PG: Raptors find the Magic Touch

[Dalek]

I sensed a win because of the rest Toronto had. I think they had three full days off to prepare for this one. They looked ready for the zone and Scottie looked rested and locked in.

Magic might call it a schedule loss and with injuries they have they looked thin. Foul trouble hurt them.

Loved that KO and Brown upped their value but we will see if we they some decent trades out of this. How did KO get 4 blocks? Such a freak game.

[TheGeneral99]

Orlando is missing 2 of their 3 depth chart Cs, their starting and backup pg and 2 of their 3 forwards with isaac leaving today

That is a beat up team

Just like we've been beat up missing Quickley for most of the season, Barnes for half the season, and Brown/Olynyk for majority of the season.

[TheGeneral99]

I did not see that comeback coming, but good for our guys. I can't tell if the Raptors are playing well lately or if teams have just been playing uncharacteristically bad against us.

Barnes is healthy.

Brown and Olynyk are healthy.

Schedule a bit easier.

These are things that were not happening early in the year. We still aren't a good team, but if healthy we are a competitive play-in team.

[tsherkin]

I did not see that comeback coming, but good for our guys. I can't tell if the Raptors are playing well lately or if teams have just been playing uncharacteristically bad against us.

Barnes is healthy.

Brown and Olynyk are healthy.

Schedule a bit easier.

These are things that were not happening early in the year. We still aren't a good team, but if healthy we are a competitive play-in team.

Honestly, I don't know how much we should project from that specific game. Orlando absolutely crapped themselves on offense in the second half, and we shot nearly 64% from the field at the same time, while going 6/8 from 3.

This whole game was decided in the 3rd quarter. We were down 5 going into the half and then put 40 on them to their 20 in the third. The fourth meant nothing. In the 3rd, Orlando was 8/20 from the field, 1/7 from 3... while we went 15/20 and 6/8. Gradey and Kelly were on fire, Shead hit both of his shots, Barret was clicking... we abused them at unsustainable rates. It isn't something that will happen on a regular basis.

Health matters, and the schedule is lightening a bit, but this one doesn't tell us much going forward. It was a pleasant surprise, though!

[TheGeneral99]

I did not see that comeback coming, but good for our guys. I can't tell if the Raptors are playing well lately or if teams have just been playing uncharacteristically bad against us.

Barnes is healthy.

Brown and Olynyk are healthy.

Schedule a bit easier.

These are things that were not happening early in the year. We still aren't a good team, but if healthy we are a competitive play-in team.

Honestly, I don't know how much we should project from that specific game. Orlando absolutely crapped themselves on offense in the second half, and we shot nearly 64% from the field at the same time, while going 6/8 from 3.

This whole game was decided in the 3rd quarter. We were down 5 going into the half and then put 40 on them to their 20 in the third. The fourth meant nothing. In the 3rd, Orlando was 8/20 from the field, 1/7 from 3... while we went 15/20 and 6/8. Gradey and Kelly were on fire, Shead hit both of his shots, Barret was clicking... we abused them at unsustainable rates. It isn't something that will happen on a regular basis.

Health matters, and the schedule is lightening a bit, but this one doesn't tell us much going forward. It was a pleasant surprise, though!

Yeah I mean I agree.

I think if we were healthy this season we probably max out at 35 wins or so and are a 9-10th place play-in team...still not that good, but more competitive and likely much closer games compared to the blowouts we saw in December.

Because we have had injuries we probably finish with around 20-25 wins.

At the end of the day it's better in the long-term we are doing bad so increase our odds at a top pick. Hopefully it works out.

[tsherkin]

I think if we were healthy this season we probably max out at 35 wins or so and are a 9-10th place play-in team...still not that good, but more competitive and likely much closer games compared to the blowouts we saw in December.

We'd be better. I don't know about 35 wins, but we'd be better, for sure.

As you say, I don't know that it would be a better result for us long-term, but our guys have struggled to perform at the level necessary for consistent winning regardless of health. It's nice to see little flashes here and there, but I think at this point we all know we just need to keep losing, sadly.

[ArthurVandelay]

Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but pride probably impacted this game too. Last time they played Orlando THUMPED them without Banchero, Suggs, and Franz. I'm sure Raptors remmemberd.

[ForeverTFC]

I did not see that comeback coming, but good for our guys. I can't tell if the Raptors are playing well lately or if teams have just been playing uncharacteristically bad against us.

Barnes is healthy.

Brown and Olynyk are healthy.

Schedule a bit easier.

These are things that were not happening early in the year. We still aren't a good team, but if healthy we are a competitive play-in team.

Honestly, I don't know how much we should project from that specific game. Orlando absolutely crapped themselves on offense in the second half, and we shot nearly 64% from the field at the same time, while going 6/8 from 3.

This whole game was decided in the 3rd quarter. We were down 5 going into the half and then put 40 on them to their 20 in the third. The fourth meant nothing. In the 3rd, Orlando was 8/20 from the field, 1/7 from 3... while we went 15/20 and 6/8. Gradey and Kelly were on fire, Shead hit both of his shots, Barret was clicking... we abused them at unsustainable rates. It isn't something that will happen on a regular basis.

Health matters, and the schedule is lightening a bit, but this one doesn't tell us much going forward. It was a pleasant surprise, though!

A bit more on that 3rd Q: we started the half down 5 and subbed on Olynyk for Poeltl at the 7 min mark down 1 - +4 in those 5 minutes. Kelly then played the entire 3rd and we went +16 in the remaining 7 minutes. We had Kelly, Dick, and Scottie on the floor at the same time during this whole stretch, giving us really nice spacing which our offense took advantage of and gave Orlando a look they weren't ready for. On the other end, Orlando is so bad offensively that they couldn't take advantage of it at all - Scottie took Banchero 1 on 1 and there really was nothing the Magic and Paolo could do. Add in 3 Olynyk blocks and it was obvious all the stars had aligned.

So not only did we need a hot shooting streak to take this one, we also needed it to come against one of the worst offensive teams in the league missing key offensive players. I don't see anything sustainable about what we did last night to attribute it to our health if I'm being honest. I saw 2 quarters where everything went our way. Stuff like that averages out over the course of the season.

[PushDaRock]

Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but pride probably impacted this game too. Last time they played Orlando THUMPED them without Banchero, Suggs, and Franz. I'm sure Raptors remmemberd.

same thing with the Celtics smashing them by 54

The North Remembers

[SFour]

Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but pride probably impacted this game too. Last time they played Orlando THUMPED them without Banchero, Suggs, and Franz. I'm sure Raptors remmemberd.

same thing with the Celtics smashing them by 54

The North Remembers

Hawks up next blown out by 29 points last matchup

[MEDIC]

Shead and Chomche's development is an example of how well the organization and maybe even Darko and staff are working with the young guys

Agreed.

Those two are the ones I am impressed with most at this point. They look like much better players compared to the start of the season.

Everyone else pretty much looks the same. They will need to identify their weaknesses & put in work in the offseason. I am hoping Walter can come back next season looking a lot more polished. It may even happen by the end of this season if he puts in a ton of work on the 905.

[Raps in 4]

Disagree, he was on an absolute tear pre-injury, he's a beast

That was 5 games, 2 of which he scored 15 and 16 points on 30% shooting.

He had one big 50 point game to really inflate the #'s

Yeah like even now, his PPG drops by 2.5pts if you remove that 1 game. Not taking that away from him, but it skews the numbers a bunch due to small sample size.

Like without that 1 game, his PPG is at 22.8. RJ is at 22.3 just as a comparison.

They also both score on similar efficiency and don't play defence.

[WaltFrazier]

Darko out coaching Mosley. Mosley isn’t doing much with the team he is working with. At the end of the day you need good players to win games.

When Banchero and Wagner were both out, then Mo Wagner went out, and they kept winning with just Suggs and bench guys, I thought Mosley was coaching very well. It's odd how they're slipping now that Banchero is back.

Not disagreeing about Darko, his system and coaching moves looked very good last night.

[WaltFrazier]

Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but pride probably impacted this game too. Last time they played Orlando THUMPED them without Banchero, Suggs, and Franz. I'm sure Raptors remembered.

same thing with the Celtics smashing them by 54

The North Remembers

Hawks up next blown out by 29 points last matchup

It's a Raptors revenge tour!

Winter is coming.

(How's that for a new Raptor slogan? Too much of a cold weather reminder?)

[raincityraptors]

Poeltl has been so consistent all year.

It's surprising to watch him have an off night.

I was happy for Kelly and Bruce.

They genuinely looked like they were having fun.

[tsherkin]

Poeltl has been so consistent all year.

It's surprising to watch him have an off night.

He's allowed. It eventually happens to everyone.

He is, however, a good example of the difference in consistency you get when you don't feature low-percentage shots as a huge proportion of your shot diet. Obviously, as a role player big, he has that luxury more than our perimeter guys. But it's definitely there. Lobs, putbacks, pass-outs from penetration for short shots. He's a much more reliable option in various ways than 3pt shooters. Constrained volume helps, too, of course, as does him not doing any on-ball creation and not having any playmaking duties. But it's food for thought.