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Raptor Rant – Two Games. One Story

January 9, 2012 Nat Raptor Rants

The Raptors are in the middle of a tough stretch of 7 games in 9 nights, where the first two were hardly ones to waste DVR space on. Less than a week ago, the team sat with a .500 record and all the talk was mostly positive. Fast forward to today as they get set to face the Timberwolves, and there is a familiar “sky is falling” vibe amongst the fan-base.

When the Raptors took on the Nets last week, coach Casey stressed that there were “no easy wins” in the NBA and the team proved that. Unable to close out on shooters and letting Kris Humphries grab 16 rebounds were two of the many factors that did them in that night. Deron Williams ran circles around Jose Calderon and when things weren’t going well on the offensive end, the Raptors started falling into bad defensive habits from previous seasons.

The next night against the 76′ers a similar pattern began to occur. 11 first half turnovers and the inability to find an offensive flow set the team back pedalling on defense. Inconsistency seems to be trend here early in the season. Outside of Bargnani, none of the guys have been able to produce constantly on the offensive end with the SF and SG spot being the glaring issues. James Johnson brings everything the team needs on D but is an absolute black hole on offense at the moment. Rasual Butler has yet to find that range he is known for and Barbosa is less blur and more bricks these days. DeRozan too has been unable to string together a few good games from start to finish. For him he may need to reconsider how he starts off — go to the basket instead of checking if your jumper is falling.

This version of the Raptors is not going to be breaking any offensive records but once they start scrambling to score, the easy rebounds and fast breaks lead to defensive breakdowns and the rest just spirals from there. Right now this team needs to stop worrying about scoring and just keep building on the new defensive fundamentals being brought on by coach Casey. “Old habits die hard” they say, in this case, those old habits are probably going to keep this team lottery bound for one more year. For a big group of the fan base, that sounds like a plan!

Up Next: Timberwolves @ Raptors. Monday, 9th Jan. 2012

Here is what @jaysatur from Raptors.com is looking for from tonight’s matchup

One comment

Raptors Clamp Down On D, Dominate The Cavs

January 5, 2012 Nat Heels at the Game

Pregame, the story was all about Tristan Thompson’s homecoming. The highest drafted Canuck was preparing to suit up for the first time in front of family and friends, in an arena where not too long ago, he sat in the nosebleed’s to cheer on the same team he was about to face. The Toronto Raptors couldn’t care less, they were preparing to win. And win they did. It took them a while to get going offensively but another big night from Bargnani and DeRozan gave the Raptors(3-3) the 92-77 victory over the Cavs last night.

Defensively this was the best effort put forth by the team so far in this young season. The Raptors are making it hard for their opponents to get the easy buckets they were knowing for giving up. They held the Cavs to under 30% from the floor and it is starting to become a pattern. Casey has made these guys, essentially the same core from last season, do a 180. The bad habits show up from time to time but its hard to miss all the talking going on, the improved defensive rotations and the shot contests. While the Cavs are hardly a benchmark to judge against, the Raps have been showing this new look for 6 games now. It suits them. Offensively they still have a ways to go because DeMar isn’t going to give them 5 three’s a night and Andrea is going to start facing a double team soon. If there was a weakness in this one it has to be the lack of production from the small forward spot once again. Butler is just a black hole right now, and James Johnson needs to find a jumper.

Once the team starts putting things together on both ends of the floor, which I believe they will, expect there to be lots of empty room on the “TankNation” bandwagon.

The Night in Numbers

29.6% from the field were the Cavs who were stifled by the Raptors D all night. The Raptors are currently the only team holding opponents to an average of under 40% from the floor. Impressive for anyone, more so for a team never mentioned when talking defence.

3 double-doubles for Jose Calderon after he put up 13 and 11 against the Cavs last night. Jose is playing some of the best ball of his career right now and has built a chemistry with both Andrea and Amir on that pick ‘n roll or pick ‘n pop.

“He is much better than people give him credit for as far as his solid play, running the team, shooting the basketball.” – Dwane Casey on Calderon’s play early in the season.

31 points from Andrea Bargnani and they all came within the flow of the offense. He is averaging 24 points on the season (7th best in the league) and doing it efficiently. Even more surprising, he is fully committed on the defensive end of the floor and it hasn’t taken away from what everyone knew he could do, which is score.

“He is playing at an all-star level. I am totally impressed with his approach, defensively and offensively.” — Dwane Casey on Andrea

5 made 3′s for DeRozan. He made 5 all of last season. DeMar put in a lot of work on that jumper this offseason, he was in the gym making 300 three pointers a day. Against the Cavs he picked his spots but that hard work is already paying off. The percentages are off the charts right now compared to last year but even if they come down to earth, its nice that he has this as an arsenal to use.

“He opens up the floor for everybody else. Now you have to honour him. It’s going to help us a lot offensively, especially on the pick and roll” — Dwane Casey on DeMar’s extended range

11 Turnovers, a category the team is still a little up and down with. They were much better handling the ball against the Cavs and sit around the middle of the pack in terms of coughing the ball up. Having the leader in AST-TO ratio in Jose, the Raptors should be fine over the course of the season. On the other end of the spectrum, the Raps are last in opponent turnovers per game. (source)

-13 in the FT category. The Raptors are near the bottom of the league when it comes to getting to the line. Most of that has to do with the fact that Andrea, and for the most part this season, DeMar have been playing outside the paint. The positive from last night, the Raptors gave nothing easy. Opponents are made to earn it at the line in coach Casey’s new system.

4 fast break points. Though coach Casey has stated he wants the team to get out and run it’s not happening. The Raptors are very much half court team right now, a lot has to do with the style of play from Calderon and Bargnani. As @Liston pointed out in his stats breakdown on Raptors Republic – Toronto has the fifth slowest pace factor in the league at 88.8.

Up Next: Nets @ Raptors. 7PM on Friday, 6th Jan. 2012.

One comment Andrea Bargnani, Demar DeRozan, Jose Calderon, Toronto Raptors, Tristan Thompson

Raptors Report – A Road Well Traveled

January 4, 2012 Nat Raptors Report

After suffering through the 1-15 start in the 2005, this 2-3 start from the Raptors has come as a pleasant surprise. Heading into the season with low expectations and a goal to improve in a multitude of categories, this team has shown a lot of heart and fight early on. Every game has been played with a defensive intensity fans in Toronto have been waiting to see. The offense still needs to get up to speed but considering the tough schedule early on with minimal time to practice, the Raptors are way ahead of the timeline.

Prior to their first 3 game road trip, I had outlined a few goals the Raptors should try to meet. They fell short for the most part but made up in other ways. In each of the first two games the Raptors did a lot of things well but it took a third game to put it together for a full 48 minutes.

Raptors @ Mavericks: Facing the defending champs is a tall task in itself, add in the fact that they were 0-3 after losing a heartbreaker to the Thunder and the Raptors looked like they may see an extended period of garbage time. Not the case. The Raptors managed to hold the Mavs to 44% from the field while Bargnani had an offensive explosion, tallying 30 points. After hanging in for most of the night, the Raps managed to take a lead in this one but a rough night from DeMar coupled with little productivity from the bench did not allow them to sustain it. The Mavs eventually showed why they are champions by taking the reins in the 4th and closing it out.

Raptors @ Magic: For the second game in a row, Bargnani was the best player in a Raptors uniform. This time the guys came out on fire and built a 16 point lead mid-way through the game. Once again inexperience came to the forefront as the Raps started coughing the ball up and gave Orlando a chance to think they were still in it. Once you give a veteran team like that an opening, they are going to take it. Take it they did as the Magic capitalized on the few errors from the Raptors and came storming all the way back to get the win.

Raptors @ Knicks: Without Amare, the Knicks front line looks a lot less intimidating and Bargnani was up for the task once again. This time aided by a 21 point night from DeRozan, the Raptors put the pedal to the metal and never took their foot off. Sure there were lapses and Melo went off but the key was they found a way to close out.

Road Trip — 3 Stars
Andrea Bargnani
Jose Calderon
Defense

Up Next: Cavs @ Raptors. Wednesday, Jan. 4th 2012. 7PM

No comments Andrea Bargnani, Demar DeRozan, Toronto Raptors

Raptors Unable To Capture The Magic

January 2, 2012 Nat Raptors Report

Happy New Year. A very quick recap and no Starting Five today — still trying to recover from the weekend. With another game in a few hours, I will keep the extended analysis for a second post tomorrow.

The lottery bound Raptors train looked like it was about to take a detour last night in Orlando but managed to stay on track with the help of a 4th quarter collapse.

The Raptors have always seemed to match up well with this Magic team, winning two of three games last season, and last night was no different. Andrea Bargnani brought his hot shooting to Florida and with some great point guard play from Calderon, they found themselves with a 5 point lead at the half. Bargnani did finish the night with 28 points and 7 rebounds (still can’t seem to hit that 8rb mark.), but the late turnovers and inability to execute as a team down the stretch did them in.

Hanging on to a 3 point lead with 5 minutes to go in the game, the Raptors allowed Anderson and Turkoglu to catch fire which fueled a 16-0 run Magic run. Shorthanded at the PG spot, Barbosa and Carter got extended minutes and the two vets provided some horrible decision making late in the game. DeMar had another tough night offensively but on the positive side, he never took his mind away from the game and contributed on the boards. The Magic shot near 50% on the night and the new defensive minded Raptors team can’t allow that.

With a short turnaround and these games suddenly coming early and often, the team will not have too much time to ponder over losses. There is little practice time and we may just see the first ugly basketball from the Raps tonight as they get set to face the Knicks.

The Night in Numbers

11 turnovers as a team. The Raptors took care of the rock and in turn only gave up 9 fast break points to the Magic.
40 minutes for Andrea Bargnani who for a second game in a row was the best player in a Raptors uniform. Well, Jose was close.
13 assists for Calderon to go along with his very efficient 18 points. He also became the first Raptor player to reach 3,000 assists for his career.
28 of the Raptors’ 52 first half points came in the paint. The Magic are a big team and the Raptors didn’t back down and settle for jumpers.
+11 at the free throw line. One of the early complaints this season has been the lack of FT’s from the Raptors so this was a pleasant surprise.
16 points was the largest lead of the game for the Raptors which came in the 3rd quarter.
5 minute FG scoring drought for the Raptors in the 4th quarter. The Magic clamped down on D and the inexperienced Raps choked up.
5-8 from deep was Ryan Anderson who got to play the role of Raptor killer last night.

Up Next: Raptors vs. Knicks. Monday, 2nd Jan 2012 @ 7:30 PM

No comments Andrea Bargnani, Demar DeRozan, Jose Calderon, Orlando Magic, Toronto Raptors

12 in 2012 – An #NBA Wish List

December 31, 2011 Nat Humor, NBA Observations

NBA fans did not get nearly enough basketball to end 2011 but its looking good for 2012. Below are 12 things I want to see more off as we kick off 2012.