Canada - Just give the ball to Calderon

From www.thestar.com
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It's called "turning the corner" and the trek may end up in a crash more often than not but it's become Jose Calderon's calling card.

No play in the Raptor arsenal has been as consistently effective as Calderon coming around a screen set out near the top of the three-point line and driving to the basket.

It usually ends with him celebrating a layup by tumbling to the court under the basket, sometimes in wild pratfalls that should be part of his career highlight reel, but that's the price you pay in the NBA these days.

"I don't know," Calderon is quick to answer when asked why the rudimentary basketball play seems to work so often and so well.

"I just try to turn the corner every time and make plays for my teammates but sometimes I don't see the help and I can go to the rim."

Twice in a span of less than a minute late in the third quarter of Saturday's Raptor win in Charlotte, Calderon, Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani pulled the play off to perfection.

The 6-3 point guard first went around a Bosh screen and had a clear path to the basket that he finished with a layup and then he used a Bargnani screen and a nasty crossover move on Raymond Felton that got him an unimpeded lane to the rim. He was fouled on that play by a late-arriving Bobcat defender, he made the free throw and those five straight points gave Toronto an 11-point lead heading into the fourth quarter and the Raptors cruised home.

"I feel comfortable with these guys this year, it's a really good group and they help me, too," said Calderon. "They set a good screen so I can go turn the corner."

In this day and age of advance scouting techniques – teams can find out what opponents serve in the post-game buffet, let alone what favourite plays they run – it's astonishing that Calderon can get to the basket so easily so often.

But the fact that it's Bosh and Bargnani generally setting the screens helps, as does the fact the 25-year-old Spaniard is a lot quicker going by a defender than he ever looks on tape.

"The problem is, either Andrea or Chris are so effective at the high post, teams are not going to let Chris and Andrea stand out there and shoot wide-open shots," said coach Sam Mitchell. "They've got to make a decision, either stop Jose and T.J. or let Chris and Andrea go to work."

And that's like picking between different poisons.

"It's like us, we know when they have a good play, we try to defend it like we want and sometime you have to leave something," said Calderon. "Each team's defence is different, some teams trap you (with the big man defending the Raptor big); some go under (the screen and meet Calderon).

"I think our team is reading very good this situation."

Not only does the ability of Bosh and Bargnani to drive or shoot jumpers make it tough for teams, Calderon has become a much more effective jump shooter this season.

Finally fully healthy after suffering from foot and ankle woes for the last half of his rookie season and brimming with confidence after leading Spain to a gold medal at the world championship last fall, he's become close to automatic from 15 feet and in.

He shoots almost 53 per cent from the field, a mighty impressive stat given he's only a 29 per cent shooter from three-point range, which remains the weakest part of his game. But as he gets around that so-called corner, there are now options – last year he had to drive because he wasn't a good jump shooter from 15 to 18 feet. That extra threat makes him exponentially more dangerous.