Raptors Discussion: v75| Season of Kawhi Part 1: Greatest expectations

[Suntouchable13]

Wait, so if you miss a shot but get the offensive rebound the shot clock resets to 14 seconds instead of 24?

 

[The Kessel Run]

I didn't know that either.

 

[TMLeafer]

Still can't believe Kawhi is a Raptor!

Wait, so if you miss a shot but get the offensive rebound the shot clock resets to 14 seconds instead of 24?

Yes, new rule this year. I like it.

I think they also clarified something on the clear path foul rules.

 

[stickty111]

Wait, so if you miss a shot but get the offensive rebound the shot clock resets to 14 seconds instead of 24?

The rule changed this year.

 

[Eyedea]

Sorry Kawhi, being on the Raps negates star treatment from the refs.

 

[stickty111]

Good half overall.
Leonard was a little rusty but had some great plays.
Also Ibaka is still terrible

 

[robertmac43]

Yeah I'm loving the new rule! Going to make the flow of play faster which is nice.

 

[Eyedea]

Maybe Kawhi and Danny were on to something when they called JV a passing big.

 

[Suntouchable13]

I am surprised that Kawhi does not go to the FT line that much. Only 3.7 FTA per game for his career. Why is that?

 

[Eyedea]

I am surprised that Kawhi does not go to the FT line that much. Only 3.7 FTA per game for his career. Why is that?

He was never really the main guy until a couple years back. By the second year of DeRozan's career he was already attempting more shots than Kawhi had in his first four.

 

[Clark4Ever]

Lowry is beasting tonight.

 

[Glenn Isildur Healy]

Lowry was the star of this game
Very good games by Siakam, Kawhi, Green, JV and FVV as well

 

[djdev]

lowry, fvv, siakam and kawhi were great(kawhi still looks rusty) the rest of the team was good outside of ibaka, him and the freethrow discrepancy the only reason this game was close, man does ibaka look bad

 

[Suntouchable13]

lowry, fvv, siakam and kawhi were great(kawhi still looks rusty) the rest of the team was good outside of ibaka, him and the freethrow discrepancy the only reason this game was close, man does ibaka look bad

Rusty but still got a double double.

 

[djdev]

Rusty but still got a double double.

double double? are you talking about ibaka? he had 9 points and 7 boards, and was 2 - 10 from the floor chucking up threes and missing dunks..and he fouled out lol

nevermind derp my bad..obvious now you were talking about kawhi haha. ye he was great considering..no ref love though

 

[c9777666]

I see the Cavs forgot how to basketball

 

[BorntoLose]

Maybe Kawhi and Danny were on to something when they called JV a passing big.

Thats what i was thinking those passes were kind of shocking

 

[BKIslandersFan]

Wonder if Uncle Dennis is going to hide Kawhi from Masai after the season.

 

[Diamond Joe Quimby]

Kyle: still the franchise's goat, btw.

Literally slapped Jordan Clarkson in the face at one point, which should be worth a couple bps toward vorp all on its own.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I was hoping we'd have a good showing in this game which would me look forward to the Boston game with even greater anticipation. Mission accomplished, hoping for a great game tomorrow night! Let's go Raptors!!

 

[Vexed]

Moments of glory along with moments of real frustration. I think most of those frustrating moments get ironed out over the season (not Ibaka though, good lord).

Offense was carried by Lowry for the most part. Good to see his game still there but not something we want to see all year. We've seen him break down from having to play like that all year. Him barking at everyone in the first half, which shows him to be the true leader still, also showed that everyone is still a bit disjointed. Not something I'm worried about long term but could be an issue for the weekend for sure. Kawhi got a lot of hype and he put up some great box numbers which is good but he was mighty inefficient and definitely looked like he missed a season. Again I'm not too worried long term but something a lot of people were very willing to overlook.

Defensively the team was really good defending the rim which was nice to see. Help side defense was good but was needed too often. I'm hoping as the year goes on this improves because while we had a great amount of off-ball and weakside steals, the first man was beaten way too easy for my liking. That being said, the tenacity in recovery from our wings was a breathe of fresh air compared to seasons past.

Rebounding is going to be a big problem for us moving forward. Keeping JV on the floor and out of foul trouble is going to be super important for us. This may need to be addressed by the trade deadline but maybe that's a hot take after 1 game vs excellent offensive rebounders.

Another thing that was so very evident without DD was the number of free throws. Wow did we take for granted how, in the season, his ability to get to the line helped. It was jarring and obvious when watching. I'm not saying it's a bad thing though long term as its such a small sample that its probably just another hot take but even then, we're going to need to win these games in the playoffs without relying on free throws anyway. KL and FVV should have got to the line a lot more as well but I'll leave the refs out of it.

Either way we did cream a bad team for most of the game and I think that Ibaka's poor shooting really allowed them to kinda get back into it. I think that as the season goes on most of the issues will see improvement but we'll know a lot better after the Boston game. They look a lot more polished right now as they should


edit: Official Raptors Twitter gave Kawhi Player of the Game which I get but it's a farce. Kyle was the best player on the court by a super wide margin


edit#2: Trade Ibaka for a plate of crickets

 

[780il]

Kawhi looked good but a lil rusty imo. Good nonetheless (especially for his first game in 6+ months). But Kyle was the best player on the team yesterday, simple as that

 

[BorntoLose]

Yea think we can expect more from Kawhi hes just getting used to the system and still rusty. He seemed pretty distressed about a few calls deep convos with one ref in particular. Ibaka needs his touches limited for sure

 

[ER89]

Kawhi looked good but a lil rusty imo. Good nonetheless (especially for his first game in 6+ months). But Kyle was the best player on the team yesterday, simple as that

Hello oil, for once we are on the same side

 

[Suntouchable13]

Kyle is going to look much better without the overrated DD.