Raps @ Knicks

[GLF]

bucks losing is great, but kinda points to an issue with the raptors.

with giannis, bucks soar because he's an integral part of the offense. take him out and theres problems.

why doesnt this happen with the raptors? leonard doesnt seem to have any effect on the raptors offense when he doesn't play. we are still scoring and winning just fine. when he does play, it looks like its the raptors + kawhi playing. not one singular team.
i'm not sure this bodes well come playoff time when everyone has to be locked in with each other.

I agree. Kawhi still looks like he's playing a completely different game from the rest of the team and all this sitting out is not going to help. I think lack of shooting and cohesion is going to be our downfall come playoff time. I can just see it now. Especially on nights like tonight where Kawhi plays like shit we are screwed. It only doesn't look as bad when Kawhi is actually playing well because then he score regardless. But we only have very little time to fix this and needs to be fixed lol

[inthepaint]

Does anyone have a breakdown of the teams we actually beat without Kawhi? Beating the scrubs means nothing to me. If anything, the style with Kawhi going 1v1 works better in the playoffs. The main issue was that our 2 all-stars in the past did not perform in the playoffs when things became a breakdown of their closer vs our closer.

Kawhi hasn't been out for many games against better opponents. We beat GSW and the Pacers without him. Lost to Bucks and Philly without him. There's not a big enough sample to see any pattern imo, but the sense I get is that we have been able to play well and have had a good season so far with both him and Kyle in-and-out of the lineup. If we can get everyone healthy and integrated this will be a solid playoff team.

[GLF]

Kawhi hasn't been out for many games against better opponents. We beat GSW and the Pacers without him. Lost to Bucks and Philly without him. There's not a big enough sample to see any pattern imo, but the sense I get is that we have been able to play well and have had a good season so far with both him and Kyle in-and-out of the lineup. If we can get everyone healthy and integrated this will be a solid playoff team.

I truly believe if we fuck up this year in the playoffs it's on Nurse. He needs to be better. ISOing Kawhi with no movement or screens isn't gonna work. Playing Serge more than Gasol isn't gonna work. Playing Gasol exactly like JV isn't gonna work. Letting Fred continuously run the team when you have Gasol, Kawhi, Kyle or Pascal on the floor isn't gonna work. Not running any actual plays ever isn't gonna work. The only negative I can see happening that would just be on the team is the bad shooting. Hopefully Miller and Ben help some of that. But yea we should be a very good playoff team. If we aren't it will be a huge disappointment.

[inthepaint]

bucks losing is great, but kinda points to an issue with the raptors.

with giannis, bucks soar because he's an integral part of the offense. take him out and theres problems.

why doesnt this happen with the raptors? leonard doesnt seem to have any effect on the raptors offense when he doesn't play. we are still scoring and winning just fine. when he does play, it looks like its the raptors + kawhi playing. not one singular team.
i'm not sure this bodes well come playoff time when everyone has to be locked in with each other.

Kawhi had the most assists on the team tonight. He also brings cohesion on the defensive end. He's got good chemistry with Siakam, albeit mostly in transition. He's also been able to find Green open after drawing defenders towards him since the beginning of the year. Shown flashes of finding Lowry on the perimeter, and would have more dimes counted if Lowry was actually knocking down the shot more often. The one thing he doesn't do much is work the pick n'roll with centres, but that's the point guard job, he's a wing. The one thing I'd like to see more is a quicker kickout pass when he's trapped, (he's an incredibly strong finisher so unless there's like 3 defenders on him, his instinct is to plow through and finish strong), but I think that will come

I like that team has multiple weapons. I see it as a positive that one of the main players can have an off night and the team can still hold its ground. I much rather be solid like this then like the Bucks tonight that had a meltdown and got blown out by Orlando cuz Giannis is not in.

[GLF]

Kawhi had the most assists on the team tonight. He also brings cohesion on the defensive end. He's got good chemistry with Siakam, albeit mostly in transition. He's also been able to find Green open after drawing defenders towards him since the beginning of the year. Shown flashes of finding Lowry on the perimeter, and would have more dimes counted if Lowry was actually knocking down the shot more often. The one thing he doesn't do much is work the pick n'roll with centres, but that's the point guard job, he's a wing. The one thing I'd like to see more is a quicker kickout pass when he's trapped, (he's an incredibly strong finisher so unless there's like 3 defenders on him, his instinct is to plow through and finish strong), but I think that will come

I like that team has multiple weapons. I see it as a positive that one of the main players can have an off night and the team can still hold its ground. I much rather be solid like this then like the Bucks tonight that had a meltdown and got blown out by Orlando cuz Giannis is not in.

In a way I agree because if you're able to slow down Giannis on defence the Bucks become a lot easier to beat because everything they do replies on him. With us you can slow down Kawhi and we can still find a way to win. Especially if Kyle is shooting the ball well that night.

[inthepaint]

I truly believe if we fuck up this year in the playoffs it's on Nurse. He needs to be better. ISOing Kawhi with no movement or screens isn't gonna work. Playing Serge more than Gasol isn't gonna work. Playing Gasol exactly like JV isn't gonna work. Letting Fred continuously run the team when you have Gasol, Kawhi, Kyle or Pascal on the floor isn't gonna work. Not running any actual plays ever isn't gonna work. The only negative I can see happening that would just be on the team is the bad shooting. Hopefully Miller and Ben help some of that. But yea we should be a very good playoff team. If we aren't it will be a huge disappointment.

Yes. X-factor will be coaching (Nurse), and distance shooting. If they can get that in order, they're a tough team to beat.

[Puffer]

...I can just see it now. Especially on nights like tonight where Kawhi plays like shit we are screwed...

Reject the DarkSide GLF. Use your powers for the Light.

[GLF]

Reject the DarkSide GLF. Use your powers for the Light.

Hahahahah I'm trying

[dylan123]

I'm sure it's been mentioned but I haven't gone through the pages I've missed but I was having a bit of a laugh to myself earlier when I was following the thread early in the game. There were a number of posters complaining how we can't just come out on fire and put teams away early like Boston were doing.

Look a bit later to see Boston end up losing by double digits

[Tmac2darak]

So refreshing. Hasn't even got comfortable yet and still you see how he calms everything down. Moves the ball etc. And Defence crazy.
Gasol wound up playing 19 minutes, was 3-for-7 from the field and did not attempt a three-pointer. He had six rebounds an assist, two steals, a block and two turnovers. He finished up a plus-3 on the night.
Jonas who?
Nice to see Kyle Back too.

[JimiCliff]

Is it concerning to anyone else that Kawhi's offense is still completely different from the rest of the team. He still hasn't integrated,

It's bizarre, but I'm going to trust that there's a method to the madness. My guess is that they've decided it's good for playoff ball.

[JawsGT]

Yeah nurse has got some shit to figure out going down the stretch. He's somehow got to develop a cohernet offence with a dominant wing thats playing on an island while integrating gasol. This will be no easy task, but hopefully they stay healthy and can get into a groove before the playoffs start.

[G__Deane]

Sounds so sad, hope he does well in Memphis.

He does sound sad. Went from almost penthouse to almost outhouse. I feel bad for the guy; trying to be funny and keep his disappointment inside. Miss you big guy!

[Zak24gege]

I truly believe if we fuck up this year in the playoffs it's on Nurse. He needs to be better. ISOing Kawhi with no movement or screens isn't gonna work. Playing Serge more than Gasol isn't gonna work. Playing Gasol exactly like JV isn't gonna work. Letting Fred continuously run the team when you have Gasol, Kawhi, Kyle or Pascal on the floor isn't gonna work. Not running any actual plays ever isn't gonna work. The only negative I can see happening that would just be on the team is the bad shooting. Hopefully Miller and Ben help some of that. But yea we should be a very good playoff team. If we aren't it will be a huge disappointment.

Perhaps this is a case of Kawhi looking ahead to the break because as of late it just doesn't look like he is 'engaged'. I subjected myself to the unpleasant task of re-watching last nights game specifically to observe Kawhi and his effort is worrisome. He just played with no desire or willingness to impose his considerable talent last night on inferior opposition. He seemed to play like he was going for a light warm-up jog around the track. He only scored 11 points against the worst team in the league? Yes he has played awesome for us this year and he is our superstar we can enjoy watching in a Raptor uniform this year at least. It's his play over the last couple of games where he has seemed to disengage himself from the offense and looked very ordinary preferring to defer to teammates. We have one more game before the break and then the homestretch. Hope we start to see a more engaged Kawhi and cohesive team play soon before its too late.

[G__Deane]

So refreshing. Hasn't even got comfortable yet and still you see how he calms everything down. Moves the ball etc. And Defence crazy.
Gasol wound up playing 19 minutes, was 3-for-7 from the field and did not attempt a three-pointer. He had six rebounds an assist, two steals, a block and two turnovers. He finished up a plus-3 on the night.
Jonas who?
Nice to see Kyle Back too.

Too early. GTFO