In the Raptors locker room the other night, Jarrett Jack, the Toronto point guard, spent a few moments admiring a piece of Chris Bosh's wardrobe. It was an undershirt otherwise known as a tank, a singlet, a wifebeater. But Bosh was draped in an off-white model that looked better than the usual discount-store stock.
"Where'd you get that sandpaper wifebeater?" said Jack. "That (shirt's) taupe."
The shade of Bosh's garment could have also been described as beige, cappuccino, biscuit, tan. And the point of the anecdote? When you write about the Raptors, it's always useful to think of different ways to say the same thing. Wednesday night's blowout loss to the Orlando Magic, 118-99, was awfully similar to Tuesday's blowout loss to the Miami Heat, 115-95.
For the second straight night, the Toronto defence allowed their opponents to shoot for a practice-gym percentage (52 per cent in Miami; 57 per cent against the Magic). For the second straight night, the visitors were soundly out-rebounded, outhustled and outplayed by their opposition's all-stars as well as their backups. Perhaps worst of all, for the second straight night, the Raptors never really rallied. You know the old saying, that the NBA is a game of runs? That even the worst teams make it mildly interesting even after they find themselves down by double digits?
For the second straight night, the Raptors got down by as much as 25 and never made serious inroads, and Sunday's spirit-lifting home win over the Houston Rockets seemed like a distant memory.
"We'll take two steps forward and three steps back. We're there some nights and we're not there some other nights," said Bosh, the Raptors all-star. "We have to work on our consistency to be where we want to be. It's going to take hard work and determination."
To what do you chalk up the inconsistency of the latest damage on an 11-17 win-loss record? You could blame the hangover from spending an extra day in South Beach, the nightlife capital where the temperature during Toronto's stay never moved far from an unseasonably hot 29 C.
You could blame the coach, or certainly give credit to Orlando's Stan Van Gundy, who made the unusual decision to not give the NBA-standard first-quarter rest to Dwight Howard, his dominant centre, who finished with 18 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks. When the Raptors subbed for starters Bosh, Hedo Turkoglu and DeMar DeRozan with 2:49 left in the opening frame, the visitors trailed by just five points. With Bosh and Turkoglu on the bench, the Magic got ahead by 11 at quarter's end. It was a significant surge.
"When we go down by 10 against this team," said Marco Belinelli, "it is difficult to win the game."
Or you could blame the schedule. This week Rockets coach Rick Adelman lambasted the NBA for a "ridiculous" December schedule that will see his team play four sets of back-to-back games in about two weeks. Bryan Colangelo, the Toronto GM, pointed out the Raptors played their 28th game of the season on Wednesday, tops in the NBA to this point.
"To see other coaches in the league complaining about the schedule, I kind of find that funny," said Colangelo. "The schedule is what it is."
The talk in the locker room, according to those who hear it, is that the Raptors were upbeat and energized during Wednesday's intermission, pumping up one another, vowing a better second half. Then the Magic turned 12-point halftime lead into an 18-point bulge about eight minutes later. And then the good-intentioned banter turned to funeral-toned lament, to hush-mumbled vows of improvement, to the same-old, same-old.
"It's always like that. We always talk, talk, talk, talk, `Come on, let's be positive,'" said Bosh, expelling a sigh. "It's about action."
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Chris Bosh: 40 pts, 18 reb vs. Magic (08-09 NBA)by BiGGuY3249,360 views
howard is a beast, but hes been kinda off lately
beebotheman23 2 years ago