Game 62: Portland vs Toronto 5:00pm ESPN/SNW

[Epicurus]

BTW, Lowry set a moving screen (close to an offensive line man's pulling) on the last play.

[GEE]

can somebody explain why, on the last play, when Portland was on defense, CJ was on the floor and Aminu was on the bench?

that seems totally stupid to me. Harkless should have been on Lowry and Aminu on Kawhi, with Dame on Green, and CJ on the bench. That way, the two man game between Lowry and Kawhi, which everybody knew they would run, wouldn't end up with a mismatch on a switch

Also thought Aminu not being in at the end was strange, but also at the very end of the game when we needed a 3 to tie and Curry was on the bench, WTH? Questionable substitutions for sure.

And the officiating was right up there with the worst I've seen this year. They were influencing the game from the start, and that one ref totally ICED Dame on his free throws at the end. The officiating is just getting worse and worse. Vegas no doubt.

[AreBe]

can somebody explain why, on the last play, when Portland was on defense, CJ was on the floor and Aminu was on the bench?

that seems totally stupid to me. Harkless should have been on Lowry and Aminu on Kawhi, with Dame on Green, and CJ on the bench. That way, the two man game between Lowry and Kawhi, which everybody knew they would run, wouldn't end up with a mismatch on a switch

Also thought Aminu not being in at the end was strange, but also at the very end of the game when we needed a 3 to tie and Curry was on the bench, WTH? Questionable substitutions for sure.

And the officiating was right up there with the worst I've seen this year. They were influencing the game from the start, and that one ref totally ICED Dame on his free throws at the end. The officiating is just getting worse and worse. Vegas no doubt.

Nope- Adam Silver's "Men in Gray"

Adam Silver, the NBA League Office and the tv networks lie away at night, between bouts of heavy drinking, gravely concerned that Boston might not have a long run, the Lakers might not make the playoffs, that small market teams like Portland and Milwaukee might have deep playoff runs are are particularly panicked at the thought of the zero American rating Toronto Raptors might win more than one round.

Disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy is giving credence to Toronto Raptors fans who feel their team was victimized by biased officiating in game one of their NBA Eastern Conference playoff series against the Brooklyn Nets last Saturday.

Donaghy, who was an NBA official from 1994-2007 before being fired and later imprisoned for betting on games he officiated, appeared Tuesday on The Jeff Blair Show on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. He told Blair why he believes the Raptors are at a disadvantage in the series.

Donaghy on Jeff Blair Show

“They’re not only going against the Brooklyn Nets but going against the league office,” Donaghy said. “They have a very talented team and have to be that much better than the Brooklyn Nets. I have picked Brooklyn to win the series with (Paul) Pierce, (Kevin) Garnett, Joe Johnson and even Jason Kidd. When you look at the coaches – the referees are going to be more active to talk and respond to (Kidd) over (Raptors coach) Dwane Casey.”

Donaghy officiated in several playoff games in his NBA career and is of the belief that the league office indirectly trains officials to favour certain teams. He told Blair the league meets with referees before playoff games to explain what they specifically want and do not want called during games.

“What they do is they actually send in a representative from the league office to sit down with the referees at an 11 o’clock meeting in the morning where they go over game film,” Donaghy said. “They will show the referees what they want called, what they want them to concentrate on, what they feel needs to be called or let go in a series to avoid any problems. With that, you would leave the room and say to yourself one team is put at an advantage or disadvantage.

“In this situation, Brooklyn would be put at an advantage. A Brooklyn-Miami matchup would bring great ratings and that’s what this is all about for the NBA and the league offices – bringing in as many dollars as they can.”

https://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/nba/donaghy-raptors-battling-nets-referees/

So in case you are wondering if their the officiating is in favor the Lakers, Celtics, Heat, Warriors, Rockets and Bulls, it is.

Small ratings Portland and zero ratings Toronto start each playoff game down 10 points .

I want to be wrong.

[DaVoiceMaster]

The Blazers can't breath on the Raptors. And Aminu just needs to stop dribbling.

This guy really pisses me off every time he dribbles. Why in the world does he think he can dribble when more times than not, he turns the ball over? He had 3 or 4 turnovers right before the half. What could the Blazers have done with those possessions? Had they made one or two buckets, they might have walked away with the win. I would pull Aminu out of the game every time he dribbles the ball.

[DaVoiceMaster]

Aminu is embarrassing

Without Nurkic or Kanter, they are using Leonard in the P&R and it isn't very effective so other guys are trying to get things going outside of their normal role. I like Aminu's effort, and while it hasn't worked out on most of those drives a lot of things aren't working out. Curry missed easy shots, Hood missed open shots, Leonard has looked like old Leonard, Nurkic has been fouling, etc. A lot of the issues start with Nurkic being in foul trouble and Kanter being out. Turner would probably help too if he were healthy.

I have to assume this isn't the first Blazer game you've watched. Aminu dribbling the ball and losing it is not simply because Nurkic is on the bench and Kanter is not here. Aminu always tries to dribble the ball. He just sucks at dribbling the ball and everyone knows it but him. GET A CLUE AMINU!!!

[DaVoiceMaster]

can somebody explain why, on the last play, when Portland was on defense, CJ was on the floor and Aminu was on the bench?

that seems totally stupid to me. Harkless should have been on Lowry and Aminu on Kawhi, with Dame on Green, and CJ on the bench. That way, the two man game between Lowry and Kawhi, which everybody knew they would run, wouldn't end up with a mismatch on a switch

Or you could put both Lillard and CJ on the bench and bring Layman in to cover Green. That way no one has a height advantage. They really missed Turner for that one single play.

[DaVoiceMaster]

Read on Twitter

There was contact because Lowry stupidly left his feet. Lowry did the same thing to Nurkic. I suppose it's ok when Lowry draws a foul but it's not when Lillard does the same thing.

Care to point out the contact on that clip? All I see is space as Kyle flies by Damien pulls back.

It was a weak call, but Lillard's elbow hit Lowry's chest so it is a call. You can see Lillard's arm change directions when it hit Lowry.

[DaVoiceMaster]

Wow, Portland would be in 3rd place had they won that game.

[DaVoiceMaster]

I love all the whining on the General Board in the game forum. Raptors win and their fans are still crying about the Lowry foul on Lillard and how the Raptors got screwed by the ref's all game. Unfortunately I didn't bother looking at the thread until today so I'm late to the race, but I couldn't help but respond to a few posts. Kudo's to monopoman for hangin in there. Gotta love the due who tells him to lose with some tact, hahahaha. I had to chime in by telling him to win with some class. Such conspiracy theories in Toronto with the referees. Maybe the NBA should just move the team out of Canada and put the whole thing to rest once and for all.

[Wizenheimer]

by the way, for the knothead Toronto fans who showed up here claiming Lowry didn't foul Dame on that three:





in other words, eat it

[Matt800]

by the way, for the knothead Toronto fans who showed up here claiming Lowry didn't foul Dame on that three:





in other words, eat it

The image didn't show up for me, but I saw in the 2 minute report that it was decided to be a correct call. It seemed like in at least one of the video angles Lowry makes contact with Lillard's elbows. I was mostly surprised that Lillard would try to bet the game on a call being made like that because there have been a few times this season that he has had more contact and not gotten that call.