Raptors Discussion: v78| It's playoff time | Rd 1 vs ORL | Gm3: Fri 4/19 7pm ET/4pm PT | SN

[trellaine201]

He's arguably the most classic example of eye test vs. stats test. He's a top-10 player in the entire league today by most metrics, but looks like a 50 year old man with 3 kids that plays pick up once a week.

LOL@ 50 yr old man reference. So true . I never thought of that lol.

 

[Eyedea]

The on/off on bbref is now available, and the team was significantly better when Lowry was on the court.

Brief breakdown (twitter post + replies) of why Lowry helped the team:




The ball kept moving when he was on the floor. Lowry doesn’t consider himself the second, or even the third option with the starters anymore. He was looking for Kawhi, Siakam, Green, Gasol, and Ibaka. FVV unfortunately plays ISO way too often and doesn’t properly utilize the players around him (he had the starters minus Lowry and was at his worst with them over 5 minutes).

 

[stickty111]

Stick to hockey

Don't tell me to stick to hockey when you know I am a huge Raptors fan.

 

[Suntouchable13]

When you look at our starting 5 and Orlando's, there is absolutely no way we should lose to them.

We were behind most of the game, and down a lot (15?) at one point. That can't happen, we're better than that. Still, we had the lead with less than a minute to go.

Kawhi was great as expected. Could have used a few more minutes. Siakam was great, as he's been all year. Nobody else was - Ibaka, Gasol, Green - all just "okay".

To me there were 2 main reasons we lost: Augustin had a career night - lousy timing for us - and a ton of our shots just didn't drop. I thought a lot of our misses were pretty open looks AND decent shots, but an abnormal number just didn't go down. Bad puck luck as it were.

Kyle's shots weren't bricks, and when's the last time he missed both FTs? It seemed there were a ton of opportunities for us to have gotten a few more points, then nothing else would have mattered.

I think we'll win the next 4 games.

 

[Eyedea]

Don't tell me to stick to hockey when you know I am a huge Raptors fan.

You’re right, super uncalled for.

 

[stickty111]

You’re right, super uncalled for.

I got carried away as well. It's better to ignore my comments after and during the game. Emotions can get me off track.

 

[Eyedea]

Lowry, historically, is not a great shooter in game 1s. I think the neglect of shooting practices has some legs to it because with 5 days off (DNP against TWolves), it’s no surprise he was cold. Sucks that there’s two days in between game 1 and 2 cause now we gotta live with this shit show but I hope Nurse corrects a lot of the mistakes with the defensive misreads on the DJ/Vuc PnR, and of course the lineup (Kawhi and Green should be out there way earlier in the 4th). I initially placed a lot of blame on FVV (who I feel should not be running point when Lowry is off) but Nurse has to play a better game. He got out coached hard.

One thing that I also read a bit around here is that Lowry should attack the rim more often if he’s not finding his perimeter stroke. In theory that sounds good, but the Magic have great length and do a solid job closing guys out in those situations, and I think that’s also why he deferred to Siakam and Kawhi for slashing responsibilities.

 

[AllDay28]

Everything seemed to go wrong for the Raps and they lost on a last second 3.

 

[Eyedea]

Pacers went 0-10 in the first 9 minutes of the 3rd quarter before getting their first basket on a goaltending violation.

 

[TheMadHatTrick]

The on/off on bbref is now available, and the team was significantly better when Lowry was on the court.

Link? I'm on bbref right now and the advanced boxscore only has the following as far as I can see:

Offensive Rating:
FVV 109
KL 46
Defensive Rating:
FVV 113
KL 102
Game Score:
FVV 7.4
KL 0.8

The ball kept moving when he was on the floor. Lowry doesn’t consider himself the second, or even the third option with the starters anymore. He was looking for Kawhi, Siakam, Green, Gasol, and Ibaka. FVV unfortunately plays ISO way too often and doesn’t properly utilize the players around him (he had the starters minus Lowry and was at his worst with them over 5 minutes).

I'm not sure how the argument shifted from "FVV was torched defensively and was the real reason we lost" (already shown not to be true + his defensive rating per 100 possessions was actually better than "Lowry's), to Lowry wasnt awful because he also does this"? Show me how FVV, our backup point guard who only played 26 minutes, lost us the game (particularly due to his awful defense) as you've been suggesting. Even the Raps Republic guy is talking purely offense which has not been the argument so far.

 

[Eyedea]

Link? I'm on bbref right now and the advanced boxscore only has the following as far as I can see:

Offensive Rating:
FVV 109
KL 46
Defensive Rating:
FVV 113
KL 102
Game Score:
FVV 7.4
KL 0.8


I'm not sure how the argument shifted from "FVV was torched defensively and was the real reason we lost" (already shown not to be true + his defensive rating per 100 possessions was actually better than "Lowry's), to Lowry wasnt awful because he also does this"? Show me how FVV, our backup point guard who only played 26 minutes, lost us the game (particularly due to his awful defense) as you've been suggesting. Even the Raps Republic guy is talking purely offense which has not been the argument so far.

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The Magic went on runs when FVV took over Lowry's minutes with the starters. The Magic were also better when Lowry and FVV were together which should probably be a no-no in this series due to the Magic's length.

 

[McDeepika]

Agreed, the 2 PG lineup needs to end. We can get exposed defensively with it. Lowry can play off ball with the starters anyways so we don’t need it to give him a break.

 

[Ignatius Reilly]

Just heard on the radio - Kawhi only played 33 minutes? When asked, Kawhi said he was good to play more.

Nick Nurse has had a fantastic first year as head coach, but that's not right.

To be fair, the guys on the radio said some of the blame should go to the assistants. It's the sort of thing they can help with when the head coach has a lot of stuff all going on at once.

 

[GoonieFace]

Just heard on the radio - Kawhi only played 33 minutes? When asked, Kawhi said he was good to play more.

Nick Nurse has had a fantastic first year as head coach, but that's not right.

To be fair, the guys on the radio said some of the blame should go to the assistants. It's the sort of thing they can help with when the head coach has a lot of stuff all going on at once.

I know he was stuck at the scorers table a few times, which may have resulted in less minutes. Realistically though, this team should beat Orlando with Kawhi playing 33 minutes.

 

[TheTotalPackage]

I turned on the Bucks/Pistons game last night and noticed the Bucks were just destroying them in the 3rd quarter. It'd be nice to have that confidence in the Raptors to do the same. Instead, even a 20-point lead feels like it is going to be frittered away and the team will have to pull it off in the dying minutes. Let's see them just stomp a team from beginning to finish.

 

[Eyedea]

I turned on the Bucks/Pistons game last night and noticed the Bucks were just destroying them in the 3rd quarter. It'd be nice to have that confidence in the Raptors to do the same. Instead, even a 20-point lead feels like it is going to be frittered away and the team will have to pull it off in the dying minutes. Let's see them just stomp a team from beginning to finish.

To be fair those Pistons, who are not a very good team to begin with, were missing their best player.

 

[GoonieFace]

I turned on the Bucks/Pistons game last night and noticed the Bucks were just destroying them in the 3rd quarter. It'd be nice to have that confidence in the Raptors to do the same. Instead, even a 20-point lead feels like it is going to be frittered away and the team will have to pull it off in the dying minutes. Let's see them just stomp a team from beginning to finish.

The Pistons are actually terrible though. Orlando has been a very good team the 2nd half of the season. That being said, a true contender needs to win these games at home by a fair margin.

 

[Suntouchable13]

Man, it's a big game on Tuesday. Raps have to win it. No more messing around. You gave them 1 win, that's enough, now it's time to take over and show your dominance.

 

[AllDay28]

raps are gonna win 4 straight and everyone will forget about this

 

[Eyedea]

Clips were down by 31 and had the biggest come back in playoff history to steal a game from the Warriors. Lou Will went straight beast mode.

 

[Suntouchable13]

Clips were down by 31 and had the biggest come back in playoff history to steal a game from the Warriors. Lou Will went straight beast mode.

Even the almighty Warriors lost a game at home. No big deal.

 

[trellaine201]

Clips were down by 31 and had the biggest come back in playoff history to steal a game from the Warriors. Lou Will went straight beast mode.

Wow! I saw the score last night. Went to bed. Woke up and checked the headlines. Wow they lost. Shocked.

 

[AllDay28]

without being cynical cause id never wish an injury on someone.. GSW might of gotten better with the unlucky Boogie injury.

 

[GoonieFace]

without being cynical cause id never wish an injury on someone.. GSW might of gotten better with the unlucky Boogie injury.

I think you are right. Just means more shots for Curry/Durant and Thompson, which isnt good for the opposition.

 

[Diamond Joe Quimby]

Clips were down by 31 and had the biggest come back in playoff history to steal a game from the Warriors. Lou Will went straight beast mode.

I love that Clippers team. LouWill, Montrezl (my nezzle), Pat Bev. They're fun.