Game #5 Toronto Bay Raptors @ New Orleans Pelicans . 7:30 PM ET

[nba_4_life]

What a year... Thank God it is over. Hope for a better year in 2021.
Instead of discussing all the negatives of the Toronto Raptors starting this season, lets enjoy some of the great moments from last season:

After the Raptors finally got their first win against the New York Knicks on Thursday, they have the opportunity to have their revenge against the team that gave them their first loss of the season, the New Orleans Pelicans.

Date: Saturday, Jan. 2
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
TV: Sportsnet (Canada), NBA TV (USA)
Location: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LA

Records: Raptors (1-3), Pelicans (3-2)

Starting Lineups
New Orleans Pelicans



Toronto Raptors



Lets start the New Year with a win!!! Lets Go Raptors!!!

[LJ2]

That team has so much size in their frontcourt. Raps gotta keep the pace high and tire them out. Let's get that first win of the new year out of the way!

[G__Deane]

Adam's and Baynes rochem sockem part deux. Who's taking charges against Zion? Rpas are going to have to get back to playing up tempo and test his cardio.

Small ask, can we put the date of the game in the thread headline? Saturday January 2nd
Game Day!

[planetmars]

The Raptors should have won the opener, and then just gave the game away because they forgot how to score. It also didn't help that Bledsoe and Ball had like career 3pt nights for themselves.

If the Raptors have turned a corner (and I didn't see much of that against the Knicks, sadly).. then keys to the game are to keep turnovers low. Run their 3pt shooters off the line - especially Redick and Ingram. And then figure out how to score. If you have a spell where you can't score.. create something in the mid range.

Hopefully OG bounces back from that god awful shooting performance on New Years Eve.

[G__Deane]

No excuses, this is kinda crazy:
"The Raptors are entering Saturday’s contest with the worst offence in the NBA, putting up just 98.1 points per 100 possessions."

[nba_4_life]

No excuses, this is kinda crazy:
"The Raptors are entering Saturday’s contest with the worst offence in the NBA, putting up just 98.1 points per 100 possessions."

not surprising seeing how terrible our games were, and having 5 minutes spurts of no points scored

[golden]

No excuses, this is kinda crazy:
"The Raptors are entering Saturday’s contest with the worst offence in the NBA, putting up just 98.1 points per 100 possessions."

Really rough start for our new offensive coordinator, Chris Finch. With the Pacers doing well, that begs the question: was Nate Bjorkgren even more important than we realized?

But then again, if Nurse is gonna insist on playing Stanley and Bembry, you reap what you sow.

[slaw]

Really rough start for our new offensive coordinator, Chris Finch. With the Pacers doing well, that begs the question: was Nate Bjorkgren even more important than we realized?

But then again, if Nurse is gonna insist on playing Stanley and Bembry, you reap what you sow.

I don’t think losing an assistant coach matters much at all. Bigger issue is that the Raps best players (other than Lowry) have been inconsistent (at best) and putrid for stretches (at worst). No team in any sport wins much when their best players play bad.

[MixxAOR]

Well things take a while to implement. You'll need a larger sample size.

[inthepaint]

No excuses, this is kinda crazy:
"The Raptors are entering Saturday’s contest with the worst offence in the NBA, putting up just 98.1 points per 100 possessions."

Cole's notes breakdown:
--Lowry sitting, with no other point-guard on the floor
--Bubble P
--OG shooting 25% from 3
--Stanley Johnson and Bembry

[S.R.]

The Raptors looked like the Raptors in the 4th against NY. Great defence creating turnovers leading to transition buckets and blowing the game open in a 5 minute-ish run is exactly what they did over and over again last year. So that was good to see.

I think one of the things here is that dries up in the playoffs. Good teams take care of the ball and get back on defence. So you need iso scorers and half court offence. I'm not sure I'm totally mad the Raptors are being forced to face their weaknesses instead of just playing to strengths then hitting the same wall in the playoffs. As individuals and as a team. They need to develop.

I do hope we see more TD, Thomas back on the floor, and some Flynn. Mind you that's a lot of guard play. They may not be able to give all these perimeter guys the minutes they should be getting until a trade balances out the roster a bit.

[bertarapsfan]

Fred had his first good game vs the Knicks. If he can keep that up with Pascal back that will take alot less pressure off him to force his offense.

[G__Deane]

Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes.
The point is, the Raptors shouldn't be 30th, last, worst (think of all the sh*tty teams) in any important category.

[Jclaw]

Stanley has had his moments but if I see him take a three the Pels have already won

[G__Deane]

I'm having lucky fish tacos and a Ransack for dinner to do my part in the Raps W .... actually not super confident in tonight's game.