Not to Mean Any Offence, But Where's The Defence

As a diehard fan who travels to attend the Toronto Raptors’ home openers, you’d think I would be used to the emotional rollercoaster that is a Raps game and ultimately a Raps Season.

Well, this season might be too much.

As the lights dimmed on me this year on Oct. 28 at the Air Canada Centre, the hairs on my arms rose and the chilled Coors Light flowed. Then, my fellow Raptors fan and good friend watched the 15 scratches, representing the franchises 15 years in the Association. He then looked at me and said, “15 years of disappointment.”

As my shock and dismay subsided, I quickly felt my anger towards my fellow pundit turn to understanding and then the realization that he is in fact correct.

That comment rang in my ears for the entire starting introductions.

Then the 2009-10 rollercoaster began.

Excitement and the joy of a new season of screeching high tops and Jose Calderone’s three-pointer gesture buried the word “disappointment in the deepest pits of my mind, this was our year (to hopefully finish in the No. 8 spot)!

It was a good first half. The Raps took to the lead and didn’t fiddle with it. Lebron James didn’t really look like himself – more on that later – and Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon were taking the kind of shots they usually take, bad ones, you can have those, Cavs.

It was glorious, to be honest. Andrea Bargnani attacked the basket, more than twice. Bosh was Bosh, and Hedo Turkoglu did what I thought he would. It was quite the first half.

I was a little late getting back to my seat for the start of the second half, but when I got there and looked at the score board; guess what, I just started the flying downwards after the slow ascent to the apex of the rollercoaster.

After leaving to a 20-point lead I returned to a five point lead.

Thankfully, we have a second unit this year, sans Reggie Evans, but he’ll be around soon.

A second unit that doesn’t mind taking a charge – I miss Morris Peterson already – and playing defence, they can do some scoring, too and they’re fairly young.

Amir Johnson, Antoine Wright and Marco Belinelli impressed and the Raps were able to hold out for the win, and everyone got pizza at the ACC.

Most impressive for me was that they were able to hold the lead throughout the whole game.

Now if you know the Raps and how they fair in the fourth quarter, you know that holding a lead from start to finish is something to get excited about.

All the more impressive because James was kept – not quiet, because he managed to quietly put up a triple-double – docile as a crowd killer. He didn’t make a poster out of anybody or hit any big shots to deflate the fans in an arena that was as close as you can get to selling out without actually doing so.

Unfortunately, the rest of the season so far has been a less like a rollercoaster and more like a see-saw.

On the offensive side of the court the Dino’s are as high as can be, but when defending their butts seem to slam to the ground.

The numbers practically paint this see-saw picture, they are the highest scoring team in the East and third highest in the NBA. Get ready for the bruising. On the other hand, they are 29 in the NBA in defence.

No team that scores 124 points against a Tony Parker and Tim Duncan-less Spurs should loose a ball game, unless of course you surrender 136 points, which the Raptors did.

The second unit has some grit and can play defence.

Take the game against the Pistons where things weren’t looking to good with the Raptors down by nine. The second unit came on, made some stops and brought the Raptors back into the game and eventually handed themselves a one point lead.

I love Calderone, but one’s shouldn’t be dropping 20 points a game consistently.

Turkoglu is a great pick up, but having Bosh and Bargnani to step in isn’t quite like having Dwight Howard behind your poor defence against small forwards.

I recall the former Mavericks teams who could score on a whim, but didn’t play a lick of defence and as hard as it is to say, the Raptors are just like that, but a lot worse defensively.

“The team needs some time to gel,” is what I keep hearing, but how long? They’re eight games and a .500 record into the season.

At this point something needs to be done to get Bosh some help on the boards.

Reggie Evans may help out, but he won’t be starting.

Three-point shooting teams have exposed the Raptors perimeter defence to be worse than bad, see the Magic and Spurs games.

Maybe starting Wright at the two and bringing DeMar DeRozan off the bench could be a start.

You have to start Calderone and Turkoglu, so you have to bulk up the defence around them with strong help defenders, because those two get blown by quite a bit.

But there’s not much you can do, besides DeRozan’s role, I see Bosh, Bargnani, Calderone and Turkoglu’s roles being untouchable. Bargnani isn’t a great defender either so players aren’t very intimidated to drive to the hoop. Players like Matt Bonner, I love him, but he shouldn’t be driving off the dribble, through the defence and putting down a two-handed slam that pops the crowd.

A great team has been put together so there has to be a way to improve the defence. I’m just hoping this improvement happens sooner rather than later.

I’m not sure I can cope with another season of classic Raptors play.