No More Blowing Leads In 4th Quarter? Options

[lalaman1]

Last year our leader in 4th quarter scoring was Bosh with an average of 5.4 pts scored in the 4th quarter. Our 2nd & 3rd highest scorer in the 4th was Bargs & Calderon with 3.3 & 3.1 pts scored. Our additions of Turk & Jack should help us out in that regard, considering Turk averaged 5.3 pts , and Jack averaged 4.2 pts in the 4th quarter.

I think this is being overlooked with our new additions. Yes some may have a point that our rebounding/ defence can become worse(although I personally think we will not become worse defensively, if anything we can be slightly better this year), but a major factor for us losing games last year was us losing leads & that problem has been addressed with more 4th quarter scorers.

[BigBoshMan]

Naturally your odds of winning games close in the 4th go up if you bring in more scoring options The real work will be for Triano to figure out how to make all these guys mesh. The general bbiq of the team has improved dramatically at the wing position. It's arguable if any of our SG's are on par with AP in that reqard(i'd argue no), but Jack has shown the ability to make good decisions with the ball and might be a good one to play that role particularly early in the season as Bellinelli and Derozan develop more.

[Freewheel]

I would rather we be able to stop someone.

On many occasions our 4th quarter losses occurred after blowing 10, 15, and 20 point leads earlier in the game.

[joey_n]

The additions help scoring wise but when guys like Kobe Bryant need a 3 to win the game watch out.

[CB4Raptors]

we don't blow leads in the 4th quarter....

Raptors are-28-9 when leading after 3(tied for 8th most in east).

The thing the Raptors need to improve is catching up when they're down. They're 5-40 when losing after 3. We had 49 losses last year meaning 40 of our losses were from losing after 3.


Just imagine what the Raptors could do if they can catch up.

[North Man]

This is why I like the addition of a guy like Turk. I don't think he will be rattled under pressure like our guys seemingly were last year. Games against teams like the Celtics and Nets early last season come to mind. When we needed a 4th quarter basket, Bosh got the ball, and many times, didn't deliver (having flashbacks of Chris being intimidated by KG every time we played the Celtics). With Turk now, I feel we have another go to guy under pressure who isn't afraid to take and make the big shot. We can talk all we want about defense and rebounding, but I think a guy who can be a solid late game scorer is pretty important to winning too.

[TheFedExpress]

But with Turk on the floor, it's also another guy who can't really defend his position.

I'm not sure how good we're going to be in the 4th quarter this year, but I'd bet it's probably about the same as the other 3 quarters.

[NaHoM]

we don't blow leads in the 4th quarter....

Raptors are-28-9 when leading after 3(tied for 8th most in east).

Did you read what you just said? Thats a horrible statistic. 8th out of 15. Im guessing being avg is something to be thankful of in Raptorland

[scully19]

But with Turk on the floor, it's also another guy who can't really defend his position.

I'm not sure how good we're going to be in the 4th quarter this year, but I'd bet it's probably about the same as the other 3 quarters.

Maybe, but if you look at his clutch play he actually does really well on the defensive end of the court.
http://www.82games.com/0809/08ORL10.HTM#clutch

And before you say that is thanks to Howard, he is 5 points higher in the clutch on defense.
http://www.82games.com/0809/08ORL16.HTM#clutch

I'm holding onto hope.

[CB4Raptors]

Did you read what you just said? Thats a horrible statistic. 8th out of 15. Im guessing being avg is something to be thankful of in Raptorland

considering where we finished last year, having a stat that made us a playoff team is a good thing. We were 13th in the east last year(1 game away from being 14th)

So having any stat that has us better in the east than the spot we finished in is good.

8th/15 isn't that great, but would you rather be 8th/15 and be 13th in the conference or 13th/15 and 13th in the conference.

[NaHoM]

considering where we finished last year, having a stat that made us a playoff team is a good thing. We were 13th in the east last year(1 game away from being 14th)

So having any stat that has us better in the east than the spot we finished in is good.

8th/15 isn't that great, but would you rather be 8th/15 and be 13th in the conference or 13th/15 and 13th in the conference.

Again settling for mediocrity. As for your question, i would prefer the latter as it would bring less questions as to why the team sucks.

[alucart999]

Again settling for mediocrity. As for your question, i would prefer the latter as it would bring less questions as to why the team sucks.

Well, settling for mediocrity is one thing, and I agree that the Raptors shouldn't settle for that. But the premise of this thread was that the Raptors blew leads, and I took that to mean that the Raptors were horrible last year at preserving leads, which in fact, is not the case at all.

I agree with the OP insofar as the Raptors should be better in the fourth quarter. What I saw in Raptors games during the fourth quarter last year, was not so much that their defense got any worse, but that their offense stagnated when the opponents defense stiffened. Having a few more play-makers (Jack, Turk) theoretically should help a great deal in that area.

This post has been edited by alucart999: Aug 25 2009, 09:10 AM

[TheFedExpress]

Maybe, but if you look at his clutch play he actually does really well on the defensive end of the court.
http://www.82games.com/0809/08ORL10.HTM#clutch

And before you say that is thanks to Howard, he is 5 points higher in the clutch on defense.
http://www.82games.com/0809/08ORL16.HTM#clutch

I'm holding onto hope.

I'm hoping for the same thing man. But my biggest issue with Turk is that besides his really really good year two seasons ago, I'm not sure he's really improved from year to year.

[Jin]

I think our bench depth is strong enough that there is no significant drop-off when we go to it, so we're less likely to let other teams back in the game. It's also about attitude and the willingness to put your foot on another team's throat. I don't think we have that, but we have guys that can hit big baskets and a coach that can draw nice plays. So I think we will see some leads deteriorate, but I think we have guys now who can man up and hit daggers when those situations arise.

Hopefully I can get rid of my Reggie Miller ava

This post has been edited by Jin: Aug 25 2009, 11:55 AM

[BrooklynBaller]

We should be able to win games in the fourth now with defense, I always remember defense will win you games down the stretch because it should be consistently there while offense may not be.

[Secretplay]

Considering Kapono won't be around to play in any more 4th quarters, I can't begin to describe how valuable that factor is...

[BrooklynBaller]

Considering Kapono won't be around to play in any more 4th quarters, I can't begin to describe how valuable that factor is...

To add to the discussion we won't have Sam sticking him on Pierce either, or have bone heads like Moon taking ill advised shots and giving guys like Joey Johnson a straight line to the hoop.

[StavrosB.]

We have a lot more scoring options this year. When it comes to crush time the opposing team will have trouble on where we put the ball in whose hands. My first options would be Turk. I know Bosh is our main guy but Turk has shown alot more of what he can do at the end of games. You could even pass the ball down low to bosh, then kick it out back to Turk for the shot. But anyway during the season i think we will have many games which will be close to the end and us winning most of them.