Restart Game # 6 Toronto at Milwaukee Monday August 10th 6:30pm

[Jclaw]

Step right up for the Big Battle of the Bubble between the

and the

And it's on ESPN!



I don't think the entire Nation Guard of Bristol, Connecticut could get Coach Nick to play Kyle tomorrow.

Because it's not so much about Monday's game as it is about Sunday's.
With a few blips, the Raptors took care of business, got win #50 and clinched the 2nd seed.
Now is 2nd place great?
Not everyone would agree.

But, for anyone who has been following this roller coaster of a season, we know it's pretty rarified air.
Don't look now but while we have solidified 2nd in the East, we are only one game back of 2nd in the entire league .
After all, look how far we've come.



So we find ourselves in a unique spot. 3 games to go in the season and not much to play for.
This time last year I think we were still holding out hope for catching the Bucks.
So enjoy a respite. A brief chance to soak things in in an otherwise crappy year.
Sit back and see who wins the battle of the Magic and Nets knowing we don't really care either way.

This is pretty bare bones as far as a game thread goes. We're all joining the team in resting up for the playoffs.

But no Raptors/Bucks thread would be complete without...

Go Raps

[G__Deane]

Pride game?
Send a message game?
Put a little fear/questioning in the back of their minds?

Go Raps!

[007]

Maximum chaos option: Nurse rests all the top seven

[saints91]

Ya, who knows. You also don’t want anyone getting hurt. 20mins for all the top 7 guys and then let the bench finish it off. We’ll see them in the ECF

[DanH]

Maybe let Norm and Serge get a start beside three other starters to help them keep getting into their grooves, rest two starters entirely (definitely Lowry if you can convince him and Gasol), and keep the top 7 guys to 24 minutes or something. So something like this:

Start: Fred or Lowry, Norm, OG, Pascal, Ibaka
Bench: TD, Thomas, RHJ, Boucher
Dressed to play late: Watson Jr, SJ, Hernandez

[G__Deane]

Maybe let Norm and Serge get a start beside three other starters to help them keep getting into their grooves, rest two starters entirely (definitely Lowry if you can convince him and Gasol), and keep the top 7 guys to 24 minutes or something. So something like this:

Start: Fred or Lowry, Norm, OG, Pascal, Ibaka
Bench: TD, Thomas, RHJ, Boucher
Dressed to play late: Watson Jr, SJ, Hernandez

That bench makes me sad

[planetmars]

I think Nurse plays everyone.. and then will use RHJ at the point again in the 4th. We just use single man to man coverage and don't show Bud any of our cards. Some guys played over 35 minutes yesterday, so I suspect a longer leash for the bench.. but I still think everyone plays.

We still need work to do on offense, and the Bucks have the best defense in the league. Not a bad game to use as a scrimmage. I think the Bucks will be trying to win this one though. Especially after they are coming off a loss against Dallas.

[Tmac2darak]

Love these early starts.
Go Raps Go

[Tmac2darak]

That bench makes me sad

Whats going on with TD? Not looking anything like before.

[G__Deane]

Whats going on with TD? Not looking anything like before.

Not sure but not every player is going to respond differently to this whole COVID and bubble situation. You're never home. you never get home court, you never see your family or friends. Did the NBA ever finalize bringing some companionship in for the players? Maybe he's missing the ladies

I kinda wish the Bucks game had something to play for so we got a bit of a preview.

[MixxAOR]

Whats going on with TD? Not looking anything like before.

No playing time got him off rhythm and the whole no mask situation also didn't help

[A.I]

Tough game, but one of the commentators said it best, forgot if it was Matt or Jack. This is basically a practice game for both teams after having clinched the top 2 Playoff spots. Neither coaches will show any of their schemes. I don't think we'll see a wall or any crazy effort/strategy to shut down Giannis.

[MixxAOR]

yeah I hope for a win but realistically Nurse is going to throw this game

[The Great One]

I would sit Siakam, Lowry and Gasol in this game.

[saints91]

I think Gasol should keep on playing. I think they should have a few games where they give him high usage. We're going to need him to help carry the offensive load a couple games if we want to go far. Through out the season it always seemed to be a different guy stepping up.

Other than that, we need clean up our turnovers. The 2013/2014 Spurs teams rarely made mistakes, and we were playing that way before the stoppage. The sloppy play has to stop by the second round.