Jay Triano's Plan for the Toronto Raptors: Almost Good Enough

For those who have watched Raptors’ head coach Jay Triano in the recent Raptors TV programming and in post game interviews it should have become clear that the team’s defensive game plan is to protect the paint first.  And for the most part, the Raptors are doing that.

The second half of this plan is to run out on shooters.  But Triano has stated that getting the second stage of this defense implemented will take some time.

For those who like to follow our friends in green, this is what the Boston Celtics have run the past couple of years with some success.  Unless of course they are facing a hot outside shooting team like Orlando, then this style of defense can get into trouble.

On Sunday the Raptors seemed to be beaten by the long bombs from the Magic and an apparent inability to stop anything the Magic were running.  But was this really the case?  Or was it just an impression created by an early large but unsustained lead the Magic had built up in the first five minutes of the second quarter?

The largest lead the Magic had at the start of any quarter was 10 points.

From the score and the shooting percentages attained by the Raptors during the game, the Orlando Magic were unable to stop anything the Raptors ran during the game for long.

As a team, the Raptors shot 54 percent from the field, 59 percent from three, and made 35 trips to the charity stripe.  The Raptors scored four more baskets and even out-rebounded the Magic.  The Raptors had more blocks too.

In contrast the Magic shot just 44 percent from the field and 53 percent from three with 41 free throw attempts.  The Magic won this game with 10 more made free throws, not by out-shooting the Raptors.  The made free throw differential exceeded the difference in the score.

The normally reliably bad 60 percent free throw shooter Dwight Howard went 14 of 16 in this game providing at least four totally unexpected points.

Toronto’s 98 percent free throw shooter Jose Calderon clunks two and the normally 80 percent Bosh misses six free throws costing the Raptors at least four or five expected points.

A game that never felt close despite being within four points with less than four minutes left in the game was in fact very closely contested throughout the fourth quarter.

And it should have been even closer.

With 5:12 to go and the score 107-111 Magic, Jay Triano continued with his two point guard rotation to close out games and for the second game in a row he got the same result.

Jose Calderon replaced Antoine Wright shifting Jack to the off guard spot.  Jack rewarded this move with a critical turnover and zero points.

Jack did not have a particularly good line on this day.  Five points, two assists, and four turnovers are reflective of his contributions.  It was his second unit that gave up the 18-4 run by the Magic to start the second quarter. But in the fourth quarter, he was once again providing effective backup point guard minutes.

It is hard to see exactly what benefit playing Calderon and Jack together at the end of games has been.  It is easy to question can Jarrett Jack play shooting guard on the Raptors?

Triano also tried some end-of-game offense-defense substitutions following free throws that didn’t work out as planned.  But like in Memphis, having Jack on the floor at the end effectively eliminated a potential scorer and didn’t improve the team’s defense.

Although it may have seemed that Toronto was beaten by the long ball and neither the coach nor the players adequately adjusted to Orlando’s play, Jay Triano’s game plan was working.

The Raptors did effectively protect the paint and held the Magic below 45 percent shooting on the day. A shooting percentage usually good enough to produce a Raptors' win. The Raptors were in Sunday's game throughout the fourth quarter with a chance to win while playing against superior opposition.

The Raptors lost to unexpectedly good free throw shooting by Howard and unexpectedly poor free throw shooting by Calderon and Bosh.  Triano’s choice of substitutions at the end of the game didn’t help either.

And a note to all the Jose Calderon haters out there who seem to get into a feeding frenzy every time an opposing guard has a good game.  Jose Calderon had a plus-minus of ZERO on the afternoon.  No long scoring droughts or unanswered opposition scoring runs occurred while he was in the game.

The Raptors backup point guard cannot make this claim.  It looks like it’s time Triano lets Jarrett Jack work out his game as only the backup point guard for now.