Game #4: Toronto Raptors 104 - Orlando Magic 95

[planetmars]

Anyone else get flash backs to game 1 of the first round last year? Felt like Orlando was going to claw back and win the game on a game winner after we were up by like 14 points and in control for like 90% of the game. Glad we got some composure at the end, and went on our own little run to basically ice it.

OG was fantastic. The missed dunk was hilarious though. I've never seen that happen before like that. He got blocked by the mesh? Anyway great game. Gordon had like 2 points. Vucevic couldn't do anything (again) against Marc. Isaac and Fournier had some big shots but can't win them all.

Siakam needs to do a better job with his turnovers. Just a little too sloppy. I think he's trying to say he deserved that contract so is working harder. He just needs to let the game come to him like Kawhi and Lebron, and other super stars. They don't over compensate. They just do their thing and that usually works most of the time.

Still don't like McCaw and don't really understand why he's on the team with a guaranteed deal to boot. Would have liked to seen Matt as he was great against Chicago. Norm was invisible again. He's so inconsistent. Fred struggled. Orlando just has a way to neuter him. He had some nice plays but overall could have been way better. Serge was good. Lowry is just awesome. Hope he stays healthy for the majority of the year.

[MixxAOR]

[slaw]

Siakam needs to do a better job with his turnovers. Just a little too sloppy. I think he's trying to say he deserved that contract so is working harder. He just needs to let the game come to him like Kawhi and Lebron, and other super stars. They don't over compensate. They just do their thing and that usually works most of the time.

Still don't like McCaw and don't really understand why he's on the team with a guaranteed deal to boot. Would have liked to seen Matt as he was great against Chicago. Norm was invisible again. He's so inconsistent. Fred struggled. Orlando just has a way to neuter him. He had some nice plays but overall could have been way better. Serge was good. Lowry is just awesome. Hope he stays healthy for the majority of the year.

Siakam just needs time. It's really hard to practice double-teams and pressure in practice, so it's going to take in-game experience to learn how to deal with defenses game planning for him and taking the ball out of his hands. Even this season will likely be too early to judge, though, he appears to be adapting during the course of games, so he may catch on quickly. What's been great is that he hasn't let the turnover and fouls throw him off his game. He has been productive and impactful and has continued to play good defense. That's a great sign.

I'm not sure anyone understands the McCaw thing other than the organization. He looked.... okay(?), I guess, last night. I honestly mostly don't even notice when he's on the floor, so I guess it's an upgrade from SJ.

Again, though, it was an 8-man rotation last night. Boucher barely played (~4 minutes). What's the point of playing guys for 5 minutes and then yanking them? And now Davis is out of the rotation? Something weird is going on here.

[inthepaint]

Embiid is too good to take a stupid shots like that. Brett Brown should ban him from even attempting that. Good coaches put their players in the best position to succeed.

Yeah for some reason there's this notion out there that Embiid can shoot from 3 consistently. He can't, he's a 31% from 3 in his career, that's quite below the league average. The truth is their 2 best players (Simmons and Embiid) have little to no range, and they also got rid of the 2 good shooters they had over the past couple of years (Belinelli and Redick). Their floor spacing isn't great, which makes it easier for them to be game planned against in the playoffs.

[KeonClark]

Again, though, it was an 8-man rotation last night. Boucher barely played (~4 minutes). What's the point of playing guys for 5 minutes and then yanking them? And now Davis is out of the rotation? Something weird is going on here.

It seems like its the core 7, and then Nurse is giving each guy different tryout games kind of. McCaw got the look yesterday. Matt Thomas got the look against the Bulls. Stanley Johnson was the one chosen as the 9th guy vs Boston, and against the Pels it was Terrence Davis.

Davis seems to have the inside track and not sure why he sat yesterday because he's shown positive things. Hollis Jefferson and Malcolm Miller haven't gotten a look yet outside of garbage time, maybe it's coming up in the next games.

Either way, outside of "The 7", he's clearly looking for somebody to fight and stand out and take those minutes, and aside from maybe Davis, we haven't seen much of anything from the lot of them.