Game #12: Toronto Raptors 102 - Dallas Mavericks 110

[golden]

Well that's tough. Siakam struggles against good teams as number one option. Not a great sign.

Very DeRozan-esque. But Pascal is teachable and a quick learner.

[MixxAOR]

Very DeRozan-esque. But Pascal is teachable and a quick learner.

it'll be interesting to see what he's like at the end of this season.

[Zak24gege]

Outscored 57 - 42 in 2H. Siakam was brutal tonight, turnovers, missed 3's. 6 - 24 is awful. 5 turnovers and only 3 rebounds. Why wouldn't Nurse play guys who can play harder with more energy. He took Gasol out? Siakam shoots an airball to finish the game, poetic. To me Toronto lost it. Man, they last played Wednesday so no way is being tired an issue. Dallas playing first game back after a 4 game road trip playing last on Thursday. Dallas should be the ones dragging their ass. This one is on Siakam.

[MixxAOR]

Outscored 57 - 42 in 2H. Siakam was brutal tonight, turnovers, missed 3's. 6 - 24 is awful. 5 turnovers and only 3 rebounds. Why wouldn't Nurse play guys who can play harder with more energy. He took Gasol out? Siakam shoots an airball to finish the game, poetic. To me Toronto lost it. Man, they last played Wednesday so no way is being tired an issue. Dallas playing first game back after a 4 game road trip playing last on Thursday. Dallas should be the ones dragging their ass. This one is on Siakam.

He just runs into the defense. He can post up smaller dudes but he struggles with length. So he needs to pull up. Work on your game during regular season so it's there in playoffs. He's gonna get exposed in playoffs if he plays like this.

[Scraptor]

Well that's tough. Siakam struggles against good teams as number one option. Not a great sign.

I'm not worried at all. It's his first year as a number one option, it takes time to learn how to deal with the pressure and read the floor so you can make the right decision.

If he's struggling next year in the same circumstances then I'd be a little concerned. But not really. He's at worst an amazing second option.

[Scraptor]

Again really proud of the fight this team shows. What a testament to Nick Nurse and all the guys for playing their guts out.

On to the next one.

[007]

A lot like the Clippers game...stayed in it by fighting hard but just nothing offensively. Lowry will obviously help in that regard, just have to keep grinding out results until he’s back. 7 of the next 9 at home is great

[The Great One]

The problem with Siakam is he's not very smart. Nobody on Dallas can guard him in the post, just like nobody on Portland can guard him in the post. In the Portland game, he started the game chucking 3's, he was 6/18 the first 35 mins of the game. Then he started posting up in the 4th and he completely dominated them. Tonight he was chucking 3's all game like he's Steph Curry. Then he went DeRozan mode in the 4th where he was just fishing for fouls. Just dumb.

Bottomline - 10 3's is too much. Curry doesn't even shoot that many 3's in a game.

[inthepaint]

A lot like the Clippers game...stayed in it by fighting hard but just nothing offensively. Lowry will obviously help in that regard, just have to keep grinding out results until he’s back. 7 of the next 9 at home is great

Exactly, this the kind of game you would fall back to a nice bread and butter pick and roll game between Lowry and Ibaka while all the defensive attention was on Siakam.

With the 2 of them hurt, our offence is basically Siakam, so when he's shut down you're living on the occasional rim-dash and long range 3 from Fred

Two nice take aways from this trip:

1. RHJ is shaping up to be a key rotation piece bringing instant defensive cohesiveness for the whole team
2. Matt Thomas is an incredibly efficient scorer. Samples are still very small but his eFG% is off the charts, his 3P% is the highest of all rookies, and 3rd league-wide in 3P% (for players with at least 2 attempts per game). When our offence grinds like this in the absence of Lowry & Serge and an off night by Siakam, getting him, OG and Norm involved with good ball movement will help keep us in it every night.

[Puffer]

...Matt Thomas is an incredibly efficient scorer. Samples are still very small but his eFG% is off the charts, his 3P% is the highest of all rookies, and 3rd league-wide in 3P% (for players with at least 2 attempts per game). When our offence grinds like this in the absence of Lowry & Serge and an off night by Siakam, getting him, OG and Norm involved with good ball movement will help keep us in it every night.

I'm a little surprised we aren't seeing double screens for Matt. Or maybe I am missing them? When a guy is money like that, I would have thought some specific actions to free him up or at least draw defenders to him so that he can take advantage of the double with passes to the open guy. He seems to have no trouble passing the ball. And has a good eye for finding the open man.

[JawsGT]

Pascal needs to stop getting comfortable with all the 3s. Its great that he can shoot but he needs to recognize whats working and what isn't. Way too many 3s and too many shots in general when youre not feeling it. Norm stepped up in this one and could have been a win with smarter play from pascal. Lesson learned for the future hopefully.

[Puffer]

...Norm stepped up in this one and could have been a win with smarter play from pascal. Lesson learned for the future hopefully.

Or if Norm and Gasol just participated in layup drills before the game. :-)

[G__Deane]

Mavs favored by 6.5? The disrespect is real.

Odds makers 1, Raps fans 0

[G__Deane]

Pascal has at least 2-3 commercials out there now, Fred has a couple and Nurse now doing Fisherman's friends.
-Making a little bank in The North

[JawsGT]

Or if Norm and Gasol just participated in layup drills before the game. :-)

9/15 from the field, 2/3 from FT, 6/8 from 3, cant really complain about norms offensive performance...probably his best game this season.