Game 39: San Antonio Spurs 105 - Toronto Raptors 104

[Ebonhawke]

Adebayo makes the prayer 3 .. except it's after the buzzer. Knicks win!

[007]

RJ missing a couple clutch free throws late 😬

At least he’s had a good game overall

[Ebonhawke]

No idea what Jimmy Butler was thinking on that - you're in the paint with Adebayo coming for rebounding position, and you pass it to Bam?

[DanH]

That's awesome. They're starting Lowry-Norm-OG-Siakam-Ibaka. That's actually the starting lineup I would like to see Nurse try out even with everyone healthy (or at least get a look at mid games). The frontcourt trio of OG-Siakam-Ibaka can make it very difficult for anyone to score when they're dialed in. You add to that the length and speed of Powell and his switch-ability into opposing forwards (plus Lowry who also doesn't mind being switched into bigs), and this is a scary defensive lineup.

Should have no problem scoring either with Siakam back, Powell slashing to the rim and bombing 3's, OG spotting up with all the attention back to Siakam and the deadly Lowry-Ibaka pick and roll. There might be some rust individually and collectively, but it should be a fun game

But... Powell is a dramatically worse defender than FVV. And Ibaka is a dramatically worse defender than Gasol. It's a great lineup to start now, and to use sporadically for matchup purposes, but with FVV and Gasol available Powell and Ibaka shouldn't really be candidates to start.

Mostly I'm excited when we are at full health to have Powell's scoring off the bench again. He won't be crucial when rotations shrink in the playoffs but for the 82 game grind that scoring punch is a big help especially if we want to buy minutes for Lowry/Pascal.

[Ebonhawke]

Knicks leading the Heat by 1 with a minute to go in the 4th

Kncks up 123 to 121 over the Heat - Heat with the ball with 16" to play

[slaw]

Knicks leading the Heat by 1 with a minute to go in the 4th

Refs trying to bail out the Heat.

[Ebonhawke]

Knicks leading the Heat by 1 with a minute to go in the 4th

[inthepaint]

In reality, great news. Start them against a team that has been doing well, but should be there for the taking. I don't believe either one would be playing if they weren't ready. I read a quote from Pascal where he reaffirmed he wouldn't be playing until he was 100% sure he was okay.

That's awesome. They're starting Lowry-Norm-OG-Siakam-Ibaka. That's actually the starting lineup I would like to see Nurse try out even with everyone healthy (or at least get a look at mid games). The frontcourt trio of OG-Siakam-Ibaka can make it very difficult for anyone to score when they're dialed in. You add to that the length and speed of Powell and his switch-ability into opposing forwards (plus Lowry who also doesn't mind being switched into bigs), and this is a scary defensive lineup.

Should have no problem scoring either with Siakam back, Powell slashing to the rim and bombing 3's, OG spotting up with all the attention back to Siakam and the deadly Lowry-Ibaka pick and roll. There might be some rust individually and collectively, but it should be a fun game

[Ebonhawke]

Am missing the LyLe Lovett connection in the op ...?

Obviously you are

[Bendit]

Am missing the LyLe Lovett connection in the op ...?

[DanH]

In reality, great news. Start them against a team that has been doing well, but should be there for the taking. I don't believe either one would be playing if they weren't ready. I read a quote from Pascal where he reaffirmed he wouldn't be playing until he was 100% sure he was okay.

By all accounts the three guys who have been out a while have all felt they were ready for a bit now and have been pushing McKechnie to play, but he is an immovable object.

The only guys I worry about playing through stuff are Lowry and FVV, for some reason they seem to be able to talk their way back in the lineup. This break will be good for FVV, and with guys back and an easy schedule there should be plenty of leeway for him to take his time.

I am very excited that Siakam is back. Powell back is a nice bonus too. This should be so much more fun.

[Puffer]

Pascal and Norm are starting

In reality, great news. Start them against a team that has been doing well, but should be there for the taking. I don't believe either one would be playing if they weren't ready. I read a quote from Pascal where he reaffirmed he wouldn't be playing until he was 100% sure he was okay.

[Puffer]

Pascal and Norm are starting

Hot damn. Now our rotations are all screwed up. Who knows what kind of damage this will do to the end of bench guys egos?

[007]

Pascal and Norm are starting

[inthepaint]

I was organizing my bookmarks today and found this page (had bookmarked it in case we ended up actually getting Kawhi or Buddy Hield at some point lol):

https://forums.raptorsrepublic.com/f...season/page117

Kinda eerie to read through that in Demar's return today. To think that was only ~18mths ago is crazy. Goes to show how much can change in a year and a half, and that when we try to look 18mths from now (summer 2021), we really have no clue... Who knows, all the joke posts about Giannis-summer-2021 might actually come to pass...