Thoughts from Game 1

I know everyone is pretty hysterical because of the loss yesterday, and believe me I am super disappointed with yesterday's game, but everything that I've read, it seems like no one talking about the correct issues.

Sam had a good gameplan in place, and I think the Raps did enough of defense to win it, but at the end of the day, their offense let them down. They weren't able to force NJ into the double team scramble, and the Raptors offense ground to a halt because there was no where to swing the ball. Bosh needs to force the double down, and Bragnani needs to fucking hit a 3.

Other observations yesterday:

I definitely didn't think that Bosh did enough to force NJ into the rotations necessary for the Raps to get their normal 3's. They kept a second defender close to him as a soft double, but he didn't force them to double down hard, in order to make the Nets start to scramble. That is the biggest adjustment that they have to make on Tuesday to the offense. I don't think its broken, just something Bosh has to do to adjust his game. If Bosh starts to make a strong move to the hoop, NJ will have to start to double hard, and AP (and maybe Joey) should start to get hot.

I think Jose and Ford did as well as you could have asked for. NJ was forcing TJ to be a scorer, they played him to pass, so its good to see him adjust his game, and light them up, should make it harder for NJ to decide what to do in Game 2. Calderon they played to attack the rim, and he was able to rack up a bunch of assists in the 2nd half, which was good to see. Ford and Calderon definitely present a problem for NJ because Marcus Williams is terrible. The moment he got in to the game, the Raptors made huge runs, so I think Kidd is going to have to start playing even more minutes, which should pay off by Game 3 (hopefully). Kidd is a terrible shooter, so I kind of expect him to have similar type offensive game 12 and 10 is my prediction for game 2. The Raps CANNOT have Kidd grab 10 boards, that more than anything else killed them yesterday. Carter is probably going to go off in Game 2, but RJ will be limited if that happens, which the Raptors will benefit from.

They were able to turn RJ off in the second half, so Sam was ale to make an adequate adjustment on him in the half court. I think he only scored about 9 points in the 2nd half, which is way better than the 21 he put up in the first. Nachebar played a pretty big part, but he didn't perform outside my expectations. I thought going in to the series, he was going to be a huge part of their gameplan, and he proved me right.

The X Factor is gonna be Bragnani. He had a TERRIBLE game, probably his worst game since the first few of this season. If he gets his normal 13-16 pts, the Raps win yesterday.

As bad as the Raptors played yesterday, the Nets were just as bad. I think this series is going to come down to the Raptors improving their offensive execution because I felt that they played defense well enough to win defensively (they aren't going to morph into the Spurs just because its the playoffs), but their offense really let them down.

The transition defense was atrocious yesterday, and something needs to be corrected.

Fordicus' Raps - Nets Preview

When Ford sent this email out, I almost passed out reading cause it got me so pumped...

Raps - Nets Preview

It was a scary thing to realize last week that this series was a
possibility. I was resigned to the idea of a relatively lax first round
against a depleted Wizards squad, but now the Raps have the kind of match-up
that could cause them to expend alot of energy and emotion. There is no
doubt the AC will be going bananas in our first return to the playoffs in
half a decade... and all the hatred, all the angst of failed seasons past
will be focused on one man: Vince Carter. Let's hope the rest of their bums
don't get overlooked in the process.

I hope Rasho knocks that bitch on the floor everytime he tries to get in the
paint. Then we will see the evidence for what his nickname should have
been... 'half man, half 20-foot fade away'. Still, he's won a few games
single-handedly before with a wince on his face and without a lick of effort
on defence.

ESPN has once again disappointed with three out of four predicting a Jersey
win. I'm not daunted by this in the least, but for the hell of it, let's go
through the match-up by position to see who has the edge here:

PG - TJ Ford & Calderon vs. J. Kidd & Marcus Williams: Ford and Calderon
are the best PG tandem in the league. No arguments allowed. Kidd is a
future HOF inductee and will have his moments of brilliance as he always
does, but this year his scoring has been down and he is visibly a step
slower starting the break after his knee surgeries. Marcus Williams is a
fat piece of shit who shoots 28% from 3. Calderon and Ford should wear down
Kidd and feast on the chubby laptop thief.

Edge: Raptors

SG - Anthony Parker, Juan Dixon, Mo Pete vs. Carter, Eddie House, Antoine
Wright: Parker has been the best surprise acquisition since Keon Clark was
electrifying crowds on a 20 win team a few years back. He will receive the
brunt of the minutes guarding VC, and will be counted on to hit some big
3's. Maybe you can only hope to contain the injury-prone pussy, but he is
still the best player in this group by a large margin. I look for Mo to get
some minutes in the early going if his knee is sound, but eventually get
benched for the younger, more intense Juan Dixon. Eddie house and Antoine
Wright both suck balls.

Edge: Jersey, but only slightly. The 3 or 4 guys Tdot can put on Carter
narrows the gap.

SF - Joey Graham, Andrea Bargnani vs. Richard Jefferson, Bostjan Nachbar:
This is going to sound crazy, but Nachbar is good. He's shown me he can
take it to the rack and hit the open 3 with consistency and he actually
scares me more than the post-injury Jefferson. Graham needs to keep up his
strong play and Bargs needs to get himself in shape and get his legs under
him quickly. If he can pose a threat from long range and utilize his
passing ability off the dribble, the Raps will be in good shape.

Edge: Tie

PF - Bosh, The Hump vs. Mikki Moore, Josh Boone?: I don't even really know
who the fours and fives are for NJ. A collection of scrap heap guys and
projects. Does anyone think they will be able to handle Bosh for a second,
or even keep Hump off the offensive glass. I say no way. This position is
a massacre and the Raps need to exploit it.

Edge: RAPTORS (caps lock for screaming)

C - Rasho vs. Jason Collins: I think we all know the big Lithuanian keeps
bodies in the trunk of his car despite his icy, stoic gaze. All he needs to
do is stand there and play good post position on both ends, hit the odd
elbow jumper and lay-up every would be dunk. Jason Collins is a stiff.
Always has been, never will change. These teams will likely go small and
also use a combo of their 4's at center, but the Nets just can't test up
front.

Edge: Raptors again.

Conclusion: While superstars win championships, and the Nets have an edge
of 1.6 superstars (Carter = .8, Kidd and Jefferson about .4 each) to the
Raptors 1 (Bosh), this Toronto team is built with the depth and role
awareness to easily dispose of this heavily flawed nuisance.

Prediction: Raptors in 5 and the ACC will have the roof blown off.

The Joey Question

The on going performance of Joey Graham may be pivotal to the success of the Raptors come playoff time. Being at the Bulls game has really given me a new perspective on Joey. To some extent I have to blame Sam a bit for holding Joey back (ie. mistake = bench). But with extended mins Joey is really starting to get into a grove. Will he regress when Bragnani is back? I say no. At some point players either turn for the better or they regress and go play in Europe. Joey was either going to turn into the player we are seeing right now, or he was going to tail off. The home stretch and the playoffs will be extremely important to gauge if Joey has turned the corner or not (remember Tayshaun did NOTHING for 2 years, before finally getting IT in the 2nd half of the Piston 2003 championship team). I don't think he is looking for his shot too much. He is taking the best open shot, and its available because teams are overplaying the Raptors for the corner 3. I think if Joey can score consistently at the elbow, it creates even more options.