by Downtown on Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:31 am
I watched the Raptors game last night against the Cavs. Their big three of Bosh, Turkgalu, and Bargnani are difficult to contain because all three are close to seven feet(Barganani is seven feet) and can play inside or out with better than average athleticism for their size. The rest of Toronto's role players are fairly responsible types, with Calderon and Jarrett Jack controlling things well from the backcourt. Quick hitters like Derozen and Bellinelli play their roles and defensive types Nesterovic and Antoine Wright have also seemingly accepted their roles. Once Reggie Evans comes back I think they will have a good balance.
Coach Jay Triano has a ways to go to get all their new faces to gel but I can see a difference early on from last year in that they defend better and collapse the middle and don't give anything easy inside. They actually accomplished a few times stopping Lebron from penetrating as they collapsed and he was forced to kick the ball back out. If Memphis is going to win this won they better make their chances count and percentages on both field goals and free throws could be the difference.
For the first time in a long while I could actually see a team identity develop in the Raptors with defense a priority and feeding the offence off of that, along with unselfish team play, although their big three do like to hoist up the majority of shots. But at their height it's easy for them to step outside and not be too concerned about having their shots blocked.
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