Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Where Do The Raptors Rank In The East?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • LJ2 wrote: View Post
    Where did this idea of Bledsoe, Middleton and Lopez choking in the playoffs come from? Is it because the Raptors beat them in the playoffs last year? A Kawhi lead Raptors team? Bucks ran through the competition in the first two rounds last year, one of which was Boston a fairly good team.
    First tough team they faced in the playoffs was the Raps. Pistons were a joke. Celtics were a dysfunctional mess all year and Hayward was still hurt.

    Comment


    • LOL, that first tough team they faced were the eventual champs. It's one thing to say Lowry, DeMar, and Casey choked in the playoffs after losing year after year to teams that were worse than them, but the Bucks lost to the eventual champs that featured probably the best player in the NBA right now.

      Comment


      • LJ2 wrote: View Post
        LOL, that first tough team they faced were the eventual champs. It's one thing to say Lowry, DeMar, and Casey choked in the playoffs after losing year after year to teams that were worse than them, but the Bucks lost to the eventual champs that featured probably the best player in the NBA right now.
        They were up 2-0
        Only one thing matters: We The Champs.

        Comment


        • And it's not like this is Middleton's and Bledsoe's first rodeo in playoffs.
          Only one thing matters: We The Champs.

          Comment


          • LJ2 wrote: View Post
            LOL, that first tough team they faced were the eventual champs. It's one thing to say Lowry, DeMar, and Casey choked in the playoffs after losing year after year to teams that were worse than them, but the Bucks lost to the eventual champs that featured probably the best player in the NBA right now.
            Didn't Lowry, DeMar and Casey almost exclusively lose to LeBron, who made the finals every single year?
            twitter.com/dhackett1565

            Comment


            • DanH wrote: View Post

              Didn't Lowry, DeMar and Casey almost exclusively lose to LeBron, who made the finals every single year?
              Perhaps you've erased what was the bad memory of losing to Brooklyn and Washington from your memory. Unfortunately, those happened as well.

              Also those losses to LeBron proves the point I was trying to make to anyone who thought Bucks losing to the Kawhi lead Raptors was a choke job. The East is clear of any other worldly superstars this year, so if they don't make it to the finals again then yes, there would be some base for calling them choke artists.

              Comment


              • Bucks are a good team, and no matter how you want to set expectations up as a fan, they are going to be the favourites to come out of the East.. just like they were last year. And they almost did it last year. They were an O/T away from being up 3-0 in the ECF.

                Their road last year may have been "easy" but it will be easy again this year. Their first round opponent will be a 4-0 sweep. Their second round opponent will have flaws. Either a bunch of green rookies in Miami or a team with issues all year in Philly. Neither of which can win on the road. Then two teams in Boston and Toronto that don't have super stars but a bunch of guys that know how to play but are flawed in their own ways. Boston has a small front court. Toronto can't stay healthy and has a coach that will give a guy like McCaw 10-15 mpg.

                Bledsoe is the only guy who consistently sh!ts the bed for them when the pressure is turned on. But Bud has smartened up on that and is using George Hill a lot more than he did last year. Their supporting role players are good. Brook makes their paint so hard to score on. Wes, Hill, the Italian guy, the guy who got jobbed in the dunk contest, Marvin, etc are all able to put up shots. And they can all defend.

                If they lose it will be an upset, but that's also why we play the games.

                Comment


                • The Milwaukee playoff narrative has a lot to do with them losing to the Raps and Celtics in the first round, Bledsoe underperforming in the playoffs, and now Budenholzer who has had some really good teams but hasn't made a Finals. As we saw with Toronto, all it takes is one year and all of that will be forgotten.

                  Still, while the Bucks shouldn't fear anyone, both Boston or Toronto can definitely beat them if they are 100% healthy.

                  Comment


                  • Yea, the bucks are really good. Of their 9 losses this year here is their opponent's 3PT % in those games:

                    36.4% Miami
                    41.5% Celtics
                    41.7% Utah
                    39.0% Dallas
                    47.7% Philly
                    54.3% Spurs
                    47.8% Denver
                    33.3% Indy (Giannis didn't play)
                    48.6% Miami.

                    I really don't like them, but they are a good team. You have to shoot the ball really well to have a chance of beating them.

                    Comment


                    • LJ2 wrote: View Post

                      Perhaps you've erased what was the bad memory of losing to Brooklyn and Washington from your memory. Unfortunately, those happened as well.

                      Also those losses to LeBron proves the point I was trying to make to anyone who thought Bucks losing to the Kawhi lead Raptors was a choke job. The East is clear of any other worldly superstars this year, so if they don't make it to the finals again then yes, there would be some base for calling them choke artists.
                      The 2014-15 Raptors were not a good team. 2013-14 was a miracle run to make the playoffs for the first time.

                      The narrative about Casey, DeMar and (wrongly) Lowry was built on the three losses to LeBron, and you know it. Which is precisely why your logic falls apart. If the Bucks can't be labeled as chokers because they fell apart against an all-world talent like Kawhi, then DeRozan and Casey don't deserve the flack they got for continually falling short against LeBron. But we all know that DeMar and Casey fully deserved that flack. Things can be judged in-context. Falling apart is still falling apart, which is different than just getting outplayed while performing at your best.
                      twitter.com/dhackett1565

                      Comment


                      • DanH wrote: View Post

                        The 2014-15 Raptors were not a good team. 2013-14 was a miracle run to make the playoffs for the first time.

                        The narrative about Casey, DeMar and (wrongly) Lowry was built on the three losses to LeBron, and you know it
                        . Which is precisely why your logic falls apart. If the Bucks can't be labeled as chokers because they fell apart against an all-world talent like Kawhi, then DeRozan and Casey don't deserve the flack they got for continually falling short against LeBron. But we all know that DeMar and Casey fully deserved that flack. Things can be judged in-context. Falling apart is still falling apart, which is different than just getting outplayed while performing at your best.
                        I doubt anyone who was labeling the Raptors as choke artists were stopping to analyze if we were a good team or not. We won near 50 games in both those years and lost to lower seeded teams and that is unfortunately all anyone takes into context when making a statement like that. And I disagree that the Raptors being referred to as choke artists were built on their loses to LeBron.

                        Comment


                        • DanH wrote: View Post

                          The 2014-15 Raptors were not a good team. 2013-14 was a miracle run to make the playoffs for the first time.

                          The narrative about Casey, DeMar and (wrongly) Lowry was built on the three losses to LeBron, and you know it. Which is precisely why your logic falls apart. If the Bucks can't be labeled as chokers because they fell apart against an all-world talent like Kawhi, then DeRozan and Casey don't deserve the flack they got for continually falling short against LeBron. But we all know that DeMar and Casey fully deserved that flack. Things can be judged in-context. Falling apart is still falling apart, which is different than just getting outplayed while performing at your best.
                          The Lowry/DeRozan/Casey choker label comes from the Ride or Die offense getting derailed in the playoffs when they started to see aggressive double & triple teams and traps at half-court. The team was unprepared and Casey, of course, did not believe in adjustments and had no answer.

                          Comment


                          • slaw wrote: View Post
                            The Milwaukee playoff narrative has a lot to do with them losing to the Raps and Celtics in the first round, Bledsoe underperforming in the playoffs, and now Budenholzer who has had some really good teams but hasn't made a Finals. As we saw with Toronto, all it takes is one year and all of that will be forgotten.

                            Still, while the Bucks shouldn't fear anyone, both Boston or Toronto can definitely beat them if they are 100% healthy.
                            That's a good point about coach Bud, but to be honest I haven't heard of anyone referring to the Bucks and being chokers other than here recently. Could be I'm just not in tune with what's out there as others.

                            Comment


                            • Bucks were number 1 seed and they were up 2-0. And essentialy got swept the rest of the way. That's a choke job
                              Last edited by MixxAOR; Tue Mar 3, 2020, 02:13 PM.
                              Only one thing matters: We The Champs.

                              Comment


                              • MixxAOR wrote: View Post
                                Bucks were number 1 seed and they were up 2-0. And essentialy swept the rest of the way. That's a choke job
                                I dunno Mixx, that's a pretty harsh definition of a choke job. We were the 2nd seed and had arguably the best player in the NBA. They didn't lose to a crappy team. Being up 2-0 in an NBA playoff series isn't what it used to be, it's just holding onto your home court advantage.

                                If they don't get out of the East this year with no clear star other than Giannis himself then I think labeling them as chokers might be a bit more valid.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X