Houston — Chris Bosh's simple solution for a tough night at the office is to not let it happen again.
“We try not to lose two games in a row, and I try to make a statement: I don't get in slumps,” the Toronto Raptors' all-star forward said yesterday as his team prepared for tonight's game against the Houston Rockets.
“I might have a slump for a game, but I try not to make it two games. My focus is a little more intense and I don't like to have back-to-back bad games.”
Laying the blame for the Raptors' loss to the San Antonio Spurs at Bosh's doorstep is a little bit like blaming the car for hitting a patch of ice. Sometimes these things just happen. And when you're playing the Spurs, whose defence can make even the smoothest running offensive machine blow cold, it's almost inevitable.
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But Bosh has been so good and so reliable this season that a night like Monday — when he was 6-for-16 from the field, and 2-for-9 in the first half when the game was essentially decided — stands out.
There have only been five games this season when Bosh has scored 15 points and less. His average in the five games after his off-nights is 24.8 points a game.
“Our captain, our best player, understood some things that we didn't do as well as we can do and hopefully we can rebound from it,” Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell said. “He's been really good about it if he has a subpar performance, coming back with a better effort.”
With their glut of savvy big men, the Spurs were able to cover Bosh one-on-one. When he couldn't make them pay, the Raptors' usually fluid ball movement stalled.
It's worth noting because the Rockets, 35-21 despite missing Yao Ming to a leg injury, are likely to do much of the same. While Tracy McGrady has earned justified most-valuable-player consideration for his heavy lifting at the offensive end (24.6 points a game), the Rockets are every inch a Jeff Van Gundy coached team, leading the league in opponents field-goal percentage (42.3) and tied for first — with the Spurs — in points allowed at 90.6 a game.
The expectation is that Bosh will get all he can handle from Shane Battier, the Rockets' top defender. The 6-foot-8 former Duke star gives up some length to Bosh, but compensates with strength and will.
How that matchup will play out will be the game within the game that could decide the final score.
Fortunately, Bosh is a pretty determined type himself.
“[Being covered by a smaller player] takes away from my face-up game, but my back-to-the-basket game is getting a little bit better,” said Bosh, who averages 23.1 points a game and 50.5 per cent from the floor. “If I do catch it down low, I'll be more aggressive and try and back him down and force a double team or get in the lane and force an easy two.”
If Bosh shows he can score consistently against single coverage, it would require the Rockets to help, which should open up other chances if Bosh passes crisply out of the traps, something in which he's made strides as he's seen them more and more this season.
Against a fronting defender Bosh will likely try to post up a little higher on the block to create room to roll baseline for layups or walk his man even higher up the key before cutting back door or spinning to the rim for lobs and dunks.
“I've just got to make it tough on him so he's not going to want to front me as much,” Bosh said.
On the other end, the Raptors must figure out how to slow down McGrady, a task made tougher because Anthony Parker won't play after spraining his right ankle against the Spurs
Jorge Garbajosa, who also left Monday's game after banging his right knee, practised yesterday and will play tonight.
The likely bet to replace Parker in the starting lineup is Morris Peterson, who has been limited to soup and crackers the past two days as he deals with a bout of the flu.
He has no illusions about trying to stop McGrady alone. “It will definitely take a team effort,” Peterson said.
