Game# 70: Lakers @ Raptors, Fri March 18, 7:30pm EST

[JawsGT]

This loss was a result of fluke shots going down for the Lakers down the stretch.

[JawsGT]

On the positive side, Fred is orchestrating the offense less lately, probably related to his knee or whatever is ailing him, and as a result we are seeing a lot more from Barnes and siakam, which is great. Scottie really looking good and if this continues, I think we'll see him pull ahead of Mobley in the rookie race. Precious is playing really well too lately. So much to like about this team right now. But those losses to Charlotte, Atlanta, Detroit and Orlando are really starting to burn now.

[golden]

Precious' D was why LeBron was cutting in the first place. He wasn't the best option as the ball handler with Precious guarding him, so off ball movement was his best option to get to the basket. It did happen a few too many times though for sure.

Precious was a game high (low) minus 12. It impacted the game in a big way, but people don’t notice stuff like that. He has huge upside, so you live with the learning curve.

[G__Deane]

I prefer my entertainment in forms that make me happy. That sucked, of all teams I just can't stand lebron or Westbrook and the lakers. And to lose a game to Cleveland only makes it worse.

Time to start a new win streak.

[Dr Hannibal Lecter]

Ppl say fluke, lucky..there is no such thing..let's call it what it is, bad coaching..u can't lose games like this, this ain't the first time ppl, also u can't b loosing 2 teams are trash, how many games have they lost 2 under .500 teams, not acceptable..They weren't prepared, how many times we've seen the out of bounds plays where they made mistakes, even back to 2019 championship glories..does anyone forget the Danny Green turnover, every one remembers the Kawli shot in that game..Anyway..I'm fan of coach Nurse, but his rotation late and players handling the ball at the game, had some questions about that..u should of never had Precious late in the game, his a bad free throw shooter..all u had 2 do is hold the ball and get fouled and u win, yes Barnes lost the ball, but he shouldn't of never been put in that situation. It's another bad loss, how many bad losses had this team this year, this was the worse loss ever this year.
I rather lose by 50 points, than this s&$$.
This team is so stupid sometimes, makes dumb, dumb, dumb mistakes. Always.
This team should easily have 6 to 7 extra wins, so stupid. Should be 2nd or 3rd East, u gotta b a real idiot 2 lose these many games..u can say there not mature, common man..u got guys won championship and been through the grind.
Toronto Raptors gotta b dumbest team in the league, just stating facts.
Honestly, think about it.. how the F%## u can lose that game?..LOL..

[iblastoff]

Ppl say fluke, lucky..there is no such thing..let's call it what it is, bad coaching..u can't lose games like this, this ain't the first time ppl, also u can't b loosing 2 teams are trash, how many games have they lost 2 under .500 teams, not acceptable..They weren't prepared, how many times we've seen the out of bounds plays where they made mistakes, even back to 2019 championship glories..does anyone forget the Danny Green turnover, every one remembers the Kawli shot in that game..Anyway..I'm fan of coach Nurse, but his rotation late and players handling the ball at the game, had some questions about that..u should of never had Precious late in the game, his a bad free throw shooter..all u had 2 do is hold the ball and get fouled and u win, yes Barnes lost the ball, but he shouldn't of never been put in that situation. It's another bad loss, how many bad losses had this team this year, this was the worse loss ever this year.
I rather lose by 50 points, than this s&$$.
This team is so stupid sometimes, makes dumb, dumb, dumb mistakes. Always.
This team should easily have 6 to 7 extra wins, so stupid. Should be 2nd or 3rd East, u gotta b a real idiot 2 lose these many games..u can say there not mature, common man..u got guys won championship and been through the grind.
Toronto Raptors gotta b dumbest team in the league, just stating facts.
Honestly, think about it.. how the F%## u can lose that game?..LOL..

lol worse loss ever this year? calm down. raps are 19-11 vs under .500 teams. thats better than the celtics. meanwhile raps are 20-20 vs OVER 500 teams. thats better then the bucks, bulls and cavs.

this team wasnt even supposed to be over .500 this year. peoples expectations are so dumb.

[Shredder]

I was at the game when Lebron went off against the Raptors when Bosh was still playing here and Bosh's girl from the sidelines started trash talking Bron. I heard guys behind me in the crowd say they saw Lebron at Musiq Nightclub the night before. This was an early game, Lebron visibly was hungover.

Being in the crowd, and close enough to Bosh's girl to see her standing up and yelling at him, but not close enough to hear what she was saying or knew who she was (I didn't hear till I got home that it was Bosh's girl)

Lebron went absolutely nuts in the 4th. Playing to the crowd. We were up big until the 4th and lost that game. Ever since then when Lebron plays here, he goes at it at another level. He loves playing in Toronto.

This was one of those nights. He started hitting shots that only a few people in the league can. They clawed back in. When Westbrook hit the side of the backboard late in the 4th, I thought it was over. It should've been. That was a youthful mistake. As good as the Raptors are, we are still very young. That was one of those plays that showed it.

That one stung. But I'm sure Precious and Scottie learned something there. Having those guys in a late game situation like that is quite valuable long term.

[G__Deane]

Q: How many teams haven't lost a few games against bottom feeders? Thius year and every year.
A: Zero

Hard to run the table against even the worst team, can you imagine the bottom 5? I doubt it's ever happened.

[LJ2]

What a game from Scottie! Would have been great to cap it with a win against LeBron because you know media would have been talking about it today. That's the type of talk that impacts the ROY awards. Can't take away anything from his performance regardless.

There's so many possibilities with how year two goes for Scottie and this organization. Does he come back at yet another level, and does the organization start to make this his team?

[Kagemusha]

What a game from Scottie! Would have been great to cap it with a win against LeBron because you know media would have been talking about it today. That's the type of talk that impacts the ROY awards. Can't take away anything from his performance regardless.

There's so many possibilities with how year two goes for Scottie and this organization. Does he come back at yet another level, and does the organization start to make this his team?

If Scottie tightens his handles and improves his 3pt shooting next season,
there's no reason to not hand him the team.
He needs to prove it first, and it should happen organically.

[The Great One]

Well he is a 27% 3 point shooter this year. If Scottie had just had his hands up the whole time he 100% misses that shot.

That's true as well. Watching the replay, Scottie for some reason was defending the drive and not the 3.

[inthepaint]

I'm not gonna be mad at this one. If it's taking a Lebron off balance banked 3 and westbrook desperation heaves to win a game, that's not going to happen very often. Could have gone either way.

What I pay attention to is patterns: Every few games this team forgets how to shoot free throws. Just 65% from the line as a team on this one. Other than Fred and Trent (and oddly enough boucher), I have no confidence the guy on the line will make both shots, or the and-1. Banton, Flynn (two point guards), Young, and Precious all shoot 60% or less from the line. Siakam and Scottie have a better % but they have very wild swings where they make all of them in a game, then next game one of them misses half of them, and that's the game we lose.

If we make the playoffs ( still a big if as long as we're wallowing on the play-in zone), I can see that costing us a key game or two in the post-season. I'd go old school for a bit, start having some 6am FT shooting practices for everyone shooting below 75% from the line on their last 5 games, the others can sleep in. I mean, it's a relatively easy thing to fix (it's just you and the rim), and the impact is huge. You need to trust your shot at the line to have any kind of inside game, otherwise guys will just hack you.

[chris]

On the positive side, Fred is orchestrating the offense less lately, probably related to his knee or whatever is ailing him, and as a result we are seeing a lot more from Barnes and siakam, which is great. Scottie really looking good and if this continues, I think we'll see him pull ahead of Mobley in the rookie race. Precious is playing really well too lately. So much to like about this team right now. But those losses to Charlotte, Atlanta, Detroit and Orlando are really starting to burn now.

ppl keep using language like this and it's driving me crazy. (not directed at you specifically, i'm talking about the general narrative).

he should be the clear frontrunner right now! all the statistics favour him and he's better at almost every basketball skill except finishing at the basket, protecting the basket, and defensive rebounding. team success is about a wash.

even dan devine (who is one of the few national writers who usually pays attention to toronto) was on the void podcast a few days ago and said no one could catch mobley... said he hadn't looked at the numbers recently but was pretty sure that mobley grades out on top across all the advanced stats. well better take a closer look at the numbers dan! if ppl started looking objectively rather than going with the season-long narrative this conversation would have turned a couple weeks ago. scottie's clearly pulled ahead.

[Yuri Gagarin]

Pretty sure the team that finishes with the better record get the ROY

[Yuri Gagarin]

His stats are a net positive overal for the team.
I'd take him over a "clutch" performer like Lillard every time. He affects the game on both ends of the court and also often helps put his team in better situations offensively.

I said i know his stats are good why tell me his overall stats are good? Im talking about late in close games he gets tight. One of two things happens..he tries a spin and almost loses the handle and frantically regains it and passes it off or he gets fouled and hits 1 of 2. For his star salary he should hit 8 points in a row - win games single handedly late in tight games. Occasionally at least