Restart Game #1: Toronto Raptors vs Los Angeles Lakers - August 1, 2020 - 8:30pm ET

[saints91]

Kyle's finally able to look for his own, he's taken the backseat the last few years. I love seeing him hunt his shot, and playing as aggressively as he has. The crazy thing is he's still hooking guys up, he's just playing really efficient ball.

[saints91]

A big takeaway from last night was the Raptors stepping up in crunch time to pull away vs an elite team. That's superstar time, "extra gear" time. If the Raptors can do that as a team (especially with their defence), then they can hang with anybody.

They did it with defense and good team ball. There was always a tendency to slow down and play more iso ball in the past. For this team to move forward they have to keep moving the ball and taking the best shot available, and find the hot hand with ball movement. That's our strength.

We are not an ISO team. The only two guys that can get to the rim through traffic and not get blocked is Pascal and Norm. Pascal tends to get clogged up more and ends up shooting from the mid-range, Norm can get there but has had troubles finishing as of late.

[A.I]

Davis's foul shots were all warranted. Those were stupid fouls by the Raptors when they were in the bonus. I was screaming at the TV over the dumb fouls in the 2nd quarter. Kyle got a few questionable calls go his way, so I think we got a good whistle. Overall the officiating was good, maybe they should have buried the whistles a bit.

I agree though, we usually don't get a fair whistle. I hope we see better officiating in this bubble.

I'd say its more likely the officiating will be worse because there are no fans to boo the refs and say how much they suck.

[Demographic Shift]

Lakers misses Bradley big time

That... and they miss they have pretty limited outside shooting even with Bradley ....
Lowry pounded Kenatious Caldwellavious Popeavious on a drive to the basket and took out one of the two Lakers remaining role 3 ball shooters.
Kyle Kuzma is beginning to look like west coast hype more than a legit outside threat.

[golden]

They did it with defense and good team ball. There was always a tendency to slow down and play more iso ball in the past. For this team to move forward they have to keep moving the ball and taking the best shot available, and find the hot hand with ball movement. That's our strength.

We are not an ISO team. The only two guys that can get to the rim through traffic and not get blocked is Pascal and Norm. Pascal tends to get clogged up more and ends up shooting from the mid-range, Norm can get there but has had troubles finishing as of late.

[Demographic Shift]

This is a good point. Everyone wants these teams to be the Warriors, but they aren't.

A big takeaway from last night was the Raptors stepping up in crunch time to pull away vs an elite team. That's superstar time, "extra gear" time. If the Raptors can do that as a team (especially with their defence), then they can hang with anybody.

But also - these guys like Caruso and Beverly are getting way overhyped because they play on bright lights teams with superstars. Meanwhile the highlight guys at ESPN literally can't even pronounce OG's name, but the Raps are full of quality guys like this and people don't even know they're good. The difference is pretty stark.

And Doris Burke is great. She actually knows ball, the players, the history. Her commentary has depth. She should be on the A team.

Doris watches a lot of ball. A lot.
And unlike the entertainers on ESPN and TNT ... she talks cogently about what she sees.


Speaking of saying what you see....and its only one game.. Philly looks like they picked up exactly where they left off. A team that struggles to shoot outside of 3 feet. Despite 41 and 21 from their best player they still can't shoot from the arc and can't find the umph to win a close game.

[007]

Nurse called that "vintage Kyle Lowry" in the post game, I can't help but think this is actually peak Kyle Lowry. Anyone else think he's just been getting better each year? He picks his spots better, plays to his strengths better, controls the game better, hits his teammates better. Even drew fouls last night he never used to seem to get called.

The break will benefit guys like him, who play with abandon and tend to hit the playoffs banged up, most of all.

The break means we’re getting early season Kyle in the playoffs

[slaw]

One thing that is really noticeable watching so many games in a row is that the Raptors’ effort on defense is just way better than all but one or two other teams. I really noticed this watching a Houston-NO game live this winter but it isn’t just the also-rans but most contenders/pretenders. The Lakers made some good plays that would have been easy buckets against any other team but still had to make two more passes and a tough finish to score on Toronto. That wears teams out over 48 minutes.

One thing I haven’t seen mentioned: Lakers were really intimidated by Gasol and Ibaka in the lane, which really helped OG and Pascal on the ball.

[Ebonhawke]

One thing I haven’t seen mentioned: Lakers were really intimidated by Gasol and Ibaka in the lane, which really helped OG and Pascal on the ball.

Both Marc and Serge had five fouls with about 8 minutes left to go in the fourth, but the Lakers really didn't look to consistently force the ball into the paint and see if they could get a sixth on either or both Raptors' centers. With the game being close until late, not forcing Nick to decide whether he wanted to bring in Boucher, who would be overmatched against a center like Howard, or go small with RHJ at the 5, made no sense to me.

[DogeLover1234]

Haha did you hear Worthy butcher OG's name? Come on man, just say OG if you don't know how to say his last name.

I agree Doris Burke is top notch, I love when she's on the Lowe Post Pod. She is probably the least bias commentator that works for ESPN.

Yeah at this point when an analyst starts talking I can tell in a couple sentences if they actually watch games. On TV the only people worth listening to are a couple of the commentators for info and the TNT guys for entertainment imo. As far as I can tell most analysts dont pay much attention outside of maybe a couple teams.

[golden]

“It’s a great team, no ifs, ands or buts. Exceptionally well-coached, championship DNA, you can never take that away from a ball club,” the Lakers star said. “They’ve won a championship and even before that they have playoff tested guys – that’s just a great team. The media might not talk about them much or give them credit because Kawhi is gone but players in the league definitely know what type of team they are.”

Check and check, Golden.

Edit: didn't see the whole thread before I saw you recapped this this too.

lol. Thanks, Deaner. I'm in mid-season form already.

[chris]

Speaking of saying what you see....and its only one game.. Philly looks like they picked up exactly where they left off. A team that struggles to shoot outside of 3 feet. Despite 41 and 21 from their best player they still can't shoot from the arc and can't find the umph to win a close game.

well, it was a road game... maybe they'll play better with their own fans up on the video-boards

[Demographic Shift]

well, it was a road game... maybe they'll play better with their own fans up on the video-boards

wicked funny...

[Jclaw]

Just an odd footnote for the game. Davis seems to be a generational talent but....he's been around for a while. See if he's ever had a good game against the Raps. You might be surprised. He had a pretty good game the last time we played the Lakers but...meh

[Jclaw]

one more footnote. This is from the Athletic Laker recap. People may think of it as a one off but how many times have we seen this same concept about a raptors star opponent this year?

"Davis’ quiet night wasn’t just about the constant doubling. Faced with extra attention, he receded into the offensive background even when he wasn’t forced. It’s only the fifth time in his career he has played 30 or more minutes and taken seven or fewer shots"