Game #3: Toronto Raptors 97 - San Antonio Spurs 101

[hotfuzz]

Tough loss, but there were a lot of good takeaways here.

First the bad:
-We had 11 assists in the first half, but only 5 in the second half until the last few seconds when the game was out of reach.
-JV cannot be our only excuse for not rebounding. Dejounte Murray had as many rebounds as our ENTIRE STARTING LINEUP.
-Kyle played like absolute ass. I don't know what was going on with him.
-Couldn't hit from outside.

The good:
-Lots of good ball movement early on.
-We still took a lot of threes, sticking to the plan.
-Kids looked good. Poeltl in particular with the double-double and three blocks.
-We limited the Spurs outside the arc. They only shot 25%.
-Very good effort on D. Solid commitment. Things really fell apart once we really racked up the fouls.

All in all it was as good a loss as could be expected, given how early it is in the season.

In seasons past I've repeated this Steve Kerr quote ad nauseam: "My biggest concern as a coach is to not confuse winning with progress."

This may not have been winning, but it was definitely progress. Lots of opportunities for the kids and lots of playing the right way, even if it fell apart at the end.

But, as we saw today, their ball movement died when the going got tough. Real progress will be when they stick with it even when going through droughts. Also, Ibaka has become a giant ball stopper.

[The Great One]

LOL K then go follow another team. How you can be this extreme after one hard fought loss this early in the season is beyond me.

This was a statement game. They couldn't beat any of the top teams last year and really the last few years. This was their first big test against the Kawhi and Parker-less Spurs and they completely CHOKE. Should change the name to the Toronto Choketors.

They're a team who feast against bad/average teams but completely shit the bed against the top teams in the league.

Predicition - they're going to get blown out by GS by 20+ next game.

[The Great One]

Before the game:



After the game:



Classic TRex.

Huh? they should've won that game.

[jacobdr4]

Bahahhhhahhahahhahahaha yoooo guys was I ever this bad? If I was I apologize and I see why you guys hated me lol

Buddy you were definitely worse haha. Trex doesn't comment on game threads as much as you did. And it was just as negative.

[special1]

I'm not going to jump to conclusions too early but if this keeps up you're absolutely right.

Lowry played terrible tonight.... Regardless of what he does in the future.


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[Chr1s1anL]

Tough loss. Makes a couple of those 3s we win.

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[Scraptor]

But, as we saw today, their ball movement died when the going got tough. Real progress will be when they stick with it even when going through droughts. Also, Ibaka has become a giant ball stopper.

I honestly don't think Casey has the ability to counter to counters.

Notice how the Spurs started sniffing out our play style... Gay deflected/stole at least a couple of our drive/kick-outs. Because it became predictable.

That's when we have to counter and run plays that can keep the ball moving. But I don't think we have that in our bag of tricks, and I personally don't think Casey will ever be the coach to make that happen.

[golden]

That isn't the issue. If Raps really want to change play style/culture whatever you want to call it, they have to be willing to lose if it gets them closer to that goal. Its not all about shooting threes too, when they move the ball so many more driving lanes open up too.

Agreed. With the new offense, they could/should also run more cutters.

[GLF]

Gah. I mean, good effort? Kept it close for most of the game.

But against a shorthanded Spurs team, I expected better.

Still, JV is crucial to the offence in spite of what some say, and obviously is basically the only good rebounder on the team. His screen setting was missed big time in this one, DeMar gritted out a good performance but he and Lowry both missed JV terribly. Plus, yeah, the rebounds. Holy crap, with the rebounds.

Wright was great, Poeltl was awesome, but these guys are still bench players and in crunch time they fell apart, even before Casey decided to toss the game by playing BeBe late (he was kind of forced into it, but still), and then Ibaka at C to close.

Ibaka demonstrated why he can't be a full time 5 - he couldn't even handle Aldridge in the deep post, nevermind how he'd fare against a huge C.

Blech. Shame, this one was winnable.

Yea really tough loss. As long as we learn from it that's all that matters.

[GLF]

Buddy you were definitely worse haha. Trex doesn't comment on game threads as much as you did. And it was just as negative.

LOL damn. I'm sorry y'all I didn't realize how annoying that was. Cause TRex is way too much for me so if I was worse than that gawdamn.

[GLF]

I honestly don't think Casey has the ability to counter to counters.

Notice how the Spurs started sniffing out our play style... Gay deflected/stole at least a couple of our drive/kick-outs. Because it became predictable.

That's when we have to counter and run plays that can keep the ball moving. But I don't think we have that in our bag of tricks, and I personally don't think Casey will ever be the coach to make that happen.

That will always be his biggest flaw. And he went back to his substitution mistakes again tonight. Still not as bad as last season and season prior but yea.

[tDotted]

NO reason for Miles and Poeltl to be sitting in crunch time. Casey is a fool.

[golden]

I honestly don't think Casey has the ability to counter to counters.

Notice how the Spurs started sniffing out our play style... Gay deflected/stole at least a couple of our drive/kick-outs. Because it became predictable.

That's when we have to counter and run plays that can keep the ball moving. But I don't think we have that in our bag of tricks, and I personally don't think Casey will ever be the coach to make that happen.

Casey has never been good at in-game adjustments and there's no reason to expect he'll suddenly improve in this area, at his age. Occasionally he finds a nice counter or lineup combination, but that seems more like the exception than the rule.

[yabadabayolo]

Game #3: TORONTO RAPTORS vs San Antonio SPURS 23/10/17 8:30 ET TSN2

Jheeez this team is soft

There is no one on this team tht has a teammates back

You saw it during the ibaka fight. Lowry and the rest of the guys were just standing at the side watching. While spurs entire team was holding Aldridge back and hyping him up

Every year we’ve had some type of guys tht u knew had your back. Last year we had tucker ibaka and Patterson. Before that we had Patterson James Johnson, before that it was big balls Vasquez chuck Hayes.

I love the young guys, but we desperately need a guy that’s a legit lockeroom precence.


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[The Claw Reborn]

Demar had 28 points on 10/20 FG and 2/5 from 3s.....4 assists and 3 steals.

I wouldn't call that disappearing. lol

Lowry didn't show up. It's okay to separate the two.... lol


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Bottomline, Derozan is your hero. We all got it.