Raptors @ Horcats Friday April 5th 7pm on SN1

[Maury]

I know we lost this one but I'm feeling really good about how the team is coming together to close out the season. The offense is really picking up, shots are falling in what seems like a consistent fashion. The defense has shown up in spots and we can only hope that they're playing down a couple of levels in energy and are ready to flip the proverbial switch come playoff time.

Marc's fit with the starters is strong. He does need to be more assertive as a finishing threat but his passing, movement, spacing, and sheer presence have really improved the offense and unlocked a new style that to me seems more effective. Serge seems to have embraced a 6th man role as well. We really need homecourt in the case that we make the finals so these last two games are games we need to come out of the gate firing on all cylinders. We don't want these games going to the wire and having to expend too much energy to win but I think it's really important that we do win them.

[inthepaint]

What we KNEW wsas Danny was coming off an injury so rather than ASSUME Nurse was f ing up, why not more logically assume that Danny was on a minutes restriction? Which he WAS. Or that he was feeling a little tender after the half?

Answer? Some fans are just dying compalin about Nurse no matter what. If we lose to the Bucks in 6 or the GSW in 5, it will be Nurse's fault like we were the favourite. Just a little tired of the non-stop Nurse bashing. He's done pretty well in a tough year with so many injuries, the load management and so many new players both at the beginning of the year and at the trade deadline.

He's sure not perfect but a hell of a lot better than Casey imo and willing to be judged by the post season. Just like Kawhi btw

ymmv ....

You can't "logically assume" Danny was on a minutes restriction. The game he injured the left thumb he continued to play, had a season-high 29 points, and was feeling fine. Nurse even joked that if he's gonna play like that when he's "injured" he can get hurt "anytime". Another reason you can't "logically assume" he was on a minutes restriction, it's because Nurse is known to experiment a lot, so choosing to sit him the entire 4th to get an extended look at what a closing backcourt of Lowry + FVV (even with Danny healthy and ready to play), is certainly something Nurse could choose to do at this juncture of the season. A third reason you can't "logically assume" it was injury prevention, is that Nurse brought the guy back in cold with less then a minute to go, which is typically something you don't do with a player that sore/banged up.

Having said that, just like you can't "logically assume" Danny was on minutes restriction, you can't assume Nurse was screwing up either, which is why I for one, gave him the benefit of the doubt, and said that if Danny sat the 4th because of load management, that's reasonable, but if he sat the whole 4th knowing that that was costing us the game out of pure experimentation, that was a poor coaching decision. Furthermore, there's also a difference between criticizing the coach for an in-game decision here and there (which is what most people here are doing I think), then calling the coach an idiot and the pre-emptively blaming the guy for any future screw up (which I agree with you some people here are doing that, and it's silly)

[The Great One]

Nets beat the Bucks tonight. Now let's put a dagger on Miami's playoff hopes tomorrow. I don't want to see Wade and all his one last dance bullshit in the playoffs.

[Rudy Bargnani]

Not gonna look up the tiebreakers but it would be really cool if we eliminated Miami from playoffs contention tomorrow

[bertarapsfan]

Not gonna look up the tiebreakers but it would be really cool if we eliminated Miami from playoffs contention tomorrow

I think id be funnier if detroit ended up falling out after looking like they had 6 seed locked up

[inthepaint]

Not gonna look up the tiebreakers but it would be really cool if we eliminated Miami from playoffs contention tomorrow

yeah probably not the greatest time to play Miami, they're now on a 3-game losing streak barely hanging to playoff chances, they're gonna come out scratching and clawing, literally. I'd like to see a W, but hopefully our guys protect themselves out there too in the process.

[golden]

I think id be funnier if detroit ended up falling out after looking like they had 6 seed locked up

I'm all for losing on purpose if it means denying Casey an opportunity to bust out his championship ring. lol. Only problem is that we need to stay even with the Warriors for HCA. Those Lin/Powell/McCaw lineups are going to come back to bite us.

[Zak24gege]

Anybody have stats on end of game success rate. It seems that teams routinely are making shots whereas I can think of only 3 times this season where we have made an end of game play / basket. Danny early on, Siakam against PHX and Kawhi vs Portland. I have many more memories like the recent Hornets game.

[Zak24gege]

THAT'S the annoying part. I don't mind the loss is how we lost. He hasn't shown that he will put Kawhi on the other teams best player very often. So I'm not too sure we can expect that for sure in the playoffs.

Personally, I don't think Nurse makes those decisions. He's a rookie coach with I believe only 4 or 5 years experience as an NBA assistant. He has NBA veteran, all-star, championship experience players. He just agrees with what they want to do particularly when it comes to Kawhi and Kyle. He basically said just that after the last game, when it came to deciding what play they would run.