Game #76: Toronto Raptors 99 - Boston Celtics 110

[Demographic Shift]

My kids dog thinks I am the best....

He speaks.... barks.... well of you too.....

[Demographic Shift]

I'm looking at the forest rather than the tree on this one. First game of the series we lost by 1 at their barn. We came up with a revenge game at the ACC (that included Irving) and blew them out, in a game that, in Brad Stevens' words, the Raps "overwhelmed them with their speed and physicality".

This one was their counter-punch to that. They slowed it down. They game-planned well for us (particularly against Siakam and Miles) and showed a type of zone defence hard to untangle. Reminds me of our own very well planned game against Houston (except that I don't think Houston is shaking in their boots afraid of playing us again, or reading too much into into it)

It's the fans' job to overreact and be emotional, but it's the team's job to keep their feet grounded in reality, which is: This is a complex matchup that requires a lot of film watching and mental preparation. It's not a run-and-gun fest. They defend well and are well coached, but in the big picture, our offence is more versatile and we're deeper. One regular season game, be it blowout W or L, doesn't change that.

I also agree with what people are saying about Casey being a bit coy in putting everything out there. It's a fine line between not showing all your hand, and using these games as a laboratory to explore and uncover matchup effectiveness and deficiencies. It's a regular season series and maybe a playoff series, wonderfully complex with a lot of adjustments and counter-adjustments. And that's what makes it fun, rather than just looking at whatever shiny object is dangling at you that day. Can't wait till Wednesday to see what both teams come up with.

Thats a measured response..... any reason why you don't want to kneejerk it and toss out the entire season as one of abject failure after a single loss? Question every aspect of the makeup of every player's character ... Categorize those 54 wins as either #fakewins or #flukewins or #undeserved wins..

"Sources" specualate that The Raptor spiked Houstons and Bostons and Cleveland's water bottles while they were in town... He mixed them up when OKC dropped in for a visit couple weeks back...

2 games up with 6 to go.... right in between a rock and a hardplace.

[KeonClark]

So reading through this post game, half the fans are panicking and disgraced by the team. The other half is calmly putting in perspective this being just 1 game out of 82.

I think both sides are wrong. Sure, we are still in a good place standings wise and have the talent here to recover. But if you don't see or feel that something is seriously off the last couple weeks or whenever the winning streak ended, I think you're in denial. And while we still may be a "good" team who can get through the first round, it's a delicate balancing act to be a great team who reaches the goals we have. And right now we're certainly not there.

[Demographic Shift]

So reading through this post game, half the fans are panicking and disgraced by the team. The other half is calmly putting in perspective this being just 1 game out of 82.

I think both sides are wrong. Sure, we are still in a good place standings wise and have the talent here to recover. But if you don't see or feel that something is seriously off the last couple weeks or whenever the winning streak ended, I think you're in denial. And while we still may be a "good" team who can get through the first round, it's a delicate balancing act to be a great team who reaches the goals we have. And right now we're certainly not there.

Switzerland

[The Great One]

So reading through this post game, half the fans are panicking and disgraced by the team. The other half is calmly putting in perspective this being just 1 game out of 82.

I think both sides are wrong. Sure, we are still in a good place standings wise and have the talent here to recover. But if you don't see or feel that something is seriously off the last couple weeks or whenever the winning streak ended, I think you're in denial. And while we still may be a "good" team who can get through the first round, it's a delicate balancing act to be a great team who reaches the goals we have. And right now we're certainly not there.

Thank you

[KeonClark]

Let's not forget we've been trotting Abbas out for the game threads, mistakenly resting our big guns

[consmap]

Let's not forget we've been trotting Abbas out for the game threads, mistakenly resting our big guns

Hopefully the coaching staff adjusts

[Mitch P]

So as bad as our 3 point shooting was last night, and has been in some other important games the team stat is about36%. The Celtics I believe are better at 39%. So based on 30 threes a game that means on average they would make ONE MORE three. Obviously it changes significantly from game to game but I recall some of our blowout wins this year came when a high percentage of threes were made early in the game which got things rolling. Last night was disappointing because I think we all expected a relatively comfortable win based on the 3 days rest, the Celtic injuries and the Raptors drive to the 1 seed. As others have stated there were a few bizarro occurrences; the 1st quarter Baynes outburst and CJ Miles having about the worst game I've ever seen a normally competent player have. Yes my confidence in the Raptors is a bit shaken but I fully expect better things ahead.

[MixxAOR]

Resting players is not even an option at this point

[meductic]

The team is somewhat off but one is ignoring reality not to notice that the competition got better at the same time, before this current stretch, that the schedule became outright brutal. My concern at this point is hoping that their confidence remains intact...

So reading through this post game, half the fans are panicking and disgraced by the team. The other half is calmly putting in perspective this being just 1 game out of 82.

I think both sides are wrong. Sure, we are still in a good place standings wise and have the talent here to recover. But if you don't see or feel that something is seriously off the last couple weeks or whenever the winning streak ended, I think you're in denial. And while we still may be a "good" team who can get through the first round, it's a delicate balancing act to be a great team who reaches the goals we have. And right now we're certainly not there.

[golden]

So reading through this post game, half the fans are panicking and disgraced by the team. The other half is calmly putting in perspective this being just 1 game out of 82.

I think both sides are wrong. Sure, we are still in a good place standings wise and have the talent here to recover. But if you don't see or feel that something is seriously off the last couple weeks or whenever the winning streak ended, I think you're in denial. And while we still may be a "good" team who can get through the first round, it's a delicate balancing act to be a great team who reaches the goals we have. And right now we're certainly not there.

Pretty simple explanation as to "what happened" is that we became the hunted. We got exactly what we always wanted: the US media pumping sunshine up our butts.... but with that exposure came more diligent opposition game-planning. We're not catching anybody by surprise anymore. Even Lebron knows the names of the bench mob and exactly what problems they pose. The league has adjusted to our success recipe. Our move now.

[tDotted]

if aron baynes is making multiple jumpshots you know the basketball gods are just fucking with you lol

Seriously, when is Baynes ever going to hit more 3 point shots than Miles in a game. CJ on an average night makes about 2+ while Baynes makes 0 in 99.9% of his career games. That's a 12 point swing right there lol

[JimiCliff]

Pretty simple explanation as to "what happened" is that we became the hunted. We got exactly what we always wanted: the US media pumping sunshine up our butts.... but with that exposure came more diligent opposition game-planning. We're not catching anybody by surprise anymore. Even Lebron knows the names of the bench mob and exactly what problems they pose. The league has adjusted to our success recipe. Our move now.

Yeah, this is an underrated point. We've been taking every team's best shot for about three weeks now.

Good prep for the playoffs though. When they start and the intensity ratchets up a few notches, our guys will be a little more acclimated.

[Shaolin Fantastic]

Pretty simple explanation as to "what happened" is that we became the hunted. We got exactly what we always wanted: the US media pumping sunshine up our butts.... but with that exposure came more diligent opposition game-planning. We're not catching anybody by surprise anymore. Even Lebron knows the names of the bench mob and exactly what problems they pose. The league has adjusted to our success recipe. Our move now.

I mentioned this in my thread about how we're not winning the title.

Prior to now, we didn't really get other teams' best efforts. People can pretend that's BS if you want, but nobody was "getting up" for a game with the Raptors. It's not like the Warriors where they're everybody's NBA final every time they play and get the max effort from the other team from night to night.

There are just so many positives about this regular season that I think are not going to be carried into the playoffs. This is just another one of them. We have an amazing net rating, but how much of that is because teams aren't really desperate to beat us the way they are with some of the other top teams?

[MixxAOR]

Krusty is a fan