Game #48: Toronto Raptors 115 - Cleveland Cavaliers 109

[Zak24gege]

planetmars, look at your last two posts in this thread back-to-back..... I think you are being too hard on the team. They are not perfect but they are taking care of business.

It's really hard to win 9 in a row and the Cavs played (if you read their fans) probably their best game of the season. Every road win is a good win. Just go around the league and look at how many top teams lost to awful teams last night. 76ers lost to Atlanta. Clips lost to the Kings at home. The night before, Rockets and Jazz both lost road games to lesser teams. Give the Raps some love, man!

The streak is impressive but It's a bit easier when you are playing mostly bottom 1/3rd tier teams. Raptors are very good at beating the teams they should beat (27 - 2). The 2 losses were to the Spurs and Portland and both were at home!. They have yet to show they can routinely beat +.500 teams. They are 7 - 12 against strong opponents. MIL, BOS, MIA and IND all have .500 or better records against these same teams. PHI is 11 - 12. Now that we have our complete (less Gasol) team we hopefully can improve on our record against good clubs. IND is our first test coming up after the Detroit game.

[inthepaint]

[...]

I get that it's hard to get up for a bad team, and the Raps will have a few of those coming up, including one tonight. But they had a reason, and that was to get NN into the ASG. So I'm not sure why they looked so flat.

Well Mars, think of this way, as long as we have Serge being "decent enough" (by scoring a team high 26pts, finish +12, 50% from three, 71% shooting overall, perfect from the line, while the opposing centre has 2pts in 26min and is a -10), and Norm continues to take clutch shots, average 15ppg (41% from 3), thereby being "okay" (when compared to McCaw), I think we'll be alright.

[KeonClark]

I get that it's hard to get up for a bad team, and the Raps will have a few of those coming up, including one tonight. But they had a reason, and that was to get NN into the ASG. So I'm not sure why they looked so flat.

Kobe died on Sunday, their hero and/or good friend. They went out and played an emotional game vs Demar in Texas. That night they flew back to Canada, saw their family, hugged their kids, and got up for another emotional game Tuesday, with a moment of silence and tributes to Kobe. But it's eventually time to get back to business of basketball, so they flew out the next day to beautiful Cleveland, Ohio, against an awful team, on a Thursday in the dead of winter, where they knew after the game they'd get changed and fly out to majestic Detroit, Michigan, for another game in the dead of winter against a hapless team. Oh, and we're still weeks away from all star. These are the dog days already.


If you can stay focused and intense, "give it 110%" for each one of these moments, you're a better man than me.

[slaw]

planetmars, look at your last two posts in this thread back-to-back..... I think you are being too hard on the team. They are not perfect but they are taking care of business.

It's really hard to win 9 in a row and the Cavs played (if you read their fans) probably their best game of the season. Every road win is a good win. Just go around the league and look at how many top teams lost to awful teams last night. 76ers lost to Atlanta. Clips lost to the Kings at home. The night before, Rockets and Jazz both lost road games to lesser teams. Give the Raps some love, man!

[planetmars]

Not a good game at all. For a team trying to get Nurse into the ASG, the surely didn't show it. Siakam was bad defensively for most of the game. He's becoming very DeMar-esque. It's sad to see. Maybe he learned from Kawhi in that the regular season doesn't matter as much. He had some nice blocks, but blocking a shot does just not make a guy a good defender. He was so lackadaisical when chasing guys off the line. Wasn't rotating fast enough. Losing his man. 2-way players are rare, and he's becoming less of one.

Fred was just terrible. Almost had a triple double but it was a bad game for him. Wasn't able to initiate the offense. Would end up dribbling the ball to much and make some bad contested shot at the rim. He also was getting blown by a lot on defense.

Norm is becoming inconsistent again. But he won this game in the clutch.

Serge and Kyle kept us in this game through out though. And we just ended up beating an inferior opponent. The Cavs just had too many turnovers, and took some bad shots. Their defense was terrible as well. Kyle was just getting into the paint any time he wanted.

I get that it's hard to get up for a bad team, and the Raps will have a few of those coming up, including one tonight. But they had a reason, and that was to get NN into the ASG. So I'm not sure why they looked so flat.

[Puffer]

We're all spoiled these days...Nowadays on these games I sometimes take the time to just watch certain guys off ball on both ends, see how they're doing, like Boucher, Thomas. OG, RHJ etc.. Kinda like a game within a game.

I'm with you on that. Helps you appreciate the nuances of the game. I only recently noticed that Davis and Boucher almost always start racing for the basket when they see one of their teammates is going to shoot. That's why they get those outrageous putbacks. Everybody is looking at the basket to see if the ball is going to go through the hoop and both of those guys blow right past them and start rising up while the defenders are still feet on the ground.

Watching Kyle make a move to freeze a defender in his tracks just before he makes the pass to a cutting teammate (that he knew would cut) is like watching a high level dance sequence. Poetry in motion.

[planetmars]

Sole possession of 3rd in the league... Clippers lost big against the Kings (Kawhi didn't play).

[G__Deane]

Kyle says he was "pushed" by a fan during the game. I get they can't touch a player but this was a nothing burger and Kyle needs to lighten up with the comments.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/...-vs-cavaliers/

[DanH]

This one was a little rough to watch, seemed like a lot of guys were moving in mud. But they did what they had to do for the win. I'll take it. Always tough when Marc is out, but Serge was decent enough. And Lowry made sure we won this game.

[Rudy Bargnani]

Raps now have a better record than the clippers. Amazing. And the 3rd best record in the NBA behind the Bucks and Lakers.

[Scraptor]

Apparently Kyle got pushed again by someone in the crowd. He's gotta be in the top 5 player that opposing fans hate

I think it's more that the dude is always hustling into the stands. Do it enough times and you're bound to run into a couple jackasses.

I admire his restraint because sometimes his eyes look like he's gonna drop the hammer.

[Scraptor]

Jclaw padding his GOAT resume

[inthepaint]

Spreadsheets be damned, Serge and Norm putting the dang ball in the basket again and again to bring home the W fellas. Also, nice 12 dimes for Fred, that's the second highest this season

[slaw]

There is a whiff of panic in the air in Philly...

winning on the road is hard but philly, for a contender status team, is really poor on the road...losing to Atlanta has to have Brand on the phones making and taking calls....

They get @boston, @heat, @bucks, memphis ,Bulls, Clippers to the allstar break...

2 and 4 isn’t out of the question.

Philly is fragile. But. If they are healthy and rolling they are really good. Anything goes wrong just a little and they are vulnerable. I could see them beating the Bucks or going out in the first round. Neither would surprise me.

[bertarapsfan]

Apparently Kyle got pushed again by someone in the crowd. He's gotta be in the top 5 player that opposing fans hate