From Row E at the ACC: Toronto Raptors vs Washington Wizards

On a cold afternoon during the Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend, a sparse crowd of happy Raptors fans enjoyed a preseason scrimmage between the Washington Wizards and the Toronto Raptors.

Okay some people will still insist on calling these contests games.  And for basketball fans, the game was well worth watching!

A shout out goes to the Raptors’ management.  When you schedule a preseason game on a holiday weekend, expect some poor fool will talk their spouse into going to the game with them.
It might be a nice idea to have a real half-time show instead of a bunch of cute rug-rats chasing a ball up and down the floor.  A lot of us have already spent years watching cute rug-rats play ball on long weekends.  We don’t have to come to the ACC to see that!

Oh, and will you open the donut stand already.  No need to torture us until the regular season starts before we can try the newest cardiac treat at the ACC.

At the game, just like the game in Minnesota, Bosh took the opening shot.  But unlike Friday’s contest, Bosh missed a short jump hook and showed his lack of practice and playing time most of the afternoon.

By the time Bosh took his first break at the 6:16 mark, The Wizards’ power forward Antawn Jamison was 5 for 5 with 10 points and 2 boards.  Bosh had two missed shots, two fouls, and a turnover.  It’s a good thing there’s a preseason to get one’s conditioning and timing down pat.  Not to worry.

Sonny Weems however has everything down pat.  The kid flew out of the gate again going 2 of 3 for 4 points to go with 6 boards and an assist in just over nine minutes before jamming his big left toe.  Post game reports said x-rays were negative but there wasn’t much news about when Sonny might be back.

And Raptors fans will want to know that Sonny is good to go soon.  Between DeRozan, Belinelli, and Weems, the Raptors haven’t had this kind of  play at the wing for some time (can the Moon–Weems comparisons please get put to bed already? Weems isn’t 29 years old).

As is often the case, bad news for one player during preseason means good things are about to happen for someone else.  In the post game interviews, Jay Triano says he would have sat DeRozan down for making mistakes on several occasions.  But because Hedo, Wright, and Weems weren’t available, he had to tell DeMar what he did wrong and send him straight back out there!

The Raptors were rewarded for Triano’s lack of options and DeRozan had a huge fourth quarter scoring nine points and actually following his in game coaching to success.  That spectacular put-back dunk at the end of the fourth was DeRozan doing what he was told and going to the basket without the ball.

From about 25 feet away, that put-back dunk was even more impressive than on the tube.  DeRozan timed his run while the shot was in the air leaping at the precise moment to snag the ball as it came high off the rim.

If DeRozan can prove he really has that kind of court vision and this wasn’t just aggressive luck, the Raptors really do have a special player here.  Time will tell.

DeRozan also ended up as the Raptors’ high scorer today with 19 points.

Marco Belinelli also benefited from Weems absence with extra minutes and he put them to good use.  In 32 minutes, Belinelli was 6 of 13 for 15 points with 4 boards and 3 assists.  Marco looked to be every bit of the scorer the Raptors have needed off the bench.  Marco Belinelli is absolutely not afraid of shooting the ball!  Bye-bye JK.

Continuing on a good trend was the play of Amir Johnson.  In about 24 minutes, Amir was good for 7 points, 12 boards, and 3 blocks.  The longer Amir stayed in the game, the most comfortable he seemed to become.  His timing and decision making around the basket is definitely improving.

Johnson benefited from Triano’s decision to give Nesterovic the afternoon off.  Since Triano already knows what Nesterovic brings to the Raptors and Nesterovic seems to have most of game together now, giving the young forward some run makes a lot of sense.

Amir Johnson does not have Evans or Nesterovic’s experience. But so far in preseason it looks like Colangelo has found a very good young prospect.

Jose Calderon continues to increase his minutes played and play more effectively.  Also, Jay Triano continued his trend of playing Calderon and Jack together for an extended period apparently to “get them comfortable playing with each other.”  Both Jack and Calderon have a ways to go to get into game condition but both are progressing nicely.

However, if all of the Raptors’ wings continue to play well, it’s going to be hard to justify playing Jack at shooting guard very often.

A shout out to Reggie Evans who had 10 points and 7 boards in 20 minutes, it’s great to see a veteran who shows up to camp in game shape and ready to play.  No one could ask for a better example to his teammates than Evans.

Some interesting notes:

It looks like Weems has got Jay Triano’s attention.  When Jay says he’d put Weems in to cover when DeRozan makes a mistake, one could imply Weems isn’t making the same mistakes.  And from what’s happened thus far in preseason, Weems does look very solid on both ends.

Arenas looked smaller or slighter than the last time he played.  The two-year hiatus appears to have sapped something from him.  What whatever is missing however, it still looks like Arenas will continue to be a potent scorer.  They were not all going down, but his shooting stroke is as smooth as ever.

And yes, there was another team out there today.  And yes, the Wizards didn’t have all their players available.  But as Reggie Evans pointed out when someone asked him about the Wizards personnel problems last season, those aren’t our problems.

Next up is Boston on the road.  Could someone find us a TV feed!  There is no way Boston isn’t going to televise this preseason contest.  Especially now that they have no reason to watch baseball.

And for those who believe such things are important, the Raptors won this contest 100-93.  It does feel good to see the record improve to 2-2 this preseason, but the object is still to get everyone ready to play on the 28th.  So don’t take it too seriously.