Toronto Raptors Ramblings

Mitchell Mind Games

Although this encounter was a victory, I think we have shown it as an example of what not to do.

Was Mitchell just playing mind games? I think all twelve players had hit the court by halftime and only Garbo hadn't scored yet. Good thing Philly is more like a preseason game anyways.

Garbo note: The crowd gave Garbo some serious love with a huge standing O, followed by a Gar Ba Hoo Sa chant for a good 30 seconds. We love Garbo (who pregame was also given his NBA All First team rookie award along with the Nani).

And speaking of the Nani, he gets two quick fouls and YANK. Banished for what seemed like 1.5 quarters or more. Just like last year we have no idea who is going to get the minutes so everybody got them. But who got way too many you ask?

Carlos Delfino. What in the world was he doing on the court all game? He played 30 minutes of mostly uninspired basketball. His stat sheet looks harmless enough but right from the pregame he looked nonchalant, which clearly irked me.

Play of the game. Nani for 4. Down the stretch, Philly closing in. Nani drops a 3 + the harm. Although the real play of the game was probably Anthony Parker dropping a 3 after the Sixers had closed it way too tight. Tough to tell...a few plays of the game and TJ could even earn consideration from some crunch time drives (note to TJ: when you are trying to eat clock and get a shot low in the clock, stop waiting for 5 seconds. try 8. i realize MJ waited till 5 but MJ could get his own shot every time where as you have to pass it quite often).

Bosh gets benched? Was Bosh injured? Has he not earned the right to play the last 3 minutes, let alone 9 minutes of the game? Sure he was hoisting a lot of crap and forcing a few thing but down the stretch we were playing Ford, Parker, Nani, Delfino, Kapono. Were those guys so amazing that we didn't need any boards? (note: i later hear Mitchell say Bosh "ran out of gas"....really he didn't have two minutes in him...

Although i sound annoyed in the face of a V (which is some serious tough love game 1), we did show signs of depth (even without playing our real lineup) and this game is clearly hopefully is no indication of upcoming minutes played (minus Ford & Parker).

Mitchell is still in tryout mode so lets hope he gets Delfino into the 16 minute range on the asap and gets Garbo and co back on track to success. We know the guys who are going to take us there so lets get to it.

posted by WG @ 10:19 PM