4
That was just a ridiculous foul on Bargnani. I’ve got nothing against hard fouls. But there are hard fouls and just dumb-a** plays. Fine, body the guy up and lay him out, no worries. But lead with the elbow to the face? Leo Rautins made a good point on the telecast. Sure Alexander Johnson made it look like he was sorry afterwards and maybe he was. But pro players know what they’re doing and he just dropped a guy in a nothing game – for the Heat anyway – for no reason. Bargnani’s rep is that he’s a bit careful with his body – he never gets a cold, it’s always the flu, know what I mean? But props to him for getting up and making the free throws. And yeah we could debate that someone should layout Dwayne Wade or something, but I’m not sure if that’s even makes sense. It was such a random play that even the Heat guys were probably like, “Dude, what were you thinking?”
Anyway.
One game, some things, V1.41:
1. The problem with Shawn Marion as a franchise-type player is that he’s very coverable. If you’re trying to cover other guys – say Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire – he’s expert at living off the extra space they provide. But if a guy like Moon similar quickness, similar size -- just sticks with Marion –– Marion doesn’t have much to counter with. He’s not a great post-up player. He’s not a dangerous face-up player. He’s just an okay shooter. He can be made to disappear easier than a Kobe or a Wade or even a Bosh. He’s being exposed after this trade.
2. They’re really packing them in Miami eh? Wooo. In his game story, Larry Millson says the attendance was announced at over 19,000. But Larry, who's seen a thing or two in his day, figures that was because a lot of the crowd was simply invisible, which explains everything. I bet no one there is saying that they’re going to lose the franchise. That always used to bug me when the Raptors had a few years of declining attendance. No one would ever bother pointing out that even at their low ebb they were out-drawing Boston and Philly and whatnot. Funny, you don’t here anyone saying that Raptors won’t make it here anymore.
3. Do you like that Bargnani can put it on the floor and come very near to making a difficult double-clutch reverse lay-up as he did on that one drive in the first quarter? Or is more significant that he didn’t dunk it on the front side of the rim when he had the brief opening? That’s Bargnani in a nutshell. Just talented enough to make you crazy.
3. Now that Jason Williams looks like he’s 45 years old, do you think he’s kind of having second thoughts about those tats?
4. What a weird team the Heat are. They do have two excellent players in Marion and Wade and, you know, some other guys. But they are so bad. They just do not defend at all. The discipline the Raptors have to have is to realize that they will always have an open shot. They just have to wait until they get it, and then not rush the opportunity when it arrives. Jose Calderon could have retied the shoes in the amount of time he had on that three late the second half after Parker pitched it out to him in transition. This after Rasho was left wide open under the basket for a dunk. The Raptors then got in a little rut where they just kept taking and missing open threes. The misses weren’t the problem, it was just that they weren’t taking the time they had, presuming that someone would eventually come cover them. Not happening. The Heat quit on their season a long time ago.
6. And yes, I predicted a Heat win. You have to excuse me. It’s just hard to get used to the fact that a team with two supposed stars/superstars and coached by Pat Riley is so heartless. Still a necessary win for the Raptors.
