Raptors Third Quarter Collapses Reflect Badly On Triano
By RaptorTalkBryan Colangelo was interviewed a day after the Raptors lost in Sacramento to the Kings. It was a game where they surrendered 43 points in the third quarter and came out of halftime allowing the Kings to open on a 14-0 run.
Colangelo commented on a number of issues relating to the Raptors’ woes, including the need to be better coming out after halftime. I’m not sure the GM realizes just how awful his team is in the third quarter of most games.
I spent time examining Raptors’ third quarters and the picture is not pretty. There is no excuse for consistently coming out flat in 2 out of 3 third quarters - which is exactly what the Raptors do.
Must be the third quarter because we're getting our butts kicked!
The third quarter statistics for the Toronto Raptors rank among the worst in the NBA.
Third Quarters WON by Toronto: 20
Third Quarters LOST by Toronto: 38
Third Quarters TIED by Toronto: 3
Third Quarter Raptors WINNING percentage: 32%
The Toronto Raptors win less than 1 out of 3 third quarters.
Digging a little deeper, we discover that the third quarter has put the Raptors in some real holes where they have given up large first half leads or where the table has been set for a huge second half collapse – like we saw in Sacramento.
Third Quarters WON by Toronto by 10 points or more: 0
Third Quarters LOST by Toronto by 10 points or more: 10
The Raptors have come out very flat in many 3rd quarters including twice losing the quarter by 20 point margins.
Raptors rank at or near the bottom of the NBA
The Raptors surrender more points in the third quarter (27.3) than in any other quarter, which places them second from the bottom in that dubious category.
28. Minnesota – 26.6 points
29. Toronto – 27.3 points
30. Golden State – 28.5 points
To make matters worse, the Raptors also rank near the bottom in third quarter point differential at 27th in the NBA. Yet they rank a decent 13th in the 1st quarter and a very good 7th in the 2nd quarter. The Raps are 21st in the 4th quarter which is not at all good, but still better than their position in third quarters.
Since the All Star Game, the numbers have been worse. Toronto has surrendered an average of 29.6 points over that stretch, while only scoring 22.9 points themselves in the third quarter.That's a whopping points differential of 6.70.
What does it all mean?
The four main conclusions I draw from these numbers do not reflect well on the coaching staff:
1. Opposing coaching staffs do a great job of making adjustments to what Triano’s Raptors did in the first half
2. Conversely, Jay’s ability to counter punch and adjust at the half is among the worst in the league
3. Jay Triano’s staff does a poor job of motivating the Raptors to come out of halftime playing hard
4. The Raptors as a whole may not be as well-conditioned as the opposition and therefore begin to fade in the second half
Third quarters are so critical to winning basketball games because they set the tone for how you perform down the stretch. The Raptors are simply terrible coming out of halftime.
No way to sugar coat it. The Raptors are abysmal in third quarters. While some of it falls on the players, a large part of the blame falls on the shoulders of Jay Triano and his coaching staff.
Clearly, Toronto is flat out unprepared and not motivated to play hard after halftime. To make matters worse, they are routinely out-coached in the third frame.
If they expect to make the playoffs, its got to change now!
Posted by RaptorTalk at 3/11/2010 10:51 PM 
Categories: The Coach
Tags: Jay Triano Bryan Colangelo third quarrter Toronto Raptors
Categories: The Coach
Tags: Jay Triano Bryan Colangelo third quarrter Toronto Raptors
Triano is a players coach and he's not tough with his players. His team is soft and thats whats happening in the third quarter. A bunch of pansies getting a good butt whupping.
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Great read - exc analysis.
RaptorTalk: Thanks for reading and the link on RR!
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