Game Notes: Moscow at Toronto
* Moscow shot a miserable 4-17 from the field in the third quarter which allowed Toronto to secure their first lead since it was 2-0. After the game Mitchell boasted about the defensive effort put forth by his players in the second half and gushed to the media, “Our defense was good. That’s a tough team to play against because of all the screens they set, they do a lot of movement and their bigs can step out and shoot which our big guys aren’t used to in the NBA. You can count on one hand the teams that have 6′11 or 7′0″ guys that can step out and hit that shot. So it’s tough. They ran a lot of flex stuff. A lot of motion stuff. They ran a lot of picks. Because you’re running the shot clock down when you’re running those sets and you don’t see a lot of that in the NBA.”
* When asked about tightening his rotation in the second half Mitchell briefly paused and then told the reporter, “I was a little bit disappointed tonight because of the way some of our guys played. I thought Andrea (Bargnani) played great. I thought Jason (Kapono did as well). But some of the other guys didn’t play as well and I left Jose (Calderon) out there for a reason. We work on certain things in practice and now it’s time to start applying them in games. We’re calling, we’re pushing and we’re pulling, but I’m not going to scream and yell at them. Charity time is almost over. If you’re not going to come out here and apply the kind of things we’re doing in practice, then you’re not going to play. We’ve played the first four preseason games just playing people and then showing them on tape what they’ve got to do with the premise that even if you make a mistake trying to do what we’re working on (then) it’s not a problem. It doesn’t get any easier than that. So, if you’re not going to come out and do those things then you’re not going to play.”
* I spent the majority of the third quarter watching Jermaine O’Neal and I was impressed by what I saw. His footwork is back, he’s assertive on the defensive end and he’s preventing teams from double or triple-teaming Chris Bosh. While he’s not making an impact on the boxscore - he finished with a pedestrian 11 points and 2 rebounds - he appears to be easing into the Raptors offense shooting a high percentage, drawing charges and making opponents think twice before they drive into the lane. Yeah, he’s wearing a knee brace and was tugging on shorts in the second half, but from what I can tell the brace isn’t constricting his lateral movement or his vertical jump and I don’t see this being an issue this season. Be patient Raptors fans, it may take 10-15 games into the regular season for things to click but once he gets accustomed to his new teammates and Sam Mitchell’s offensive sets he’ll have a monster season for Toronto. After the game Mitchell agreed with my assessment and told the media, “He’s getting his timing. You saw earlier that he’s stumbling trying to get his footwork and his timing down. That just comes from not playing against live competition in game situations. He’s slowing starting to get that back.”
* Ramunas Siskauskas came out gunning in the first quarter by scoring 9 of CKSA’s first 19 points. He was instant offense while going 4-5 from the field in only nine minutes of burn. He slowed down after that and finished the game with 15 points in just over 38 minutes of burn.
* Jamario Moon and Andrea Bargnani were doing a great job of battling on the glass tonight. The duo combined for 10 boards while Bargnani had four rebounds in his first eight minutes of burn. If Bargnani and Moon continue to crash the glass like this during the regular season then Sam Mitchell and Raptors fans will be elated.
* Watching Roko-Leni Ukic tonight reminded me of watching a running back in football because neither lets their feet stop moving. Ukic was constantly shuffling and moving his feet on defensive end and was a whirlwind driving through the lane on the offensive end. One play that sticks out in particular is when Ukic had the ball on the elbow and did a dazzling spin move which resulted in an easy lay-up. While he’s easily the least refined of Toronto’s point guards, it’s clear the kid is oozing with potential.
* I’m not trying to rip on Hasan Adams but he was blocked twice while trying to dunk tonight. I want to give him credit for going to the rim with authority but when both of his field goals were dunk attempts which were swatted away it greatly diminishes his chances of cracking Sam Mitchell’s rotation.
* Before the game Sam Mitchell had the local media laughing with his last minute plea for some votes in the Canada Federal Election which happened today.
* I was able to sit down with Trajan Langdon before the game for an exclusive interview and he proved to be yet another classy vet with some great insight. I’m excited to post my interview with him later this week here on the site so make sure you check back for that.
* Thanks for reading my second Game Notes of the 2008-09 season! Make sure you check back Thursday for my notes from when Minnesota visits for the final preseason game at the Air Canada Centre.
This article was written by:
Ryan McNeill - who has written 198 posts on Hoops Addict.
Ryan McNeill is the editor for Hoops Addict and has appeared on NBA XL and WSRQ 1220. Ryan has covered the NBA with media credentials since the 2007 season.
Comments
By rashad on October 15th, 2008 at 9:23 am
I look forward to that Trajan Langdon interview. Doesn’t Terence Morris from Maryland play on that Moscow team as well?
By Johnn19 on October 15th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Raptors gave some indication in the 3rd/4th quarter that they can play effective defense when they want to, in mostly keeping CSKA to the outside and taking poor shots. Much more of same is required with more consistency.
By Ryan McNeill on October 15th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Johnn19 - Great to see you back on the site! Hopefully you keep coming back this season and continue to leave comments. I regards to the effective defense don’t you think this could be a regular thing? I’ve found when the bench players come in the defense takes a hit but when JO and CB4 have been on the court together teams have been hesitant to post up or drive the lane.
Rashad - Thanks! I hope to transcribe it tomorrow on the GO Train ride to the game. Ideally it’ll be up by halftime but we’ll see how things shake out. Morris did play for Maryland and he’s playing some great ball for CKSA.
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