This team isn't going to the finals

[Shaolin Fantastic]

Sorry guys but I've come out of the dream world that a few of us have been in for a while. There's a few reasons, but we're not going to make it the finals.

1.) Lowry/DD playoff fraudulence will rear its ugly head again
2.) Our most reliable pure shooter is a known playoff choker. Miles is a career 26.5% from 3 in the playoffs and has never shot higher than 33%
3.) Our bench prowess won't matter much in the playoffs. Other teams ramp up minutes for their starters so we don't get those opportunities to feed on shitty lineups from teams that lack depth
4.) In the playoffs teams actually play up against us. During the season the Raptors aren't a game that any team has circled on their calendar and it seems like we often don't get teams' best efforts (think of this as the opposite of the Warriors effect where everyone is trying their hardest to beat them on any given night).
5.) I don't trust Casey to make adjustments quickly enough and we'll get punished for it.

I'm certain we're not going to make it to the finals and tbh depending on how things shake up we might not even get to the ECF either. I could see Philly potentially knocking us out if we draw them because of how high ceiling they are with two players who are better than anyone on our team. DeMar/Kyle are scared of LeBron and we have no chance against the Cavs. If we play the Celtics and we can't put games away early, Stevens will out-coach him down the stretch to get them the win (plus Kyrie is more capable of making those late game plays than our two stars are).

Just wanna prep you guys for a very disappointing playoffs. I've managed to kind of wake up and realize that this team isn't actually that good and is your classic regular season fraud team. Kind of like Masai's Nuggets when they went 57-25 in his last year.

[Raptor Jesus]

You mad scared.

you know you just watch right, like Embid and LBJ don't dunk on you ....

[iblastoff]

jesus can we just delete dumb posts like these?

[GOLDBLUM]

Reverse jinx thread. I like it.

Meow.

Suck it Shao.

[DanH]

Miles is our most reliable pure shooter? I'd peg Lowry, probably FVV above him for consistency. Miles is another Ross, runs hot and cold.

Still worried about the Celtics huh? That's all we need to know about the validity of your concerns.

I've actually viewed the playing up factor very differently. I think we've been getting a lot of teams' best shots since we bypassed the Celts.

I do like the attempt at a jinx thread. But this team is really good, they don't need it. Just need to start playing their game again.

[GLF]

Miles is our most reliable pure shooter? I'd peg Lowry, probably FVV above him for consistency. Miles is another Ross, runs hot and cold.

Still worried about the Celtics huh? That's all we need to know about the validity of your concerns.

I've actually viewed the playing up factor very differently. I think we've been getting a lot of teams' best shots since we bypassed the Celts.

I do like the attempt at a jinx thread. But this team is really good, they don't need it. Just need to start playing their game again.

What do you think has caused the slippage Dan? The lack of defence lately and Casey going back to some of his old habits with lineups and lack of adjustments is a little concerning. Also Serge just looking horrible more often than not is also worrisome. Do you really think it's just fatigue and the tough schedule in terms of a lack of days off?

[KeonClark]

Um awesome thank you so much for making this post?

[MixxAOR]

Blowing big leads seems to indicate that they run out of gas and lose focus. We're getting some rest and we have games where we can see what this team can do. I was hoping we would rest guys but now it seems we need to get the mojo back and go into the playoffs with some confidence.

[Sonny]

You still have to be concern though. They've now lost 3 of 5. Their 2 wins were against ORL and Brooklyn. Both wins were ugly wins too.

Their biggest is issue is team defence, DeRozan's play and Ibaka's play. Their D is atrocious - plain and simple. DeRozan on the other hand just looks disinterested specially against bad teams. And Ibaka is just bad.

Does DeRozan have a switch that he can just turn on once the playoffs starts? he looked atrocious out there.

[tDotted]

You've finally come back full circle.. nice

[Mitch P]

During the past month I would say these players have been worse than before. Derozan, Ibaka, Poeltl, Miles. These have been about the same; JV, Wright, Van Vleet, OG, Norm. These have been better: Siakam and Lowry. Of course Derozan and Ibaka play big minutes and big fourth quarter minutes so have a huge impact on wins and losses. The coaches must see what's going on and there might be a reason for the current insistence on playing "small ball" when it isn't working and playing Ibaka when he's going Carroll/Turkaglu on us. Casey seemed to be getting more imaginative and flexible just a few weeks ago. If he can be that way again we have a potentially really good team and if things go right (as they must for any team) they could indeed go to the final.

[sanyo]

You still have to be concern though. They've now lost 3 of 5. Their 2 wins were against ORL and Brooklyn. Both wins were ugly wins too.

Their biggest is issue is team defence, DeRozan's play and Ibaka's play. Their D is atrocious - plain and simple. DeRozan on the other hand just looks disinterested specially against bad teams. And Ibaka is just bad.

Does DeRozan have a switch that he can just turn on once the playoffs starts? he looked atrocious out there.

They do look off but hey OKC and CLE they were down to the wire.

The big concern is they had leads with CLE and Clips and lost them both... to me they arent closing out games clean.

The big thing I see is the ball movement isnt as sharp as it was before. Lots more ISOs lately and Im not liking that, especially from Demar. He's forcing it like back last year... not sure what's on his mind but he's clearly distracted from something in his personal life and it's effecting his play right now.

[Scraptor]

Sorry guys but I've come out of the dream world that a few of us have been in for a while. There's a few reasons, but we're not going to make it the finals.

1.) Lowry/DD playoff fraudulence will rear its ugly head again
2.) Our most reliable pure shooter is a known playoff choker. Miles is a career 26.5% from 3 in the playoffs and has never shot higher than 33%
3.) Our bench prowess won't matter much in the playoffs. Other teams ramp up minutes for their starters so we don't get those opportunities to feed on shitty lineups from teams that lack depth
4.) In the playoffs teams actually play up against us. During the season the Raptors aren't a game that any team has circled on their calendar and it seems like we often don't get teams' best efforts (think of this as the opposite of the Warriors effect where everyone is trying their hardest to beat them on any given night).
5.) I don't trust Casey to make adjustments quickly enough and we'll get punished for it.

I'm certain we're not going to make it to the finals and tbh depending on how things shake up we might not even get to the ECF either. I could see Philly potentially knocking us out if we draw them because of how high ceiling they are with two players who are better than anyone on our team. DeMar/Kyle are scared of LeBron and we have no chance against the Cavs. If we play the Celtics and we can't put games away early, Stevens will out-coach him down the stretch to get them the win (plus Kyrie is more capable of making those late game plays than our two stars are).

Just wanna prep you guys for a very disappointing playoffs. I've managed to kind of wake up and realize that this team isn't actually that good and is your classic regular season fraud team. Kind of like Masai's Nuggets when they went 57-25 in his last year.

You just want to be able to say I told you so.

There's really no new insight here. I think we have about a 25% chance at making the Finals, but there's no point arguing about it now.

Only the playoffs themselves can answer the big-picture questions about this team now.

[The Great One]

You still have to be concern though. They've now lost 3 of 5. Their 2 wins were against ORL and Brooklyn. Both wins were ugly wins too.

Their biggest is issue is team defence, DeRozan's play and Ibaka's play. Their D is atrocious - plain and simple. DeRozan on the other hand just looks disinterested specially against bad teams. And Ibaka is just bad.

Does DeRozan have a switch that he can just turn on once the playoffs starts? he looked atrocious out there.

To me the biggest issue is DeRozan's play. He's the star. They need him to play at a high level every game.

When you take a day off against bad teams, you develop a habit. And i believe that's what's going on right now.

[sanyo]

Just a week ago before OKC we were on top of the world and now... I mean it's amazing how quick things can turn... but not to worry guys we could be GS right now with our 4 top guys out and being blown out. Maybe not the same but the playoffs are around the corner and you hope some of those guys will be healthy come playoff time. Curry is already confirmed out for the 1st round, wouldnt surprise me if he's gone for most, if not all of the playoffs.