“All that matters to me is that the Raptors play hard every game; if they do that, if they give a good effort and the games are close, I can still enjoy watching the team on a game-to-game basis, even if the season as a whole is a colossal disappointment.”

– Me, January 19

So, I said that. And I meant it. All I ask for, as a fan, is effort. Judging by the crowds in the last two games, that’s all most fans ask for - yes, we want a win, but if we can’t get a win, we at least want effort. And frankly, I don’t think it’s too much to ask.

Apparently, the Raptors think it is; they seem to think it’s OK to go out and give 40 or 50% effort, to go through the motions and hopefully beat the traffic home.

Well, the fans called you out on out, fellas. That level of effort is not acceptable.

I mean, no one really expected the Raptors to take this one - Orlando is every bit as good as their gaudy record - but the poor effort is what hurts, especially coming off the poor effort in the game against the Bucks. We expected more.

And then, trying to turn it around on us, the fans, and say “the energy in the building is not good?”

Wow.

I cannot even believe Chris Bosh said this: “If you have a bad fiscal year, how about I boo you?”

Double Wow.

Um, Chris? These are paying customers you’re talking about, and booing, much as it sucks, is the only way - repeat, THE ONLY WAY - we get to voice our displeasure.

Think about it this way. You’re at a restaurant. You’re paying for a meal. But let’s say your steak isn’t cooked right, the service is slow, and the waiter is rude. You can send the steak back to the kitchen. You can complain to the server about the wait and to management about the poor service. If all that does nothing, you can leave a lower tip. If the service is that bad, you can leave no tip it all! That is your right as a paying customer. You’re not obligated to be happy about a poor meal and crappy service, you have a right to complain.

But an attendee at a sporting event? They can’t complain to you or Bryan Colangelo that the team is playing like crap, that they came to see you play hard and you didn’t. They can’t express their displeasure by not leaving you a tip. All they can do is boo.

Again: They’re not obligated to be happy about watching a team of professionals play like they’d rather be at home watching 187 hours of Super Bowl pre-game shows. They’re paying customers: They have a right to complain.

And frankly, it is shocking to me - absolutely shocking - that an intelligent young man such as yourself does not realize that.

Look, Chris, I don’t like booing either, and I’ve never booed the home team myself (and I sat through some AWFUL games as a Raps fan). And earlier this year - the time Bargnani got booed after missing a free throw - it was not justified. But yesterday? 100% justified and I don’t see how you can argue that. The Raptors were missing simple defensive rotations, were not hustling after loose balls, and were settling for long jump shot after long jump shot.  Add in the turnovers and offensive rebounds, and the most upsetting thing in my mind, the terrible transition defense (some no-name scrub with a girl’s name went coast to coast for a dunk and not one Raptor even ATTEMPTED to stop the ball) and it’s clear that you were not giving your best effort out there. It’s not acceptable; and although you can say you were playing hard, actions speak louder than words, my friend.

Chris, you’re a great ball player and you seem like a good person, but it’s time to rise above that garbage, OK? You’re better than that. At least I think you are - please don’t let me down. I know there’s a lot of negativity out there, but try and rise above. Thank you.
PS As for Stephen A Smith and his ludicrous report? Not worth getting worked up over. The man is a fraud and a hack. I can just as easily declare “sources say Chris Bosh told BC he’s re-signing in 2010!” because I have as much insider information as he does (read: none) and guess what, one of is going to be right. Only difference is, I won’t crow about it, because I know and fully admit I’m making it up - but I can all but guarantee that if Chris signs elsewhere, Mr. Smith will be on air declaring how he broke this story in February of ‘09 and saying “I told you so” to anyone who will listen.

Tags: Chris Bosh, Orlando Magic, Toronto Raptors

DIsgusting effort + Disgusting officiating = Disgusting loss. Booed at home again, for what, the fourth time this season?

I’m sure that’ll upset Chris Bosh but maybe this team needs to start looking in the mirror. Yo Chris - there’s a reason you’re being booed. We don’t expect the team to win every game, but we expect effort, 82 nights for 48 minutes - and I don’t think that’s too much to ask. I just can’t understand how a professional sports team - one that’s on a roll and supposedly playing with extreme confidence, AT HOME - can play so passively. Jump shot after jump shot, against a team without a big interior presence. Unacceptable.

Don’t even get me started on the refs. They’re certainly not why the Raptors lost - plenty of awful calls went Milwaukee’s way too. But my God. What the hell were they doing out there? I tell you, if these two teams actually had any balls, it would have degenerated into a cage match. As it is you’ve got two crappy teams without much heart lucky for the NBA, all you had was a little shoving and some harsh words.

Just a joke of a game, a complete waste of everyone’s time that bothered to watch.

Welcome to another five game losing streak!

Tags: disgusting effort, Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors

Well, I think we can all agree the Raptors got lucky last night.

Surging to a 12-point lead with 4:47 to go and getting just about anything they wanted on offense, the Raptors looked poised to cruise. But they continued to give up open 3-pointers - the Nets took 32 of them and I’m willing to wager 30 were taken without a defender in reach - and the Nets got right back in it, going on an 11-2 run in two minutes to cut the lead to 104-101.

After a solid possession that led to two Bosh free throws and a silly foul by Bobby Simmons that gave Parker a pair (though naturally, he went 1-2) the Raps stretched it back to six with 1:59 to go. Bobby Simmons then missed a three, the “crowd” quieted, and I started to feel comfortable again… silly me.

At the end of an absolutely abysmal Raptors possession that saw Bosh get the ball 20 feet from the hoop on the right wing, stand there for five seconds- literally, not even dribbling - and then pass the ball back to Jose with four seconds on the clock, Jose was forced to take a long three pointer (short, naturally), the Nets raced back and Vince Carter drained a triple. Three point game.

Bosh then pulled a weak-ass reverse move on Lopez on the baseline; there was contact, yes, and I guarantee had he taken it straight up strong he would have gotten the call - but the refs don’t (usually) reward players for going away from contact, so no call was made, and Harris walked right through the non-existent Toronto transition D to cut the lead to 1.

The next Raptors possession was virtually identical to the one two plays before - only Bosh was maybe a foot closer and the ensuing Calderon jumper was only a two. Another miss. Sigh. Nets ball.

What happened next deserves some scrutiny. First, one has to wonder why New Jersey didn’t call time out; with 19 or so seconds to go, and Lawrence Frank pretty good at drawing up end-of-game plays (alley-oop dunk to win, anyone?), you’d think they’d set something specific. Still, Frank obviously has confidence in his guys to do the right thing, and Harris’ crossover on Graham to create space was a thing of beauty. Luckily for the Raps, he simply missed the shot. There were about three seconds left when he released, it took a high rebound, Parker hauled it in and the clock expired. Game over (although according to reports, Matt Devlin thought it was going to OT - I was watching the Nets’ feed so I’m not sure, but we might have to start calling him Chris Childs).

So, the other oddity - combined with not calling a timeout - was why Harris waited so long - he didn’t really give his team a chance at a tip-in or second chance, or, if the Raps’ rebounded it, to foul right away and get the ball back after the Raptors’ free throws, down 1 or 2 with a chance at a last-second shot. Also, consider this; my memory (might be wrong) is that the Nets only had one timeout left, so when Harris didn’t call it, maybe the thought was, “we’ll save it for that last-second shot if we miss and they get the free throws, and we need to draw up a play.”

So he wasted the time AND the timeout. Clearly not the best clock management ever seen, but still… that unstoppable step-back crossover is a great move, and I’m willing to bet if he did that 10 more times, he’d hit eight of them. And of course, you can make the argument that if you make the shot, you don’t want to give the other team the chance for a last-second winner (though if you’ve watched the Raps in a close game this year, you can be pretty confident they won’t even get a shot off, let alone score.)

So yeah, the Raptors were lucky. But you know what, every team needs a break now and then. The Raptors have had a few bounces go the wrong way (like a Steve Blake three off an offensive rebound) so they deserved to have one go their way. And, I believe that good teams need a few breaks, and that such things can snowball into more good things. If I recall, the 06-07 team that made that huge run got a bunch of breaks too (like MoPete’s hail mary against Washington, or AP banking in a long jumper to seal a victory in Detroit) so maybe it’s a sign that this team is on the right track.

Still, three straight wins against sub-.500 opponents does not a season turnaround make - even if two of them are technically ahead of the Raptors. They still need to beat Milwaukee tomorrow night - and I really believe the Bucks have some Ewing Theory Potential with Redd out - and then the real test begins: Magic, Cavs in Cleveland, Lakers, Hornets in New Orleans. Can the Raps steal a couple of those? Until they prove they can beat some good teams, this team is still lottery bound in my eyes. Give me 5-3 in the remaining eight games before the all-star break and I’ll re-evaluate their chances.

Back to the game, well, I was dead wrong in my Bargnani prediction; he picked up three early fouls (at least two of them really chintzy calls) and another early in the third and never got into a rhythm. I felt like Triano left him sitting too long after he picked up #4 (I would have put him back in at the start of the fourth), but Jay said afterward the team on the floor (a smallball team of Calderon, Parker, Graham, one of Moon/Kapono and one of Bosh/O’Neal) was in a good rhythm, and he was right - when Andrea came out, with 7:38 left in the third, the Raptors were down by two, but by the end of three, were up 7, so why not stick with what was working. Hopefully Bargnani’s psyche isn’t so fragile that one game bad game will send him back into a funk like he was in earlier this year.

Bosh didn’t have a great game either, and he must have had a big bag of movie popcorn before the game - with extra butter. Four turnovers, only six boards? Sheesh. Why can’t he hang on to the ball all of a sudden? O’Neal had a decent contribution of 8 and 4, though I don’t know how he picked up 5 fouls in 20 minutes.

The Raptors got most of their production from the 1-2-3 spots. Shocking, I know. Calderon’s shooting finally cooled off and he committed two turnovers, but he still scored 17 and added 11 assists. Anthony Parker continued his great all-around play, scoring 21 with 7 boards and 6 assists. Kapono wasn’t completely awful - he even took a couple of threes! - and Graham and Moon each made their presence felt (combined 25 on 8-11 shooting, 9 boards, 3 blocks).

In fact I have to give Joey extra props here. In the fourth quarter as the Nets made a run, you had to be feeling that the Raps would sink back into their habit of shooting long jumpers. But not Joey - he was aggressive and attacking every chance he got, getting to the line nine times.

For the Nets, Harris is definitely the engine powering that team. The Raptors could not stop his penetration and he kicked it out for open threes from Vince, Dooling and Simmons, multiple times. He finished with 25 and 10 (though naturally, all anyone will remember is the miss) and he impacts the game whenever he has the ball. The entire defense has to react to him, he is that fast and that slippery in the lane. I have no doubt that he’s an all-star this season, and I suspect the coaches see that too.

Carter looked like he was gonna have one of “those” games - you know, the ones where he scores 40 - early on. He hit four threes in the first four minutes of the game! He ended up with 27, 10 and 5, on 9-21 shooting (I predicted 26, 7 and 5 on 10-18. I think I got this science down!). Simmons and Dooling hit 8-14 from downtown. 8-14! That’s crazy. Ryan Anderson was a non-factor as the Nets went small most of the night, but Brook Lopez made the most of his 35 minutes, going 7-10 and playing some decent D. Only four boards, though, and the Raptors - despite only getting 7 total boards from the “killer B’s” - outrebounded the Nets by 3.

It’s still a little hard to believe the Raptors have won three in a row. First time since the first week of the season… that’s insane. It’s nice to see though. Even if it doesn’t last, it was nice to get a couple quality wins and catch a break down the stretch of one. Let’s hope they can keep it up!

Tags: Chris Bosh, Devin Harris, Jose Calderon, New Jersey Nets, Toronto Raptors

Missed yesterday’s game, unfortunately, but two wins in a row is very nice. What’s even better is that the Raps won going away both times, so they were able to avoid the late-game collapses that have plagued them recently.

Does it mean anything in the greater scheme of things? Probably not. The Raps are in New Jersey Wednesday night, and are 1-2 against the Nets this year. Even if they steal that one and beat the now Michael-Redd-Less Bucks at home on Friday, look at the next four: three of the league’s best - Orlando, Cleveland, LA Lakers - in four nights, followed by the Hornets in New Orleans. Following that: Memphis and Minnesota on the road, then the Spurs at home in Toronto. Best case scenario there is 4-4, and knowing the Raptors 2-6 is more likely.

You can’t count out the Bucks; sometimes I think Redd was a bit of a ball-hog, and this should open things up for Richard Jefferson to shine as a Buck. Either way they’re still ahead of the Raps in the standings so beating them and Jersey is key. And shockingly, Minnesota has played well under Kevin McHale. So those two aren’t the easy wins they might look like on paper.

Not only that, it’s starting to look like 40 wins might not be enough to secure that playoff spot. Don’t look now but Charlotte’s heating up - won 6 of 10 to vault ahead of the Raptors. Philly’s won 8 of 10, New York and Chicago are still ahead of us, and Indiana’s right behind. Even if they do get on a roll, it seems like everyone Toronto’s chasing are also about to go on a roll. Raps have their work cut out for them.

36 games to go? 18-28? They need to go 24-12 in my mind…

Oh well, as I’ve said before, let’s just enjoy the games for what they are and wherever they end up is where they end up.

Other notes of interest:

• Check out Jose’s stats from his first two games back: 57 total minutes, 15-19 shooting (2-3 from downtown) for 39 points. Perfect 7-7 from the line, 18 assists, and not a single turnover. Oh, yeah… they missed this guy.
• Jermaine O’Neal had a solid 10-point (4-6 shooting), 11 rebound night, in a mere 22 minutes. Sure, the Kings frontline can’t stop anybody, but hey… as an audition for Miami, it works for me, and if it helps his conditioning and confidence for as long as he’s here, that works too.
• I suspect I’m not the only one who was worried Bargnani’s numbers might suffer with Jose back (who always seems to look to Bosh before Andrea) but in the past two games, he’s 15-27, 4-8 from downtown and has scored 22 and 24. This is a solid month of strong play from Bargnani? Is it time to stop calling this another tease and declare that he’s “arrived?” I’m not there yet, but I’m getting there. He sure is fun to watch when the shot is dropping and he’s got confidence like that - he really is a deadly weapon from anywhere when his shot is on. And I absolutely love that pull-up jumper he’s been rocking lately. Very Dirk-like, and very effective.
• Anthony Parker has been superb of late, taking good shots when available and getting guys involved when he’s been the point guard. He’s also been hitting the boards which is really nice to see (5.8 over the past five games).
• Unfortunately, we’re not getting much in the way of contribution from the 3-spot. You just can’t count on Moon, Graham or Kapono on any given night. Joey played well against the Bulls, and Kapono was all right, but none of them did much last night (although I read that Joey had a good game on D and rebounding, so at least the effort was there). How does Kapono only have two total three-point attempts the past three games? And it’s not like the Bulls and Kings are known for their defense! Argh.

Anyway, a couple days off before heading to New Jersey to see Vince for the last time this year. The Raps have gotten big leads on the Nets three times, and blown it twice. Oddly enough the only one they held on to was in Jersey, so that should give them confidence for Wednesday night. Will they finally get their first three-game win streak since the first week of the year!?

Tags: Andrea Bargnani, Jose Calderon, Sacramento Kings, Toronto Raptors

Finally, Jose Calderon is back. Finally, the Raptors showed that they can, indeed finish a ball game.

After all the recent late-game collapses, I’m still having trouble believing this, but the Raptors - clinging to a 94-92 lead with five minutes to go - slammed the door shut on the Bulls with a 20-2 run to close the game. When was the last time you saw something like that?

To be honest, I don’t know what the heck is going on with Chicago; Vinnie Del Negro threw out some pretty wild substitutions last night. Rose never got anything going because he was jerked on and off the floor all night. And why’d he go back to Noah (5 fouls) in the fourth? It’s not like played well (zero field goals, three boards). That team appears to be in disarray.

All told though, I think it’s pretty clear that with a healthy Jose Calderon, the Raptors are a different team. He was much more aggressive on offense last night (10 shots) and his steady hand was key to the team’s late game surge. He led all scorers with 23, had 10 assists, and made all 4 of his free throws.

Chris Bosh struggled shooting the ball, but Andrea Bargnani picked up the slack (23 points). Parker had another solid game, and Graham played well also. Moon, well, he didn’t do much and Roko struggled in his few minutes.

Unfortunately for Jermaine O’Neal, the only thing he did was let himself be posterized by Tyrus Thomas. JO is still struggling to get his legs, but at least he’s healthy.

Overall, though, it was a solid effort all-around. As I said yesterday, this team is much more interesting to watch when it’s at full strength. It was definitely an enjoyable Friday night game.

Tags: Chicago Bulls, Jose Calderon, Toronto Raptors

I didn’t see yesterday’s game. I didn’t listen to it on the radio, nor did I catch the game in an hour. I checked the score once during the game on my iPhone, (29-28 Detroit at the time) and at about 11:00 to see the final score. I didn’t read the box score, didn’t watch Raptors Post-up or even Sportscentre.

All I did was skim Doug Smith’s blog coverage and his game story this morning. It seems pretty clear: I didn’t miss much, did I?

Looks like the Raps hung tough in the first half before completely imploding in the third, then leading to extended garbage time in the fourth. So, they couldn’t even make it exciting for those that did watch… that’s disappointing. Overall it sounds like a dud of a game.

All thoughts of the two teams’ respective records and success (or lack thereof) aside, you know you’re gonna see games like this around this time of year - boring, no flow, missed shots, bad defense… the league always bogs down a bit in the month or so before the all-star break. Unfortunately, if you’re the Raptors and desperate for a win, that sort of game is the opposite of what you need right now… but it’s true what they say, that losing breeds losing. Sigh.

The Raptors desperately need a win right now, just in terms of their psyche. They won’t continue to play hard if things keep going south like this; it’s just human nature, no matter how much money you get paid or how “professional” you are: in a poisonous work atmosphere, success becomes that much more difficult.

Basically, the Raptors need to catch a break or two to help them snap this skid. Will it come Friday in Chicago, or will we have to wait until Sunday… or even longer?

Again, it doesn’t “matter” in the long-term scheme of things - the season is essentially over - it only matters in the short term, in terms of keeping the games fun and the fans entertained.

On the injury front, Jermaine O’Neal played last night. Looks like he finished with 11 points and one mere rebound… I guess he’s still getting his legs back. Jose missed ANOTHER game with The Hamstring That Won’t Heal (that’s nine of the last 10 now; what is he, the Rocco Baldelli of the NBA?), and now more bad news: Hump’s got a fracture fibula. That’ll be a good six weeks of recovery, I’d imagine. Sigh.

As for the trade front, still nothing happening, although supposedly, the Raps and Heat exchanged medical records yesterday. Yay for Internet rumours. Sigh. Wake me up when the deal goes down, eh? This has been the longest transaction in the history of sports.

Honestly, there doesn’t really seem to be much point anymore, anyway, except for the bottom line. MLSE gets to save a few bucks next season because Marion’s deal comes off the books and surely the team won’t sign any big money players this summer. Even with Marcus Banks on the roster, Will Solomon, Jamario Moon, Joey Graham and Anthony Parker will be gone, so replace them with Delfino and add a couple more minimum salary scrubs and the team payroll is about $10 million cheaper next year. MLSE executives rejoice! We’ll miss the playoffs but save a few bucks - two years in a row!! Sigh.

From a basketball standpoint, it doesn’t mean squat, not for this year (not for the Raps - if JO can stay on the court, he’ll be a huge help for the Heat). Marion makes the Raptors better, I don’t doubt that… but at this point, it’s just too late. Unless he helps the team go 28-10 the rest of the way the season is a failure, and there’s no way Marion makes that much difference, especially with Calderon on the shelf.

Then next year, well, Marion’s gone, and assuming all goes according to plan, your roster next year is Bosh, Bargnani, Kapono, Delfino, Calderon, Humphries, Banks, Jawai, and Ukic, as well as some more of those euro-scrubs that BC likes so much. Yeah, that’s probably good for 33-35 wins, right? Sigh.

OK, so maybe even MLSE can see you need at least one more decent player there, and with a payroll of ~$55 million, that’s possible, but it’s certainly not someone who’s gonna help them make any noise in the playoffs. Matt Barnes? Ben Gordon? Marvin Williams? Ron Artest!? (shudder). Williams would seem to be the best fit as he’s a natural SF but will he ever reach his potential?

Anyway, it’s all just speculation. But I will say this: The trust that the Raptors fan community has in BC is starting to erode, big-time. For me personally, I hope he stays in the job for many years to come, because regardless of what goes on between now and summer 2010, I still believe he’s the right guy for the job. But I know others are already seriously starting to doubt him. He doesn’t need to hit a home run right now, but he needs to do something between now and the start of the 09/10 season to start rebuilding that trust.

Tags: Detroit Pistons, Toronto Raptors

Well, looks like another entertaining game, and another blown win for the Raps. Sigh. You realize they’ve lost the last six games by an average of five a night? That in three of those losses, they were winning at the end of the third quarter?

If I can’t make it any more obvious: This team just can’t finish.

You know what’s interesting, is that over the past few years, we’ve all derided Sam Mitchell’s Xs and Os as the reason the Raps never seemed to score at the end of quarters or out of timeouts, and never seemed to execute when the game was close.

Yet here we’ve got a new coach and nothing’s changed.

Now, it’s possible Jay’s Xs and Os aren’t very good either. But I think it’s more likely that Sam’s assertion - “we draw up the plays, it’s up to the guys to execute them,” implying the guys on the floor simply don’t execute in the clutch - is actually the truth.

Look at the end of quarters 1-3 against Atlanta:

1: Raps get ball back with 23 seconds to go; Roko dribbles the ball off his foot, right to Flip Murray with 2 seconds to go. Can’t blame Jay for that one.

2: Raps get ball back with seven seconds to go; Bargnani turns it over, Moon fouls Joe Johnson with a second left, he hits both free throws and the quarter ends. Can’t blame Jay for that one.

3: Raps get ball back with 10 seconds left; Roko doesn’t attack, so the Hawks don’t have to use their foul to give until the three second mark. And somehow, Jake freakin’ Voskuhl ends up with the ensuing inbounds (and not surprisingly, misses a 17-footer). Might be on Jay for designing a play where Voskuhl end ups with the ball or even has Voskuhl in the game… but Roko needs to be aware of the clock and the foul situation.

4: With 50 seconds to go, trailing by one, Bosh loses the ball to Josh Smith - not Jay’s fault. Evans blows a crazy layup the other way - lucky break for the Raps. Parker pushes the ball ahead, but before anyone even gets down to set up the offense… Jamario Moon LAUNCHES A THREE. With 20 seconds on the shot clock and 35 on the game clock. Urgh. But definitely not Jay’s fault.

After Johnson hits a fadeaway to make the lead three, Raps get the ball back with 12 seconds to go. After a scramble, Kapono attempts an off-balance pass to Bargnani, or maybe it’s a shot, I’m really not sure. Either way, it’s deflected, but Kapono gets it back and launches an off-balance three with two seconds left. Airball. Game over.

In summary, the Hawks scored the final points of each quarter, and ended the game on a 7-2 run. They won by three. That tell you how important it is to finish quarters? And just how bad the Raps are at finishing? Sigh. But the point is, I don’t think you can blame Jay for the turnovers, or Moon and Kapono’s bad decision making. At the most, the blame is equal, but I’m starting to think more and more that Mitchell was right all along.

The end of the fourth was particularly hard on Moon. Bosh apparently chewed him out after Moon gave up a drive and a foul to Joe Johnson that cut the Raps lead to one with just over a minute left. Moon proceeded to bite on a Bibby pump fake on the next Hawks possession, which gave the Hawks the lead after Bibby hit the foul shots. That led to the final 50 seconds described above. Moon’s definitely the goat today, although Bosh’s last-minute turnover, Roko’s 5 turnovers, and Andrea’s 2-8 second half shooting didn’t help.

In the post-game, Bosh continued to talk about making the playoffs and playing with a sense of urgency. It’s entirely possible he’s just delusional, but on the other hand, maybe he really believes it, and it’s great to see that passion. I’m happy he hasn’t quit on the team or season, because, let’s be honest, he could. He has limited teammates around him, his point guard is injured, his coach was fired, his “genius” GM seems shockingly ineffectual at the moment… you know there are a lot of NBA players out there who would quit in this situation or just play out the string without caring. But Bosh is still battling, still playing hard, still getting upset about losses. I like to see that.

As for Bosh’s role in clutch situations… well, I agree completely with Doug Smith on the point that it’s not a good thing that your power forward is the only guy capable of stepping up to make big shots. Power forwards in general are not creators, they need someone to get them the ball in a good position to score. They aren’t generally asked to create off the dribble and break their man down to get a clutch basket, which is what you need in end of game situations - just ask Joe Johnson.

Unfortunately, there’s nobody on this team capable of doing that and as the best all-around player, the task falls to Bosh. He’s proven the past few games that he’s not really up to that task, and that’s unfortunate… but he shouldn’t be taking the heat for it that he is, because it shouldn’t be his role. Yes, absolutely, he could do a better job than he’s done; he’s proven in the past his best move is to take the ball and attack with zero hesitation because he’s pretty damn quick. If the defense recovers, he generally works the spin pretty well or should be able to kick out. He didn’t do that against Chicago, and last night he moved quick but dribbled the ball of his hip - Josh Smith is actually one of the few defenders who can stay with him.

It would be nice if Triano could come up with a play call to get Bosh the ball in a better position to score; but, that would require the other four players to execute screens and cuts and get the ball to him. If Triano doesn’t trust them to do that (especially with Jose out), well, I can’t really blame him… can you? Hell, half the time they can barely even get the ball inbounds!

What it comes down to is this: Bosh is a great player, a fantastic all-around talent that you can, in fact, build a team around. But one of the pieces he needs is a small forward or shooting guard that can create his own shot. The Raptors have not had that since Vince Carter was here. That’s why you always saw TJ Ford taking the end-of-quarter shots - he could break ankles, unfortunately, he was a terrible finisher and didn’t usually hit the shots he created. Until the Raps have someone like that to at least be a threat to finish then Bosh will continue to be ineffective in the role.

As for the non-trade talk, it would appear nothing is happening on the Jermaine O’Neal front, including JO spending time with his teammates. I can’t believe this isn’t a bigger issue to our “sports media.” Look, I appreciate how hard the guy has played when he has played. There’s no question he gives his best effort on the court. But why on earth can’t he sit on the bench with his teammates? Please, please, stop with the lame-ass “treatment” excuses. There’s no way in hell he was in the visitor’s locker room in Atlanta receiving treatment all game long. You don’t go on road trips to get “treatment.” This is just weird and getting weirder.

Anyway, for the trade itself, it seems to be in some holding pattern, we’ll see if it goes down today or what. I still don’t know if Marion is the right guy - as I just said, it’s clearly evident this team needs someone who can create their own shot and that’s not Marion - but he is a huge upgrade over Moon or Graham at SF, and he, you know, plays, unlike O’Neal.

Ultimately, though, Marion is only here until the end of this year (his contract is up and no way in hell does he resign here) so he won’t be making much difference for the Raps. Even if he was the player they need or if they make a trade for a scorer, it won’t help this season. For whatever reason, Colangelo waited far, far too long to make a trade and now it’s too late. This should have happened by the end of December when there was still time to turn it around; it was obvious to all of us the Raps needed a trade (see my Raptors-Mavericks preview from December 17: I thought a trade would be made that week). Why wasn’t it obvious to Colangelo? Why did he wait?

I guess we’ll never know, but we know he waited too long.

Tags: Atlanta Hawks, Chris Bosh, Toronto Raptors

Well, another in a series of very entertaining games for the Raptors. Funny, though, how quickly things change.

By taking a very good team - Boston - down to the wire and overtime a week ago - on the heels of winning four of their previous six - I thought maybe - just maybe - the Raptors were about to turn a corner. Yes, it was another loss, but it was a tough loss against a good team and if they could use the experience as fuel going forward, you’d be able to look at that loss as a turning point.

But my worst fears were realized; the Raptors, mentally weak all year, were that again in their response to that loss. They came out flat against Chicago, and while they evened that one up before halftime, they couldn’t hang on, and lost. Ended up being a very enjoyable back-and-forth game, featuring a career performance from Andrea Bargnani and a stellar showing from Derrick Rose in his first game against Toronto, but in the end, another loss.

They came out even flatter against Indiana, and were down 24 points after three quarters. Once again they fought back, staging a furious fourth quarter rally, but fell short. The game looked to be one of the worst of the year through three, but that fourth quarter was, frankly, riveting.

Seeing as how that was the halfway point of the season and the Raptors were nine games under .500, I declared that moment the final death knell of the Raptors playoff hopes. All I could really hope for now were more entertaining games like the past three.

Sunday, the Raptors and Suns did not disappoint. Nobody played a lick of defense, which is frustrating for basketball purists, but man, was it fun to watch. Every Raptor starter had at least 15 points, Joey Graham had a career day and Anthony Parker made a very successful debut as a point guard. But Steve Nash was masterful, getting all of his Suns teammates involved and taking over down the stretch.

A week ago I’d say, “hey, this team is close, they were short-handed and took the Suns to the final seconds!” Of course, I’d also be right pissed that they let one get away.

But at this point, there’s just not enough time left in the season for it to matter, so I didn’t get too high or too low about yesterday’s game - and it was kind of liberating. I wasn’t thinking about their record or what this does to their playoff chances. I was focused only on the game, and it was fun. All that matters to me is that the Raptors play hard every game; if they do that, if they give a good effort and the games are close, I can still enjoy watching the team on a game-to-game basis, even if the season as a whole is a colossal disappointment.

Anyway. Fun game, and as always, if you’re gonna lose, Steve Nash is a guy you don’t mind losing to. As usual, he was fantastic to watch and humble in victory, even apologizing to his friend Jay Triano for the loss. You gotta love Steve Nash.

On to the other big news of the day, Jermaine O’Neal sitting out to “rest his knee” - or because a trade is imminent. (Either way, shockingly, he did not appear on the bench with his teammates. Sigh.)

Now, multiple newspaper stories - not just Web rumours - have “confirmed” that a trade with Miami for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks is “in the works” and “imminent.” Marion also sat out last night, adding fuel to the fire.

I’m never one to believe anything until it’s official, so I’m not holding my breath, but this one has been rumoured for a while.

If it happens, it appears to be beneficial to both teams, at least on paper; the Heat are need of a big man, the Raptors are in need of a small forward. Unfortunately, it’s too little too late for the Raptors, who are chasing a playoff dream. Marion definitely helps the perimeter D and rebounding, but not enough to help them go on the seven or eight game winning streak they need.

Miami is sixth in the conference right now, and shoring up their front line should, at the least, keep them in the race, if not vault them ahead of Detroit and Atlanta.

Financially, well it looks to help Miami more than Toronto since O’Neal’s contract expires in the key summer of 2010, whereas Marion’s is off the books this year. Can Toronto sign anyone of value this summer? Will they have anything left to sign Chris Bosh? Or does this mean Bosh is headed to Miami in 2010?

League offices are likely closed for Martin Luther King day, so chances are the earliest this could happen is tomorrow. That means the most interesting thing going in to today’s Raptors game in Atlanta will be whether or not O’Neal plays. According to Doug Smith he’s with the team; but is that just ‘cause Miami’s a much closer flight from Atlanta than it is from Toronto? Will O’Neal sit again (and not appear on the bench), or will he get 15 minutes to show Miami and Pat Riley that he can play?

All very intriguing, and all the action comes your way today at 2:00!

Tags: Jermaine O'Neal, Phoenix Suns, Shawn Marion, Steve Nash, Toronto Raptors

Well, last night’s lacklustre effort hardly seems worth writing about. Yeah, they teased us with a fun comeback before Jason “Travelin’ Man” Kapono walked away with it, but to get down 24 after three quarters? Pathetic.

As the Raptors have struggled this season, I’ve wrestled with one question in my mind. Actually, there’ve been many questions, but one key one is this:

When does “there’s still time to turn it around” become “it’s too late to turn it around?”

You can never say never in pro sports, that’s for sure. Plenty of strange things have happened.

But barring something miraculous, unexpected, divine, whatever you want to call it, I think this moment, right now - the halfway point of the season, with the Raptors nine games under .500 - we have officially reached the “it’s too late” point.

It’s over.

Think about it. 16-25, with 41 games to go. That means a 24-17 record just to get to 40 wins, which is probably what will be required of the 8th playoff seed.

Given the Raptors’ play this season, do you - does anyone - think that is possible? Again, “anything is possible” but don’t forget another saying: “you are what your record says you are.” The Raps are a sub-par eastern conference team. They have one three-game winning streak all season, and four streaks of three or more losses. There’s simply zero evidence to suggest that this team can go on the sort of winning streak it requires to climb out of a nine-game hole. The team is too inconsistent, doesn’t defend or rebound well enough, to string wins together.

The Raptors won’t win 40 games and they won’t make the playoffs. Heck, even if they do win 40 and sneak in, by all accounts this season is an abject failure. The expectations, I believe, were 48 wins and a playoff round victory. So 40 wins and a playoff loss are still a failure.

For whatever reason - whether it was his own stubbornness or the lack of a good offer - Bryan Colangelo did not make a deal that could push the team to the next level. It was clear after Triano lost 8 of his first 10 games that Sam Mitchell wasn’t the issue - it was the talent on the roster. Yet Colangelo didn’t make a move to fix it. You can claim “patience” if you like, but you’d think a “basketball genius” like Colangelo would realize that a roster whose four best players are three power forwards and a point guard - along with the worst collection of wing players in the NBA - wasn’t going to win many games.

I know, hindsight is 20/20. Nevertheless, it shouldn’t take 40 games to realize the roster isn’t good enough - after 24 it was clear, and a move should have been made right away.

Now, it’s too late. Even a JO for Shawn Marion trade - which, even though I don’t like Marion in general, looks it would be perfect for both teams - would be too little too late.

Nine games under .500! I still can’t believe it’s gotten this bad. And the thing is, the schedule doesn’t really get better until after the all-star break. Before then, the Raps play Phoenix, Altanta, Detroit, Chicago, Sacramento, Jersey, Milwaukee, Orlando, Cleveland, the Lakers, New Orleans, Memphis, Minnesota, and San Antonio. That stretch encompasses two three-game road trips. How many of those are realisitically winnable? Four, maybe five? Even if we go 6-8 that leaves us a record of 22-33. 11 games under at the all-star break? Yeah, this thing just isn’t happening.

It’s a shame because all of this only makes Chris Bosh’s decision in 2010 a lot easier. In fact, he basically gets off scott-free - he may decide to bolt but no one will blame him, as the team didn’t add any talent around him. This isn’t a McGrady situation, where he leaves just as the team is getting good because he wants to get his own. This isn’t a Carter situation, where the team signed all the guys he wanted and then he complained it wasn’t good enough. This is Colangelo’s team, and Bosh signed his last extension with the understanding Colangelo would improve the roster. He hasn’t; all he’s done is add players that play the same position! So who can blame Bosh for leaving? Not me.

So, we get to struggle through, will miss the playoffs and end up picking, what, 10th, in a weak draft? A no-impact player who’s gonna sit on our roster taking up cap space. Great.

Meanwhile, without an O’Neal trade, we’ll still be over the cap in the summer, with a huge hole at shooting guard (Parker, Graham and Moon will all be free agents, although Graham has a team option). There’ll be about an 8-million dollar gap between the payroll level (about $64 mil) and the luxury tax (probably around $72 million), so the Raptors can use their MLE on someone, but are they going to get a starting two-guard for that, and fill out the bench (Solomon and Voskuhl will also be gone). Now, I believe we can bring Delfino back (as a restricted free agent, we can sign him to whatever and still have the full MLE) but either way, the team won’t go over the cap level, so… replace Parker with Delfino, the minimum salary scrubs with other minimum salary scrubs… and essentially, you’ve got the same team next year that you have this year.

Here’s some Report Cards on how they’ve done and what we can hope to see going forward:

Andrea Bargnani: C
Has been awesome this month. But, was completely awful in December, after being average in November. So, overall, just average. Big question is, can he stay on track and improve and not backslide? Right now, he looks like the starting center of the future, no doubt about it. Please, Andrea, keep it up.

Chris Bosh: C+
Unbelievable first month, underwhelming second month, great third month. Regardless of play, not producing wins, and that’s what franchise players do. Needs to develop some sort of go-to move if we’re going to keep giving him the ball down by 2 with 10 seconds left.

Jose Calderon: C
Still takes care of the ball exceptionally well and gives it to guys in good position to succeed. But overall, has not performed at the same level he was at last year. His shooting percentages are down and he is not as aggressive, doesn’t turn the corner on the PNR the way he did last year. Hopefully that’s due to his injury problems, and it’ll come around. He’s potentially the second-best offensive player on the team, he needs to assert himself more on that end - especially if he continues to be a liability on the defensive end.

Jermaine O’Neal: B
When he’s been out there, Jermaine has been pretty solid. Other than a few instances where he’s forced his offense unnecessarily, his shots have been decent, and defensively, he’s done, well, about as well as anyone can when the perimeter is a giant sieve. You certainly can’t question his effort or passion when he’s on the floor. If only he could STAY on the floor! Mr. Glass just gets injured way too easily. If it’s true that he’s been helping Andrea out in practice, and that he’ll come off the bench (for now) as was reported this week, then I have even more respect for him. Still don’t understand why he can’t sit with the team on the bench, though.

Jamario Moon, Joey Graham, Anthony Parker, Jason Kapono: F
Collectively, the worst corps of swingmen in the NBA. Moon is a slasher who settles for jumpers, Kapono is a shooter who tries to slash. Joey has had good flashes, but still makes too many mistakes. Parker gives his all but has clearly lost a step; he’d be a great sixth or seventh man, the James Posey type role, only he’s the only capable guy in the whole group so he’s got to start, and is asked to do more than what is reasonable for a player his age and caliber. Thankfully, only Kapono is under contract next year, but can they find anyone decent to replace the rest? This has been the Raptors’ Achilles heel the past two-and-a-half years.

Kris Humphries, Jake Voskuhl: D
Everyone keeps expecting Hump to embrace his role as board-crasher / body banger, but he seems insistent that he’s got more offensive game than he really does. Hopefully, Voskuhl is teaching him that effort and scrappiness will get you the PT. Hump will be back next year; will he get it by then? Until he does, he’ll be 10th man. If he embraces the role, and plays within himself, he could be a solid contributor. Voskuhl has committed some hard fouls, and, um, well… that’s about it. But, that’s his role, he knows it, and plays it well.

Roko Ukic: A
The most (only?) pleasant surprise on the team. I expected very little from him this season, but he’s exceeded those expectations 100-fold. He still can’t shoot and he’s gotta learn some tricks for finishing at the rim. But he’s fast, tall, has good defensive fundamentals, and, most important for a young PG, has confidence in himself and his abilities - he’s not intimidated and doesn’t back down from anyone. He’s the only Raptor who consistently takes the ball strong to the hoop - even though the only scouting report out there on him is “lay off and make him shoot,” he still finds a way to get there. Another thing that’s impressed me, he doesn’t pick up his dribble under pressure and he never stops moving, which are two regular rookie PG mistakes - they get pushed into traps when they slow up. If he develops that jumper, he’ll be, at the least, a very good backup PG in the NBA. If he develops range, puts on strength to finish at the hoop, and continues to develop his court sense? Well then the sky’s the limit.

Will Solomon: D
Has been marginally better the past three games, which amounts to “not making me want to stick my head in the oven,” but hey, progress is progress. The problem is that he regularly makes the wrong decision - drives when he should shoot, shoots when he should pass, picks up his dribble, misses the open man, waits too long for the entry, passes to the wrong man… etc. Even that ridiculous haircut is a terrible decision. Hey, for about the same price we could have had the original NBA fauxhawk, Damon Jones, and he would have been much better. Alas.

Hassan Adams: F
I don’t even know where to begin with this one. He won’t be missed.

Nathan Jawai: N/A
Obviously, you can never expect too much from a second-round pick, but it would be nice to see him play. Also, would have been nice for the Raptors to give him a physical before signing him to a two-year contract… sigh. But that’s not his fault, and he gets credit for being with the team every day (unlike say, Jermaine O’Neal) and, from all accounts, working hard to get into shape. Here’s hoping he gets some garbage time minutes in the final two months of the season.

Overall, those grades are low and maybe the individual performances aren’t that bad. But this is a team and the only thing that really matters is winning, and this team isn’t doing that so everyone has to be held accountable.

So, yes, I’m very disappointed in the team’s play this season and not too optimistic about the future. The next 41 games might be a real drag, at least without a trade to spice things up.

But, at the end of the day, as always, I’ll support the team through thick and thin! And I’ll never support tanking; winning is the only thing that matters. So, let’s go Raps! Get out there and win some more games!

Tags: Andrea Bargnani, Chris Bosh, Indiana Pacers, Jermaine O'Neal, Toronto Raptors

Ugh. I don’t even know where to begin with this game.

I had a feeling the Raptors would come out slow, based on my perception of the way they’ve responded to tough losses in the past. They took their own crowd right out of the game by giving up second chance points, by not getting back in transition, and by settling for jump shots.

But I’ll give them credit for playing a six-minute stretch to finish the second quarter. Trailing by 8, we witnessed one of the most pathetic displays of basketball you’ll ever see - a Bulls possession in which, with a lineup of Deng, Gordon, Nocioni, Noah and Rose (not a single player over 6′9″ except Noah who I can’t believe is any larger than Deng), they grabbed FOUR offensive rebounds before Deng finally scored.

You can believe the crowd was upset, and the boos rained down. It was embarrassing. And now the Raps were down 10.

But then something unexpected happened. The Raptors actually responded to the fans! I almost didn’t believe it as it was happening, but the Raps went on a 20-6 run, highlighted by stellar defense and punctuated by a Solomon-to-Moon alley-oop dunk that brought the crowd to its feet. Naturally, the Raps couldn’t hold off a Hinrich three at the end of the quarter, but they’d turned a 14-point deficit into a one-point lead.

The Raps continued to play solid ball to start the third, with Bargnani and Bosh eating up the Bulls. They combined for the Raps’ first 14 points of the quarter as the lead stretched to seven, and the Bulls were reeling. But then, instead of dropping the hammer and closing the door, the defense relaxed a little and let the Bulls back in.

And come the fourth quarter, it was Derrick Rose time.

I’m just gonna say this. This Bulls team might have guys in their primes like Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon and Loul Deng, up and comers like Ty Thomas and Joakim Noah, plus vets like Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes… but Derrick Rose is the best player on that team and it’s not even close. He is that good. Granted the Raps D isn’t exactly stellar, but Rose was doing whatever the heck he wanted out there and I swear he didn’t even break a sweat. It was all completely effortless.

The beauty of it was, he saved it all for the fourth. He had 8 points and 8 assists at the end of three and finished with 25 and 10. In other words, he spent the first three quarters setting up his teammates and took the game over in the final frame. This is a skill that usually takes players a couple of seasons to learn (and usually takes teammates a couple of seasons to buy into) but it was a flawless display. His teammates put the ball in his hands, gave him picks, and got out of the way.

The Bulls scored 34 in the quarter. 34! The Raps simply could not get a stop. And why they switched on every screen-roll, I don’t really understand; Rose wasn’t shooting it, he was driving (and easily beating Bosh or whichever big switched to him) so why not mix up the look? Why not try going under a screen and see if he can hit the long J? Sigh. Defense was way too passive in the fourth.

Still, despite Rose’s heroics and the awful defense, the Raps were still in it thanks to Bargnani’s hot shooting. 10-14 for 31 points, plus 2-4 from three, 9-10 from the line and 10 boards. Easily his best game as a pro. The Bulls had no idea what to do with the guy, and he was in the zone - everything was going in, even shots that bounced off the rim three times dropped through.

Naturally, in typical Raptor fashion, he didn’t take a single shot in the final 6:13. He only got the ball once in scoring position, and he traveled on a post move. He wasn’t a factor at all in the offense.

Don’t get me wrong, Bosh was having a good game as well, but the two of them work better when they’re working together, you know?

So, Bosh gets the ball down four with a minute to go, and botches a drive. Tough play, lotta contact, but you won’t often get that call in a close game. After a Nocioni miss Anthony Parker - who was solid - scored on a driving, aggressive layup and it was a two-point game.

After the Raps fouled (about 10 seconds too late) the Bulls proceeded to turn the ball over on the inbounds! I couldn’t believe it. The crowd went nuts. 14 seconds to go, Raps have the ball and a chance to tie or win.

You know what happened next.

Bosh executed an extremely sloppy drive and spin, rose up and got his shot blocked back in his face by Noah, who had played all of 13 seconds in the entire second half.

Mr. Un-Clutch strikes again. Sigh.

I don’t understand the play call, to be honest. I get the idea of putting the ball in the hands of your best player. But an iso? For a power forward? Bosh is many things but he’s not Paul Pierce, you know? Compared to other PFs, yes, he is fairly adept at creating his own shot, but still… you can’t be relying on that at the end of the game. Why not get him the ball on a cut through the paint? Why not a simple pick and roll, try and get him matched up on someone smaller? Why not anything with some movement where he can kick out to a teammate who happens to be on fire (like Bargnani)? Anything where all he has to do is score, not create.

Argh. I agree Bosh should be the first option. But as far as I can tell there was no other option on that play. The Raptors have the most success when they move the ball and just dumping it into Bosh and saying “do it yourself” does not strike me as the best play call.

At the end of the day, it was an exciting game and I’m glad to have seen it in person. Few other random observations:

• Kapono hit a couple of shots but was predictably awful on defense, getting out of position and forcing the entire Raps team to scramble. Joey Graham can no longer call himself the Hulk; in fact, if there’s a super-hero name to describe his performance last night, I’d say it was the Invisible Woman. 0-1, two boards, two fouls, two turnovers in 12 minutes? Yikes.
• Moon had a couple nice plays but as usual, settled for WAY too many jumpers. You realize the guy is shooting 8-38 from downtown in his past 14 games? That’s a Roko Ukic-like 21 per cent. Please, stop shooting, Jamario.
• Parker was solid. 7-11, 15 points, held Gordon to 10 points on 4-13 shooting.
• Will Solomon shot two threes, both times the crowd held their breath. Only one dropped. He wasn’t terrible, he wasn’t great, Ukic was the same. Although everything Ukic did was going to the basket, which is good, he’s still struggling to finish in there. It’ll come. I think the kid’s going to be good. He’s not intimidated and he has gotten about 1000 times better at handling pressure than he was at the start of the year.
• You knew it was going to be “one of those nights” when the Raptor missed both of his trampoline dunks during the second-quarter timeout! Yikes.
• Chuck Swirsky got a plaque of recognition and a nice round of applause at halftime. We were sitting 10 rows up, right behind he and Bill Wennington, and if we’d arrived a few minutes earlier I would have gone down and said hello. As it was he was chatting with several fans and I knew there wouldn’t have been time to get a handshake before he had to be in his seat.
• Matt Devlin is quite tall. Wonder if he ever played?
• Decent sized crowd, but it’s true what they say - it’s dead in the lower bowl and it makes you feel uncomfortable to cheer too loud. Nobody in my section got in on the “de-fense” chant except me and my buddy. I don’t know how you could not get excited during the final two minutes of that game… unless you’re not a basketball fan. And I guess that’s the problem with the corporate seats. Too many of these people are just there to be there, not because they’re fans. Real shame.
• Jermaine O’Neal: MIA. Jose Calderon? On the bench. Drew Gooden, injured for the Bulls? On the bench. Nathan Jawai? Inactive all year but has been on the bench every single game. This is getting ridiculous. My buddy speculated that maybe he has a stipulation in his contract that says if he’s hurt he gets to stay at home or something. Which is fine, but why not just say so? Why the smokescreen about treatment? It’s BS. Give us the true story here!

Well, another tough loss in a season full of them. I’ll have a half-way report this weekend, after game #41… let’s just say whatever optimism I had left is all but gone.

Tags: Andrea Bargnani, Chicago Bulls, Chris Bosh, Toronto Raptors