Game 18: Toronto Raptors @ Golden State Warriors - Sunday Nov 21st 8:30pm ET - Sportsnet

[bertarapsfan]

That's his job, to keep fans excited and watching the game.

Imagine Matt talked like the guys around here.

"raps cut the lead, but we all know its fools gold"

the midget blocked at the rim again.

[golden]

That's his job, to keep fans excited and watching the game.

Imagine Matt talked like the guys around here.

"raps cut the lead, but we all know its fools gold"

It's called "fake comeback". Fool's gold is a team that wins 60 games, but you can't even get excited about it because you know you're going to get Lebronto'ed.

[MixxAOR]

I mean it did actually happen and it’s almost always predictable. I watch with the sound off to mute Jack. Did Devlin lose his sh*t?

[KeonClark]

yeah Matt Devlin will start losing his mind if Raptors cut down 20 pts lead down to 10

"Here come the Raptors!"

That's his job, to keep fans excited and watching the game.

Imagine Matt talked like the guys around here.

"raps cut the lead, but we all know its fools gold"

[golden]

yeah Matt Devlin will start losing his mind if Raptors cut down 20 pts lead down to 10

"Here come the Raptors!"

If we're lucky, we'll get a fake comeback and cut the lead to 10 in the 4th quarter.

I mean it did actually happen and it’s almost always predictable. I watch with the sound off to mute Jack. Did Devlin lose his sh*t?

[MixxAOR]

I mean that is a pretty big cut.

i like Jack more in those situations. He'll always go "Ok can you sustain that" "Can you get another stop"

[A.I]

yeah Matt Devlin will start losing his mind if Raptors cut down 20 pts lead down to 10

"Here come the Raptors!"

I mean that is a pretty big cut.

[MixxAOR]

The Raps broadcasters and generally media that covers the team does it no favors cause the coverage is generally so positive that fans' expectations get outsized. In particular, the broadcasts can get downright silly at times with the praise the organization gets.

yeah Matt Devlin will start losing his mind if Raptors cut down 20 pts lead down to 10

"Here come the Raptors!"

[slaw]

To quote Aaron rodgers: r-e-l-a-x

The Raps broadcasters and generally media that covers the team does it no favors cause the coverage is generally so positive that fans' expectations get outsized. In particular, the broadcasts can get downright silly at times with the praise the organization gets.

[MixxAOR]

DRTG will lower, is what you're saying. But I mean, it HAS TO. Raptors have been posting > 120 DRTGs since Siakam came back in all but one game (Kings), I believe. That's quite a stretch of consistently bad defense... or ridiculously hot shooting... or both. We'd be trending towards being the worst defense of all time, by a wide margin. That's not sustainable... in a good way.

Yeah thought of it as rise in rankings

[golden]

Ok so Raptors are ranked 12 fewest shots in restricted area but 5th highest in percentage. And Raptors are giving up 13th fewest shots from 3 but opponent field goal is 4th highest.

So some out of ordinary hot shooting from opponents. Once those percentages go back to league average DRTG will rise.

DRTG will lower, is what you're saying. But I mean, it HAS TO. Raptors have been posting > 120 DRTGs since Siakam came back in all but one game (Kings), I believe. That's quite a stretch of consistently bad defense... or ridiculously hot shooting... or both. We'd be trending towards being the worst defense of all time, by a wide margin. That's not sustainable... in a good way.

[MixxAOR]

Ok so Raptors are ranked 12 fewest shots in restricted area but 5th highest in percentage. And Raptors are giving up 13th fewest shots from 3 but opponent field goal is 4th highest.

So some out of ordinary hot shooting from opponents. Once those percentages go back to league average DRTG will rise.

[golden]

The problem wit h the Raps is they don't have the players to play the defense they want to play. They don't really have that many good defenders. In 2019 they had Gasol, Ibaka, Green, Kawhi, Lowry and Siakam(who at that time was a pretty good defender). They still had Gasol, Ibaka and Lowry in 2020. It's hard to replace great/high IQ defenders like those guys.

When I look at this current team, they have FVV, OG and Barnes(who's a rookie). They're the only good defensive players they have.

If you have those 5 guys + FVV off the bench, then I guess you could play pretty much any style you want and it would be successful.

I mean, with elite defenders, you could even do something crazy like improvise a grade school Box & 1, on the fly, in the NBA finals and that would probably work.

[The Great One]

Fair enough. They added 4 new guys who can slot relatively easily into the Bulls defensive schemes then. Kind of provides additional evidence for my premise. In contrast to the Bulls, the Raptors have a slew of new, raw players having to learn a radical new scheme with all of the various help requirements as well as their new teammates tendencies.

The problem wit h the Raps is they don't have the players to play the defense they want to play. They don't really have that many good defenders. In 2019 they had Gasol, Ibaka, Green, Kawhi, Lowry and Siakam(who at that time was a pretty good defender). They still had Gasol, Ibaka and Lowry in 2020. It's hard to replace great/high IQ defenders like those guys.

When I look at this current team, they have FVV, OG and Barnes(who's a rookie). They're the only good defensive players they have.

[Puffer]

I don't know about the Wizards but the Bulls added great defensive players. Lonzo is an elite defender, Caruso is an elite defender, Green is a pretty good defender, Jones Jr. is a pretty good defender. I said before the season began that they're going to be a lot better team defensively this year because of the players they added though some here kept going with the lazy "they're going to be a good offensive team but who's going to defend?" narrative.

Fair enough. They added 4 new guys who can slot relatively easily into the Bulls defensive schemes then. Kind of provides additional evidence for my premise. In contrast to the Bulls, the Raptors have a slew of new, raw players having to learn a radical new scheme with all of the various help requirements as well as their new teammates tendencies.