Game 18: Toronto Raptors @ Orlando Magic - Tuesday, November 20th 7pm ET, SN1

[Demographic Shift]

I'd like to see more Kawhi catch & shoot play calls as a first or second option - especially corner 3's. Seem to recall Kawhi doing more of that with the Spurs during his career seasons. It's an easy way to get him more integrated into the offense beyond his current ball-stopping ways.

They looked pretty cohesive to start the season... recently though they look somewhat hesitant and stilted out of nowhere as the games unfold. Did you catch that pass the ball around the perimeter till the 24 second clock expires possession in the thrid Q? That must have made Nurse reach for the Zantac.

Am with ya... think a mix of cuts to the basket and some straight up catch and shoot threes would help. Still like the possessions when Leonard gets a mismatch and the floor clears to allow him to exploit it.

I think he is still getting his feet under him after missing pretty much an entire year...Its not like Leonard to dribble the ball off his foot or make forced and dopey passes as the possession winds down. I do think the time for precaution is winding down.... Think Leonard might easily agree to suiting up and playing tonight and balance that off by putting him on a minutes restriction. ...

[Superjudge]

In fairness... it's only really Claw Reborn, Superjudge and TRex... oh pardon me, FUUUUUUUUURY, who are overtly mad.

And they live every second of their lives mad.... sooooo......

Don't type my name, or say it, or, really, don't think it.


Now make me a sandwich before something happens to you!

[Nilanka]

I thought you changed your name to fury? Does nilanka know you took his avatar too?

Yes, he is aware.

Go Bulls, and fuck the Leafs.

[KeonClark]

I admittedly haven't paid any attention to Orlando, and was judging based solely on 1 game

I thought you changed your name to fury? Does nilanka know you took his avatar too?

[Nilanka]

Hes actually been having a good season down there

I admittedly haven't paid any attention to Orlando, and was judging based solely on 1 game

[MixxAOR]

Need to give Orlando some credit. Their offense isn't there, but they play really hard on defense and have great size, length and athleticism. I'm really impressed with Kawhi's footwork being able to shake Gordon through the game. If that was Demar I don't think he would have had any answers.

A pretty ugly second half, but we grinded it out. Kawhi has to get a lot better finding his teammates when they double him and our 3pt shooters have to be ready to make teams pay for doubling Kawhi.

Kawhi needs to pass sooner when double team comes but that's all feel that should come back. He did only play 9 games last year

[LJ2]

Need to give Orlando some credit. Their offense isn't there, but they play really hard on defense and have great size, length and athleticism. I'm really impressed with Kawhi's footwork being able to shake Gordon through the game. If that was Demar I don't think he would have had any answers.

A pretty ugly second half, but we grinded it out. Kawhi has to get a lot better finding his teammates when they double him and our 3pt shooters have to be ready to make teams pay for doubling Kawhi.

[KeonClark]

Wonder if Orlando's regretting that trade now, lol. Ross looks terrible.

Hes actually been having a good season down there

[Nilanka]

Already said in the last game thread he could potentially be a candidate for most improved of the year.

Great D... i miss his stretch where he was hitting virtually every shot -- was like 27 of 30 or something at one point? i miss those days (last week).

Wonder if Orlando's regretting that trade now, lol. Ross looks terrible.

[Nilanka]

FWIW, Ibaka takes a few too many mid range shots for my liking. But I can live with them in the pick-and-pop variety. He's usually wide open. And he's shooting 55% from 10 feet to the 3 pt line so far this season. But I suspect that percentage will drop as the season goes on.

[Puffer]

These magic have the same record as the celtics lol

Wait, we won a championship with Carter?

We need our guys who can actually hit threes at a decent clip to hit threes. Too many guys who can't hit threes at a decent clip being told (allowed) to hoist up threes because it's the thing to do. Taking threes at a great rate is not something that gets dramatically better just by taking a ton of them .... or everybody would be a great 3 point shooter ....

This issue is addressed on the front page in "Morning Coffee" where poor shooters taking threes instead of mid-range twos is shown to be a better option. Only letting your best shooters take midrange shots (Kawhi, Green, Ibaka), keeps the teams shooting percentage higher. The premium for making a three means if you can hit them at a 30% rate, it's like hitting your midrange shots at a 45% clip. Read the article.

[DanH]

I'd like to see more Kawhi catch & shoot play calls as a first or second option - especially corner 3's. Seem to recall Kawhi doing more of that with the Spurs during his career seasons. It's an easy way to get him more integrated into the offense beyond his current ball-stopping ways.

I think we'll see more of that as the season goes on. The emphasis now seems to be getting Kawhi used to creating offence with these teammates, learning how the spacing will feel, where guys will be and when they will cut, how much space he'll get off certain screen actions. Because in the playoffs there will be times when the offence has to be him making stuff happen.

Now, I could be wrong and we never see the team shift away from this, but I'm not worried yet.

[golden]

In the 12 and 1 run to open the season the raps were shooting 3s around 35%....

Since then they have been in the mid to high 20s...and have scuffled...

It’s a make or miss league

I'd like to see more Kawhi catch & shoot play calls as a first or second option - especially corner 3's. Seem to recall Kawhi doing more of that with the Spurs during his career seasons. It's an easy way to get him more integrated into the offense beyond his current ball-stopping ways.

[DanH]

Was really nice to see some JV-Serge action in this one. That's a look that simply works against big opposition. I'd like to see more of it going forward especially when we are short on the wing/at forward.

[DanH]

Danny said in the postgame interview with Leo, “I obviously wasn’t the first option....”

I think there are two ways to interpret "first option." There's the preferred outcome of the set - the shot you most want the set to generate. Danny was not that.

There's also the first shot that could present itself in chronological order of the set. Danny was that. First pass option is Danny on the curl, which it turns out was open, so they took it. Expectation would be that many defences will take that away, leaving other options open (Serge popping up top, which could pull the inbounds defender because they've sold out on Danny's curl, which leaves Lowry wide open for three on the second pass after he comes inbounds - which is probably the ideal "first option" for the set - alternatively, if Kawhi's man rotates to Serge up top instead you'd find Kawhi for an open jumper on the 2nd pass, another good "top option" end result). In this case the set didn't need to go that deep, got a moderately open short jumper very similar to the one that Casey generated at the end of the Detroit game.