Raptors Discussion: Raptors name Nick Nurse as new head coach

[al secord]

To win a championship? Sure

But to beat the Cavs? They're good enough.

They aren't until they show they are.

 

[Diamond Joe Quimby]

They aren't until they show they are.

That's very profound.

Team is simply not good enough, period. Pathetic performance.

Terry cloth; that means you're very soft.

Have to question the mental state of the Raps now....... Cleveland is in their head big time.

Still can't believe they messed that last shott 3x in regulation, ugh. Shouldve been the game right there

In the fanbases head, for sure.


As for the strategy, I'm fine with it. The off-Lebron defenders have to remain disciplined and stay home (which they did for the most part, save for the 2nd quarter). Demar\Delon needs to de a better job on Korver\JR. Hit your shots and limit the lemon booty in the 4th quarter, and you win the series.

As Aub alluded to, Casey needs to settle on his closing lineup. It worked well with FVV (or Wright)\Lowry\Derozan\Siakam\Ibaka in the regular season, and would function perfectly fine in this series as well.

It will be fun seeing the media (and fan) overreaction today. The US media will have their fun with the sweep talk, and the Canadian media will show how bitch-made they are. My recommendation is to ignore it. Better team, deeper team will lean on the Cavs and win the series (likely in 7).

 

[LeeIs]

All they have to do is bench demar for the majority of the 4th quarter.
He disrupts the offensive flow. What ever happened to his midrange jumpers?? Totally disappeared. He drives the basket then when lanes close panics and makes desperate moves.
We need to follow the blueprint from the game 6 win in Washington.
I don’t mind Lowry so much at least he can drive and make a nice pass for an easy bucket.
Ibaka has been trash. Totally useless.

 

[Diamond Joe Quimby]

All they have to do is bench demar for the majority of the 4th quarter.
He disrupts the offensive flow. What ever happened to his midrange jumpers?? Totally disappeared. He drives the basket then when lanes close panics and makes desperate moves.
We need to follow the blueprint from the game 6 win in Washington.
I don’t mind Lowry so much at least he can drive and make a nice pass for an easy bucket.
Ibaka has been trash. Totally useless.

Demar found a few guys open for corner threes in the 3rd and the 4th (which was literally what Lebron was doing as well), and they simply didn't stick the shots.

Again, remove the lemon booty, and they're just fine.

 

[Clark4Ever]

Still fuming. We did a good job defensively on Lebron but blew several chances down the stretch to put it away. We also had way too many unforced turnovers. We basically beat ourselves last night.

JV and FVV have to better in crunch time if we're going to get back in the series.

 

[Clark4Ever]

All they have to do is bench demar for the majority of the 4th quarter.
He disrupts the offensive flow. What ever happened to his midrange jumpers?? Totally disappeared. He drives the basket then when lanes close panics and makes desperate moves.
We need to follow the blueprint from the game 6 win in Washington.
I don’t mind Lowry so much at least he can drive and make a nice pass for an easy bucket.
Ibaka has been trash. Totally useless.

Last night wasn't on Demar on Kyle. In the past, they would have forced ill advised shots, but this time, they did the right thing by creating open looks for their teammates. We just couldn't hit any easy shots when it mattered most.

 

[TheTotalPackage]

I had to miss the last part of the game, but watching the highlights, I can't believe the Raptors had four touches of the ball in the dying seconds to get a basket and not a single one went it. Unreal.

 

[Diamond Joe Quimby]

I had to miss the last part of the game, but watching the highlights, I can't believe the Raptors had four touches of the ball in the dying seconds to get a basket and not a single one went it. Unreal.

Crazy. One could call the Cavaliers very lucky. Others would...well, do what everyone is doing this morning.

 

[Morgs]

After watching that game I don't see how we lose this series. You could see James was done come the 4th... in game 1. He can't leave the court or it becomes an absolute blood bath and playing over 40 minutes/game will kill him over a 7 game series.

Our fantastic bench had a bad game, and our starters couldn't close. Big deal.

Raps in 5.

 

[Clark4Ever]

After watching that game I don't see how we lose this series. You could see James was done come the 4th... in game 1. He can't leave the court or it becomes an absolute blood bath and playing over 40 minutes/game will kill him over a 7 game series.

Our fantastic bench had a bad game, and our starters couldn't close. Big deal.

Raps in 5.

I'm trying to look at it the same way. On the other hand, Lebron had his worst playoff game in a long time, we were on home court, and we still couldn't close the deal.

If our players perform, I agree that we should easily win the series. I'm just worried about our team psyche against Cleveland.

 

[McDeepika]

We literally choked that game away. Such a frustrating team.

Siakam needs to slow down a bit. He has been a bit out of control these playoffs. He is one of the most important players on the team and we need him to be great.

 

[Morgs]

I'm trying to look at it the same way. On the other hand, Lebron had his worst playoff game in a long time, we were on home court, and we still couldn't close the deal.

If our players perform, I agree that we should easily win the series. I'm just worried about our team psyche against Cleveland.

I think the worry is overrated.

Sure LeBron had a "bad" game, but his team played better than we should expect, and we were bad ourselves in the 4th.

 

[mapleleafs34]

I'm trying to look at it the same way. On the other hand, Lebron had his worst playoff game in a long time, we were on home court, and we still couldn't close the deal.

If our players perform, I agree that we should easily win the series. I'm just worried about our team psyche against Cleveland.

Maybe Lebron's "worst playoff game in a long time" could be due to fatigue. (he has had to play a lot more minutes down the stretch this season and a lot more minutes in the 1st round of the playoffs than he has in years past).

 

[Diamond Joe Quimby]

I think the worry is overrated.

Sure LeBron had a "bad" game, but his team played better than we should expect, and we were bad ourselves in the 4th.

Bruh, call me when he doesn't have a triple double and we'll talk about him having a bad game.

 

[theaub]

I'm trying to look at it the same way. On the other hand, Lebron had his worst playoff game in a long time, we were on home court, and we still couldn't close the deal

Yeah this is the correct take. If someone tells you 48 hours ago that the Raptors lose at home while LeBron/Love combine to shoot 15-43, you would call that an utterly inexplicable loss.

The post-script narrative that we'll know in 10 days or so is whether LeBron is actually just wearing down, or if it was a one-off. I wouldn't bet on him to shoot 1-8 from three or 1-6 from the line again, that's for sure.

 

[Morgs]

Bruh, call me when he doesn't have a triple double and we'll talk about him having a bad game.

That's why I put it in quotes lol. I guess bad for his standards is the better way to put it.

 

[Clark4Ever]

In any event, I think it's reasonable to call game 2 an absolute must win.

 

[EpochLink]

Unless Demar and Kyle can morph into Steph and Klay come crunch time, this team will be done.
They need to finish shit off in the 4th quarter, no more of this conservative crap come the last minute.

It's time to seal the deal, finish this shit out and go for the kill...

 

[King Mapes]

We played a near perfect game against the Cavs until halfway through the 4th. James was not his normal self (still a triple double but missed tons of free throws and seemed tired).

Ibaka has been trash. Utterly trash. JV was one of the only guys who wanted to win it seemed. But I can't believe how bad Ibaka has been.

 

[c9777666]

Have to question the mental state of the Raps now....... Cleveland is in their head big time.

Cleveland seems to be in everyone's head except for the Warriors.

It's as if the Cavs apparently exist to beat every NBA team except one.

 

[Suntouchable13]

We need to relax. We have seen this before. Raps almost never win game 1. They just have to win 1 in Cleveland now. Step up. This is the big leagues. If you want to go places, it can't not always be easy.

 

[Stylizer1]

Last night wasn't on Demar on Kyle. In the past, they would have forced ill advised shots, but this time, they did the right thing by creating open looks for their teammates. We just couldn't hit any easy shots when it mattered most.

Disagree. Demar and Kyle have to take over the game down the stretch because they are the best players on the team. That's what makes players super stars and is the reason they are not. Demar had the ball in his hand for the final shot, dribbled right into 3 defenders, pump fake pump fake, then passed it off to a guy with an injured shoulder to shoulder the responsibility to make a 3 when they only needed a 2 to winn.

 

[613Leafer]

I don't watch much basketball, but I gotta say I always find the final ~5-10 minutes of a close game to have no flow. It's just timeout after timeout after timeout, usually lots of fouls too. These were the timeouts + fouls in the final 10 minutes.

9:20 - Vanvleet personal foul
8:43 - Thompson shooting foul
8:06 - Raptors timeout
7:27 - Valanciunas shooting foul
6:15 - DeRozan personal foul
5:26 - Lowry personal foul
4:18 - Cavaliers timeout
3:16 - Anunoby personal foul
3:12 - Raptors timeout
3:12 - Cavaliers timeout
2:27 - Raptors timeout
1:52 - Thompson personal foul
1:42 - James personal foul
0:18 - Raptors timeout
0:00.6 - Cavaliers timeout

Read an article talking about how the final two minutes of an NBA game typically takes 9.3 minutes, but also regularly takes 12-14 minutes (these are likely the close games), vs NHL games (at least the examples they had in the article) that took ~3-4 minutes (End of an NBA game: Dullest 2 minutes in sports)

 

[Eyedea]

Disagree. Demar and Kyle have to take over the game down the stretch because they are the best players on the team. That's what makes players super stars and is the reason they are not. Demar had the ball in his hand for the final shot, dribbled right into 3 defenders, pump fake pump fake, then passed it off to a guy with an injured shoulder to shoulder the responsibility to make a 3 when they only needed a 2 to winn.

So every other year when they failed to do it all themselves, people decided to preach sharing the ball and wanted a culture reset. Now that they have actually instilled it and did not abandon or stray away from the philosophy in crucial moments, it's still their fault? They passed for wide open shots, make them.

 

[Eyedea]

If DD gets collapsed and swarmed on when he's driving, the last thing you want in that situation is for him to shoot it (pro-tip: he ain't getting a call if it happens). He made the right play. It didn't work out, but it was the right play.