Game #37: Portland Trailblazers 101 Toronto Raptors 99

[Jclaw]

FWIW, and it’s worth only because we haven’t seen it much in our favour this year, the L2M report calls an “incorrect non call” on the Whiteside moving screen. Oh well. On to the next one

[golden]

It is far to early to know whether OG's ceiling is Otto Porter. That's simply a guess on your part. As for people's expectations for OG this season, it's a bit strange to make declarations without context. For example, if the Raps were 100% healthy, OG would almost certainly have better production and results.

As for FVV, the entire team needs Pascal Siakam. FVV is not unique in that regard. As for his consistency, we must be watching different sports. he was an absolute engine while Lowry and Ibaka were out and, while he's struggled shooting in a few games since coming off the injury, his other numbers are pretty uniform.

That's the problem with you, slaw. You don't actually read people's posts. You skim quickly for part of a sentence that ticks you off and then you respond impulsively. I never said OG's ceiling was Otto Porter. I said.... if peak Otto Porter is OG's ceiling, then we should be happy with that. I'm hoping he exceeds that, but that's an expectation we should be incredibly satisfied with, considering OG's draft position and current skill set (i.e. dribbling and finishing around the rim skills).

For some odd reason, people think that comparing a big 3&D wing like Otto Porter to OG is an insult.... but peak Otto Porter was putting up outstanding advanced stats on both offense & defense, before he got paid. Which is exactly why he did get paid.

[slaw]

Your bias against my bias is stronger, because you obviously haven't been paying attention.

My thoughts on OG's ceiling, going back to pre-season, was that if he could reach peak Otto Porter, i.e., an efficient 3 & D spot-up wing, then we should all be happy. People thought that was an insult, but it's pretty accurate. He was doing that earlier this year, but with tighter coverage since Pascal & Gasol went down, he's been sputtering. He's playing more like: after-he-got-paid Otto Porter.

And I kept saying that FVV seems to need Pascal or else his impact & efficiency drops off significantly and that's exactly what happened. And he's been wildly inconsistent.

Neither of those 2 predictions or observations were/are scandalous. They are what they are ..... the truth.

It's the other people who expected more, like: (a) OG will be in the running for MIP. (b) FVV is an all-star and will get a max offer in the off-season. If you want to call them deranged, so be it, but it's pretty obvious that my expectations were much closer to the truth.

It is far to early to know whether OG's ceiling is Otto Porter. That's simply a guess on your part. As for people's expectations for OG this season, it's a bit strange to make declarations without context. For example, if the Raps were 100% healthy, OG would almost certainly have better production and results.

As for FVV, the entire team needs Pascal Siakam. FVV is not unique in that regard. As for his consistency, we must be watching different sports. he was an absolute engine while Lowry and Ibaka were out and, while he's struggled shooting in a few games since coming off the injury, his other numbers are pretty uniform.

[golden]

Who was saying fvv would be a max contract all star? Hes exceeded almost every expectation, most of all YOUR expectations lol

Go back about 1 month or so. There were a lot of people saying FVV should be an all-star and that we need to lock him up now (even though we can't), because he could get the max. Even the mainstream media had some articles speculating that. And especially when Lowry just came back, it was all about how we need to trade Lowry ASAP and lock up FVV as our starting PG of the future, no matter what the cost.

You are bang on, though, Keon. My expectations for both guys were modest... and yes, they have exceed MY expectations. In the case of FVV, the price should reflect that modesty. If some dumbass GM is willing to overpay FVV in off-season, then I'm 100% comfortable moving forward with Lowry, Terence Davis and whatever other gem Masai/Tolzman/Bobby can find. Backup PG is the easiest position to fill in the NBA.

[KeonClark]

It's the other people who expected more, like: (a) OG will be in the running for MIP. (b) FVV is an all-star and will get a max offer in the off-season. If you want to call them deranged, so be it, but it's pretty obvious that my expectations were much closer to the truth.

Who was saying fvv would be a max contract all star? Hes exceeded almost every expectation, most of all YOUR expectations lol

[golden]

OG hasn't "been exposed" unless you were one of the 2 people who thought he was a guy who was going to initiate offense, create his own shot and become a playmaker. And FVV has been shining all year but your bias is too strong to see it. I dub it: VanVleet Derangement Syndrome.

Your bias against my bias is stronger, because you obviously haven't been paying attention.

My thoughts on OG's ceiling, going back to pre-season, was that if he could reach peak Otto Porter, i.e., an efficient 3 & D spot-up wing, then we should all be happy. People thought that was an insult, but it's pretty accurate. He was doing that earlier this year, but with tighter coverage since Pascal & Gasol went down, he's been sputtering. He's playing more like: after-he-got-paid Otto Porter.

And I kept saying that FVV seems to need Pascal or else his impact & efficiency drops off significantly and that's exactly what happened. And he's been wildly inconsistent.

Neither of those 2 predictions or observations were/are scandalous. They are what they are ..... the truth.

It's the other people who expected more, like: (a) OG will be in the running for MIP. (b) FVV is an all-star and will get a max offer in the off-season. If you want to call them deranged, so be it, but it's pretty obvious that my expectations were much closer to the truth.

[slaw]

Yeah, in our healthy starting lineup OG is surrounded by 4 play-makers (who can shoot 3s), so he can get open shots, wider driving lanes and easy back-cuts. Taking away Pascal has really exposed both OG and FVV. This was a golden opportunity for them to shine.

OG hasn't "been exposed" unless you were one of the 2 people who thought he was a guy who was going to initiate offense, create his own shot and become a playmaker. And FVV has been shining all year but your bias is too strong to see it. I dub it: VanVleet Derangement Syndrome.

[RandomGuy]

I'll do the next one. I've just been super busy this year.

We're thread managing your load, no need.

[golden]

I'll do the next one. I've just been super busy this year.

As long as you're rested for the playoffs.... we're good.

[golden]

Gotta get OG back on track. Not too surprised he's struggling without Pascal and Marc in the lineup though. He's not able to initiate offence at this point.

Yeah, in our healthy starting lineup OG is surrounded by 4 play-makers (who can shoot 3s), so he can get open shots, wider driving lanes and easy back-cuts. Taking away Pascal has really exposed both OG and FVV. This was a golden opportunity for them to shine.

[golden]

Yeah that sucked.. Raptors just slowly gave that one away. Got a little help from the refs too. Great defense early on. Had a comfortable lead through out. Portland tried to make it a game, but it was because our offensive sets stalled. Dumb turnovers didn't help (the McCaw "pass" to Lowry for example).
These types of games must be so irritating for coach's. They overall played as good as you could expect without all their guys healthy. Lowry was trying too hard and didn't have it like he had in previous games. Serge was really good.. just had his way with Whiteside. Boucher and O'Shea had good games.

TD's worse game of the year. Just didn't have it, and we could have used him. OG was pretty bad too, but hit some early 3's which was nice.

I love how RHJ won the jump ball against Whiteside though. We just f@cked up the offensive play when we had the ball.

Good to see Matt hitting some of his 3's after badly airballing the first one.

Ultimately this was a win, and it was taken away. Would be screaming at Nurse to swap McCaw with TD in crunch time, but TD was awful. So not sure what he could have done. Kyle needed ball handling help and Pat was the only guy available to do that.

Wish we had a better backup PG, but c'est la vie.

Players say it all the time: when they have guaranteed minutes & role definition, they can get into a rhythm. With all the unconditional minutes and love he's getting, McCaw should be in a downright groove right now. That's why Nurse going off on TD, while having an infinite leash on McCaw is head-scratching. TD and RHJ have to come in there and basically perform at the high level immediately or else they get the hook and called out in the press. That leads to bench players forcing the issue and making bad plays, like we are seeing with TD2.

Really hope Nurse sees something that we aren't, or he could mess up Davis' confidence. Davis is worth developing... but Nurse is willing to let McCaw be the difference between winning and losing games?

[planetmars]

Yeah that sucked.. Raptors just slowly gave that one away. Got a little help from the refs too. Great defense early on. Had a comfortable lead through out. Portland tried to make it a game, but it was because our offensive sets stalled. Dumb turnovers didn't help (the McCaw "pass" to Lowry for example).
These types of games must be so irritating for coach's. They overall played as good as you could expect without all their guys healthy. Lowry was trying too hard and didn't have it like he had in previous games. Serge was really good.. just had his way with Whiteside. Boucher and O'Shea had good games.

TD's worse game of the year. Just didn't have it, and we could have used him. OG was pretty bad too, but hit some early 3's which was nice.

I love how RHJ won the jump ball against Whiteside though. We just f@cked up the offensive play when we had the ball.

Good to see Matt hitting some of his 3's after badly airballing the first one.

Ultimately this was a win, and it was taken away. Would be screaming at Nurse to swap McCaw with TD in crunch time, but TD was awful. So not sure what he could have done. Kyle needed ball handling help and Pat was the only guy available to do that.

Wish we had a better backup PG, but c'est la vie.

[KHD]

Gotta get OG back on track. Not too surprised he's struggling without Pascal and Marc in the lineup though. He's not able to initiate offence at this point.

[slaw]

Basically had three guys making shots. Davis had a rough night but so did a lot of other guys. OG and RHJ weren’t good and McCaw was not nearly productive enough to warrant his minutes. Still, gave it away late with bad offense and Blazers made a lot of shots.

[Scraptor]

Someone better step up for the next thread. I did the Nets game like an hour before tip since there wasn't a thread. Seems like lots of veteran thread starters are AWOL this season. Some of you newbies step up you never know you may have the lucky touch.

I'll do the next one. I've just been super busy this year.