Game #15 Toronto Raptors 104 (12-3) - Detroit Pistons 106 (7-6)

[Truth Teller]

Please win this game. I don't want to lose to the Pisstons or the Spurs this season. I think we should give some credit to Casey, even though he wasn't anything until Masai showed up and revamped the roster.

[LJ2]

I just want to see Kawhi have another dominant game where he's the best player on the floor. Last two games have not been that and I'm not sure why. He shouldn't be rusty at this point. Can weather really impact someone that much LOL?

[Nilanka]

I wonder if Casey will see if he can exploit what the Pelicans exposed. He doesn't have a guard like Jrue, but if he can get dribble penetration then he has the horse to be the points in the post.

Casey doesn't pay attention to other teams' successful schemes.

(See 2018 Playoffs - Pacers vs. Cavs Round 1)

[golden]

Please win this game. I don't want to lose to the Pisstons or the Spurs this season. I think we should give some credit to Casey, even though he wasn't anything until Masai showed up and revamped the roster.

Assuming MLSE retained Colangelo (and it was close because of Larry Tanenbaum's undying love for BC), what would have happened next would have been BC handing out a 5-year max deal to the new face-of-the-franchise, Rudy Gay, whlie still trying to build around Bargnani. Jose and Kyle would still be battling for the starting PG spot. Imagine Lowry/Demar/Gay/Bargs as your starting lineup? This is before KL/DD became good. Wowzers. Even without Bargs, we saw what happened to Gay.

Casey would have been gone in under a year for not elevating BC's prize free agent re-signing to superstar status.

[S.R.]

I just want to see Kawhi have another dominant game where he's the best player on the floor. Last two games have not been that and I'm not sure why. He shouldn't be rusty at this point. Can weather really impact someone that much LOL?

Really that would be a key difference maker, he's going to be the team's best player and do that on a regular basis. We had a few games there where he (and Lowry) were making really timely plays and helping turn games at key points. Not so much the last 2-3 games.

[Nilanka]

Really that would be a key difference maker, he's going to be the team's best player and do that on a regular basis. We had a few games there where he (and Lowry) were making really timely plays and helping turn games at key points. Not so much the last 2-3 games.

Kawhi forced things a bit too much against the Pels. Trying to dribble through set defenders.

So far, it doesn't look like we actually run plays to get him open. We just give him the rock and clear out.

#PassItToWill

[DanH]

Kawhi forced things a bit too much against the Pels. Trying to dribble through set defenders.

So far, it doesn't look like we actually run plays to get him open. We just give him the rock and clear out.

#PassItToWill

Give. Him. A. Screen. Setter.

[Shaolin Fantastic]

Uh he did start it by benching JV for like every fourth quarter and playing Serge at C. This whole forum was outraged by it (including me).

It went on for like two years and DanH and others argued extensively this summer that JV should still be starting next to Serge. Nurse was considered much smarter than Casey and would give much more playing time to JV than Casey did.

Instead Nurse is continuing a trend that Casey started. I'll fully admit that I was wrong about Casey's decision back then but he was right, and he doesn't come off as trying to brag about it in the actual quote.

Yep there were a few of us who were behind Casey experimenting with this in the past. I even made an entire thread about how Ibaka should start over JV at the 5. It was dismissed as something that should only be used situationally in the playoffs, but now Nurse is using it basically all the time and it's working wonders.

[LJ2]

Really that would be a key difference maker, he's going to be the team's best player and do that on a regular basis. We had a few games there where he (and Lowry) were making really timely plays and helping turn games at key points. Not so much the last 2-3 games.

Notably he (and Lowry) struggled against better competition.

[LJ2]

Kawhi forced things a bit too much against the Pels. Trying to dribble through set defenders.

So far, it doesn't look like we actually run plays to get him open. We just give him the rock and clear out.

#PassItToWill

Yeah, he's put into a lot of isolation situations. I was hoping to see more of a two man game between he and Lowry, but right now it doesn't look like they are running any plays for him out there.

[Mitch P]

I watched a lot of Kawhi playing with the Spurs and I don't remember many times when other teams were doubling him. Pop did have him iso more than you might imagine but perhaps the Spurs shooters were so respected or their offensive sets were such that doubling was tough. Against the Pels it seemed to me that ball movement stopped and that our guards were completely intimidated by the shot blocking potential of Davis and company. Kawhi is a real force when he is one of several scoring options, not so much when he becomes the only scoring option. What makes him great is that he can do everything well (and defend exceptionally well) not that he is a completely dominant offensive player. I'm confident that this will be worked out. When the Raptors aren't playing spooked they HAVE a lot of scoring options.

[DanH]

Yep there were a few of us who were behind Casey experimenting with this in the past. I even made an entire thread about how Ibaka should start over JV at the 5. It was dismissed as something that should only be used situationally in the playoffs, but now Nurse is using it basically all the time and it's working wonders.

It's deeply flawed and not really working wonders and that's even with Nurse shielding Ibaka from about a third of matchups by starting JV against big C's, and with a pretty significant upgrade on the wing driving much of that success.

[G__Deane]

Give. Him. A. Screen. Setter.

That would be JV but the bench would suffer with Serge.

[DanH]

Uh he did start it by benching JV for like every fourth quarter and playing Serge at C. This whole forum was outraged by it (including me).

It went on for like two years and DanH and others argued extensively this summer that JV should still be starting next to Serge. Nurse was considered much smarter than Casey and would give much more playing time to JV than Casey did.

Instead Nurse is continuing a trend that Casey started. I'll fully admit that I was wrong about Casey's decision back then but he was right, and he doesn't come off as trying to brag about it in the actual quote.

To be clear, I argued that JV should still be starting next to Serge as that's the only way to get enough minutes for two of our better players, and if they didn't start both we'd see one or the other get crunched to 20 MPG. Which is exactly what has happened and it's one of the underlying issues on the season so far (which has few of those, to be fair).

Now, it's fine to have one player or the other see decreased minutes if that's what's best for the team. I'd argue it is not, and that they'd be better off finding 24-28 minutes or even more for both players, but the bigger issue I've had is not splitting them up for most minutes, but how those minutes have been split - ie who each player has played their minutes with - and the rigidity in never playing them together even when it does make sense to go big.

[planetmars]

Wonder what a video tribute for a coach looks like? Do they show him yelling and swearing on the side lines? Do they have a shot with him and his big grin as he's wearing that Dallas championship ring?