What is it that comes after panic mode? Acceptance? I guess that’s it. I’ve kind of accepted that this Raptors team, regardless of who’s coaching it, just doesn’t have it this year. The roster is simply missing too many ingredients and there’s no way to add them to the mix. The playoffs seem like a pipe dream and I’m just hoping for some entertainment the rest of the way.

At least I got that yesterday; it was a very enjoyable game to watch. Both teams made runs, both teams had double digit leads, both teams hit big shots. There were blocked shots, hustling for loose balls, even a bloodied Chris Bosh. It was a hard-fought game all the way.

Naturally, the Raptors’ Achilles heels were exposed at the end of the game, and Portland fired their arrows right in there. Rebounding and point guard defense killed the Raps’ on Portland’s final possession, and then on the final play, not having a wing player who can create offense proved to be the final nail in the coffin.

Amazingly enough, Achilles Heel #4 - wing defense - wasn’t apparent in yesterday’s loss. Yes, Brandon Roy hit a big jumper late, but he was really a non-factor all game, scoring 15 on 6-16 and not really being a factor. Kudos to Anthony Parker for the job he did on Roy.

I still can’t get over that final play. Why would Bosh get the ball 30 feet from the rim? And if that was a busted play, as Triano hinted, you’d think Jose Calderon would sprint to Bosh and take over. But if you watched the play, you saw that Calderon did not move an inch from his spot in the far corner. Seriously, watch it. His feet never move.

Calderon is the only guy who even has a hint of ability to take a guy off the dribble (well, maybe Joey Graham does, but we’re not putting the ball in his hands, obviously). The pick and roll, amazingly enough, had been working all game - Calderon went to the rim for the first time in about three weeks, and he did it more than once. Why not go back to that? Was having Chris Bosh create off the bounce from beyond the three-point-line the best idea? I think not.

(Also not impressed with Triano’s “explanation” - “I’m not gonna tell you what was supposed to happen as we want to use it again sometime.” First of all, you wanna use that AGAIN? Yikes. And second, that sounds an awful lot like an excuse. I mean all he had to say was “we wanted to do this,” you didn’t have to explain the intricacies of it. So it makes me wonder just what it was they wanted to do, if he couldn’t even put it into words? Fishy.)

Of course, it should never have come to that; the Raps should have corralled the rebound on the previous play, or on Oden’s missed foul shot, or about a dozen other times. Say what you will about Oden - that he looks slow, that he travels every time he catches the ball (Seriously, watch his feet. He picks up his dribble, THEN hop-steps, then shoots. But since he looks like a 12-year vet, he gets 12-year vet calls. That’s the only way I can explain it), that he had about 14 three-second violations that weren’t called… but, the man knows how to box out. Even when he didn’t get boards, our guys simply couldn’t get around him.

A -17 on the rebounds, and outrebounded 18-4 on the offensive end. Ugh. Combined 17 boards from Bosh, O’Neal and Bargnani in 96 minutes. Woeful.

So, it’s a four-game skid, with a trip to red-hot Cleveland tomorrow night. It’s not good folks. They’re last in their division, and on the outside looking in at the playoff picture.

But, if you wanna look at the bright side, here’s some thoughts…

They were 7-12 two years ago, and would go to 7-14, before going 40-21 the rest of the way.

They’re only a half-game out of a playoff spot

As the TV crew pointed out yesterday about 1,173 times, the Raptors had the second-toughest early-season schedule in the NBA.

We appear to be healthy (yep, I’m reaching here).

Joey Graham is opening some eyes (really reaching).

We almost won without our star Kris Humphries! (OK, I’m done).

I gather people think yesterday was something to build on but to me, it was more of the same. Outrebounded again. Another blown lead. Another opposing PG comes up big against us. The usual roster holes exposed. Unable to execute down the stretch.

Just another day in Raptorland.

If you wanted an entertaining game, you got that, and that’s an improvement over the last week. But at this point, I wouldn’t expect much else from these Raptors.

Tags: Brandon Roy, Chris Bosh, Greg Oden, Jay Triano, Jose Calderon, Portland Trailblazers, Toronto Raptors

This entry was posted on Monday, December 8th, 2008 at 2:04 pm and is filed under Game Wrap-ups, Toronto Raptors.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.