Raptors Report Week 7: Bad Week Ends on Positive Note

The Raptors had a tough week this week, dropping three out of four games, and as usual, the team still can't figure out how to play for the whole game.

Playing for four quarters is key in basketball games, and if you are going to slack off just a bit it's going to be tough to catch up.

Record: 1-3

Performance on a scale of 1-10: six

Here is a recap of the four games:

Toronto Raptors at Indiana Pacers, L 100-124

Positives

Not much. Jose Calderon was solid, but I can't really think of anything else. Calderon remains day to day, and don't worry, it's his foot, not that nagging hamstring injury. So he should still be able to resume his solid play.

Negatives

When you lose a game by over 20 points, this list can get pretty long. To make it simple, the Raptors were simply outplayed from the start and they were never close. Just not a good effort.

Toronto Raptors at New York Knicks, L 110-113

Positives

Andrea Bargnani exploded for a career high 41 points, and the Raptors played a fairly solid game. They were in it the whole game, and Raymond Felton had to hit a miracle three to sink them.

Negatives

The Raptors were poor defensively, and couldn't contain Amare Stoudemire. Linas Kleiza was just awful defensively, and I don't know why Triano would keep him in the game, down the stretch. It just doesn't make sense.

Toronto Raptors at Denver Nuggets, L 116-123

Positives

The Raptors went on a run and made it a game late, and Linas Kleiza finally had a decent game.

Negatives

The fact that they had to play catch up, and just didn't play at points of the game is concerning. Playing consistent is still a huge problem. The defense was just bad, again. Giving up 123 points won't get it done.

Toronto Raptors at Detroit Pistons, W 120-116

Positives

Ah, a win. But this win was special. The Raptors erased a 25 point deficit to cap the greatest comeback in franchise history; they went on a tear and the Pistons couldn't stop them. Offensively, they were great. Defensively, in the second half, they were great. Jerryd Bayless and Leandro Barbosa played excellently and brought us back into the game.

Negatives

You shouldn't be down to the Pistons by that much in the first place.

Overall, this was a week to forget about, but ended positively and hopefully the Raptors can take some of that momentum into their next game.

Ask Sachin

"Do you think the raptors will re-sign BC once his contract is done this summer?" - Tahmid Ahmed, Raptors fan page on Facebook. 

Tough question. A big factor will be whether the MLSE stays with the team, or if somebody buys them out, but I think either way Colangelo will remain with the Raptors.

"Why are the Raptors so inconsistent and just plain awful on the road?" - Jonathan Yeung, Raptors fan page on Facebook

Again, tough question. The team is young and still trying to figure out how to play together, so that could be a factor in their inconsistencies, and in terms of being bad on the road, well, I have nothing. Sorry. They have just always been a bad road team.

"Is Andrea Bargnani capable to be our go to guy?" - Ernest Law, Raptors fan page on Facebook

Andrea has certainly shown his offensive potential. When he's on his game, he's almost impossible to guard. But, just like the Raptors, he's inconsistent. And if he's going to be the franchise player, he's got to be consistent.

In terms of the rebounding, people have to give the guy a break. He isn't always in the high totals for rebounding, but the team has been decent rebounding as a whole, so it's not really a problem if Bargnani doesn't rebound. Andrea seems to be getting better and better as the franchise player, and he still is only 25-years-old.

So, can he be our go to guy? We'll have to wait and see. 

"Is Jay Triano a qualified NBA head coach?" - Ernest Law, Raptors fan page on Facebook

Triano gets too much heat. When a team does badly, the coach is the one who gets the blame the best, but when a team does well, the players get the credit. Triano is the more reserved type of coach, but he's certainly better than most people give him credit for.

Triano isn't the problem of this team right now.

"How is Toronto going to handle the PF and Centre position once Reggie comes back from injury? How is Toronto going to manage the rotation with so much potential on the line?" - Kevin Ji, Bleacher Report

First off, we'll have to wait and see how effective Reggie will be after returning. If he somehow is effective enough, and returns to his full health, then there is a bit of a question.

Dorsey would most likely lose his minutes in the rotation, and Amir will probably lose some minutes, but I expect Ed Davis to actually play around the same. Reggie will definitely not be playing the same amount of minutes with Davis healthy, because his development is key to this franchise.

Amir is more effective than Reggie offensively, but Reggie is more effective in terms of rebounding and defense, so it also depends on the matchup, but expect Reggie to play around 20 minutes, Amir and Davis to play 20-25 minutes (give or take) and expect Bargnani to continue to see 30 plus minutes a night.

If you want to have your question answered in the next Raptors Report, leave a comment below. Thanks.

GO RAPS!