Sam Mitchell Cost The Raps
Well four losses in a row the Raptors decided to trick the Jazz into thinking they were the Celtics by wearing green. Actually it was for St Patrick's Day and Raptor Fans should drink the green beer to at least have a little fun because the Jazz are just double tough in Salt Lake City. Raptors would be tired as well closing out this awful road trip. The news that Bosh will return on Wednesday when they return home. basically everything pointed to an easy win for the Jazz. But as a wise man once said that is why they play the games.
The Raptors looked different in the green and they got off too a decent start in the first four minutes down 6-5. Andrea Bargnani already had 2 fouls but Sam Mitchell rolled the dice on the youngster. Jazz were returning from an east coast trip where they played 4 in 5 nights. Maybe after all the high scoring no defense brand of basketball the Raps could grind it out with Utah and catch the Jazz sleeping. This was an ugly game but the Raptors found themselves with a lead of only 10-9 lead with 4:00 minutes left in the quarter. Better defense or sleeping giant in the Jazz? Little of both would be the answer but the Raps were showing some effort but the Jazz were no doubt having an off night. T.J Ford entered the game and made a ill advised pass on a 3 on 2 and the Jazz would go back up by 1. Sam Mitchell called for time and looked to settle down his back-up point guard. After the time out we had a Maceo Baston sighting. Baston the former wolverine would match-up against former Duke star Carlos Boozer. It would end up tied at 16-16 after one. It was painful to watch but Raptors did not care after the trip they have had. The only thing that was important was the tie score. Raptors shot just 27% in the quarter just to drive home the fact of how ugly it was.
The second quarter the scoring on both sides was starting to increase but it would be hard not to after that first quarter. The Jazz started to get it in gear and jumped ahead 29-21. Ronnie Price was doing a solid job with his second unit for Utah and T.J Ford was not for the Raptors. Jose Calderon would return with the Raps down 6 points and Jason Kapono was having the start of back to back good nights. The Jazz were starting to pull away with a 36-27 lead the largest of the night. So thoughts of a St. Patrick's Day miracle were fading fast for the men in green. It took a little longer than it had on other nights in this trip but once again the Raptors were down big as the Jazz continued to extend the lead to 12. Andrea Bargnani continued to struggle picking up his 3rd foul with little success. Mitchell once again would leave him out there. He just looks lost on the floor and has started too look much like he did early in the year when he was in a major funk. Raptors would make a minor rally and get a technical foul shot that was called on a frustrated Deron Williams who wanted a call and didn't get it. But he did bounce back after a slow start to get 10 points in the quarter. His Jazz would take a 9 point advantage into the locker room for the half time break.
Jazz shot a amazing 72% in the second quarter. However watching this Raptor road trip it seems far less impressive. Raps would come out fighting to start the 3rd quarter. Andrea Bargnani finally found his way on the score sheet for something other than a foul making his first score of the night a 3 point shot. Raptors had cut the Jazz lead to just 4 with 8:40 left in the 3rd. Hope was reborn on Raptor side of things. Bargnani hit another shot and the Raps were on a 13-5 run and back to within 1 down 52-51. Like a bad rerun that this road trip has seemed to be the Jazz would stop the run right there. Every time on this trip the Raptors have got close or even a small lead the other team has responded and taken over. It happened in Oakland and Last Night. The Raptors were hoping to change their luck on the 3rd go around. Cue Anthony Parker who had a block on Deron Williams earlier and than hit a shot to get Raps within 1 again. Jose Calderon would also start to heat up and that earned him some extra floor time. He had 15 point and 7 assists to this point in the game. But Raptors had yet to get over the Hump(No Kris Humphries Reference Intended) but were with in shouting distance of a lead. Raps had several chances to tie or pull ahead but had yet to deliver. The Jazz shooting had gone back to cold from red hot and the Raps finally got back to even at the end of the 3rd quarter. If you were scoring this like a boxing match we had a round even and a round for the Jazz and one for the Raptors. Who would get the K.O in the 4 th round. That was to be determined.
T.J Ford would start the 4th and continue to struggle and the Jazz would cash in on his mistakes to jump back in front by 7 points. Ford and his team mates just seem to be out of sync and it is getting frustrating for him, the team and the fans. How long could Sam Mitchell afford to leave Jose on the bench? Ford clearly was frustrated and not on his game at all. Even things where he was not involved were going wrong as it was like bar karma taking over the Raptors. I often defend both Sam and T.J but this was a mistake leaving T.J in the game. It really was not fair to T.J or Jose to leave Ford in. Raptors were down 8 points and had only scored 4 points in the quarter. T.J Ford frustrated with the Referees and himself would blow up. He got two Technicals back to back and was gone. The Referees did what same Mitchell should have done and sat Ford down for the rest of the night. This game had totally gotten off the tracks and Sam Mitchell is really as much to blame as his players. I am as big a T.J Supporter as anyone but it was clear to even the untrained basketball eye that Ford was not on his game. Sam Mitchell needed to save his team and his player from a situation that was going wrong and he did not. Rasho Nesterovic meantime has totally sold me on the fact he needs and deserves to start. He had 13 and 12 so far for a double double. The only thing I can say is Rasho is not exciting and not a number one pick but he does what is needed. You have to wonder what Chris Bosh was thinking sitting on the bench watching his team fall apart in front of his eyes. Raptors were heading for their 5 th lose in a row. They have been just 4-11 without Bosh. He will return Wednesday and need to rally his troops in a major way. These are the times where you earn the labels like LEADER and FRANCHISE PLAYER. Maybe this kind of meltdown was needed to allow the Raps a way to start over. They have fallen to just one above .500. The Jazz would coast to an easy win 96-79. Raptors had a long flight home to Toronto to workout their issues.
Boxscore: http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=280317026
Podcast: http://dinoblogger.podbean.com/2008/03/17/meltdown-in-utah/ |