Game 2, Playoffs Round 1: Orlando Magic @ Toronto Raptors - Tuesday April 16th 8pm ET, TSN

[G__Deane]

If Kawhi isn't a top 5 take over score at will guy, who are we putting over him, exactly?

Some combination of Lebron, Durant, Curry, Westbrook, Harden, Giannis, prime Irving? Would be my guess....

[Raptor Jesus]

[bertarapsfan]

Thread is broken for me... Bad JuJu

[KeonClark]

Thread is broken for me... Bad JuJu

Yep me too. Last one waited until the 1st Q at least

They all break lol...not even game day yet

[bertarapsfan]

Yep me too. Last one waited until the 1st Q at least

They all break lol...not even game day yet

I dont know who to blame for game 1 loss.. Kyle, Nick or RR.

[Scraptor]

If Kawhi isn't a top 5 take over score at will guy, who are we putting over him, exactly?

We're starting to talk about two different things.

Kawhi isn't quite a top 5 take over score at will guy. The best scorers are (in no particular order): Curry, Harden, Durant, LeBron, and Giannis. Maybe Irving. Giannis and LeBron aren't great shooters but they are far more unstoppable inside the arc than Kawhi. But even then Kawhi is like somewhere between 6-8 in the league imo. He was only assisted on 36% of his shots (vs 49% for both Durant and Giannis, for example).

Kawhi is a top 5 overall player because of his two-way impact. The Athletic did a poll of players and he was voted best defender in the league. That will certainly win us some games going forward. We just need more cohesiveness from the group, and I'm pretty sure that is going to come together soon, given that we have: a) high IQ vets, and b) considerable playoff experience.

[GOLDBLUM]

Thread is broken for me...

And I. Just goes back to page 5 again. No indication of new posts.
Why is this happening with all the game threads?

[Scraptor]

And I. Just goes back to page 5 again. No indication of new posts.
Why is this happening with all the game threads?

System is bogus. Your glorious avatar is only the size of a postage stamp to me now.

[Zak24gege]

People are that worried about game 2?

We have 2 championship players who have been through the ultimate Playoff adversity (Losing the 2013 Finals the way that they did and then coming back and destroying the Heat in 2014), and a Playoff tested veteran in Gasol, who said the team isnt panicking.

There were a lot of encouraging signs in Game 1 especially how the team defended Ross off screens and Gasol defending Vucevic. Augustin isn’t going to average 25 for the series, Lowry isn’t going to average 0 and the #1 shooting team since the break isn’t going miss as many open 3s as they did in the first half. The Magic also aren’t gonna shoot 48% from 3.

What bothers me most about Game 1 is given the vast difference in playoff experience, with 1:02 remaining in the game Raps up 101 - 99, TRoss takes a contested 3 and misses...Instead of grabbing the rebound, Green fails to box out Gordon who grabs offensive board.#1. Then Green allows DJ a straight line drive down the middle of the key for a lay-up...no one steps up, no rim protection #2. Lastly after a missed Gasol corner 3 (a shot he rarely takes or makes), on DJ's 3 Kawhi was switching while Gasol is staying with his man #3. We did have a chance to tie, however Raptors have scored just once in similar situations so chances for success were very low. So the team with all that playoff experience made 3 defensive mistakes and failed to score. The young inexperienced team put up 5 points and held the experienced Raptors scoreless.

So, where does all the optimism based on play-off experience come from. With the Raptors ahead by 2 points and a chance to take control of the game, they let it slip away starting with Green failing to box out Gordon. Moreover, it's the players with all that supposed championship experience that were involved...Green, Leonard, Gasol.

It's only the first game and one shouldn't make conclusions. On Tuesday the Raptors have a chance to change the narrative, show that this team is a contender for the ECF's. IMHO anything but a convincing win will continue to leave doubt about the ability of this team to compete for a championship.

[spicy_d]

What bothers me most about Game 1 is given the vast difference in playoff experience, with 1:02 remaining in the game Raps up 101 - 99, TRoss takes a contested 3 and misses...Instead of grabbing the rebound, Green fails to box out Gordon who grabs offensive board.#1. Then Green allows DJ a straight line drive down the middle of the key for a LAY-UP...no one steps up, no rim protection #2. Lastly after a missed Gasol corner 3 (a shot he rarely takes or makes), on DJ's 3 Kawhi was switching while Gasol is staying with his man #3. We did have a chance to tie, however Raptors have scored just once in similar situations so chances for success were very low. So the team with all that playoff experience made 3 defensive mistakes and failed to score. The young inexperienced team put up 5 points and held the experienced Raptors scoreless.

So, where does all the optimism based on play-off experience come from. With the Raptors ahead by 2 points and a chance to take control of the game, they let it slip away starting with Green failing to box out Gordon. Moreover, it's the players with all that supposed championship experience that were involved...Green, Leonard, Gasol.

It's only the first game and one shouldn't make conclusions. On Tuesday the Raptors have a chance to change the narrative, show that this team is a contender for the ECF's. IMHO anything but a convincing win will continue to leave doubt about the ability of this team to compete for a championship.

ya....barely squeaking by in game 2 wont do it...jsut gives the magic confidence that we're very beatable (although I think they are think that)

i saw clifford's speech after they made the playoffs....this guy knows how to coach....I can't imagine Nurse like that

[bertarapsfan]

something we haven't been talking about is that missing OG really hurt. threw a wrench into what our rotation would have been. didn't really like the gasol and Ibaka pairing. I would like to see more kawhi at the 4 then running out the 2 big guys. I hope the struggles can be attributed to the rotation having to be completely changed last minute. I still don't know why we never picked up a 3rd string PF. it was a position of Need all season long.

[inthepaint]

I'm gonna speak only for myself as a fan ( and possibly the team as well): Gotta stop thinking about the ECF/Finals for a moment here. They gotta deal with what's in front of them right now, which is round 1.

You're not gonna really prove or disprove you're worthy of the finals because of how you look on paper, how you did on the regular season, or even how Game 1 of round 1 went. The games need to be played, and they gotta grind it out to prove their worth. They came in a little too cocky/entitled, which translated into some non-chalance (particularly on coaching and on defensive intensity), and they paid for it. Gotta do the grind and put in the attention to the detail playoffs demand (round 1 included) THEN maybe you get to dream about the ECF/finals.

I would have much preferred they won game 1 of course, but this at least can hopefully serve as a wake up call to stop treating playoff games too casually, It's gotta be 48 minutes of balls to the walls, because even if you're in control of the series (which they're not), the quicker you finish it, the more rest you get between rounds (if you advance).

[inthepaint]

This thread is acting funny, looks like it's showing the avatar of the last post, but the username of an older post. So right now it looks like Mitchell Duong has my avatar lol

EDIT: The Kyle Lowry Thread is doing the same and right now it looks like DanH has T-rex's avatar, which is slightly disturbing

[bertarapsfan]

I'm gonna speak only for myself as a fan ( and possibly the team as well): Gotta stop thinking about the ECF/Finals for a moment here. They gotta deal with what's in front of them right now, which is round 1.

You're not gonna really prove or disprove you're worthy of the finals because of how you look on paper, how you did on the regular season, or even how Game 1 of round 1 went. The games need to be played, and they gotta grind it out to prove their worth. They came in a little too cocky/entitled, which translated into some non-chalance (particularly on coaching and on defensive intensity), and they paid for it. Gotta do the grind and put in the attention to the detail playoffs demand (round 1 included) THEN maybe you get to dream about the ECF/finals.

I would have much preferred they won game 1 of course, but this at least can hopefully serve as a wake up call to stop treating playoff games too casually, It's gotta be 48 minutes of balls to the walls, because even if you're in control of the series (which they're not), the quicker you finish it, the more rest you get between rounds (if you advance).

ya team shouldn't be looking past he next game but I certainly am. if brooklyn can win tonight we may be looking at a path to the ECF of Orlando and brklyn. while celtics and bucks have a tough 7 games series. we HAVE to take advantage of that. we couldn't dream of a better scenario

[MixxAOR]

https://streamable.com/o28lc

damn Nurse is shook.