Game #73 Thunder (42-30) @ Raptors (51-21) Friday March 22nd 2019. SN 4:30pm (Whitehorse) 7:30pm (Toronto) 7:30am (Taipei)

[inthepaint]

Several things played out tonight
--Thunder was hungrier. They were on a losing streak, fighting to get out of the 8th hole to avoid GSW on the 1st round, after losing in OT a home.
--Lin instead of Lowry
--Raptors moving away from what was working first (ball movement/transition) to more stagnant plays
--Nurse holding off on bringing the starters too long into 4th quarter (except for Kawhi who started the 4th)

Fun game to watch despite the loss, and good film to work with

[Zak24gege]

Some credit to OKC's tenacious defense and length. They got their hands on some balls.

OKC also hit 20 3s it was pretty nuts.

I'm encouraged by the rotations now. Guys like Lin and Norm have played themselves out of the rotation come playoff time. Insert Lowry and have two starters on the floor at all times and this team should be nasty.

We are fortunate to have the 1 win in OKC. My concern is that when OKC turned up the defensive pressure we collapsed by turning the ball over. We blew big leads in both games. Personally I don't take any measure of confidence out of these OKC games.

[Zak24gege]

Several things played out tonight
--Thunder was hungrier. They were on a losing streak, fighting to get out of the 8th hole to avoid GSW on the 1st round, after losing in OT a home.
--Lin instead of Lowry
--Raptors moving away from what was working first (ball movement/transition) to more stagnant plays
--Nurse holding off on bringing the starters too long into 4th quarter (except for Kawhi who started the 4th)

Fun game to watch despite the loss, and good film to work with

And both games we gave up big leads in 2H.

[A.I]

And both games we gave up big leads in 2H.

They have 2 MVP caliber players and we didn't have our All star PG for either game. OKC is a good team, they're gonna make their runs, we held them off in the first game, this game we couldn't due to their abnormally high shooting.

[Zak24gege]

"OKC was down 13 with 5:23 to go in the third before rallying. The Thunder closed the third with a 20-4 run to take an 83-80 lead into the fourth."

Who got torched here?...

[Zak24gege]

They have 2 MVP caliber players and we didn't have our All star PG for either game. OKC is a good team, they're gonna make their runs, we held them off in the first game, this game we couldn't due to their abnormally high shooting.

As I like to say excuses are for losers. Good teams like the Raptors should be able to hold leads or if they lose the lead get it back. We have an MVP too, so what. We need to be executing better when defenses tighten up and unfortunately now we get fluff teams who we can beat playing loosy-goosy style.

[A.I]

As I like to say excuses are for losers. Good teams like the Raptors should be able to hold leads or if they lose the lead get it back. We have an MVP too, so what. We need to be executing better when defenses tighten up and unfortunately now we get fluff teams who we can beat playing loosy-goosy style.

Excuses or not, OKC had a lot more to gain from a win. Raptors are just chugging along trying to get healthy for the Playoffs.

[Zak24gege]

Another factor is OKC played 6 players over 30 minutes. The other 7-9 players played a total of 29 mins scoring 5pts. We used our 7-9 player for 49 mins scoring 7 pts. Our 7-9 guys played 20 mins vs OKC starters. Also, George played 41 minutes. Clearly Donovan needed the win and went with his starters + Schroder for '2H. The 16 extra FGA's was huge, how could you not lose given 20% more shot attemps?

[spicy_d]

OKC also missed a lot of FT attempts on the first game ..of they made them ...game ov3r

[golden]

Post-game quote from Nurse:

“I like the force (Kawhi) was playing with offensively. He did get hung up a couple times, but he got hit a lot. He did shoot 10 free throws, which might be a record this year, but I thought he could have shot another 10.”

Nurse doesn't deserve to coach a superstar like Kawhi if he's not going to protect him.

[The Claw Reborn]

They have 2 MVP caliber players and we didn't have our All star PG for either game. OKC is a good team, they're gonna make their runs, we held them off in the first game, this game we couldn't due to their abnormally high shooting.

The excuse....but if they won....what a great coach and FVV can start as a PG for any contending team.

your MO is getting old

[The Claw Reborn]

Post-game quote from Nurse:

“I like the force (Kawhi) was playing with offensively. He did get hung up a couple times, but he got hit a lot. He did shoot 10 free throws, which might be a record this year, but I thought he could have shot another 10.”

Nurse doesn't deserve to coach a superstar like Kawhi if he's not going to protect him.

Nurse doesn’t deserve to coach a contending team

He should be leading the charge on a team that is developing (ie Developmental league sounds familiar). There he can fucking do all the experimentation of line ups he wants until he turns blue on the face.

He becomes a total genius when the amount of talent exceeds his ineptness in coaching.

I said so so many times, I hate to see this team fail in the post season.

same mistakes like like a broken record: After time out plays/ rotations and line up changes. He does things opposite to the norm. Billy Donovan left both George and Westbrook longer in the game and Nurse wanted to load manage his starters. What an idiot

[The Claw Reborn]

If George didn’t foul out last game, OKC would have gotten it in OT first game.

Another thing I noticed, Referees totally ignoring Nurse with no credibility and this is the biggest fear in the playoffs. If we have a coach with patches on the chest, Kawhi would have gotten calls at the very least half the times he drives down the lane.

I just fucking hate that this is a season we have a legitimate MVP type player with legit playoff tested supporting casts and we have a coach with ZERO experience to coach a contending team

[The Claw Reborn]

And what the hell is Van Vleet doing driving down the lane with Adams right in front of him (though I’m not surprised, he does these dumbass things all season long). He becomes so effective when he picks his spots but sometimes he gets these brain farts once in a while.

When he becomes a facilitator, he can be a huge asset with the starters. He is the total representation of his coach, they both excel when the talents around them exceeds their mediocrity. Why Fred excels better playing with four legit starters.

[G__Deane]

If George didn’t foul out last game, OKC would have gotten it in OT first game.

Another thing I noticed, Referees totally ignoring Nurse with no credibility and this is the biggest fear in the playoffs. If we have a coach with patches on the chest, Kawhi would have gotten calls at the very least half the times he drives down the lane.

I just fucking hate that this is a season we have a legitimate MVP type player with legit playoff tested supporting casts and we have a coach with ZERO experience to coach a contending team

You really believe the coach's rep matters more than the players in regards to getting foul calls?