Game #24: Los Angeles Clippers 112 - Toronto Raptors 92

[consmap]

STARTING LINEUPS:



Toronto Raptors


Kyle Lowry

Norman Powell

OG Anunoby

Pascal Siakam

Serge Ibaka



Los Angeles Clippers

Patrick Beverly

Paul George

Kawhi Leonard

Maurice Harkless

Ivica Zubac

GAME NOTES:

• Kawhi Leonard returns to Toronto as a member of the LA Clippers. There might be a lot of hype behind this game.
• The Raptors didn't look any better against Chicago, barely edging out a win on the second night of a back to back. Let's hope that they regroup soon before taking on the double-headed dragon of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
• Even in losses the Raptors have done a good job of limiting the production of the opposing team's best players. If this continues and they can find a way to get their 3 point shooting back to an average percentage in this game they have a chance.
• For my own personal analysis of the upcoming game: I think for just one game we should just fish out an old Toronto Raptors Kawhi Leonard jersey from the back (there's probably some being kept around somewhere, if they can't find any they can just take one from someone in the crowd), and let Kawhi play on the Raptors for old time sake. After the game once the Raptors have blown out the Clippers by over 50 points we can give Kawhi his Clippers jersey back and send him on his way. It's a win-win situation for the Raptors and Kawhi Leonard. Who cares about the Clippers

Thanks for everything...

But now things are different...

And in spite of everything that's happened, this is what matters now...

LET'S GO RAPTORS

[GOLDBLUM]

Ring game.
Raps 4ever.
Keep it up Cons!

[G__Deane]

Maybe they'll ramp it up today but I just don't feel the hype that you'd expect for this game. Probably would be more if the Raps were playing better. Interested to see if Kawhi will get the calls in Toronto that he often didn't get playing FOR Toronto.

PG is going to have a monster game, let's see if he tries to feed Kawhi a few too....

[DanH]

Gosh we need to play better than we have lately in this one.

[LJ2]

I hope Fred is back for this game. Beverly is very likely to cancel out one of our primary scoring guards, so we'll need all the offense we can get.

[The Great One]

Roll out the red carpet and show some respect! the greatest player in franchise history(by far) is back.

[inthepaint]

They'll need to bring the defensive intensity they brought in the last 6min of the 4Q vs the Bulls. Need to play like that the whole game. Through the first 3 quarters they gave up a ton of open looks from deep, defence looked like swiss cheese. Luckily the Bulls only shot 26% from 3 even though they got a ton of quality shots. We managed to be even lower (24% from deep), but somehow squeaked the win thanks to some clutch buckets by Norm at the end.

That's not gonna work against the Clippers, if they don't improve their perimeter D and bring back their 3pt shot at least to league average they'll get blown out. Hopefully the guys play focused with a chip on their shoulder vs Kawhi.

[G__Deane]

Roll out the red carpet and show some respect! the greatest player in franchise history(by far) is back.

Like I said, there's an odd lack of excitement in the air from fans I know, likely as much to do with the recent team slide as anything.
He'll still get a great round of applause/standing O but I don't sense the euphoria that would have been a month ago and the excitement to beat him.

[The Great One]

Like I said, there's an odd lack of excitement in the air from fans I know, likely as much to do with the recent team slide as anything.
He'll still get a great round of applause/standing O but I don't sense the euphoria that would have been a month ago and the excitement to beat him.

It's the Lowry effect. There was a lot of excitement with this team before he returned to the lineup. Now it's gone because of his selfish play. Lost 3 of 4 and Lowry tried everything he can last night to give the game to the Bulls.

Btw, the Clippers have a bunch of great, long defenders that they can throw at Siakam: Harkless, Harrell, PG and obviously Kawhi. Gonna be a long night for him.

[MixxAOR]

“Yeah, I think so, but man, I’m kind of tired of all the Kawhi questions and people asking about him and the game and everything like that. He moved on, we moved.”

“It’ll be good for him to get his ring, I’m sure fans will show him some love for that, and after that, we're just going to play some basketball and get a win,” Powell added.

Just a regular game.

[G__Deane]

Standing O and then boo him for the rest of the game?

[inthepaint]

Standing O and then boo him for the rest of the game?

Well, they better not be clapping/drooling over him during the game. Give the man his ring then sayonara.

[The Claw Reborn]

Very classy game thread Consmap giving homage to the person who gave us unforgettable history.

That is how you make a game thread and not some bullshit.

[G__Deane]

Well, they better not be clapping/drooling over him during the game. Give the man his ring then sayonara.

That's where I am pretty much.
Never forget what he did for this franchise but he chose to leave and now it's history.

Standing O, then he's just another rival in our way

[RandomGuy]

That's where I am pretty much.
Never forget what he did for this franchise but he chose to leave and now it's history.

Standing O, then he's just another rival in our way

Yep, he's all business type of guy, fans should take the same approach.