Game 17: Toronto Raptors 100 - New York Knicks 108

[The Great One]

Columbus Crew vs Toronto FC / 1st leg of East Conf. Finals / 8PM ET

Our top players(Jozy and Giovinco) are suspended for tonight's game. Ugh.

Let's Go Columbus!! #TheCrew

[rocwell]

Let's Go Columbus!! #TheCrew

Austin will enjoy this team in 100 degree weather.

[Demographic Shift]

Sure you can, that depends on the in-game comments. Criticizing an individual player or possession in-game is not the same as suddenly declaring he's the worst player ever or the Raptors will never win now. You see it all the time; many fans are poised and ready to criticize the player or shot selection based solely on whether the shot goes in lol

I'm not talking about week to week, that why I specifically stated (and you quoted me) as "after every win or loss" or even "during games".

One sure fire correlation to fans on and off the bandwagon on a per game metric is the number of posts that hit the Fire Casey thread after a loss.

[Demographic Shift]

This. Now we're seeing these articles talking about how the Raptors are trying to "modernize their offense" this year. We even had our coaching saying that the team was incapable of passing to justify Kyle & DeMar ISO and getting to the FT line as a primary strategy. This was obvious to the majority on this board and the style of play probably wouldn't have changed without Masai going public and putting Casey/Kyle/DeMar on notice after last year's playoffs.

So now that it's confirmed that the team always had the ability to share the ball, it's not hard to see why many posters on here aren't getting overly excited about a run of the mill end-of-quarter play that should be standard fare in the NBA. I guess the expectations have been lowered to the point where the Raptors making 2 passes with 1 minute or less in on the clock feels like the Warriors. There's no feeling of vindication here, just that of opportunity lost and years wasted.

Agree with your general point , but "the team" is entirely different other than KL,DD and JV. And even DD and JV were pretty shitty passers at that time.

And that play I described was far from run-of-the mill/standard NBA end of quarter fare. Yeah, maybe it should be, but it isn't.

If you haven’t seen it..a nice piece by the Times on the culture reset that has taken a footing in the way the Raps work their offence...... https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/s...-raptors-.html

Once your best players buy in..think DD did earlier than Lowry did...then your on the way. Have to think that both Kyle and Demar have played more seasons than they are going to at this stage of their careers and that winning something more than a division title trumps individual stats. They are both allstars and have signed the second contracts that set them up for life.
Now time to leave their mark on the winning in the playoffs part of the game. I’d say legacy but it’s not that exactly.

[G__Deane]

If you haven’t seen it..a nice piece by the Times on the culture reset that has taken a footing in the way the Raps work their offence...... https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/s...-raptors-.html

Once your best players buy in..think DD did earlier than Lowry did...then your on the way. Have to think that both Kyle and Demar have played more seasons than they are going to at this stage of their careers and that winning something more than a division title trumps individual stats. They are both allstars and have signed the second contracts that set them up for life.
Now time to leave their mark on the winning in the playoffs part of the game. I’d say legacy but it’s not that exactly.

You're making 25-30M a year for playing a game, you might as well win a lot

[DogeLover1234]

Not exactly - those massive jumps in 3PTA and Pace are significant. But get your point otherwise, re: 13-14 vs. 16-17.

Part of those jumps is that the league learned that 3>2 and the league wide pace is up. Even if the Raps took 20 seconds a possession I am sure that they would have more possessions per game than 13-14. The remarkable thing to me is that TOV% and EFG% are better than 13-14 and high compared to the league while playing at a much faster pace, though I guess that speaks to how much more valuable threes are.

[DogeLover1234]

If you haven’t seen it..a nice piece by the Times on the culture reset that has taken a footing in the way the Raps work their offence...... https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/s...-raptors-.html

Once your best players buy in..think DD did earlier than Lowry did...then your on the way. Have to think that both Kyle and Demar have played more seasons than they are going to at this stage of their careers and that winning something more than a division title trumps individual stats. They are both allstars and have signed the second contracts that set them up for life.
Now time to leave their mark on the winning in the playoffs part of the game. I’d say legacy but it’s not that exactly.

I think its kind of funny that they talk about how its a new system not new players and then talk about how the cornerstones of the team haven't adjusted (bit about Demar not taking threes and Lowry's struggles so far). Like, the only other guys who played relatively major roles last year and still playing major roles are JV and Powell (who struggled so far). Sure a lot of guys were on the roster last year, but they played infrequently. The season thus far has been defined by internal development as much as a "culture change" in my opinion.

Don't get me wrong, good to get recognition and they go hand in hand, but the rotation is changed from last year.

[Jclaw]

If you haven’t seen it..a nice piece by the Times on the culture reset that has taken a footing in the way the Raps work their offence...... https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/s...-raptors-.html

Once your best players buy in..think DD did earlier than Lowry did...then your on the way. Have to think that both Kyle and Demar have played more seasons than they are going to at this stage of their careers and that winning something more than a division title trumps individual stats. They are both allstars and have signed the second contracts that set them up for life.
Now time to leave their mark on the winning in the playoffs part of the game. I’d say legacy but it’s not that exactly.

Great article. That writer often has some insightful stuff on the Raps. One other takeaway is that Masai is awesome.

[Jclaw]

So.....who is going to start off guarding Kristaps tomorrow?

[KHD]

Columbus Crew vs Toronto FC / 1st leg of East Conf. Finals / 8PM ET

Our top players(Jozy and Giovinco) are suspended for tonight's game. Ugh.

they did what they needed to do

[rocwell]

they did what they needed to do

What the fu*k has happened to us in the last 10 mins. We gave up the ball like 10 times in dangerous positions. Jeez. Got lucky there.

[3inthekeon]

Great article. That writer often has some insightful stuff on the Raps. One other takeaway is that Masai is awesome.

My takeaway is that Nick Nurse is awesome.

In Toronto, Nurse has weaned the Raptors from their midrange addiction. Only 14.9 percent of their field-goal attempts this season are midrange shots, down from 24.1 percent last season.

“We’ve got a pretty strict shot spectrum that we follow,” Nurse said.

[Ebonhawke]

Really? You're going to use the verb 'weaned' in conjunction with Nick Nurse?

[Scraptor]

Really? You're going to use the verb 'weaned' in conjunction with Nick Nurse?

Nurse forced the young Raptors to quit suckling on the teat of mid-range jumpshots. But there have been hiccups.

"Sometimes we do a big poopy," said Nurse. "But it's like they say: everybody poops. That's why we've been so focused on bowel movement."

Casey hurries past. "Has anyone seen Bruno's diapers? ANYONE?"

Nurse shakes his head. "I wish it was a metaphor."

.

[KHD]

What the fu*k has happened to us in the last 10 mins. We gave up the ball like 10 times in dangerous positions. Jeez. Got lucky there.

got tired i think.

definitely lucky but you take that and run when you're on the road without 2 top players.