GAME #3 Toronto Raptors 117 - Washington Wizards 113 (3-0)

[white men can't jump]

Wizards fans finally giving lowry the RESPECK. I don't know why so many casual raptor/NBA fans hate on lowry

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This is actually kind of funny, because while obviously Lowry is aging and doesn't rely on speed/athleticism as much, speed especially was a massive part of his game and one of the main reasons he was drafted.

He just actually grew as a player. John Wall has not, despite having all the tools where he could have become one of the greatest PGs of all time.

[DanH]

Hilarious that we won this game. Wiz suck.

Great efforts from Lowry, OG, JV, Norm (who was awful for stretches but overall had his best game in ages), and Green (who is proving he'll be valuable on D even when his shot isn't falling). Siakam came on really strong late. Serge was decent too - he's hitting some shots, which is nice.

Not a fan of going small late - really struggled to score going that long without JV, let them back into it, but we held on so maybe that's the strategy to use with a lead. I disagree with the approach but can't complain about the results. We'll see what happens when we are playing from behind or with a small lead in close games. The small look has looked a little better as time has gone on so I hold out hope for it. And Kawhi missing obviously undercuts that look a great deal.

The refs were bad in this one both ways, but it was hilarious to see Washington completely fall apart under that scenario and the Raps hold strong - it's too often been the opposite for the Raps in the past.

[Maury]

Hilarious that we won this game. Wiz suck.

Great efforts from Lowry, OG, JV, Norm (who was awful for stretches but overall had his best game in ages), and Green (who is proving he'll be valuable on D even when his shot isn't falling). Siakam came on really strong late. Serge was decent too - he's hitting some shots, which is nice.

Not a fan of going small late - really struggled to score going that long without JV, let them back into it, but we held on so maybe that's the strategy to use with a lead. I disagree with the approach but can't complain about the results. We'll see what happens when we are playing from behind or with a small lead in close games. The small look has looked a little better as time has gone on so I hold out hope for it. And Kawhi missing obviously undercuts that look a great deal.

The refs were bad in this one both ways, but it was hilarious to see Washington completely fall apart under that scenario and the Raps hold strong - it's too often been the opposite for the Raps in the past.

I thought about this too but if JV was in Beal would have killed us off of hard picks. At least serge can show really hard and run back and protect the rim a bit.

[white men can't jump]

Hilarious that we won this game. Wiz suck.

Great efforts from Lowry, OG, JV, Norm (who was awful for stretches but overall had his best game in ages), and Green (who is proving he'll be valuable on D even when his shot isn't falling). Siakam came on really strong late. Serge was decent too - he's hitting some shots, which is nice.

Not a fan of going small late - really struggled to score going that long without JV, let them back into it, but we held on so maybe that's the strategy to use with a lead. I disagree with the approach but can't complain about the results. We'll see what happens when we are playing from behind or with a small lead in close games. The small look has looked a little better as time has gone on so I hold out hope for it. And Kawhi missing obviously undercuts that look a great deal.

The refs were bad in this one both ways, but it was hilarious to see Washington completely fall apart under that scenario and the Raps hold strong - it's too often been the opposite for the Raps in the past.

I'm not a huge fan of the small looks, but am more ok with it in terms of what we saw last night for 2 reasons compared to other years:

- We no longer have DeMar out there in those units, and so our small ball D will be much better by default this year.

- It was exactly the kind of situation where it makes sense to try Siakam at C and probably won't be super common. The other team had no big on the court. Other years we'd even go small when they did if that big could shoot at all, and often lose the inside game. Like playing Patterson at C doesn't make us better against any lineups. Still, I would rather try beating up the small unit with JV in the game first, then go small if it doesn't work (JV did have success against the Wiz small unit in the playoffs last year).

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[white men can't jump]

I thought about this too but if JV was in Beal would have killed us off of hard picks. At least serge can show really hard and run back and protect the rim a bit.

Not sure about that. Serge is better on the switch, but his coverage on screens is not good.

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[ogi]

Rondo did not spit on Paul's face. Chris Paul Trump as usual is lying. Just watch the video. Paul stuck his fingers in Rondo's face.

You sure about that?

This is the evidence I’d use if I’m the #Rockets. Looks like Rondo spits on Paul. (H/t @RedNationBlogga) pic.twitter.com/6QuQikvvID

— Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) October 21, 2018

[Hotshot]

The refs were bad in this one both ways, but it was hilarious to see Washington completely fall apart under that scenario and the Raps hold strong - it's too often been the opposite for the Raps in the past.

Kawhi leadership is working. People say you have to be vocal in order to be an effective leader and that is true to some degree but players also look up to the best player and if the best player works the hardest without talking smack to the refs and yet still gets results then that's going to rub off you. Last season DeMar was talking the most smack to the ref's ever and this affected both Lowry & Ibaka who also started to jaw at the refs more. This season both Ibaka & Lowry look calmer and happier on the court, possibly the combination of having Kawhi there and a more competent coach.

[Maury]

Not sure about that. Serge is better on the switch, but his coverage on screens is not good.

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It’s not great but he doesn’t have to drop as far back as JV does which is just the reality for JV. The way Beal was playing I just think he would have killed a Kyle JV pick and roll defence.

[golden]

Kawhi leadership is working. People say you have to be vocal in order to be an effective leader and that is true to some degree but players also look up to the best player and if the best player works the hardest without talking smack to the refs and yet still gets result then that's going to rub off you. Last season DeMar was talking the most smack to the ref's ever and this affected both Lowry & Ibaka who also started to jaw at the refs more. This season both Ibaka & Lowry look calmer and happier on the court, possibly the combination of having Kawhi there and a more competent coach.

DeMar's game was predicated on getting to the FT line, especially in crunch time, so he really did need the refs on his side, because he wasn't impacting the game positively with his defense or by hitting dagger 3's. Casey didn't seem to be that calming presence for Lowry either, most likely the opposite.

[inthepaint]

It’s not great but he doesn’t have to drop as far back as JV does which is just the reality for JV. The way Beal was playing I just think he would have killed a Kyle JV pick and roll defence.

I think Serge had a good game again (which is rare for him on a road b2b), but I have one bone to pick: when he would come to the top of the key to set up a screen, he would start rolling right away. Like, you have to wait for your guard to shed his defender THEN you roll for the pop. It's all supposed to happen really quick, but if you're rolling right away is like the screen never happened to begin with, so you end up just cluttering the lane for the guard.

If he's really gonna be a C on this team, he needs to put more time on quality, legal screen-setting. Our offence relies heavily on it. Other then that I think the past two games were decent for him, I liked his energy.

[Hotshot]

DeMar's game was predicated on getting to the FT line, especially in crunch time, so he really did need the refs on his side, because he wasn't impacting the game positively with his defense or by hitting dagger 3's. Casey didn't seem to be that calming presence for Lowry either, most likely the opposite.

Well all that didn't help DeMar in the playoffs, the refs ignored many of the legitimate calls he would get during the season. Against the Cavs series, DeMar barley talked smacked to the refs cause it was pointless by then.

[Jclaw]

The Wiz are a tire fire (and it couldn’t happen to a nicer franchise). Try to find Coach Brooks’ post game quotes. He politely rips his $100 million man Otto Porter.

[GLF]

I think Serge had a good game again (which is rare for him on a road b2b), but I have one bone to pick: when he would come to the top of the key to set up a screen, he would start rolling right away. Like, you have to wait for your guard to shed his defender THEN you roll for the pop. It's all supposed to happen really quick, but if you're rolling right away is like the screen never happened to begin with, so you end up just cluttering the lane for the guard.

If he's really gonna be a C on this team, he needs to put more time on quality, legal screen-setting. Our offence relies heavily on it. Other then that I think the past two games were decent for him, I liked his energy.

But that's the main reason why it's better if we close with JV as much as we can. It's nothing knew that Serge is a horrible screen setter. Like legit horrible. I'm shocked no one has said anything to him all these years about it or he hasn't improved it. His lack of screen setting makes our offence look terrible, especially late in close games. He NEEDS to improve that or you're gonna see a lot of what you saw last night in terms of us struggling to score big time down the stretch. If Kawhi was in the game it would probably not have been as bad but still.

[white men can't jump]

But that's the main reason why it's better if we close with JV as much as we can. It's nothing knew that Serge is a horrible screen setter. Like legit horrible. I'm shocked no one has said anything to him all these years about it or he hasn't improved it. His lack of screen setting makes our offence look terrible, especially late in close games. He NEEDS to improve that or you're gonna see a lot of what you saw last night in terms of us struggling to score big time down the stretch. If Kawhi was in the game it would probably not have been as bad but still.

Well without getting into the JV vs Serge thing too much, the real benefit is not needing Kawhi or Lowry to exert as much energy just to get us a shot. That takes its toll over a season.

It's still early and the Raps are still kind of disorganized on both ends. So we'll wait and see 20-30 games in.

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[inthepaint]

But that's the main reason why it's better if we close with JV as much as we can. It's nothing knew that Serge is a horrible screen setter. Like legit horrible. I'm shocked no one has said anything to him all these years about it or he hasn't improved it. His lack of screen setting makes our offence look terrible, especially late in close games. He NEEDS to improve that or you're gonna see a lot of what you saw last night in terms of us struggling to score big time down the stretch. If Kawhi was in the game it would probably not have been as bad but still.

Yeah imo JV is the better player and should for the most part be there closing games , but things are a bit more nuanced this year and not as clear-cut. What we've got now are 2 bigs with different sets of skills coveting minutes at the same position (C). They haven't played together under Nurse, and it seems like it's gonna be like that going forward. I believe JV is the overall better player, but in fairness to Serge, there are certain things he's more effective at than JV.

I hope now that both are vying for that spot, they use it an extra incentive to get better at the areas they can/need to grow, so they lose the label as "forever bad" at something (like Serge for screens and JV for p'n'r defence for example). I hope both will improve throughout the year , if anything due to internal competition alone. On most nights it will come down to matchups and to who's hot, but my hope is that they both continue to grow so the team benefits as a whole