Posting up the Regular season- Sometimes these things write themselves...

The script was written, sent out to the studio and immediately was put into production, but instead of using their improvisational skills the Raptors stuck to the words on paper and payed for it in the end.

No, this is not a career ending film, like say 'Look who's talking?' by Travolta, it may only end up being a blip in the radar like 'Stuck on you' was for Matt Damon. The Raptors may still have a 'Bourne' franchise or a 'The Departed' in them, but until Triano is more Scorsese than Schumacher and the Raptors are collectively more the ensemble cast of 'Crash' than 'High School Musical' things are not going to turn out well.

Entering into last night's game all the ingredients were their for a bad Raptors performance, and the Nuggets used them. The problem is that the Raptors struggle with athletic, dynamic, physical players. They just do not have the personnel to match any of those attributes.

So while a front court of Nene and Martin do not scare the rest of the league with any large degree, they are precisely the kind of players that kill the Raptors and defend our two best players (Bosh and Bargnani) well. The Raptor bigs had to attack early to get the Nugget big men frustrated and in foul trouble and because of either the officiating or lack of execution that did not happen.

The Raptors had to either try to shut down 2 of the Nuggets best 3 offensive players or more realistically hope they had an off game. Well, Carmelo Anthony looked extremely impressive (thats an understatement) scoring 16 points in the first quarter, seemingly at will, on route to a 32 point performance on 12-15 shooting from the field.

When he took some time off in the 2nd quarter, JR Smith simply outdid him scoring 19 points in the 2nd quarter hitting 4 shots from 3 point range on route to a 29 point performance and even though the score was tied at half, the game was essentially over.

When the eventual 3rd quarter run came by Denver, their players were too hot at that point and the Raptors were too gassed from the physical beating and the mile high city's thin air.

The Good

Marco Belinelli

Even though the record overall is not where the players or Raptors' brass want it do be, and even though they are in the midst of a 2 game skid on a tough road trip, things are starting to slowly fall in place the way Bryan Colangelo envisioned in the offseason.

Marco Belinelli is one of those moving parts. Colangelo saw him as a scorer off the bench that could do multiple things on the offensive end challenge for most improved player.

Well it has started to take shape on this road trip. Belinelli has averaged 14 point per game and has now consistently over 3 games given the Raptors the kind of offensive spark they have needed, at times hitting back breaking 3 point shots and getting to the basket enough to keep his defender honest.

Coming into the season, I had likened him as the anti-Kapono in that he is a streaky shooter that will shoot his way into the game if he needs to, can drive the ball to the basket without turning the ball over and is willing to accept contact. The other less tangible element is that unlike Kapono, it seems when the Raptors are going on a run and need a big 3 point shot,elinelli is there to take it and usually makes it.

DeMar DeRozen

For most of the first half of the season at least, this is what DeMar is going to look like. He is going to have games where he plays just under 20 minutes and for the most part looks invisible. Then there are going to be those good games every 4 or so that give the fans hope.

DeRozen hit a couple early jumpers last night that were in the flow of the game and seemed to get him engaged. He ended the night with 17 points (career high), some of which were on athletic plays at the rim which we expect but he also hit a couple mid range shots and even a corner 3 point shot, which he looks more comfortable taking.

If DeMar can continue to work on his jump shot, and utilize it in the efficient way he has so far, the second half of the season he could play more of a meaningful role.

Sonny Weems

I have always said this about Weems; when Sonny is on the floor things happen. Sometimes they are good things, sometimes they are bad but they happen and overall that's a good thing.

Too often players come in the game and are spectators. There is a fine line between forcing the action and letting the game come to you, but so far in the time that Weems has gotten he has been on the right side of that line.

Coming out of College, the scouting report was that he had a decent jump shot, and it has looked better in the last few games. The two main things that Sonny has done to earn the coach's respect though, is that he has gotten to the rim and has a good nose for the ball that allows him to track down loose balls and long rebounds.

The Bad

Stagnation

There were more then a few times last night when you saw exactly why the Raptors like Turkoglu so much and why they paid him so much money. Last year, the Raptors still had a good enough offense to win games but at certain key times in the game like at the end of quarters/game or during key runs by the opposition the offense would get stagnant.

Hedo Turkoglu keeps the offense fluid. He knows where to pass the ball and if in the event that the pass isn't there, he is offensively talented enough to score at any time and thus end an offensive drought.

There are going to be times this year where the defense is not there, and what keeps the Raptors in games is the fact that they can go shot for shot with anyone in the league. Last night, without Turkoglu, they could not keep pace because their offense went stagnant a few possessions too many.

Antoine Wright

I am no where near ready to give up on Antoine Wright as a good veteran rotation player because of one bad game, but defensive stopper? I am having my doubts.

Wright is a very good team defender in that he rotates well, communicates on defense and takes charges because of his anticipation. I have yet to see him stop or slow anyone down and last night was no exception. As sated above Carmelo scored half of his points (16) in the first quarter where his primary defender was Wright.

Anthony is a great player and no one in the league can really guard him but he missed only two shots in the first quarter. Lets not be so willing to appoint Wright as our defensive saviour.

Andrea Bargnani

For one night at least Andrea reverted to some old bad habits. He picked up some early fouls which took him out of the line up. He was not tough enough inside on Nene and let the Brazilian big man to get position early and often right under the basket and on offense stayed on the perimeter shooting jump shots rather then attacking the paint (with the exception of a massive dunk on Chris Anderson).

If the Raptors had any chance of winning they needed Bargnani to have a big game. He needed to have one of his games where he got the the foul line, used an assortment of post-ups, drives, crafty pump fakes and the long ball to score and right from the opening tip he just did not seem to be engaged.

Coach Jay Triano might be wise to run a couple plays early for Andrea to get him involved and have the ball in his hands early. This may open up all other facets of Bargnani's game.

Referees

For the most part I think that blaming the referees is a cop out and a bad excuse because a few bad calls seldom cost you the whole game but much of the Raptors success last night was predicated on Bosh getting to the line, abusing the Nuggets' big men and getting them in foul trouble so that when Toronto decided to double team Carmelo Anthony, he did not have Kenyon Martin or Nene to dump the ball off too.

Bosh came into the game averaging 12 free throw attempts per game and finished the night 1-2 from the free throw line. This was not a case of Bosh being jump shot happy, there too many times to count where Bosh would take the ball inside on a drive or offensive rebound, get hit and have nothing to show for it.

Conversely Carmelo Anthony got to the line 10 times last night.

The Outlook

Tonight the Raptors are in Utah where the Jazz have been idle for a few days with plenty of time to prepare for the tired Raptors. The Jazz will also have the services of one of the best point guards in the game Deron Williams.

The Raptors do match up well with the Jazz so it will be important to bring the same kind of effort they did against the Suns and bring it early. If Toronto can get off to a good start and get some confidence it will be a winnable game and be a good finish the the road trip.

It will be interesting to see how they respond on a back to back and hopefully Turkoglu will be back in the line-up to give them a jolt. If not, we may see more Sonny Weems and maybe even Pops Mensa-Bonsu in more meaningful minutes because Toronto will be tired.

- J.Moore