Throwing up bricks
Thursday, November 15, 2007 | 06:43 PM ET
The Raptors solved their defensive deficiencies the past two games by inserting Rasho Nesterovic and Jamari “over the” Moon into the starting lineup. Both of them are much better defenders than the guys they replaced - Andrea Bargnani and Jason Kapono. The addition of Nesterovic and Moon to the starting lineup also made Toronto a better rebounding team.
Last Saturday (Nov. 10), Toronto held Chicago to 71 points and out-rebounded them 44-38 in a Raptor win in the Windy City. And last night (Nov. 14) they held the number one scoring team in the league, the Utah Jazz (111 points per game), to just 92 points. Toronto also out-rebounded the Jazz 50 to 46. But that didn’t add up to a Toronto win.
There are two statistics that stood out most for me after reading the boxscore of Toronto’s game last night against the Jazz - a game Toronto lost 92-88.
Forgettable field-goal percentage
The first stat is the number of field goals Toronto attempted. The Raptors took 91 shots compared to Utah’s 77. When you take 14 more shots than your opponent and lose it usually only means one thing - you’re throwing up a lot of bricks. The Raptors shot a woeful 38 per cent from the field. That’s not good enough to beat the likes of the Utah Jazz, a serious contender for the Western Conference championship.
Yes, Utah plays good defence. Andre Kirilenko is one of the best shot blockers in the league and will probably be in the top five in steals when it’s all said and done. And Carlos Boozer is built like a mack truck and isn’t afraid to push his weight around. But in all honesty, Utah didn’t play that well last night. Toronto had lots of good looks at the basket - they just couldn’t make open shots.
Still searching for his touch ...
Andrea Bargnani, who’s in a bit of a shooting slump (in his last four games he has shot 15-for-42 from the field, a nothing to be proud of 36 per cent), shot a miserable 1-for-11 from the field, but he had lots of company in the bad shooting department. T.J. Ford was 5-for-17 and Carlos Delfino was 2-for-9. And as a team, they were 7-for-22 (31 per cent) from three-point land.
The Raptors settled too much for jump shots at the expense of the other stat that frightened me in last night’s game - foul shots.
The Raptors shot only 12 free throws the entire game. That’s unacceptable if you want to be a championship team. Chris Bosh alone should be taking at least 12 to 15 free throws a game. But that’s difficult to do when the team relies too much on jump shots and doesn’t pound the ball inside enough.
Bosh also had only 12 field goal attempts in the Utah game. For crying out loud, that was just one more than Jamario “I can’t believe I’m starting in the NBA” Moon took. Bosh needs more touches inside, their perimeter players need to attack the basket more and, as a team, they need to get to the free-throw line more often.
But you are what you are. And right now the Raptors are a jump-shooting team. Somehow, coach Sam Mitchell has to convince his players that going inside and getting two points is better for this team than shooting threes.
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About the Author
Nick Davis is the senior producer of Metro Morning on CBC Radio One 99.1 FM. He's been involved in basketball since 1978 when he played the game for the first time as an eighth grader. He has covered basketball as a reporter from 1987 to 2001 including college and university basketball, the Canadian national team program and the Toronto Raptors.
An assistant with Sheridan College for the past 13 years, Davis still finds time to coach youth hoops in Toronto. Some of the players Nick has coached include NBAer Jamaal Magloire, European pro Wayne Smith, and Canadian national team members Sherman Douglas and Michael Meeks.
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