Game #40 Raptors @ Spurs

[Demographic Shift]

True. But this team is so predictable. And they had no idea what to do everytime Kawhi gets double teamed.

Its not looking pretty now when we are down our lead guard and a very functional big man in close to the basket who also sets really really good screens ....

Still... for all intents and purposes we are at the half way point now... and the raps ability to hit from 3 is pretty suspect... its been this way for at least 6 weeks. Month to the trade deadline ... if no one of Fred / OG / Miles seriously steps up on a consistent basis... Ujiri has to go shopping ... Our shooting isn't league average from the outside... it has to be a lot better every night than its been ...

[The Great One]

Its not looking pretty now when we are down our lead guard and a very functional big man in close to the basket who also sets really really good screens ....

Still... for all intents and purposes we are at the half way point now... and the raps ability to hit from 3 is pretty suspect... its been this way for at least 6 weeks. Month to the trade deadline ... if no one of Fred / OG / Miles seriously steps up on a consistent basis... Ujiri has to go shopping ... Our shooting isn't league average from the outside... it has to be a lot better every night than its been ...

You can't rely on OG and Miles and Fred and Wright to make shots. Ujiri needs to go shopping and add some 3pt shooting to this team.

[DerozansSpurs]

You can't rely on OG and Miles and Fred and Wright to make shots. Ujiri needs to go shopping and add some 3pt shooting to this team.

Good luck finding upgrades at this point, honestly. Teams are hoarding away the majority of talent that is actually worth trading away for, and even if they do make those players available, good luck to Masai and the Raptors organization since they don't have any real assets beyond the ones that are critical to this team's success.

[sanyo]

Good luck finding upgrades at this point, honestly. Teams are hoarding away the majority of talent that is actually worth trading away for, and even if they do make those players available, good luck to Masai and the Raptors organization since they don't have any real assets beyond the ones that are critical to this team's success.

Yep... Masai really went all in - he has nothing of value (except picks which you dont want to become the Brooklyn Nets) and we are stuck with scrubs like Miles, FVV and Powell who will drain close to $30 mil in salary next year.

Our whole org is basically all on Kawhi's shoulders... if he leaves next year we are fucked and pretty much got a decade of rebuilding to start...

[The Claw Reborn]

The 1st quarter dictated the outcome of the game.

It was a 38 vs 19 shellacking. Fred IMO never controlled the pace of the game. We had a floor corporal instead of a floor general. Nurse gave him free reign and he did not answer the call. He should be ashame that his team relied on him to manage the offense. He came out in the 3rd with the same lackluster performance.

Very disappointing, maybe not...as I am expecting too much from someone most likely a perennial back up PG

[DerozansSpurs]

Yep... Masai really went all in - he has nothing of value (except picks which you dont want to become the Brooklyn Nets) and we are stuck with scrubs like Miles, FVV and Powell who will drain close to $30 mil in salary next year.

Our whole org is basically all on Kawhi's shoulders... if he leaves next year we are fucked and pretty much got a decade of rebuilding to start...

The weird part was that Masai had nothing of value before the Kawhi Leonard trade anyways, but somehow managed to pawn off DeMar DeRozan onto the Spurs.

Rebuilding is going to suck, but it's going to be better than watching DeRozan take us precisely nowhere. (Let's see what Siakam can truly become - if he develops a functional mid-range game with some useful moves to create shots outside the paint, he's an All-Star for sure. I never thought I would ever say that...)

[sanyo]

Man what a game with HOU and GS -- Harden is on another level man.

Not like the shitty lame brain Raps effort over SA that has America laughing at us again

[GOLDBLUM]

Man what a game with HOU and GS -- Harden is on another level man.

Not like the shitty lame brain Raps effort over SA that has America laughing at us again

Yeah - that game was astonishing. Just came in from the fourth quarter onwards. Harden is absolutely ridiculous. That shot to win?? After being jobbed on the bs out of bounds play by Durant? Incredible.

That game and ours were POLAR opposites. In theirs, everybody was hitting every shot possible, like superheroes or Demi-gods. Conversely, ours made you wonder how it could be possible that grown men who are paid millions of dollars to play a sport could possibly miss every shot they took, finding remarkable ways to look like inept gradeschoolers, exhibiting little to no will to overcome adversity, moment, after moment, after moment.

I’m taking it well.

Onwards and upwards.

[Truth Teller]

I don't think Kevin Durant could've been more out of bounds on the 2nd last possession.

[Truth Teller]

Man what a game with HOU and GS -- Harden is on another level man.

Not like the shitty lame brain Raps effort over SA that has America laughing at us again

The whole world laughs at them... so you tell me if we should care. Also Americans are the most toxic people on the internet, so should we really hold what they say in any regard - I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

[Shaolin Fantastic]

We're really quite screwed when Kawhi leaves (yes "when" not "if"). We have one guy (maybe 1.5) who looks like he can be a starter on a championship team long-term and that's Pascal (OG being the 50% uncertainty). Everyone else is either going to age out (Ibaka, Lowry, Green), isn't a starter in the modern game (JV) or isn't good enough (the rest).

EDIT: Just want to add that I still think the Kawhi trade was an excellent trade, wanted it to happen before we did it and would do it again if we could. We were in an even more hopeless situation with DeMar. But we really still don't seem to have enough to get to the top, and I think Kawhi will see that come the summer.

[inthepaint]

Raptors' players three-point shooting:

Kyle Lowry: 40% last year, 33% this year

Danny Green: 36% last year, 40% this year

Kawhi Leonard: 38% in 16-17, 36% this year

Pascal Siakam: 22% last year, 35% this year

Serge Ibaka: 36% last year, 29% this year

Fred VanVleet: 41% last year, 36% this year

Delon Wright: 37% last year, 32% this year

Norman Powell: 29% last year, 33% this year

CJ Miles: 36% last year, 27% this year

OG Anunoby: 37% last year, 34% this year

Jonas Valanciunas: 40% last year, 30% this year


Team Overall: 36% last year (18th), 34% this year (24th)


That's three players (Green, Siakam and Powell) who have improved so far this year, while everyone else has regressed, some significantly so. This doesn't do much besides confirm the obvious eye test, but I wanted to check out the full numbers...for myself as much as anyone else

Yeah I remember all the talk/gloating about how the Spurs would be screwed with no spacing & 3pt shot after being "stuck" with DD, LMA and Rudy Gay, as well as how how greatly our 3pt shot would improve after the trade. Then last night happened.

We got thoroughly shown it was all a theoretical advantage based on individual players numbers, and that doesn't always translate on the court, the games need to be played. You need chemistry and a good coach to put it all together, and Nurse was outcoached by pop by a wide margin

[GOLDBLUM]

A loss as deflating as that has the potential to make a poster feel like



I hope we can somehow miraculously avoid that feeling come playoff time.

On some level, I'm really happy for both Casey and Demar. They're great human beings and did great things for this franchise. They're worthy of these... regular season victories. That's where their greatest victories have always come, and so it seemed, the only place they ever would.

I also think Masai is a great human being, along with everybody on our squad and throughout our fanbase. We've been so starved for success that we hardly understand anything other than despair after all these years. Masai made the tough, perhaps unpopular decision (off of this board, at least) in the hopes of elevating us to new levels. It was the right decision, and you make it 100 times out of 100, tough as it may be.

Now that those we've had to jettison have had their victories, perhaps they can feel some taste of vindication, peace or satisfaction. I hope that may be true for us when it finally really matters, come May and June.

There was a moment in the game tonight where I thought, "Is this the only feeling I'll ever know as a Raptors fan?"

Please let that not be so.

Eyes steadfastly on the prize.

Go Raps.

[GOLDBLUM]

Yeah I remember all the talk/gloating about how the Spurs would be screwed with no spacing & 3pt shot after being "stuck" with DD, LMA and Rudy Gay, as well as how how greatly our 3pt shot would improve after the trade. Then last night happened.

Unbelievable, right?? They're first in the league in 3pt%!!! The only team at 40%!
How has this happened. lmao

[gk17]

I actually think Kawhi is gonna make him cry tonight.

Demar "Yeah well we would have won if we had Lebron.... errrrr.... I mean Kawhi on our team....."

You're right. I think I sighted tears of laughter