-facto go-to-guy, more touches, more plays for them, more shots. They can get themselves going.
The Philadelphia game is a good example - Chris Bosh was barely involved in the first quarter and didn’t get a single basket in his first 8+ minutes on the court. He got a short breather, then came back in, scored a hoop and played a good chunk with Bargnani. In that period where he played alongside Bargnani he caught fire grabbing lots of rebounds and started to fill up the scoreboard. By the time Jermaine came back into the game Bosh was on fire. Bosh had 1 point and 1 rebound in those first 8 minutes, by halftime he had 15 and 7.
Spending time apart gives each more opportunities than they’d receive while playing together. It gets more out of the team’s two best scorers.
So to conclude, I’d like to see the Raptors play a three man rotation with their big men with Bosh, Jermaine and Bargnani. Then use Humphries as an irregular contributor when needed. Like I said near the start, this preference goes up in smoke if Bargnani can’t sustain his play, if it’s Bargnani from last season I want Hump too.
November 1st, 2008 at 10:36 am
dave, i really don’t see the raptors having any other choice. humphries isn’t the kind of guy who will be effective for extended periods of time. from the begining, bargnani being the x-factor for this team (along with ukic) is crucial. if bargnani can keep up the good play, a rotation of bargnani/bosh/o’neal should be an effective one.