The Raptors’ season began with a comfortable win over Philadelphia, the sort of win you might expect when the defending Atlantic Division champions take on a poor-to-middling team in the midst of rebuilding. Then came the piqued expectations and pyrotechnics; a road win against their sentimental rivals the New Jersey Nets in which the Raptors won by 37 points, muted Vince Carter, and vindicated every woman in America by limiting documented wife-puncher and stripper-groper Jason Kidd to two points.
Fans wanted more. Instead, they got less.
The first half of Sunday’s game against the Celtics could only have been rendered worse if the CBC forewent their hoops coverage in favour of consecutive episodes of Road to Avonlea (with ratings of just 199,000 and no coverage for Atlantic Canada, the network might be considering it). A halftime deficit of 38-31 was loosely mitigated by the Raps keeping it close against the bloated “big-three” of Boston, and that Toronto eventually took the game to overtime where, as we know, they lost.
But Milwaukee?
The Bucks are irrefutably improved this year. The addition of Yi and coach Larry Krystowiak’s elixir of health earned Milwaukee wins against Toronto and Chicago. But the Bucks are irrefutably erratic, too, as they proved in losses to Charlotte and Orlando. On Tuesday night they decided to be the “improved” Bucks. To get a sense of the inverted disparity of that game consider that Chris Bosh shot 0-4 from the field while Desmond Mason looked like a special-needs Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, shooting 10-10 from the field, most of which were awkward jump hooks over Delfino and Kapono. Everything was dropping for the Bucks and nothing was dropping for the Raps. Write it off.
But Orlando?
The Raptors beat Orlando all four times they met last year, but Orlando didn’t have Rashard Lewis then. Lewis hit three open threes on the Raptors in tonight’s fourth quarter and everyone in Toronto - except Coach Smitchell and his team - are realizing how a bag of dicks tastes when a team (the Raptors) insists on leaving certified three-point robots (Lewis, Ray Allen, Michael Redd) to stand unmolested with an iced glass of ginger beer, inches behind the three point line.
In fact the inadequacy of Smitchell has already started an “Official fire Sam! Thread” on RealGM. I wouldn’t say I’m spearheading this, but I’m certainly near the front of the trolley. When, last year, the Raptors dropped to 2-8 after starting the season 2-2 (as they started this year) it wasn’t a question of if Mitchell would get fired, but when. However, Colangelo’s patience and genius roster-building rewarded Mitchell with a Coach of the Year award and a new four-year, $12-million contract. Mitchell seems to have spent the offseason finding ways to get outrebounded by fielding the five most incompatible players on a roster spilling over with talent.
Fans wanted more. Instead, they got less.
The first half of Sunday’s game against the Celtics could only have been rendered worse if the CBC forewent their hoops coverage in favour of consecutive episodes of Road to Avonlea (with ratings of just 199,000 and no coverage for Atlantic Canada, the network might be considering it). A halftime deficit of 38-31 was loosely mitigated by the Raps keeping it close against the bloated “big-three” of Boston, and that Toronto eventually took the game to overtime where, as we know, they lost.
But Milwaukee?
The Bucks are irrefutably improved this year. The addition of Yi and coach Larry Krystowiak’s elixir of health earned Milwaukee wins against Toronto and Chicago. But the Bucks are irrefutably erratic, too, as they proved in losses to Charlotte and Orlando. On Tuesday night they decided to be the “improved” Bucks. To get a sense of the inverted disparity of that game consider that Chris Bosh shot 0-4 from the field while Desmond Mason looked like a special-needs Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, shooting 10-10 from the field, most of which were awkward jump hooks over Delfino and Kapono. Everything was dropping for the Bucks and nothing was dropping for the Raps. Write it off.
But Orlando?
The Raptors beat Orlando all four times they met last year, but Orlando didn’t have Rashard Lewis then. Lewis hit three open threes on the Raptors in tonight’s fourth quarter and everyone in Toronto - except Coach Smitchell and his team - are realizing how a bag of dicks tastes when a team (the Raptors) insists on leaving certified three-point robots (Lewis, Ray Allen, Michael Redd) to stand unmolested with an iced glass of ginger beer, inches behind the three point line.
In fact the inadequacy of Smitchell has already started an “Official fire Sam! Thread” on RealGM. I wouldn’t say I’m spearheading this, but I’m certainly near the front of the trolley. When, last year, the Raptors dropped to 2-8 after starting the season 2-2 (as they started this year) it wasn’t a question of if Mitchell would get fired, but when. However, Colangelo’s patience and genius roster-building rewarded Mitchell with a Coach of the Year award and a new four-year, $12-million contract. Mitchell seems to have spent the offseason finding ways to get outrebounded by fielding the five most incompatible players on a roster spilling over with talent.
After five games, wee Juan Dixon is averaging 21.8 minutes per game, the seventh-highest tick on the team. To his credit, Dixon is making the effort and scoring well, but passing has never been a priority to him, and the Raptors always do best when they swing the ball instead of creating off the dribble. Plus, Dixon is an unfortunately undersized combo guard who Michael Redd and Ray Allen abused this week. Dixon should get used to the taste of ass, since he’ll be eating swingman turd remnants in the post every night this year. One can only hope this is a showcase for a potential trade. Unfortunately, the NBA restricts teams from trading coaches.
No comments:
Post a Comment