What adjustments does Nick Nurse have to make in Game 3?

[ItsDanger]

Boston plays their guys 40 minutes, use your bench depth and run more. A LOT MORE. They will gas out in the 4th.

[HangTime]

Run 3 consecutive post plays for Marc to start the game.

If he's cleared to play, play Patrick Mccaw.
He and Oshae were the reasons we got our only win against them.

Give Thomas some spot mintues, even if he's a decoy.

Maybe Rondae can get some mintues to elevate energy.

[Tor_Raps]

Why the hell is lowry on Tatum? Like who thought it was a good idea to not have our best defender on their best player? Lowry is trying hard but Tatum can just shoot over him like hes not even there.

Fvv on kemba
Lowry on Smart
Siakam on Brown
OG on Tatum

[B-Ball Freak]

Lock everyone in the gym until they've made 1000 three pointers each.

[B-Ball Freak]

Boston plays their guys 40 minutes, use your bench depth and run more. A LOT MORE. They will gas out in the 4th.

These dudes are all young and in good shape, except for Kemba, I don't think they'll gas.

[Tacoma]

Its interesting because the Raptors are getting good shots for the most part(Raptors shot quality was better than the Celtics yesterday) and are getting stops for the most part.

Maybe some Matt Thomas and Small Ball but I don't see anything too drastic NN can do, people hate hearing this but you just aren't gonna win games shooting under 30% from 3.

I did hate the bench lineups at the end of the 3rd/start of the 4th though. But you cant play Kyle 48 minutes...right?

Not everyone is getting good shots and it's by design. Kyle and FVV are struggling partly because BOS defense is concentrated on them, especially shooting from the 3. Gasol, Siakam and OG are left more open because they want them to shoot. They're playing to stop Siakam from driving for layups. Gasol appears done, it's basically 4 vs. 5 on offense.

So Nurse needs to make adjustments to get better shots for the guards, get Siakam more opportunities closer to the basket, and maybe start Ibaka over Gasol. Of course things will be different if we make shots but the fact that we're not is partly by design. So far, I think we're playing in accordance with Stevens' game-plan. Nurse needs to turn this around.

[LoveMyRaps]

Why the hell is lowry on Tatum? Like who thought it was a good idea to not have our best defender on their best player? Lowry is trying hard but Tatum can just shoot over him like hes not even there.

Fvv on kemba
Lowry on Smart
Siakam on Brown
OG on Tatum

Agree but I'd switch Siakam and OG.
Siakam is better at defending Tatum.

[LoveMyRaps]

I doubt Nurse does this but I'd consider starting Powell over Lowry and Ibaka over Gasol.
Then bring Lowry and Boucher first off the bench to replace FVV and Ibaka.
I just don't like the two undersized point guards lineup against a towering team like the Celtics. Lowry has some real good chemistry with Boucher as well. And Powell has guarded Smart well whenever the two have been matched up.
Powell played well last year in game 3 against the Bucks when we were down in the same 2-0 hole and tends to step up in these big games. Definitely worth a try IMO.

[Tor_Raps]

Why the hell is lowry on Tatum? Like who thought it was a good idea to not have our best defender on their best player? Lowry is trying hard but Tatum can just shoot over him like hes not even there.

Fvv on kemba
Lowry on Smart
Siakam on Brown
OG on Tatum

Agree but I'd switch Siakam and OG.
Siakam is better at defending Tatum.

I would have thought so too but tatum was killing siakam on switches yesterday. Id rather let siakam stay on Brown but id still prefer your matchups than what we've been doing. I'm so pissed that we even tried this to begin with.

[Clutch0z24]

Take Gasol out the starting lineup and replace him with Ibaka...We need that scoring from Ibaka early....The Celtics Pack the paint when Gasol is out there on the 3pt line and let him shoot wide open 3s (Hes bricking them all) and our guards are having trouble driving in there like they usually do ...Ibaka out there Makes the defender actually stay out on him cause his shot is a threat so it opens the paint up a little more....

This is a hot take but i think i am going to try Powell at the starting SG over FVV and Have FVV As the 6th man...We need Powell to get going here i have full confidence in FVV Coming off the bench and having an impact but Powell i feel plays better as a starter....

Give Davis and Boucher a bit more run ...Whenever Robert Williams is on i want Boucher covering him....Not Gasol And give Davis a bit more of a Leesh here he could give us a Boost ...

Siakam needs to stop posting up with 100 Dribbles and then making a predictable move which the defense sees a mile away....Siakam when he gets the ball should make a quick move to the rim or pass the ball...He should not get ISO post ups cause hes messing them up way to often...

These are my adjustments id make anyways

[dhackett1565]

Mostly just don't play Boucher over Davis, there is no reason for that basically ever but especially while Lowry is resting.

Hmm there's like a 7" height difference.

True. And?

[RaptorsNorth]

Shouts out to whoever banned me yesterday in the game thread because everything I was saying was turning out to be all facts

Your’s truly Big RaptorsNorth

[TheRealDeal]

I love how Nurse used the media to send a message to the refs. That’s a Phil Jackson move

[RaptorsNorth]

Now back to more facts!!

I see everybody and their mother is talking about Pascal and Gasol now when I’ve warned you guys about them months ago. Hell I’ve warned people about pascal last season and was called “a troll” for saying exactly what you’re seeing right now. I knew none of this would fly against a good team while watching the Brooklyn series! Pascal is not even a 2nd option player at this point here and Gasol is finished, he’s done my friends but that’s not the bigger issue here. The bigger issue here is Nurses coaching decisions in this series so far and he keeps starting Gasol when everybody knows he shouldn’t be starting! He also doesn’t know when to bench pascal. Gasol is not starting himself here guys. Who is starting him ? Exactly!!

The Raptors jumped out to a 12 point lead in the 3rd with Pascal on the bench and what did Nurse do ? He brought him back to help shoot us out of the game once again. Nurse’s game management in this series has been piss poor and some people think his recent success gives him a pass from being criticize for bad decisions but you know big RaptorNorth n_t hugs no man and Nurse has to man up and bench Gasol for Serge and know when to give Pascal a quick hook. He’s being out coached by Stevens right now!



I don’t care about your plus minus stats on Gasol either. A player can be on the court without really standing out, grab a couple rebounds and a couple assist and be in the plus. We’ve seen guys like McCaw do it a few times this season and we didn’t even noticed he was in the game so save that Plus, Minus BS

Since they started using this stat it has given some people a tool to try and convince us a player you hardly notice on the floor was actually good smh

This is exactly what I’ve been saying here and Shaq said the same thing. Is this really shocking with pascal ? Pascal looked good behind kawhi but there were games in the playoffs last season when he went ghost and that should have been a warning sign. It’s not happening just because of the bubble or the protests. He struggled at times in the playoffs last season but kawhi was there to cover that! That pascal contract is going to be up there with the contracts we gave guys like Turk and Carroll. Just remember who called it! At least they weren’t making 130 million.

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Did I not say this before the series even started ?

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[Syd-TK3]

Offense needs to run through siakam and he needs to work as a play maker.
He's constantly drawing doubles and getting mismatches but then trying to force up a shot. He got blocked or did some stupid fadeaway jumper way too many times

[BD006]

My focus would be to get Kyle and Fred more rest... which would likely mean more Powell.

Fred had nothing left by the end of the game, and in a close game, we'll need him and Kyle to still have their legs.

[Randle McMurphy]

Nurse should probably stop attacking Marcus Smart on the defensive end like he isn’t one of the best defensive players in all of basketball. Just bizarre he was drawing up late game sets for Pascal against him.

[tradejosehesux]

Offense: More ball movement and shot creation when things slow down. I noticed they got deep into the shot clock on few occasions and didn't get a quality look. Hitting open shots always helps too.

Defense: Stop reaching so much, stay down and play with your feet. Keep Tatum in front of you. Gotta somehow guard the perimeter better, which is difficult to do with our defensive scheme.

[RaptorsNorth]

Or Nurse can simply bench this guy as step 1

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[execoftheyear]

Crazy idea but I'd try playing Paul Watson. He's the only wing player on our roster that is not only capable of creating his own shot but is tall enough to shoot over Boston's wings and won't be the defensive liability Thomas is. This is the ultimate hail mary move but man our offense looks horrible and at this point I'd try anything without sacrificing too much on defense. Lowry, FVV, Norm and Davis are all just too small to get off their shots. OG is the only player that can get off his shot but his handles aren't good enough to break down the defense off the dribble. Crazy idea but Nurse has made himself known for doing crazy things that catch the opponent off guard.