Toronto Raptors Breakdown

[Erick Blasco]

 

 

Despite a heartbreaking loss on an extremely difficult Raymond Felton three, the Raptors showed some good things in their 113-110 defeat to the New York Knicks, mostly on offense. However, it’s their deplorable play on the other side of the ball that holds them back.

 

This dichotomy was most evident in the play of Andrea Bargnani.

 

With the Knicks wary of putting Amar’e Stoudemire on Toronto’s most skilled offensive player, Bargnani was able to carve up the Knicks in perhaps his best game as a pro—16-24 FG, 7-9 FT, 7 REB, 6 AST, 1 TO, 41 PTS.

 

He mostly set up on the left box and unleashed turnaround jumpers over the smaller Knicks defending him. He was comfortable in reading and accepting double teams and making passes out to the appropriate player, and also completed a pair of nifty plus-ones on a baseline drive to the cup, and a roll, catch—count it, plus the foul.

 

All told, Bargnani murdered the Knicks in the post. He shot 6-9 on post ups, and his scores and passes directly lead to 28 points on 19 possessions, a magnificent ratio.

 

The fact that Bargnani is doing more of his work in the post—both high and low—serves the Raptors well considering the tissue-soft nature of their team. Bargnani’s vision and passing is coming along nicely, and he’s still a crafty perimeter shooter—2-3 3FG. His miss was an emergency heave to end the game, and his previous attempt was a clutch make late in regulation.

 

Bargnani had a lot more difficulty attempting to create his own shots from the top of the key as he wasn’t nearly as quick as the smaller Knicks defending him. He also doesn’t have a terrific handle, and most of his assaults on the basket were going away from or parallel to the hoop. His screens are totally ineffective as he avoids making contact at all costs. Still, it was a big time offensive performance that nearly led the Raptors to a win. Except…

 

Bargnani’s defense was nearly as bad as his offense was good. He spent most of the game defending perimeter players as the Raptors didn’t trust him defending Amar’e Stoudemire. Bargnani’s post defense isn’t too bad as he’s big and long and absorbs contact relatively well.

 

However, when zoning screens, or defending players who can face and go, Bargnani still may be backing up, backing up, and taking himself right out of the play.

 

On several screen/roll defenses Bargnani would stand in no man’s land guarding the ball handler, usually Felton. When Felton would stop his dribble, even if his own man wasn’t back to contain him, Bargnani would leave the area, allowing the Knicks several uncontested layups.

 

Also, because Jay Triano doesn’t trust Bargnani’s help defense, he’s forced to set up his defensive rotations where smaller players are rotating along the baseline, instead of having Bargnani meet the offensive player at the rim. This was even true when Amir Johnson was guarding Stoudemire. Even though Bargnani would be the optimal rotator, Johnson would be the designated helper. Because of Stoudemire’s offensive prowess, this put Johnson in several tough predicaments of whether to help or not to help.

 

Finally, Bargnani’s a horrific rebounder for his size.

 

Because of this, despite Bargnani’s prolific scoring, the Knicks were able to take advantage of his defensive deficiencies late:

 

 

• He gave Stoudemire too much room at the elbow, allowing Stoudemire to make a jumper over him.
• He offered no help on a Landry Fields drive, allowing the Knicks rookie to convert a plus-one.
• He again failed to offer help on a Knicks drive, but Raymond Felton missed a layup.
• He didn’t throw his hand up quick enough on a Stoudemire jumper, allowing Amar’e to hit another short jumper.

Overall, grading defensive plays as good or bad in regards to help defense (shading over), perimeter closeouts/rotations, full rotations, and shot contests, Bargnani was credited with seven good defensive plays—mostly in contesting Stoudemire post ups—and 16 bad ones.

 

http://www.raptorshq.com/2010/12/10/1868560/toronto-raptors-breakdown-despite-bargs-big-day-raptors-are

[headliner]

The defensive issue hasn’t changed from last season and I’m now looking at Jay