“A lot of games, sad to say, are going to be practices.” – Dwane Casey
Preseason Notes
Coach Casey isn’t about to sugar coat it. This rebuild is a long process and he clearly understands the challenge on hand.
The Raptors headed into the 2 game preseason against the Boston Celtics with five new faces and got fed their first dose of reality.
The Celtics were without Paul Pierce for Game 1 at the ACC and the Raptors put themselves in a position to win but came up short thanks to a game winner from Stiemsma. Andrea Bargnani showed signs that he is finally starting to understand the effort he will need to put in on the defensive end. He even hit the rebounding quota set by coach (9 RB). DeMar DeRozan tried to make his way to the hoop each time he had the ball but also got to show off the work he had put in on that long range jumper. Ed Davis recorded a double-double and James Johnson had a block party. Amir Johnson got a chance to put his surgically repaired ankle to work. The 21 turnovers were indicative of a preseason game but the surprising stat was the Raptors holding Boston to 76 points. Dwane Casey’s plan may take a while to execute but that surely was the first glimpse.
Most of the positives went out the window in Game 2 at the Garden. DeRozan recorded a double-double and the Raptors were +10 on the boards but their inability to execute on offense was stifling. Bargnani and DeRozan combined for 36 points on a night when the team managed to shoot just 32% from the floor. The Raptors were playing catchup all game and lost sight of the positives they had shown in the first game.
Preseason never means much but with a new coach, new system, new faces and little time to put it together before the games start to matter, the Raptors displayed what most fans are prepared for — a whole lot of growing pains.
Primer: Game #1 – Raptors @ Cavaliers
The Raptors kick off their 17th year in the NBA against the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight. Both teams found themselves watching the lottery balls drop at the end of last season and head into this one as a work in progress.
With 13 guys ready to go, the Raptors starting lineup remains a mystery as coach Casey elected not to divulge that information post shoot around. There are a couple of locks (DeRozan & Bargnani) but the starting spots at PG, SF and C are wide open. Expect to see Calderon, J. Johnson and A. Johnson to get the nods tonight as they face a Cavs starting lineup of the Irving, Jamison, Parker, Casspi and Varejao.
The toughest defensive assignments for the Raptors tonight will be Irving and Jamison. If Calderon is unable to keep the rookie PG in front of him, Bayless may get some extra minutes to take on the assignment. Jamison has always been a Raptor killer. His ability to stretch the floor messes with defensive positioning and rotations.
This is one of the few winnable games on the schedule and the Raptors have the edge with their bench and scoring weapons. It all comes down to how they react on defense when trying to guard Jamison on the outside, Varejao on the inside all while stopping Irving from setting up a lay-up line down the lane.
Predictions
“I want to win,” Casey told the Toronto Sun. “I want to compete, I want to build. We have so many fundamentals that are lacking — screening, physical style of play.”
Let’s not kid ourselves, this 66 game season is about to feel like the longest one ever. The Raptors are going to play hard each night as they did last year but my glass half full prediction is not far off from the glass half empty one.
Glass half full: 23 wins
Glass half empty: 19 wins
Home Opener… Are You Ready?
The Cleveland Cavaliers ended the night with the best record in the association at 55-13. Halfway through March they Cav’s have secured their first division title in 33 years and done it with a home record of 31-1, with the Lakers coming in 2nd at 31-5. Looking at their upcoming schedule, I don’t see why the Cav’s should lose another game at home until the playoffs and I don’t think they can afford to. Lebron has come out and said that he wants to play out the rest of the season to make sure they secure home court where they have been absolutely dominant. With the fairly new NBA finals format, the team without home court has to try to sweep the middle three games which is a daunting task. Seeing that the Cav’s have lost their last three games on the road v/s the teams in the hunt for home court by double digits, this may be the most important goal they need to achieve in the regular season.
I must have checked my brackets at least 20+ times throughout the day and 13 of 16 is not too shabby but unlike most years there were not too many upsets on Day 1. The story of the day wasn’t a typical Cinderella one, rather it was the absence of Jim Calhoun on the sidelines as UConn got the win over Chattanooga. 11 of the 16 games were decided by double digits and the only game that resembled an upset was W. Kentucky over the Illini. On this day Tyler Hansbrough became the leading scorer in ACC history grabbing the title from JJ Reddick, Roburt Sallie made 10 3′s a NCAA record to help Memphis come away with the Win and Robert Maynor had a chance to pull an upset over UCLA with the ball in his hands in the closing seconds of what was arguably the best game of the day.
