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

[planetmars]

Nurse kept the bench in a little too long (specifically Norm) in the 4th and that was the ball game. Sucks to lose when you're up big. Having Lowry in there and no Lin would have been a win but whatever.

Need to go 9-0 now to finish the season to get to 60 wins. Let's do it!

[The Claw Reborn]

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

You’ve been a fan of this game Dean so I have no doubt that you know these things. Using the word “more” does not quantify it. But reputation of coach and player matters

[A.I]

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

I’ve never once said FVV can start at PG for a contender. Also never said Nurse is a great coach. Said many times I’ll hold my judgement for the Playoffs. Go ahead and make up your bullshit.

Nurse did good things in the first half on Wednesday, but OKC made a comeback and the Raptors beat them in OT.

In the last game, the 25th ranked shooting team in 3P% made 20 of them and shot 46% that was the ball game.

[The Claw Reborn]

I’ve never once said FVV can start at PG for a contender. Also never said Nurse is a great coach. Said many times I’ll hold my judgement for the Playoffs. Go ahead and make up your bullshit.

Nurse did good things in the first half on Wednesday, but OKC made a comeback and the Raptors beat them in OT.

In the last game, the 25th ranked shooting team in 3P% made 20 of them and shot 46% that was the ball game.

Hyperbole dude lol but what Im getting at is the usual excuses I hear from you.

To say that OKC were desperate and Raptors were just chugging along to get healthy for the playoffs is quiet laughable. You basically diminished the efforts of Kawhi and most especially Pascal.

Nurse allowed his bench to guard both Westbrook and George when OKC was making a run, he left his mediocre players as baits for the two sharks.

that was game

[G__Deane]

You’ve been a fan of this game Dean so I have no doubt that you know these things. Using the word “more” does not quantify it. But reputation of coach and player matters

What I think is the perceived value of a coach harping on the refs and the constant criticism of coach Nurse is over blown here

The percentage of posts you make (when not responding to someone) that just criticizes Nurse non-stop is epic. What did he ever do to you because it almost sounds personal lol

[golden]

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

"Holding the refs accountable" matters a lot to superstar players. Kyrie Irving's comments on Doc Rivers:

Irving said. “My only thing is they stay on the refs the entire game, I’ve never seen a team complain that much, but he really holds them to a standard and lets them go out and play.”

I noticed the same thing about Doc Rivers and Popovich over the years. They over-react to some minor call against their team in the 1st quarter or early 2nd quarter, instead of letting a mountain of bad calls build up into having one of your players or the coach have to take a frustration tech late in a close game. Also the body language when complaining ... refs are clearly intimidated by Pop & Doc, while Nurse barely even makes eye contact half the time. The fear and respect isn't there, so Lowry usually ends up having to fight with the refs for our team.

https://clutchpoints.com/celtics-new...with-clippers/

[Jclaw]

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.

Have to agree with this. Raps played their system. Got out to a reasonable lead in the third quarter. And then a team with everything to win for kept trying while a team that has nothing to play for took its foot off the gas. I know it seems late to say this so late in the season but it’s really process over results for the rest of the season.

[A.I]

Hyperbole dude lol but what Im getting at is the usual excuses I hear from you.

To say that OKC were desperate and Raptors were just chugging along to get healthy for the playoffs is quiet laughable. You basically diminished the efforts of Kawhi and most especially Pascal.

Nurse allowed his bench to guard both Westbrook and George when OKC was making a run, he left his mediocre players as baits for the two sharks.

that was game

Thats my point. He kept the bench in long because he isn't over working his starters especially when 1 starter is missing. Kawhi and Pascal played 36 minutes, while PG and Westbrook played 41 and 37. Like I said, OKC had a lot more to gain from a win. They lost 4 in a row and would have dropped to 8th seed. They can potentially make the WCF if they avoid the Warriors until then.

OKC went full Playoff rotation this game. 6 players played 30+ minutes and 3 played less than 15. Raptors were more balanced. Nurse is setting his Playoff rotation, but we won't see it fully until the Playoffs.

[Superjudge]

"Holding the refs accountable" matters a lot to superstar players. Kyrie Irving's comments on Doc Rivers:



I noticed the same thing about Doc Rivers and Popovich over the years. They over-react to some minor call against their team in the 1st quarter or early 2nd quarter, instead of letting a mountain of bad calls build up into having one of your players or the coach have to take a frustration tech late in a close game. Also the body language when complaining ... refs are clearly intimidated by Pop & Doc, while Nurse barely even makes eye contact half the time. The fear and respect isn't there, so Lowry usually ends up having to fight with the refs for our team.

https://clutchpoints.com/celtics-new...with-clippers/

This is a great post, as usual, someone eloquently says what I wanna say without swearing hahahhaa

It starts in the first quarter, when a ref calls Danny Green on a travel, when guys like Harden walk around at the top of the key all night long..... you freak out immediately, make a statement that this ain't happening to your team. When Kawhi takes it hard, and there is mountains of contact, immediately you're up and letting the ref know that its ok, you arent mad, BUT, you expect the EXACT same leniency in your own end.

It's rarely the calls I am mad at, they are all over the place night to night. It's when refs hold one team to a standard that they are not holding the other too, and thats what happens to Toronto all the time. And they do it at key times to create momentum killers. Case in point, a guy like Green comes out hot, so boom, a travel call and then a super soft touch call, then another to calm him down...it kills a team that was likely gonna cruise to an easy win.

[Puffer]

[QUOTE=A.I;n1278295]

Thats my point. He kept the bench in long because he isn't over working his starters especially when 1 starter is missing. Kawhi and Pascal played 36 minutes, while PG and Westbrook played 41 and 37. Like I said, OKC had a lot more to gain from a win. They lost 4 in a row and would have dropped to 8th seed. They can potentially make the WCF if they avoid the Warriors until then.

OKC went full Playoff rotation this game. 6 players played 30+ minutes and 3 played less than 15. Raptors were more balanced. Nurse is setting his Playoff rotation, but we won't see it fully until the Playoffs.[/QUOTELOL. ]

LOL. If Nurse had left Pascal and Kawhi in for 37-41 Claw Recycled would be all "What's going on in Nurse's head, risking our two best players in a meaningless game?"

No point arguing with him. If everyone just doesn't respond, it makes for smoother reading. Read post, skip Claw Recycled response. Read post, skip Claw Recycled response. Saves time because he repeats himself.

[Zak24gege]

Nurse kept the bench in a little too long (specifically Norm) in the 4th and that was the ball game. Sucks to lose when you're up big. Having Lowry in there and no Lin would have been a win but whatever.

Need to go 9-0 now to finish the season to get to 60 wins. Let's do it!

OKC finished the 3Q with a 20 - 4 run. Donovan played 6 deep with 7 to 9 spot duty. Nurse went longer with bench.

[Zak24gege]

My analysis of game:

1. OKC guards Westbrook and Schroder totally outclassed our PG's big time. They were +18 and +17 respectively vs FVV (-4) and Lin (-12).
2. They, especially Schroder, were able to score or find open shooters for 3's. Combined they scored 44 points with 20 assists. Our PG's contributed 13 points with 6 assists. Both OKC PG's individually had higher points/assists than our 2 guys combined. Certainly do not expect our guys to outplay Westbrook, but letting Schroder go for 26/7 is on them.
3. OKC had a season high 20 made 3's on 43 attempts (0.465). Interestingly we shot a higher % going 13 for 25 (0.520).
4. Having 18 more 3PA (16 FGA's overall) was a major factor in the outcome. Result of 21 turnovers (15 by Leonard and Siakam alone).

Giving up 2 13+ point 2H leads in both OKC games is a concern. Donovan needed the WIN and played 6 players 31+ mins. with George playing 41. They took advantage of our bench. Now that we are playing weaker teams, Nurse will continue to use an extended bench and rest guys so little opportunity to deal with turnover / offense stalling issues that occurred when OKC turned up the defensive pressure.

Looking forward to the real games...

Watching Philly, they have been playing with a fairly consistent rotation and having success in closing out games and making comebacks to win. They currently have a 6 game winning streak including beating the Bucks in Milwaukee and Celtics at home. They are our most probable 2nd round opponent. With Embiid, we have no answer. He gets as many calls as Giannis. Last game against Boston he alone had 21 FT's, more than the entire Boston team combined. Brown had him and Simmons play 40+ minutes to get the W. His bench is short so the starters are getting used to playing together. They will be a very, very tough out. Can't give up the second seed.

[GOLDBLUM]

My analysis of game:

1. OKC guards Westbrook and Schroder totally outclassed our PG's big time. They were +18 and +17 respectively vs FVV (-4) and Lin (-12).
2. They, especially Schroder, were able to score or find open shooters for 3's. Combined they scored 44 points with 20 assists. Our PG's contributed 13 points with 6 assists. Both OKC PG's individually had higher points/assists than our 2 guys combined. Certainly do not expect our guys to outplay Westbrook, but letting Schroder go for 26/7 is on them.
3. OKC had a season high 20 made 3's on 43 attempts (0.465). Interestingly we shot a higher % going 13 for 25 (0.520).
4. Having 18 more 3PA (16 FGA's overall) was a major factor in the outcome. Result of 21 turnovers (15 by Leonard and Siakam alone).

Giving up 2 13+ point 2H leads in both OKC games is a concern. Donovan needed the WIN and played 6 players 31+ mins. with George playing 41. They took advantage of our bench. Now that we are playing weaker teams, Nurse will continue to use an extended bench and rest guys so little opportunity to deal with turnover / offense stalling issues that occurred when OKC turned up the defensive pressure.

Looking forward to the real games...

Watching Philly, they have been playing with a fairly consistent rotation and having success in closing out games and making comebacks to win. They currently have a 6 game winning streak including beating the Bucks in Milwaukee and Celtics at home. They are our most probable 2nd round opponent. With Embiid, we have no answer. He gets as many calls as Giannis. Last game against Boston he alone had 21 FT's, more than the entire Boston team combined. Brown had him and Simmons play 40+ minutes to get the W. His bench is short so the starters are getting used to playing together. They will be a very, very tough out. Can't give up the second seed.

Good analysis. pointguard play hurt us yesterday for sure. We ALWAYS struggle against OKC, so to have no Lowry and come out with one win and to have two games where we were up pretty big, I'm pretty pleased with that. I get the disappointment at giving up the leads. I'm just glad we opened up those leads in the first place. That suggests to me that all things being equal, we were better off, both games. All things are not equal though, our bench got beat both times, and yeah the aforementioned pointguard matchups.

Re Philly: you said we have no answer with Embiid, however it was posted a while back how Gasol destroys Embiid even more than JV did. His stats against him are very impressive. Hopefully Marc can stay true to his form there and shut the Twitterverse down. They're gonna be a tough out though. No doubt. Gonna be some exciting/heart attack basketball ahead.

One thing that jumps out to me from our last highly competitive opponents of the regular season in OKC, is the reffing. It's been widely talked about, but man, there's just no doubt in my mind that we constantly get fucked by refs in this league. Hedging our leads down until the game is once again competitive for teams we go up on. It really hit home watching these games that if we think we're gonna get easy wins in the postseason -- we're out of our minds. There are just flat-out going to be games where we're getting absolutely jobbed for calls... I need to prepare myself for that mentally. It'd be nice if Kawhi, Danny and Marc can add some respect to our name when the time comes. In Nurse's crazy learning curve as a first year coach aspiring to reach the Finals, one thing he's really gonna have to adapt is how he works the refs. As others have said, he's gotta figure out a way to be active early and demanding respect for his guys.

[The Claw Reborn]

[QUOTE=Puffer;n1278300]

Thats my point. He kept the bench in long because he isn't over working his starters especially when 1 starter is missing. Kawhi and Pascal played 36 minutes, while PG and Westbrook played 41 and 37. Like I said, OKC had a lot more to gain from a win. They lost 4 in a row and would have dropped to 8th seed. They can potentially make the WCF if they avoid the Warriors until then.

OKC went full Playoff rotation this game. 6 players played 30+ minutes and 3 played less than 15. Raptors were more balanced. Nurse is setting his Playoff rotation, but we won't see it fully until the Playoffs.[/QUOTELOL. ]

LOL. If Nurse had left Pascal and Kawhi in for 37-41 Claw Recycled would be all "What's going on in Nurse's head, risking our two best players in a meaningless game?"

No point arguing with him. If everyone just doesn't respond, it makes for smoother reading. Read post, skip Claw Recycled response. Read post, skip Claw Recycled response. Saves time because he repeats himself.

funny though because you overstretched yourself by still reading my post...gtfo

[The Claw Reborn]

Thats my point. He kept the bench in long because he isn't over working his starters especially when 1 starter is missing. Kawhi and Pascal played 36 minutes, while PG and Westbrook played 41 and 37. Like I said, OKC had a lot more to gain from a win. They lost 4 in a row and would have dropped to 8th seed. They can potentially make the WCF if they avoid the Warriors until then.

OKC went full Playoff rotation this game. 6 players played 30+ minutes and 3 played less than 15. Raptors were more balanced. Nurse is setting his Playoff rotation, but we won't see it fully until the Playoffs.

The one minute or two minutes rest for Kawhi and Pascal wont make a damn difference, they still both played their hearts out. Nurse just had a number of minutes in his head.

So you basically said that Donovan and his players had an agenda prior to the home and home series against the Raptors...avoid the Warriors at all cost, thats why he has to maximize both Westbrook and George to make sure not to position themselves at the 8th spot even if they risk injuring themselves for the playoffs vs. Nurse chugging just to get healthy.

such a double standard.

Puffer: since you already spend time reading my initial post, i suggest you reading this also and comprehending