GAME #1: Cleveland Cavaliers 104 - Toronto Raptors 116 (1-0)

[The Claw Reborn]

I can live with the fact that Kawhi iso’s here and there because not only he is Kawhi but he can make those shots especially when he get his sea legs back after a year long lay off. His range and his cunning ability to fool his defender will show more as the season moves along.

But most importantly, so what if he misses those mid range shots as long he does not give up buckets and threes from the opposite end of the court.

[The Claw Reborn]

Nurse’s first day in school, typical for him to experienced jitters. Lowry picked up the slack and was more of a playing coach out there. Fearless.

Friday would be a battle between two young great minds of the game. I hope Nick settles down and impresses us after setting a side his first game nerves.

We need Delon Wright to match up against Rozier.

Can’t wait to see that game.

[The Great One]

My guy Devin Booker has arrived! Kobe Bryant like performance tonight vs the Mavs.

[slaw]

So far not too impressed with Nurse coaching. Obviously just 1 game, but there were things I didn't like.

Obviously I don't like Ibaka getting as much burn as he did. He provided no positives over JV tonight. The team ran better on both ends with JV in the game, and we had control of the pace for most of those minutes.

But worse, Nurse was reactive, choosing his rotation based on what the other team did. Can anyone think of a championship team ever utilizing that strategy? I can't. You find a way to use your best players and develop your identity around that.

Finally, the thing I really don't like about Ibaka at C is it puts a lot of pressure on our ballhandlers to create a lot for themselves. He doesn't set great screens, and teams will give him space to cheat and clog the lane. He can shoot, but he's not consistent and teams would probably rather gamble on him having a bad night than giving space to our ballhandlers. You would think a supposedly innovative, smart coach would see this quickly and make some kind of adjustment, but he was left with few options other than to extend the minutes of his stars so that Leonard and Lowry were needed far too much in this game. If you have all this depth and you still have to play your top 2 guys 35+ minutes to beat a much worse team when you had a 20pt lead in the 3rd, you're doing something wrong.

Anyway, I will give Nurse a couple of months and see how things evolve, but I think tonight there was a bit too much I didn't like.

This is absurd.

[slaw]

Good win. Didn't see much experimenting, which is what fans seem to want. Curious as to how first 30 games play out.

[grindhouse]

Good game raptors I have 2 issues which are basically the same problem when the other team gets in the paint we need to trap that ball our bigs don’t want to leave their man.
The weak side defender needs to rotate down so our big can cut the angle to the rim. Force the pass to the top of the key which is the easiest spot to rotate to and the hardest spot to throw a pass to. We need to defend for 24 secs.

Stop worrying about the lob pass if you trap quick enough that loop can’t come for 2 reasons the Center has their hands up and the weak side defender will put a body on the big so it’s harder to jump (get under his legs so he has to balance himself before he jumps)

[white men can't jump]

This is absurd.

What? I'm not allowed to comment on things I didn't like? The idea I wouldn't is absurd. The problems tonight were fairly obvious, and made an easy win into a tough win. Cleveland did not play very well. We put ourselves in a tough position. Coaching wasn't really a plus in that department.

[white men can't jump]

The bar this year is higher. We can't afford another coach who makes reactive decisions that make it harder for us to win. That doesn't tend to translate well in the playoffs, especially the deeper you go. The goal is to actually compete for a championship this year.

[grindhouse]

“Hot take” our bigs defensive rotation sucks

[G__Deane]

Man, does coach Nurse ever say "right" a lot, right?

And he said "what was Serge 2/10 from the field? But I thought he played pretty good"

https://www.nba.com/raptors/?tmd=1

[Shaolin Fantastic]

“Hot take” our bigs defensive rotation sucks

Not really a hot take. Only one of them (Siakam) is actually a good defender.

[TheWaterboy]

I saw much of the game, but not all of it.

My thoughts:

1. What made Serge's 2/10 shooting especially egregious is how many of the shots were open.
2. I know that OG going out of the game forced Nurse's hand somewhat, but Miles/Ibaka is a really bad combination defensively; I think part of it may be that they are both read-and-react players defensively, and they both need someone to be the quarterback defensively to make the defense work. Ibaka is not enough better than average to overcome Miles' shortcomings simply by being on the court together.
3. What is it with the Raptors and shooting from the top of the three point line when there are three or more defenders inside the three point line and no Raptor anywhere close to rebounding position? If you're doing that, you need to be getting into position immediately to contest the rebound in order for the defenders not to rifle a pass up to your half of the court to attempt a quick shot while your defenders are still getting back to their defensive positions.

[DanH]

28 points

On 29 possessions... Still, led the team with a +7. Good to see things working out for him so far in SA.

[golden]

FVV had an up and down game. Missed a lot of easy shots and didn't seem to be his usual steady Freddy self at times. Expectations are raised this year and he's no longer sneaking up on people. Hope he doesn't disappoint like Norm did after he got paid.

[inthepaint]

lowry is on fire

SPALSH Kwahi SPLASH Lowry

WOOOOOOOO

Lowry's playing excellent

But..but..but, what about that day in training camp he didn't to talk to media? Or the "reports" he dared not not take calls on his time off in the summer? And did you guys notice there was an extra frown on him last night? I think I saw Scariolo sneeze while Lowry was on the bench and he didn't say "bless you". That's concerning.

I mean, if he's going to keep putting up 27pts and 8 assists per 36 min, hooking up and motivating teammates all around, be active and feisty on defence, taking charges on game 1, and shoot 83% from 3, but is grouchy with reporters, we're in deep trouble.