Overreaction: Game 23/82 - So You're saying You need 2 of the Top 5 players to Defeat the Raptors?

What a classic game, and for Raptors fans, this game will be added to those "way back" games that NBA TV Canada would play throughout the summer.

• It's amazing watching Pascal Siakam's development and last night couldn't have played out any better for him. I also love how he's getting crunch time minutes right now, because he'll need these reps if we want him to close games in the playoffs. Boy, did he showed up in OT.
• I'm officially jumping off the #JVHive, I'm done watching him struggle in PNR situations where he basically can't close out and it almost always end up a mid-range shooting drill.
• Excellent job by Danny Green and help defenders on Klay Thompson - he finished the 4th Quarter and OT going 1-9.
• I know Nick Nurse wanted to give the bench the reps, but games like last night should warrant a shorter leash. They were not productive at all -- to a point where they're playing worse than most of the Warriors reserves. Worst of all, their defense sucks.
• Speaking of the bench, there's a bad chemistry going on between Fred VanVleet and Jonas Valanciunas. FVV struggles to get the ball to JV on most of his penetrations. My take here is that:
• FVV doesn't have the passing savvy like Kyle Lowry. For example, Lowry would pass to his guys, but the pass would force them to get to the sweet spot, whereas FVV would wait for JV to get to his spot before he passes the ball
• FVV needs spacing on his dribble penetration, and JV does not read the situation well and would often be either out of position or get in the way of FVV
• Ok, up 3 with seconds to go Warriors ball. Sam Mitchell would've intentionally fouled to get the ball back.
• Delon Wright's been shooting pretty well around the perimeter for the past few games, he should just keep shooting them rather than turn down a very wide open 3 and go kamikaze for a kick out.
• Hot-take-ish here, but coming into the game, I had a feeling that Lowry will have a bad shooting night - and boy, he almost crapped the bed in the 4th.
• Speaking of Lowry, the Raptors need to develop Siakam and OG at a rapid rate, as they need a dedicated secondary scorer outside of Kawhi. Lowry is starting to become more and more unreliable in games like this.
• I listen to podcasts all day, and I listen to all of the Raptors podcasts. However, Friday morning will be reserved for Warriors podcasts, drinking in all the denials and silver linings that they will make of this game.
• got someone to delete their tweet
• Last year, the Raptors played the dubs twice. Both games, the Raps came back and almost got the W. The opposite happened last night. The difference? Our new acquisitions: Kawhi and Danny Green.
• The Warriors will definitely miss Kevin Durant next season, coz that guy ain't staying
• Am I the only one not scared of Boogie Cousins? If anything, if he's healthy -- he'll be the Raptors trump card LOL
• So someone on twitter tried to sandbag the Raptors W by bringing up that their team is composed of G-Leaguers. I can't believe that I made that person upset enough to delete their posts by using Lorenzo Brown and Chris Boucher as a counter argument.

Overreaction: Game 22/82 - First Signature Win

The dinos came back after being down 17, and out-grit and out-grind the Memphis Grizzlies.

• Nick Nurse flexing his coaching chops in the second half. A few things worth noting:
• Shortened rotation in the second half: no CJ Miles who was a defensive liability, JV only played 7 minutes, who was struggling last night
• man to zone defense switching
• Having at least one of Kyle Lowry and Kawhi Leonard at all times to ensure offensive stability and still kept them fresh (Lowry had about 5 mins and Kawhi 4 minutes of rest in the second half)
• Played VanVleet off the ball for spot up shooting
• The bench mob redeemed themselves - although it was really a Kawhi/Lowry + Bench lineup. The all-bench lineup of CJ Miles-JV-Delon Wright-FVV-OG Anunoby coughed up 4 turnovers in 5 minutes in the first half, which sucks because they were actually shooting it well, going 6/7 FGM/A including 3/3 from the perimeter.
• FVV was excellent tonight - and he was back playing what he does best - hitting his perimeter shots with the occasional opportunistic drives to the basket.
• Crucial part of the 3rd and 4th quarter: When the starters came out, and it became Kawhi/Lowry + Bench lineup. The starters got the lead down to two, but the offense sputtered a bit especially when it was Kawhi+Bench. However, the defense was more than good enough to hold their own and more, and they rewarded Nurses's trust.
• It's really great to see the offensive minded Lowry back, shades of 2016 Kyle Lowry for sure. If the Raps have any aspiration of being the last team standing in the East, they need more performance like this from Lowry.
• For the first time this season, Kawhi's play in the entire second half looked like he's really now part of the team. When news broke that we are getting Kawhi, last night's second half was what I had in mind on how Kawhi would play with his teammates.
• I'm realy impressed with coach Bickerstaff's reclamation project in Memphis, and if the Clippers weren't enjoying their early success, maybe they would get more mainstream buzz.
• Mike Conley is no longer on my top 10 lefty NBA players after making more right handed floaters last night than his lefty shots.

Overreaction: Game 21/82 - Dwyane Wade's Farewell Tour

I don't know what kind of nonsense coach Pop is talking about questioning Kawhi's leadership attributes. Personally, neither Kawhi nor our boy Deebo that he got are real leaders. Why? Because this guy is the real leader:

Kawhi's finally part of Lowry's entourage. Oh, he's definitely staying now. #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/GlKvjKN0ZK

— JD Quirante (@jdkeyrants) November 24, 2018

• Kawhi looks like he's getting closer and closer to his old form. It's two straight games now where Kawhi's asserted his will not just defensively, but offensively. Can't wait until we get to see this guy 100%
• Speaking of Kawhi, he forced a lot of issues in the fourth quarter - he's either trying to get the dagger or he's trying to get more crunch time reps. They looked ugly for the most part in the 4th quarter.
• Dwyane Wade looked great and he dropped 35 points making people like me nostalgic and remember how good he was.
• Speaking of Dwyane Wade, Delon Wright really need to stop playing like the little bro and start taking what he deserves. He was too soft on Wade the entire night - too respectful on defense, and was not trying to take advantage of an obvious athletic and physical edge he's got over an ageing Wade. Between him and OG, Wade found a way to lube up his joints and start cooking.
• I don't care what other people say, Pascal Siakam is the MIP
• During the TSN broadcast, Leo Rautins pointed out that CJ Miles looked great shooting 3s off the bounce. I'm not sure if this is true, but it's worth looking into.
• Is Kyle Lowry better than our CFL quarterback? he was throwing those bombs from far away
• Should teams start defending Lowry as if he's Steve Nash? he's starting to look more and more like Steve Nash right now.
• Going back to Wade and Kawhi, it was a really nice gesture of Nick Nurse for him not to put Kawhi on Wade -- that is, until late in the fourth when the nonsense needs to be stopped. Wade was quickly put back where he belongs - the bench.

Overreaction: Game 20/82 - Wizards Edition

I knew it was gonna be a win, so instead, I decided to take a temperature of the Wizards twitter and took the consensus feeling of the fanbase as the game progress.

Pregame: 

F* the Craptors, we're better than them! John Wall is a better point guard than that short fatass Kyle Lowry

1st Quarter:

- WTH this is not fair, why are they putting Kawhi on Bradley Beal?
- hot damn, we finally got a legit center! I love Bryant's energy and activity, suck it, Mahinmi!
- OMG halfway through the quarter and Porter's already got 7 points? We're winning this
- defense is trash, I understand that Kieff/Porter/Oubre can't guard Kawhi, but this team is just letting these scrubs VanVleet and Anunoby get what they want SMH

2nd Quarter: 

- OMG we barely started the 2nd quarter and we're already down 15??? I'm out on this team
- Thank god somebody (Morris) finally hit another 3! Cut the lead down to 7, this is it, comeback SZN
- Eew Oubre's playing like crap again, Brooks gotta get him out of there. Dude finally scores his first basket and gets a T???
-Wow, did Scott Brooks forgot that he's got Jeff Green active tonight???
- how TF did we end up with the wrong Morris? dude is fat and out of shape, can't guard no one and he's all talk!
- HOWWW???? JOHN WALL YOU'RE NOT RAY ALLEN STOP SHOOTING THREES!!! at least, get your ass back on defense and maybe not let Kawhi go for a coast-to-coast dunk
- Great, craptors about to get at least 140 if we play like this in the second half. Lucky to be down only by 8.

3rd Quarter:

- Oh look, the craptors can't hit their shots. Are we playing good D? someone tell me pls?
- UP 1! I knew these guys can win this game! It's over for these craptors
- Was that a dream? that lead didn't last long. SMH these guys can't hit their shots and they let the craptors get their wide-open shots.
- Why can't Otto play aggressive like this every game?
- Holy crap, nobody can hit anything from the perimeter, the craptors aren't even respecting us

4th Quarter:

- John Wall's gotta go. All he did tonight was jack up 3s and turn the ball over. There's just a better ball-movement with Sato playing the point.
- SMH even their scrubs like Delon Wright is hitting their perimeter shots
- These guys are just on another level. Our team is trash, and the coach and front office need to go!
- There's so many things that are wrong with this team: Wall is useless without the ball, Porter is much suited to play the 4 but Brooks won't, Morris should never ever start again, and why the F is Bryant not playing a lot of minutes?

Overreaction: Game 19/82 - I Miss the Old Bench Mob

Bench Mob circa 2017-2018 season

• Let me start this off that finally, we got an A+ game out of Kyle Lowry. The perimeter shot came back, but most importantly, Lowry didn't settle for outside shots but was also aggressive with his drives to the basket.
• I don't understand Nick Nurse's logic of starting Fred VanVleet and pretty much playing him almost an entire quarter at a time when he's not contributing at all. In fact, he was a liability on both sides of the court.
• If we have to rely on Greg Monroe to provide a solid contribution to win a game, we're f'd. I look at Monroe worse than what Ibaka was last year. We don't need Monroe, and we should be giving his playing time to Chris Boucher.
• Delon Wright is already 26 years old, and while the floor of his game is not too bad - minimum level quality bench player, he hasn't shown any considerable improvement to his game offensively. I'm not saying I've given up on him -- considering the fact the DeMar made huge strides at age 26-28 after appearing to stagnate from ages 22-25, but it doesn't look promising. Bottom line is, at age 26, he's no longer a "potential" player.
• I don't like that 3-point guard lineup at all. Most especially if none of them are playing well. Worse, you add in Moose to that lineup. These 3 backup point guards played horrible tonight - and don't get misled by FVV's 11 points -- the majority of them came from garbage time. It was so bad that Lowry had to come back late in the fourth to protect the lead, and it cost him a busted nose.

Overreaction: Game 18/82 - That Play Looks Familiar

A win is a win, eh? Tonight was probably the ugliest 2nd half I've ever seen the Raptors play - and still win. A few rants and notes below:

• Kawhi, Kawhi, Kawhi. As much as the Raptors kept missing open looks in the 2nd half, it's actually Kawhi's momentum killing ball pounding iso that got the Magic started. The Raps were up 18 in the first half, the pace and the ball movement was good, and here comes Kawhi and his ISOs that went nowhere.
• I think Kyle Lowry is banged up, but it's starting to look more and more that Lowry's best days as an offensive threat are long gone.
• Fred VanVleet and Delon Wright combined to be a mediocre option as Lowry's backups. Except for a couple of a high-degree of difficulty layups, these two didn't bring much to the table.
• At some point, I was wondering how come Nurse didn't utilize any of their 3 G-League assignees? Malachi Richardson, Jordan Loyd, and Chris Boucher are 3 of the 5 best Raptors perimeter shooter and they did not get a single minute.
• Lorenzo Brown really pulled his sock up and played excellent D the entire time that he was there. I doubt the Raps get the dub if he wasn't there.
• The Raptors' perimeter shooting once again got exposed. The opposing teams have more than enough sample for their scouting, and we'll probably see more and more teams clog up the paint and let the Raptors try to win the game from outside.

Overreaction: Game 17/82 - Nurse and the Art of Building a Player's Confidence

Finally, some breathing room.

After a rough 3 game losing skid, the Raptors 905 got back into the winning column. Yeah, Raptors 905 as the majority of the players that were active today have ties with the 905 club.

Confidence

It's obvious that Nick Nurse is trying to rehab his players' performance by giving them the longer leash and empowering them the more that they struggle. Right now, while the intent is good, Kyle Lowry went down with an apparent ankle injury while the team was up 30 in the 3rd period -- all for getting Lowry to shoot his way back into rhythm.

It worked for Ibaka, Siakam, and JV -- it's starting to work for Delon Wright. It was slowly working for Norman Powell.

Nurse is trying to make it work for CJ Miles, Lorenzo Brown, and Malachi Richardson. It looks like Malachi is starting to get there.

Had this been Nurse, CJ would have been in the doghouse after 5 games. Brown and Richardson won't be seeing rotation minutes unless it's really, really bad.

Looking at how Nurse's handling the Kawhi situation - especially the late game gaffes -- it looks like Nurse is doing the same with Kawhi.

Nurse knows that he needs to elevate his team's individual performance to get as deep as possible in the playoffs. Kawhi by himself won't cut it, regardless of how good he is. Kawhi's going to need an army of solid players to play off and play with.

Tonight was a good sign of progression. We saw Kyle got the leeway to get himself out of the slump. Siakam, Ibaka, and JV are playing better than expected. Malachi and Brown started off shaky but was able to shake off the cobwebs and contribute.

Jordan Loyd and Chris Boucher even got some good burn tonight.

Personally, I like the approach, and a team like the Bulls tonight was a good practice run.

Overreaction: Game 16/82 - The Streak Goes On (Rant Post)

Hey, at least they didn't choke like the last game, eh?

• Honestly, Kyle Lowry is playing a well-rounded game, bringing in the intangibles, getting his teammates into scoring opportunities. In a way, he's playing like Jason Kidd in his later years with the Nets. However, on a roster like this, Lowry can't be the fourth highest scorer on the team AND also shoot horribly. 3/12 and 1/6 from deep? This is unacceptable. His presence needs to be felt throughout the game and respected as a scoring threat, otherwise, it will be the same old Raptors again.
• I'm a #JVHive but I'm really sick of all the wide-open midrange shots that opposing teams are getting via JV PNR. Gordon Hayward and Jayson Tatum got going because of those free shots that JV is giving them.
• What's up with the perimeter bricks being thrown around these 3-game losing streak?
• Fred VanVleet - 2/12
• Kyle Lowry - 2/15
• Kawhi Leonard - 1/11
• OG Anunoby - 4/16
• Can Nick Nurse come up with crunch time plays where at least 1 off-the-ball person can be a threat to score?
• With the way Lowry et al are shying away from scoring and just be happy as a facilitator, I would nominate to put Chris Boucher on the floor -- at least this guy won't have any conscience jacking up those shots (and they may go in too!)

Overreaction: Game 15/82 - Disturbing Trends

Dwane Casey and the Pistons came to town and kicked the Raptors' behind.

Quite a few disturbing trends that have been going on the past few games:

• Inconsistent perimeter shooting leading to empty possessions. Under 29% versus the Pelicans on Monday, and this time, 20% against the Pistons. Worse, the 20 attempts tonight might be the lowest this season.
• Passive Kyle Lowry. Kyle Lowry is too good to take a backseat and defer too much of the offence to Kawhi. It's understandable that Kawhi is the alpha male of the team, but Lowry needs to be a threat to create more space for Kawhi and everybody else when Lowry's playing off the ball.
• Too much Kawhi ISO-ball. I mentioned this on my last blog, but Nurse and Kawhi need to talk about incorporating him more and more to the offence, rather than relying on getting him ISO possessions. At times it slows the pace down, and that's not the ideal situation for the Raptors.
• (Too much) Pound The Rock. I know this is coach Casey's mantra, but  Delon/FVV and even Lowry at times are pounding the ball for too long when the shot or mismatch is already there.
• Bounce pass in traffic to the Cs. A hard bounce pass in traffic to either Ibaka (stone hands), JV (too slow), Moose (can't bend, too slow) is a turnover waiting to happen. This is only effective when the ball does not get deflected and it bounces directly to their "pocket." Tonight, JV and Moose combined for 6 turnovers. Majority of them were from those bounce passes.
• Forgot about Skills. This dude is making a killing. Siakam needs to have an opportunity to create every now and then in crunch time situations to get him reps and to make the offence less predictable.
• Centers sagging to the middle of nowhere. I guess this is where we miss Serge Ibaka. JV and Moose are both sagging to the middle of nowhere leaving their teammate getting caught in between switching or sticking to their man.
• Kawhi's Perimeter Funk. Don't look now, but Kawhi's shooting 1/10 from deep for the past 3 games.
• Lowry's Perimeter Funk. Remember when Lowry was shooting the lights out from the perimeter? It feels like a long time ago. For the past 4 games, he's shooting a meagre 4/21.

Tidbits:

• It's good to see Nurse take VanVleet out in crunch time as last year, Casey would have kept him in there till the end
• The BLOB play that Casey almost pulled off looks so similar to the Miami Heat's game-winner against the Raptors last year.

Overreaction: Game 14/82 - Outworked, Out-hustled, Outclassed

I missed 1/3 of the game, so I'll have to change the format a bit. I see a lot of post-game coverage talking about good things, so since it's a loss, I'll take my spin on it --- the total opposite. I'm giving the readers 5 bad things instead.

1. Kyle Lowry's passive play: I know Jrue Holiday is a good defender, but he's not a shutdown defender that would make Lowry scoreless the entire game. Lowry took himself out offensively by being too passive, trying to be more of a playmaker especially if his downtown bombs weren't going in. However, games like this where there's a lack of consistent primary scoring (workload shared by Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam, and Serge Ibaka), Lowry should try to go back to that pitbull Lowry that we're all accustomed to seeing whenever he need some buckets.

2. Ball Watching: We've seen this against the Cavs during the playoffs - The entire team were too preoccupied where the ball is, and they're getting killed by back cuts.

3. Run the Offense: I know Kawhi needs his shots - especially his ISO plays, but it's about time to get Kawhi acclimated to the offence. It's starting to get too predictable whenever Kawhi posts up. More often than not, he's going for his shot. It takes him forever to get set up, and if he gets defended well (by a help defender), the shot clock is fried and a bad shot ensue.

4. Lazy Rebounding Effort: The Raptors as a team tried to compete for rebounds, however, they forgot the first and most important part -- boxing out. There were a lot of situations where they don't even make an effort to box out and just concede the rebounds.

5. Poor Perimeter Defense: Jrue Holiday 29 points? I could somewhat understand. E-Twaun Moore dropping 30? That's inexcusable. The Pelicans are at their best when AD's got help. The formula against AD has always been letting him do all the heavy lifting and take out his teammates. They did neither tonight.

No Game 13/82 vs the Knicks as it was basically Raptors vs Westchester Knicks.

Overreaction: Game 12/82 - Raps had the Kings' Heads Spinning

1st Quarter

9:27  What's up with the slow starts recently? Opened up with a miss, a couple of turnovers, and an Ibaka miss. Lowry bailed the team out with a buzzer beater 3.

7:13 Transition basket off a miss. I thought Lowry was passing to Kawhi who was really fast to the offensive end. Well, Pascal was faster.

6:42 Plenty of sloppy plays on both ends for the Raps. Teams are starting to make business decisions about shooting with Ibaka in the vicinity. Speaking of Ibaka, I wonder why it wasn't JV that started with WCS on the floor? Maybe Nurse is thinking that JV can match up better the Kings' backup Cs?

4:48 Raps struggling. Bogdanovic is back, this is great for me, he's on my fantasy team.

3:29 Fox's speed is a problem. Pascal over Bjelica mismatch will be there all day. Kawhi's timing looks off. Danny Green should not be allowed to have more than 5 dribble and steps combined.

0:00 Lowry does not like Mason III. Interesting sub pattern here. Siakam left around 8mins, only to come back for the last minute to replace Lowry. Kings' bench sucked, so the Raps find themselves up 3 at the end of the quarter.

2nd Quarter

8:47 Siakam looked so confident right now. Bagley's only going two ways: left and extreme left.

6:55 Nurse is pushing the right buttons right now. Taking advantage of all the mismatches on the floor. I really like this young Kings core, and if they don't eff this up, they could position themselves well in the next few years.

5:18 Kawhi getting these superstar calls (valid calls) got the Kings into the penalty early. The Kings kids are playing at an all-time high confidence. Even Dave Joerger thinks that WCS vs Ibaka is an exploitable matchup. Raps up 10 all of a sudden.

3:20 DeAaron Fox will be a problem for the league if he can consistently knock that long ball.

2:19 Danny Green finally warmed up, hitting back to back 3s.

1:37 did OG make a no-look steal?

3rd Quarter

8:32 Another slow start, giving up 6pts and putting up nothing. What do the Raps do? go back to the mismatch. Siakam's making Bjelica cry. Also, here's my updated top five lefty right now:

1. James Harden
2. Joe Ingles
3. Ben Simmons
4. DeAaron Fox
5. Manu Ginobli (I refuse to think that he's retired)

6:00 Nurse calls a timeout. Kings make a run, Raps only up 7 via Buddy Hield and a 4-pt play off a Lowry foul and a fastbreak alley-oop dunk from Hield to WCS. Raps just racking up turnovers. Very sloppy. Time to put JV in?

4:13 Kawhi and Lowry restored some order.

0:53 Lowry+JV pnr why isn't this happening often? Bagley not only cannot defend, but he also can't box out either. Looks like Lowry's 10+ assist streak will be over tonight

4th Quarter

9:00 Kings bench made a push as the Raps got sloppy again. Raps still up 10. Surprised that they went away from Siakam.

7:33 Raps bench settled down. They went back to Pascal again and they're back up to a comfortable 14pt lead. Kings called for a timeout to put their starters in -- will we see Lowry and/or Kawhi again?

4:52 Kawhi went back to work, but JV's just gonna keep missing or turning them over. 8-2 run with the Raps still up 7. Sloppy defence and sloppy finishes.

2:43 Kawhi and Serge with clutch 3s. Lowry takes a charge. Pascal connects with Lowry for a transition dunk. Raps up 14. This game's pretty much over.

Parting Shots

It's really fun to watch Danny Green chase faster guys, yet he gets there pretty much on time all the time. It's way different from how Norm Powell is chasing his man. Very efficient, reading where the guy is going.

I'm not 100% sure, but it looks like OG had a "no-look" steal w/o diving for the ball. Insane.

Divac's Picks:

2015 - WCS

2016 - Bogdan Bogdanovic, Skal, Papagiannis, Malachi Richardson

2017 - DeAaron Fox, Frank Mason, Justin Jackson, Harry Giles

2018 - Marvin Bagley, Gary Trent Jr

Either Vlade's getting better or he's a volume shooter.

Overreaction: Game 11/82 - NBA does not want Ibaka to win the MVP

1st Quarter

12:00 No Kawhi, what a bummer, but I wasn’t surprised. Raptors will come into the game playing with house money. Maybe a schedule loss today? I’m pretty sure they’ll try to see how far they can go.

11:17 3 TOs in a row. Not a good sign.

10:00 Ibaka’s help-D is just so much better than JV. While JV’s got 2 blocks already, JV’s always half a step slow on his help D.

8:50 5 TOs already. Raptors look lethargic on both ends of the court.

7:15 JV3 of course. Kidding aside, Raptors showing some life

5:36 early sub-in for the bench. FVV and Ibaka for JV and OG who did not have it for tonight.

4:29 timeout Utah. Raps got back to within 3 (17-20) behind Pascal+Serge+Lowry. Interesting move: OG for Danny Green. Not the usual Miles/Powell. hmmm.

2:44 Raps up 1. Ibaka might be the next former OKC to win the MVP. Lowry with a stupid 2nd foul on a three-pointer. Would like to see a Delon-Exum matchup at this point.

1:56 Another interesting sub. Danny Green back in for Lowry. CJ Miles finally in for Siakam.

0:00 Raptors close out strong. Ibaka not gonna miss anymore. CJ’s defence is still a lot to be desired.

2nd Quarter

9:46. Ibaka still on his MVP campaign but picked up his 3rd. CJ Miles showed some life. Finally, Powell for Green but what a luck, looks like he dislocated his shoulder.

7:30 Raps down 6, slipped a little bit on defence and also JV with the missed bunnies. Lowry back. Good to see FVV hitting his threes.

6:49 Utah calls a timeout after OG’s transition 3. Raps down 3. Love how the team’s intensity goes up when Kyle is on the floor. MVP?

5:05 Raps back up 1 on Lowry and FVV’s strong coast to coast flex-your-muscle layups. Should be both and-1s.

3:30 it took the refs the entire 1st half until they realized that Gobert’s been illegally screening all the time. Also, Siakam is really good on the open floor.

Raptors finished strong on Lowry+Siakam brilliance. Siakam’s growing before our eyes. Greg Monroe looked like he’s been on a bulk up meal-plan.

3rd Q

8:42 Raps start strong, and are up 20. Hooomannn, this team is good!

4:37 Raps still up 18 but we’ve seen a few bad Siakam plays. He’s still rough around the edges, but the good plays are outnumbering the bad ones right now. JV did a great job being big vs the Jazz big men. Lowry and co need to step on the gas and go for the kill. They can’t have a drawn-out game on the 2nd game of a back-to-back.

1:05 Lowry got T’d up after Lowry won’t stop yapping as he was fouled (no-call) again with the defender taking his landing spot. Of course, Ibaka came back and hit a few shots. Raptors gave the physicality and defence back to Utah and gave them some more. Impressive.

4th Q

10:33 Ibaka with back-to-back fouls. Not good. Was looking to see him go 10/10 FGs tonight.

9:08 FVV seems to be on a mission to force his way all the way to the cup. Pretty ballsy of Nurse to leave Ibaka with 5 fouls. I don’t know what the ref is seeing but the Joe Ingles bumped into Favors. Monroe in.

7:22 Monroe is just too slow. Don’t want to see Monroe and CJ Miles together on the floor if it’s not garbage time. Refs just gonna keep making whistles against the Raps.

5:30 left and the Jazz bust out Udoh and Thabo. This game is over.

Parting shots:

• For some reason, the refs keep missing the 3-in-the-key call on Jazz bigs all the time. They’re on the paint for  5 seconds!
• The Raps as a whole brought the physicality and defence back to the Jazz, but Kyle Lowry set the tone for them.
• Rubio’s got one of the most punchable face on the NBA and for some reason, I felt good seeing him take a Delon Wright shoulder on his face. I don’t even hate the guy.
• Coz I'm a lefty baller, Joe Ingles is my fave lefty player and it's not even by default. He's pretty good.
• It took at least 10 games before we got to see the brilliance of FVV and Delon Wright as their usual selves.

Overreaction: Game 10/82 - Starters' Chemistry + Defense FTW (aka Baka is my Father)

I thought I should change up my posts about the game, so I made some sort of a running commentary as I remember to type:

1st Half

• The Lakers started big with LeBron-Lonzo-Ingram-Kuzma-Javale 28-10 start. Interesting strategy, not having pure shooters out there with LeBron and Lonzo being the smaller player on the floor (who's way taller than Lowry)
• Kyle picking the Lakers defence apart early. This is a clinic.
• Lakers went small LeBron-Kuzma-Stephenson-Rondo-Hart and Ibaka just "sonned" them.
• Ibaka 18 points in just over 8 minutes. WTH. Lowry with 9 assists.
• sorry, but Walton is trying to get fired here by fielding Rondo-KCP-Hart-Kuzma-Stephenson with them down 25 with 3mins left in the first half.
• Not liking the defensive effort of the second unit. Allowed the Lakers get some offensive rhythm. CJ Miles. Oh well CJ Miles.
• Lebron started to impose his will when he came in around 8mins in the 2nd quarter. Interesting to see how the Raps respond. Nurse slowly added the starters in.
• Raptors bend but did not bend that much in the 2nd quarter. The defensive intensity went back up when the starters came back.
• Ibaka picked up his 3rd chasing a 3pt shot late in the 2nd. something to keep an eye on.

2nd Half

• Rough defensive trips to start the 2nd half. Ibaka also picked up his 4th.
• Loving Lowry's intensity to keep the crew focused. He refused to let the complacency to sink in and become the norm.
• Ibaka crossed 30pts 4 mins into the 3rd quarter. what.
• Raptors need to get this lead bigger to make this a short night for LeBron.
• Nick Nurse's timeouts are on-point so far. Borderline too early, but so far they're the right call.
• Raptors got the lead up to 24-26, but LeBron started to make a push again. Hitting back to back threes. Nurse with another timeout. Let's see how the team respond.
• Kyle Lowry went to the bench late in the 3rd, really important how the bench who'd start to come in respond and maintain this lead. up 22.
• Bench barely protected the lead with 7 minutes left in the fourth quarter. The offence is dead outside of JV destroying Ivica at every possession that he's got the ball. CJ, Powell, FVV are all cold. The defence is not as good as the starters, even against a crappy lineup of Rondo-Stephenson-Rondo-Ivica-Mikhailuk
• Ingram and Kuzma came in with 7mins left, probably a feeler whether they can get back into the game without LeBron.
• Not liking how FVV and Delon were milking the clock before trying to get the ball to JV
• Lead down to 14 off a Lonzo back-to-back three-pointer. This bench outside of JV is trash right now. If I were Walton I would put Lebron back in there right now.
• Nurse's only bad decision tonight was to keep the bench for too long. I know he was trying to get them more reps, but if they are not playing D, they have to be out of the court.
• Kyle and the starters came back stiff, but after a few possessions and a charge, he's warmed up again.

Parting shots:

• If CJ can't shoot and can't provide a passable defence, he shouldn't be on the court, period.
• LeBron James obv a primadonna trying to make a statement, left the game immediately without shaking hands. This is a protest for sure.
• Kyle Lowry and Chris Bosh talking. Bosh probably wants in on that "Kawhi-home-games-only" contract.
• Excellent defence and chemistry by the starters, horrible outing for the bench players.
• I don't know if Nick Nurse was right on keeping FVV to close the game, he hasn't done much -- if anything, I would have kept Delon Wright because you need defensive closers. The Lakers got their shots too freely in the 4th quarter.

Overreaction: Game 9/82 - Bare Minimum

• The lack of production off the bench is killing the Raptors. OG, CJ Miles, FVV, Delon Wright didn't have anything in the first half, and Norm Powell didn't shoot enough.
• The defence in the 1st half looks like last year's defence, which is bad.
• Pascal Siakam got 15 rebounds against the 76ers, and to see him only have 1 rebound in the first half is not acceptable.
• I lost track, but there have to be at least 6 three-pointers that went in and out
• I don't know about you, but I feel the same when OG+Kawhi team up on a fast break and when Kyle+FVV team up on their own fast break.
• I almost forgot that the Suns have Josh Jackson. With limited playing time and a drastic haircut change, he looks like one of their typical scrubs.
• The Raptors had FVV-Powell-OG-Miles-Ibaka late 3rd/early 4th. I caught myself saying "Thank god Ibaka's there to provide veteran leadership and scoring." OMG
• The bench performance in the 2nd half was probably the closest to last year's bench mob in terms of production and cohesion.
• Kyle Lowry really does not respect Canaan's offence, he let the dude go off for 19 points
• Kyle, Kawhi, JV came in the 4th with 5 mins to go up 18, and their subpar defence and offence saw their lead to go down to 13 and Nurse had to call a timeout.
• Uh-oh, Kawhi heading back to the locker room. Not good.