Raptors Discussion: v43|We The North redux: this is what it feels like to have a team with actual depth

[Auston Matthews]

Are you serious? lol can anyone else can confirm this. Pretty cool

Yes! It is 100% him I replayed that part over and over! He was between the two ads on the side of the court, beside the officials table. He was sitting with who I assume is his wife, and was wearing jeans and a regular shirt

 

[Nasty Nazem]

Think I'm gonna regret picking Pek over Jonas.

Pek is better fantasy wise but pretty much also a lock to get injured. If he can stay healthy, I think he is the better pick but not by a whole lot.

I think a 14-15 ppg and 9-10 boards is in line for JV.

 

[Alerion]

So why exactly are you excluding last year? I'm not sure what those other previous teams have in common with this one other than they play in the same venue and operate under the same name.

Like I said, one game is certainly indicative of what's to come.

That 12/13 team featured our entire starting lineup, along with Dwane Casey as head coach. That data certainly applies.

Blowing a 19 point 4th Q lead is worrisome. Casey isn't gonna be happy with that effort, especially on home court. Them pulling this one out is no more indicative of what's to come then them blowing the lead in the first place, so why not speculate?

 

[Suntouchable13]

That 12/13 team featured our entire starting lineup, along with Dwane Casey as head coach. That data certainly applies.

Blowing a 19 point 4th Q lead is worrisome. Casey isn't gonna be happy with that effort, especially on home court. Them pulling this one out is no more indicative of what's to come then them blowing the lead in the first place, so why not speculate?

Good teams don't go away. If they blew a 19 point lead in the 4th Q against Philly or something like that then that would be worrisome. Game 7 last season, the Nets blew a pretty big lead against us but ended up winning by 1. It happens all the time.

 

[Auston Matthews]

 

[Bionda]

Swervin, if you intend to post crappy music videos after every win, there will be hell to pay.


Mark my words.

How old is he 13/14 ? There should be consequences for posting that crap.
Should be ashamed of himself

 

[TheLeastOfTheBunch]

Pek is better fantasy wise but pretty much also a lock to get injured. If he can stay healthy, I think he is the better pick but not by a whole lot.

I think a 14-15 ppg and 9-10 boards is in line for JV.

I'm hoping he stays healthy. It's really too bad he's got those ankle issues

 

[Hanta Yo]

It's a fact about them whether you want to accept it or not. I'm glad they closed it out but consider, excluding last year:

27th in 4th Q differential in 12/13
28th in 11/12
28th in 10/11
19th in 09/10
18th in 08/09
19th in 07/08 (second last playoff appearance)

So yeah, they've very much been a bad 4th quarter team historically and most certainly a team prone to blowing leads. And if you couple that with the Leafs futility (and I'm a Leafs fan too so I'm not trying to rip on them) you can see how TO teams have that reputation over the last decade.

Let's exclude the prior season, in which a majority of the current players also played for the Raps, and go for stats from years ago to make a point...

The stats for the Raptors last season in the 4th Q pretty much paint a picture opposite to what you are implying. Like I said, not zero relevance, but close to it.

 

[Alerion]

Good teams don't go away. If they blew a 19 point lead in the 4th Q against Philly or something like that then that would be worrisome. Game 7 last season, the Nets blew a pretty big lead against us but ended up winning by 1. It happens all the time.

And I'm glad they pulled it out but I would have much preferred a tighter 4th quarter.

 

[mcleex]

Lol awesome. Seems like Kabby has put on a few pounds

 

[Hanta Yo]

That 12/13 team featured our entire starting lineup, along with Dwane Casey as head coach. That data certainly applies.

Blowing a 19 point 4th Q lead is worrisome. Casey isn't gonna be happy with that effort, especially on home court. Them pulling this one out is no more indicative of what's to come then them blowing the lead in the first place, so why not speculate?

You sound like you are fishing for stats at this point. Let's ignore internal player development, and you know, that small trade with Sacramento that just happened to turn this franchise 180...

 

[Tony Romo]

Westbrook is way to good

 

[Paradoc]

Great game by the raps! Liked Ross and Val performance tonight.

 

[Swervin81]

How old is he 13/14 ? There should be consequences for posting that crap.
Should be ashamed of himself

I'm 19, and obviously the joke flew over the heads of everyone here

Not that I should expect everyone to have watched 24/7 last year

 

[Clark4Ever]

It's always a positive sign when your team's work ethic can win games even if your best offensive players have an off night.

 

[pooleboy]

I think I like watching the raps more than the leafs now.

Dunno if its cause I have a new love for basketball and our raptors who actually compete or if its just cause the leafs continue to blow chunks. Whatever raps win woooo!

 

[Hyperglide]

I have the Faried. The Faried for speed! Damn he's on fiyaaah tonight.

Oh and good win for the Raps except for the almost near collapse at the end.

 

[McDeepika]

Was watching the world series but the Hawks are a decent team with Horford. To handle them with relative ease is a very encouraging sign.

In other news, Wiggins had a quiet debut but Olynk had a big game.

 

[Jaysfanatic*]

They let teams back into games far too often, but then also come back from deficits a lot. I don't know how to feel. Happy with the W though!

 

[topched]

They let teams back into games far too often, but then also come back from deficits a lot. I don't know how to feel. Happy with the W though!

They were a good 4th Q team last year.

But I do agree, they closed it out poorly tonight, up 19 should have just shut the door.

Thats part of being a young team though, they'll get better at it. I didn't think they played all that well tonight against a playoff calibre Atlanta team, but still managed to control the game completely.

If our second unit scores like it did tonight we'll win 50 games

 

[Gary Nylund]

They were a good 4th Q team last year.

But I do agree, they closed it out poorly tonight, up 19 should have just shut the door.

Thats part of being a young team though, they'll get better at it. I didn't think they played all that well tonight against a playoff calibre Atlanta team, but still managed to control the game completely.

If our second unit scores like it did tonight we'll win 50 games

This Atlanta team is no joke. Playoff team last year despite Horford being out for most of the year. I though both teams played very well. Would have been nice if the Raps didn't stumble at the end but there were way more positives than negatives. For the first game of the year, this was about as good as one could expect.

 

[Shwaguy*]

The issue I have with Casey (Happy that we won), is that he let's other teams dictate what style the team plays, Atlanta goes small ball-Casey pulls JV to go with Amir/PPat to counter even though JV was probably our best player along with Amir that game. And then all of a sudden Atlanta makes a big run and we almost blow the lead. We should be making other teams try to match OUR line up, not the other way around.


Also Props to DeMar for having a good positive impact this game in spite of his shot not falling (11 Boards, 6 Steals)

 

[Swervin81]

On an unrelated note, who in the world is Mike Scott?

 

[Alerion]

It's always a positive sign when your team's work ethic can win games even if your best offensive players have an off night.

DD had probably his best defensive game ever, I don't think I can remember him getting double digit boards before. That's what you need from your best players when they're a little off, contribution in another way.

 

[Gary Nylund]

The only that I didn't really like last night was DD is still forcing his shot. Too many contested jumpers from far out. If he can cut down on those he will be beastly. Hard to complain much when the rest of his game was so good but still, I have been wanting to just stop for a long time now.