Game 2, NBA FINALS: Golden State Warriors @ Toronto Raptors - Sunday June 2nd, 8pm ET TSN

[golden]

Kyle Lowry can't be fouling out in these types of games. Period. People can whine about Brothers all they want but Lowry was also in foul trouble the other game.

He also fouled out in a must win game against Milwaukee in G3.

And oh, they need him to score. 9 points in G1, 7 last night. Inexcusable.

I'm even okay with Lowry scoring only 9 points, as long as he does his job as a floor general and keeps the team composed when Golden State makes their 3rd quarter surge. Lowry was clearly rattled during that run and that can't happen to your all-star PG. It ended up being the difference in the game.

For the fouls, we have to live with that if we want to keep up the aggressive defense. Nurse wants the team to be "handsy" and I'm sure Kerr sent tape to the NBA to watch out for that before game 2.

[Quirk]

Don't have numbers to back this up, but my impression remains, they are expending so much energy on defense that they are gassed on offense, and miss shots they would make if they had their breath and their legs under them.

I definitely think the defensive intensity needs to be kept up, and is the key to their fortunes, but its seems to me that the defensive effort undermines the offensive efficiency. They got stop after stop in the closing minutes, and missed shot after shot.

Not sure how to fix this, they did get minutes from Ibaka, Norm and FVV, so maybe they need to not so much reduce minutes for the starters, but shorten the stints?

[The Great One]

Lowry's -17 was the biggest problem, IMO. He lost his composure a few times during that epic 18-0 run which gave flashbacks of the Lowry/Derozan playoff meltdowns under defensive pressure. Nurse called 2 timeouts and that's when you need your 5-time all-star PG to steady the ship and organize the team for some easy buckets.

Kyle Lowry can't be fouling out in these types of games. Period. People can whine about Brothers all they want but Lowry was also in foul trouble the other game.

He also fouled out in a must win game against Milwaukee in G3.

And oh, they need him to score. 9 points in G1, 7 last night. Inexcusable.

[Apollo]

The reffing wasn't great but we were called for 4 fewer fouls and shot 3 more free throws than the Warriors.

That doesn't mean the calls were fair. If things were called down the middle the fouls would have looked lopsided towards the Raptors. They weren't rewarded for aggression on offense and were penalized for aggression on defense. Why isn't a foul a foul?

[iblastoff]

The reffing wasn't great but we were called for 4 fewer fouls and shot 3 more free throws than the Warriors.

Our big three of Kawhi/Kyle/Pascal shot 17 of 49 for under 35%, and the team as a whole didn't fare much better at 37%.

Our defense is good but you aren't going to win games at this level giving up 109 points and shooting 37%. We had the opportunity to tie or win on the last shot if we stopped Golden State, but we surrendered a wide open three to Iguodala.

Refs are the easy target but ultimately we have mainly ourselves to blame.

but it was a stark contrast as to who was getting the fouls. almost the entire raptors starting lineup had 3-4 fouls by the half, while it was mostly gsw garbage players who were racking them up to make it seem like it was evening out.

[slaw]

18-0 run

biggest start to a 2nd half in nba finals history

come on raps!

The focus is on that run but I thought the turning point came at the end of the 2Q. Raps were up 11 and had taken complete control of the game. GSW had just committed two bad turnovers and Toronto was rolling. Then, another turnover and Powell winds up with a wide open three on the following possession and..... brick. Raps go on to score 3 points in the last 2 minutes and went from up 11 to up 5 and from in complete control to facing a re-energized Warriors team and an on-fire Curry. That all set the stage for the 3Q run.

Honestly, I hate the loss but I don't feel too bad about:

1. Raps shot the ball awful.

2. Lowry played like an idiot with all the fouls. Man, all those empty possessions late with him on the bench. I hope he's kicking himself this morning for that stupid foul on Cousins.

3. Careless turnovers, bad decision-making on offense.

Doesn't seem to me any of those issues are insurmountable and, at some point, this team was going to have a bit of a stinker after the way they have played.

[inthepaint]

Despite everything this was a close 5pt game at the end. If you take one 3 away from Cook and give it to Fred so things get closer to their respective normal percentages, this is a W.

This is one of those L's that leave a bad taste because it was so close. But on the other hand when you put it in perspective, we've played 4 games against GSW this year, 2 of which in the freakin NBA finals, and we were in it every single one (this one being the first L, which took the Raps playing significantly below their normal level on both ends, and it was still only a 5pt game). If you told me that in November I wouldn't believe it.

I hope Nurse shores up the interior D next game, no more lobs and easy back-cut buckets on our end please

[golden]

The reffing wasn't great but we were called for 4 fewer fouls and shot 3 more free throws than the Warriors.

Our big three of Kawhi/Kyle/Pascal shot 17 of 49 for under 35%, and the team as a whole didn't fare much better at 37%.

Our defense is good but you aren't going to win games at this level giving up 109 points and shooting 37%. We had the opportunity to tie or win on the last shot if we stopped Golden State, but we surrendered a wide open three to Iguodala.

Refs are the easy target but ultimately we have mainly ourselves to blame.

Lowry's -17 was the biggest problem, IMO. He lost his composure a few times during that epic 18-0 run which gave flashbacks of the Lowry/Derozan playoff meltdowns under defensive pressure. Nurse called 2 timeouts and that's when you need your 5-time all-star PG to steady the ship and organize the team for some easy buckets.

[The Great One]

Shouldn't this be a technical? from what i remember, the Raptors did not call a timeout, and Curry literally jumped from his bench all the way to Drake's space to body jump Cook.

[Scraptor]

The reffing wasn't great but we were called for 4 fewer fouls and shot 3 more free throws than the Warriors.

Our big three of Kawhi/Kyle/Pascal shot 17 of 49 for under 35%, and the team as a whole didn't fare much better at 37%.

Our defense is good but you aren't going to win games at this level giving up 109 points and shooting 37%. We had the opportunity to tie or win on the last shot if we stopped Golden State, but we surrendered a wide open three to Iguodala.

Refs are the easy target but ultimately we have mainly ourselves to blame.

[Jclaw]

Ill work on new thread today. 👍🏻

I'll try and think of the best thread and hopefully never use it. Go Mixx.

[Jclaw]

So who are we wanting fired this morning?

whoever decided that triumvirate of refs could be in one game

[golden]

We have a series, thanks to the unholy trinity of Malloy/Foster/Brothers, but mostly Golden State realizing this isn't going to be a cakewalk and putting out effort on defense for 48 minutes instead of just the 3rd quarter, like they're used to. This looks a lot like the Sixers series, assuming Durant doesn't come back. Lowry was extremely disappointing in this one.... you can't be an all-star PG and have your team not score for almost half of an entire quarter in the NBA finals. That's just crazy.

Despite that, the Raps fought back and just ran out of time with the Warriors hanging on for dear life. They're obviously happy, but they can't feel too comfortable about that win. Refs kept them in the game, until they could get to half-time and regroup. Raps still held them to a 109 ORTG. Don't think they expected to have to win a series with their defense and being a plucky, scrappy type of team. Hats off to them, they showed some grit - but can they keep it up.... and how does Nurse/Lowry respond to get our offense going again?

And that Klay Thompson missed goaltend on Pascal ended up being huge.

[MixxAOR]

Ill work on new thread today. 👍🏻

[suspenders]

Disappointing loss last night, but I'm confident we will bounce back. Like everyone else, I was not happy with the calls throughout the game.

That being said, I still think the calls hurt us because had a few more calls gone our way, and the Warriors didn't get all of those bullshit calls, we'd likely have been tied by the end of the game (including the terrible 18-0 onslaught).

It is what it is. We just need make the necessary adjustments and come back harder next game.

Oh, and Danny Green should never dribble again. Just catch and shoot I'd rather him shoot a contested shot and have a chance at making it, rather than dribble and it ends up in a turnover... which leads to a larger deficit.