Game #72 Raptors (50-21) @ Thunder (42-29) Wednesday March 20th, 2019. SN. 6:30pm (Victoria) 9:30pm (Toronto) 2:30am (Barcelona).

[Zak24gege]

Solid win, despite the late game buckling. Righted the ship and sailed her home.

Nurse finally going with a sensible rotation. This team looks scary-good when we're NOT trotting out all-bench lineups.

We play every second night to close out the final 10 games. Do we continue with the "load management", or do we see our real lineup to close out the season?

Lets see a few games with "playoff" starters + rotation. Need to get Freddy and Serge together...The 4Q last night was awful.

[Zak24gege]

Hey remember when Patrick Patterson was a rotation player?

A DNP last night. Morris took his spot.

[Zak24gege]

Thank god OKC missed all of their free throws tonight

They make FT's, they win. Sort of like last Detroit game. We shoot better, more 3P's yet lose because they had 13 more FT's.

[Zak24gege]

ESPN goes straight to talking about OKC. Didn't even mention the raptors.

Given Mark Jones (ex-York University PG) Toronto roots, he would have some love for his hometown team?

[Zak24gege]

Another 5-8 win.

Love it

Explain 5-8 ? Thx

[slaw]

Hey remember when Patrick Patterson was a rotation player?

A solid reminder that plus/minus numbers can be vastly overrated....

[inthepaint]

Explain 5-8 ? Thx

The 5 Raptors player vs the 5 Thunder players and the 3 refs (8 total)

[Zak24gege]

Thunder drop to 8th with the loss. west is crazy

Spurs are on a roll. Last loss to Raptors I think??

[slaw]

Lets see a few games with "playoff" starters + rotation. Need to get Freddy and Serge together...The 4Q last night was awful.

I think last night is pretty close given that Lowry is out. Powell and OG will continue to get minutes down the stretch that will likely be dialed back in the playoffs so it isn't going to be exactly on point.

[KeonClark]

Hey remember when Patrick Patterson was a rotation player?

And Amir Johnson..that was our front court...with a young JV and rotating cast of fat old centers like Chuck Hayes and Greg Stiemsa Now we have Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka, Pascal Siakam, Kawhi Leonard and OG Anunoby taking all the minutes at the 4 and the 5.

Amir and 2Pat were once considered effective though..Amir is 31 and Pat just turned 30 and they're both completely washed

[KeonClark]

I think last night is pretty close given that Lowry is out. Powell and OG will continue to get minutes down the stretch that will likely be dialed back in the playoffs so it isn't going to be exactly on point.

I don't think OG gets dialed back a ton...nobody else can defend big 3s and 4s off the bench..his 18 to 20 minutes should be somewhat safe, provided he doesn't get moments again where he thinks he's Kawhi Leonard like that awful stretch in the 2nd half last night

[Nilanka]

A solid reminder that plus/minus numbers can be vastly overrated....

Except when we're talking about Danny Green....

[Scraptor]

And Amir Johnson..that was our front court...with a young JV and rotating cast of fat old centers like Chuck Hayes and Greg Stiemsa Now we have Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka, Pascal Siakam, Kawhi Leonard and OG Anunoby taking all the minutes at the 4 and the 5.

Amir and 2Pat were once considered effective though..Amir is 31 and Pat just turned 30 and they're both completely washed

Amir sacrificed his body for the team though... dude played hurt more than any Raptor I can remember.

Patman just turned out to completely lack mental toughness.

[slaw]

Except when we're talking about Danny Green....

No, cause Green shows up against quality opponents and is effective in key situations.

[slaw]

I don't think OG gets dialed back a ton...nobody else can defend big 3s and 4s off the bench..his 18 to 20 minutes should be somewhat safe, provided he doesn't get moments again where he thinks he's Kawhi Leonard like that awful stretch in the 2nd half last night

That's probably true. I keep thinking it will be Gasol/Siakam/Ibaka eating all the minutes at the 4/5 but Nurse does like to keep the centers apart and Siakam likely can't play the 5 all that much, so OG will need to play some.