"It sure is a wakeup call,” Bosh said yesterday. "(The Sixers) are playing well and we’re not. That’s fact of the matter.
"Teams all go through struggles and we’re going through ours late in the season."
The Raptors enter the night losers of seven of eight. They haven’t beaten a team with a winning record since a Feb. 20 victory over the Orlando Magic.
At 35-35, the Raptors are on the verge of sporting a losing record.
"We keep saying we have to play playoff-style basketball, but we haven’t done that,” Bosh said. "That’s plain and simple."
"I am concerned, but I have to keep everything in perspective,” head coach Sam Mitchell said of his free-falling team.
"If I panic, what are they (players) going to do? A coach can’t panic."
A coach can’t make shots or stops in the final two minutes of a close game, either.
In back-to-back losses to Cleveland and Denver, the Raptors wilted when the game’s intensity picked up.
"In the last three or four minutes of a game, we sit back and hope someone misses a shot or makes a bad play,” Mitchell said.
"We have to go out and force a missed shot, force a bad play."
In other words, it’s all about attitude, a trait that isn’t so easily fixed.
Outside of Bosh or when T.J. Ford is playing in sync, the Raptors don’t have many mentally tough players.
Having had a chance to reflect on his words, the Raptors’ franchise player said he was merely trying to encourage his beleaguered teammates, who seem unwilling to step up in crunch time.
"I don’t take any personal responsibility for bringing things to light,” Bosh said yesterday. "Anybody can do it.
"What I said was no way negative. Nothing was said to hurt any feelings or put the team down.
"It was more encouragement."
Mitchell said his last-minute decision to cancel practice on Monday was to give his team a mental break. Yesterday, the Raptors were put through a hard practice that lasted roughly 90 minutes.
"If I panic, then what are they going to do?" Mitchell wondered yesterday. "A coach can’t panic because we can’t send the message to our players that we’re panicked. We’re still in the playoffs, we still have a lot of things that we can accomplish in front of us and that’s what we have to stay focused on."
"Everybody understands where we are, everybody’s concerned how we’ve been playing," said Mitchell. "The teams above us have been playing better (but) all that can change, we just have to go out and play better. We didn’t play that bad against Denver, we just didn’t do things the last three minutes of the game."
"I think if anybody feels a certain way, they should voice how they feel and I think he’s right," said Anthony Parker. "As a group and individually, we need to be a little less tentative and more aggressive in those situations in trying to seize the moment. And that goes for me as well."
Mitchell’s been suggesting pretty much the same thing as Bosh all season. And while the roster is stacked with good guys with solid skills, he’s trying to make sure they become something else with a close game on the line.
"In certain situations in a basketball game, you have to step out beyond yourself and you’ve got to be aggressive," the coach said. "In that last three, four minutes of a game, I think sometimes we sit back and hope someone misses a shot or makes a bad play. We have to go out and force a bad play, force a missed shot. And then we have to step up and make shots and get to the basket and make plays.
"I tell our guys all the time, driving to the basket’s not necessarily for you to score but to create opportunities, especially when the offence gets stagnant sometimes."
They need Ford to be good if they are to have any chance in the playoffs; they can’t play Jose 48 minutes a night; and if it means every now and then they have to live with short-term struggles of Ford, then that’s what they have to do.
I asked Sam specifically about the minutes distribution for Jose and T.J. near the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth and whether he had any firm number in mind when he put Ford in.
He said he’s got a number of minutes he’d like to get Ford but it’s not cast in stone.
And because the NBA schedule maker has a sense of humour, the Raptors get a taste of what finishing seventh might be like when they play the No. 2 seed, the Detroit Pistons, tonight at the Air Canada Centre.
"They’re just a professional team, man," Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell said of the Pistons. "They just execute you to death and all of a sudden you look up and they’ve got six or seven baskets in a row and all of a sudden you’ve gone from being up two to being down 10."
"There are times when you’re just going and going and going," shooting guard Anthony Parker said. "And I think we’re playing well, but we just need to get away from everyone, regroup and come back with that focus and that freshness and I think we had a good practice."
"Right now, it’s not a question of what we feel like, seventh seed or not," Parker said.
"We all know we’re capable of playing much better, and that’s the key. Wherever we end up at the end of this thing, the goal for us is to try and play like we’re capable of playing. We need to treat these games like the playoffs. The playoffs start now."
It happened last summer when Ford, who plays for the Toronto Raptors, returned to campus for school and the two players spent a month together working out and dogging each other in pickup games. Ford showed Augustin the finer points of being not just a good player, but a leader. The tutoring quickly spilled onto the court once the season began.
"They both have a burning desire to win," Barnes said. "I think D.J. would tell you the time with T.J. was the single-most important thing he has done as a basketball player."
Ford couldn’t match Augustin’s ability to score. Augustin is a better shooter — although he’s been in a slump lately — and when he’s not spotting up for three-pointers behind screens or dishing to teammates for layups, he’ll probe defences for an opening to drive to the basket
This is not just a team going through a losing streak. This is a team whose confidence, heading into the playoffs, is at its lowest point since early last season.
Centre-of-the-future Andrea Bargnani is looking lost on most nights. Point guard T.J. Ford has not made significant progress in finding his rhythm after an early-season neck injury. And the Raptors’ star player. Chris Bosh, offered a starkly honest assessment of the team on Sunday, criticizing his teammates for being too hesitant in the fourth quarter.
Bosh, apparently, had more to get off his chest Tuesday.
"We haven’t done a good job of being intense," Bosh said. "We keep saying that we got to play playoff-style basketball, but we haven’t done that, plain and simple."
"The biggest factor," Ford added, "is we need to win two or three games in a row to deal with our confidence and get the momentum back on our side."
Garbajosa, who was taking jumpshots after practice on Tuesday — though there was not much of a jump in those shots — laughed off the notion that his absence is the reason for their struggles.
"I think I miss them more than they miss me. Now they say that just because the team is in a bad situation," Garbajosa said. "But if the team had been winning a lot of games, then nobody would be talking about the injured player, which is a good sign."
"I miss it for sure. I miss basketball. I miss the game," Garbajosa said. "But I miss the feelings that you have before and after a competition more. The nerves you have before the game, the kind of feeling that you have when the game is over, this is what I miss the most. I’m trying to train and do different things, but it’s not the same at all."
Video Podcast # 4: The Raptors Need More Than Talent
It was only few years ago Raptor Fans would have been more then happy to see this team get in the playoffs. The feel lately as been like people going to an hanging and not the playoffs. It could be like watching a death should Raptors remain in 7th I grant you. But the fact they get in the playoffs at all is something to embrace. Ask Denver Nugget fans if they would trade spots with you? I think they would gladly and with good reason. Be thankful Toronto is blessed with good geography. That is always an advantage. You really have to stretch for the positives these days but they are there if you look for them. Much easier to find the Mud and sling it though. This feels like the end of a Springer show. But Till we see run ins with the law and fist fights in the Raptor locker room it is far from that. Look to Indiana if you seek that kinda drama. They seem to have more off court news then on court. But in the words of Jerry. Be good to each other Raptor fans. We all are cranky and angry but we all want the same thing a better Raptor team. Try never to lose sight of that fact.
Long-time Raptor fans remember a young Stephen on the floor of the Air Canada Centre before almost every Raptor game. After the likes of Vince Carter, Antonio Davis and Alvin Williams would finish their pre-game shootaround, a youngster named Stephen Curry would step on the court and shoot and shoot and shoot.
And he was good – real good! Stephen was the little kid who seemingly never missed a shot.
Word has it that the Raptors NATIONAL numbers (when they’re on all four Sportsnet regions) are lower than some of the local/regional numbers (i.e. – Senators’ numbers in the East Region versus the Raptors’ numbers from coast to coast on ALL regions).
It’s bad news for basketball fans … but it’s the right move as far as “business” goes. For now.
The biggest loss though … is Jack Armstrong.
Even if they’re not broadcasting Raptors’ games, Sportsnet could still try re-signing Jacko. Plus, there’s no saying that TSN or The Score won’t make a pitch for the former head coach of the Niagara Purple Eagles. And when all is said and done, you’re sure to see plenty of Jack on Raptors TV … whether it be on the pre and post game shows, Raptors Today, and/or Full Court Press. You will also hear Jack (with me) on every pre-game show on the FAN’s radio broadcasts and he can be seen and heard every Thursday on “Hoops” on the FAN 590 and Raps TV.
So, barring a major offer from another team in the NBA (which could easily happen) … you’ll still be seeing and hearing plenty from Jack.
I’ll continue to push for Jack to do even “more” with the Raptors as well. If you’ve heard the radio broadcasts over the past few seasons – or the pre and post game show for nearly 10 years – you’ve heard me campaign for Jack to be named to the Raptors’ staff as well. Whether it be as a scout, adviser, assistant coach, Assistant GM, or even as a ”basketball ambassador” … I truly believe that Jack has more to offer to this city and this organization. As great as he is as a broadcaster and entertainer, I think he could have a greater impact and role in helping guide Canada’s only franchise into the future.
The world would be a better place with more Jack!
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man, can’t we lose leo and keep jack? that sucks! i hope cbc get’s more air time, they put on the best product as far as i am concerned.
Raps Fan’s last blog post..Video Podcast # 4: The Raptors Need More Than Talent
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re: “I miss it for sure. I miss basketball. I miss the game,” Garbajosa said. “But I miss the feelings that you have before and after a competition more. The nerves you have before the game, the kind of feeling that you have when the game is over, this is what I miss the most. I’m trying to train and do different things, but it’s not the same at all.”
- National Post
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Men like Garbajosa & Calderon are worth their weight in Gold.
khandor’s last blog post..Round and round the Raptors go