Pacers have a new coach and the Raptors...yup Jay Triano is still here. Pacers new coach faces the Raptors tonight and the Cavs next. If he goes 0-2 during that he should be fired too. But in terms of the Raptors we could sure use a win. I am honestly forgetting what it is like to write about a win. Pacers smoked the Raptors in the teams only meeting this year as I mentioned this morning in our preview of this one. Weems remains in the starting line-up. All those e-mails Tom Liston sent did not work apparently.
Collison blows right by Jose after Pacers won the tap not a great early sign. But Andrea with a score plus an and one free throw was a good sign. DeRozan after some failed possession by both team got a score and it was early 5-2 lead. Collison again with a blow by and an easy bucket for former Raptor for a few weeks Roy Hibbert. Seems the new coach is well aware of the Raptors weak points on defence. But the Pacers D had it's own issues letting the Raptors come back and take a 13-10 lead. A bit of a worry as Demar DeRozan had a bit of a nasty landing but he was ok. Demar is not "some fake tough guy" he is the real deal playing ever game this year for the Raptors. But what was not ok was Mike Dunleavy then Collison connecting on 3's. Pacers built a 20-15 lead and it was time to call a time out for Jay Triano. Whatever Jay said didn't work because Pacers were up 27-17 not that long after. After 1 the Raptor D had been lit up for 32 points and Pacers lead was 11 with the score 32-21.
Tyler Hansbrough gets a put back dunk and the Pacer lead had grown to 14 and another time out from Jay Triano. The first one worked so well I am sure this one will be just as good.The second quarter is turning into a haze of terrible choices on offence and no defence at all. That combination has lead to a 43-26 Pacers lead. Raps had not yet bottomed out though as the Pacer lead would grow to 48-28 before the Raptors showed they indeed had a pulse. Raptors would get on a 7-0 run that was the good news. Bad news was that still left them down 13 points. Raptors kept rolling and were on a 13-0 run and now you were seeing why the Pacers had lost 7 of 8. Ed Davis was a big part of that run on both ends of the floor. Raptors clawed back to down 51-45 at the half.
The second half begins with a Bargnani missed jumper and Ed Davis sitting on the bench. But the Raptor roll continued with the Young Onez Amir then Sonny with buckets. Finally for the Young Onez trifector Derozan gets fouled and heads to the line with a chance to tie it at the line. But the tie would be short lived at 51-51 and soon the Pacers would have a 62-57 lead and Pacers had a bullseye on Andrea Bargnani and were exposing him on D. Finally Triano decided to place Bargnani's butt on the bench where it belonged in favour of Ed Davis. But it might have been to late will see. Amir Johnson is down and he has been battling through a lot, and you hope it is something he can battle through. Not since Alvin Williams have we seen the kind of toughness Amir Johnson has shown this season. Andrea Bargnani is back in with Amir out for the moment with a twisted ankle by the looks of it. Bargnani finally was showing signs off life on offence but the D was still non existent. Bayless with a how the heck did the go in drive and score. Raptors were down 5 when the smoke cleared after 3.
The Bargnani suck feast would continue stepping on the end line and turning it over. Good news was Amir Johnson returned back to the floor late in the 3rd. But Raptors were down 77-70 in early going of the 4th. Andrea would take a well earned seat as Bayless would score draw a foul and make the and 1 to make the lead 5 once again. Raptors just could not seem to get back to with in shouting distance. I have said this many times in this blog. But when you dig a big hole like the Raptors did in this game, getting it back to level is only half the battle. Raptors seemed to have not enough in the tank to pull off the other half. Pacers had a 84-76 lead with 8:30 to play. Nuce play by Demar to hook-up Sonny for a jumper but, the train wreck that is Andrea on D would take those good vibes away. Turnovers after that and Pacers lead thanks to 6-0 run was 93-82 with only 5:01 to play. In the end the Raptors had nothing left for the Pacers and it would be a 104-93 Pacers win. The Raptors have lost 12 straight and that has not happened since 2003 which is before many of us even knew who Chris Bosh was.
Jay Triano was made by a late 3 taken by the Pacers when they could have dribbled it out pretty much. But screw being made about that be made at your supposed star player that can't play defence. Be mad at yourself for playing him far more than he deserved. Also be embarrassed by the fact this team over has been a joke on the defensive side of floor.
1/31/11
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It's been a while since I've posted on here. Here is what I think about the whole Triano situation.
ReplyDeleteFiring him would be disrespectful to him, during his entire tenure here, Bryan Colangelo has given him nothing but dog doodoo to work with. You put Triano with last year's Lakers and they still win the championship. Give Triano a chance with a good team and a good GM (i.e. not Colangelo) (both he has never had during his time in Toronto)
If you want Triano to go, what you need to do is let him talk to other teams if there is a vacant position available (Lakers might if Phil Jackson retires). Let him resign (as in leave his job) if he wants to. That's the respectable thing to do.