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Why do you guys keep losing to Euro teams?
It's embarrassing.
Get well soon guys!
http://www.torontosun.com/Sports/Bas...70066-sun.html
Raps get man-handled
Parker, Garbo hurt in collision
By STEVE BUFFERY, SUN MEDIA
MADRID -- A trip that had been celebrated as being a great success came crashing to a distressing end last night at the Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid.
The Raptors, wearing their road reds with yellow trim in honour of the host country, were defeated by the Spanish side Real Madrid, 104-103. But even worse than that, two key players, Anthony Parker and Jorge Garbajosa, collided with each other with 31 seconds remaining and had their respective bells rung. Parker stayed down on the court for a minute clutching his head before slowly getting up and being helped to the bench. Parker left the arena holding an ice pack to his head while Garbajosa needed s ches to close a cut on his scalp.
Even without all-star centre Chris Bosh in the lineup, the scare and the loss to a non-NBA club for the second time in franchise history (the Raptors lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv two seasons ago) put a damper on the team's two-week European tour.
The Raptors looked sluggish against the defending Spanish League champions, and were out-rebounded 52-38. There was also little in the way of an organized defence, as Madrid went 14-for-28 from the three- point line. Andrea Bargnani led Toronto scorers with 22 points, but he also had six turnovers and as many fouls.
"They beat us up on the boards (and) they beat us up physically," said Raptors head coach Sam Mitc . "We haven't settled on our starting lineup yet, and we have to find guys who are going to get in there and do the tough things. We've got guys who can shoot the basketball, we've got guys who can pass the ball, but we've got to find some guys who are going to go in there and do the dirty work."
The loss dropped Toronto to 1-2 on the European trek.
It was a turnover by Madrid's favorite son, Garbajosa, with the Raptors trailing by two with 19 seconds left in the game that sealed the victory for Real Madrid. Juan Dixon made it a two-point game with a finger-roll basket with 3.6 seconds left, but Madrid's Louis Bullock hit two free throws to seal the deal for Real, much to the delight of the sellout crowd of 13,703.
Bosh, the team's leading rebounder, missed last night's game because of a sore left knee, which he "tweaked" over a week ago while the team was in Treviso, Italy training. He has been unable to practice since the club arrived in Madrid this week, although it's not thought to be serious.
"We're going to get him back to Toronto and get him fully evaluated, take another MRI (and) compare it to previous MRIs," said GM Bryan Colangelo. "With only a couple of days left on the trip we didn't want to push anything. Let's just get him rested, let's get the joint calmed down, let's get back and we'll take the necessary steps to find out where we are."
Why do you guys keep losing to Euro teams?
It's embarrassing.
Like I said at the time, the Kapono deal was amazingly stupid. The Raptors panicked and got stuck with a horrible contract. A guy who makes his name hitting threes off of double teams going toward Shaq and Mourning isn't going to be near as valuable with Rasho and Andrea in the middle.
Kapono got more money than Udoka, Posey, Pietrus, Barnes and Patterson ... and all five of those players are better. In fact, now that I think about it, Kapono got about as much money as those five players combined.
@ the overrated GM that is Bryan Colangelo.
I imagine he is meant to feed of double teams on Bosh. Anyway how much are the Spurs paying Barry? Stop trolling bag.Like I said at the time, the Kapono deal was amazingly stupid. The Raptors panicked and got stuck with a horrible contract. A guy who makes his name hitting threes off of double teams going toward Shaq and Mourning isn't going to be near as valuable with Rasho and Andrea in the middle.
Kapono got more money than Udoka, Posey, Pietrus, Barnes and Patterson ... and all five of those players are better. In fact, now that I think about it, Kapono got about as much money as those five players combined.
On to Raptors - they suck. The offense was better against Real, and will probably improve. But defense? A crime against basketball. They let oponents get as many open threes as they wanted. Slow or non-existant rotation, the whole thing was painful to watch. I know it's just preseason, but they better shape up fast or this is going to be a lottery year.
Amen to the Hallelujah!
Sam to Raps, Get tough, boys
By MIKE GANTER, SUN MEDIA
While Sam Mitc 's search for toughness in his locker room continues, Chris Bosh is trying to find a balance between the need to give his sore left knee the time it requires to heal and the urgency to get back in the lineup and work out the kinks before the regular season begins.
Both the Raptors coach and their star player were upbeat yesterday as the team held its first practice on their home court on the third level of the Air Canada Centre since returning on Friday from a two-week training camp in Italy and Spain.
Bosh was evaluated by team medical personnel on Saturday. The swelling and discomfort in the knee he tweaked during a team scrimmage Oct. 3 in Treviso, Italy, has dissipated significantly during the past several days. While Bosh is intent on getting into a game this week, he will continue to be listed as day to day.
So while Bosh's workout was limited to the weight room yesterday, the rest of the Raptors were put through their paces, cleaning up their half-court offence while Mitc continued to stress the need for more toughness.
"Toughness for me is not going out and throwing illegal picks or elbows," Mitc said. "Toughness is standing in there and taking charges, setting a pick even though you know the guy may run through the pick. Putting a body on people, stopping the basketball, those are the things we have to get better at doing."
While Mitc used the word toughness, Bosh spoke of being more aggressive although the latter acknowledged both are talking about the same thing.
"We just have to be more aggressive, under control, but aggressive," Bosh said. "I think we're passive sometimes, we're not aggressive going to the basket. We have to get those easy points going to the free throw line. We settle a lot.
"We have a lot of nice guys so it's easy to be passive. We have to be aggressive on the boards, rebound with a purpose, run with a purpose and try to get to the basket. We know we can shoot jump shots. What we have to do is do a better job of getting to the hole."
Mitc said he would also like to use the next 16 days before the Oct. 31 season opener against the New Jersey Nets to make his offence a little less dependent on the pick-and-roll. While the pick-and-roll remains the meat of Mitc 's offence, he envisions adding to it to take some stress off his guards.
"What we are trying to do is be more balanced," Mitc said.
"We'll still run a lot of pick-and-roll this year but we need some other sets to go to. What happens is it puts so much pressure on T.J. (Ford) and Jose (Calderon) because they have the ball every time.
"We would like to have some sets and execute things well enough to where they can come down and initiate the offence and be a part of it instead of being the initiator, the facilitator and sometimes the finisher."
And that doesn't mean just getting the ball inside to Bosh more frequently.
"Not necessarily more post-up but more movements from our twos and threes," Mitc said.
"They have be more than just spot-up shooters. We need to get those guys to the free-throw line more."
We won- whoosh!
http://www.nba.com/raptors/news/preseason07.html
http://www.nba.com/raptors/news/quotes101707.html
SAM MITC
Thoughts on team’s performance…
The team has a lot of things to work on, a lot of things. Carlos (Delfino) played hard, he played good defense and Juan (Dixon) played well, except for the reaching in on defense, that’s something we need to work on. We need to clean up our mistakes, but we did a lot better in the forth quarter.
What was the reason for the combination of players at the end of the game?
Well, to get a look at the guys in preseason. I wanted to give Juan a couple of minutes, I wanted to give Carlos a couple of minutes, I wanted to give (Kris) Humphries some minutes. I’ve seen enough of Rasho (Nesterovic) in the preseason and he’s been playing great. (T.J) Ford had 11 assists, played 25 minutes, ran the team, he made one mistake but he did what he was supposed to do. But there was no sense of putting him back in the game.
Kapono
JASON KAPONO
Thoughts on being back home…
It felt like a real home game. It’s good to be back home and back on a good schedule now. We didn’t play all that great but we came out with a win. We were just trying to find our niche, trying to find our rhythm and that’s why we have two more weeks.
Is it easy to gauge where the team is at?
It’s easy to gauge. We watched film, they are good basketball players and they have a good solid team. Our intent is to go out there and play the way we plan on playing throughout the season. We are trying to work on the things we need to work on. Right now we are getting beat on the boards a little bit and we are not really shooting the ball that well. We have time and that’s why we need to practice.
Ford
T.J. FORD
Thoughts on tonight’s game…
It was a pretty interesting game. It went down to the end. I’m pretty sure everybody that was in the building tonight enjoyed it. They are a good ball club, they shot the ball well. It’s still preseason and we still have a lot of things and will look at tape tomorrow. We still have a lot of room for improvement.
What do you take away from this game?
We tried to do a better job of stopping people, not letting too many people to get into a rhythm. I think the biggest key is to continue to try and improve defensively, and we’ll make it tough for teams to score.
Tanoka Beard
Did your team know a lot about the Raptors coming into the game?
Yes we did, a lot of those guys have played in the Euroleague and were good players in Europe over the years. We remembered some of the work they put in over the years and things like that. So I think that we came in expecting to compete strongly.
How is the Basketball in Europe?
The Euroleague I believe is very strong and very comparable to the NBA simply because the teams in Europe are allowed to do a lot more physical contact and things like that. Over here the rules are a little more lenient and seem to protect the offence a little.
Marcus Brown
Talk about your connection with Maurizio Gherardini and Jorge Garbajosa?
Maurizio (Gherardini) is one of the brightest minds in basketball, he really does a great job running the show. He actually signed me in 2001 in Trevisio and also signed Jorge (Garbojosa) and we played our first years together. Jorge and I then reconnected in Unicaja Spain and led them to their first championship in 25 years. Then obviously him bringing Jorge and Anthony Parker here and some of the guys he is real familiar with.
Do you still have thoughts on playing in the NBA?
Well it has been nine years now and in the summertime I do entertain offers, but it is just entertainment. I would love to come back and finish my career here and eventually get into coaching or working with players. You have to have connections and maybe I do with Maurizio.
Sho played 23 minutes and was 6-9 from the field for 12 points. He had eight rebounds plus a steal and a blocked shot.
No T.O.'s or fouls.
Žalgiris sucks.
How is Defino doing?
Rasho highlights- nice dunk!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0lfn30XOExI
Raptors beat the Bulls!
( Bulls were minus Wallace)
http://www.nba.com/raptors/news/recap_101907.html
(TORONTO CP) -- Andrea Bargnani scored 19 points to lead the Toronto Raptors to a 92-82 pre-season victory over the Chicago Bulls on Friday.
Juan Dixon added 17 points, while Rasho Nesterovic finished with 12, and newcomer Jamario Moon finished with 10, as the Raptors (3-2) played just their second game of this exhibition season against an NBA opponent.
Aaron Gray scored 14 points to top the Bulls (2-2), while Andres Nocioni added 12.
Jamario Moon had 10 points off the bench for the Raptors. (Ron Turenne/NBAE/Getty Images)
The Raptors led by as much as 20 points Friday, and took a 71-54 lead into the fourth quarter at the Air Canada Centre. The Bulls rallied in the final frame and a basket by Viktor Khryapa cut Toronto's lead to 87-78 with 2:09 left to play. But a pair of free throws from Darrick Martin, then a three by Dixon with 29 seconds left secured the victory for Toronto.
With only two pre-season games left to gauge his roster, head coach Sam Mitc rested his starters for much of the night, and gave newcomers Moon and Carlos Delfino significant playing time.
Moon, who's been toiling in the minor leagues for most of his career, most recently with the Albany Patroons of the Continental Basketball Association, displayed the athleticism he's known for. In a brief burst in the second quarter, Moon, who'd played just 15 minutes in the four previous exhibition games, scored first on a huge alley-oop dunk from Martin then on a driving layup, then went up for a big block on Tyrus Thomas.
Delfino didn't fare as well, finishing with four points, four assists and three points on 1-for-7 shooting.
The Raptors have 16 players in camp and have until the Oct. 29 deadline (6 p.m. ET) to set their roster of 15.
Bargnani looked solid, three of his baskets coming from long range on a 7-for-12 shooting night. The sop re forward has shot 54 per cent over five pre-season games, up considerably from the 43 per cent he shot in his rookie season.
Raptors all-star forward Chris Bosh sat his third straight pre-season with a nagging left knee injury, while Jorge Garbajosa, who missed the tailend of last season with a devastating ankle injury, dressed but didn't play (Raptors medical staff said he was fine).
Bulls guard Ben Gordon sat out with a sprained ankle, while forward Ben Wallace was listed as inactive.
Bargnani connected on a trio of threes in the first quarter and the Raptors shot 59 per cent in the frame to race out to a 10-point lead. Toronto was up 28-19 heading into the second.
With both teams going to their bench in the second quarter, the Raptors stretched their lead to 17-points with five minutes left on a layup by Moon, and led 47-33 at halftime.
A basket by Dixon with just over four minutes left in the third put Toronto up by 20 and they held on to lead 71-54 with a quarter to go in the game.
NOTES: The Raptors lost to the Boston Celtics in their first pre-season game, and then played three European squads as part of the NBA Europe Live Tour. . . The Raptors wrap up the pre-season with a pair of home games Thursday versus Cleveland, and Friday against Washington. . . Toronto opens the regular-season at home Oct. 31 versus the Philadelphia 76ers.
http://www.nba.com/raptors/news/quotes_101907.html
SAM MITC
Were you satisfied with the teams play tonight?
Yeah, when we started winning we played well. I think that everybody who played contributed. We did some of the things we wanted to do defensively and a lot of their guys can play like some of our guys. Our guys knew that Chicago was going to come and play hard, they were going to play one way, and I thought it would be a good test, especially in the preseason.
What is the difference between European basketball and NBA style basketball?
It’s just a different kind of basketball. You know what I mean, we played the game that we had to play.
Andrea (Bargnani) was very consistent in the preseason, what are your thoughts?
He’s just getting better. You know what I mean. We ran a post set play at the beginning of the game. The way we drew it, the way we talked about it in shootaround, we executed it perfectly. He’s just ahead and working it and getting better, we still have to solve that a little bit. And with his shooting ability, we can take our time. And he’s young, he’s not even 22 yet. It’s going to take him some time to continue to grow. You can just tell he’s getting better. That’s the thing, we just keep working with him, on his foot work, his post move. Keep working with him on his total game. He’s going to make mistakes but that’s okay.
Bargnani
ANDREA BARGNANI
Thoughts on the teams progress…
I think the team is getting better because we are getting into shape slowly. We practice very hard so maybe we are a little bit tired which is normal for this time of year.
Coach’s observation on your improvement…
I’m trying to do a good job for him. I’m trying to work a little more on the post game and I am trying to be a little bit more aggressive.
Moon
JAMARIO MOON
Thoughts on getting an opportunity…
I have been waiting for an opportunity for a while. I was a little more calm then I was the first couple of games. This game I settled myself down a little bit and made a couple of shot, I did pretty good.
Skiles
SCOTT SKILES
Nine of your 23 turnovers were from your so-called veterans…
We just didn’t show up tonight in any real shape or form. I thought it was the most unprofessional we’ve looked so far. We were totally disorganized and the effort was poor. Basically everything we did was losing-type basketball which is something we don’t normally do so back to the drawing board.
Any bright spots?
I thought Aaron (Gray) did a nice job again, I thought he was okay. I thought Nocioni (Andres) was okay but right from the beginning of the game we were flat footed. They are a very good offensive team and they shot the ball well, offensively we had a lot of turnovers, we couldn’t get into the lane had multiple mental breakdowns, guys not knowing where they’re supposed to be and when that happens in our league you’re going to get tattooed and that’s what happened to us.
Thomas
TYRUS THOMAS
Thoughts on Andrea Bargnani...
He is a tough assignment you have got to try and stop him from him getting going because he is such a great shooter. He is just a tough assignment, but we have to do it when the regular season comes, so we have to get it done.
What do you take from tonight’s game?
We know exactly what we have to do better in the regular season when it counts. We kind of know what we have to do, so we just come out and get our assignments done and try and get the win next time, when it counts
Thoughts on the game…
The guys came out hitting good shots, we just have to do a better job on our assignments and a better job of getting them (Raptors) to think about their shots. We just have to do a better job.
Noah
JOAKIM NOAH
Thoughts on guarding Andrea Bargnani...
He is a heck of a shooter, he did what he wanted to do out there. That is why he is the number one pick.
Thoughts on adjustment from college to the NBA...
It is tough and it is a learning experience right now. I am trying to get familiar with the plays and stuff like that. I am trying to build confidence and feel very fortunate to be in this situation
Rasho only played 13 minutes and shot 5-5 from the field and 2-2 from the free throw line (actually 2 and-1's), scoring 12 points and blocking 2 shots in that short time. Sam rested alot of the guys.
Link to game in six minutes located here:
http://www.nba.com/raptors/news/preseason07.html
Rasho running the floor at the 2:00 mark.
Bulls vs Raptors BlogEveryone's talking about the battle between Andrea Bargnani and Rasho Nesterovic for the starting spot but what caught my attention tonight was the nice three man rotation that's forming with Bargnani, Nesterovic and Chris Bosh. Bosh will gobble up the majority of minutes at power forward but Bargnani can play power forward and centre and should be able to play 30 minutes at a combination of those spots. Add the veteran Nesterovic who can still play 20-25 quality minutes at centre for the Raptors and what once was a battle for minutes at centre now appear to be a nice three-headed monster for the Raptors.
Rasho only played 13 minutes and shot 5-5 from the field and 2-2 from the free throw line (actually 2 and-1's), scoring 12 points and blocking 2 shots in that short time. Sam rested alot of the guys.
Link to game in six minutes located here:
http://www.nba.com/raptors/news/preseason07.html
Rasho running the floor at the 2:00 mark.
That was some beautiful ball movement. Well done, guys!
Dude- Sho to AB... those passes were awesome!
Not so hot. Hopefully he can pick it up. The raptors could use some good defensive players.
Raptors pre-season homestandRaptor centre Rasho Nesterovic agreed with his coach that after nearly two weeks of non-NBA compe ion, the tough stretch would give the Raptors a better idea of where they stand with the season's Halloween start fast approaching.
"It's time to get back on track and start getting ready for the real season," he said.
"We'll see where we are (and) what we should work on. There's lots of things we can improve."
Both Nesterovic and forward Jorge Garbajosa said they aren't losing any sleep wondering how Mitc will utilize them this season.
Both veterans started for the bulk of the 2006-07 campaign, but are expected to be shunted to the second unit.
Nesterovic, who came into camp full of confidence and in excellent shape after a strong Eurobasket tournament for surprising Slovenia, said he won't make a fuss if replaced by emerging sop re Andrea Bargnani.
"This is a team sport, it's not tennis or an individual sport," he said.
"Whatever is needed for the team to win, you just have to accept it and get ready for your turn."
Though Nesterovic has played well in four pre-season games, averaging 9.7 points, five rebounds and 1.7 blocks per-game, Mitc said at the start of camp that he would give Bargnani the opportunity to start at centre if he improved his poor rebounding...
Nesterovic got slimmer, so did his role
Slimmer RashoThe Toronto Raptors are constructed under a theory that decrees every player should be an offensive threat and that nobody should be a liability with the ball in his hands.
The misfit is centre Rasho Nesterovic.
Never known for his offence, the slimmed-down Slovenian nevertheless had a terrific European championship this summer, taking his national team to the quarterfinals in what is known as the deepest and most compe ive region in international basketball.
Nesterovic averaged 12 points per game, shot 50% from the field, hauled in 7.6 rebounds and led the tournament with nearly two blocked shots per contest. He ranked among the leaders in several statistical categories and said that nine compe ive games against topflight talent boosted his confidence heading into his second season with Toronto.
"It definitely helped. It gets you in good shape and you're in game mode," Nesterovic said. "You've been through a lot before the season even starts."
But increased confidence, five less pounds {it's more than that}and a productive summer does not mean Nesterovic's role will not diminish this season. The 7-footer started 73 games last year, but will almost certainly cede that role to sop re Andrea Bargnani as the Raptors prepare the young Italian for a starring role down the road...
But Nesterovic can still carve out his niche by banging against the bigger bodies in the paint, bodies that will surely outmatch Bargnani in the strength department and could send him to the bench with foul trouble. For a team that looks light on rebounding, Nesterovic also has that route to staying on the floor.
Yesterday, head coach Sam Mitc said that Nesterovic is best paired in the post with a power forward who can shoot from the outside, namely Chris Bosh or Jorge Garbajosa. It will be rare to see Nesterovic on the floor with Kris Humphries or Bargnani, even if the latter can shoot with the best of the big men, because the team wants him developing the post parts of his game...
"It's a team game. It's not tennis," said Nesterovic, who is down to about 250 pounds and seems to have improved his conditioning. "I'm going to try to use every minute on the court, gain confidence for myself and for the rest of [the Raptors]. Young guys and older guys, everybody has to participate.
"Every night, there is strong compe ion. There are no games where you can relax because the other team doesn't have good players. You have to play at your highest level every night. The sooner [Bargnani] is able to do that, the sooner he will become a star and a franchise player."
Wow what a nice dunk by Rasho!
I stopped supporting him so much... but this summer he came back as one of my favourite players and with him the Raptors.
Besides Spurs.... im cheering for NJ (Nachbar) and Raps (Rasho) this year
basicly the same as last year
Sho is awesome.
I would take him back here in a heartbeat.
Surprise, surprise I know.
Good news Angel- more Raptors games on national TV.
ESPN
Jan 4 Detroit at Toronto
Feb 11 SA at Toronto
NBA-TV
Dec 1 Toronto at Washington
Dec 31 Toronto at N.O.
January 15 Toronto at Detroit
March 4 Toronto at Orlando
March 28 Knicks at Toronto
Awesome! hvala.
He had a great game against Cleveland tonight, including 9 rebounds.
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