Game #21: Denver Nuggets 107 - Toronto Raptors 112

[iblastoff]

But, I'll warn you guys.....everytime I've been to a Raps game, they have lost.....3 games last season, all lost - the ones after the Rudy Gay trade. But, heyyyyy my streak is gonna end tonight and LBJ and company's losing streak is gonna start

hey at least its not as bad as me. last regular season game i went to last year was the clippers game where ross went off for 51 points...they lost and DD injured himself.

this season my first raptors game was vs dallas. and lo' and behold, demar got injured again. uuuuughhhhh.

[kopite91]

I know it's been talked about ad nauseum on this thread already, but I haven't had a chance to post since game's end. Here were some observations from the last game, but aren't limited to the game itself.

The game exposed a lot of flaws inherent in the Raptors. Flaws that prohibit them from becoming a contender. It starts with the coach and his inability to draw up plays in the offensive end. 4 seconds left on the clock to win the game and all we can muster is a stupid 3pt heave by Lowry from deep. No drive. No movement off the ball. No screens to open lanes. Just a stupid handoff and a shot from deep. Lou continues to run the clock with the same play. Step back to the left and shoot from deep. I understand Casey is a defensive-minded wizard who can draw up defensive schemes to get stops when needed (as we did towards the end of the game), but they've gotta put the board in one of the assistants' hands and get them to draw up something.

We have major problems in controlling the glass. Last year, we dominated the boards in a lot of games. This season, Amir's inability to elevate and move (because of his wobbly knees and ankles) hangs JV out to dry and he's having to box out two guys at one time to get a simple rebound... and JV is terrible at boxing out guys. Teams continue to kill us on the offensive glass. It doesn't help when Casey gets trigger happy on JV and takes him out early. Without JV on the floor, Mozgov and Arthur controlled our paint with ease. It also shows our lack of depth at the 4 and 5 when JV gets pulled out of the game. Patterson, Hayes and Hansbrough don't bring any rim protection.

Our two man game helps in getting open, but tough looks out on the 3 point line. But our players aren't driving enough to the basket. Lowry is at his best when he drives to the paint. Lou made a career at Philly out of getting to the paint. Ross is a slam dunk champion, but doesn't drive to the net at all. All three are good foul shooters, yet they keep settling for jumpers like they're the Warriors. Also starting Vazquez doesn't help in this regard. Driving into the lane collapses defenses and helps in kicking out the ball to open players on the perimeter as we did on that Patterson 3.

Also Derozan helps in a number of ways. He's matured to the point where if he knows he's not getting the calls or the shots aren't falling, he'll help on defense or in distributing the ball since he knows he'll always draw the double team no matter what. He has good help-side defense. Hands are in the proper passing lane. His lateral movement allows him to stay in front of guys. He has good size and strength compared to Ross. Plus without Derozan, we lack someone who has a good midrange game. Every team needs someone who can post up or hit you with a midrange jay. James Johnson can do that, but Casey still doesn't have full trust in him either.

I have no complaints about our record or the results, but the weaknesses are glaring. Masai might need to do something on the trade front before we head off on that uber- tough West Coast swing in late December. It may not need to be a big move... just a big man to come off the bench who isn't a tree like Steamer, can rebound and isn't a liability with the ball in his hands..

[raptors999]

I miss Demar

[Chr1s1anL]

Gotcha.

You're drawing permanent conclusions on a 4 game sample size where everyone readily admits he screwed the pooch in a couple of those games?

I don't think that is rational thinking.

He is elite on the season.

Your in titled to your opinion. I'm just not a believer in per 36 stats. To much could happen in those 10 extra minutes. I'm basing mine off the actual game where he plays 30+ mins.

[white men can't jump]

Your in titled to your opinion. I'm just not a believer in per 36 stats. To much could happen in those 10 extra minutes. I'm basing mine off the actual game where he plays 30+ mins.

No, you're not. You're basing your opinion on 4 games, among them one of the worst of Jonas' career, where he was far from playing 30 minutes.

If you take the games where he actually has played 30+ minutes, and calculate his averages, it leads to...6 games, and in those he's averaging 10.67 rpg in about 33 mpg....and a per36 number for those games of 11.63, or actually higher than his per36 number (11.4) counting all games.

So where's the leg your argument is trying to stand on?

[mcHAPPY]

Your in titled to your opinion. I'm just not a believer in per 36 stats. To much could happen in those 10 extra minutes. I'm basing mine off the actual game where he plays 30+ mins.

No, you're not. You're basing your opinion on 4 games, among them one of the worst of Jonas' career, where he was far from playing 30 minutes.

If you take the games where he actually has played 30+ minutes, and calculate his averages, it leads to...6 games, and in those he's averaging 10.67 rpg in about 33 mpg....and a per36 number for those games of 11.63, or actually higher than his per36 number (11.4) counting all games.

So where's the leg your argument is trying to stand on?

Well there is what WMCJ said. And, btw, he has no leg to stand on.

But you also missed something quite important.

I've not given you per36 minute stats.

I gave you Total Rebound %.

It is a great stat when comparing players because it only measures the shots the player is on the floor for regardless of minutes played.

In my example, I put minutes at a minimum of 10 per game to weed out the 3rd liners.

When you do that you see Jonas is in fact elite - 9th in the league to be exact. Purdy darn good if you ask me.


Go Jonas!


From earlier post:

An average rebounder

Really?

Your bias are showing.

Yet among players who have played over 200mins (about 10mins per game), his TRB% is 18.6 which is good enough for 9th out of 450 players?

If that isn't elite - what is?

1 DeMarcus Cousins
2 Tyson Chandler
3 DeAndre Jordan
4 Zach Randolph
5 Andrew Bogut
6 Tim Duncan
7 Lavoy Allen
8 Nikola Pekovic
9 Jonas Valanciunas

[special1]

hey at least its not as bad as me. last regular season game i went to last year was the clippers game where ross went off for 51 points...they lost and DD injured himself.

this season my first raptors game was vs dallas. and lo' and behold, demar got injured again. uuuuughhhhh.

I knew you had something to do with it!... What did you do with the DD voodoo doll!?? I'm just playing...lol

It certainly is a coincidence because I consider you to be one of DD's biggest critics on here.