Sacramento vs. Toronto, January 4th (Battle of 12-20 heavyweights)

[BasketballCrush]

(it worked on Roy Hobbs in the Natural)

[BasketballCrush]

All we have to do is fork out for a top notch escort next time Cousins is in town, just send her to his room late night and he should have a much more down to earth game against us.

[mcHAPPY]

not trying to knock Lowry here, but it was an 17 pt deficit when garbage minutes started. Toronto went 8 - 0 over that stretch making the score look reasonable

Where the game changed was the start of the 3rd:

- 5 missed jump shots
- 3 missed layups
- 3 TO
- 4 fouls

all in 5 straight scoreless minutes.

On Sacramento's end it was 10 straight pts by Cousins and Thompson (8 in the paint), sandwiching a couple free throws by Thomas

Would Lowry have changed that? Maybe. Maybe not. What did happen though was Sacramento came into the 3rd ready to abuse Toronto down low. Toronto didn't come in prepared for much of anything. Lowry can't force teammates to hit open layups, jump 15ft to catch Pietrus passes or put on 30lbs of muscle to match Cousins size

Looking back at the play by play, my recollection is indeed not accurate of the last 7-8 minutes of the game. Sorry about that.

[Craiger]

Brutal game all around. Enough blame to go around.

Not sure if Lowry is going to get lambasted with the hero ball stuff but shots were falling and he is the only one who could get to the foul line and/or create his own shot. Lowry doesn't step up and this is a 20 point loss easy. Some more of those 4th quarter 3's fall from Jose and AA and this is a game.

Considering Raps were up 7 and everything went to shit when Lowry left game with 3:31 left in 2nd, as others have said, he sat waaaay too long.

Hopefully this is a reality check for Toronto: you guys need to play your balls off every game... you are not good enough to coast on the previous 9-10 games.

not trying to knock Lowry here, but it was an 17 pt deficit when garbage minutes started. Toronto went 8 - 0 over that stretch making the score look reasonable

Where the game changed was the start of the 3rd:

- 5 missed jump shots
- 3 missed layups
- 3 TO
- 4 fouls

all in 5 straight scoreless minutes.

On Sacramento's end it was 10 straight pts by Cousins and Thompson (8 in the paint), sandwiching a couple free throws by Thomas

Would Lowry have changed that? Maybe. Maybe not. What did happen though was Sacramento came into the 3rd ready to abuse Toronto down low. Toronto didn't come in prepared for much of anything. Lowry can't force teammates to hit open layups, jump 15ft to catch Pietrus passes or put on 30lbs of muscle to match Cousins size

[ReubenJRD]

I don't think small ball is killing the league, but as its killing teams that don't have a stud SF who can shift up and play PF. Only 3 successful teams are going 'small' OKC - Miami - NY, with Melo being the smallest of the group at 6'8" 235lbs.

When we look at the other top teams:

Clippers - Jordan + Blake
Memphis - Gasol + Randolph
Chicago - Noah + Boozer
Indiana - Hibbert + West
Atlanta - Horford + Smith
Denver - Koufus/McGee + Faried
Golden St. - Bogut (injured)/Ezeli + Lee

Those are all legit bigs. A couple may be a bit undersized, but they all still play a big mans game.

That said, this game Toronto had no choice but to play small. Gray and Amir were in foul trouble, and Val was out with an injury. But in general Casey has been playing way to much small ball and when its not working and he keeps forcing it, it can really hurt the teams D.

This is where the problem lies. Teams like Miami, OKC, NY are the only teams capable of running the small ball for long stretches because they have a centre that either; rebounds, defends, stretches the floor, or even all 3. Ibaka/Perkins, Bosh, Chandler. Also to add in your point about the small forward that can make the shift. Landry Fields has actually played the 4 fairly well, but the large problem is the long stretches of the lineup when it becomes ineffective, and quite frankly the pieces aren't gelling when playing the small ball. Both pg's need the ball to be effective (whether Jose, Kyle, John 3), no stud small forward, and the injury to JV. Not to mention Demar guarding 3's, and Jose guarding 2's hasn't been fun to watch.

It just doesn't work with the players Toronto has. The most effective lineup we've seen run the small ball was actually the Lowry, Calderon, Derozan, Kleiza, Johnson lineup on the road vs. Sacramento. The dynamics change when the 4 can hit from anywhere on the outside. Small ball needs to have floor stretches for it to work out properly. Lowry, Calderon, Derozan, Fields, & Ed lineup didn't have the capability to spread the floor, and that's why they struggled to get some shots down. Too cramped.

[Craiger]

In the sacred words of Charles Barkley. "You don't live by the three. You die by it"

I don't believe in small ball. Personally I think this new era of small ball is ruining the league. Slowly killing the center position. You can't win with small ball unless if you got a guy named LBJ. Lucky for raptors they have a legit young center. That in the future should grown into that low post presence and compliment this perimeter game they have. Till than the raptors might a playoff team but, never contend.

I don't think small ball is killing the league, but as its killing teams that don't have a stud SF who can shift up and play PF. Only 3 successful teams are going 'small' OKC - Miami - NY, with Melo being the smallest of the group at 6'8" 235lbs.

When we look at the other top teams:

Clippers - Jordan + Blake
Memphis - Gasol + Randolph
Chicago - Noah + Boozer
Indiana - Hibbert + West
Atlanta - Horford + Smith
Denver - Koufus/McGee + Faried
Golden St. - Bogut (injured)/Ezeli + Lee

Those are all legit bigs. A couple may be a bit undersized, but they all still play a big mans game.

That said, this game Toronto had no choice but to play small. Gray and Amir were in foul trouble, and Val was out with an injury. But in general Casey has been playing way to much small ball and when its not working and he keeps forcing it, it can really hurt the teams D.

[mcHAPPY]

i wouldnt just say everything went to shit just cause lowry left... Gray pretty much single handedly gave them an 8-0 run or something like that at the beginning of the second half with 3 or 4 terrible plays on both offense and defence that were specifically attributed to him within the first minute or two

I wouldn't and didn't say that either. When Lowry left the game everything went to shit...... not: because Lowry left the game everything went to shit.

Essentially all I am saying is Casey stayed with what was not working too long.

[ReubenJRD]

Extremely disappointing game. Holy.

Demar struggled. Jose struggled (in the sense to find people), Pietrus and Gray were negatives all the way. Amir & his Flashback-Friday with fouls.

Not to mention, I didn't see the team double at least more than once on Demarcus Cousins. No matter how 'strong' (or fat) a player is, doubling is seen when the player has trouble scoring. That DEFINITELY was not the case last night.

Also, with the wheels off, like Jack Armstrong pointed out, I was questioning why Amir wasn't out there earlier. Acy gave some pretty good minutes defensively, likewise Coach Casey, ride with the hot hand. He was the only big to have had a successful stop more than once throughout the game.

This was just 'one of those games' where nothing is falling for a team offensively, and flat-footed defensively. Team came out as if this game was going to be handed to them. I look to see a much better effort vs. OKC on Sunday.

[Miekenstien]

i think i said it last time we played the kings and i bet i will say it next time. cousins kills us everytime. can't find his stats against just us but i bet they are well above his averages.

[planetmars]

That was an awful second half there. JV would have gotten the sh!t knocked out of him as well by Cousins as he's a beast. In 2 years hopefully JV will be doing the ass kicking down low.

[Chr1s1anL]

In the sacred words of Charles Barkley. "You don't live by the three. You die by it"

I don't believe in small ball. Personally I think this new era of small ball is ruining the league. Slowly killing the center position. You can't win with small ball unless if you got a guy named LBJ. Lucky for raptors they have a legit young center. That in the future should grown into that low post presence and compliment this perimeter game they have. Till than the raptors might a playoff team but, never contend.

[akashsingh]

why did quincy acy look like the only guy that could guard cousins at times? smdh. Anyways, sacramento is not a good defensive team, I can't help but think if we managed to make some buckets in the start of the 3rd (with kyle lowry instead of dribbles in the game) we MIGHT have been able to discourage them from doing so much damage there. Give credit to cousins, he is an unstoppable talent that took advantadge of our lack of size. The guy is definitely a nutjob though, I can't count the # of times he was giving people dirty looks, I even think he got offended when some of our fans were booing him LOL. (somewhere in the first half)

OKC doesn't have the personnel to rape us in the front court like these guys (cousins) did, and it would be awesome if we could steal one, but who'll stop KD from going off? has to be anderson.

[Machine]

i wouldnt just say everything went to shit just cause lowry left... Gray pretty much single handedly gave them an 8-0 run or something like that at the beginning of the second half with 3 or 4 terrible plays on both offense and defence that were specifically attributed to him within the first minute or two

[mcHAPPY]

Brutal game all around. Enough blame to go around.

Not sure if Lowry is going to get lambasted with the hero ball stuff but shots were falling and he is the only one who could get to the foul line and/or create his own shot. Lowry doesn't step up and this is a 20 point loss easy. Some more of those 4th quarter 3's fall from Jose and AA and this is a game.

Considering Raps were up 7 and everything went to shit when Lowry left game with 3:31 left in 2nd, as others have said, he sat waaaay too long.

Hopefully this is a reality check for Toronto: you guys need to play your balls off every game... you are not good enough to coast on the previous 9-10 games.

[timdunkit]

I never felt like we strongly doubled Cousins. We tried to help after he made a move but we didn't force the ball out of his hands early. We let him and Thompson get to where they want and paid the price.

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