Scott Colbourne
Globe and Mail Update Published on Friday, Apr. 27, 2007 7:15PM EDT Last updated on Tuesday, Mar. 31, 2009 10:43PM EDT
Scott Colbourne is a video-game critic and sportswriter. He started playing basketball shortly after the introduction of body-checking to peewee hockey and went on to compete at the provincial level in high-school. He modelled his game on Craig Hodges, the one-dimensional three-point specialist for the Chicago Bulls, and he has been told he needs to pass more to prevent permanent damage to his right elbow. He's looking for a second opinion.
Scott was a contributor to The Globe's popular World Cup soccer blog. During the NBA playoffs he will be fielding your questions and discussing your comments — think of him as someone to watch the game with as the Raptors make their run.
Game Three and the Raptors head to scenic New Jersey to take on the Nets. I get the feeling this game will begin like the second -- plenty of jump shots and long rebounds.
So listen, in honour of Anthony Parker, who had his jumper tuned in Tuesday, I'm hoping we can get two good lists going: prettiest and ugliest jump shots in NBA history. Here are my three nominees for each, and send your comments in as the game goes on:
Purty: Ray Allen, Glen Rice and, um, Steve Kerr.
Uggg-ly: Manute Bol, Shawn Marion and Tim Hardaway.
First Raptor possession: T.J. Ford breaks into the lane, no one around him and he blows the lay-up. Five minutes gone in the first, Raptors down by 10: Ford alone on the break and he blows the lay-up. He misses a lot of sitters I've noticed. They are shots very few players would get, because of his speed, but the closer he is to the basket the less I trust his finish.
End of the first quarter, Raptors down 31-19. I'm going to do my best to forget that 12 minutes of basketball. I can't say I'm mesmerized by the ball being played in this series, outside of Toronto's second-half run on Tuesday.
Just thought of another ugly shot: Sam Perkins. They went in often enough, though.
Carter is wheeling and dealing tonight. When he plays well, he moves a lot off the ball, trying to find angles and good places to catch the ball, and he's doing that in this one. Someone needs to bump him.
Toronto might want to look in the classifieds for some defence. They look flat-footed. New Jersey is getting lay-ups, but they aren't doing anything special: one pass, set up a one-on-one and clear everyone else out of the way. Did you see Kidd school Ford in the post here late in the second? That's not good. Kidd is on his way to an easy triple double
What would you do to change things up?
Is there a special promotion going on and the Raptors are wearing those crazy Croc shoes or something? They waved politely as the Nets stampeded to the rim in the first two quarters. And did Chris Bosh play in the first half? I remember seeing him hit a jumper, and I know he picked up an early foul, but he was mostly invisible.
On the other side, the New Jersey stars are going nuts. Carter attacked the rim and tried, bless his soft heart, and Kidd was completely in control. He's the best long passer I've ever seen: he sends arcs that just barely clear the defenders before falling into his teammates' hands. He has better touch on his passes than his jumper -- it's not pretty, but it's not all-time ugly.
Kidd should pick up his triple-double early in the third. I had a triple-double once, but the line looked like this: 22 points, 10 turnovers, 10 dirty looks from a usually jovial power forward.
Best quote of the half-time intermission was from Raptors assistant coach Jim Todd: "Vince decided he wanted to play." Todd always looks like someone just ran over his dog, but tonight he sounds downright depressed.
Morris Peterson starts the second half in place of Joey Graham. Joey sightings will be rare for the rest of the series, is my guess.
Under three minutes left in the third, and during the timeout they showed some scenes from New Jersey: Did you catch the four guys drinking beers in the parking lot? They must be Toronto fans.
T.J. Ford just hit a three and two mid-range jumpers, for 12 in the third quarter. I like Ford, but I don't like the Raptors when he's the top scorer. It usually means the offence is stalling and the ball isn't moving around enough.
Great comments there from Jim. Carter can play -- he just threw a sick one down -- but on his bad nights he kills you. Not a concern tonight so give the guy his due. My biggest problem with him is this: I used to wear number 15 in my various men's leagues and he's ruined that for me in this town. Ruined it!
And Jeff Hornacek is a great pick for the jump-shot list. He had a very, very quick release -- he had to, because he wasn't the quickest guy and he had a horizontal, not a vertical.
So I get Chuck Swirsky's salami and cheese thing but what do you get out when the Raptors are going to lose? Get out the Kleenex and Jack's? Send one in and make us laugh -- we're going to need it.
No stops tonight for Toronto. The Raps put some consistent scoring runs together, but the defence disappeared for long stretches and the Nets were comfortable all night. Here's my only suggestion: come out physical on Sunday. Don't give anyone a lay-up, use up some fouls and go deeper into the bench. Make a statement early and send Carter sliding on his leggings. Just please, make it better to watch than this.
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