Why did Washington bother making the trip?
Posted by Arsenalist on January 30, 2008
Before the game I was thinking that the only way I would’ve even been remotely pleased by the outcome of this game would’ve been if we managed to crushed them by 30. But even after beating them by 39 I still couldn’t shake of Tuesday night’s loss in Washington. How can we have such a letdown and simply give away a game? How can the team that got completely outplayed on defense come back and put such a thumping on the same opponent less than 24 hours later? I don’t know the answers to these question but I can take a guess: Washington had nothing left from last night’s game and were content with the series split and merely showed up today as a formality. This game wouldn’t even happen if forfeits were allowed in the NBA. The Raptors realized that they had given one up then night before and turned it on to a degree which convinced me that they were coasting on Tuesday, something that doesn’t sit well with me.
Washington offered very little resistance on defense and got out-rebounded 36-38 to a Raptors team that had very few lapses when it came to defensive rebounding. The message from the night before was received well (I mean, c’mon) and we played with an intensity and emotion that’s often found lacking. Of course hitting 13-18 3FG always helps but forcing 16 turnovers through aggressive defense while taking care of the ball (7 TO) were the keys to the win. There were no easy baskets for Washington, Antawn Jamison wasn’t allowed 10 seconds to setup his move, Stevenson was held in check, Blatche wasn’t allowed easy paths to the rim and overall we did a solid job defensively. The offense naturally flowed with all 12 players scoring (yes, that includes Maceo Baston) and Kapono and Delfino were among the many to get hot from outside. Game over in the third quarter.
Andrea Bargnani had a better game than he did against Boston. He hit his first couple shots and then felt comfortable with his game and looked to drive (albeit, somewhat awkwardly) when Blatche was giving him space. If I’m Washington I’d force him to finish the play rather than help and allow a pass but that’s a different matter. Now three rebounds isn’t exactly stellar but you focus on the bright spots with him and today he managed to pour in 19 almost exclusively through jumpers. Bargnani played aggressive and managed to stay out of foul trouble but that’s no sign that he’s turned the corner. Chances are that he’ll revert back to 2-11 for 3 rebounds against the Lakers. I’m on the fence with Bargnani, I don’t think he was the right choice for the #1 pick and as of now he has an outside shot at being a good solid NBA player with a close to 0% chance of being a superstar that Colangelo was hoping. At the same time the Raptors shouldn’t look to trade him (not that they are) because his value is simply too low at this point, I think you stick with him and hopefully he improves to the point where he’s a valuable contributor to the team. Unless you’re offered someone like Gasol, you don’t even bother listening. We got to bite the bullet on this one.
We’re fifth in the conference behind BOS, DET, ORL and CLE. Cleveland just lost Anderson Varejao for four weeks and already have Pavlovic out, this will no doubt hit them in the standings. Washington’s about to go on their western swing and we should expect them to drop off over the next couple weeks. I think the Raptors have a chance to leapfrog Cleveland and inch closer to Orlando who are the division leaders (and likely winners). If the Raptors manage to get a better record than Orlando which is possible given Orlando’s tougher schedule, we’ll finish third and have a shot at possibly playing a beatable team. But in the more likely case that we finish fourth, it would probably mean a first round matchup against a healthy Washington or a healthy Cleveland. With the team as it is right now, I don’t like our chances in either series. Bryan Colangelo has to recognize this and acquire obvious help in the rebounding and defense department. TJ’s close to practicing with the team so the Damon rumour is just that. I’ve always felt that the goal for this year is to win a playoff series or two, something which the team as it is can’t do. Thanks to E-H-1-5 for correcting me on the playoff seedings.
Jason Kapono was looking to get himself off (no, not that way) by looking for his shots. I’m not sure that’s the best way to go about trying to get yourself out of a funk because against a normal team on a normal night that strategy can backfire fast. You can’t discount how much TJ Ford meant to Kapono, he got him many an open shot and if you look closely, the timing of Kapono’s slump is closely related to TJ’s injury. Ideally, we need another player, preferably an attacking 3 who can create shots for Kapono who would play at the 2 spot. Or Sam can get creative like Butch used to do with Dell Curry. Rasho Nesterovic needs more minutes, anytime he gets extended minutes he’s shown that he can play well and hold is own. If the Raptors are looking for defense, he’s the man you take over Bargnani. He’s far from the answer to our rebounding woes but he clogs up enough space to make things uncomfortable and can finish around the rim. TJ Ford is somebody who knows how to play with Rasho, the latter is often the recipient of dump passes from Ford after he’s penetrated the defense resulting in easy scores. We miss TJ, we really do.
One-Liners:
* Chuck, I implore you to drop the Salami and Cheese nonsense and focus more on calling the game. I counted at least four times today where you completely screwed up and said something that was just not true. More focus on game, less focus on stupid shit.
* DeShawn Stevenson’s turning into a player. He can shoot, drive to the rim and plays aggressive. If I’m the Wiz, I’m locking this guy up long-term, he’s learned good lessons in the Jazz system and is about as sound as you can get.
* I’m not sure what Washington sees in Oleksiy Pecherov, he seems to be what Bargnani would be in the worst-case.
* Carlos Delfino might be the most inconsistent Raptor after Morris Peterson. You can’t rely on his scoring and you just hope that he doesn’t falter defensively when his shot’s not hitting. Like many other Raptors, his game is a little too perimeter oriented. The difference is that he has the ability to drive and create, or in other words, play the PG for a few minutes a game. I’m surprised we don’t see this more often given the success he had handling the ball early in the year.
* What can you say about Calderon? I could write a 3000 word post about how much he’s meant to our offense and it wouldn’t do justice. Yeah, I know defense is another matter but Calderon deserves huge props so far this year.
* I told you not to rip on Anthony Parker about Tuesday’s performance, his shots just didn’t drop that night. Shit happens.
* The loss from the night before overshadowed this win, can’t really get excited.
* The All-Star reserves are announced, Bosh will probably be in and despite Hollinger’s efforts I think Billups will get the nod over Calderon, simply because of reputation.
Raps win in a blowout. Till tomorrow.
This entry was posted on January 30, 2008 at 10:19 pm and is filed under Raptors, nba. Tagged: andrea bargnani, toronto raptors, washington wizards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 30, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Even though we crushed them, this game was meaningless because of the lost last nite. Right now we’re back at the same place we were b4 we started the Washington serious, so it was pretty meaningless. If I Andrea can put 2gether 2 good games in succession then i’ll be a believer again. Juan Dixon has been playing well recently, so no more Dmart this season! Jose should definitely be on the all-star team he deserves it way more than any other person but we’ll see what happens. Rasho played well 2nite, and it was nice to see that Maceo Baston is still Alive!
January 30, 2008 at 10:59 pm
I can’t take much from this game either although it was nice to see Bargnani knock down a few shots. I kept thinking about the first game even when we were up by 30. Gotta down the injured Lakers next. No excuses.
January 30, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Look, I know it’s frustrating to lose to Washington without Butler (not without Arenas because he actually HURTS them with his no D and chucking–plus he gives Parker someone to focus on defensively and shut down). In fact, I think that figured into yesterday’s loss.
Teams that are missing their star players always and I mean ALWAYS overachieve for that first game. Washington’s been playing short all season but you know they got the “win one for the gipper” speech before the game.
It’s story that is often told, but no one remembers (until they are on the short end of it). They wanted that game last night no bad they could taste it–McGuire with 10 offensive boards? Come on. That game was going to be a nailbiter no matter what. If we pull out the win I’m leaning towards impressed given how hard they played.
No one knew Butler was going to be out, which discombobulated the Raptor’s defensive plan (with no practice or chance to make clear adjustments). And Butler would have been an obvious focal point to their previous plan. Letting Butler shoot is better than letting him carve you up. That switching would have worked.
Anticipating that defense, Jordan ran the speed mismatch on us and we weren’t set up properly to deal with it. When we fianlly got on it, they were already red hot and we couldn’t slow the train enough to get the W before we ran out of gas in the overtime.
What REALLY helped Wshington in the first contest was that Toronto knew little about Blatche, which was the key to both games. This time, Bargs took away baselineand the drive and did a great defensive job. He should have had lke 3 blocks instead of the one. Putting Moon on Jamison (instead of Delfino) worked well too. This time,we finally let him get his and shut out the shooters much more consistently.
As far as Bargs goes, he is doing a tremendous job the last five games. Ever since Boston, he has either scored well, defnded well, or rebounded well, putting it together for two of them (Milwaukee and Boston). The team rebounding was great today, so he got less at power forward than he might’ve. Chris didn’t exactly kill the boards either. Today was also a great game. That makes two very solid rebounding games (given time on the floor) and 3 excellent offensive games.
Bottom line: He is producing exactly how we thought he would at the beginning of the season for the last few games. You should probably wait for the guy to have more than 1 bad game out of five before trashing him inthe green again. Yes, he needs a big man’s camp to improve in the post–but that’s about it.
His moves off the dribble on Blatche also were excellent,as he was able to draw several fouls from him.
As far as the team goes, yeah, they obviously coasted a bit when they got up by ten in the second (and thought the Wizards would give up)and that is a habit they need to break.
But it was nothing more than a supercharged motivated team sprung on another one without time for a new gameplan–that and an absolutely horrid night shooting for Parker. It happens to everybody sometimes, even the Suns.
And yes, Stevenson’s great–he’s also a total jerk. No thanks to him on this team. Smell the loss, Stevenson.
January 30, 2008 at 11:24 pm
I like Baston, he doesn’t get enough minutes… we should use him more
Why does everyone want Calderon to be an allstar???
If he becomes an Allstar it just means the Raptors will just have to pay much more for him in the off season…or maybe another team will offer him even more money than the Raptors.
If you are a true Raptors fan, you don’t want Calderon to become an allstar.
January 30, 2008 at 11:29 pm
@David, nice post. I’m not bashing Bargs, I made him the first ever “Top Rap” for God sakes. Everybody knows that I look for the positives in his game at every opportunity. The green font started a few weeks back when I decided that the obligatory Bargnani paragraph would be in green, it doesn’t bash him. It was green after the Boston game too. I’d say Bargnani is very slowly improving over the last few games, I’m not ready to say he’s out of his funk just yet.
Anyway, I can see your point on not knowing enough about Blatche, but isn’t that what scouts are for? We had a three day break before that game and the least we could do is know who we’re playing, no? As for Butler being out, you’re almost saying that we’d have a better chance of beating them with him in the lineup on Tuesday. The Raptors might’ve had a defensive plan which might’ve needed an adjustment but to say it got discombobulated is a little harsh.
Teams that have star players missing usually come out aggressive and that was expected, but what wasn’t expected was the Raptors being in cruise-control for three quarters (much like Philly) expecting the Wiz to fall over. I don’t think anybody was surprised by the Wizards performance (sure, maybe Blatche’s) and the problem most had was with the Raptors effort and focus rather than their technique. The rebounding problem is a known one and it bit us again but if we had simply boxed out, played harder and made a few smarter decisions we would’ve won the game. I thought Eddie Jordan’s Bosh on job was commendable and Sam failed to adjust.
I thought Washington was disinterested tonight and knew that they sneaked one in on us the night before and were willing to just take it easy.
January 31, 2008 at 12:13 am
[...] out Arsenalist, he drops a better wrap-up of what went down tonight. For some reason, I am having a hard time [...]
January 31, 2008 at 12:50 am
Michael Petrus would fit in nice, and with the addition of Webber, and his diminishing minutes this year, think we can pry him from Golden State? He is a slashing/scoring three who can rebound. Worth a call anyways.
January 31, 2008 at 2:17 am
I’m not surprise by this result and I do feel result like this will help to push the teams confidence. However what amazes me is the fact that you guys have BEST 3-POINTER in the entire league. Well done Raps!!!
http://mundoalbiceleste.blogspot.com/2008/01/nba-news-raps-trash-bulls-loose.html
January 31, 2008 at 9:29 am
It’s the freaking NBA. Good teams don’t show and lose… and crappy teams get hot and fluke a win. Individual games don’t mean squat… because all 30 teams are loaded with talent. Only TRENDS matter.
And usual DOUBLE-STANDARD. Not one word about Sam. The man understands NBA culture. He keeps the Raps on an even keel. They don’t sweat Tuesdays’s debacle… and just come out flying Wednesday. Did anyone even hint that SMitch “outcoached” Eddie Jordan last night?
Xs and Os don’t matter much till the playoffs…
and Sam can have all the Xs and Os help Bryan wants
him to have. Xs and Os guys that can’t relate to NBA
players are A DIME A DOZEN.
And it looks like Bargs had his medication adjusted.
He looked alert and active. Almost athletic. Could be
the speed that DMart is selling him.
January 31, 2008 at 10:05 am
Hey, PsychicSpy, why are you posting positives about the Raps, I thought you were “emotionally divorcing” yourself from the team? I guess you’ve emotionally un-divorced yourself after last night.
…But the Raps can’t win without Bosh playing over 40 minutes.
…And Bargs is a bust.
…And the Raptors bench is a joke.
————————————————————
Look, the fact is, it’s EASY to bet on NBA games. Why? Because some teams DO fold given extenuating circumstances, i.e. away-game-at-the-end-of-a-back-to-back, home-after-a-long-road-trip, last-game-away-on-a-road-trip, etc., etc. These are all common knowlege.
That’s why I made $200 in Vegas last year betting the spread for the Raps on this game –http://www.nba.com/games/20070323/DENTOR/boxscore.html — a 121-94 win with the Nuggs coming off a game the night before on a long road trip.
To give credit to PsychicSpy, trends DO matter. But not just trends with the Raptors. Trends with the whole league. I am wholly unsurprised that the Raps lost Tuesday night to a motivated home court team (see: Moro’s excellent post) who KNEW they’d be in tough at the ACC on Wednesday without Caron. The only thing rotten is that I should’ve bet the spread last night.
So, nice write-up as usual, Arsenalist, but still a bit too negative. Hey, on January 13th, the Pistons got blasted by the Knishes IN New York AFTER a hard-fought game the night before AFTER a long road trip. But “good teams don’t show and lose”, right, Spy?
January 31, 2008 at 10:09 am
@PsychicSpy: Eddie Jordan made an obvious adjustment which paid dividends on Tuesday. Last night there was very little coaching to do, the Wiz just didn’t bring it and the Raptors simply played harder and with more enthusiasm. Plus, they boxed out which helps. I’m not willing to give Sam too much X’s and O’s credit aside from firing the players up.
Bargnani to me had a better game last night than Boston because he was more aggressive and aware. His drive and kick-out to Delfino was refreshing and a glimpse of what he was supposed to do on a consistent basis this year. Since I lowered my production expectations of him early in the year I don’t get too high after his good performances or too low after he stinks it up.
January 31, 2008 at 10:16 am
P.S. Arsenalist, the Wiz DID sign DeShawn relatively long-term at the beginning of the season, through 2010-2011 at around $4 million per. Not that I’d want him on the Raps, given the make-up of our team.
January 31, 2008 at 10:20 am
LOL at PsychicSpy “emotionally distancing” himself from the Raps and coming back a game later praising Bargnani. I love this place.
jjdynomite, don’t talk to me about Vegas. I’ve lost enough money on teams that were under “extenuating circumstances”. Doesn’t keep me from stopping though, its true what they say about it being an addiction.
Last night was fun, the Bullets got the split they wanted and just showed up tonight to check if the Raps were willing to play half-assed again. Good thing we didn’t. Can’t read much into this win except that we know we fucked up the night before..
January 31, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Would someone please set Kapono up. His shot is money in the bank on a good look. He had to set himself up last night with a pass in the post that got kick right back to Kapono for an open shot. $$MONEY$$
Bosh & Calderon are setting the bar higher with ever game. Will some else show some consistency. Sam is being forced to scramble the line-up once Bargnani isn’t playing well or gets in foul trouble. We lose major consistency and re-vert back to the ‘run it, and gun it style’ of the old Raptors.
Bargnani is the key to our success. When he plays defense & shoots well our team is pretty much unstopable. He opens the floor up sooooo much. Leaving room in the post for the Raptors to operate. His game WILL improve. And the Raptors Will be a solid playoff team. I’m not leaving the Bargnani Band Wagon. I think I’m it the driver seat by the sounds of it….
Now if BC can just get us that 1 more magic player…. Antawn Jamison is a free agent…how much is he getting paided? If he’s not too much I think he’d fit sweet in a Raptors uniform.
Once Bargnani & another defense/scoring player SF/SG 6’7” is taken care off…watch out! It’s insane that we are THAT close to a really really good team.
Arsenalist- ‘Chuck, I implore you to drop the Salami and Cheese nonsense ….”
No shit! Chuck prances around on his high horse & thinks he can make calls about the game. Like…‘Calderon not missing a free throw all January’. Then…. BRICK! I not a big jinx believer but why go there…. Chuck just likes to make himself look good behind all those stats that don’t mean shit most times. Stick to the game CHUCK… or get out of Canada! We don’t give you air time so you can look good! It for the Raptors! NOT THE CHUCK & LEO SHOW!!!
January 31, 2008 at 1:48 pm
you know what is upsetting, since that swirksy legal action/letter against realgm.com, the rhetoric directed at swirsky has died down. i might have to start some shiyat on their, keep the dude in check (at least try).
January 31, 2008 at 2:19 pm
I’ll keep riding Chuck & Leo unless Arsenalist wants me to do other wise. There isn’t alot of options for Colour Commentary in the league, but I love to be close enought the smack Chuck when he makes stupid remarks. I wouldn’t personally insult Chuck, just his stupid remarks. Chucks not getting off with an easy Legal threat. I’d be happy to give Arsenalist my real name if Chuck wants to write me a letter conserning my thoughts. If Chucks signs, I’ll sign.
January 31, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Actually, posting something mildly positive about Sam
here, who gets no credit for anything, is consistent
with “emotionally distancing” myself from the Raps.
This is not that RealGM “bipolar” thing :)
And, jjdynomite, I used to live in Vegas and bet on college and NBA hoops “for a living” (20 years ago). The NBA is the toughest sport to beat… because the results are more random than any other sport. In fact, I do not belive someone can beat sports betting… unless that are a “savant” and do it full-time.
And this is coming from a mathematics expert with a Computer Science degree and a lifelong Zero Sum Game player. I was never able to make a living betting sports… but have made many millions trading on the NYSE. And I know EXACTLY why.
And about Calderon. C’mon, the All-Star Game hype is a big Swirsky Special. Nash’s first trip to the All-Star game was Feb 2002… in his 6th season and 4th as a starter. Nash’ stats were 18/8. Jose has been starting for 6 weeks… and 13/9 is not good enough. Maybe next year. His shot keeps improving… the points will come.
January 31, 2008 at 3:04 pm
The NBA is a tough sport to beat, especially the spread. You could probably make a little cash on Moneyline but the spread is an entirely different matter.
On another note, I forgot to link this article in the star today, it talks about NBA players and how 60% go broke 5 years after their last pay cheque.
http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/299119
I got to say Dave Feschuk is readable this year. I used to hate his guts but this year he’s got more meat and less bullshit/opinion in his pieces.
January 31, 2008 at 3:40 pm
PsychicSpy > I agree about Jose. I got as much love for Calderon as any other Rap, but if you even look at what the NBA All-stars is about, it isn’t about how good a player is, but how popular the player is. How many times how we seen injured players get voted in by fans? Or players that have had a great PREVIOUS year, only to stink up the year they are voted for the All-stars.
I’m not taking anything away from JC, but really (he’s probably my fave Rap nowadays), if you think of what the All-star games is about (dunks, dunks, and more dunks), why would you even pick him? Fans like to see chuckers and ball-hogs.
January 31, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Unlike financial arbitrage, you cannot beat sports
betting using computers and quantitative analysis.
Why? Because of the nature of line movements. Casinos rarely move the line much based on public betting… you often see 80/20 betting ratios… on sites like vegasinsider.com But if a known “wise guy = sophisticated bettor” makes a large bet… the line will move immediately. Wise guys make very astute plays based on either inside information or hard-to-quantify stuff like “matchups”. Using quant analysis… you will usually be betting against the “wise guys”.
A good example was the Boston game Jan 23rd. Even though the public betting was 75%/25% Boston -9.0… the bookies would not move the line higher… and it even dropped to -8.5 before game time. So the “wise guys” were betting Toronto… and the bookies, in effect, bet on Toronto. Bill Simmons has talked about this. It’s a good idea to identify games like this… and not bet against the pros.
January 31, 2008 at 4:49 pm
I always thought NFL was the most random team sport to bet on (except for one-in-a-million events like the Patriots spread domination for the first half of this season). Although that’s only anecdotal based on observations of friends who seem to go nowhere playing ProLine every week.
But doesn’t the whole Donaghy scandal suggest that the NBA is EASIER to bet on considering they bribed/blackmailed a ref to manipulate the spread? I’m sure PsychicSpy knows more based on his Wall Street millions, I’m just sayin’. ;-)
—
Anyway, agreed on Calderon; To add, I think he’s getting a lot of hype from US commentators (Hollinger, Dwyer, etc.) — besides his solid offensive stats (ergo, no D) — is due to the lack of dominant PGs in the East. Kidd’s been turning over the ball like crazy, angling for a trade and his team stinks. Wade’s been injured and his team, uh, really stinks. And those are just the starters.
So in order to not fill out the back-court with two Pistons and a sub-par season for Ray Ray, who else is there for the back court on a top notch team?
When the reserves are announced in a couple of hours we’ll probably end up having Caron, P2 and maybe even Turkoglu playing SG in the All-Star game.
Turn to the West, and with Nash, Baron, CP3, Deron, and Roy — AFTER Iverson and Kobe — Jose would get nary a mention. To be honest, same with Bosh if he was in the West (although he’s arguably been as valuable as, say, Diggler or Boozer). And this is why there will be two under .500 teams making the playoffs in the East.
January 31, 2008 at 5:44 pm
The only way the league would respect the Raptors is if we could beat-up on the West. If the Raptors were in the West I don’t think we’d make the playoffs at this point. Sure we beat teams in the West,like the Spurs, but in a playoff series it a different story. The bar is set in the West in terms of Tallent & Toughness. Plus the good players tend to choose their team…and who wouldn’t pick sunshine & Hot women. So most good player go south West. No big surprise. Wouldn’t You??? We have a Geographical disadvantage here. The East kinda follows the West in their opinions. If we want any respect in the leauge we have to beat the Tough western teams. Then maybe the media would pay attention. Canada media cares more about Britney’s panic attacks then the stories here in Ontario. But we the people buy/read it….. so who is the blame?
February 1, 2008 at 9:50 am
I like the top rap idea!