Game #50: Toronto Raptors 110 - Portland Trail Blazers 103

[Barolt]

Blunt and to the point. Agree whole-heartedly.

I'm in it to watch them win a championship and have been since day 1, but I enjoy every single win throughout the regular season as well.

I enjoy the wins, and I also enjoy the stats and analysis. For me, looking at how we won, and how it forecasts going forward is fun too.

[Chr1s1anL]

Omg thank you. I semi miss the days when we were a shitty team and a win was a good thing.

I think for the most part we played really well. We ran into a Portland team that was coming at us hard and we pulled through. Raptors of old would have definitely crumbled, but we managed to do enough to hold onto this win (despite some tense moments near the end).

We have a very good team and we're only gonna get better when DC is back and healthy.

This...it's not easy to consistently won games in this league. Ask teams like Bucks and Wiz about that.

[slaw]

Hard to ask for much more on the road. Get ahead. Weather the home team runs. Close it out. I thought Portland played really well. Toronto is just a very tough team. Lowry and Derozan were awesome. JV was great. Thought Ross played his most complete game of the year. Excellent win.

[GLF]

Hard to ask for much more on the road. Get ahead. Weather the home team runs. Close it out. I thought Portland played really well. Toronto is just a very tough team. Lowry and Derozan were awesome. JV was great. Thought Ross played his most complete game of the year. Excellent win.

Completely agree. Other than the last 3 mins or so we were great. Could have played better D looking at the boxscore but watching the game they really gave a lot of effort on the defensive end. They just have a lot of guys that can shoot and henderson become Kobe against us every single time lol. Portland was definitely playing hard and you can tell they wanted this game. So for us to come out strong and keep the lead the whole game is big. Especially since they've been playing really well as of late and Carroll and JJ are out. Very impressed with Demar just for the simple fact that he never stopped attacking. He missed maybe 2-3 layups that should have been fouls but weren't called. And obviously nothing needs to be said about how well Kyle played today minus the 7 turnovers. Oh and TRoss has really elevated his game. Showing that he's not just a 3 point shooter anymore. Hitting that jump shot very consistently these days.

[slaw]

Funny thing about Ross. Last 2 games Powell has been after it defensively and all of a sudden Ross is energized on that end of the floor and getting up on his man playing aggressive and physical. Weird how that works.

[A.I]

Funny thing about Ross. Last 2 games Powell has been after it defensively and all of a sudden Ross is energized on that end of the floor and getting up on his man playing aggressive and physical. Weird how that works.

Hey when a rookie gets the starting spot over you, you gotta play harder.

[Carlos Rogers]

Maybe they should start Ross and bring Powell off the bench. Less pressure for Powell, Ross has started before as well.

[CalgaryRapsFan]

Aside from the usual stretch of falling back into the old bad habits of hero ball, this team is looking good. They have more experience, more confidence, more talent, more depth and more "it" than the past few years, no doubt about it. They just need to remember to always pass, trust their teammates, and look for the best shot (not force their own shot). If they do that for 48 minutes, they could be scary come playoff time.

I'm not liking the Joseph-Lowry-DeRozan lineups, especially with Biyombo and gun-shy Patterson. Playing 4-on-5 offensively, with only Lowry for floor spacing, puts far too much pressure on the 3 guards to create for themselves. Defenses double-team the ball handler and pack the pain, which all combines to cause those bad hero-ball stretches.

Overall a good, character building win. Given how last year's loss in Portland really seemed to deflate the team, hopefully this win can help push them into that next level. PS: the refs were atrocious, as they always seem to be in Portland.

[MACK11]

Ross has been consistently good for like 2 months. I don't think this a hot streak anymore

[KHD]

Toronto is a good team, winning games.

if you have an issue with that, you're straight up fucked.

Learn what sports are.

Please, Oh Superior Judge, teach me what sports are.

I obviously don't know since I don't enjoy watching the team play an aesthetically displeasing style that very often leads to blown leads.

Teach me the ways of the force(d shots) so I can enjoy the ISO-jumpshits of Demar Derozan and Kyle Lowry as we make a tight game out of a 15 point lead.

...give me a fucking break.

[Nilanka]

I didn't have the energy to stay up late for this one, but breathed a sigh of release when I checked the score this morning. Big win.

And I especially love that Lowry and DeRozan BOTH having good games is now the norm. No more taking turns. These guys have learned how to play together.

[Mess]

Aside from the usual stretch of falling back into the old bad habits of hero ball, this team is looking good. They have more experience, more confidence, more talent, more depth and more "it" than the past few years, no doubt about it. They just need to remember to always pass, trust their teammates, and look for the best shot (not force their own shot). If they do that for 48 minutes, they could be scary come playoff time.

I'm not liking the Joseph-Lowry-DeRozan lineups, especially with Biyombo and gun-shy Patterson. Playing 4-on-5 offensively, with only Lowry for floor spacing, puts far too much pressure on the 3 guards to create for themselves. Defenses double-team the ball handler and pack the pain, which all combines to cause those bad hero-ball stretches.

Overall a good, character building win. Given how last year's loss in Portland really seemed to deflate the team, hopefully this win can help push them into that next level. PS: the refs were atrocious, as they always seem to be in Portland.

Agree with this but have some points/venting to add.

Derozan took a bunch of shots in a row - mostly aggressive drives so it's hard to fault him too much - but he wasn't looking to pass at all at the end of the third.

Ross was pissed/disappointed when he was taken out with 6 min to go in the 4th. Understandable, he had just made a couple nice shots. Would have liked if Casey had kept him in but he loves that KL/CoJo backcourt so much.

PP is so mobile that when he closes out he runs 8 feet past the shooter. That was frustrating. The only shots Leonard hit in the 2nd half were wide open foul line jumpers because PP ran by him - and he did the same to Crabbe in the corner (though that may have been BB).

Speaking of Leonard, when Portland was trying to catch up late in the 4th, I would have preferred the Raptors had hedged hard or trapped Lillard instead of dropping back to give him a running start to attack. Much less dangerous to leave Leonard open in my opinion. But I suppose you want to keep things constant and simple in the regular season or something...

Speaking of trapping, the one time our guard gets trapped and he has to burn a time out. You'd think after it happened so often in the playoffs and even a couple times this season that they would teach the players what to do. Maybe the coaches did and JV forgot or didn't recognize it, but I hope that's an emphasis going forward towards the playoffs. Not something they throw together after Game 1 of a series.

Lastly, man, it's going to be so painful to watch these guys try to hold on to a lead in the playoffs. Stall to run down the clock into a single pick and roll and hope that creates a good shot. And I'd say mostly it doesn't but Kyle and DD and even CoJo have the ability to make some tough shots to bail them out. It has worked but I can't see how you can depend on that. It's torture.

[Barolt]

Hey when a rookie gets the starting spot over you, you gotta play harder.

Are we now pretending that Powell starting over Ross has anything to do with Ross?

It's Casey being Casey, nothing more.

[psrs1]

At least it looks like they learned from blowing a big lead last year @ Portland where DC went ISO HEAVY in 3rd quarter. For me that game early Jan 2015 was the beginning of their downfall.

[CNinja26]

At least it looks like they learned from blowing a big lead last year @ Portland where DC went ISO HEAVY in 3rd quarter. For me that game early Jan 2015 was the beginning of their downfall.

It absolutely was. That game still haunts me. One thing I can take away from the win last night was that, more than getting the win, our team rose to the challenge. To me last night was like a playoff game: charged competition, crazy environment, refs swallowing the whistle. And our guys counter-punched every punch and showed tremendous resolve, grit and, most importantly, they delivered under the pressure. That's a fucking awesome sign!