Battle of the Atlantic

[salmon]

yeah, with nets having a tougher schedule of more back-to-backs (old legs), including a tough double back-to-back out west, more road games where they're doing very poorly, I like our chances of taking the Atlantic fairly easily.

I'm more concerned with Chicago threatening the 3rd seed, so had a look at their schedule. Without looking into much detail, though they also have more home dates coming up, like the Raps, I love seeing what they face in a big 6 game homestand in March: Memphis, Miami, SAS, Houston, Sacramento, OKC. Bulls face lots of tough opponents and don't get much of a break until April.

[iblastoff]

yeah, with nets having a tougher schedule of more back-to-backs (old legs), including a tough double back-to-back out west, more road games where they're doing very poorly, I like our chances of taking the Atlantic fairly easily.

I'm more concerned with Chicago threatening the 3rd seed, so had a look at their schedule. Without looking into much detail, though they also have more home dates coming up, like the Raps, I love seeing what they face in a big 6 game homestand in March: Memphis, Miami, SAS, Houston, Sacramento, OKC. Bulls face lots of tough opponents and don't get much of a break until April.

if were to take the standings as they are today, i think i'd rather have the raptors at 4th seed.

that means we'd have to play atlanta in the first round (since they're currently 5th) and assuming things go well, we'd face the pacers in the 2nd round, which we do much better vs them than against the heat which we haven't beat in years now.

if we get 3rd seed (as things are now), we'd have to face washington in the 1st round. i'm not as comfortable with that vs atlanta.

[salmon]

if were to take the standings as they are today, i think i'd rather have the raptors at 4th seed.

that means we'd have to play atlanta in the first round (since they're currently 5th) and assuming things go well, we'd face the pacers in the 2nd round, which we do much better vs them than against the heat which we haven't beat in years now.

if we get 3rd seed (as things are now), we'd have to face washington in the 1st round. i'm not as comfortable with that vs atlanta.

I'm all for meeting Atlanta in the 1st round. I said that somewhere here, different thread(?). Thing is, we have no idea where the seeding is going to stand by the end of the season, and I'm predicting Atlanta winds up lower than Washington, so I'd bet Atlanta will not be 5th seed, but 6th would be nice, along with Raps' 3rd seed .

I realize that would mean meeting Miami in the 2nd round, but I would not expect either team to be a difference maker in chances of going to the conference finals. Not this year anyway.

[planetmars]

First round means more to me than Second round. Indiana/Miami are both bad matchups for Toronto. Preference would be to get an ideal matchup for round one. That would be Atlanta. Washington, Brooklyn, Charlotte would all be tough I think.

I'd also be okay with a Bulls matchup but that won't be an easy series either.

The way Atlanta is playing though.. they could easily slip to 7th or even 8th.

[isaacthompson]

Joe Johnson tonight: 11 pts (4-14 FG), 1 ast, 1 reb, 3 turnovers, 4 fouls.

2013-14 All-Star.

[enlightenment]

Joe Johnson tonight: 11 pts (4-14 FG), 1 ast, 1 reb, 3 turnovers, 4 fouls.

2013-14 All-Star.

Thats a pretty ineffective stat line. I am looking through DDs game log, and even when he scores less than 15 on a terrible percentage (since the Gay trade; only happened 3 times, once he got injured thanks to Turk) he was able to get more than 7 rebounds (8 rebounds in one game, 7 rebounds and 3 assists in the other). Everyone talks about DD not being capable of contributing when he isnt scoring, but his game log says differently. Not once did he have as an ineffective game as JJ did tonight.

[MACK11]

Thats a pretty ineffective stat line. I am looking through DDs game log, and even when he scores less than 15 on a terrible percentage (since the Gay trade; only happened 3 times, once he got injured thanks to Turk) he was able to get more than 7 rebounds (8 rebounds in one game, 7 rebounds and 3 assists in the other). Everyone talks about DD not being capable of contributing when he isnt scoring, but his game log says differently. Not once did he have as an ineffective game as JJ did tonight.

Because Derozan is a real all star haha and JJ isnt! hes 31 ! Washed and making 23 millions a year

[MACK11]

Joe Johnson tonight: 11 pts (4-14 FG), 1 ast, 1 reb, 3 turnovers, 4 fouls.

2013-14 All-Star.

Also 1 altercation

[Mapko]

I saw a lot of problems with Brooklyn's lineups.....

-They lack interior presence. Blatche can score....But he and KG are non-factors defensively down the middle. KG is a shadow of his former self, and still too skinny to bang with Cs. No rim protection and bad rebounding. They seem to have pushed Reggie Evans out of the rotation to get more speed/skill in

-They play what's basically small-ball. Kirilenko and Teletovic are capable PFs against some guys. They actually aren't the big problem. The problem is that they're still old and/or slow at every other position. Going small is usually advantageous because of athleticism at multiple positions. But they don't have that. It looked like post-op Shaun Livingston and aging AK were their most athletic players.

-As you say, no real flow on offence. They have guys who can put the ball in the basket, but even given their age/degradation, none of them are top-tier iso threats. The ball can stick too much and the system (if there is one) is too simplistic.

-Wildcard concern: durability. Their PGs both have bad injury histories, and they can't afford to lose one, let alone both. KG may not be injured, but he does look like his long career has caught up with him physically. More than enough old ankles/knees/backs on that team for it to be a real concern for them.

Agreed.
Bold part: They are as healthy now as they are going to be for the rest of the season (With Lopez done). Still cannot keep up with us. What happens if somebody else "breaks down" (more likely with old knees/ankles).

[Niagara Raptor]

what I hate right now is that even though we have improved and are in the 3rd seed, the us media has no faith/respect for the raptors.
Bill Simmons picks the Wizards to be 3rd who we have beaten twice already
Kenny Smith and Shaq picked Brooklyn to be third even though we have beaten them twice as well
Reggie Miller picks Chicago who have played well lately but we are 2-1 against and we hammered them once time
I think the only one who picked us was Barkley
on the nba power rankings are offensive rating is 12th and our defence is 7th and we are better in offence then all 3 teams and the hawks and our defence is better then all of them except Chicago
we are the Rodney Dangerfield of the nba ... no respect I tell ya

[JawsGT]

I caught most of the Nets/Bulls last night. I gotta say, the Nets are awful. They had Pierce guarding Noah for the most part last night. I don't see them having much success when a wing player is guarding opposing C's. This team will not challenge the Raps for the Atlantic, they are awful and Kidd has no idea how to coach. I think their best players consistently are Blatche and Livingston, and both are sub-par defenders, but they seem to be the few players capable of playing a team game. Everything else is ISO and one on one. If multiple guys like Pierce, JJ, and Williams are on fire, they can be tough to beat, but if you play good D and challenge their shots, they will likely struggle. The Atlantic is ours, the Nets will not get ahead of us.

[Mediumcore]

what I hate right now is that even though we have improved and are in the 3rd seed, the us media has no faith/respect for the raptors.
Bill Simmons picks the Wizards to be 3rd who we have beaten twice already
Kenny Smith and Shaq picked Brooklyn to be third even though we have beaten them twice as well
Reggie Miller picks Chicago who have played well lately but we are 2-1 against and we hammered them once time
I think the only one who picked us was Barkley
on the nba power rankings are offensive rating is 12th and our defence is 7th and we are better in offence then all 3 teams and the hawks and our defence is better then all of them except Chicago
we are the Rodney Dangerfield of the nba ... no respect I tell ya

The Raptors are like that one friend of yours that's always late and unreliable. After years of the same behaviour you sort of expect him to always be that way. He shouldn't be surprised when people expect him to be late or don't rely on him.

I would rather the guys continue to feel like they have to prove something and stay hungry

[isaacthompson]

what I hate right now is that even though we have improved and are in the 3rd seed, the us media has no faith/respect for the raptors.
Bill Simmons picks the Wizards to be 3rd who we have beaten twice already
Kenny Smith and Shaq picked Brooklyn to be third even though we have beaten them twice as well
Reggie Miller picks Chicago who have played well lately but we are 2-1 against and we hammered them once time
I think the only one who picked us was Barkley
on the nba power rankings are offensive rating is 12th and our defence is 7th and we are better in offence then all 3 teams and the hawks and our defence is better then all of them except Chicago
we are the Rodney Dangerfield of the nba ... no respect I tell ya

A playoff run will certainly bring some more respect in. It's not because we're in Canada, which is what some people seem to think.. it's that we've been a crappy franchise for most of our existence.

The team has had something like one game on ESPN in the past 5 years (believe it was against ATL last year when Boston game was cancelled). Playoff run = games on ESPN/TNT = more recognition.

[007]

A playoff run will certainly bring some more respect in. It's not because we're in Canada, which is what some people seem to think.. it's that we've been a crappy franchise for most of our existence.

The team has had something like one game on ESPN in the past 5 years (believe it was against ATL last year when Boston game was cancelled). Playoff run = games on ESPN/TNT = more recognition.

Raptors get NO recognition in the nba, absolutely no nationally televised games, no espn games while crap teams like the Lakers and the Knicks get so much coverage

[stooley]

A playoff run will certainly bring some more respect in. It's not because we're in Canada, which is what some people seem to think.. it's that we've been a crappy franchise for most of our existence.

The team has had something like one game on ESPN in the past 5 years (believe it was against ATL last year when Boston game was cancelled). Playoff run = games on ESPN/TNT = more recognition.

Completely agree with you on the winning part.

But even if we're a top team, we won't be featured on national TV much. National US media loses big on ratings when half of the viewers are watching the game on a different channel in a different country.