7
Seven games over .500 and a nice solid win on the second night of a back-to-back on the road. That’d be worth a day off, but the Raptors play more than a soap opera for the next few weeks.
One game, some things, v1.38:
1. Is it any coincidence that T.J. Ford and Jason Kapono seem to have pretty good chemistry on the floor? I don’t think so. Ford is a high I.Q. basketball player and consistently pushes the envelope when it comes making plays and creating opportunities. He uses his speed to get into seams – sometimes to create them -- and has the court vision and skills to deliver the ball in surprising ways. Kapono is a high I.Q player who is great at finding space on the floor and reacting to his teammates. He lacks only the foot speed to create that space on his own. But with Ford making room, Kapono looks to be the guy on the second unit he is best at taking advantage of them. The reverse lay-up and foul that tied the score 40-40 is the example here. It’s like a guy playing with a mobile quarterback who always finds the soft spot in the coverage when the quarterback is rolling out and the defence is scrambling. You don’t have to be fast to get open, you just have to be able to read the play.
2. The Raptors three-point defence is actually a little better these days – it’s 37-per-cent instead of 38-per-cent, but it’s still at the bottom third of the league. I watched some Indiana makes last night. One Danny Granger make was classic: Granger caught the ball at the top and squared up and Moon moved to close him out, but not really. The hand was up and by the time the ball was gone Moon was all over him, but at the critical moment when Granger was lining up the shot Moon closed the gap tentatively. It was ‘neither here nor there’ defence. Moon was protecting getting beat by dribble penetration but sacrificing getting right into Granger and make him abandon the three or take a rushed one. The coaching staff wants Moon and the other perimeter defenders to close out with more purpose, even to the point of getting beat off the dribble. The expectation is that teammates should be able to rotate and help on the ball, at least in time for the defender to recover. It’s a risk for Moon, as if he does go aggressively on the shooter and gets beat, and his teammates aren’t there, it’s Moon who looks bad. But by protecting his own a** Granger just rains another three.
3. If I see Moon miss another wide-open three-pointer, I’m going to vomit.
4. Raptors have their share of bad rotations, but with about 6:20 left in the game they had a great one: Ford is covering Deiner and the Pacers rub him off a pick at the top by Troy Murphy. The Raptors switch and Ford ends up on the Pacers centre, giving up about a foot and 100 pounds. Murphy walks him down to the post. Meanwhile Dunleavy sets a screen for Daniels on the baseline, and Parker and Delfino switch that. When Murphy and Ford and end up in the post, Parker leaves Dunleavy to help on Murphy. Daniels (now in the corner with the ball) sees Dunleavy on the weakside and sends a skip pass to him ball, but as it’s in the air Ford is recovering to Dunleavy and Moon has flashed down from his man at the top (Granger) to help on Dunleavy. There’s a brief mix-up when Moon and Ford bounce of Dunleavy on the catch, but when Dunleavy tries to take to the basket Moon changes his shot, causing him to hesitate and Parker leaves Murphy and comes over and blocks the shot, sparking a fastbreak that turns into a three-point play for Bosh. Pretty good offence by Indiana, excellent defence by Toronto.
5. That play by Ford where he found Moon for the lay-up and the foul with 90 seconds left? Who makes that play? Chris Paul? Steve Nash? He moved Marquis Daniels about eight feet with his cross-over at the top, and then gets Murphy to move about five feet the other way when he got in the lane before finding Moon. That’s hard to do.
