The Raptors lost again. People are upset about Darko Rajakovic, which is becoming a familiar hobby for most of us. Some say he was out-coached by a group of role players, but in his defense, coaching is difficult when the other team also has basketball players on it.
It's been a long season. We are sixty-four games in, and for each one of those games, someone has been drawing a sketch to document the experience. At this point, the drawings probably look more like a man trying to remember what a win feels like, or maybe just a very detailed picture of a microwave.
The Math of It All
There is some good news, if you like statistics that require a calculator and a quiet room. Jamal Shead is currently fifth in the league in lowest expected field goal percentage by a defender. This means when players see him coming, they suddenly forget how to do their jobs at a rate of 42 percent.
It is nice to have someone on the roster who makes other people as uncomfortable as I feel when I try to explain the pick-and-roll to my uncle. Shead is out there doing the work. He is guarding people so well they actually expect to miss. That is a heavy burden to carry for a young man.
New Orleans and Low Expectations
We play the Pelicans tonight in New Orleans. It starts at eight, which is roughly the time I begin to wonder why I did not take up a simpler interest, like bird watching or collecting specific types of gravel. The Pelicans are generally considered to be a better team, mostly because they have more points at the end of their games.
Some fans are saying we should curb our expectations. They say we cannot expect to go from a lottery team to a deep playoff run in a single season. This is a very logical take, which is why it makes people on the internet so angry. We are losing to better teams because they are better, which is usually how physics and sports work.
Final Observations
Scottie keeps growing, and we keep watching. It is a cycle, much like the changing of the seasons or the way my local Coffee Time never seems to have the same staff twice. We are 64 games deep into an 82-game experiment.
Maybe the sketches will look happier soon. Maybe the expected field goal percentages will get even lower. Or maybe we will just keep spinning, much like the world, or a backup center from the mid-2000s trying to find the rim. We will see at 8:00 PM.