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

[bertarapsfan]

Khris Middleton is insanely overrated. Reminds me of the 4 Hawks All Stars, also playing in a Bud system. You win a lot of games, must be an All Star in there somewhere, right? He's a front runner, puts up numbers in easy matchups but disappears when anything's tough.

Trusting Middleton to deliver in the playoffs is the equivalent to the raps and Demar. He has to prove that he has it when all he has done is shrink in the big moments

[G__Deane]

I'm thinking you're going to see Embiid be injured a lot now, whether he's injured or not.
With Simmons out they have little chance to get past the Celtics (or Bucks or Raps) and he's gonna sulk a bit and bow out like Kyrie did in NY. The East is still going to be a dogfight and I still think there'll be an upset in the first round.

[G__Deane]

Nurse continues to not give Thomas much credit

“Well, I think it’s still a matter of ironing out some rhythm and playing hard on defence and rhythm on offence,” said Nurse before the game. “It’s a chance here, especially tonight, to see a few more faces that need to be out there. There hasn’t been a lot of minutes, for whatever reason, for some of the guys coming off the bench, and we need to get them up to speed a little bit.

“… I think the bench at this point is fairly short. You know, it’s obviously Norm and Serge. Those guys are gonna get big minutes, almost starter minutes depending on the night. And then Rondae [Hollis-Jefferson] is probably gonna have to get in there. Terence Davis has not got much of a chance yet or a flow, but we kinda know he probably will at some point. Chris Boucher hasn’t had much of a chance but could factor. I think there’s still some work to be done here and some figuring out on some of that stuff.”

[golden]

1-2 punch from the Raps-Heat game thread last week. Unlike Casey, Nurse reads RR:

May have to start Norm and shake up the bench at some point

I'd like to see more Boucher and Thomas. Boucher looks awkward, but he always seems to make something positive happen out there.

https://forums.raptorsrepublic.com/f...30#post1349930

https://forums.raptorsrepublic.com/f...39#post1349939

[Jclaw]

Nice to have a little bit of a light game and still pick up the W. You don't want to lose to the Bucks without Giannis no matter who you're sitting yourself.

Still...this was a narrative this season.

[MixxAOR]

[golden]

We played the whole game without a PG tonight and still kicked ass on offense. Sure, no Giannis, but the Bucks defensive system is still top notch. Are traditional PGs still necessary in the NBA these days?

[A.I]

We played the whole game without a PG tonight and still kicked ass on offense. Sure, no Giannis, but the Bucks defensive system is still top notch. Are traditional PGs still necessary in the NBA these days?

Depends on the player. I wouldn't be comfortable playing TD or Norm as the PG all the time. It worked out this game, seems like a lot of the plays was just to set up Thomas.

[007]

Bucks are now 2-4 in the bubble, so I get why there might be some edginess, but I imagine it would be tough to get up for these games when they’ve had literally nothing to play for. They’re still favorites to make it out of the East

[A.I]

Bucks are now 2-4 in the bubble, so I get why there might be some edginess, but I imagine it would be tough to get up for these games when they’ve had literally nothing to play for. They’re still favorites to make it out of the East

Playoffs is a different beast, but if Korver is saying that then maybe other players on the team feel the same way? Its possible but can be tough to get everyone on the same page right away when the Playoffs start. They will cruise through the first round, but they better be ready and not close to falling apart in the second round.

[inthepaint]

They got the old Korver. We got the new one.

[chris]

just finished watching. stanley johnson can give us a lot of what patrick mccaw takes off the table.

also, i hate mike budenholzer. that was some jim boylen shit at the end. what a loser.

[planetmars]

I still wouldn't play Boucher much in the playoffs despite the game he had yesterday. He reminds me of Bebe in a way.. just gets lost and doesn't think. Those heat check 3's with plenty of time on the clock.. the missing his man on defense and guys getting open looks. I saw Siakam screaming at him a few times.

Matt however is awesome.. and really should get 10 minutes every game if possible. He is not the greatest defender but he plays hard. A really sneaky good rebounder. And just ice in his veigns. Milwaukee had to sick Bledsoe on him which opened up the game for the others on the team.


As for our core.. Siakam is still not playing sharp. Poor efficiency game and they didn't have Giannis in the paint. He should have been taking it hard to the rack. I thought Marc was great. He does a really good job on the Lopez brothers. Couldn't score, but had some really nice open looks. Norm had an awesome first half. Sort of dipped a bit in the second, but overall a great game. He just loves playing against the Bucks. OG's defense on Middleton in the first quarter set the tone, and took Middleton out of his comfort zone.

Philly next, and I doubt they'll be playing Embiid. So we could take the other half the roster out. Rest Siakam, Gasol and Norm. Play the others.

[LJ2]

That game felt like a game where the coaches on both sides didn't want to show anything. Fun to watch, but not a lot you can take away from it.

The comment I want to make and will probably take some heat for is that I hate seeing Marc swing the ball when he is wide open. His defender is playing so far off him that Marc is now creating tougher shots for his teammates. Unless other guys are hot from the perimeter those possessions are hard to watch, but even if they are hot like last night it feels like bad basketball. Just doesn't feel right saying that about anything Marc does on the court

I'm just concerned some of his unwillingness to shoot last year's playoffs may have been masked by Kawhi bailing us out. Hope Nick has something planned for this year.

[DanH]

That game felt like a game where the coaches on both sides didn't want to show anything. Fun to watch, but not a lot you can take away from it.

The comment I want to make and will probably take some heat for is that I hate seeing Marc swing the ball when he is wide open. His defender is playing so far off him that Marc is now creating tougher shots for his teammates. Unless other guys are hot from the perimeter those possessions are hard to watch, but even if they are hot like last night it feels like bad basketball. Just doesn't feel right saying that about anything Marc does on the court

I'm just concerned some of his unwillingness to shoot last year's playoffs may have been masked by Kawhi bailing us out. Hope Nick has something planned for this year.

Marc has shown a little more willingness to shoot in the bubble, which I think is a sign that he'll step into those open shots in the playoffs. His usage is up to 16% in the bubble, with no game below 13%, where earlier in the year he was posting single digit usage games quite often and averaged out to a sub-13 usage on the season pre-bubble.

I also don't mind him hesitating if its early in the clock. Worth exploring options, seeing if you can get a look at the rim before settling for the three. Usually if teams are leaving him open early he'll be just as open later in the clock.