Game 32: Sixers (20-11) @ (Tampa Bay) Raptors (16-15) - Feb 23rd - 7:30PM EST

[Lou_23]

Danny Green is lucky, he isnt a rookie, so the coach wont want to kill him.

[M2J]

I had a feeling Sixers would win this game easily. This thread was all doom and gloom as always, but they kept them basically at a double digit deficit throughout and the game was not in doubt IMO.

Joel has to slow down mentally and see things clearer, but still make quick decisions in this instance of constant doubles. I'm glad his scoring streak is over, because he was clearly too worried about it tonight.

You could tell that Doc wanted the defense to play well all night, and for the open man to take the shot. There could definitely be some refinement there, additional cutting and movement, but without practice... Coaches have to substitute that with emphasis on the issue and simply telling them to chuck was sufficient. Would've like to see more contact drawn from shooters at flying defenders (but the time they did this, helped slow the raps a bit).

Ben also had a bigger focus on getting shooters shots than scoring himself too. He didn't post as much, nor take extra time in his early offense allowance to create for himself. That was something I wanted to keep my eye on. Besides transition and very early offense... typically it takes Ben some time to set up his own scoring. With that factor, asking with getting Joel the ball... It could take some of the flow from others. I think they could adjust overtime, but this team isn't very used to aggressive Ben and Joel.

Would have been a prettier win with more forced turnovers for transition offense. Seth was missing, and though Furk, Green, Tobias and Shake stepped up shooting... He is still their best shooter.

Shake also needs more minutes. He got them tonight and had a solid outing. They want him to be a star off the bench and create for everyone else. He can develop into that, but I think he's a better threat at hitting open 3s, rather than creating his own. I also think hitting a few open ones can get him going himself. He's the type of player that can hurt the type of coverage the Raptors threw at them as a 3 level scorer. He also needs the experience. He's not where he needs to be yet, but he actually has the skills and just needs the repetition and the team needs his development. I wonder if they're trying to hide him from trades for the next month, because too often he doesn't get even 20 minutes. Tonight he got 30 and worked himself into a productive game in Seth's absence.

[76ciology]

After the kawhi and derozan trade. The spurs plays like the old raptors and the raptors plays like the old spurs.

This raptors team reminds me of the old spurs team that is a nightmare to play against on offense while their offense is about a PG good at running a 2 man game, a go to guy big and everyone being able to shoot and very good at attacking closeouts.

Penetrate. Kickout. Pump fake, attack close out. Rinse and repeat.