2020 End of Season / Playoffs

[Apollo]

They seriously asked the question are the current champs and #2 in the East Toronto Raptors being "overlooked":

They're always overlooked and the fact that they're the champs and have been kicking ass all year illustrates they will always be overlooked but you know what? That's a great place to be, especially for the coaches.

[Jclaw]

They seriously asked the question are the current champs and #2 in the East Toronto Raptors being "overlooked":

They're always overlooked and the fact that they're the champs and have been kicking ass all year illustrates they will always be overlooked but you know what? That's a great place to be, especially for the coaches.

Perfect Steven A take. In praising our defence, he lists off every member of the starting lineup except for our actual defensive stopper, OG. I think people still can't pronounce Anunoby

[DanH]

You completely missed the point. Nobody's arguing that the Blazers aren't hugely more talented than the Nets summer league team we saw last night. But they only won by 1 point and the Nets had a chance for last shot. In addition to the Nets scrubs playing well together, the Blazers defense being just plain bad is the other major factor... which also speaks to coaching.

Teams lighting up the Blazers this year isn't just a one game blip.... they're near the bottom of the league in overall defense, 3PA & 3P% against.

On the year the Blazers give up 38% shooting on non-RA paint shots. The Nets shot 52%.

On the year the Blazers give up 39% shooting from midrange. The Nets shot 63%.

On the year the Blazers do indeed give up 38% shooting from three. The Nets typically shoot 34% from three though, near the bottom of the league, so it's hardly expected for them to shoot 42%.

Meanwhile the Blazers on the season shot 38% from three themselves, 3rd in the league, and the Nets give up 35%, middle of the pack or so, so it's hardly expected that the Blazers should shoot 33% against that defence.

Yes, the Blazers are bad at defence. And their effort in this one was shameful. But those factors alone are not why the game was so close. They also (not only, but also) were unlucky with the shooting on both ends.

[slaw]

I'm sure there will be a lot of happy people in Chicago all of a sudden.

Starting to look like the new management team was going to keep him around in case there was a 'loser's bubble' and when that didn't transpire they convinced Reinsdorf to pay for yet another coach. Sadly for Raps fans (or maybe it is good news in the long run), would not be surprised if Griffin is the front-runner here given his long-standing relationship with Karnisovas.

Edit: Still, absolutely shocking this guy was a NBA head coach. Back to NCAA!

[DogeLover1234]

I also dont think it should be a surprise defense has suffered in the restart, when guys are getting their legs and chemistry back. Plus Portlands anchor is coming back from like 18 months off right into 30+ minutes of do or die ball - they are a bad defensive team but I think the bubble probably overrepresents that.

[golden]

On the year the Blazers give up 38% shooting on non-RA paint shots. The Nets shot 52%.

On the year the Blazers give up 39% shooting from midrange. The Nets shot 63%.

On the year the Blazers do indeed give up 38% shooting from three. The Nets typically shoot 34% from three though, near the bottom of the league, so it's hardly expected for them to shoot 42%.

Meanwhile the Blazers on the season shot 38% from three themselves, 3rd in the league, and the Nets give up 35%, middle of the pack or so, so it's hardly expected that the Blazers should shoot 33% against that defence.

Yes, the Blazers are bad at defence. And their effort in this one was shameful. But those factors alone are not why the game was so close. They also (not only, but also) were unlucky with the shooting on both ends.

Do you even watch the games or do you just use season averages and box scores? The Blazers came out in a must-win game with zero defensive intensity and almost lost it at the buzzer because of that. There's a reason why the Nets shot a great percentage and it's because the Blazers had no intention playing defense yesterday. It wasn't just "luck". That's on coaching for not having them ready or for not taking the opposition seriously.

[inthepaint]

Do you even watch the games or do you just use season averages and box scores? The Blazers came out in a must-win game with zero defensive intensity and almost lost it at the buzzer because of that. There's a reason why the Nets shot a great percentage and it's because the Blazers had no intention playing defense yesterday. It wasn't just "luck". That's on coaching for not having them ready or for not taking the opposition seriously.

Yeah it irks me when people say, "oh this or that was just luck". There's actually relatively little luck in basketball. How talented a shooter is, their form, their release, the space they have, their mental state, which teammates are sharing the floor etc.. all play a much bigger part, every game. By the same token, the opposing defence also plays a huge part. Their physicality, the ability to take space away, positional awareness, individual lateral quickness, collective communication on switches etc... There's a ton of stuff, and "luck" is the least of it. "Luck" is often used to rationalize wins or losses by people that are very much used to looking at numbers and stats, but haven't played/coached/watched actual games as much.

[KeonClark]

Dame ain't losing twice. I know everybody is cheering for Jonas and the upstart Griz, but..Dame ain't losing twice.

[A.I]

They seriously asked the question are the current champs and #2 in the East Toronto Raptors being "overlooked":

They're always overlooked and the fact that they're the champs and have been kicking ass all year illustrates they will always be overlooked but you know what? That's a great place to be, especially for the coaches.

Still funny how some of these analysts picked the Raptors to not make the Playoffs at the beginning of the season.

[Apollo]

Still funny how some of these analysts picked the Raptors to not make the Playoffs at the beginning of the season.

Can you imagine how good Michael Jordan would have looked on the Raptors? He used to make up narratives of people insulting him in various ways in order to inspire that killer instinct. Dude would average like 40, 10 & 10 in Toronto with the amount of "inspiration" the American MSM lobs at the Raptors from the beginning up to now.

[KeonClark]

Can you imagine how good Michael Jordan would have looked on the Raptors? He used to make up narratives of people insulting him in various ways in order to inspire that killer instinct. Dude would average like 40, 10 & 10 in Toronto with the amount of "inspiration" the American MSM lobs at the Raptors from the beginning up to now.

[slaw]

Can you imagine how good Michael Jordan would have looked on the Raptors? He used to make up narratives of people insulting him in various ways in order to inspire that killer instinct. Dude would average like 40, 10 & 10 in Toronto with the amount of "inspiration" the American MSM lobs at the Raptors from the beginning up to now.

The guy I can see this working for is FVV. He strikes me as the kind of guy who almost certainly thinks he is better than Irving, Simmons, Walker, Young (and probably Lowry) and has a massive chip on his shoulder. I think he's going to have a massive playoffs and might end up being our best player.

[Apollo]

The guy I can see this working for is FVV. He strikes me as the kind of guy who almost certainly thinks he is better than Irving, Simmons, Walker, Young (and probably Lowry) and has a massive chip on his shoulder. I think he's going to have a massive playoffs and might end up being our best player.

Plus this is his contract year.

[golden]

Yeah it irks me when people say, "oh this or that was just luck". There's actually relatively little luck in basketball. How talented a shooter is, their form, their release, the space they have, their mental state, which teammates are sharing the floor etc.. all play a much bigger part, every game. By the same token, the opposing defence also plays a huge part. Their physicality, the ability to take space away, positional awareness, individual lateral quickness, collective communication on switches etc... There's a ton of stuff, and "luck" is the least of it. "Luck" is often used to rationalize wins or losses by people that are very much used to looking at numbers and stats, but haven't played/coached/watched actual games as much.

Luck can be fun.....

[inthepaint]

Luck can be fun.....

Oh yeah... There was also a beautiful arc on the shot and a lot of onions to put it up the right way and give it a chance to go in, but yeah buzzer beaters will alwyas have some luck for one team or the other... And that's the king of buzzer beaters right there [I never get tired of seeing those bounces lol].