It seems the plan in Toronto is to keep Andrea Bargnani around, in hopes that the additions of head coach Dwayne Casey and center Jonas Valanciunas will be able to pull off a feat that has never been done: incorporate him into an above-average defense. This plan worries me.

Before I start questioning what the Raptors are doing, I should point out that Sebastian Pruiti has posted an excellent piece on why the Bargnani-Valanciunas combo should work, along with a breakdown of Bargs’ defense that goes beyond the typical “HE SUX!1!” you might read on a popular Raptors message board. This is must-read stuff. This did not, however, make me entirely comfortable with the idea of the former #1 pick (man, how much less criticism would he receive if he was picked lower?) sticking around for the long haul.

Maybe Bargnani and Valanciunas will be an excellent duo. In theory, it’s definitely possible — Bargs improves his awareness and tries a bit harder under Casey, Valanciunas covers up the weaknesses that are still there. Their skillsets fit together rather neatly, as Pruiti pointed out. I wonder if that isn’t putting too much on young Jonas, though. The guy is going to come into the league at age 20 with high expectations and, while he adjusts, it’d help to have a frontcourt partner who can help take the pressure off of him rather than having it the other way around.

Bargs catches a lot of heat because of his style of play. People in Toronto rightly or wrongly criticize his heart and his toughness partially because of his tendency to stick to the perimeter and partially because he has been an atrocious help defender and rebounder for the entirety of his career. For me, though, this is not just a style thing, even if I admit that I’m partial to bigs who play like bigs. It’s great that Bargs does things on the offensive end that are incredibly difficult to guard. He requires defensive attention, and on a team that doesn’t have a ton of quality offensive players anymore, this is valuable. It’s just that he’s so historically bad at defense that I don’t think it balances out. Yeah, he can play good one-on-one D, but with the scarcity of quality post players in today’s NBA, I wonder how much this skill matters.

I fear that adding Casey and Valanciunas might merely prolong an experiment that should not be salvaged. Hope that’s not the case. Either way, though, this will be his last chance. If there is a 2011-2012 season, Bargnani will not be asked to play the 5. When Jonas comes over in 2012-2013, I cannot imagine the franchise accepting another season of easy baskets in the paint. Until now, the built-in excuses of “he needs a defensive-minded coach” and “he’s playing out of position” were there to protect him. Not anymore.

AP Photo / Nick Wass

Recorded on Thursday (my apologies for the late posting), we start off all pissed off with Colin Cowherd’s ignorant comments about John Wall. Then, we get to Andrea Bargnani and the Raptors, Steve Nash and the Suns, the Joakim Noah/KG thing, Paul Millsap’s awesomeness, the public perception of Kevin Durant, and our weekly features.

It’s just Julian, Wagman, and I this time. John was sick. Get better, John.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Note: Julian dares to say “schadenfreude” out loud at one point. None of us were sure about the pronunciation.

…and if you missed the Joakim Noah at-home interview with ESPN from back in October, here ya go:

KG's all like, "Why'd you spend so much time talking about me and Villanueva?"

We recorded a monster episode of the podcast yesterday. Part 1 is 53:39, part 2 is 33:37.

Topics covered include: The KG/Charlie V. mess, Rajon Rondo’s early-season excellence, Mike Conley and Al Horford’s contract extensions, David Kahn’s guarantee that Ricky Rubio is going to be in Minnesota next season, Baron Davis being out of shape and acting like it’s something new, Eddy Curry as a possibility for Miami, first coach/GM to be fired, our least favourite teams to watch, and the Clippers’ backcourt. Then we get to some new segments…

1) Me talking about a player that I’m loving this week… the other guys are trying to call this “Broner” but I’m vehemently opposed to this.
2) Statgasm – Julian’s numbers-themed weekly thing.
3) Predictions on last night’s games – where we guess what’ll happen in the TNT doubleheader so you can laugh at our stupidity while the results are fresh.
4) Basketball bubble – where my and Julian’s ignorance on things other than basketball is exposed for all to ridicule.

The best part of the show by far is Julian performing some of our favourite parts of Matt Moore’s Mike Conley rant.

Click here to listen to part 1.
Click here to listen to part 2.

Recommended reading:

Beckley Mason on Rajon Rondo
Matt Moore on Mike Conley’s extension @ NBA Facts & Rumors and his classic rant, in full
Moore on John Kuester
Arash Markazi’s report on Baron Davis sitting out because of his knee
Steve Perrin on Eric Bledsoe
Rob Mahoney on Eric Gordon, from the summer
And Moore AGAIN, this time on Al Horford vs. Joakim Noah

Shout-out to Brendon Lynch of the Hardcore Hoops Show for giving us an awesome pep talk before we went in the studio.

Monta did this to you because he thinks Mike Conley's contract is foolish. (Dino Vournas / AP Photo)

So much is happening in the NBA right now and I’m all over the place. There were 12 games last night and I was flipping like a crazy person until NBA TV Canada finally joined the Bucks/Celtics broadcast with a couple of minutes left in the second quarter. I saw the end of the Suns/Spurs game and I’ve it got that going from the beginning on LPBB right now.

Bucks/Celtics was fantastic. Bogut might be the easiest non-Ibaka player to root for in the NBA, as long as you pretend the Ziller thing never happened. He’s a little slower than last year, but that makes him more endearing and he’s got this crazy beard now. When KG punked him, I started watching the game completely differently. My “the C’s aren’t actually hateable, look at Rondo, look at their Halloween pics!” thing went out the window and I cheered for the Bucks just as hard as I assume Woj did.

This doesn’t mean I hate KG, and I still don’t know what to say about the Charlie V. business. Just, uh, I’m dangerously close to becoming a full-on Bucks FAN rather than just someone who enjoys watching the Bucks more than most other teams. I feel more invested in them than the Raptors and even the Thunder, right now. All my friends in Toronto are going to kill me.

ANYWAY, Carlos Delfino played 49 minutes and finished some fantastic Skiles plays including an impossible-looking turnaround corner three to keep Milwaukee in the game. He also turned it over when he jumped to make a pass under the basket aaaand when he tried to inbound it to Bogut on the potential game-tying play at the end of OT. This represents the Carlos Delfino experience pretty well. You just have to accept that you’ll LOVE some things he does and occasionally want to strangle him. Very good player, overall.

I’d love to go more in-depth on all of the games, but I really need to get to this Monta thing. Sooo, quickly:

Apparently the Thunder can’t shoot or defend and Ryan Gomes is a Durant-stopper. Also, Eric Bledsoe went all crazynuts and I’m going to have to watch this game in full on the weekend because none of this makes sense to me.

The Raptors should not have fallen down by 19 in the first quarter if they intended to compete against the Jazz in Utah. It’s nice that they fought back, but annoying to waste the one night where Andrea Bargnani grabs more rebounds than anyone else on the court. Oh, and Amir Johnson only played 5:51 and it wasn’t even because of foul trouble. Major sad face right here.

Elton Brand and Richard Jefferson are making me feel stupid and vindicating me at the same time. All through last season I insisted they were actually good players and were just being held back by coaching (Brand) or due to turn it around at any moment (Jefferson). Going into this season, I adjusted my expectations to “well, they’ll probably be a bit better than they were last season, but I was wrong when I kept backing them.” Both vets are KILLING IT so far and I’m not even going to put their stats here or discuss the implications because we’re just over a week in and that’ll probably doom them both.

Another note on RJ: In 45 seconds, he hit three three-pointers from the left corner. His ability to hit that shot was why he seemed like such an awesome acquisition a year ago. Unfortunately, that ability mysteriously vanished in 2009-2010.

Now, finally, Monta Ellis. Against Memphis last night: 39/9/8/4 stl/3 to/12-26 fg/14-19 ft. He’s now averaging 30 points on 62.2 TS%. Yeah. It looks like the stories about him being a changed man are wonderfully true. There was so much written about his weird, lost season last year where he worked his ass off and scored inefficiently while being “coached” by Don Nelson… and I couldn’t really even argue with the negative stuff. I just hoped that the turnaround would come. It has, and apparently it’s not just because the franchise/team isn’t a horrible mess anymore – it’s mostly because of his wife. Check this quote, from after his 46-point season opener against Houston:

“I’ve got to tell you, this young man has made a turnaround in his life, and once your life is in order, things start to work perfectly for you. His relationship (with new wife Juanika) and his life is in great order. … I can’t say how glad I am to be coaching this guy at this particular point in his career.” – Keith Smart

And, speaking of the season opener, the great Bethlehem Shoals made a simple request last week and I’ve filled it. I’d already been planning to integrate video into the site starting this week and Shoals’ idea of a MONTAge set to Bill Withers seemed like as fine a first project as any. This is where I’d embed the video, if embedded videos didn’t look really weird on the blog for some reason. So click here and enjoy, people.

Luis M. Alvarez / AP Photo

There were seven games on the schedule last night, but the Knicks and Magic didn’t play because Madison Square Garden is not safe. I’ll start with the one game that came down to the wire:

The Wizards beat the Sixers 116-115 in overtime. It wouldn’t have made it to overtime if not for Cartier Martin (representing the D-League) tying the game with a last-second three-pointer that could easily have been an and-one. John Wall could not have been introduced better in the Wizards’ home opener and proceeded to put up a monster line: 29 points (on 16 shots), 13 assists, a franchise record-tying 9 steals, and, gulp, 8 turnovers. Since there are always fun numbers in overtime games, check out some other stats: Lou Williams started 0-8 but finished with 30 points on 16 shots (15-17 FT!), Elton Brand had a super-efficient 21 and 9, and Jrue Holiday had 14 points and 13 assists. I wanted a second overtime, but I was happy that Wizards fans got this win and EXTREMELY happy for Mr. Martin.

The Hawks beat the Cavs 100-88. Great to see Marvin Williams score 22 and get fourth-quarter burn. For Cleveland, J.J. Hickson was awesome. He hit a bunch of mid-range jumpers to start, which opened up his game. He’s coming along quite nicely. Wish I could say the same for Ramon Sessions, who is way better than he’s showing right now. He and the returning Mo Williams combined to shoot 9-31 and dish out only 5 assists. I thought it was over when the Hawks scored 40 points in the first quarter, but Cleveland worked its way back. Byron Scott said he loved the effort.

Portland beat Milwaukee 90-76 in an unsurprisingly slow-paced (87 possessions) game. The Blazers couldn’t hit anything at the outset and the Bucks started off on a roll. It looked like Carlos Delfino was going to do what Luol Deng did to the Blazers a night earlier, but the difference was that Wesley Matthews came in and stopped Delfino like he couldn’t stop Deng. The Bucks’ offense pretty much died near the end of the first, which was when the Blazers’ came to life. 6 turnovers and 0-4 shooting behind the arc was not what I was hoping for from Brandon Jennings after his awesome triple double on Saturday.

There were three blowouts yesterday: Boston 109, Detroit 86; Miami 129, Minnesota 97; and Lakers 124, Grizzlies 97. I won’t discuss these ones, but I will share three great dunks.

Credit to Zach Harper, Ben Golliver, and @jose3030 for the videos in this post.

Before I get to today’s feature, where I’ll quickly take stock of every team in the league after one week of basketball, I want to share a couple of links:

The Wall Street Journal profiled Anthony Morrow, which is awesome because he’s the best damn shooter in the world. There are a bunch of Steve Kerr quotes within.

And I don’t know how this got by me a few days ago, but CelticsBlog interviewed the great Jackie MacMullan. Really great read on her early days in the business, the 80′s in the NBA, Kevin McHale, and a couple of current Celtics.

Week 1 Catch-up

The Hawks are undefeated and they are getting to the line, but they haven’t been tested and it doesn’t look like Jeff Teague is who they hoped he would be.

Rajon Rondo has 67 assists in 4 games and his Celtics are rebounding their way to wins, but Nate Robinson has been bricking everything and they still need to cut down the turnovers.

D.J. Augustin’s been better than expected, Boris Diaw is still playing more than Tyrus Thomas, and Charlotte’s defense is almost the league’s worst after being the league’s best last year.

Derrick Rose is leading the league in usage rate, James Johnson does stuff now, and Keith Bogans has played more minutes for Chicago than Kyle Korver and Ronnie Brewer.

J.J. Hickson looks suited for his bigger role, Antawn Jamison has been all kinds of disappointing, and Ramon Sessions has been about 1/100th as good as I thought he would be in Cleveland.

The Mavericks have been awesome defensively against weak competition and Dirk Nowitzki is too good for Halloween costumes.

Arron Afflalo’s force people to spell his name right and Denver’s playing very good defense, even Al Harrington!

Rodney Stuckey’s getting assists now, the Pistons’ bench is outplaying their starting five, and they’ve looked fairly good in each loss before the C’s game last night.

Andris Biedrins and Brandan Wright get to play now, Monta Ellis is lovable again, and the Warriors really need Stephen Curry’s bum ankle to heal.

The Rockets have lost all three games, two of them close, but Kyle Lowry’s back and Erick Dampier will arrive shortly.

Roy Hibbert’s dominating from the high post and McBob is dunking on everyone in Indiana.

Blake Griffin is everything we hoped he’d be, but his team is still Clippering its way to losses and Baron Davis thinks that, before this season, “getting in shape was never a problem.”

Lamar Odom is shooting 6-8 on threes and 27-38 overall on the season and the Lakers are making me think they could go another month without a loss.

The Grizzlies looked good in half their games, they need Zach Randolph back, and you’re going to have trouble watching Mike Conley play without thinking about his contract.

The Heat are playing incredible defense and they’re going to win tons of games, but we’d like them to start running – the blowout against Minnesota last night was their only fast-paced game.

There are still too many missed jump shots in Milwaukee, but Brandon Jennings had perhaps the best game of his career the other day.

Kevin Love is averaging 15.5 points and 11.3 rebounds and has yet to play over 30 minutes in a game this season.

The Nets look nothing like they did last year and Derrick Favors is not a bust.

Chris Paul has the Hornets undefeated against three playoff teams and Marcus Thornton had 17 points and 7 rebounds in 30 minutes in San Antonio the other night.

Gallo’s been awful, Chandler’s been awesome, and the Knicks are going to need some time to put it together.

The Thunder have not been playing the awesome defense we saw last year, but that should change.

After the Magic lost by 26 in Miami, I can’t wait for the rematch that’s three weeks from today.

Elton Brand’s averaging 16.3 points and 9 rebounds, Evan Turner’s had three 7-rebound games, and the Sixers haven’t won a game yet.

The Suns can’t rebound or stop anybody, but Goran Dragic’s PER is 25.8.

Armon Johnson’s been a pleasant surprise and you have to watch the Blazers play against Oklahoma City tomorrow.

Tyreke-Cousins-Casspi is my favourite young trio and I’d much rather talk about the Kings’ much improved offense than their inconsistent, often-terrible defense.

Hope you’re as excited as I am to see more from Tiago Splitter and Gary Neal for the Spurs against Phoenix tonight.

In Toronto, Andrea Bargnani and Reggie Evans are perfect for one another.

The preseason may have tricked us into forgetting that the Jazz need time to gel, but Paul Millsap deserves your attention right now.

John Wall’s a must-watch, but I wish he had better teammates and wish the “new and improved Yi Jianlian” would put on a Wizards uniform.

Mark J. Terrill / AP

We start with the Clips, move on to the teams dominating the preseason so far (ORL, MEM, UTA), and touch on the expectations for the Thunder and Andrea Bargnani. We go over some interesting preseason stat lines and end with Julian complaining about Shaq being a statue and Ron Artest’s shenanigans.

Runtime is 42:04.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Recommended links:
Lee Jenkins on the Thunder
Sebastian Pruiti on Andrea Bargnani
Ben Q. Rock on Vince Carter

Buy one.

“It’s become like a forum. We’re just a couple of guys talking about ball. And people join in on the conversation.” – Tas Melas, in a profile in The Globe and Mail from April 18, 2008.

Finally, I’ve recovered. #TBJ500 took a hell of a lot out of me. I was so ruined on Saturday that I didn’t edit the already-out-of-date podcast we recorded on Thursday, didn’t read the new SLAM in one sitting, and didn’t manage to stay awake for the 2nd half of the Clippers/Cavs game. FAIL, right? Yeah, massive fail.

The party? Anything but. I’ve never had a night quite like it. Definitely wasn’t in the proper state of mind to reflect on it as it was going on, but thinking about it now – wow. As I drunkenly tweeted, I got to speak to some serious all-stars at this thing. People who I have an endless amount of respect for. People whose work I’ve consumed daily for a while but only recently tried to engage with. And they were all more than cool to me. Sure, they’re not celebrities in their day-to-day lives, but at event like this… I mean, this is a party where I ended up chatting with a girl about the brilliance of the FreeDarko book. Skeets and Tas in must have felt like Daryl Morey at “Dorkapalooza” and it means a lot that they’d give me a minute or two of conversation.

And there’s that word again, conversation. That’s the point of all this. I can talk about ball forever and it’s been that way for as long as I can remember. Seems ridiculous that I’ve tweeted almost 3,000 times since the season started, but I guess that’s me. This blog is essentially an excuse to immerse myself in pro ball to an extent that 99% of the population can’t relate to and a way to connect with the 1% that can. I’m pretty much always watching or discussing basketball these days and it’s amazing – feels like I’m freaking 10 years old again. But before I get all sappy, back to the show:

It was, predictably for anyone who watches the podcast, absolutely hilarious. Dwyer has described Skeets as a “brilliant entertainer” and you know this applies to Melas equally. I was pleasantly surprised to see Matt and J.D. provide big laughs – if you were a newbie, you wouldn’t have guessed that these two worked almost exclusively behind the scenes. I don’t want to ruin any of the content before the guys put it online, so I’ll just say that Matt killed me with an impression and there was cause for me to be singing (horribly) from my seat.

The most impressive part of the show, besides of course the simple and amazing fact that these guys have reached the 500-episode milestone, is the fact that they did this on top of recording an episode each of the previous four mornings. I have no idea how they pulled it off and left me feeling like they overdelivered on the big night. Didn’t ask how much sleep they got last week but I imagine it’s a frighteningly small amount. I just hope the payoff – packing a bar full of enthusiastic fans and seeing them laugh their asses off – was worth it for them.

So before I go on and talk about Sunday’s games, I want to thank TBJ. Thanks for the unbelievable amount of time you guys have put in for years, thanks for the consistent quality of your work, and thanks for throwing pretty much the only kind of party that would make me feel okay about leaving my house on a 13-game night. ‘Twas fantastic, even if I bought entirely too many drinks… and even if I wussed out on going up on stage and doing trivia as my friends yelled at me to do so… and even if I embarrassed myself a bit in front of my biggest NBA writing hero by acting about as cool as I did when I met Hakeem Olajuwon. It was a night I won’t forget (ironic, since the last couple of hours are veryvery fuzzy) and it’s something I’ll tell people about when you have your own TV show and The BJ Army has grown exponentially.

Raptors 110, Mavericks 88

• I was there and it was easily the most impressive win of the season for the Raptors. The energy was there against this very good, if tired, Dallas team. LOVE the effort Toronto is putting in on the defensive end – they will never be the most talented defensive club, but they’re making up for it by playing smarter basketball. To put it kindly, this wasn’t happening earlier in the season. (96.7 points per 100 possessions for Dallas in this one.)

• All-OTN Team member Amir Johnson stood out and the crowd, as usual, appreciated his effort. There’s not a big man in the league who runs the floor harder. I want to avoid repeating myself about his hustle, so I’ll keep this short. There were crazier plays in this game, but none brought a bigger smile to my face than his dunk on the break or his coast-to-coast and-1. Oh, and he finished with 10 points and 8 rebounds (along with an assist, a steal, a block, and, ugh, 5 fouls) in less than 23 minutes.

• Jose Calderon had himself a fantastic game on both ends. He said post-game that he’s finally able to move like he wants to and I actually believe him this time. Even when matched up with the speedy J.J. Barea, he moved his feet quickly enough to limit penetration. That’s all I want from him on D – it’s almost impossible to be a true stopper at the 1 in this league, but it’s crucial to be able to stay in front of your man the majority of the time. Coming off the bench and splitting time with Jarrett Jack (who was also effective), he played like the Jose of old on offense as well, remaining in full command of the team and a threat to unleash his fantastic jumper at all times. The line: 15 points, 7 assists, 2 rebounds (both offensive), 2 steals, 1 turnover, 6-12 FG, 1-2 3PT, 2-2 FT.

• Andrea Bargnani continued his strong play, setting the tone with a strong baseline dunk in the first quarter. I love seeing him score from various spots on the floor and I love seeing his improvement on defense. He finished with 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks in 34 minutes. Those numbers are all higher than Dirk’s, except for the minutes. Dirk was impressed.

• Chris Bosh’s 23 points and 13 rebounds gave him his 29th double-double of the year. That’s more than anyone else in the league. 11 of his points came in the 2nd quarter, where Toronto took control by outscoring Dallas 34-18. Bosh has been phenomenal this season, but as Tzvi Twersky expressed in his terrific feature in the latest SLAM, he still somehow remains a bit under the radar. As a Raptors fan, I don’t even want to think about losing him.

• The Mavericks were not impressive. It was the worst I’ve seen Dirk this season, the worst I’ve seen Josh Howard EVER shooting-wise, and Erick Dampier played 21 minutes without taking a shot or grabbing an offensive rebound. Shawn Marion had some nice offensive plays when matched up against Hedo Turkoglu, but I’d say it’s always a bad thing when he takes more shots than Dirk does. My favourite Dallas moment was when Roddy Beaubois hit a floater in the beginning of the 4th quarter. All I wanted when I came to the ACC was a Raptors win and some minutes for Beaubois. Success!

Nuggets 119, Jazz 112

• Game of runs: 12-2 for Utah at the end of the 2nd, 10-0 for Denver near the beginning of the 3rd, and 13-2 for Utah before the 4th quarter began.

• As you might expect, Carmelo and Chauncey led the Nuggets as they beat the Jazz for the 3rd time this season. 37 points on 22 shots for Melo and 29 points on 13 shots for Billups. The two combined to shoot 28-31 (!) from the free throw line.

• Don’t know if I can explain how happy I was to see Ty Lawson back on the court, after he had missed 4 games with one of those damn ankle injuries. The 18th pick in the 2009 draft is one of my favourite young PG’s and he’s made GM’s look stupid all year with his strong play. Tonight, he scored 11 points on 7 field goal attempts in 26:36 of playing time. He shared the backcourt with Billups in crunch time and, well, you have to check out George Karl’s post-game quote:

“Ty’s defense is better than any rookie I’ve ever coached. He still makes mistakes, but he’s a very sound defender as is Chauncey, and their ability to find the open man, I’ve said, what, 2,451 times, is the key to our team.”

• Deron Williams played great ball despite his sprained wrist: 23 points (8-18 FG, 1-4 3PT, 6-8 FT), 13 assists, 5 rebounds (2 offensive), 1 steal in 41 minutes. I can’t really be mad about the 5 turnovers.

• I was happy to see Sundiata Gaines enter the game in the 4th quarter, but disappointed to see him only stick around for 2 minutes and almost get himself a trillion.

• The most efficient player on the floor for Utah was Kyle Korver. Check this: 19 points on 7-10 shooting, including 4-5 from downtown in 23:37 of playing time. His +14 led the team, too. Crazy last few games for him. Against Cleveland, he had a chasedown block on LeBron James and hit a critical shot from behind the backboard. Against Milwaukee, he didn’t miss. And then this one. Nice.

Ned Dishman/ Getty Images

As you may or may not recall, I actually wrote two previews for this current Raptors squad. One was a glowing, optimistic preview. The other, a pessimistic, worst-case preview. So now we’re 21 games in to the season and it looks like (true to common sense), the Raptors have landed somewhere between the two predictions. My prediction of an epic Raptors offense has come to pass (somewhat), as has my fear of an epically bad Raptors defense. The results thus far (in terms of total wins/loses) aren’t really surprising to me, nor do I think it would be to anyone who follows the NBA. Consider who the Raptors have played so far: Cleveland, Memphis, Orlando (twice), Detroit, New Orleans, Dallas, San Antonio, Chicago, L.A. Clippers, Phoenix (twice), Denver, Utah, Miami, Indiana, Charlotte, Boston, Washington (twice), and Atlanta. Any right-thinking NBA fan would have the Raptors with a record of 9-12 right now. So the record of 8-13 in of itself doesn’t worry me. What worries me is the effort the Raptors have given of late, especially against Washington and Indiana.

The NBA is structured in three levels: the Haves, the Have Nots, and the I Don’t Knows. In the East, the majority of the teams fall into the I Don’t Know category while in the West it’s pretty split between the Haves and the Have Nots (thought the IDK movement is starting to build steam in the Pacific Time Zone as well). What those three categories do is essentially tell us which teams should win each game. For instance; The Haves should always win, the Have Nots should always lose (obviously reality isn’t that neat and tidy, but it usually works out).

The I Don’t Knows are the interesting characters. We don’t know if they should win or lose games at tip time, it’s equally plausible that they could do either in spectacular fashion. But one thing we do know is that the Haves are better than the IDK’s, even if an IDK can beat a Have team on occasion. Against “Have” teams (Easts Big 4, any West playoff team), the Raptors are 1 and 10. That is to be expected. Except there were a few of the 10 loses that were very close games that the Raptors were in, and competing hard right to the end. Specifically the first Phoenix game, the first Orlando game and the San Antonio game. Against Have Nots, the Raptors are 1 and 1 (the loss to Memphis). Against IDK teams, the Raptors are 6 and 2. “So what?” you say? 1-10 against good teams is still unacceptable? Well it is and it isn’t. 1-10 vs. good teams is terrible if the goal is to win an NBA Championship. But we all know the Raptors aren’t contending for the Larry O’Brien Trophy this year.

The Raptors’ goal is to make the playoffs with a somewhat decent seeding. In that context, 1-10 vs good teams doesn’t matter too much, because spots 5-8 in the Eastern Conference (the spots the Raptors are competing for) are going to an IDK team. We have to assume that Orlando/Atlanta/Boston/Cleveland are going to beat the teams like Milwaukee, Charlotte, Chicago, Indiana, Washington, Toronto and Detroit at least 7 times out of 10. No, what separates teams in the IDK category is their record against each other. These evenly-matched games count for double in the standings. They are the variable that ultimately makes the difference between the playoffs or not (for the IDK category), or a top seed or not (in the Have category).

For a topical example, let’s look at the Wizards’ and Raptors’ schedules. First let’s set some basic structure: The Have Not crew consists of New York, New Jersey, Memphis, Minnesota and Golden State. The Haves are Boston, Orlando, Cleveland, Atlanta, Phoenix, Denver, the Lakers, Dallas, Portland, San Antonio and Utah (I’d like to think these lists aren’t too contentious but let me know if you disagree). The rest of the teams fall into the I Don’t Know category. Toronto plays 30 Haves, 14 Have Nots and 38 I Don’t Knows. Washington plays 29 Haves, 14 Have Nots and 39 I Don’t Knows. Assume against the Haves and the Have nots, at the end of the day, both teams finish with records of 18-26. Sometimes they beat teams they shouldn’t, sometimes they lose to teams they shouldn’t, whatever. It’s not particularly likely that either team would finish with more than 22 wins (do you see either team beating the haves 8 times or more? Ya right.), or with less than 14 wins (I mean really, those Have Nots are TERRIBLE. Plus every underdog has his day at least once in a while).

Logically, both teams should fall within a few wins of each other in that section of their schedule in the 16-19 win range. That’s why the inter-category games are so important. The Raptors 6-2 schedule against IDK teams puts them on pace for a 28-10 record in-category. Add that to the between 16-19 wins against the Haves and the Have Nots and you have a 43+ win season. Easily good enough to make the post-season in the Eastern Conference. Compare that to the Wizards’ 4-7 record against IDK teams which puts them on pace for a 14-25 record in-category. When added to the 16-19 wins against Haves and Have Nots, that puts them on pace for a 30+ win season. An unmitigated disaster if the goal was to make the playoffs, and also a long way from the number 1 pick in the draft.

So what does that mean for the Raptors? It means as long as they continue to beat the bad teams and the I Don’t Know teams at a good rate, they can lose to the Suns as many times as they want. A loss against Phoenix shouldn’t really hurt their playoff chances. A loss against Washington does significantly more damage. Which brings me to my worry. I worry when the Raptors don’t show up with the same effort and intensity against mediocre teams as they do against good teams (sometimes). Arguably (Ed.: inarguably!), the game in Phoenix (the 101-100 loss) was the Raptors’ best game thus far this year. That same effort and intensity would turn games against the IDK teams into blowouts. But they don’t seem to bring that same energy to those games consistently. Allowing Indiana to score 112 isn’t bringing the intensity, even if the Raps won that game. Giving up 106 points at home to the Wizards isn’t going out there and working real hard either. I’d personally be happier losing to Phoenix by 19 points like the game on the 29th and giving the GREAT effort against Washington than see the Raps give everything they have, play an amazing game and come up short 101-100 to the Suns. A GREAT effort against Phoenix only gave the Raptors a chance to win the game. A great effort against Washington GUARANTEES a win. As a fan, I may say I want competitiveness, or close exciting games, but that’s bullshit. At the end of the day I want wins and playoff games.

See, here’s the thing: Every fan wants/expects consistent effort and intensity for 48 minutes. But the reality is that consistency is what separates good teams from bad. Very few teams will be totally consistent (even Cleveland/Boston are still getting there this year), and expecting a team like the Raptors or Wizards to be that consistent is realistically expecting too much. The vast majority of teams with have some good days and some bad days and that is the defining characteristic of an I Don’t Know team. (Important note: By bad day I mean taking 8 or 9 minutes off on one end of the floor or another. Anything beyond that is simply unacceptable from a professional athlete). Well, if the Raptors have 41 good efforts and 41 bad efforts in them I’d rather see the bad efforts in the games that the team is probably going to lose anyway. Obviously that’s an oversimplification, but I think you get my point. The Raptors wasting a great effort against Phoenix and shitting the bed against Washington (the first time) led to an 0-2 record. Had they reversed the efforts in those games they’d have one more win. It’s that simple. This is basketball, not figure skating. There are no style points or moral defeats. There are only wins and losses.

Besides that, psychologically there’s no shame in losing to a team that’s better than you are. If as I’m writing this, Kelly Dwyer is writing something using the same basic premise and just flat out wrote a better article than I did, I can walk away going “Wow. We were thinking the same thing! I just need to get to his level of writing.” Whereas if James was writing something using the same basic premise and did a better job than me, I’m sitting in my room rocking back and forth trying to figure out where I went wrong with my life (Ed.: Asshole. Good to see the Dwyer love, though.). NBA teams are starting to embrace the impact that psychology has in pro athletes, with some (like the Raptors) bringing in psychiatrists to talk to/help the players. Think about it in terms of your own life. When you attempt to do something against someone who is better than you and come up short (whether it’s in bowling/golf/pool/drinking contests, whatever), you aren’t going to take the loss as personally. The loss shows you the gap in talent, and how much you need to improve to try and challenge the person next time. It’s a constructive loss, no matter if you were close or not.

Contrast that to if you lose to someone inferior than you, instead of that admiration/respect for the other person, you instead get angry at yourself. After all, YOU blew the game you were supposed to win. Since everyone there KNEW you were better, but you just got unlucky, or fucked up. Well if you’re on a team, that anger can cause the disintegration of a team. That anger leads to finger pointing, and finger pointing if done inappropriately can fracture a team. (Side note: this is where vets with winning experience help). This finger pointing is what worries me. The Raptors DO have some strong veteran leadership available (I’m thinking mainly of Rasho here), but they also have a lot of veteran leadership who don’t really know how to win. I’m not convinced Turkoglu has the intestinal fortitude to play the role here he’s being asked to play. I’m not sure that Jose has the necessary abilities to play the role he is being asked to play. I’m not sure that Chris Bosh is able to properly vocalize his needs to anyone, and I KNOW Bargnani mentally isn’t there yet (just look at his numbers at home vs. on the road). The Raptors have the makeup of a fragile team, a team with a number of fault lines that could crack from the right pressure.

Ideally, I’d say just get Colangelo to fix those fault lines. But mid-season it’s hard to make serious changes to a team, so they basically are who they are (unless a GM gives away a player anyway). The best way for the Raptors to avoid melting down and to maximize their potential wins this season is to continue to bring the ruckus against the other teams fighting for the playoffs in both conferences. If the Raps want to take a night off, take it off against one of the elite teams. There are 30 games they can coast through if they want. I personally would be happy if they won 6 of those games. If they won 10 I’d be over the moon. The other 20 they can sleepwalk through. They can be lackadaisical getting back on defence, they can make bad passes, run stagnant offensive sets, not switch on defence. I don’t care. Just do me (and my heart, and most breakable objects in my basement) a favour and don’t let me see that against other I Don’t Know teams.

Sometimes, you just get beat. It happens. If the Raptors were good enough to beat every I Don’t Know team every time, they wouldn’t be an I Don’t Know team. But losing due to a lack of effort is an insult to the fans and to the players themselves, and it should be made clear through the entire organization, from Larry Tannenbaum to Marcus Banks, that it won’t be tolerated. THAT is the difference between playoff teams and non playoff teams, and eventually what allows teams to transition from good I Don’t Know teams to Have teams. After all, ultimately that is the goal: move up the IDK team hierarchy, eventually become a Have team, become a contender for the title, win a title. That’s the plan, anyway. See? The sky isn’t falling. Yet.

Nothing easy, except scoring on the Raptors. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Finished this up late again today, my apologies. I wish I could blame the mental trauma from that Raptors loss, but that wasn’t even it. I might have to change the title to Basketball For Brunch. Anyway, let’s get to it.

The All-OTN Team

Will Bynum: 10 Pts (4-9 FG, 0-1 3PT, 2-2 FT), 3 Reb (1 Off), 7 Ast, 1 Stl, 2 TO, 3 PF in 33 mins.

On night where Rodney Stuckey (17 points on 16 shots, 4 Ast) and Ben Gordon (18 points on 16 shots, 0 assists) didn’t score very efficiently or distribute, Bynumite stepped up with a team-high 7 assists. Pity it wasn’t enough to help a not-yet-100% Gordon get a victory against his old team, where a smattering of ignorant fans were booing him.

Shannon Brown: The Lakers didn’t play last night, but here’s a video of Lamar Odom gushing about “Mr. Fantastic” for his Let Shannon Dunk campaign:

Favourite bit there: “Even the shots that he blocks or tries to block are like posters.” Yup.

Jared Dudley: 6 Pts (2-6 FG, 1-2 3PT, 1-2 FT), 3 Reb (1 Off), 1 Ast, 2 PF in 21 mins.

Uninspiring numbers for Jared in another bad loss. The Suns failed to score 100 points for the second time this season and the second night in a row, falling 107-90 to Cleveland in a game that by all accounts didn’t feel even as close as that. I’d like to tell you Dudley’s hustle and defensive intensity was a positive (as it was in their loss to the Knicks – see the “Aside from Jared Dudley and Steve Nash…” sentence here), but I can’t be sure because I didn’t see the game and none of the recaps I’ve seen have mentioned his name, preferring to focus more generally on his team’s epic failure. We know he’s keeping his head up, though.

Amir Johnson: 9 Pts (4-6 FG, 1-2 FT), 7 Reb (3 Off), 1 Blk, 2 TO, 5 PF in 19 mins.

“If you are looking for bright spots in this game, Amir Johnson certainly is one of them, if not the brightest one.” – Leo Rautins, during the Raptors telecast.

I fortunately did not see too much of this horrible 146-115 blowout as it was happening (although I feel like I saw every second because of all the tweets and text messages I read), but I believe I saw the perfect microcosm of Amir Johnson’s game during a timeout of the Bucks/Wizards game. In one possession in the first half, Amir Johnson grabbed a difficult offensive rebound, kicked the ball out, eventually received it again, and hit a tough inside shot. On the ensuing defensive possession, he had a vicious block but then sent Zaza Pachulia to the foul line after the Hawks recovered the ball. That is Amir: activity all of the time, even if his team is getting slaughtered. 5 fouls in 19 mins, though. You know I love the guy, but I have to mention the fouls.

Serge Ibaka: 2 Pts (1-2 FG), 2 Reb (1 Off), 1 Stl, 1 TO, 2 PF in 6 mins.

Rats. Only 6 minutes for Serge. Sort of hard to complain, though, as I would have played Nick Collison over him on this night too. Collison was brilliant as he returned from a sore knee – 18 points on 8-9 shooting, with his one miss coming on a three pointer at the end of the shot clock with 20 seconds left in the game. Add in the defense (drawn charges, 1 steal, 1 block) and his team-high 7 rebounds (5 offensive!) and he might have been the most important player in this 117-106 Thunder victory over the Sixers. But wait, this is supposed to be about Serge Ibaka! Not to worry, I have a link to share. Here’s Tom Haberstroh of Hoopdata giving Ibaka some love for contributing more quickly than anyone expected and being a major contributor to his team’s elite defense around the basket.

Rookies

Brandon Jennings: 17 Pts (7-21 FG, 2-8 3PT, 1-2 FT), 2 Reb, 7 Ast, 1 Stl, 0 TO (!), 5 PF in 36 mins.

There’s some good and some bad here. Obviously, looking at the stats, you don’t like the shooting. I can tell you one positive from this though – Jennings made more floaters than he missed last night. That is HUGE. As per Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus, Jennings’s recent shooting slump is mostly because he is missing shots around the basket. My eyes tell me that this is because, rather than getting all the way to the hole for layups, Jennings is shooting a lot of contested floaters around the rim. In Jennings’s words, from the always-excellent Bucksketball:

I learned in pre-season that I wasn’t going to be able to go to the rack that much, so I had to change things quickly and get a floater going. It makes things easier. It’s still in the development phase.

I’m not worried at all about Brandon’s 3-point shot. He had an off-night from behind the arc last night, but that happens to everyone. If he gets more consistent with his floater, I don’t see how you stop him. You already can’t let him shoot from distance and have to be terrified of his pull-up jumper. Watch out, league.

…I can’t move on from Brandon without talking about the last few possessions of the game, though. I was on an emotional rollercoaster watching this. First, he took a ballsy pull-up jumper with 50 seconds left when his team was down by 1 and then committed a silly frustration foul when it missed. Then, with his team down 3, he hit an incredibly difficult leaning three to tie it up with 10.5 seconds left. I’d say it got me out of my seat, but I was already standing up. Unfortunately, on the next possession, he bit on an Earl Boykins pump-fake and sent him to the line for what turned out to be the game winning free throws. The game ended when Luke Ridnour (who played a great game, more on him soon) badly missed a desperation three with 1 second left in the game. I can’t have been the only one who wanted Jennings to get that last shot.

DeMar DeRozan: 21 pts (6-11 FG, 9-12 FT), 3 Reb, 2 Ast, 3 PF in 30 mins.

I really wish his career-high didn’t come on a night like this. But then again, it gives me something positive to think about. Look at that, 12 free-throw attempts! Love that. I saw DeRozan get two impressive and-ones near the end of the first half and it would seem that he kept up that aggressiveness for all of his career-high 30 minutes. Raptors colour guy Leo Rautins, who has not been one to hand out excessive praise to the rookie, said he played with “hustle and determination that wasn’t necessarily shared by his entire team.” That’s a very polite way of saying it.

Jonny Flynn: 12 Pts (5-12 FG, 1-4 3PT, 1-2 FT), 2 Reb (1 Off), 9 Ast, 2 TO in 30 mins.

Gotta love those 9 assists, even if the 12 points on 12 shots is a bit blah. Whenever I watch Minnesota play, I feel like Flynn deserves more assists than he gets – he simply does not have shooters on the team that will convert open looks. Luckily, Ryan Gomes knocked down some shots tonight, going 8-13 including 2-3 from downtown to score 20 points. One of his threes came off of nice behind-the-back feed from Flynn with 1:39 left in the game. The miss? It came with 1:14 left on a wide open corner three, set up by… you guessed it, Flynn. It’s easy to dismiss the rookie from Syracuse, trying to run the triangle with an incredibly unbalanced team, but you shouldn’t. He can play. This was the first time he had recorded 9 assists in an NBA game, but it won’t be the last.

Toney Douglas: 17 Pts (7-11 FG, 2-5 3PT, 1-2 FT), 1 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Stl, 4 PF in 21 mins.

Nice line for Toney Douglas. He can really, really score. Reason #958 I’m happy Allen Iverson ended up in Philly: he’s not taking minutes from Douglas. I’m not getting too optimistic about his standing in New York, though – this performance came on a night where they were losing by 22 at the end of the third quarter. Douglas only got these minutes because the game was lost and Nate Robinson is in the coach’s doghouse. Blarg. Stupid Knicks.

Tyreke Evans: 26 Pts (7-14 FG, 0-2 3PT, 12-14 FT), 5 Reb, 6 Ast, 4 TO in 32 mins.

Now this I can be optimistic about. Yeah, it was against Indiana. But isn’t it crazy that we suddenly EXPECT the Kings to beat Indiana? This team has a 9-8 record and a 4-game winning streak despite losing Kevin Martin five games in and not seeing a single minute from Francisco Garcia. Huge credit has to go out to Paul Westphal and everyone in the rotation, especially Evans. I admit that, as far as ROY is concerned, I’m with Kelly Dwyer and not Zach Harper, but Evans has been fantastic this year. He can get to the basket and score with ease and has played point guard with much greater success than most people imagined he would have. If he shoots fewer jumpers and gets to the foul line at a rate similar to last night, I might have to reconsider my stance on the aforementioned award before this season is over.

Fun With Stats

Blowout city: There was a point last night where, of the eight games being played, four of them (TOR/ATL, NYK/ORL, PHX/CLE, DAL/NJ) had a point differential of at least 20.

Let’s get the Raptors out of the way: Chris Bosh scored 2 points, going without a field goal for the first time since November 6, 2007, when the Raptors were routed by the Milwaukee Bucks. Bosh only played 16 minutes, sitting during the first time because he was in foul trouble. One of those fouls was assigned to someone else at halftime, but by then it was way too late. Oh, and the Italian Rodman? Andrea Bargnani failed to grab a single rebound in almost 22 minutes of action last night. Sad face.

No more negativity here. Let’s talk about some point guards. I love me some point guards. First, Jason Kidd: 16 Pts (5-6 FG, 2-2 3PT, 4-4 FT), 8 Reb, 10 Ast, 5 Stl, 1 Blk, 4 TO, 1 PF in 34 mins. Wow. That’s… insane. I’d be impressed with a line like that even from 2002 Jason Kidd. The downside is it added insult to injury, as he did this whilst etching his former team’s name into the record books in a most unflattering way. Next, Russell Westbrook – weird line for him. Definitely not the perfection of J-Kidd, but check this out: 7 Pts (1-11 FG, 0-3 3PT, 5-6 FT), 5 Reb (2 Off), 15 Ast, 2 Stl, 2 TO, 3 PF in 33 mins of a winning effort. Again, wow. He was supposed to be a scorer, someone who could get his but would have trouble involving his teammates and being a true point guard. Well, hey, critics: 15 assists! He already has more than half of the 10+ assist games he had last year and we’re only a month in. Let’s just ignore the terrible shooting on this night. Hell yeah, development! Thunder!

Now, onto the bigs. I’ve gotta mention Brandon Bass here – this beast has been waiting patiently to be unleashed this season, as Stan Van Gundy has understandbly opted to keep the floor spread with the sweet shooting of Ryan Anderson and Matt Barnes off the bench at the 4 spot and stay big at the 5 with Marcin Gortat. With Bass out of the shuffle, he has been unable to show us what we saw from him last season: rebounding, interior scoring, solid D, and the mid-range shot. Against the Knicks, however, there was no need to stay big off the bench, so Bass got Gortat’s minutes at center. He responded by scoring 17 points in just 17 minutes, shooting 7-12 from the field and adding 3 rebounds. This is how you earn more minutes. Also, Marcus Camby had a Marcus Camby night: 9 points on 4-6 shooting, with 19 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals, and a block in 39 minutes. I miss seeing those numbers on my fantasy team. Gotta wonder, though – as Kelly Dwyer mentioned in the BDL chat yesterday, do the Clips try to trade Camby? His value has to be pretty high and Griffin is going to need every minute he can get when he comes back. Just something to think about.

One more tidbit before I move on – not only did Zydrunas Ilgauskas become the Cavs’ leader in games played last night, he moved into third place on the team’s all-time scoring list. He now trails only LeBron and Brad Daugherty. Effing great night for him.

Quoted

Argh, a bunch of depressing ones today. I apologize.

“It’s not the coach. Red Auerbach couldn’t coach us the way we are playing. It’s us. It doesn’t matter who you bring in. It starts in here. You have to have heart. You have to have the heart to overcome something like this.” – Chris Douglas-Roberts, after his team became the lone team in NBA history to lose its first 18 games.

I’ve been following CDR closely this season. I feel worse for him than any other player in the league. It’s not hard to see how rough this has been for him. He’s never been through anything similar to this in life. I really hope they win a damn game soon. Anyway, onto more depressing stuff – here are ex-Yellow Jackets and current-Raptors Chris Bosh and Jarrett Jack, post-game.

“We can’t give up 75 points in the half and expect to be successful in this league. We can’t come in with the mindset that we’re just going to outscore everybody. It’s not possible.” – Jarrett Jack.

“We’re not playing D and we’re not rebounding – we’re shooting ourselves in the foot twice.” – Jarrett Jack.

“You can’t say we did anything right on defense. We should be embarrassed, everybody should be embarrassed. Us, coaches – everybody who was involved in this game should be embarrassed.” – Jarrett Jack.

“I was upset that we don’t buy in on the defensive end of the floor and every time something happens, it’s, ‘it’s okay, it’s alright.’ It’s not alright. We’re letting problems go by without attacking them or challenging them or bringing them to the forefront or getting them solved.” – Jarrett Jack.

“Everybody can’t just walk on eggshells around here and act like we’re playing good basketball. We’re not, we’re playing terrible.” – Jarrett Jack.

“We haven’t stopped anybody all year.” – Chris Bosh

“We don’t get on the ground, we don’t consistently get rebounds, we give up points in the paint… We’re just not a good team.” – Chris Bosh

Jesus. It’s not even 9:00 AM and I need a drink. This is bad. Very, very, very bad. It’s only early December, but I’ve seen previous awful Raptors teams lose games like this. Well, rarely EXACTLY like this – I mean, down by 30 at the end of the third? Anyway, it’s obviously not the loss to Atlanta that bothers me. The Raptors need a win in the worst way, but I wouldn’t have been too upset with an L if they had just shown some signs of life on defense. Jay Triano stressed from training camp onwards that defense would be his main focus – he knew he had the pieces to be a great offensive team, but this squad severely lacked athleticism and one-on-one defensive skills. To compensate, you have to play extremely focused, smart team D. The Raptors have done this only for small stretches this year and haven’t done it at all during this 5-game losing streak. Damn it. I need a happy quote to cheer me up…

“That’s the closest I’ve ever come to tears on the basketball floor.” – Zydrunas Ilgauaskas, on his big night. The fans chanted “Z” for him. Yay!

Impressive

These will all be from the Bucks/Wizards game, since it had my complete attention.

Nick Young: 21 Pts (7-12 FG, 0-1 3PT, 7-7 FT), 5 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Stl, 5 TO, 2 PF in 34 mins.

Gotta love his aggressiveness. The man just knows how to score at the NBA level. You can criticize him for being sort of one-dimensional, I guess, but when that dimension is great, it’s okay. Same argument I’ve always made for Ben Gordon, even though Young isn’t near Gordon’s level yet. Love seeing him starting again, though – those erratic minutes and DNP-CD’s from the early part of the season were starting to piss me off.

Earl Boykins: 13 Pts (3-5 FG, 7-10 FT), 1 Reb, 4 Ast, 2 TO in 19 mins.

I’ve always loved watching Earl Boykins play. You know why. He’s the tiniest guy on the floor, by far, but he doesn’t play like it. The effort, the confidence? Always there. I’m definitely enjoying his return with the Wizards, and so is Gilbert Arenas, as it’s allowing him to play off the ball. Put a smile on my face just to see Boykins on the floor at the end of this game, let alone seeing the ball in his hands on the Wizards’ final possession. Still not pleased with the result, but whatever. Go Earl.

Hakim Warrick: 20 Pts (6-9 FG, 8-8 FT), 4 Reb (3 Off), 3 TO, 2 PF in 32 mins.

14 of those points came in the first half, including two aggressive and-ones and the missed shot that resulted in Scott Skiles’s ejection. Quick note on that if you didn’t see it – Skiles was miffed that Hak didn’t get the foul, so he approached the nearest ref and screamed at him. Upon receiving a technical foul, Skiles made a “T” with his hands and screamed, “Technical!” in the ref’s face. For this, he received another tech and was ejected. After storming to about halfcourt to let out some more steam, he went back to the locker room. Anyway, Hak – love the effort, as always. Nice to see the shots falling tonight and VERY nice to see all those free throw attempts. It’s ridiculous how many of these Bucks I look forward to watching – him, Jennings, Bogut, Ilyasova, Bell, Luc Richard Mbah A Moute (come back soon!), Meeks, Delfino, and…

Luke Ridnour: 20 Pts (9-16 FG, 2-6 3PT), 4 Reb, 6 Ast, 1 Stl, 4 PF in 33 mins.

Whoa. Didn’t expect that. I didn’t even expect to become a Ridnour fan. This year, though, he’s proven to be a much more than capable backup point guard, even if I’d much rather have the ball in Jennings’s hands at the end of the game. You won’t see 20 point games from him all the time, but last night wasn’t that much of a statistical aberration. He has a PER of 18.3 this season. I love that Skiles has been playing him and Jennings together from the start, realizing that the advantages that the pair bring on offense far outweigh the defensive limitations of having two small, thin point guards on the floor on D. I wish Kurt Rambis would realize the same thing and play Jonny Flynn and Ramon Sessions together more often in Minny. While they did see some time sharing the floor last night in their 97-95 loss to Memphis, Sessions still played 6 fewer minutes than Damien Wilkins even though he was hot, going 7-9 from the floor.

Tweeted

@NBAKays: I’m starting to think that the Raptors are not a very good defensive basketball team. (When he tweeted this, the Hawks had 118 points with 9:41 left in the game.)

@NBAguy: @jeskeets who’s your squad?

@jeskeets: @NBAguy The [/covers mouth] Raptuyfdgyrs.

That does it. I’m going to puke.

@HowardBeckNYT: Not that anyone cares, but the Mavericks have scored 90 points on the Nets with 6:54 left in the third. They lead 90-66.

@johnschuhmann: This may be the Nets’ best offensive game this season… and they’re down by 27.

At least I’m not alone.

To watch

Al Thornton off the backboard to himself:

Trevor Ariza on Chris Kaman:

Apologies for not mentioning the Rockets/Clippers game until now. I fell asleep and missed it, bummer. Seems like it could have been a good one for three quarters, until the Rockets put the Clippers away with a 26-13 4th Q to win 102-85. Aaron Brooks managed 22 points on 9-11 shooting from the field.

Caron Butler on poor Andrew Bogut:

Derrick Rose’s alley-oop from Brad Miller:

LeBron’s sweet chasedown block in the throwback uni:

To read

Britt Robson, one of my favourites, takes a look around the league for SI.

Kendrick Perkins is getting scary good, says Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston.

Bethlehem Shoals’s take on Ron Artest for the Baseline.

Eddy Rivera’s great interview with J.J. Redick for Third Quarter Collapse

Hey, check it out – a new feature! This is the debut of Basketball for Breakfast, my stab at a daily recap. I know, I know, there is already a wealth of excellent recaps in the NBA blogosphere. I read them all and that won’t change. This isn’t an attempt to compete with anyone; I’m simply trying to add something of my own. I’ll do my best to keep it fun and unique.

The All-OTN Team

Amir Johnson: 2 Pts (0-2 FG, 2-4 FT), 7 Reb (4 Off), 1 Ast, 4 PF in 20 min.

Not the most impressive stat line in this 106-102 loss to the Wizards, I’ll admit. He was enjoyable to watch, though. The man always brings the energy. Those 7 rebounds? 6 of them came in the first half, including an amazing grab that he followed up with an assist to a cutting Chris Bosh. What’s most impressive about Amir’s rebounding is that he gets them in different ways – last night, I saw him tip the ball to himself, tip it to his teammates, and straight-up wrestle it away from opponents’ fingertips. He is one of the few Raptors in the franchise’s history who manages to get rebounds that he shouldn’t. The 4 fouls in 20 are unfortunate, but he’s still learning.

Jared Dudley: 7 Pts (2-5 FG, 1-2 3PT, 1-2 FT), 7 Reb (3 Off), 1 TO, 2 PF in 18 min.

Again, these numbers won’t blow you away, but they rarely do with Jared. I’ll tell you this: I didn’t see much of this 126-99 blowout, but in the couple of minutes where I tuned in during the 2nd quarter I saw Jared Dudley make three impressive plays in succession: hitting a three-pointer, drawing a foul underneath the basket, and saving a possession for his team. Clyde Frazier, calling the game for the Knicks, seemed positively smitten with him. It’s always nice to get 7 rebounds from your backup small forward, too. Shame his effort wasn’t anywhere close to enough to avoid this embarrassing defeat.

Shannon Brown: 4 Pts (1-6 FG, 0-2 3PT, 2-2 FT), 2 Reb, 2 Ast, 1 Stl, 1 Blk, 3 PF in 23 min.

Argh. More crappy numbers. Doesn’t mean he had a bad game, though. On the night where his new website launched, he entered the game with 1:07 left in the 1st quarter and stayed there through most of the 2nd, absolutely shutting down sharpshooter Marcus Thornton. Brown quite obviously wasn’t on the court to score; he was there to stop Lil Buckets from doing so. And he succeeded – Lil Buckets couldn’t get anything going in the first half. Unfortunately, the Hornets didn’t Let Shannon Dunk on this night, as his best opportunity was a missed alley-oop from Kobe Bryant. His one FG was pretty nice, though:

Rookie Watch

DeMar DeRozan: 2 Pts (1-4 FG), 2 Reb, 1 Ast, 2 TO, 1 Blk, 1 PF in 16 mins.

Not a standout night for DeMar, as he missed a couple of jumpers we know he can make. It’s important to remember what his role is on this team, though. Since Jay Triano has opted to play him pretty much exclusively with the starting unit, he is not asked to take a lot shots and doesn’t get many opportunities to get in rhythm. We saw some nice plays, though – DeRozan’s 1 FG came on an alley-oop from Jose Calderon, where he didn’t have the angle to slam it down so he adjusted and layed it in. His block on Gilbert Arenas in the 3rd quarter was fantastic, too. I’ve got to add that the 1 Ast is a bit deceiving, as he made a couple of aggressive plays that led to scores where he was not credited for any stats. One in particular stands out, where he drove on the right baseline and kicked it out to Chris Bosh, who found Andrea Bargnani at the top of the key for three. That’s a hockey assist. Nice to see. Still firmly on this bandwagon.

Ty Lawson: 13 Pts (5-7 FG, 1-1 3PT, 2-3 FT), 5 Reb, 5 Ast, 2 PF in 24 mins.
Very nice line for Lawson, on the night that his alma mater beat my Spartans by 7. 13 points on 7 shots, in 24 minutes? You have to love that efficiency – this is why statheads love him. And why you should love him? He can score in various ways, as he hurt the Warriors last night with his jump shot, his runner, and his ability to get to the basket. He outscored fellow rook Stephen Curry on this night, despite playing 16 fewer minutes and attempting 7 fewer field goal attempts. Another fun fact: his PER so far this season is 17.6. His teammate J.R. Smith’s? 15.1. Can’t give Denver enough credit for acquiring him in the draft.

Dante Cunningham: 6 Pts (2-6 FG, 2-3 FT), 5 Reb, 1 Ast, 4 PF in 18 mins.

Four fouls in 18 minutes? Ah, rookies. You have to be happy for Cunningham, though, as he made his first career NBA start last night due to LaMarcus Aldridge nursing his knee. While he obviously didn’t make up for Aldridge’s production, he had a positive impact on the game with his hustle. You know I love players like that. And I’m not the only one, check out what Seth Johnston of Bust A Bucket had to say:

Energy like Cunningham’s is something I am craving more and more as we sit and wait for the team’s bigger personalities to sort out their issues. I want a hyperactive role player power forward to just go nuts out there and provide me with some sort of vicarious catharsis. So thanks for giving me a little of that, Dante.

Darren Collison: 20 Pts (7-14 FG, 2-4 3PT, 4-4 FT), 5 Ast, 2 Reb, 4 TO, 2 Stl, 2 PF in 34 mins.
Collison continues to be awesome. I cannot BELIEVE Byron Scott was playing Bobby Brown over him earlier this season. I mean, I feel bad that Byron is without work, but I’m sorry, that was inexcusable. A kid this quick, with his ability to penetrate, knock down shots, and play defense? You put him out there over a chucker like Bobby, every time. Some analysis from Niall Dohery of Hornets247:

He would have had a few hockey assists if anyone kept count, and he was pesky as always on defense. He had two nice plays against Kobe, first getting by him on the perimeter late in the third quarter, keeping him on his back and then using a hesitation dribble to open up a gap for the layup. About a minute later he shadowed Bryant brilliantly to slow down the break and help stop the Lakers getting an easy bucket at the end of the period.

Additionally, he had a crazy buzzer-beater at the end of the 1st half. I’ll put the video here when/if it surfaces.

Fun With Stats

Brendan Haywood shot 1-8 from the line last night against Toronto. This, obviously, hurt his team. Fortunately, he made his minutes worthwhile by doing a very respectable job on Chris Bosh, who was held to 7-22 from the field. If the big man had just made his free throws, though, this game wouldn’t have come down to the final couple of minutes. The Wizards managed to escape with a victory after Hedo Turkoglu committed an unforced turnover with 31 seconds left in the game, but if you’re a Wizards fan you have to think it shouldn’t have got to that point.

In the Phoenix/New York game, the Suns failed to reach 100 points for the first time this season. The Knicks managed 100 points by the end of the third quarter. I should also point out the magnificent work of Danilo Gallinari: 27 pts (10-19 FG, 6-12 3PT, 1-2 FT), 10 Reb, 2 Ast, 2 Blk, 0 (!) TO in 36 mins. Check out what Seth of Posting and Toasting had to say about Gallo’s fantastic all-around game:

He looked much more confident and made his way into the center of the court to participate more in the offensive flow. There were backdoor cuts, frontdoor cuts, and even a stop-and-pop banker from about 12 feet out.

So great that he’s being more than just an excellent three-point shooter, isn’t it? I am sure that Francesco Cappelletti of Ball In Europe is proud as hell right now.

Also scoring from all over the floor last night was Anthony Morrow, who scored 27 points against Denver while only hitting 2 three pointers (in all of his other 20+ games this year, he’s had at least 4 threes). It may be because of the limited bodies the Warriors have at their disposal right now, but I can’t tell you how happy I am to see that gorgeous shot launched so often these days.

Two more statistical shout-outs for before I move on – Michael Beasley and Ray Allen were huge in winning efforts. Beas was one point short of his career high, finishing with 27 points on 8-15 shooting from the floor and 11-12 (!) from the line. Pleasing his fantasy owners, he also contributed 8 rebounds, a block, and a steal. Jesus Shuttlesworth came through with his best game of the season, too, as he poured in 27 points on only 9 field goal attempts. When you go 5-6 from downtown and 10-10 from the line, that type of statistical improbability can happen. Oh, and he threw in 5 rebounds, 5 assists, a block, and a steal. Nice to have you back, Ray Ray.

Quoted

“They spread, they go, and they’re kind of all over the place.” – Carmelo Anthony, on Golden State’s offense, from Denver’s telecast. So few words here, but I don’t think he’s missing anything.

“Who are these guys?” – Clyde Frazier, on the Knicks, from New York’s telecast. I must say, Clyde, I was wondering the same thing. 71 points in the first half?

“Just pathetic defense by the Suns.” – Clyde Frazier again, providing spot-on analysis of how Larry Hughes was able to amass about 48 assists in about 4 seconds against Phoenix.

“I’m happy for our fans. They got to go home and watch (North) Carolina and Michigan State. If any of them were smart, they would have left early and watched that game.” – Larry Brown. Wait, there’s more, check out this next gem…

“I think even Doc Rivers had 12 points.” – Gerald Wallace. Ouch. I don’t think you need me to say any more about last night’s Boston/Charlotte matchup.

“I decided today I was going to be more aggressive. It’s fun. It relieves the pressure, it gets me off the ball and puts me back into my old mode where I was just scoring.” – Gilbert Arenas. I was quite impressed with Gilbert last night, even if he’s not quite back to his old self yet. Actually, that gives me an idea…

Impressive

Gilbert Arenas: 22 Pts (7-17 FG, 3-7 3PT, 5-5 FT), 3 Reb, 9 Ast, 1 TO, 1 Stl, 1 Blk in 38 mins.

It took Gil a little while to get going with his shot, but he was dishing out assists as soon as the first quarter began. Only once the fourth quarter began did Agent Zero really join the party, but when he did it was something to see. Like the Gilbert of old, he took control of the game near the end, scoring 12 points in the final frame. Not trying to ignore Antawn Jamison’s 10 fourth-quarter points, but Arenas was leading the team. As a Raptors fan it was annoying, but as a Gilbert fan it was heartening. Give him some more time and he’ll be dominating more quarters.

Andrea Bargnani: 20 Pts (8-14 FG, 2-4 3PT, 2-2 FT), 11 Reb (4 Off), 1 Ast, 2 TO, 1 Blk, 5 PF in 35 mins.

I could definitely get used to seeing double-doubles next to Bargs’s name. Love that. The Italian Rodman grabbed 7 of those boards in the first half, with 3 of them coming on the offensive end. As always, you love his efficient scoring, but when Bargs is boxing out properly and getting after it inside, all of Raptors Nation is proud. More of this please, sir. Oh, almost forgot – his one block came against Earl Boykins. I can’t recall a single instance of Earl Boykins getting a perimeter jumper of his blocked in the NBA, but Bargs managed to do it. Kudos.

Tweeted

@stackmack: On the pizza promo front: Turkoglu’s ONLY make in the fourth quarter was a pointless three at the buzzer to win pizza for the crowd.

@Nat77: Raptor fans cheered when for a buzzer beating slice of pizza and booed while their team was only down 3 and had a chance… #teampromofail

@LakersReporter Lakers crowd is incensed with N.O. scrapping during garbage time enough to threaten free tacos. 99 pts. w/04.8 left…

BAH. Rant time. This stuff pisses me off. Get rid of all of these stupid promotions. If the crowd is chanting, I want it to be about the game. End of story. And, Raptors fans, you’re letting me down lately. I love your passion for the team, I love that there seem to be a gazillon of you on the internet, but smarten up. This isn’t directed at all of you (after all, I am a Raptors fan), just the pizza people and the two fools in the section next to me who were heckling Chris Bosh on Sunday. Not cool.

@ticktock6: I think it’s hilarious that my entire twitter feed is cracking jokes about that Devin Brown airball. Lord, it was so bad. I’m still laughing

@kpelton: Every time I watch this Hornets-Lakers game, Bobby Brown is shooting. He does not lack for confidence.

I don’t even know how I feel about the Browns anymore. It’s just ridiculous at this point. At the beginning of the season, I was screaming at Byron Scott for playing them. Now, they both kind of need to be on the court for at least some stretches, but come on. What is going through their heads with some of these shots? The Devin Brown shot Ticktock6 from Hornets Hype is talking about was honestly one of the worst shots I have EVER seen. Very comparable to Zach Randolph’s boneheaded end-of-game three-pointer last year, except it came in the 1st quarter with plenty of time on the shot clock. As for her reaction (which was the same as mine) – sometimes, you have to laugh because the only other option is to cry. I’ll definitely post the video here if it surfaces later today. Here’s hoping.

To Watch

Lamar Odom destroying Hilton Armstrong:

(This spot is reserved for when nba.com puts up John Thompson’s interview from last night about Allen Iverson. Come on, guys.)

To Read

Generally, I’m going to use this section for articles/posts published the previous day, leaning more heavily on stuff that hasn’t been linked much elsewhere (like this piece on Carl Landry, this one on Jarrett Jack, this one on Mike Wilks, and this one on the Wolves). Today, though, I’ve got to direct you to three excellent Thanksgiving-inspired pieces from a few days ago. If you’re American and you took a break from the NBA for a couple days there, I forgive you, but do yourself a favour and read these. The first two speak perfectly for me, and the last one speaks to me.

Giving Thanks To The Game, by Holly MacKenzie

Guess what I’m thankful for? by Kelly Dwyer

A Different Set Of Eyes, by Tim Donahue