speedythief

Two of the last three play calls were for Ford to shoot. The first one was the oh-so-familiar 'get TJ to take an off-balance shot and hope Bosh gobbles up the rebound'. The second was 'let TJ shoot ASAP and foul if he misses'. Pretty uninspired play calling by Smitch tonight.

Honestly, I don't know why we took out Jose in the first place. Sam needs to have more confidence in him.

speedythief

I'm not normally irked by Sam and I hate to start casting blame on him but it was clear out of the gate that we were only going to compete as long as the Heat let us. If it weren't for Walker and Williams we wouldn't have had a chance in this one, they pretty much kept us in the game. I don't understand the idea of having Rasho toast Shaq in the first quarter, then sending him back out randomly where he proceeds to miss five in a row from the middle of the key. Then stick TJ, who was like 2-11, back into the game with 50 seconds left and call two plays for him to shoot, both designed to allow him to miss in the very likely case that he does... Juan Dixon plays more minutes than Peterson, Graham, and Jackson combined, and shoots 33%... I dunno. It just sometimes feels like we are on a one-way track to a loss and nothing can derail us.

AllEyezonTX

I was surprised Tj came out & not jose, but I thought it was to set up a pass play....I never like any player shooting fresh off the bench, unless it's a dunk. Raps had that one

__________________
22

10 Reason to Keep Yao

Tmac!

IT'S TIME!

jibe

i was watching LukeJ when he was just put into the game. his defence was tenative but he was positioning himself for offence but nobody was passing the ball to him when he was outside the arc.

when he sunk his first 3 he got the ball again in the corner an sunk that 3. LukeJ also ran in to get an offencive rebound and scored on a putback and then he drove in for a left handed stuff. nice game for a guy who wants his contract extended.

too bad tj missed that jump shot an the 3 pointer but what can you expect when he is put into the game cold an he just misses everything. i wonder if a play shoulda been set up for LukeJ cause he showed he can shoot 3s ... oh well

should the raps keep LukeJ as the replacement for garbo ?

speedythief

^ Hump the Humplick is taking Garbo/Dre's minutes and doing pretty well. As far as I know Luke doesn't qualify for the playoff roster so as nice as it is to have him contributing, the emphasis needs to be on getting Humphries minutes first, IMO.

Edit: sorry, he is eligible, March 1st rule.

drlove_playa

So what is up with this tiebreaker stuff? The heat are now in 3rd spot now?

chocolove

NVM question answered

Ras

I liked what I saw from Luke Jackson today. His passing in particular was better then I expected, and he seems smart. I hope the Raptors keep him.

__________________

Timbaland

I still don't understand the late game decision making of Smitch sometimes. Today was a perfect example. I understand the fact that we traded away Charlie for Ford, and that he was named starting point and that he's our point guard of the future, but in situations like these, where it is just not his night, why should the Raptors foolishly rely on him? If Calderon is playing better, then let him play. I don't understand his reasoning sometimes.

It is possible that BC told him to play Ford in the late minutes of the game, but ultimately it's not always beneficial for the team to have him running the show. Granted he can make his own shot much better than Jose, but if he is 2-11 all night, why risk it? Tough loss considering we easily had 3 better shooters on the floor.

TJ Ford

TJ is not a good 3-point shooter, and you run a play just FOR HIM????
WTF is Mitchell thinking?

__________________
Victory is Mine!

dirtybird

Relax people, Ford's last couple of shot were good looks and just missed on both. We had alot of shot go in halfway and come back out. As disappointing as a loss is, losing by 3 on the road to the Heat is a decent effort. I lost count of the number of great looks that we just blew. Rasho wide open look off an offensive rebound and blew the layup/dunk. I think in many ways the Heat got the breaks and the Raptors didn't.

Btw, did anyone notice a foul that Williams had on Calderon in the 4th where the Raps were already in the bonus (because Rasho went to the line after Shaq climbed his back looking for a rebound) that Calderon didn't go to the line. The TV went to a commercials and then the Raps inbounded the ball. Strange, huh?

jibe

who is the better clutch player .. calderon or tjford ?

TJ Ford

Actually, we called a timeout right before the foul, so no free throws.

Who is more clutch? Calderon or Ford?? We will never know, because Calderon doesn't get a chance in the clutch.

__________________
Victory is Mine!

dirtybird

We may have called a time out after the play. But, Calderon was dribbling and Williams knocked him over. It either has to be a foul or a travelling violation, as his feet moved when he fell down (I know, duh). I think that Chuck even said there was a foul and then they cut for commercial.

anniebananerz