Toronto game

[Alexander Wang <awang@MIT.EDU>]

Looking ahead to the Toronto game:

Another important home game against a beatable team. Toronto has suffered
losses to Detroit and Philadelphia so far this season, giving up 104 points
each time on 48% shooting by the opponents. Their defensive problems may
root from the fact that Vince Carter and Mark Jackson aren't a great
defensive backcourt, and their opponents' offense has been perimeter
oriented -- Stackhouse and Atkins, and Iverson and Snow. 

Their offensive problem probably roots from losing McGrady, who near the
end of last season was giving them around 18 ppg. They are probably hoping
that Corliss Williamson can replace that scoring. Otherwise, on offense
they look kind of like Philadelphia has the past few seasons -- a single
big scorer, a complementary passing point guard, and some rebounding and
defense types up front. The problem is that they are probably not as tough
defensively as Philadelphia. On the plus side for them, they have the
option of going to the dreaded Mark Jackson post-up offense.

A strength for them has been offensive rebounding -- 18 per game so far,
and similar preseason results according to Pitino, primarily from Oakley,
Willis, and Davis, and these are against teams that may be better
rebounding teams than us. Of course, they have a lot of opportunities from
shooting 41% from the field.

We have a major revenge motivation because that improbable Vince Carter
buzzer-beater probably killed the morale and playoff hopes of our team. 

Keys to this game:

1. Our approach to Vince Carter has been the same as the approach we used
on Stackhouse. Deny him the ball. If he gets it, we probably quickly double
to get it out of his hands. The hope is that he'll eventually get
frustrated and start putting up bad shots.

2. I expect them to try the Mark Jackson post up against Kenny Anderson. If
he's successful, we should be seeing a lot of Randy Brown. I also expect to
see us try to keep it out of Jackson's hands using backcourt pressure.

3. Gotta keep them off the boards as much as possible. I'm hoping that
Battie and Walker don't get shoved around by these big, tough inside players.

4. Go to Pierce on offense. I don't think they have anyone who can really
defend him. 

5. Keep the pace up. They have some old guys who won't enjoy a fast paced
game.

Alex