Toronto at Miami

[Real Deal]

TIME: 1:00 PM ET

TV: NBALP

[DunkinDerozan]

Demar derozan is really stepping up in this one. Lets hope he can keep it up

[Built Ford Tough]

The first quarter was by far the best quarter of basketball DeRozan has played this season. He made excellent decisions out there and read the defense perfectly. He was solid in the 2nd as well, but with him getting his usual rest period, he didn't have as many opportunities as he did in the 1st. In the 2nd half he wasn't as effective as Miami made some adjustments and took some things away, but he was still a factor out there, which was good to see. With Kleiza and Bayless keying the comeback, his offense wasn't needed.

 

- His first basket he came off a screen and ended up with Bosh on a switch. Bosh was giving him the baseline in hopes of funneling him into help. DeRozan caught the ball, read Bosh's positioning and exploded to his hit going right into Bosh's body to nulify any potential shot block. He did a nice job of bouncing off of the contact and finishing with the right handed floater for the And 1. A strong, decisive move before any help could arrive

 

- He got a rebound and instead of looking to hand it off to Calderon like usual, he immediately turned up court and pushed the ball. He read that Chalmers was playing him for the drive and backing off into the paint, so he found Calderon on the wing for the open jumper. Good job of reading how the defense was playing him and making the high percentage play.

 

- His next basket was a result of him recognizing the mismatch and attacking it. He got the ball and on the break ended up with Chalmers guarding him. He went right at Chalmers, establishing post position. He ordered the rest of the team to clear out so that he could isolate Chalmers in the post. Chalmers was forcing him left, likely knowing that DeRozan rarely drives to his left but instead of forcing a move to his right, DeRozan made a quick move to his left and ended up with a wide open left handed hook. Many times this season DeRozan has forced a move to his right on a play like that, or even passed the ball and didn't even look to exploit the mismatch.

 

- On the next Raptors possession he curled off of an Ed Davis screen, caught the ball and had Anthony hedge to allow Battier to get back into position. DeRozan swung the ball to Calderon and Battier shaded over towards Jose. Calderon pitched the ball back to DeRozan who immediately took one hard dribble to cause Battier to get back on his heels and elevated for the easy pull up jumper. Good recognition on his part to take that one hard dribble as it completely froze Battier and gave him the space he needed to get the shot off.

 

- His next basket was my favourite of the 1st quarter, even if it was one of the more basic plays. He got the ball just off to the right of the top of the arc. Amir came and set a screen for him. DeRozan took one bounce and saw that LeBron and Battier were boxing Amir in to prevent him from rolling to the basket so DeRozan took one dribble and went up with the jumper. It was a very simple play but showed that DeRozan was scanning the defense and not just pointlessly dribbling.

 

- His last basket of the 1st was just a nice job of short clock usage. Got the ball with 4 seconds left, took a hard dribble to his right, spun off of Battier to his left and did a nice job of using the glass to bank it in. It was a really nice, fluid move.

 

- He also had a nice defensive play on LeBron. LeBron caught the ball at the foul line and DeRozan got right into him. He read that LeBron was going to go left, moved his feet, got to the spot before James did and drew the offensive foul. For a player who isn't very good defensively, it was nice to see him make this kind of play on one of the best players in the game.

 

 

- In the 2nd quarter he passed the ball into James Johnson in the post and Johnson kicked it back out to him. LeBron's close out was a little out of control as he was over too far to DeRozan's left and had his feet too far apart which didn't enable him to get the explosion needed to get back into position. Immediately after the catch, DeRozan went to his right as he saw the open lane, took two hard dribbles, protected the ball and went right up for the dunk. Another strong, decisive move that he hasn't been doing this season.

 

- He also had a really nice pass in the fastbreak to Rasual Butler, but Butler blew the dunk (and then managed to blow both free throws as well) so it didn't really get a lot of attention. It was a nice play to suck the defense and find the open man.

 

Now the challenge is for him to carry this over into the next game, the one after that and so on and so forth. He has had some flashes this season but once it seems like he is starting to turn a corner, he reverts back into the invisible, non-impactful, useless player that he has been for much of the season.

[DunkinDerozan]

Hah, thanks for that post. I missed most of the first quarter because I was so pumped up for the Superbowl that I completely forgot the Raptors were playing. Its really good to hear that Derozan was making smart plays and not just dribbling around and then forcing a bad shot. I saw when he made the nice play to Rasual, but of course he missed the dunk and the free throws. I saw the sick dunk where he saw the lane and just exploded to the basket. That is what I love to see out of Derozan.

 

I don't know if you're superstitious, but other than that dunk, Deerozan really started to cool off after I put on the game, and last time I missed a full Raptors game he put up 27 points. Maybe i'm bad luck.