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

[Jclaw]

Ill work on new thread today. 👍🏻

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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?

[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.

[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?

[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.

[The Great One]

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.

Disagree. The Raptors need him to score. If Lowry didn't average 20ppg in the Milwaukee series, the Raps would've lost that series.

[The Great One]

And also, Stephen A is right, the arena was half empty to start the 3rd. There was no energy in the arena to start the 3rd. Smh. Stay in your seats and cheer for your team.

Jack Armstrong has called out Raptors fans about this in the past as well.

[The Claw Reborn]

What a deflating loss. But this is one of the two in the post season that I thought the officiating changed the complexion of the game. The first one was the game against the Bucks when Zach Zarba took the podium and introduced himself to the world that he belongs with the corrupted NBA elites (Tony Brothers/Marc Davis/ Scott Foster).

Last night was the 2nd game with Too many calls that flipped the momentum in favor of the darlings of the NBA. Adam Silver was well aware of the poor TV ratings in the US so the only way to recoup losses is to somewhat extend the series.

Aside from that:

Lowry with his aggressive nature on defense, he gets swallowed into that blackhole of silly fouls. He just have to pick his spots.

Eventhough he scored enough but I thought this was one of the inefficient game of Kawhi accompanied by numerous turnovers. Giving Credit to the Warriors lock down defense, our Super Alien showed that can be mere more mortal sometimes.

Draymond took the onus and limited Pascal. He owned the blame post game 1 and he backed it up with a tremendous all around game 2.

But what made the difference IMO is the contribution of Cousins, Bogut and Cook. They were instrumental in that 18-0 run.

P.S. Nurse or Lowry should stop posting up Danny Green. I think the success rate of that play resulting to a basket is zero to nil.

[Apollo]

And also, Stephen A is right, the arena was half empty to start the 3rd. There was no energy in the arena to start the 3rd. Smh. Stay in your seats and cheer for your team.

Jack Armstrong has called out Raptors fans about this in the past as well.

When considering the ticket prices. When considering this is a global event. Though it is impossible to know, I would guess that those in attendance was not the crowd typically showing up to watch Raptors games.

I would also guess that in general the crowd who showed up last night won't hear what SAS said, also doesn't care and possible doesn't even know who he is.