Bosh-Less Raptors Fall to the Young Thunder

Very disappointed in our PGs, not because they got torched by Russell Westbrook – that was to be expected – but because of their inability to control the tempo of the game. We don’t want to go up and down the court with a team like OKC, nobody does, but some measure of control needs to be exacted by our ball-handlers so that the game is played in a framework that could yield success. I can’t even remember the last time the Raptors went run ‘n gun and came out on top, it’s too hard to play that style of basketball with the defensively challenged personnel that we have. Even our offense isn’t suited to that style, with Nesterovic, Bargnani and Turkoglu in the lineup, you don’t want to run, you want to crawl. I wasn’t expecting the Raptors to succeed at that, but wasn’t expecting us to fail miserably either.

Teams like OKC, Charlotte and GSW have always given us trouble because of two things: 1) the tempo they play at and 2) our thinking that we can match that tempo. I was hoping for a first quarter score like 23-18 but instead we gave up a 30+ point first quarter for the fourth straight game by losing it 34-24. The defensive effort got progressively worse as the game along but early on it wasn’t bad; the issue was that the matchups were too much for us to handle, Westbrook on Jack, Green on Bargnani, and Durant/Sefolosha on Turkoglu/DeRozan were all matchups we were losing by allowing dribble penetration. There was no answer for their athelticism and quickness off the bounce and conceding points was always inevitable. The hope was that the offense could keep the game in check and slow the tempo down – no such luck. The only bright spot in the offense were some isolation sequences for Bargnani in the block and some aggressive DeRozan drives.

It was the first time since Bosh has been out that I’ve seen the Raptors go to Bargnani right at the start of the set, good things happened early but as the game wore on, his decision making in the face of doubles and off his drives was poor and his 3 turnovers speak to that. It should also be said that the Raptors didn’t go to him in the second half and that’s partially bad offensive direction by the coach/floor generals and part Bargnani not asking for the ball. In the end our PGs have to recognize that Bargnani isn’t the type of player to demand anything, hell, he doesn’t even ask for his own change back when ordering coffee. They should make it a point to get him going because if they don’t, nobody including Bargnani will. It sucks, but that’s the way it is.