GAME 3: Toronto Raptors vs Boston Celtics 09/03/20 6:30 PM ET TSN

[Jclaw]

thanks...the third one almost gets it. I think they would need a camera behind lowry....but then you might only see Tacko

[slaw]

No one looks sadder than the refs.....

[slaw]

meanwhile...we're all sh***ing on Siakim but do you think the bostonites are doing the same thing to Tattum? Well, maybe they are but he was even worse last night. Or at least the same.

I think they are more blaming Stevens and Brown.

[saints91]

Siakam played well in the 2nd 3rd and 4th. They are playing great D on him. As soon as he gets the ball they collapse the paint. His shot is just not there right now. Just stick to what's working.

[saints91]

The guards should just drive and then send Siakam and OG to the dunker from the corners. Pound it inside and force them to switch it up

[Tmac2darak]

[A.I]

Siakam played well in the 2nd 3rd and 4th. They are playing great D on him. As soon as he gets the ball they collapse the paint. His shot is just not there right now. Just stick to what's working.

I thought he played really well when he played within the flow of the offense. Made some cuts, got some nice passes and finished around the basket. Its become a problem for him when he slows the game down in a halfcourt set and tries to post up.

[A.I]

Yep. The contrast between you trying to sound rational and arrogant at times, and then using posterior extraction and snarkiness when it suits you, is indeed head shaking. And you completely forgot about Gasol getting hunted for blow-by's.... that's basically what Stevens said the play call was on the Kemba pass and Theis dunk. There were earlier breakdowns for dunks as well. And your explanation is "guys got exhausted, Doug" and "help at the back-end issues". Well, at least you acknowledge that explanation is being pulled from somebody's back-end.

Gasol can simply do no wrong in your books. How about the obvious explanation: Gasol is slow AF in space and the Celtics are exploiting that. Kemba went right around him like a damn pylon in an open gym.

Kemba is Kemba, hes tough to guard for most bigs. Outside of switching on to Kemba, Gasol did a fantastic job defending Tatum on drives and contesting in the paint.

[DanH]

Yep. The contrast between you trying to sound rational and arrogant at times, and then using posterior extraction and snarkiness when it suits you, is indeed head shaking. And you completely forgot about Gasol getting hunted for blow-by's.... that's basically what Stevens said the play call was on the Kemba pass and Theis dunk. There were earlier breakdowns for dunks as well. And your explanation is "guys got exhausted, Doug" and "help at the back-end issues". Well, at least you acknowledge that explanation is being pulled from somebody's back-end.

Gasol can simply do no wrong in your books. How about the obvious explanation: Gasol is slow AF in space and the Celtics are exploiting that. Kemba went right around him like a damn pylon in an open gym.

Watch that final dunk again. Watch who Kyle Lowry turns to yell at after the play. It ain't Marc Gasol. Gasol did what he was supposed to do. But the Raptors' aggressive defence only works if everyone is on a string, or there will be breakdowns like that. They should be better prepared for those actions in future anyway, but just better legs and focus late game should help anyway. Real important to find some rest for guys, need a functional bench look that doesn't require all three of our top offence creators on the floor to survive. Luckily that's an easy answer, just hope Nick decides to trust TD more.

Gasol can do plenty of wrong, and has done. In this instance your blame is misguided - every trip down the court, a good offence will attack one defender or another, a good defence will use that to their advantage or be ready to contain that action through one strategy or another. The Celtics would attack Serge exactly the same way if he were in the game (he's just as slow in space, except dumber) - it's not just to "hunt blow bys," it's to get the big men defending at the perimeter and open up the rim no matter how effective the attack by Kemba is. And the Raptors would have an aggressive scheme to deal with that too. But no matter which center is being asked to hard double on the screen and chase until the guard can get back in front, the team behind them is going to be responsible for defending the rim.

I'd have to rewatch the be sure of the other possessions, but on the final defensive possession Siakam did not rotate down to defend the rim as Lowry moved up to cut off Kemba's path across the paint before swinging out to defend the shooters on the wing that Siakam stayed attached to, leaving the rim undefended.

[GOLDBLUM]

[GOLDBLUM]

[Jclaw]

Put this in a time capsule! Epic.

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[Jclaw]

The one thing I really hope the NBA keeps from the bubble is the extra room on the sidelines and baselines. It’s much more freeing for the players

to your point...