NBA Playoffs! Round 1, Game 6: Toronto Raptors 102 - Washington Wizards 92 (TOR WINS 4-2)

[Scraptor]

What is special about 4th quarters, though? If Jonas sucks at defending the PNR, why is he even starting? Why play him at all if he's that much of a liability?

Inertia, deference to a long-term Raptor, and trade value. If Jonas wasn't drafted here and was on a small contract I'm guessing Casey would start Poeltl or even Ibaka at the 5.

I'm not trying to argue Casey shouldn't be playing JV. I'm just saying after the last two seasons I'm not sure why anyone would expect anything different.

[Superjudge]

Fred is literally dressed in a suit jacket...Never really seen the term "disappeared" used for a guy who's day to day with a seperated shoulder

Is he on the court? no.
He has disappeared. Don't matter how or why my friend. He is no more.

[Superjudge]

Oubre joins the list of players I dislike. He is a bench player who went 3/11 and 1/7 from deep last game and he is talking trash lol

https://www.thescore.com/nba/news/1534681Raptors' Wright not happy with Oubre's assessment of his play on the road

NBA players are idiots when it comes to providing quotes for the opponent to feed off of. This Oubre kid, is an idiot, flat out.

[Superjudge]

I can't believe I'm having to agree with Superjudge lol.

You do realize I have been right like, 98% of the time over the last 14 years right?

Jesus H. Christ

[Superjudge]

It's silly.

The Bebe adjustment in game 1 was not actually a JV move. It was a Poeltl move. Poeltl was garbage in the first two games, so we saw Bebe get a shot with some bench units. In game one, he had the magic working, so Casey rode him throughout the 4th. I had no issue with it. Bebe got another shot with the bench in game 2, and was awful, so didn't get the extra minutes. Tried again in game 3, also awful, so he's probably buried for the foreseeable future now that Poeltl seems to be back in the groove.

It's not about Casey rigidly playing JV no matter what. It's about trying JV (and OG, and all the other best players on the team like DD and KL) no matter what. And pivoting away from that if it's not working. That's not what we've been seeing in this series. At all.

There's also recognizing when someone is a weak spot and when they just happen to be on the floor for a rough stretch. In game 4, the Wizard starters caught fire off some turnovers early in the third Q, hit 5/6 threes (which is crazy even on wide open catch and shoots, which they absolutely weren't), and the Raps saw their lead disappear. So OG and JV hit the bench for the rest of the game. And the team absolutely collapsed down the stretch. Over-reacting to stuff like that and losing sight of the bigger picture success guys are having is a big mistake.

Also, JV should definitely be playing against small ball lineups. Very few teams have enough shooting to really punish you with a 5-out lineup without sacrificing way too much elsewhere. When it's LeBron's true 5-out lineup, sure, that's an ideal case for some small ball matching up. But JV even had success hiding on a guy like Jeff Green against the Cavs. But the Wizards? If they want to beat us on Morris threes, yeah, go ahead. Heck, we saw that last night as well - the Wizards eventually bailed on Gortat in an attempt to get JV off the court, Casey played him anyway, and we continued to bury the Wiz.

The Wizards were attacking JV time and again in the PnR like we always see. Like they always do. And he's a team best +/- so far. That suggests that the Wizards attacking JV in the PnR is advantageous not to the Wizards but to the Raptors.

I hate to do it, but I have to do it. Dan, you're a smart guy, but I'm sorry bud, the Raptors have a fantastic coaching staff, they don't sit players because they don't like them, or because they are stupid, or stubborn. They have their entire careers riding on success.

You guys are in this Forum stuff thick.... sometimes though, you are chasing down mirages.

[Superjudge]

I can tell you this. By looking at the players on this list, save Lowry, if you tink that JV is that amazing, then you have to start calling the rest of these stiffs MVP candidates as well.

Oh but stats. Messageboarders LOVE them stats.

#1 team in the East, CONSTANT improvements since Casey came to Toronto. The Raptors Forum nerds still want him fired, cuz they just fucking know better...cuz stats.

SMH at you dweebs. #notevenconsideringsorry

[rocwell]

I can tell you this. By looking at the players on this list, save Lowry, if you tink that JV is that amazing, then you have to start calling the rest of these stiffs MVP candidates as well.

Oh but stats. Messageboarders LOVE them stats.

#1 team in the East, CONSTANT improvements since Casey came to Toronto. The Raptors Forum nerds still want him fired, cuz they just fucking know better...cuz stats.

SMH at you dweebs. #notevenconsideringsorry

[GOLDBLUM]

You do realize I have been right like, 98% of the time over the last 14 years right?

Jesus H. Christ

I think you've been right literally zero percent of the time in this series..
(please don't predict a win Friday...)

I can tell you this. By looking at the players on this list, save Lowry, if you tink that JV is that amazing, then you have to start calling the rest of these stiffs MVP candidates as well.

Oh but stats. Messageboarders LOVE them stats.

#1 team in the East, CONSTANT improvements since Casey came to Toronto. The Raptors Forum nerds still want him fired, cuz they just fucking know better...cuz stats.

SMH at you dweebs. #notevenconsideringsorry

Nobody is saying those players are MVP's. However they're indisputably huge difference-makers in their series right now. And you need those difference-makers come playoff time.

I also don't think most of us (maybe a few extremes) are at all talking about firing Casey, (??)
I certainly don't wish for that to happen. I would, however, like him to make the obvious necessary adjustments, that are yes, sometimes evidenced statistically. Thankfully, he pretty fully did that last game. There are other things he probably could've tried, that many of us are discussing, that might have made this series less close than it currently is. (I have absolute confidence that we come out of this series nevertheless.)

Casey has done an amazing job this year. Like Kyle and Demar though, he's not 100% infallible, by any stretch, and he should be held accountable when he's not doing his very best to take this team towards its ultimate goal.

[Mitch P]

Two late night pre game six insomniac comments. Delon Wright just seems like the nicest guy in the world. Why on earth would Oubre decide to single him out for a public insult? I think Delon will respond well. Re JV. A very small n....but the Raptors only lost one game all year when he played 30 minutes or more. That was the Milwaukee game when JV tied it at the buzzer and they lost in overtime. In fact they've very seldom lost when he played more than 25 minutes and have a poor record when he didn't play at all or was under 15. I think it's naive to think that NBA coaches don't have favourites/scapegoats that are based on things other than logic and numbers.

[tDotted]

I can tell you this. By looking at the players on this list, save Lowry, if you tink that JV is that amazing, then you have to start calling the rest of these stiffs MVP candidates as well.

Oh but stats. Messageboarders LOVE them stats.

#1 team in the East, CONSTANT improvements since Casey came to Toronto. The Raptors Forum nerds still want him fired, cuz they just fucking know better...cuz stats.

SMH at you dweebs. #notevenconsideringsorry

Yeah as if these "stat nerds" haven't been right before

[Cody73]

I said this would end in 6..... hope the Raps prove me right!

[G__Deane]

I said this would end in 6..... hope the Raps prove me right!

Raps in 5 and a half .... it's over by half time
Just kidding, let's hope for a great game, no ref interference and a Raptor W

[rocwell]

[Nilanka]

Porter questionable for tonight (not that it matters because he's the worst max contract in the history of sports). But might mean we see more of that turd, Oubre.

[DanH]

I hate to do it, but I have to do it. Dan, you're a smart guy, but I'm sorry bud, the Raptors have a fantastic coaching staff, they don't sit players because they don't like them, or because they are stupid, or stubborn. They have their entire careers riding on success.

You guys are in this Forum stuff thick.... sometimes though, you are chasing down mirages.

Did I say anything about the Raptors not having a fantastic coaching staff? Or about them sitting players because they don't like them? Or about Casey being stupid or stubborn? Or that they don't have their careers riding on their success?

Seems kind of like I didn't say any of that and you are chasing your own mirages.

Casey can be wrong without being any of those things you listed. My stance is he is wrong in his deployment of lineups in this series, in spite of I'm sure his best efforts and judgment. That's all. No bigger sweeping statements that seem to send you into a tizzy.