Fun game tonight - especially the 33 point 4th quarter (Chalupas Baby!).
Oden was great tonight. He did a good job establishing deep position from the first possession and his teammates actually passed him the ball (in the 1st quarter, anyway). You could tell the focus was on getting him going early. It was also nice to see him drawing fouls on the opponent's big men rather than the other way around. 7 offensive rebounds was huge. He would have had even more, but on multiple occasions the Raptors fouled him to keep him from getting the offensive rebound and the put back slam. Watching Jake Voskuhl and Andrea Bargnani trying to keep him off the offensive glass was hilarious.
Speaking of Bargnani, the Blazers let him do the one, and only one thing he can do well in the first half - shoot the uncontested jumper with his feet set and his shoulders square to the basket. In the 1st half the perimeter defense was awful. Thankfully, the defense was much better in the 2nd half - holding the Raptors to 10 points in the 3rd quarter after giving up 57 first half points. For a while in the 2nd quarter it was looking like the Blazers were going to get beaten by Will Solomon and Andrea Bargnani the same way they were defeated by JJ Barea and Brandon Bass on Christmas. Neither Solomon nor Bargnani were factors in the 2nd half.
Of course, Brandon Roy just totally took over the game in the 4th quarter. He was just abusing Jamario Moon - Toronto's best defender. When it became obvious Moon simply could not stop Roy, or even slow him down, they started double teaming him. When the double teams came, Roy calmly found his open teammates and got them the ball. That 4th quarter was classic Brandon Roy. We are so lucky to have Roy (and Aldridge) from that 2006 draft. Gee, I wonder how many Raptors fans wish they could have a do-over on that 2006 draft. Toronto doesn't have a single SG or SF on their roster that's even an average NBA starter. They have a couple guys with one-dimensional skills, but nobody that's even average in all areas. If they had drafted Brandon Roy instead of Andrea Bargnani, they'd be a much different team right now. Roy epitomizes everything they lack in a perimeter player.
Right now, Toronto looks like a lottery team. Once you get beyond Bosh, Calderon and O'Neal, they've got nothing. As mentioned, they don't have ANYONE decent at the 2 and 3 and lack quality back-ups at the 5 and 1. They simply aren't a very good team. We should beat them by double digits at home. Glad to see the guys taking care of business and getting the win.
BNM
