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There was no real reason the Raptors didn’t blow out Kaunas last night other than a general sense of lethargy. Even Calderon was kind of looking frustrated at the fact that his club was playing down to their competition. I didn’t see one happy clap all night. Three games against Euro clubs is two too many. It’s not an excuse, it’s just a fact. Playing poorly against teams you know you should crush (these guys weren’t even close to the quality of Real Madrid, who could well win the Euroleague) just kind of brings you down.
Anyway, some things:
1. I’m not the first to point this out, but Kaunas’ uniforms featured a diamond pattern with something very close to sequins on the sides of the shorts and jerseys. Somewhere a ballroom dancer distraught that someone plundered her outfit. And her partner can’t comfort her.
2. If Juan Dixon played only against guys he was better than – like if he were a go-to guy in Europe with a total green light and that shorter line – he might be unstoppable. He has an amazing range of one-on-one skills that really show against anyone he has any kind of physical edge on. The problem is there are not that many NBA players in that category.
3. If there wasn’t a rule about offensive fouls in the NBA, Joey Graham might be the best player ever.
4. Carlos Delfino gets called out by Sam Mitchell for basically floating in practice. He’s the third guy in the three-man rotation now. He finally gets on the floor and literally spends the first 10 seconds of the possession with his hands tucked in his jersey. If he had pockets that’s where his hands would be. He looked like he was waiting for the bus. He finally starts his move, sprints – kind of -- around a pick, doesn’t clear his man and the pass gets picked off and goes the other way for a lay-up, with Delfino chasing in a fairly half-hearted manner. He had a great fourth quarter, but he’d have a better chance at getting heavy minutes if he just learned how to pretend hustle when he otherwise wasn’t in the flow. Watching some Matt Bonner tapes would help here.
5. Know that move where Bargnani catches it at the top or on the wing, gives a really fast up fake and then drives hard right? He’s got to slow that sequence down because it’s almost always a walk. Steve Javie whistled it first chance he got last night, it was like he knew it was coming.
5a: Lots of hellos for Mop Girl from the returning Raptors before the game.
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Hanging By A Thread from Canada writes: hehe, MopGirl. Wonder how many restraining orders she'll need now.
- Posted 18/10/07 at 5:23 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
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