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- Tuesday, April 16th, 8:00 PM EST -- Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, Canada

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"I know what it’s like to lose. To feel so desperately that you’re right, yet to fail nonetheless. Dread it. Run from it. Destiny still arrives. Or should I say, I have." - DJ Augustin postgame quote, 2019 Game 1 vs Raptors

Also, back as a mod for the playoffs to help out a little.

Appreciate you putting the thread together SOUL and good to see you back modding again. We are playing with house money. So damn hype for this game tomorrow. Need to exploit Gasol on the pick&roll more, he looks slow as hell out there and can't really move laterally anymore. Need to run some pin action in the paint for Vooch to create better post position for him. Need DJ to continue to be aggressive and continue to be in attack mode. Just play hard and disciplined and we will give ourselves a chance at a win.

I actually hope Toronto ISOs more and puts it all on the shoulders of Kawhi and Kyle because that will freeze out the others. They are more dangerous when they are attacking you from all sides and opening up their perimeter game from the 3 point line. Whatever they decide to do, our defense needs to be sound and our offense needs to be even better than it was on Saturday.

Wait a minute.. is that legit? DJ really said that quote? That is straight out of a motovational poster or something

RookieStar wrote:Wait a minute.. is that legit? DJ really said that quote? That is straight out of a motovational poster or something

No it's a Thanos quote

Destiny has arrived. Or should I say, DJ has.

...or wait... Clifford has?

I'm so confused now.

OrlandO wrote:

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The Kawhi laugh at the end was perfect

Adjustments to watch for:

ORLANDO
- Can Cliff help Vuc get some better shots? I think the playoff intensity lead to Vuc rushing A LOT of his shots, but he had positioning that he's proven he can score from before. I fully expect us to see Vuc scoring well again next game.

- Can Cliff help Fournier and Gordon get to the rim for better shots? Or at least catch them on pin downs for some good looks from the high post.


TORONTO
- Can Nurse adjust their offense so they aren't as bothered by our length? Or does he stick with the abundant 3's knowing his team has a history of making those shots?


Those are the biggest things I expect to see both teams address. The game of chess has begun!

I'd let Isaac and AG play Kawhi and Siakam straight up with help defense only if they're driving. Stick to the shooters. Lowry had a lot of open shots that he will probably hit, and we know what Green can do to us. They had more open threes than I'd like them to have in the first game.

My two predictions:

The game goes almost exactly the same way as game 1 except Toronto hits a few more open 3s and we miss a few more open 3s and lose by 10+. Not being negative, just expecting a return to the mean!

AG and JI try to play more physical with Kawhi and Siakam (overcompensating due to both players having a decent first game) and end up in foul trouble all night.

need this game to start right now. tired of waiting to bomb dodongos.

Good thread OP.

I expect Clifford will come up with ways to get Ross and Vuc open looks.



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I'll expect the Magic to free up TRoss. There will be a lot of ball movement per possession. We have 3 playmakers in AG, Evan and DJ facilitators of pnr and movement without the ball. We will adjust what Raptors will give in defense. Vooch will be his usual reliable self again. The game will be down the wire back and forth. Nothing is gonna be given, they have to beat us thru the breaks of the game. Importantly the Magic has to control the tempo and give no turnovers. This will be a hard fought series and the coaches needs to adjust on the fly.
I am confident with the grit of this team we will fight til we have the opportunity to make it close and have the chance to take game 2.

OrlandO wrote:

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only fool would face Magic on open field

Let's go! The favored home team righting the ship is how this usually goes, but let's shock the world again!

I thought there were two big positives from the first game.

Firstly, we punished Gasol in the pick-and-roll. Gasol can shut down Vucevic. When Vucevic catches the ball with deep position, he uses his shoulder to rock the defender off balance and quickly spins for a hook over his opposite shoulder. This is really effective against smaller defenders, but it doesn't work so well against big defenders that aren't at all bothered by the weight of Vucevic leaning into them. It's a mistake for Vucevic to force shots against good post defenders like Gasol.

Augustin was masterful in the pick-and-roll in game 1 though. Everyone was saying that Toronto botched the defense on Orlando's last possession and that both Leonard and Gasol were covering Vucevic. That's not what I saw. It seemed to me that Gasol was legitimately worried about the Augustin drive and took a big initial step backward. That provided more than enough space for Augustin to nail the game winner.

When Ibaka is on the floor, Vucevic can go to town. They will probably send a double to help out Ibaka, but Vucevic is going to find the right pass out when that double comes and we are going to get open threes. Regardless of who Toronto has on the floor at the five, we have a means to attack their defense as long as our execution is on point.

The other big positive that I took from game 1 was the number of high-difficulty shots that Leonard and Siakam hit. It wasn't a great game for either player, but Leonard in particular had a good night shooting. Gordon played him tough, but Leonard still hit those tough shots. I like our chances of they attack our defense the way they did in game 1. I don't expect that they will though.

tooler wrote:My two predictions:

The game goes almost exactly the same way as game 1 except Toronto hits a few more open 3s and we miss a few more open 3s and lose by 10+. Not being negative, just expecting a return to the mean!

AG and JI try to play more physical with Kawhi and Siakam (overcompensating due to both players having a decent first game) and end up in foul trouble all night.

I expect the Magic to lose, but a betting line of 10.5 is fairly shocking. I cannot imagine a Raptors blow-out. I expect the Magic to easily cover to 10.5 line.

It's not even game 2 but I feel like our season is already a huge success.Even if the Raptors win the next 4 games.
The amount of respect we've earned through this last month and the promising future shaping in front of us...
Great feeling to be a Magic fan right now.