Raptors vs. Rockets: Toronto's Defense, Looking Like Last Season

In in game they should have won, played against a team they should have beaten, the Raptors gave the sparse crowd at the ACC a stark reminder of why they were so unsuccessful last season.  Houston 124, Toronto 112, ouch!

It’s only preseason and there are lots of excuses for the Raptors’ loss against a depleted Rockets team.  But if anyone needed a reminder that defense is required to win games, notice has been given.

Generally its hard to take these preseason scrimmages too seriously.  Players are working on timing and conditioning.  Coaches are giving tryouts to players trying to earn a spot on the bench or in the rotation.  Winning is often an after-thought.  But the players are supposed to be implementing the philosophy and game plans of their coach. 

Not tonight!

At least the game was fun to watch!  And if the Raptors ended up as Golden State north, fans could still come out to the arena just for the pure entertainment value of watching a team that scores 110 points per night.  As an added bonus, season seat holders wouldn’t have to worry about that expensive playoff tickets invoice in April either!

But this isn’t what Jay Triano promised fans during training camp and most season ticket holders will suffer the pain of additional ticket costs after the regular season without complaint.

And it wasn’t all bad, the Raptors did score 112 points and should have scored a lot more!  Besides how often can a career 39 percent three-point shooter like Shane Battier go 8-of-9 from beyond? Well last year, it seemed like that happened a lot!

In what was reminiscent of many a last season game, decent three-point shooters like Battier had career nights against the Raptors because no one was guarding them.

In this game, Shane Battier was left unguarded all evening.  Even though the fans could see from their seats that Battier thought he was shooting layups from out there.  One might have expected that someone on the Raptors would have started guarding him before he’d made seven uncontested three-pointers without a miss?

The end result of this inability to find three-point shooters was a 13-for-23 night for the Rockets from three.  When compared to Toronto’s 2-for-13 from deep, the difference was the spread in the score.

It’s not that Toronto didn’t shoot well tonight, 50 percent from the field is very good.  The Raptors just missed their threes.  Mostly Houston had decided to take the night off on defense as well.

But tonight’s story wouldn’t be complete without noting the return of a very inspired Pops Mensah-Bonsu.  In 23 and a half minutes, Pops was 8-of-9 scoring 17 points, grabbing 7 boards and making 5 blocks.  Pops was just as much fun to watch tonight as he was last year here in Toronto.

Still instant energy, in his first two minutes, Pops got two offensive boards, a defensive board, and a tip-in with Bosh on the floor.  In the next two minutes with Johnson on the floor, Pops got two more boards, a block, made a jumper and went 1-of-2 from the line.  Johnson got two fouls and a turnover in the same time.

Johnson, whose night could have been longer but for five fouls, ended up with decent numbers getting 10 points, 7 boards, and a block.  But in a game that featured little defense, it was Pops who dominated Johnson and made the statement to the Raptors that they shouldn’t have passed on him!

Turkoglu is still covered in rust and it’s really not fair to even talk about his play as yet.  Unfortunately they don’t play these preseason contests in a closed gym.

Turkoglu started and played seven-and-a-half minutes before Weems relieved him.  In that time, Turkoglu was good for 3 assists, 2 defensive boards, a foul, 2 ugly passes resulting in turnovers, a missed jump shot and 2 missed layups. And Battier made three completely uncontested three-pointers.

Like in Boston, after Turkoglu got going, things did get better and Turkoglu played 15 more minutes after the first quarter shooting 4-of05 getting 9 points, 2 more assists, and only 1 more turnover.  Unfortunately, Battier made four more uncontested three-pointers with Turkoglu on the floor.

Sonny Weems continues to impress but had a scary moment when it looked like he had jammed that big toe of his again.  The toe appeared to be okay later on.

Aside from a blown uncontested dunk on a fast break, followed by a missed jumper, Sonny came into this game and changed things for the better.  Sonny entered the game with the Raptors trailing 18-21 in the first quarter and exited in the second quarter with his team up 43-37.  By the end of the night, he had logged another double digit scoring effort.

In a game where the Raptors shot well, Jarrett Jack shot poorly hitting on just 3-of-11 shots and getting blocked four times.  The nine assists looked nice, but the three turnovers tied a team high.  It’s hard to say that Jack had a good game.  Bosh struggled as well in this game hitting on only 4-of-12.

While just about every Raptor can point to the box score and say it wasn’t me!  Every Raptor player should be wondering how they let a Rocket’s team shoot 56 percent from the field and 56.5 percent from three.  No one on this team should be going home happy.

The Raptors announced that Reggie Evans foot injury will keep him out for the balance of the preseason, even though it’s not considered serious.  And Antoine Wright is expected to play on Sunday for the first time as a Raptor.

Jay Triano has his work cut out for him before the visiting Boston Celtics arrive for the return match this weekend.  Boston will not play an undisciplined game just because the Raptors may choose too.  It’s either tighten up and play better or be embarrassed on Sunday!

Expect a better effort and come out to the final preseason game at home.