Toronto at Dallas

[Real Deal]

TIME: 8:30 PM ET

TV: NBALP

[Built Ford Tough]

After the heartbreaking loss the Mavs suffered against OKC last night, I can see this game going one of two ways:

 

1. They come out and wipe the floor with the Raptors from the beginning of the game, winning by 20+ points.

 

or

 

2. They come out completely flat and allow the Raptors to hang around all game, but crush their hopes late in the 4th.

 

 

Either way, it is highly unlikely that Toronto wins this game.

 

It should also be a fun game since Toronto/Dallas games always seem to be entertaining, even with the huge talent difference between the teams.

 

I will have to catch a replay of this on league pass, though, since I work tonight.

[Real Deal]

This will probably be the game that Carlisle uses to adjust minutes and experiments with certain fives. I doubt the Raptors win, either way, because in a 66-game season and what will probably be a very tight 1-8 in the West, the Mavericks really can't afford to start 0-4.

[Doc]

Im excited to watch Sean WIlliams play, he has always been one of my favorites. So much hustle.

 

 

All I can ask for from the Raptors is effort. This is the first test to see if they can keep up with their defense. They held the Pacers to about 40% or under last game, just got to get their offence going. If they can try and keep the Mavs around 95 points, I'll be happy.

[MainEv3nt]

Mavs finally got a win. i wish sean williams got some playing time but mahimni did nice. so did beaubois.

[Check my Stats]

Demar needs to get back to what made him successful last season. He isn't attacking enough, and is taking too many jumpers, a lot of which are contested. I just feel like he is forcing rather than letting the game come to him.

[Built Ford Tough]

Bargnani was brilliant for the first 3.5 quarters, but his lack of conditioning, which has been a problem with him his entire career, caught up with him in the final 5 minutes of the game. He wasn't getting the same lift on his jumpers and you could tell that he was absolutely gassed out there.

 

Despite that, I thought it was an awesome game from him. He was doing a very good job defending Dirk, mixing it up on the glass (even though he did only get 7 boards) and only had a couple of huge mishaps when it came to help defense as opposed to his usual 5+ a game. Obviously, there is no real need to comment on his play offensively as it spoke for itself.

 

DeRozan needs to stop chucking jumpers and look to attack more. I realize that he isn't the best at creating his own shot and he does struggle a bit when forced to take more than 2 dribbles, but all of this contested fadeaway jumpers that he is taking are starting to get really annoying. He has played well for about 12 minutes (7 against Indy and 5 against Cleveland) this entire season so far. Other than those 12 or so minutes, he has been invisible outside of chucking bad jumpers.

 

Barbosa played well and gave the Raptors a spark off of the bench. At this point, you can't really expect him to do much playmaking so as long as he is knocking down shots, I am content with him being a blackhole because it simply is his nature and role on the team.

 

Calderon needs to look to push the ball more. The Raptors are a young team who are at their best in the open court. Outside of Bargnani and Barbosa, they really don't have anybody who can create their own shot in the half court, so he really needs to push the ball whenever he can in order to maximize Davis, DeRozan and both Johnsons' full abilities. This walking the ball up the court every time isn't going to cut it, especially when you play a cerebral half court team like the Mavs.

 

It sucks that Bayless got hurt because he got off to a nice start in this game and they really could've used him, especially considering just how bad Anthony Carter is. Hopefully he isn't out for too long because they are really going to miss him if he is.