Toronto Raptors

Well, my prediction was way off (as usual), but this is one of those cases I’m glad to be wrong. The Raptors pulled out of an awful start to score an impressive victory and start the 2008-2009 season 1-0.

During that brutal first five minutes - when the Raptors were 0-7 from the field and gave up 142 offensive rebounds - it looked like what I expected, sloppy, almost-pre-season play, with the chemistry still missing. But then the Raptors started to gel on offense - much more cohesively than I thought they would. They moved the ball well and worked the inside-outside game well, which are the two main keys to the Raptors offense in my eyes.

Defensively, well, it’s hard to say really. The Sixers shot an astonishingly awful 34% for the game; but was that simply because they can’t shoot, or because the Raptors D was really good? The Sixers missed a lot of open shots - a LOT.

And then there’s the rebounding… a 56-33 advantage for the Sixers. Now, we know that the Sixers are more athletic, and Dalembert looked completely healthy, so a Sixers advantage isn’t surprising. But a +23 advantage? Yikes. Now, I will grant, a lot of those boards were on chip-misses and putbacks, and when you miss 55 shots as the Sixers did, you’ve got more chances to get rebounds. But still… only 33 board for the Raps? I though we brought in O’Neal to shore this up! Not that I blame O’Neal, he had 8 which is about what I expect him to average this year. But where was everyone else? Honestly, how did Jamario Moon get only one rebound in 24 minutes?

Ah well, you can’t have everything, right? Clearly they still have to work on boxing out, which is hopefully what they’ll be doing in practice the rest of this week.

As for individual performances, Bosh, obviously, was stellar, which was great to see from a guy who’s started slowly the past couple seasons. Seriously, the way he was mixing up the shot and the drive, and the way he got to the line (8-9!), was mid-season form. Great to see.

O’Neal gave me exactly what I expected - 17/8, a block (and at least two more shot alterations), a charge taken, and one injury scare. Hey, four assists were nice too.

Calderon was also spot on, with 13/7 and 3-5 from downtown. The best thing was, he only had to play 33 minutes! How about Roko Ukic? Sure, he didn’t set the world on fire, but he was absolutely solid in his 15 minutes - 4 points, 2 assists, no turnovers. One thing he needs to work on is quickness in finishing; he beat his man a couple times, but he didn’t seem to get the ball to the rim fast enough, and the defense recovered in time to swat his shot away. Other than that - two thumbs up for his debut performance.

Kapono showed why I think he should be starting (6 of 8, 3 of 4 from downtown, 0 assists - that’s what I want from the best shooter in the game), and Moon showed why everyone’s been slagging him; he was pretty much invisible, although I give him credit for only taking one bad shot (which he actually hit). But the one rebound, and 1-4 from the line, are both unacceptable. Come on, Jamario, time to step it up.

Good Joey Graham showed up for his 8 minutes, with a couple buckets, a couple hard drives, and a couple of hustle plays. I liked what he showed.

Anthony Parker was a little underwhelming; 3-11, only one rebound. But, gotta keep in mind, he expends a lot of energy guarding the other team’s best scorers, and tonight he was chasing around Andre Igoudala and Louis Williams and Willie Green. These three guys, who have all killed the Raps in the past, were a combined 11-37, and you have to credit Parker for at least some of that. I have no doubts his shots will fall when we need him.

Finally, we come to the big enigma, Andrea Bargnani. He didn’t score a point, and was 0-4 from the field. But that doesn’t tell the whole store. In 20 minutes, he grabbed 5 boards - not bad - dished out a couple of assists, and blocked two shots. He also didn’t turn the ball over, and most important of all, of those four shots, only one was questionable (a leaning drive that had zero chance). He made two other good drives (one led to a miss, the other an assist) and his other shots were 15-footers that just bounced off the back iron. Furthermore, he looked engaged and into the game, not lost like he often did last year. While it would have been nice for him to score, the Raps had enough other scorers on this night, and Bargnani found other ways to contribute. That’s the kind of development we all have wanted to see.

As for the Sixers, well, they still look out of sync. Igoudala didn’t look comfortable all night, and Elton Brand jacked up a lot of shots. He did pull in 13 boards, and Sam Dalembert had 17, so you know rebounding won’t be an issue. But they need to learn how to score in the half-court; their athleticism is definitely there, but that is only going to carry them so far.

All in all, a quality first win. Always nice to get the season started off on the right foot!