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Toronto Raptors

Game #49 Preview: Jurassic Park 2

by Jared Wade on February 2, 2010 at 4:43 pm

Unfortunately, I haven’t spent much time watching the Raptors this year, so I don’t have a lot of perspective on this team other than what I saw the other night and during all those Sunday 1:00 o’clock tip-offs that I half watch while trying to shake a hangover. Honestly, they just sort of bore me. And since Bosh is probably bolting south of the border come Summer time, it sort of feels like a lame duck year in the T-Dot. So I just haven’t been paying attention.

Sam Holako of Raptors Republic, however, has a much more nuanced take of the team and has been covering it all year. And luckily for us, he was nice enough to stop by to share his dino wisdom. Below is a Q&A we did. Also, I returned the favor and answered a few questions on the Pacers generally and tonight’s game specifically for him as well. So be sure to stop by Raptors Republic and check out more from me and Sam over there.

jurassic_park_lost_world

Jared: An underrated story of late is that your Raptors are 15-5 since December 18, making it one of the most successful teams in the whole league over the past six weeks. What has been working so well over the last 20 games that wasn’t during the first 28?

Sam Holako: A few key things happened during this stretch:

  1. Bargnani has really stepped up his play. He is rebounding better and scoring more efficiently, but most of all, his defense in the post has been shockingly good from where it was — just ask Tim Duncan and Dwight Howard.
  2. Jose Calderon lost his starting role due to injury, but is proving to be far more effective coming off the bench since he has returned. He also is a team player and will do whatever it takes to win, so the move to the bench doesn’t bruise his ego as much as it would others.
  3. When the Raptors go to their bench, there is real production. Marco Belinelli and Sonny Weems are very aggressive on offense, Antoine Wright has been playing great defense at the 2/3, and Amir Johnson is a beast.

Jared: Hedo had a big game last week against the Knicks, dropping 26 points and 11 rebounds. And more importantly (to me anyway) is that he gave us the best postgame quote for the year with “Ball.” I think it’s safe to say that the Turkoglu acquisition wasn’t looking great at the beginning of the year. How about now?

Sam Holako: It’s still not looking great, but it isn’t ALL his fault. Hedo is the kind of player who needs the ball to be effective, and Triano is finding it hard to effectively use Hedo in a rotation where the point guards (Jarrett Jack and Calderon) also need it in their hands. His postgame quote was not only epic, but indicative of what it will take for him to get back to the levels he played at with the Magic. He isn’t helping the cause by not attempting to adapt to a new team/concept/style of play. Doesn’t look like a great signing, all things considered.

Jared: Amir Johnson looked very good the other night and that alley-oop was ridiculous. Discuss.

Sam Holako: Amir Johnson is a favorite of everyone. He’s one of those blue-collar guys who gets in the game and battles like a warrior. He is very aggressive, very athletic, reasonably consistent and gets after it. His only knock is that he gets something like 6.8 fouls per 36 minutes, which affects his minutes depending on how quickly he picks them up. When he plays in control, like he did Sunday against the Pacers (1 foul in 20 minutes of play), the guy is playing himself into a full mid-level contract at the end of the year.

Jared: Pacer fans aren’t going to get to see DeMar DeRozan in either game, but he has been playing pretty well. What type of player do you expect him to be around this time next year? Also, I have him winning the Dunk Contest. Is that correct?

Sam Holako: DeRozan is an interesting kid. We haven’t had an athlete like him since Vince Carter, but he is very raw. His jumper has improved significantly since the start of the year, but his career will be made on how aggressively he attacks the rim off the dribble. The guy is a gym rat and is always practicing, so it will come — just a matter of when. Truthfully, I see him as a poor man’s Vince Carter; he isn’t quite as explosive, but he will be a solid starting shooting guard in the league. The Dunk Contest is just a formality to make Nate Robinson feel important. DeRozan takes it.

Jared: Lastly, how depressing is it that Bosh is definitely leaving this Summer? Or are you still holding out some hope?

Sam Holako: I have always contended that he was going to resign with the Raptors unless they were just God-awful. With the Raptors trailing the Celtics by only 3 games in the division (and sitting in 5th place in the East), things are looking up. With the CBA up at the end of next season, he can’t afford to leave the $30 million or so on the table if he resigns with another team. The only way I thought he wouldn’t be a Raptor come next season is if in fact he does have a pact with Wade/LeBron to play together, in which case, Toronto wouldn’t be the destination for that grouping of talent with our cap situation and all. At the end of the day, the Raptors are HIS team, and Toronto HIS city; if he leaves to join Wade/LeBron, he loses that.

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Lester Conner to Coach on Tuesday as O’Brien Will Skip Game For Personal Reasons

by Jared Wade on February 1, 2010 at 2:08 pm

Sadly, Jim O’Brien has had a death in the family and will thus miss Tuesday’s rematch with Toronto, according to Mike Wells.

o’brien to miss tues game vs raptors because of death in the family

Lester Connor will fill in.

lester conner to coach the team

That’s all I got.

Condolences and thoughts go out to Jimmy’s family.

UPDATE: It was Jean Ramsay, O’Brien’s mother-in-law and wife of the legendary coach Dr. Jack Ramsay, who passed. She had been battling Alzheimer’s disease for much of the decade, according to USA Today.

(h/t AO and Mike Wells)

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Game Recap #37: Pacers Beat the Best National Basketball Association Team in Canada

by Tom Kester on January 12, 2010 at 3:09 am

[Ed Note: Muchas gracias to Tom Kester for gracing the 8p9s community with his presence tonight for the Raptors recap. Kester is easily my favorite person I've never met. Other than Gandhi. But that dude's dead, so screw 'em. If you're really nice to Tom and tell him how great he is maybe he'll come back and share his infinite wisdom with us again some day.]

Pacers 105 – Raptors 101


Canada America's Hat

With a come-from-a-long-way-behind 105-101 win over the Raptors at Conseco this evening, the Pacers moved to 3-3 in 2010.

Danny Granger scored 23 on 9 of 19 shooting. Troy Murphy had another double-double with 20 points and 16 rebounds. And guards Earl Watson and AJ Price combined for 27 points and 10 assists as Indiana used the same starting line-up for the third game in a row (Murphy, Granger, Hibbert, Watson and Head).

Early on, the Pacers seemed to be following a well-learned script, falling down 12-5 in the first 6:54, at which point Roy Hibbert and Luther Head both had two fouls and were pulled. Hibbert struggled to react to the quicker, smaller Raptor bigs in his short time out there, and only returned to the court for a brief 2-minute stretch in the second quarter before heading to the bench for good.

In his place, back-up center Solomon Jones was effective during his time in the game (tallying 10 points and 9 boards in 17 minutes), while sharing the big man duties with Troy Murphy, Tyler Hansbrough (4 points/7 rebounds) and Danny, who saw extended minutes at the power forward spot. In more good news, Hansbrough seems to have fully recovered from his inner ear infection, falling or stumbling awkwardly no more often than usual.

Within 2 minutes of Hibbert’s departure, the Raptor lead was 8, which is where it eventually ended the 1st period. It seemed that Pacers announcer Chris Denari had already deployed his “eerily similar to other starts” line at least three times by this point, while Quinn Buckner was in full excuse mode (”what happened there was … and you can’t help it … but he’ll get better at that as he gets more used to …”). The Raptors were shooting above 50%, the Pacers around 35% and things were not looking good. The 3-balls were flying, but they weren’t falling, except for off the hands of Murphy, who had 12 of the Pacers’ first 14 points by hitting 4 of his first 5 shots from behind the arc.

Denari was right — this was eerily similar to most of the last dozen broadcasts.

The Pacers showed a little life in the final few minutes of the 1st, but just 4 minutes into the 2nd quarter, the Pacers were down 47-26, and TV viewers were preparing to switch from the game to The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love all across the great state of Indiana — or, at least across the portion of the state where cable providers actually carry Fox Sports Indiana. Just then, Granger was called for half of a double-technical along with back-up Toronto SG Sonny Weems. Seemingly incensed at being equated with Sonny Weems in any fashion, Granger went on a tear and scored 8 of the Pacers next 10 points.

Still, Indy was trailing by 23 with 4:20 left in the first half, but the Pacers finally seemed to pick up some of Granger’s long-awaited focus and went on a 16-6 run to close out the 2nd period down 13 (65-52). During that run, both Jarrett Jack and Chris Bosh seemed to have difficulties with a D-League replacement official, as Jack reportedly asked him if it was his first time refereeing an NBA game after being whistled for his third personal.

With this run, the Pacers worked their own FG% up to a semi-respectable 42%, but Toronto was still shooting 53% at the half.  “They got out in transition, and we weren’t making them work in the half-court,” AJ Price told Mark Boyle’s post-game radio crowd. Austin Croshere described the Pacers’ first half pick-and-roll defense as “porous at best.”

The Pacers managed to bear down on defense in the 3rd period, however, holding the Raptors to just 19 points (after allowing 35 and 30 in the 2nd and 1st, respectively), while positive contributions from Hansbrough, Solomon and Granger helped the Pacers rack up 26 in the quarter.

There were no great runs, just a gradual attrition, as Indiana slowly pecked away at Toronto’s lead.

During one memorable sequence around the 8-minute mark of the 3rd, Earl Watson stole the ball from Jack as he crossed the timeline and broke for an easy lay-up. On the very next play, Earl drew a charge on Jack, who was again trying — and failing — to bring the ball across the line. Watson then dished an assist to Solomon, and stole the ball again when Jack’s replacement attempted to bring the ball up-court.

The Raptors lead was down to 6 at that point and, by the end of the period, Toronto was holding onto a tenuous 84-78 advantage. All told, the Raptors hit only four field goals in the 3rd.

The Pacers push to take the lead took the first 7 minutes of the 4th period — but the tortoise would eventually win this race.

Indiana outscored Toronto 17-8, as Mike Dunleavy scored seven of his 15 in that run. At 92-92, before a Watson three-ball gave the Pacers the lead, Chris Denari, on the FSI broadcast, remarked that this was the first time this year he could remember seeing Dunleavy, Murphy and Granger in the game together.

It seemed to work well because Toronto never regained the lead.

Indiana held an advantage between 2 and 5 points for the remainder of the game as all five Pacers on the floor — Granger, Price, Watson, Murphy and Dunleavy — scored in the last five minutes.

Game Notes:

  • Since his Thanksgiving return, Dunleavy has sometimes been a force on the floor and sometimes looked weak and ineffectual. Tonight, he sometimes seemed to be a force on the floor, and sometimes looked weak and ineffectual. When he scored 39 points in a couple of games in the ‘07-08 season, he sometimes seemed to be a force on the floor, and sometimes looked weak and ineffectual. Tonight he had 15 points on 5-10 shooting, with 5 boards. Maybe, ultimately, it doesn’t matter what he looks like.
  • Troy Murphy’s 20 point, 16 rebound, plus-11 effort in the win marks the first time in weeks that he has not been roundly vilified on Pacers fan boards during a game — whether he played or not. He has now played in five of the Pacers’ 12 wins and 21 of the team’s 25 losses. He is the leading rebounder on the team and the second leading scorer. And he has the team’s worst season plus/minus at -228.

Don’t Call It a Comeback (OK, Do): By The Numbers

Pacers vs Raptors
105 Score 101
4 Largest Lead 23
101.9 Offensive Efficiency 98.1
48.9% eFG% 43.2%
42.6% (37/87) FG% 39.6% (32/81)
35.5% (11/31) 3PT% 30% (6/20)
74.1% (20/27) FT% 72.1% (31/43)
48 (10) Rebounds (Off.) 50 (12)
16 (18) Turnovers (Points Led To) 15 (14)
40 Points in the Paint 34
15 Fast Break Points 9
22 Assists 20

Post-Game Essentials: Box Score | PM Game Flow | Play-By-Play | Shot Chart | Behind the Box Score | Indy Star Recap | Cornrows Recap | AP Recap | Pacer’s Digest Post Game

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Jarret Jack Ties His Shoe While Holding the Ball

by Jared Wade on December 5, 2009 at 10:52 pm

Remember Jarrett Jack? He was a Pacer last year. And a lot of fans have missed his energy this season, while also wondering what exactly it is he’s up to these days.

Well, rest assured, sports fan. Jarret Jack is still very much alive and well up in Toronto. (Although a lot of Raptors fans would argue he’s not doing “well” at all.)

And only just a few minutes ago, he decided to do some in-game multi-tasking while waiting for the quarter to wind down. Rather than just dribble down the clock until it was time to take the last shot per usual, he figured that he may as well use that dead time to instead tighten up his laces. (via @tasmelas)

Some people might question his timing but I, for one, commend the man. Really, he’s quite the role model here. An untied lace is very dangerous. Especially on an escalator. Kids need to learn to fear and respect the escalator. There’s not a year that goes by — not a year — that I don’t read about some escalator accident that could have been avoided.

UPDATE: Here’s a better video of the incident. (via CavsFanatic)

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Game #12 Recap – Too Little, Too Late

by Tim Donahue on November 25, 2009 at 2:15 am

Pacers vs. Raptors
112 Score 123
39/86 FG/FGA 43/77
45.3% FG% 55.8%
12-27 3PA/3PM 9-18
44.4% 3PT% 10.0%
52.3% eFG% 61.7%
22-26 FT/FTA 28-37
84.6% FT% 75.7%
34 (7) Rebounds (Offensive) 43 (8)
13 Turnovers 13
26 Assists 28
3 Steals 7
4 Blocks 8

I believe the exact words I used were “real ugly, real quick.” Regrettably, I understated the issue.  After O’Brien made a lineup change specifically designed to address their pick and roll defense issues, the Pacers opened the game by — wait for it — being torched twice on successive pick and rolls. Such was the start to a 1st half that had Toronto and Indiana announcers scrambling to see what the Raps’ record was for most points scored in the first half. (It’s 79.) I could go into the details, but do you really want re-live a half where the Pacers’ biggest (only) accomplishment was to prevent the Raps from setting that record (by holding them to 74)?

Suffice it to say that the Pacers had dug themselves a 21-point hole by allowing Toronto to shoot a ridiculous .695 eFG%, while putting up an anemic .432 themselves against the worst defense in the league. (Well, excluding the one that played for the Pacers in the first half.)

The game would have been a complete disaster if not for a guest appearance by the 2008-2009 version of Danny Granger in the second half. After going three for 12 in the first half, Danny announced his arrival with back-to-back three’s to open the third quarter.  From there, he proceeded to put together a 22-point half and finish with team highs in points (36), rebounds (9), and assists (5). It was, unfortunately, too little too late, as the Pacers were outscored 26-20 after they cut the deficit to five with 33 seconds left in the third.

If the Celtic game was an illustration of what might be, then the last three games show how far this team really is from that ideal. The team still largely plays as if they just met when they got to the arena, and the offense is putrid unless Danny is hitting on all cylinders. Last year’s team brought a puncher’s chance into virtually every game with their shooting, but this year’s team has lacked any kind of consistent firepower. The defense, while improved, is still not capable of dealing with a team with strong ball movement and a lot of shooters like Toronto. The Raptors are, after all, the top offensive team in the league.

Where this goes from here is difficult to tell. The confusion will likely remain as Indiana tries to work Troy Murphy and Jeff Foster back into the rotation.  Hopefully, Mike Dunleavy’s return will further complicate matters next week.  Meanwhile, the Pacers continue a replay of last season’s early wasted opportunities. In the current four-game losing streak, they’ve dropped games to two bad teams (New York and Charlotte) and one exceedingly mediocre team (Toronto). They are 3-4 at home. They cannot afford to dig the same hole they did last year in November and December, particularly since they’ve had an unbelievably favorable schedule to this point.

In any case, here are some other observations on a relatively depressing evening:

  • Jeff Foster was finally Jeff Foster in the second half tonight. He didn’t have a great box score, but he brought good defense on Bosh and some much needed energy. Also, it was nice to see a big man who could actually execute in the high post. If you watch Foster’s game, he gives an excellent illustration of how a non-scorer can actually help the offense. The Pacers last real chance to may have come when they failed to convert on two vintage Foster offensive rebounds on the same possession early in the fourth.
  • Roy Hibbert scored 8 points in 11 first half minutes, but did not see action in the second. Much will be made of this in some quarters, but it will be much ado about nothing. While it was very nice to see two well-executed pick and rolls between Roy and Earl Watson, his numbers look more impressive than they really were, and the team was -12 with him on the floor. The Pacers needed to scramble to get back into the game, and Solomon Jones was given a shot. When the team played well with Solo in, it was pretty clear that Roy was going to be done for the night. He’ll be back in the starting lineup tomorrow against the Clippers.
  • Troy Murphy finally hit a couple of threes in the fourth quarter, but there’s a whole lot that worries me about Troy’s game at this point. He had two big rebounds (one offensive, one defensive) simply bounce off of his hands down the stretch. He’s never been a fantastic player, and he had decent numbers (11 & 8), but they seem more like empty calories than ever before. In his ESPN chat today, Chad Ford said, “…And I think the Pacers have to start thinking about dumping Troy Murphy. He’s unhappy sharing minutes with Hansbrough and has been sulking a bit. Given that Murphy does two things (rebound and shoot threes) that could help a myriad of playoff teams, I think the Pacers could get something decent in return.” Now, I don’t see any real evidence of Troy sulking, but I have no inside access, either. You have to wonder what, if any, source Ford has for this info. If the Pacers could find a taker for Troy willing to send back expiring contracts, the much needed cap relief would make it awfully tempting to pull the trigger and move forward with the younger bigs (Hibbert, Hansbrough, and Solo).
  • Buckaroo Banzai (Tyler Hansbrough, for the uncouth and unitiated) had another nice showing.  The final line shows 10 points, 4 boards, and a block in 15 minutes. The highlight play was a rebound and stuff that cut the deficit to 97-92 late in the third, but that was not his most impressive moment. In the first half, he had two very nice post moves, and the game seems to be slowing down for him. Given the fact that the guy missed all of training camp and preseason, you have to be pleased with his first eight games.
  • The relationship between T.J. Ford and Jim O’Brien is going to be something to watch closely.  Ford scored 16 on 6 of 10 shooting tonight, but he was lethargic in the first half. More troubling, he got an earful from O’Brien in the 4th for putting no effort into fighting over a screen, which resulted in Jarrett Jack hitting a big three-pointer. O’Brien immediately called for Watson, but there was no stoppage of play that would allow for the substitution. Shortly thereafter, there was an animated conversation between Ford (on the court) and O’Brien (on the sideline). Ford continued to make his point after O’Brien apparently lost interest in the conversation, turning and walking away.
  • The former Pacers on the Raptors killed Indiana tonight. Jarrett Jack broke out of a prolonged shooting slump by hitting all seven of his shots, including three from behind the line. He added 6 assists to his 18 points. Though I hate the success was against the Pacers, I always liked JJ, and I’m glad to see him have some. Rasho’s game, on the other hand, rankled. Considering the fact that Nesterovic spent the last half of last season in Indiana doing a stunningly accurate impression of a corpse, imagine my surprise when he hung 12 points and 7 boards on the Pacers in his 16 minutes of play. Now, he did have some quality games for the Pacers early in the season last year, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for the time being. However, if he’s still producing come April, then I’m going to take to heart all of the rumors that he basically mailed in last season because he didn’t want to be in Indy, and consider him a douche bag.

Other items of note: The Pacers bench was outscored by the Raptor’s bench 50-34…After a crappy offensive 1st half, the Pacers scored 39 points in the third, posting an Offensive Rating for the period of over 150 and an eFG% of .708…For the game, the Pacers’ Offensive Rating was 114.3, their second best outing of the year, but the Defensive Rating of 125.5 was the worst of the season…Dahntay Jones scored 12 points off the bench in 27 minutes. The playing time is over 7 minutes below his  season’s average…Brandon Rush (@KCsFinest09) tweeted this afternoon, “Coach is gonna try to kill us today n practice. We got our ass chewed out n film.” For all the good it did.

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Game #12 Preview – Our Resistable Force Meets Their Movable Object

by Tim Donahue on November 24, 2009 at 12:10 pm

Indiana Pacers @ Toronto Raptors
Air Canada Centre
Toronto, Ontario
7:00 PM EST

Pacers vs. Raptors
5-6 (8th) Record 6-8 (9th)
Lost 3 Streak Lost 1
-1.45 (16th) Avg Scoring Margin -1.57 (17th)
98.7 (18th) Points Per Game 106.3 (4th)
101.9 (25th) Offensive Rating 114.7 (1st)
103.4 (10th) Defensive Rating 116.4 (30th)
.476 (24th) eFG% .521 (5th)
.471 (3rd) Opponent's eFG% .517 (24th)
96.9 (2nd) Pace 92.6 (15th)

Glossary: Offensive Rating | Defensive Rating | eFG% | Pace

It’s shaping up to be a very odd season for your boys in Blue & Gold.  Thus far, they’ve sandwiched two three-game losing streaks around one five-game winning streak. Tonight, they open a back-to-back in Toronto trying to keep the second losing streak from reaching four.  Whip-lashed Pacer fans are understandably unsure of what to expect.

If you’re hoping I’m going to make you feel better, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. Looking at all 11 games as a whole, the most consistent themes were not positive ones.

  • Quality of Opponents – Of the five wins the Pacers have this season, only one (Boston) was against a winning team. The other four teams have a combined 10-40 record.  The first three-game losing streak came against teams with a combined 28-12 record, so that’s not alarming.  The current one includes an embarrassing loss to the then 1-9 Knicks at Conseco, and Sunday’s blowout loss to Charlotte, ending the BobKitties seven game losing streak.
  • Lost Quarters – Last season, the Pacers scored 20 points or fewer in only 60 of the 328 regulation quarters they played, or about 18%. This season, they’ve scored 20 or less in 13 of their 44 quarters, or about 30%. Here’s are some of the most damaging quarters:

Game 1 @ Atlanta – Entered the fourth trailing by 1, get outscored 25-15 and lost by 11.

Game  2 vs. Miami – A 16-point first quarter puts the Pacers down 12 entering the second. A strong second quarter leaves the Pacers down two at the half, but a matching 16-point third gives Miami a 16-point lead, and they cruise to a 13-point win.

Game 3 vs. Denver – Outscored 30-13 in the first quarter of what turns out to be an 18-point loss.

Game 8 @ New Jersey – The Pacers keep New Jersey in the game with a dreadful 13-point third quarter. Only the Nets inherent incompetence keeps them from capitalizing, as the winless host only scores 14 for the quarter.

Game 9 vs. New York – The Pacers post twin 17-point quarters in the third and fourth, allowing a 15-point halftime lead to morph into a 7-point loss to a 1-9 team on the Pacers’ home floor.

Game 10 vs. Cleveland – The Pacers are outscored 28-13 in the fourth, turning a 5-point lead into a 10-point loss.

  • Clang – The Pacers currently rank 24th in the league at eFG% at .476.  Their 3-point shooting has been an abysmal .303 (26th), while hoisting almost 20 per night. They have shot below 33% from beyond the arc 9 times this year, including five times below 25%. Last season, they only had six games all year where they failed to eclipse the 1-in-4 standard.
  • Offensive Impotence - The Pacers currently rank 25th in Offensive Efficiency, scoring a scant 101.9 points per 100 possessions.  This would represent the lowest offensive output for the Pacers since 1984 (that team won 26 games).  It’s worse even than Rick Carlisle’s final year, when the team finished dead last in Offense.  They’ve been held under 1 point per possession in four of their 11 games, compared to only 12 of their 82 games last season.
  • Worrisome Four Factors numbers – Even during their winning streak, they were not a statistically strong team. Dean Oliver’s Four Factors of Winning focus on Shooting, Turnovers, Rebounding, and Free Throws. There is a set for Offense and a set for Defense. If you combine the Pacers rankings in all of the factors, you’ll see that the Pacers are a below average offensive team and an average defensive team.  This was true even during the winning streak.  Historically, teams performing at the Pacers’ level will be anchored to the 36-win level, plus or minus five games. Given that their offense is trending downward, the Pacers are very much in danger of underperforming the historical win average.

I’m sure you’ll notice that the focus above is primarily offense. That’s because it’s the offense (or lack thereof) that is going to kill this team’s playoff chances this year. I realize that all the cool kids focus on defense, and yes, the defense has had it’s hiccups, but overall it’s fine. However, there are two ends to the court, and they’re pretty much equally important. More to the point, an incompetent offense puts the team’s defense at a huge disadvantage.

Defensively, the Pacers need to maintain their FG defense, which sits third best in the league at .471. They need to improve on their DefRB%, which is a middling .737, good for 15th out of 30 in the league. However, it will be very hard to do these things  if the opponent continues to get offensive opportunities off of Pacer missed shots and turnovers.

More importantly, if the Pacers remain in the bottom third 0f both offensive eFG% and Offensive Efficiency, their chances of contending for a playoff spot will be greatly damaged.  Since 1980, slight fewer than 1 in 4 teams in the bottom third for eFG% managed to meet or beat .500. The teams in this grouping averaged only 31 wins, and 146 of 254 won the equivalent of 30 or fewer games. Fewer than 1 in 5 teams finishing in the bottom third for Offensive Efficiency were at or above .500. This group averaged only 30 wins, and 123 of 255 won the equivalent of 30 or fewer games.

At some point in time, the Pacers are going to have to stop bringing knives to these gunfights. If they do it again tonight, it’s going to get real ugly real quick.

The Raptors, on the other hand, have no problems whatsoever offensively. They bring a league best 114.7 Offensive Efficiency into tonight’s game, along with an eFG% of .521. Unfortunately for them, they also bring a league worst 116.4 Defensive Efficiency. This largely explains their 6-8 record.

The question is whether the Pacers offense is even capable of taking advantage of Toronto’s porous defense. If you find yourself watching the Pacers at the offensive end and screaming “Somebody move!”, it’s not going to be a promising outcome for the good guys. Put simply, the defense will do well to keep the Raptors at or below their average of 106 points tonight. If the offense doesn’t make a showing, it will be over quickly.

Chris Bosh is putting up MVP numbers, averaging 26 & 12, which drives a PER of just over 30. The #1 pick from the 2006 draft, Andrea Bargnani, has emerged as a solid scorer, posting just under 18 per night.  It’s the presence of these two agile bigs that has prompted Jim O’Brien to replace Roy Hibbert in the line up with Jeff Foster. Bargnani shoots almost 42% for treys, and takes just about a third of his 14 shots per night from there.

Big name free agent acquisition Hedo Turkoglu has been lackluster thus far this season, posting a slightly below average PER of 14.5. Former Pacer Jarrett Jack has struggled mightily, shooting only 37%, and Rasho Nesterovic has only been used sparingly.

Items of Note: Foster and Murphy are expected to join Ford, Rush, and Granger in tonight’s starting lineup…If you’re looking for a lot of Roy, consider this quote from O’Brien: “We can’t play Roy much unless they play Amir Johnson or (Rasho) Nesterovic,” O’Brien said. “We’ll start Jeff at center because we’re quicker and able to guard their pick-and-rolls.”…Watch Danny away from the ball. If he’s standing around (which he’s prone to do), then the entire offense stagnates around him…Pay close attention to times when Murphy and Hansbrough are on the floor together.  O’Brien likes the pairing, so if the Pacers struggle at those times, it could be cause for concern for the balance of the year.

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Sometimes Matt Bonner Dreams, That He Is Reg

by Jared Wade on November 10, 2009 at 3:58 pm

Matt Bonner wanna be, he wanna be, he wanna be like Reg, like Reg — if Matt Bonner could be like Reg.

I’m not the only one seeing the similarity here, right? (video via Ball Don’t Lie)

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