Fire Sam Mitchell.

The Sam defenders are REALLY coming out of the woodwork recently, so answer me this. (Last post micro-analyzing the round 1 loss, I promise — the below article just cements something we were harping on earlier).

Despite not having players with Piston’esque defensive ability, while Dwight was putting up those gargantuan numbers, why wasn’t the below strategy considered?

[from ESPN.com]

“He averaged 22.6 points, 18.2 rebounds and 3.8 blocks against Toronto — helping Orlando advance in the playoffs for the first time since 1996 — to rival what Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Moses Malone produced in those categories during the playoffs in the 1970s.”

Pistons coach Flip Saunders started with Jason Maxiell guarding Howard before sending Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess and Ratliff at him.

Howard’s 12 points were the fewest he scored during this postseason and his eight rebounds marked a career low in 10 playoff games. His lackluster game led to Orlando scoring a season-worst 72 points, 13 fewer than its previous low.”

The four horsemen would have slowed Dwight considerably — Hump, Primo, Rasho, Bosh — in the LEAST sending him to the line more often (HOWWW-ARD, HOWWW-ARD) and causing him to expend more energy, jostling for position with players not so concerned with saving their fouls. Common sense.

Doug Smith, Toronto Star columnist (and Mitchell bed-buddy) at it again. In his mailbag, he was asked this question:

Q: How crazy is it that both Philly and Atlanta, the 2 teams that a lot of people didn’t want in the playoffs with a rejigged playoff format, are tied with the 2 top teams in the NBA?

And will that impact BC’s decision with Sam, since Maurice Cheeks and Mike Woodson managed to coach their less talented teams to one more win than Toronto got, despite playing against tougher teams.
Read the rest of this entry »

• Took too long to get Calderon in the game
• Took 6 minutes to get Kapono his first shot (TJ can share the blame on this one)
• Didn’t send a struggling Howww-ard to the line more.
• Players executed horribly down the stretch; onus on them and coaches preparation

Add to the list…this one’s almost over.

(series and coaching tenure)

Stan Van Gundy had a remarkably insightful (and somewhat sympathetic: Wall you better freshen up, because like Ron Burgundy, Writing wants to be on you) quotable defending Sam Mitchell and that last play in Game 2: Read the rest of this entry »

He drew that up?

A 19 foot jumper for Bosh.

Seriously, he drew that up?

(written by Rhys Z.)

Here’s how Howard and Hump handled the heat, head to head, (hehe):

Conclusion: As hypothesized, Kris Humphries held his own against Dwight Howard. There’s nothing that Hump likes more (other than thinking he’s a scorer) than a physical mano a mano match up down low. Read the rest of this entry »

Why isn’t this a consideration? From reader Rhys:

“One of the keys is playing Hump more on Dwight. Don’t double Dwight. PG’s be aggressive. Wings slash when they collapse on Bosh, stop shading away from him. Be men, play with some pride. Get a motivational speaker in there. Hypnotist. Anything.”

Treat the 60% free throw shooting Dwight as a young-Shaq and hack the bejeezus out of him. Let Rashard try to penetrate (here’s a secret: he can’t). And then only Hedo’s a threat to score 20. Bogans/Nelson/Evans are average or less offensive players. Dwight will get 30-35. So what?

Raptors would have 24 fouls to use - Hump, Rasho, Primo, CB4. (I’d like to see Primo irritate Dwight to some extent.)

Put Joey in an ugly oversized suit, activate the spindly Maceo, feed him some HGH. And that’s 30 fouls.

Beats the game 1 plan, no?

Yes, I/we look to be critical of Sam when he messes up. But not having your all-star in the game, at this juncture, 4 fouls or not, is a huge MISTAKE…anyway you slice that pie:

Ball game.

I disagree with Doug Smith’s assertion that the last game of the season against Chicago didn’t mean anything.

In consequence, yes, sure it didn’t.

More telling was the demeanor of the overall Raptor attitude towards the game. Regardless of who was playing, striving for a 42-40 record versus the .500 mark of mediocrity, should’ve been instilled by a sense of pride.

Instead, having a laughfest on the bench (after a paltry finish to the season with a cakewalk schedule) is telling of the mentality on this team. Sam didn’t call a timeout in 4th quarter - most notably even with the Raptors clawing back to a 9 point deficit.

Contrast: KG ripping into his benchmates, earlier in the season…when they were up by 40. There’s a reason they have 66 wins, beyond the talent level on that team.

Desire to win, like Viagra, has no on/off switch.