Bargnani – after taking flack all year long on his D, who would think that a major part of Dwight Howard not having a great game would be Bargs? Not great on the offensive end, except as being used as a pawn to make the Magic need to think about covering him. No complaints from this corner…good game.
Bosh – Tired? Maybe. Mentally weak? Maybe. Good to see us build a lead without him? Absolutely. Still undeniably THE man, he took a back seat to some teammates tonight and, for once, rode them to a win. Not often would I be able to say that Bosh had a 15 and 5 in a Raptors win.
Calderon – 18 points. 13 assists. 4 fouls with little whining. Stepping up with another performance worthy of having his picture appear under “floor general” in Wikipedia.
Delfino – I admit I fully expected him to come out and have a nice in-your-face game. Should have remembered the day-on/day-off Delfino Theory. A quiet (in every way) 7 pt 6 reb game. His makeup didn’t even run.
Ford – guess the Mood Ring was white tonight, because he played under control, going 8-12 and a perfect 6-6 from the line. Very active, and he even smiled. With, like, teeth and everything!! I have no doubt that “TJ” chant sounded like music to his ears. Well deserved tonight.
Kapono – did I ever tell you he deserves a start? Did I ever pontificate that he is under used and could win us a few games? 50% from 3, 6-10 from the field. Great hustle on D. His face still intact. Da Man.
Moon – bringing energy in his first start. I still contend the fact he was a spectator in game 1 in Orlando allowed him to get a feel for playoff basketball and would allow him to be ready for an energetic home crowd. Seemed to work. Some great hustle boards in his 10 rebound total. A worrisome whack on his hand quickly went away with a dead-on 3pt shot. Still refuses to defend the outside shot, but on this team he has a lot of company.
Nesterovic – continuing his stunning (not in a good way) playoff history as a Raptor. I think the only thing colder at the ACC tonight was the left over roast beef sandwiches that none of the Desi Indians were buying. NOTE: no need to reserve a table at the local Indian on Saturday for lunch.
Parker – 5 of 14, but picked up his defensive intensity. Now that the 1 guards have picked it up, here is hoping AP can come out with one of his fantastic showings from the season in Game Four. Get him rolling and his energy is infectious.
Mitchell – perfectly called timeouts, great play calling, scintillating substitutions and an in-your-face post game press conference. If he isn’t here next year, BC should be lynched.
Driving the Bus: Jose Calderon
Under the Bus: Rasho Nesterovic
Related posts:
First off, Ford hit his shots tonight and seemed like a motivated player. Other than that, he still ran into the lane out of control, left his feet before the pass, still ignored the flow of the offense, and still had problems getting the ball to teammates for the score. Nothing new – he just made the shots and had fire in his eyes. Still, credit for not crying.
Rasho is a liability in this series, but if the Raptors made it out of this series alive, then he would be needed later on.
Kapono looked great today. I still can’t see why he hasn’t been this good all season.
Calderon was everything he needed to be and more. Love this Spaniard…. will start calling him “Gladiator” soon.
I was tired of Delfino, glad Moon finally got some playing time (who the heck else is going to rebound), Bosh played with passion (despite no energy), and Bargnani sucked a little less.
Mitchell was at least smart enough today to know that Rasho should sit and so should Bosh. Rare of him to not leave out players waaaay too long (ala Lenny Wilkens). One decent substitution game does not a coach make.
Spudzs last blog post..Earth Hour | March 29th 8pm
The other thing I wanted to say was about the offense and defense in general.
On offense, the Raptors still had some bonehead isolation plays, but for the most part, they had a lot better ball movement.
Defense was a tale of two cities. Some times, lots of energy and rotations, other times they were late on everything and gave wide open looks inside and out. This cannot happen if they want this series. The Raptors WILL lose if they keep playing defense this off and on.
The one thing on defense I really liked was the double team at the free throw line with a quick couple of steps to cover the guards when they shot the semi-wide open jumpers. More often than not, this seemed to throw the Magic off their game.
Spudzs last blog post..Earth Hour | March 29th 8pm
Ah, you mean the way the team was coached and they actually (for the majority of the game) followed direction?
Amazing what that does.
Sam should bring in his COY award to the pregame pep talk point to it and ask what awards the players have acquired. Listen to him, win a game. Play your own style, might as well just make room for the post game buffet.
It’s amazing how a win makes things better. The next game should be interesting to see. And Sam will be back next year, if only for the fact the buy out would be hard to take.
Hope they tie the series and make a run at it.
COY means nothing. It’s largely based on win deferential (which doesn’t prove anything when your team is overhauled).
I have yet to hear one person convince me that Sam Mitchell was better than Jerry Sloan last year. I also have yet to hear from one person why Jerry Sloan hasn’t won said award, ever.
Maybe Superman and his Magic Man simply forgot that this is Jurassic Park. Not any type of ball playground.
But you’ve got to give the most credit the Raps point guard. As if the both of them were having they’re own version Rap Battle.
I can’t think of any team that has this luxury in that department. I guess this is where the Raps could utilize to win this series.
Another win to tie this series and another to turn the whole city Metropolis into Dinasour park. We believe!!!!
Vamos vamos Raptors!!!!
http://mundoalbiceleste.blogspot.com/2008/04/playoffs-news-big-night-for-scola-raps.html
johns last blog post..Playoffs News – Big Night For Scola, Raps Pull One Back
Wait…. Bargs was on the floor for 14 of Howard’s 19 points. Bargs played 23 minutes, Howard played 42. I’m not saying Bargs didn’t fight him hard, which he did, but I think Bosh was doing a much better job.
And how about Moon? The energy he brought was essential to the victory, and I, on the other hand, still contend this was two games too late.
With regards to TJ, I tend to agree with Spudz… the shots he takes are bad ones for the most part, even if they went in last night, and he dominates the ball far too much. But whatever… if he’s shooting like that then it’s all good!
All in all, a great win, and I hope the media stop talking smack about the team, especially Sam.
Spudz: maybe because Sloan’s win differential is never great enough to earn the honour, using your theory. Might have a shot this year given their home record. Doc Rivers will probably get it.
Scott: We changed up our D mid-game which is what ended up frustrating Howard in my opinion. Bargs was quick (can’t believe I just said that) and right up on Dwight when in single coverage. When have we seen that before? People shit on him for not defending and then when he does, he still gets it? We then moved to trapping him as close to the free throw line as possible, which worked. He didn’t have enough time to adjust, but he will for Game 4, so another new wrinkle is needed.
Just yet another brilliant call from the bench.
True… I’m not shitting on him, I just thought your description made it sound like he *personally* had a lot to do with Howard’s struggles, which I don’t think was the case. That being said, he battled hard, which is all you can really ask against someone like Howard.
At the same time, we’re clearly having more luck going small, since Hedo and Lewis seem to be better at going around bigger guys than posting up smaller guys. And on this I agree with you: people need to give Sam some credit for making these adjustments.
With regards to COY – Spudz: sure our team was overhauled, but it wasn’t exactly flooded with A-list talent. Give Sam his due for getting them all on the same page! But yes, Sloan is underappreciated, no doubt.
I do think Andrea set the tone on Dwight, to be honest. I think it gave Howard a different look and made him second guess himself. Once we brought the hard trap it was the third look he’d seen in 3 games.
Bosh has said it himself: show something new to a big post player and it forces them to think and re-act…and it Dwights case: pass …which isn’t his strength.
Bosh did a fantastic job counteracting what SVG threw at him tonight. Dwight buckled. That, coupled with the PG play, was the story.
Our D was no better on the perimeter this game than the first two. They have just continued to miss wide open 3s. They start hitting them, and we could be in a big hole.
Under the bus: Jameer Nelson. He singlehandedly won the game for us.
Arsenalists last blog post..Series hinges on pivotal Game 4