Game #45: Toronto Raptors 109 - Minnesota Timberwolves 115

[JawsGT]

Reminds me of the team that got swept by the Wizards. 50+ win team but had a losing record against winning teams.

Raps need a shooter a rebounder. Is Drummond still on the block? there's no way they would trade Drummond for JV straight up now. But what about JV + another youngster for Drummond?

why would you want to do that? sure, drummond may be a better rebounder than JV, but JV's rebounding isn't the issue anyways. And he is pretty much better than Drummond at everything else.

[octothorp]

I honestly wouldn't trade Drummond for JV straight up. The problem with rebounding is the minutes JV is on the bench, or the secondary rebounding after JV boxes out his guy (like on Wiggins' game-sealing rebound last night, where JV did exactly what he was supposed to on Towns and DeRozan fails to box out his guy). Drummond's lack of free-throw shooting make him less useful in clutch situations than JV. Drummond might be a better overall player (I'm not convinced he is, beyond the stats of being a first option on a crappy team), but I don't see a JV/Drummond swap solving any of the Raptors' problems.

[slaw]

Reminds me of the team that got swept by the Wizards. 50+ win team but had a losing record against winning teams.

Raps need a shooter a rebounder. Is Drummond still on the block? there's no way they would trade Drummond for JV straight up now. But what about JV + another youngster for Drummond?

This doesn't look anything like the team that lost to the Wizards.

[TheWaterboy]

Vince.

Vince would actually be a really good fit with us right now.

But Vince is one of the few reasons Kings fans have to continue to watch their team, isn't he? I am not sure why he would be on the trading block or in any danger of being bought out.

[tDotted]

do you trade an OG or Siakam or Poeltl for a Lou Williams? Probably not OG and Siakam because both have improved our wing defence immensely but you would have to offer something that another team might see as a future rotation player. Throw in CJ Miles or Bebe or FVV.

How to Lose Your Job in 10 days by Mitch P

[JawsGT]

BTW, BOS is 8-5 vs that same group and CLE is 4-7.

[golden]

BTW, BOS is 8-5 vs that same group and CLE is 4-7.

It would be interesting to compare a team's regular season record against top 'X' teams and then see if it correlated to playoff success in past seasons.

[GLF]

It would be interesting to compare a team's regular season record against top 'X' teams and then see if it correlated to playoff success in past seasons.

I would love if someone could do that because our record against the top teams is a bit worrisome.

[Puffer]

...Kalamian and Casey have to deterimne if its effort or the scheme that is causing the Raps to give up so many defensive boards...Is shooting enough an issue to make a deal at the deadline...or do they stand pat on the trade front ..and focus on fixing the rebounding with scheme tweaks or a swift kick in the ass with a hard boot and soldier on ?

They only need to improve the rebounding by 10% and they give themselves another 2-3 attempts on the opposing teams basket, reduce their opponents score and burn another minute off the clock. It's not hard to see that adding a couple of games to their total for the season. If Lowry can box out opposing centers, anyone on the team should be able to do a better job.

[Shaolin Fantastic]

Gonna try to do the Raptors record against the top 8 teams (regardless of conference) the past 5 years and see what we get.

2017-18 (GSW, BOS, HOU, SAS, MIN, CLE, MIA, OKC): 3-7 (TBD)
2016-17 (GSW, SAS, HOU, BOS, CLE, UTA, LAC, WAS): 10-11 (Lost in 2nd round)
2015-16 (GSW, SAS, CLE, OKC, LAC, MIA, ATL, BOS): 15-8 (Went to ECF)
2014-15 (GSW, ATL, HOU, LAC, MEM, SAS, CLE, POR): 9-11 (Swept in Round 1)
2013-14 (SAS, OKC, LAC, IND, MIA, HOU, POR, GSW): 5-15 (Lost in Round 1 in 7)

Hard to really determine anything from that (I also might be slightly off, I did it pretty quickly). Our longest playoff run did coincide with our best year performing against the other top teams, but that doesn't really mean a lot. Also 2013-14 was really bad but you have to remember that we weren't even a top 8 team that year, we were 10th in terms of record.

[octothorp]

Thanks for that. It occured to me that one way of looking at it is seeing how the non-Lebron ECF teams have done in the regular season, and I only got as far as seeing that Boston had an awful record against the top 10 last year (something like 10-17?) and then got bored.

Personally I'm really skeptical about this as meaningful, especially when we're looking at partial, in-season records for this year and trying to extrapolate, especially if we're looking at pure W/L and tossing out margin. For example Boston is something like 2-3 against those top 10 teams on the road, they've just had a very friendly home/road schedule. The teams that are in the top 10 right now will likely not be top 10 at the end of the season, and even a couple teams changing can significantly change those numbers.

[S.R.]

Anecdotally, I remember plenty of series previews where they try to sell the series with "Hey, (the team we all expect to lose) actually (had whatever head to head winning record) against (the team we all know is gonna win)."

Honestly I'm not taking much in terms of specifics, one way or the other, from this season into the playoffs. That's what I've gotten out of the last 4 springs with the Raptors.

I like the new style of play, we'll see where it leads. I think this is the best Raptors team yet, but all the usual caveats for postseason success apply.

[MixxAOR]

Gonna try to do the Raptors record against the top 8 teams (regardless of conference) the past 5 years and see what we get.

2017-18 (GSW, BOS, HOU, SAS, MIN, CLE, MIA, OKC): 3-7 (TBD)
2016-17 (GSW, SAS, HOU, BOS, CLE, UTA, LAC, WAS): 10-11 (Lost in 2nd round)
2015-16 (GSW, SAS, CLE, OKC, LAC, MIA, ATL, BOS): 15-8 (Went to ECF)
2014-15 (GSW, ATL, HOU, LAC, MEM, SAS, CLE, POR): 9-11 (Swept in Round 1)
2013-14 (SAS, OKC, LAC, IND, MIA, HOU, POR, GSW): 5-15 (Lost in Round 1 in 7)

Hard to really determine anything from that (I also might be slightly off, I did it pretty quickly). Our longest playoff run did coincide with our best year performing against the other top teams, but that doesn't really mean a lot. Also 2013-14 was really bad but you have to remember that we weren't even a top 8 team that year, we were 10th in terms of record.

That year when we got swept by Wizards, our record against them in RS was 3-1 or something. We dominated them in regular season.

[rocwell]

That year when we got swept by Wizards, our record against them in RS was 3-1 or something. We dominated them in regular season.

3-0*

[Maury]

I’m really not too worried about it. We’ve been in all of the games and some of them we had a tough whistle and in others we just couldn’t get it done. Last night was a back to back and our guys weren’t playing all that well while being killed on the glass. We’ve been able to kill GSW and Cleveland on the glass so again not too worried about it. Boston like always will be an easy out for us in the playoffs too.