Game 58 Toronto Raptors vs Oklahoma Thunder - 7:00 PM EST Apr 18/21

[golden]

So is he good or is he not? you always praise him when he plays well and shit on him whenever he plays bad lol. You flip flop like a floundering fish. There's a lot of that going on around here lately.

For the record, my opinion has not changed whatsover. Boucher stinks and i'll take Birch and Watson 10 times out of 10. And yes...playoffs baby!

I like all 3 of those guys.

You must have me confused with someone else, because I never shit on Boucher..... he’s found money for this team. I like the potential of Watson, but he disappears a lot and gives me Malcolm Miller vibes, but not as bad. Birch is solid as gives us some badly needed grit inside.

[G__Deane]

Boucher >>>> Birch & Watson combined. And it's not even really close.

I see what you did there

[G__Deane]

"OG Anunoby (calf) missed his third game of the last five. ...
F Pascal Siakam (shoulder) missed his third of the last six. ...
G Fred VanVleet (left hip flexor) has missed eight of the last nine games
and G Kyle Lowry (toe) has missed 10 of the last 11"

We're either snake bitten with injuries or ....

[Yuri Gagarin]

To complain about Bouch you have to be an idiot plain and simple. Our second best three point shooter whoda think it? Hes playing 3 times better than what he gets paid, works hard, seems cool is only gonna get better and better, rarely gets injured - knock on wood - and hes fukn Canadian!

[GLF]

For team tank don't you worry, our schedule starts to get really hard come Wednesday and continues that way for the rest of the season. While Washington‘s schedule is so easy. Washington most likely makes the play in. And it looks like we’re going to continue to rest guys for the rest of the year as well so there’s that. Management is trying to tank, it’s the players who aren’t.

[Dvdvideo]

Except they're not healthy and the team really hasn't been the last 2 months or so. Thats why many fans are willing to write this season off, get a high draft pick and come back strong next season.

A month from now you would think they would be rolling into the playoffs. Lowry is really the only one who might not be ready if the toe issue is really persisting. (Assuming there aren't lingering covid issues) If Miami taught us anything last year, it's that a scrappy team can make it further in the east than one might expect. Look at New Jersey, Durant has missed 34 games due to injury and went down again tonight. Kryie gets hurt easily too.
This could easily be the first round match-up.....
or Philly with embid who also has a history of injury.....

That all said, if we do w/o this season it's not the end of the world either.

[Yuri Gagarin]

Its a win win situation. If we make the playoffs with a tough schedule itll show this team has grit and we wont do it without some positive play from bench guys. This team has good pro character so anything can happen if we get in.

and if we dont we get a decent pick

its all good

[Dvdvideo]

Plus if we do make the playoffs is valuable experience for players like flyn and Trent.

[magoon]

I honestly doubt we make playoffs. We've just finished up the softest part of our remaining schedule and from here on out it's almost entirely strong playoff teams or playoff bubble teams that are trying to make it. This game was fun, but it was also our bench barely beating an OKC team composed of Lu Dort and a bunch of varsity guys nobody knows.

That said, the rest of the season should be fun because the bench guys are getting a ton of minutes - because Masai and Bobby and Nick are evaluating them for next year - and because of that they're all balling out as much as possible. Only Boucher and Flynn are guaranteed for next year, so Stanley and Yuta and Khem and Watson and Bembry and Gillespie are all playing to prove they belong on an NBA team (whether it's Toronto or elsewhere), and GTJ is trying to up his forthcoming payday. (I honestly think the majority of these guys will be back with us next year: Yuta and Khem are probably locks at this point, Gillespie probably gets a two-way deal, and one or two of the Stanley/Watson/Bembry trio will likely be back as well.)

If we make playoffs, great - we have a bit of fun, and next year is a "real" year with a squad that's essentially gotten in a ton of practice minutes that just happened to be real games. If we don't, great - we get a good draft pick to supplement the team in a strong draft. It's win/win from here on out, because we'll most likely lose a bunch of games while young players get chances to prove they can go.

[Puffer]

Stanley kills me

Stanley also kills team momentum, confidence, hopeful outcomes and any chance of getting a bucket.

[planetmars]

Well another win, but against a really terrible team. Loved the Dort vs Boucher match up.. I really like Dort a lot. His shot has come a long way.. just shows how much of a hard worker he is. Trent Jr had such a hard time getting anything going because of Lu's defense. Would love to have Dort and OG on the same team.. man that would be so much fun to watch. Can't wait for Dort to suit up for team Canada though. Him, Shai, Boucher.. I mean we could do some things there.

Anyway... yeah Boucher really wanted to beat his friend, and did.. buzzer beater at the half. The big shots down the stretch. Good for him to take it personal. He's having a fantastic personal season. For $7M next season, he'll be underpaid and will be looking for a big next pay day.

Watson was underwhelming.. just disappeared again. Consistency is what makes an NBA player a star, and he doesn't have that.. but I still like him. I do wonder if he'll end up like Miller though in that he just loses his NBA career and has to play in Europe or something going forward. Trent did have a tough time with Dort on him, but ended up with 23.. had to take 25 shots to get 23 points, which isn't great.. but he battled. Flynn was pretty good. He wasn't efficient, but had 7 assists again with 6 boards this time. Set up some nice plays. Hood and Johnson continued to show why they might be the worst tandem in the NBA.. Freddie 2.0 got 10 points, but only 2 boards.. one day he'll get his double-double.

Obviously not a great win for the tank but did anyone actually think we'd lose to them. OKC has this tank thing mastered. Big win by Sacramento finally against the Mavs. Pelican's couldn't get by NY in O/T. Rockets beat the Magic but someone had to win that one.

Back in 10th.. with only a 1/2 game "ahead" of the Pelicans for 11th. The 11th seed is a crappy place to be in for lottery odds. Only a 9.4% chance at a top 4 pick. Where as at 10th you have a 13.9% chance. Our schedule starts getting pretty rough though.

[GOLDBLUM]

Expect a game thread mid to late-afternoon today, folks.

[Puffer]

Keep rolling Goldblum. You have provided us with some excellent games. Not to mention career highs for the Raptors players.