Posting up the Regular season- Eternal Optimism? Not so much...

Toronto Raptors- 107

Memphis Grizzlies- 115

Any momentum, optimism or hope that was conceptualized on wednesday night was quickly proved false only a few minutes into friday nights loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.  It was clear from the opening few possessions that this was not going to be Toronto's night and what may begin to reveal itself a trend it seems that as Andrea Bargnani goes, so too do the Toronto Raptors.

The two entities looked out of sync early last night with Bargnani failing to catch simple passes and missing shots he would normally hit.  It is a disappointment to a club that with 9 new faces, was looking to turn a loosing culture with a history of defensive ineptitude around for the better.

Wednesday nights successful defensive dominance, or at the very least timely defense was countered Friday night with a soft defensive non-effort that Raptors fans have become accustomed too.

The season is 82 games long, this was just 1 of.  There will be many lessons learned and the true identity of this team will not be revealed until time and games are behind them but if performances aren't closer to those on Wednesday rather than Friday, Raptors fans will not have much to cheer about.

The Good

Chris Bosh

There is not much you can say after a performance by an individual player like that other than dominant.  Bosh, as he tends to do against inferior teams with slow counters, took the Memphis forwards to school friday night.  The Raptors franchise player had 25 points and 8 rebounds in the first half on his way to a 37 point 12 rebound night in a loosing effort.

The offense is not necessarily surprising, there is not much more he has/can add to his arsenal.  He beat men in the post, blew by them with a face up game and even hit a 3 point shot which he has become accustomed to take.  The more impressive part is the tenacity he has shown, and nose for the ball.  Bosh had 8 rebounds in the first half and 6 of those rebounds were in the first few minutes.  His ability to rebound in heavy traffic has been impressive and if he can sustain the effort he had early in the game it will go a long way to help the defense.

DeMar DeRozen

His line will not look overly impressive (6 point 3-7, 5 rebounds) but the way he is playing in limited minutes, along with the patience and obvious quick learning curve he has shown has given reason to think the young guard can become a major player as early as this season.

His athleticism was on display a few times last night.  On one occasion he had been beaten off the dribble by O.J. Mayo and recovered for a Lebron James like block.  Another time he took a hard cut along the baseline and claimed a Chris Bosh air-ball for a put-back dunk.

We knew those parts of his game would be revealed.  The more impressive part is his ability to fit in on offense and let the game come to him without forcing bad plays or shots.  Too often rookies think the only way they can positively effect the game is to score, so when they haven't shot the ball in a while and finally have the opportunity, they chuck.  DeRozen has not forced many bad shots, none last night, and has done his job of going after offensive rebounds and running the floor.

The progress he has made in these areas since the first summer league game, combined with his ability to take the ball to the basket off the dribble could mean big things for he and the Raptors by the second half of the season.

Marco Belinelli

Consistency is the theme of the day, probably will be for the season, and is certainly the case with Marco Belinelli and his career.  Consistency was the problem in Golden State in regards to the minutes he received and as a result, the production he outputted.

Triano went back to him in the second quarter, which seems to be his designated time slot, and while he did not have the same impact on the game as he did against Cleveland, Belinelli put together another solid if not unspectacular game.  Marco had 7 points on 2-4 shooting with a few steals and only 1 turnover.  

Hopefully this trend will continue from both the coach's side and a production side and the Raptors will have a very valuable scorer off the bench. 

The Bad

Focus

As discussed before, the game was really there for the Raptors to take.  Toronto had momentum coming off an emotional win, the FedEx forum was empty and the few fans that were there did not seem to have much interest in the early stages of the game.

If Toronto had come in with a focused, business-like attitude and built an early lead, the young Grizzlies would have reverted back to a young selfish shot happy team, ignored their strengths and in essence given up.  

Instead, the Raptors were lazy on both offense and defense, taking outside shots and recovering slowly on rotations and Memphis took advantage.  The Grizzlies played with a lot of energy, which became almost as contagious as H1N1, shared the ball and worked to their strengths.

Defense

Sometimes you cannot help good shooting nights from opposing players, and the Grizzlies did have a great shooting night (51.2 % from the field), but what the Raptors aloud them to do is get open shots early and as a result facilitated the hot shooting.

The Raptors want to trap the ball high just after mid-court.  This trap will only be successful, if the person who is coming over to the ball to trap, quickly recovers to his man.  Early in the game the trap-man was late recovering which left open shooters, particularly O.J. Mayo.

The Raptor big men were also at fault, despite some good effort by Andrea Bargnani and Chris Bosh, they let Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph get into the paint at will, and the opposing big men took advantage.

Coaching

One of the unsung heroes for Memphis was young DeMarre Carroll.  He provided a spark off the bench, and athleticism the opposing Raptors could not keep contained.  During their two key runs in the 2nd and 4th quarters Carroll was on the floor making things happen.

Triano seemed to have the perfect counter on the bench when Lionel Hollins went small with Carroll at power forward; Amir Johnson.  Amir only saw 2 minutes of action though and instead the minutes went to a struggling Andrea Bargnani, Rasho Nesterovic (who played well) and Antoine Wright who was relatively ineffective.  I know Triano is worried about mistakes but Johnson can be a game changer with his defense and energy and needs to be given some confidence building long runs on the court.

Much of Toronto's offense is predicated on ball movement and unselfishness, Triano does not want the ball to stick.  However the bottom line is that on the road, in a game where the momentum is not on your side, you have to milk to cow and go to what is working.  What was clearly working all night was Chris Bosh.

There was a long stretch in the third quarter where Bosh was not on the floor and when he did return he seemed cold.  Part of his rust could have been shaken off if he was force fed in the post and that didn't happen.  In a close game on the road when you have the luxury of having a post player like Bosh, you must utilize him. 

The Outlook

Fans were on an emotional high after the opening night victory and are now probably at the depths of despair after last night.  While the loss was disappointing the season is long and the Raptors will have more good nights then bad.

Even last night there were glimpses of the mental toughness and defense they will need to be successful and while it did not prevail, the glimpses should develop with time.

Orlando will provide the real true early season test on Sunday.  The Magic have virtually no holes on their roster and the kind of depth and athleticism that does not match up well with the Raptors.

Look for the Raptors to respond with a solid effort and hope that if they provide energy early they can take advantage of a Magic team that will undoubtedly be tired after the Jay Z concert the night before at the ACC.

- J.Moore