Arsenalist

Please, not TJ Ford, please God not TJ Ford again. Not the same old drive to the right and throwing up a half-ass excuse of a shot. It’s already failed us shitloads of times, not again. But lo and behold, Smitch decides to go with the play which every fan watching, no, praying hoped he didn’t go with. Sure enough poor Ford expectedly missed it and gave the old “Aww man, almost had it” look which we’ve seen too many times in the past. The Raptors deserved better in this game, they fought back from a late deficit only to be sacrificed at the altar by Mitchell who wanted to prove that the only “game-winning” play in his book does actually in fact work. It bit us in the ass again.

Considering we have Parker, Dixon, Mo Pete who are all better shooters than Ford, why Sam Mitchell opted to go with a one-on-one move is puzzling, especially seeing how we were having good success against Miami anytime we did move the ball on offense – we didn’t make a lot of shots we usually make but they were still there for the taking. If that wasn’t bad enough, with the Raptors down three now, he again ran a play for TJ Ford, not exactly a prolific three point shooter, of course he missed it and you can hardly blame him. Hitting threes isn’t in his repertoire and why me as a fan can realize that and Mitchell can’t is beyond anyones comprehension.

Let’s ignore Ford’s three point attempt for a second (although it was a sorry play given the three point shooting on this team) and talk about Mitchell going with TJ Ford alone when down one and the game on the line – remember this is just a one-on-one move with no picks or anything of the sort being set for him. Maybe he felt that Bosh (24 points) couldn’t break down Miami’s forwards even though Shaq was out of the game and wasn’t there to play help defense. What gets me is that the ball didn’t even go through Bosh, our primary double-team threat, just so we could see the options on the floor if Miami did double-team. If they would have chosen not to double-team, CB4 could’ve kicked it out for Ford’s desperate attempt or even made the move himself.

Botched crunch time plays are what kills team down the stretch in the playoffs and despite the Raptors’ success this season, I have little faith in Mitchell’s X’s and O’s when the game is on the line. This same play has burned us four times this season and it was almost shocking to see Ford drive to his right and hoist up the exact same shot he did against Seattle, Cleveland etc. with the exact same result. Ford had an overall bad game but bad games happen, he made some poor decisions but the decision that ultimately cost us the game was Sam Mitchell’s.

This was a tough loss, what made it tougher was that we could’ve easily won despite playing poorly for the majority of the game. I have to give some props to James Posey for knocking down four clutch free throws for Miami, it killed us. Here’s q quick recipe for beating Miami in the playoffs if we do meet them.

• Play them even on the boards.
• Contain their outside shooting, have Mo Pete stick Kapono.
• Move Shaq out of the paint via Rasho and run pick ‘n rolls between Bosh/Ford/Calderon.
• Give Antoine Walker all the space he needs on the perimeter. Same for Haslem, except beyond the elbow.
• Long outlet passes after made FTs and shots, force Miami to spend some energy.
• Make Wade play defense by going though his man on offense at least every other possession, thats Parker or Ford.

I know it’s easier said than done. Check out Chasin’s highlights from this game.