Overreaction: Game 8/82 - It's not Rebound-ball

• A bit of a nitpicking here, but Kyle Lowry needs to stop hunting for assists sometimes because the shots are right there
• I don't know how many games has it been, but even though the Raptors are winning, it feels like they are losing the rebounding battle on a nightly basis
• I don't want to write anything new about CJ Miles because there's nothing new to write
• Pascal Siakam's starting to break out. I don't know how this will affect OG's playing time, but we have too many decent young players, and at least one of them need to step up and become good or even better
• Just imagine how this team will look once FVV, OG Anunoby, and a healthy Delon Wright are back in the lineup. Speaking of Delon, it's good to see him start to look like his old self.
• Again, a couple of major difference between Nurse and Casey - Nurse will get Malachi and Brown some reps that they need, and CJ all the rope to get out of his rut
• I guess no matter how much weight JV loses, his heavy feet will always be a weakness when teams utilize Cs to get their three-point shooters open
• I love how simple Kawhi's game is offensively, yet he would easily get 20-25 a night. We're not even seeing those games where he would force 2-3  turnovers leading to his fastbreak points.
• Norm Powell is quietly putting together a decent showing offensively, however, he still struggles to chase guys off the ball. He needs to watch how Danny Green -- someone who's way slower than him -- chases guards off the ball. It's not just about sprinting. He keeps getting caught on those screens as if he really didn't see them coming. Maybe he didn't.
• From what I've heard from my friends, certain employers in the middle east region would hold the passport of their expats as part of their employment agreement. Is this what Masai is doing?
• For the road - Raptors won despite getting pummeled on the boards -- As Raptors legend Andrea Bargnani once said "It's not rebound-ball, it's basket-ball"

Overreaction: Game 7/82 - The Curse Is For Real

What a bummer. No Kawhi. No Giannis. No FVV and no OG. Did I expect the Raptors to win? To be honest, no. But I expected them to put themselves in a position where they have a chance. A chance that never happened. The Milwaukee Bucks pulled away in the 2nd half and the Raptors' wheels fell apart. Admittedly, I was barely paying attention to the game, as I spent pretty much the entire game carving our jack-o-lantern pumpkin with my little one.

• 22 points on a 10/16 shooting for Pascal Siakam. Is this his career high? He looked great playing extended minutes, and I really hope that he can sink at least 1 of every 4 threes that he would hoist up. While the box score only shows 2 assists, he had a few situations where the receiver did not finish, and he has at least 2 hockey assists.
• My Serge Ibaka apology streak just won't end. I've been eating crow when it comes to Ibaka-baka-baka as I've written him off this season. Now, he looks like he's an important cog for this Raptors team.
• CJ Miles' Go-Daddy curse is back, and this time it's worse. If he's not bricking shots, he's turning the ball over. You know it's bad if you played worse than Malachi and Lorenzo Brown.
• Kyle Lowry's shooting went back to earth, and what an unfortunate time for it to happen. It also didn't help that the Bucks defense focused on contesting his shots and making him more of a passer. I doubt that will be the case next game.
• Is it just me or Norm doesn't get the ball a lot whenever he's on the same floor with Ibaka? Norm posted a modest 2/3 FG tonight, yet as a starting SG, he should have been more aggressive and have more shots than that.
• Defense needs a lot of work - whether it's switching or just plain communication. It was terrible tonight.
• I know this is Delon's 1st real game, but at his age and given he's in his contract year, I expect a jump in terms of what he can bring to the table - and I'm still waiting.
• I love that Nurse is willing to enable and empower his non-starters, giving guys that are on the end of the bench to build up confidence. Malachi played decent tonight, hitting a 3, playing good positional defense a few times, and showing more effort and defensive awareness than before.
• Is it Casey or.... Well, let's look at this. Lowry's hit a new gear, DeRozan is flourishing in San Antonio, Alfonzo McKinnie is playing really well for the dubs, and the Raptors offense looked better and different from Casey's tenure. Ibaka and JV had been great for the most part. Was Casey holding them back?

Wizards Offense - Flowchart

Take That for Data - Individual Defense

Through 6 games, I was under the impression that Kawhi’s covering the opposing team’s best player - which is typically the volume shooter on the team. Surprisingly, Danny Green is contesting an average of 15 shots a game — and defending them admirably by giving only 36.7% of those shots. Eye test suggests the following:

• Kawhi is shutting them down in some possessions;
• Opposing players are getting Kawhi switched out of them.

Other observations from the data:

• Opposing players are attacking Fred VanVleet at a higher rate but surprisingly not that successful (41.9%).
• Eye test that says Serge Ibaka is defending the basket much better can be affirmed by his 35.2% DFG which is pretty good since he’s mostly defending near the rim.
• Siakam is a monster, yielding only 29.8% in 9.5 shots defended per game.
• Green, Ibaka, VanVleet, Lowry, Kawhi, Siakam so far are our best defenders based on these stats (highest DFG% is Lowry at 42.9%), which makes the switching on defence easier to execute since there’s no  major weak point. Heck, even JV and OG are 50% or under.

Overreaction: Game 6/82 - "The Lorenzo Brown Game"

• What a fourth quarter for our 4th PG Lorenzo Brown. I was ready to write him off after the third quarter. I went to the garage to get my groceries during the intermission, feeling a bit down because the closing lineup blew the lead, and not really looking forward to Lorenzo Brown play the beginning of the 4th. Lo and behold, I came back a few minutes into the fourth quarter and the Raps were up 10 again. I had to re-start the 4th quarter because I literally missed something amazing, which is, Brown, playing like the G-League version of himself.
• Serge and Kawhi got too trigger happy in this game -- I thought that both players had at least 3 shots where they could've moved the ball to an open teammate.
• Kyle's evolving into a much more complete, efficient version of himself. Looking at the games this season, it looks like the game is coming to him very easily -- he's pretty much cruising along that 3rd or 4th gear and still end up as the teams top 2 if not top 1 player on a nightly basis. This is without him going super-Saiyan mode that we're accustomed to in the past.
• I'm really impressed by Siakam's court vision. He finished the game with 3 assists - which should've been 6 or 7 if the recipients did not screw up their bunnies. Siakam needs to be more of a threat as a scorer and it should open up more passing lanes for him if he can do that.
• It's great to see CJ Miles play like his old self tonight. His 10 points tonight might be the most in-rhythm streak of points he's had this season.
• Could be just me, but I cringe every time Kawhi would get whacked and end up on the floor, which is what happened several times tonight.
• Six games in and we still haven't seen FVV and Delon Wright share the floor. I'm really intrigued how the bench rotation and what the actual product on the floor would look like once Delon and FVV are back and healthy.
• I saw a few posts on twitter about Celtics' DEFRTG. I don't really care who's number one. As long as the Raps are in the top 10 and winning with some sort of defensive showing, that's all I care at this point. I'm more interested to see whether the Raps have holes on their defense -- i.e. last year, even though the Raps are top 5 in defense, the defense is weak when it comes to the LeBron/KD/Giannis type, and JV was just a 1/5 PNR nightmare on defense (for our team). I see some slippage on defense every now and then like what happened tonight, which is just a bunch of guys getting accustomed with each other.

Overreaction: Game 5/82 - Even the "Floor" is high

• Probably the sloppiest the team have ever been defensively and offensively, yet the bare minimum is enough to make the game feel like the Wolves don't pose a threat
• I'm very satisfied with how Nurse is handling the JV/Ibaka utilization. Not just on who's starting, but also how they're utilized on the floor. Ibaka just needs to avoid getting the ball not on scoring position around the perimeter with the clock winding down, as it's a disaster waiting to happen.
• A little bit confused why Siakam did not see a lot of time in the 2nd half, especially in the 4th. OG had a shaky first half offensively but was really great defensively the entire game. Nurse probably went with as many people that can defend Jimmy Butler as possible.
• I've seen all of Lorenzo Brown's games with the 905 last year, and what I can guarantee is that the Brown that we're seeing with the Raps is not the same MVP Brown. It feels like he's trying to play too nice, trying too much to fit into the system, to the point where he loses his offensive identity. Brown is a really good PNR/PNP shoot-first guard, and he can be dangerous from the mid-range onwards. What he's not --- an outside threat -- especially pulling up for 3pt shots off the dribble. He's also not the type of player that would always kick the ball out on a PNR/PNP situation. Lastly, he's not an offensive stopper at his position.
• It's great to see Norman Powell's confidence slowly come back, and I hope he can continue his upward trend.
• Lastly, Kawhi is good, really good. so damn f***** good. damn.

Overreaction: Game 4/82 - Four-oh

• Kawhi is starting to look more and more fluid with his moves, and this is a good thing (or bad for the rest of the league).
• I'm eating crow when it comes to Serge. I had really low expectations coming into the season, and I thought that he'll be a liability and a dead weight on the roster. Kudos to Nick Nurse for finding out a way on how to better utilize him.
• How good is Kyle Lowry? I keep telling everybody, he may have taken a step back defensively, but not offensively. Last year, he was basically cruising at 80% for most of the time, and with fewer minutes so that FVV and Delon Wright can develop. Now we're seeing Lowry at his finest.
• A bit of a concern - when it's all bench unit, it feels like FVV is having a hard time setting up others based on their offensive sets. I don't have data to back me up, but it feels like more often than not, the possession ends up late clock and FVV has to iso.
• Minor annoyance with Siakam --- if he's in the starting lineup, his role is not a playmaker, but a finisher. between Lowry and Kawhi, there's more than enough ball pounding between the two. He should be more aggressive and look to score especially if he's got Jeremy Lamb guarding him.
• I liked Malachi's garbage time minutes. Aggressive, taking advantage of the chance to play.
• Instead of commenting on how I liked how Powell and CJ Miles worked through their struggles, I'd go a step further and say I liked how Nick Nurse is taking the opportunity to get those guys back into their groove.
• It's great to see the Biz. He'll always be one of my fav non-all-star Raptor.
• How long before the Hornets figure out that Nic Batum-is-a-good-player is a scam?
• I'm really impressed by the Raps defense through 4 games, and it feels like there are a couple more gears that they can go as their cruising speed. Scary.
• I'm out like DeRozan watching Raps game - I'm typing this while watching the Spurs-Lakers game.

Overreaction: Game 3/82 - KLOE forever

• First off, I really don't get how former all-stars get these "studio analyst" jobs with ESPN or other media and at the same time be clueless about almost everything? T-Mac was recently quoted saying Lowry's gonna have to carry a big load because the Raps got no bench. Very disappointing for a former Rap. No wonder he got dissed on the Sportsnet hype video.
• Despite being relegated to the bench, I'm really impressed by how Siakam played tonight. Now, if he can just don't get too excited and not spin too fast that he loses control of his shot.
• Happy for Norm -- he had a bad 1st half and a really positive 2nd half. Nurse asked him to do what he's good at: his fast-twitch muscles to push the pace and to quickly get up and snatch the rebounds.
• Danny Green had no legs to his shot tonight, but man, he's good at predicting the movement of his man, and it saves him the unnecessary movements, and also take away some moves and limited the blow-bys.
• OG Played well for the most part, except for his ticky-tack fouls.
• The way FVV is playing right now makes me think of a "what if FVV did not get injured on the last game of the regular season last year?" Also thank god nobody outbid us for his services.
• The Go Daddy curse is for real. I hate to see CJ Miles struggle like this -- to a point that he's hesitating on the open three-point shot.
• It looks like the pre-Magic Ibaka is back. After a shaky first game, his next two games were really awesome. He is really a C on this modern NBA age.
• John Wall played ok despite being too hungover the night before.
• The Wizards imploded in the fourth, and it's only the game 2 of the season. They haven't even had Howard yet, and they haven't even turned on each other.
• I don't know how good Scott Brooks is as a coach, but it's not working out for him with the Wizards.
• Going back to the Raptors, what a game for Nick Nurse -- he was able to flex his coaching chops when it came to in-game adjustments, game management, and his ATO/OOB plays were solid.
• Lastly  - Kyle Lowry is the best point guard in the East. Quote me, @ me, fight me, whatever. Kyle Lowry is the best point guard in the East.

Overreaction: Game 2/82 - Who's the best team in the East again?

• Kawhi scares me, and the man is hella rusty.  Just imagine if he's back to form.
• Siakam got the start again, this time with Ibaka. He had his moments, but it wasn't a good game for him. Still a work in progress.
• Speaking of Ibaka - I apologize to #mafuzzy #aveclasse Serge Ibaka. I was expecting a good game from him based on the opposing team, but I was not expecting him to be REALLY GOOD!
• OG had a lowkey good game - 9pts on 4-6 shooting with one 3pt make, but he was part of the stifling closing 5 for the Raps.
• I really feel that FVV is over-dribbling at times -- and I think that's mainly because the players were too slow to go through their offensive sets. Once they get more reps, I expect the ball to stick less and see a much more fluid ball movement.
• Long shot, long rebound. At least, that was ingrained to me as a wannabe baller growing up. Yet the Raps can't figure that part out. Two games in, and they're bleeding offensive rebounds. If it weren't for those miscues, they would be blowing the Cavs and the Celtics out of the water.
• Kyle Lowry is at his best when he is the best role player on the team. He was all over the floor tonight, and it was a good thing. He had enough to come up with the clutch shots late in the game.
• If I am those other GMs, I'd monitor the Jaylen Brown situation closely. I thought he played well enough to close the game yet Brad Stevens went with Scary Terry.
• I actually downplayed the importance of this game when I was asked by my friends and coworkers today - I told them that hey, Kawhi is still getting his conditioning, Hayward and Kyrie are coming back from surgeries, and these two teams won't look the same 2 months from now. But damn, it felt like a playoff game tonight.
• Are we still doubting Nick Nurse? I know it's only 2 games, but these are 2 games that looked drastically different from what we've seen last year -- and he's pushed the right buttons on key situations.
• It'll be fun to rewatch the game again tomorrow!

Overreaction: Game 1/82 - Linear Champs

• Kevin Love got that moneybag yet he still can't afford a good barber. Fred VanVleet got less money yet he looks like he gets a fade every day.
• Earlier today, I think it was Eric Koreen who had a bit of AMA on The Athletic, and I asked on the last minute: "Is there a path for Pascal Siakam to have a breakout year?" I was hoping for one, but not expecting one. Siakam made a huge stride tonight.
• I tweeted this earlier, but the entire game felt like how the bench mob played last year.
• Only true Raptors fans know that Kyle Lowry actually took a step back, instead of NBA media's belief that Kyle regressed last year. Keep flexing that muscle boi.
• Kawhi looked rusty, but Nurse was more than willing to give him his reps and all the minutes to get his conditioning back.
• The first two games of the NBA is more than enough of a justification for the Suns to fire their GM.  Terry Rozier yesterday, Fred VanVleet today. Damn Van Fleek is good.
• I'm in my mid 30s, and I definitely feel what Ibaka went through today. There are days where my body feel so stiff, that I need a WD-40 on every joint of my body. I would do 1 good thing for every 5-6 bad things.
• I tweeted earlier, if Kawhi and OG are on the same side of the floor on defense, we should call that side the "weak side" because that's where the offensive team would be the weakest. If Ibaka is in the area? Might as well call that the Bermuda Triangle.
• Congrats Nick Nurse on your 1st NBA head coaching career win. as a tribute, here are some of the differences had Casey coached the game tonight:
• Ibaka and JV would have started together
• Norman Powell would have gotten the short end of the stick, as the bench mob would have FVV, Miles, OG, Siakam, Monroe
• FVV would not have left the court in the 2nd half
• Siakam won't see crunch time minutes
• Monroe, instead of JV would get that Ibaka breather in the 4th quarter
• Won't call the timeout when Clarkson scored 3 straight buckets with the score 90-81. Instead, would wait for the Cavs to get more momentum