Built Ford Tough

I didn't watch the game or anything but I was browsing the box scores and noticed that Derrick Fisher had 0 points, 0 assists, 0 rebounds and 0 turnovers in 34 minutes. That is pretty impressive. It isn't too often that you see a player play 34 minutes and literally contribute nothing in terms of stats (aside from the 2 steals and 2 fouls). I'm not trying to bash him or anything like that, but I just found that funny.

I've never been a fan of Calderon's. I felt that Raptor fans (some, not all) built him up to be better than he actually is. I also don't really like his game too much either. I could live with his horrendous defense last season because he contributed offensively whether it was with his efficient play. This season though, he is arguably even worse defensively than he was last season but he isn't negated his pylon defense with his offense because he is not doing anything at that end of the floor either. He is good on the offensive end (not great like some people try to make him out to be) and a liability on the defensive end. It just annoyed me when people were talking about him like a upper echelon point guard and that one year when people were saying that he should've been an All-Star (the year that Ford missed an extended part of the season, can't remember off of the top of my head but I think it was 2 years ago) just completely turned me off of him. I do my best to tell it like it is and not let homerism cloud my judgement and I honestly don't think that Calderon is anything special as a point guard. I may be too hard on him right now, but I honestly don't see what exactly it is that he contributes to the team right now. He is hurting more than helping them imo.

- Hedo Turkoglu has had a very good half. He may not be scoring a lot but he is having a huge impact on the game with his playmaking and exploiting of mismatches. He has knocked down some jumpers as well and is keeping the defense on their toes because of it. He had had some very nice drives and when the defense collapsed down he has made some very nice passes to teammates, particularly Chris Bosh. He has been making awesome decisions in the first half. I really like the chemistry that Bosh and Turkoglu seem to have been developing on offense over the last couple of games. Turkoglu can definitely get Bosh some very easy looks as the season goes along. - Jarrett Jack and Antoine Wright completely changed the course of the game when they came in off of the bench. They both have been very good offensively and defensively. Jack is playing in control and not forcing things like he has in the first 3 games of the season. He is just letting the game come to him and picking his spots very nicely. Wright has done a very good job on Ben Gordon and did a pretty good job of keeping him in check after his hot start. Offensively he has been chipping in as well with 8 points. When these two came into the game they brought life back into the Raptors and the crowd as well. Great job from both of these reserves. - Jose Calderon has been god awful yet again. He is contributing nothing on offense, in fact, I would even go as far as saying that he is holding the offense back because he is taking the ball out of Turkoglu's hands. On defense it is just embarassing seeing him trying to guard players like Rodney Stuckey, Ben Gordon and even Will Bynum. They are going around him like he isn't even there. He is literally causing more harm then good right now by being on the floor. I'm almost at the point where I would rather see Marcus Banks on the floor over him. The only good Calderon has done so far is hadning out Gatorade at the half. - Bosh and Bargnani have both done a good job offensively. Bosh has been aggressive and getting to the free throw line. He just needs to start knocking them down more. 7/10 isn't terrible by any means but Bosh is a better free throw shooter then he has shown thus far. Bargnani has done a good job mixing it up and not just standing outside jacking up shots. In regards to Bargnani I am most impressed with his 6 boards though. - Marco Belinelli was very good as well. I hated that he only played 4 minutes Sunday against Orlando and he showed why he deserves more minutes tonight. He is quickly becoming one of my favourite players on this team with his play. He is good offensively but what I like the most about him is his defense. It isn't great by any means but he is not nearly as bad defensively as some people make him out to be. - The Raptors second unit completely turned the tide of this game though. That strong second quarter play was sparked by the energy that the second unit, plus Bargnani, played with to start the quarter. The bench has been the difference so far today and is the reason why the Raptors have the lead heading into the 2nd half.

Raptors got off to a very poor start defensively (again...) but they have picked it up here. Their second unit in particular have been great. The lineup Jack/Belinelli/Wright/Johnson/Bargnani have played with great hustle and energy on defense and built the lead up to 10 (its at 7 now). The Raptors need to play with this kind of energy defensively all of the time. Their effort defensively has led to easy buckets in trasition. The Raps bench have scored 24 of the Raptors 45 points. Ben Gordon has been playing great tonight though. Scoring the ball very efficitently and is tearing the Raps apart off of the bounce. He is the reason for the Pistons getting off to a great start and since he has come back they have played much better.

Toronto should be able to come away with the victory tonight. The Pistons are missing two of their best players in Tayshaun Prince and Rip Hamilton. Some would even consider them to be the best players on the Pistons. Add to that the fact that they are on the 2nd half of a back-to-back makes this a must win for the Raptors. The Raptors are going to need Jose Calderon or Andrea Bargnani to have a consistent effort from start to finish for the Raptors to pull out the victory though. They need one of these two players to come out and play like they are capable of for a full 48 minutes and not go through extended periods of time being non-existent. Should be a fun game to watch. The Raptors need this W though because heading out West with a record of 2-2 is much better than 1-3, if you ask me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMNry4PE93Y

Portland has played very sloppy basketball in the second quarter. They have committed 7 turnovers in 6 minutes so far and as a result the Thunder have managed to come back take the lead 30-29. Some of the turnovers have been forced by a stifling Thunder defense, but most of them have been unforced errors. Harden has looked pretty good from what I have seen. He isn't the quickest, strongest or most athletic player on the floor but he uses his great basketball IQ to get into good positions. He makes good use of fakes to get defenders in the air and make some space for himself. The one thing that stands about to me the most about OKC is their versatility. When they have a lineup of Westbrook/Harden/Durant/Green/whomever on the floor they have 4 players that are capable of handling the ball and creating for theirselves. It makes them a very unpredictable offensive team because they don't have to rely on one or two players to create offense for the rest of the team. When they are clicking I also love their ball movement. For such a young team they do a very good job of swinging the ball around the horn and not holding onto the ball. Their shots haven't been falling, Durant in particular, but I have been impressed with their ball movement for such a young team. If they can consistently play like they have in the 2nd quarter with stifling defense and good ball movement on offense, they are going to be a very exciting team to watch.

Kevin Durant is off to a slow start for the Thunder. He is just 1-7 thus far. He has been aggressive trying to keep the all alive on the offensive end of the floor though. That is good to see from Durant. The Thunder are down 25-15 at the end of the 1st quarter. They haven't looked that great on offense as they aren't moving the ball very well like they have in their first two games. Jeff Green had a very nice put back slam to end the quarter though, so that may spark some like into the Thunder heading into the second frame.

Rebounding has put the nail in the Raptors coffin. They did everything right and got two key defensive stops, but both times the Magic ended up getting the offensive board. They started that final posession with 1:30 left, and it just ended up 30 seconds left on the clock. The Raptors didn't deserve this game though, despite their effort in the 2nd half. Whenever you allow 36 points in the first quarter, dig yourself a 22 point hole and give up 125 points, it just makes it virtually impossible for you to get back into the game, especially against a great team like Orlando. Good job from the Magic bending, but not breaking whenever the Raptors went on a run. You knew that the Raptors would put together some runs, especially with the offensive talent that they have on their roster, but the Magic did a great job of not breaking whenever the Raptors went on a run. - Chris Bosh had another great game today. 35/16. He struggled a bit from the line and missed some shots that he would normally make but you simply cannot put any of the blame on him. He played good, aggressive basketball offensively and he actually played pretty well defensively. He gave up too many open looks to Ryan Anderson out on the perimeter and gave up some good post position a little too easily, but his defense was definitely better than Friday against the Grizzlies. - Andrea Bargnani needs to develop some consistency. It is no coincidence that when he plays well the Raptors are a dangerous team (first game against the Cavs and the 2nd half today) but when he is completely nonexistent for extended periods of time during the course of a game, it hurts the Raptors. He needs to find a way to still have an impact on the game when his shot isn't falling. His lack of rebounding really hurt today. It seemed like whenever Bosh was drawn out of the paint the Raptors would give up an offensive rebound. Bargs absolutely has to improve his rebounding for the Raptors to take the next step. His play in the fourth quarter, offensively at least, was fantastic though. When he gets in a zone he is a very dangerous player. - Jose Calderon continues to be absolutely worthless. I knew that he was a terrible defensive player but I could live with it because of what he can do offensively. However, in the Raptors first 3 games he has done nothing offensively and when he isn't contributing offensively he is a liability on the floor. He is making terrible decisions with the ball, his shot looks like it did when he was a rookie, he is missing free throws and he is not being efficient at all. Everything that was considered a strength for him has been a weakness so far this season. At this point in time I would rather see Marcus Banks play over Calderon. At least Banks can play decent on ball defense. Calderon really needs to pick it up. - Turkoglu had a quiet but solid game. He did a great job in the 3rd quarter knocking down shots and making smart decisions. He took some questionable shots and made some questionable decisions, but all in all I liked what I saw from him. He looks like he is getting comfortable playing with the Raptors and has improved each game so far. He obviously still has some kinks that he needs to work out and some flaws that he needs to correct, but I liked what I saw from him for the most part. He didn't have a great game by any means, but he definitely did some good things. - The Raptors really need to work on closing out on shooters though. They are absolutely dreadful at rotating over to the open man and just leave shooters open on the perimeter way too often. You know that you are terrible at covering 3 point shooters when JJ Redick drops a career high 27 points on you, Ryan Anderson drops 20+ off of mostly 3's and Jameer Nelson drops nearly 30 points as well. They did pick it up as the game went on but still had too many defensive lapses. - What was up with Marco Belinelli only getting 4 minutes today? He has been one of the better Raptors off of the bench so far this season but he just hasn't been given any sort of minutes to develop any sort of consistency. I can understand not putting him on the floor if you are trying to defend a lead but when you need offense and are trying to come back his shooting and offensive ability would be a very welcome thing. He isn't even a bad defender either. I don't understand why he was given only 4 minutes. - Antoine Wright had a solid game today. It seemed like whenever he was on the floor the Raptors went on a bit of a run. Taking him off of the floor in the 4th quarter and putting Calderon back into the game was a terrible decision on Triano's behalf, imo. He took some ill advised shoots offensively and made some poor decisions, but all in all I liked the way that he played today. - The Raptors need to find a way to keep up their defensive intensity. Whenever the Raptors went on runs and closed the gap it was because they generated offense from their defense. They caused some turnovers which enabled them to get out and run and just played with a great intensity defensively. I know that the Raptors aren't a good defensive team at all but the way that they started the game today on the defensive end was inexcusable. Even if you lack defensive talent, playing with absolutely no pride or heart defensively is unacceptable. Going into this game if you would've told me that the Raptors would shot 54% from the field, make 10 3's, hold the Magic to 43% shooting and outrebound the Magic I would've predicted that the Raptors would come away with a faily easy victory. The 3 point shooting and inability to grab key defensive rebounds killed the Raptors today.

As a Raptor fan you have got to love the intensity that Bosh is playing with now. He is leaving it all on the floor and getting right in Howard's face on offense and defense despite his obvious physical disadvantages (defensively). After a terrible start to this game, this has actually been a very entertaining game. Good move on Triano for keeping Jack on the floor rather than re-inserting Calderon when he has struggled all night.

Thats what happens when you play the Toronto Raptors. Scrubs look like stars when they play against this "defense". The Raptors need to keep on feeding Bargnani. Milk his hot hand right now. Bosh did a nice job in the first half keeping the Raptors afloat, but he looks to be fading offensively. God damnit. You would think that after the first 15 3's that the Magic have hit you would cover the damn 3 point line.

The Raptors might have length, but they don't know how to use that length in order to actually defend. It is pretty laughable, imo, to consider that the Raptors should be the favourites in this game. The Magic are a terrible matchup for the Raptors because of their ability to space the floor along with having a dominant big man down low in Dwight Howard. One of the Raptors biggest weaknesses over the past few years has been the inability to close out on shooters and contest jumpers. The Magic are moving the ball quicker than the Raptors are able to rotate their defenses. They do a good job at using the initial double team but they aren't able to revover fast enough to contest the shots. They have been getting burned all game long so far on dribble penetration and kickouts. You know that you are a terrible defensive team when you are shooting above 50% yet you are still down by 17 lol. Good offensive teams are going to pick the Raptors apart all season long.

Its a dart board. It insinuates that they have a target on their back because they were the Champs last year. At least that is my interpetation of it. The Magic one and the Knicks one are my favourites. The Wizards are a close second.

Main reasons for this loss: 1) Really poor interior D 2) Poor PG play One was expected coming into this season, the other was not. - Bosh had a great game on offense in all regards. He made his shots, got the line, passed well and got on the offensive boards. But his D tonight was not good at all. He let Gasol and Randolph get great position too often. He needs to fight for position earlier and not let these bigger players establish deep post position where they can just catch the ball and lay it up. - Bargnani was even worse on D. Not only was he not active in any way but he was dong a lot of standing around and watching. I'm sometimes just happy to see him cradle a rebound without fumbling it. He just does not have a good understanding of defense. He has a lot of offensive talent and he is an average man defender most nights, but his rotations, help defense, rebounding, boxing out etc... is just awful for a starting NBA Center. - The only Raptors who played a lick of defense today were Antoine Wright and Rasho. Wright negates a lot of it by being incompetent on offense. He needs to realize that when he is on the floor he is the 5th option on offense at all times (unless Amir Johnson or Reggie Evans are on the floor with him). Just play good defense and not screw up offensively. Is that too much to ask? - Marco Belinelli should be playing more. He has been the best Raptor off of the bench. I want to see him get some more minutes as he has played very well in the first two games of the season, but hasn't been given extended minutes. - Another solid but short outing from Derozan. He has looked a lot better than I expected him thus far. The sky is the limit for DeRozan. - I don't get why Jose Calderon crowds opposing point guards all of the time. He must realize that he is limited physically and lacks lateral quickness, so you would think that he would back off of opposing point guards, especially ones with great quickness but a questionable jump shot like Conley. He is just embarassing defensively. People were blaming his hamstring injury for his pathetic defense last season, but he is just as bad this season at 100%. This is why I find it laughable how people try to say that Jose is a top point guard in the NBA. He is a complete liability defensively and he isn't elite offensively like somebody like Steve Nash (Nash is a better defender than Jose as well). - Jarret Jack has sucked too. I wasn't a huge fan of the signing to begin with, but I didn't expect him to play like this. He has done nothing offensively and defensively he hasn't done anything either. He really needs to step it up. - I wish the Raptors had someone like Marc Gasol at center. His toughness and rugged style of play would compliment Bosh's skill and finesse style of play a lot, especially on defense. I am not a fan of the Bosh/Bargnani frontcourt and have always felt that Bosh would be so much better if he was playing beside a tough, rugged center. Gasol looks like the kind of player that would be a perfect compliment to Bosh. - The Raptors lack of athleticism will continue to hurt them. The only player in that starting lineup that you can for sure call an above-average athlete is Derozan. Bosh is a quick player, but his athleticism isn't great or anything like that and would have to be considered average by NBA standards. Oh well, I expected the Raptors to be 1-1 after the first 2 games anyways. This loss just really hurts because it would've been great to be 3-1 before heading out West. Now the best I can see them being is 2-2 as I doubt that they will be able to beat the Magic even if Carter's ankle injury doesn't allow him to play. This was a game that is hard to see slip away from them as they really should've won. Nothing against the Grizzlies but if the Raptors want to be a legit team in the East they have to win these kinds of games. Their effort and execution in the 4th quarter simply did not cut it and is the reason why they lost.

Redd is the better fit. His superior long range shooting would fit in perfectly with LeBron and Shaq. With LeBron's penetration and the attention that Shaq gets down low (when he is on his game) Redd could get 9-12 points a night strictly off kick outs. He is also capable of creating offense for himself better than Hamilton is imo which is another plus. Hamilton is better at working off of the ball and shooting mid range jumpers, but its not like Redd is not capable of knocking down mid range jumpers or working off of the ball either. I think that Redd is the superior player offensively which is why I would go with him.

And as I say this Bargnani comes out 4-4 in the 2nd half including 2 threes. He has got 3 boards as well if I am not mistaken. Raps up 66-63.

- Memphis' athleticism and quickness is beating the Raptors right now. The Raptors are struggling to keep up with the much more athletic Grizzlies. Hopefully they tire out a bit. - Bosh is a monster on offense. Doing a good job on the boards too but often times he is the only one there. He needs some help on both ends of the floor. - Bosh: 7 free throw attempts, rest of the Raptors: 3. That's not good. Bosh is the only player on the team consistently being aggressive. You have to keep going to him until he runs out of gas. Just hop on Bosh's back and hope that he can carry you to victory. - The Raptors interior D has been poor though. Bosh is allowing his man to get deep position too often. Bargnani is just standing around looking clueless on most possessions. Not boxing out and seemingly not even paying attention. - I like how that Rasho, Bosh, Wright, Belinelli, Jack lineup played in the 2nd quarter. Bargnani has been a zero in all regards so far today. Might want to consider playing Rasho a bit more, especially when Gasol and Randolph are both out there. - Bargnani has been terrible. He has no points, has shot 0-5, has done nothing on the glass and is simply non-existent out there. This is the problem with Bargnani right now. When he isn't scoring, he isn't giving you anything with his limited rebounding and average defense. - The PG play for the Raptors has been really poor through the first game and a half. Both Calderon and Jack have not been playing very well, especially Jose. Jack was getting burned by Marcus Williams and making some poor decisions on offense. Calderon has been getting burned by anyone with 2 functional legs and is looking like a damn pylon out there. His defense looks just as bad as last season.

The amount of fans at the game is just absolutely embarassing. The place is EMPTY. Both teams have gotten off to a very sluggish start. Bosh has continued his poor shooting from the field as he is off to a 1-5 start. He has been aggressive on the glass though which is a great thing to see from the Raptors perspective. Bargnani is 0-3 I believe and has forced things to start the game. Turk has looked nice so far. It seems like whenever the Raptors are in a bit of a shooting slump Turkoglu comes up and buries a jumper. I believe the score is tied up at 8 right now. It has been a very sluggish and sloppy game so far though. I still can't believe how empty the arena is though.

Run a two man game with Bosh and Turkoglu. Put the ball in Turkoglu's hands and have Bosh come up and set a screen and either pop or roll to the hoop (depending on how the defense plays it). Then trust that Turkoglu will make the right decision. Have shooters like Andrea Bargnani, Jose Calderon and Marco Belinelli space the floor and open things up for Bosh or Turkoglu to drive. If the defense doubles Turkoglu or Bosh, kick it out and hope that you can swing the ball around the horn faster than the defense is able to rotate. But yeah, I think that the Raptors should run a two man game with Turkoglu and Bosh while having shooters space out the floor to open things up for them. If somebody like Bargnani, Calderon, or maybe even Belinelli are having a fantastic game though, try and put the ball in one of their hands (use Bargnani in a screen and roll situation instead of Bosh).

I agree with travesy 100%. The Raptors can play with anybody on any given night because of their offensive talent. If their shots are falling they can play with anybody on any night and, yes, that includes the Celtics, Lakers and Magic. With the offensive talent of players like Bosh, Bargnani, Calderon, Turkoglu and Belinelli the Raptors can beat anybody when their shots are falling. They have 3 players in Bosh, Bargnani and Turkoglu that are all capable of going off for 25-30 points a night, they have guys like Calderon and Bellineli who are capable of going off for 15-20 on any given night and then they have guys like Jarrett Jack, Antoine Wright and DeMar DeRozan that are capable of pitching in with 10 points or so. When this team is clicking offensively, they can beat anybody. Another thing that they have going for them is that their frontcourt creates so many mismatches. They have three players 6'10 or taller that are capable of stepping outside and knocking shots down, posting up smaller defenders and Bosh and Turkoglu are both adept at creating their own offense (Bargnani is getting there). The Raptors are going to create plenty of mismatches with their size, skill and versatility up front and this will be a crucial part or their success all season long. However, the opposite is true as well. During games that their shots aren't falling and they are struggling offensively, they can lose to any team on any night. The Raptors defense is going to be a question mark all season long and they are going to be hard pressed to win games when their shots aren't falling and just generally having an off night offensively. The Raptors can't hang their hat on their defense on nights when they are struggling offensively. The Raptors are going to be a very hot and cold team all season long. It makes them very tough to judge.

Good win for the Raptors to start the season. I missed half of the game as I had some college thing that I needed to go to, so I can't really comment too much but getting W to start the season, and against a team that they weren't supposed to beat, is huge for the Raptors considering how tough the Raptors schedule is to start the season. They need to take care of business at home so that there isn't as much pressure on them during the two west coast trips. I haven't been very impressed with the Cavs so far this season. They have not looked very good at all and are back to simply relying completely on James while the rest of the 4 players on the team are just standing there watching him. They will most likely work out the kinks as the season goes a long but they can't play like this if they want to win a Championship this season. They have to find a way to get everybody else going, specifically Shaq. LeBron can only do so much and having the rest of the team standing around watching LeBron dribble the ball is nog going to get them what they want.

That was a great decision by Calderon. When you have James trailing you on the fast break you can't go straight up. Great job using the pump fake and using his body to sheild James.

Wow, there is a superstar call if I have ever seen one. How was that a blocking foul on Bosh?

Toronto is going to get spanked. Shaq is going to have his way with Toronto down low and LeBron arguably plays better against Toronto than any other team in the league and it is only going to be worse this season with Anthony Parker gone. Parker would still be the best perimeter defender on the team (aside from Wright but I don't expect much from him with his knee problems, hell, I don't even know if he is playing) and Turkoglu/DeRozan/Belinelli aren't going to do anything against LeBron. Calderon is very poor defensively as well which will hurt us when it comes to doubling LeBron as he is slow rotating whenever the Raptors double. With the Raptors having 9 new players still getting used to the system, having a very questionable defensive team and with Cleveland coming off of a tough loss last night, I expect the Raptors to get dominated tonight. This stretch to start of the season for the Raptors is very tough and I expect them to get off to a relatively poor start to begin the year. I hope I am wrong (which I often am when it comes to predictions lol).

Offensively the Cavs are going to miss John Kuester a lot this season. Mike Brown is a good defensive coach and understands that end of the floor very well but he simply does not have a good offensive mind and his offense is very limited. Having Kuester around last season was great for the Cavs because it enabled Brown to basically focus entirely on the defensive end of the floor while Kuester would take care of the offense. Kuester was the main guy on the offense and the "mastermind" behind the Cavs effective offense last year. I really think that losing him to the Pistons is going to hurt this team if Brown can't get their offense going because it was painful to watch for the majority of today's game against the Celtics. What made the Cavs so great last season was that they finally did things on offense other than the typical LeBron iso play. They ran offensive sets and didn't just rely primarily on LeBron creating something out of nothing every trip down the floor. They did not do a good job of including Shaq in the offense and he was pretty much a non factor offensively especially in the 2nd half of the game. They absolutely have to get him and LeBron to be able to work off of one another or else they are going to be a worse team than they were last season with Shaq's inability to defend the pick and roll. Will Brown be able to figure out to get the most out of both Shaq and LeBron at the same time? The Cavs success relies on that imo. I know that it is only one game so I would definitely not hit the panic button yet if I were a Cavs fan because you simply cannot make an accurate judgment of something off of the opening game of the season but they are going to have to do something different offensively if they plan on winning it all this season. I don't think that they can win a Championship if they are relying on LeBron creating every single time down the floor. I didn't expect the Cavs to be a great cohesive unit out of the gate but watching them tonight makes me think that they are definitely going to miss Kuester this season.