PG: Gritty win in Phily (9-1 in last 10, 5 W straight)

[LLJ]

I don't think any of the EC teams are actual championship contenders. This is both a good and bad thing in that if the Raptors make it in the playoffs as a top 5-6 team, they probably still have a slight chance at upsetting a higher seeded team.

The bad thing is that when your conference's competition sucks, it gives a sense of fool's gold because executives often build their team while primarily looking at their own conference first. This is what happened in 2001-2003. This has been a problem with the East for decades. They build teams to win the East, but often run into trouble when in the NBA Finals when they face actual championship contenders.

OKC is likely repeating, barring an injury....best we can hope for is a Pacers-like run.

While as a fan I would like to see us win a round or two, I'm actually not particularly interested in being some NBA Finals roadkill (especially months after also losing the World Series). If we're gonna be exposed badly, I'd rather it happen no later than the ECF. I'm just kind of concerned that if most of the top EC teams are weaker than expected, we might get embarrassed if we somehow fall ass backwards into a deep playoff run and then get slapped hard by a real team late.

The Pacers did better than expected last year but I suspect OKC choked a bit being the favorites while still having zero Finals experience so the series was closer than expected. This season OKC will likely be much more dominant if they make it back.

[positivetension]

I see the board has moved quickly from "raps are gonna suck this year" to "well the raps are gonna suck in the playoffs".

I was about to comment that lol

[mihaic]

So many people wanted to dump IQ for a bag of chips just a few games ago....

I did not want to trade him already, but I was not happy with him. This is the first stretch since the trade where he actually playscthe way he was supposed to.

[TakeYourHeart]

I don't think any of the EC teams are actual championship contenders. This is both a good and bad thing in that if the Raptors make it in the playoffs as a top 5-6 team, they probably still have a slight chance at upsetting a higher seeded team.

The bad thing is that when your conference's competition sucks, it gives a sense of fool's gold because executives often build their team while primarily looking at their own conference first. This is what happened in 2001-2003. This has been a problem with the East for decades. They build teams to win the East, but often run into trouble when in the NBA Finals when they face actual championship contenders.

OKC is likely repeating, barring an injury....best we can hope for is a Pacers-like run.

While as a fan I would like to see us win a round or two, I'm actually not particularly interested in being some NBA Finals roadkill (especially months after also losing the World Series). If we're gonna be exposed badly, I'd rather it happen no later than the ECF. I'm just kind of concerned that if most of the top EC teams are weaker than expected, we might get embarrassed if we somehow fall ass backwards into a deep playoff run and then get slapped hard by a real team late.

The Pacers did better than expected last year but I suspect OKC choked a bit being the favorites while still having zero Finals experience so the series was closer than expected. This season OKC will likely be much more dominant if they make it back.

Oh man a finals appearance, how embarrassing

[Basketball_Jones]

IQ really showed up in the 4th after a slow start for him scoring. We're not winning without the clutch threes he hit. I have been incredibly skeptical of him, but he has been key to basically all the recent wins. I don't know if he's worth 32 million a year, but he is solid player.

Yeah he’s solid. 4th option guy. Overpaid for that though but I guess we worry about it later while we win some games.

The guy we traded for him is making a lot more $ and is also a 4th option ....

Hah. True. OG holds a ton of value though around the league his reputation has blown up big since in New York.

[Clutch0z24]

I see the board has moved quickly from "raps are gonna suck this year" to "well the raps are gonna suck in the playoffs".

I think majority of the board felt this team would be a playoff team.....Now us being an actual threat to win in the post season or compete against the actual good teams in the NBA was always the question people were asking. Some on the board think we have no chance to compete and some think we could make a run.

Imo we do not have the fire power to come close but some people still have high hopes we make a Blue Jays type run but the chances are slim imo. Not a knock on our team but just speaking realistically. We will see who becomes available at the trade deadline and hope we can grab someone to put us in another tier so i guess we will see what happens.

[Sidthekid87]

0 **** free throws in 2 games is an absolute joke. He should've had a minimum of 6 today and 8 the game before. Just insane stuff IMO.

[dagger]

IQ really showed up in the 4th after a slow start for him scoring. We're not winning without the clutch threes he hit. I have been incredibly skeptical of him, but he has been key to basically all the recent wins. I don't know if he's worth 32 million a year, but he is solid player.

Yeah he’s solid. 4th option guy. Overpaid for that though but I guess we worry about it later while we win some games.

The guy we traded for him is making a lot more $ and is also a 4th option ....

.

And injured yet again

[Tha Cynic]

Read on Twitter

This dude is setting himself up be trolled so hard lol

I disagree. It’s pretty clear we’re going to be an above .500 team. Perk is just riding hard for us cause Bill Simmons tried to publicly humiliate him for thinking the Raps could be decent this year.

Ah, didn’t know the backstory on that one. Simmons always hates on the Raptors

[LLJ]

OKC is likely repeating, barring an injury....best we can hope for is a Pacers-like run.

While as a fan I would like to see us win a round or two, I'm actually not particularly interested in being some NBA Finals roadkill (especially months after also losing the World Series). If we're gonna be exposed badly, I'd rather it happen no later than the ECF. I'm just kind of concerned that if most of the top EC teams are weaker than expected, we might get embarrassed if we somehow fall ass backwards into a deep playoff run and then get slapped hard by a real team late.

The Pacers did better than expected last year but I suspect OKC choked a bit being the favorites while still having zero Finals experience so the series was closer than expected. This season OKC will likely be much more dominant if they make it back.

Oh man a finals appearance, how embarrassing

First world concerns, I know, but Toronto at this point is really past the point of a sports city that's "happy to be here". We've been to two professional sports league championship series in the last 6 years, and we won one of them. At this point we should go in with the mindset of winning them every single time. And I'm still kind of irked that the Jays no longer have an undefeated record in World Series...series.

[PushDaRock]

I see the board has moved quickly from "raps are gonna suck this year" to "well the raps are gonna suck in the playoffs".

I think majority of the board felt this team would be a playoff team.....Now us being an actual threat to win in the post season or compete against the actual good teams in the NBA was always the question people were asking. Some on the board think we have no chance to compete and some think we could make a run.

Imo we do not have the fire power to come close but some people still have high hopes we make a Blue Jays type run but the chances are slim imo. Not a knock on our team but just speaking realistically. We will see who becomes available at the trade deadline and hope we can grab someone to put us in another tier so i guess we will see what happens.

Most thought Play-In Team not Playoff Team. Still might be the case, we aren't a Playoff lock yet certainly.

[Agimat]

Finally pg thread made it past 5 pages lol

[Clutch0z24]

I see the board has moved quickly from "raps are gonna suck this year" to "well the raps are gonna suck in the playoffs".

I think majority of the board felt this team would be a playoff team.....Now us being an actual threat to win in the post season or compete against the actual good teams in the NBA was always the question people were asking. Some on the board think we have no chance to compete and some think we could make a run.

Imo we do not have the fire power to come close but some people still have high hopes we make a Blue Jays type run but the chances are slim imo. Not a knock on our team but just speaking realistically. We will see who becomes available at the trade deadline and hope we can grab someone to put us in another tier so i guess we will see what happens.

Most thought Play-In Team not Playoff Team. Still might be the case, we aren't a Playoff lock yet certainly.

Nah looking at the landscape of the East this year and also the amount of teams actually trying to tank we are a lock for the playoffs....Many teams are going for 2026 ping pong balls and the teams actually trying to compete in the East are meh teams still including us....OKC Vs Nuggets/Lakers will be the real NBA Finals this year just like it was last year.

[YogurtProducer]

It was the Gasol trade that truly made them a contender....this current Raptors team still has trades to make. Not a big name player but 1 or 2 role players...that preferably bring elite defense.

I think this team is prime to make a big Kawhi like trade. The league isn't as deep as it was in 2019 - contender status is way lower than it was then. think about the East then. Prime Giannis Bucks. Embiid/Butler Sixers. Kawhi Raps. Kyrie/Tatum Celtics. Arguably 4 teams who all would be #1 in the East right now.

We’ve had one playoff appearance, two playoff wins, and one all-star selection in the past 5 seasons.

When we traded for Kawhi we had four division titles, four playoff series wins, 21 total playoff wins, six All-Star and two All-NBA selections in the prior five years.

Our highest paid player has only played 15 games for the franchise, this team deserves a season (at the very least) to build together

Which is fine, because there won't be a player available until the summer anyways.

But if a guy like Giannis comes available you just kinda gotta go for it.

But what we did pre-kawhi and what we have done now don't matter. Like I said, its a VERY different league now than it was a decade ago. Look at the teams you used to have to go through? The Big 3 Heat. GSW dynasty. The Spurs.

With the new cap stuff, teams are not nearly as good with the increased parity. It is not such a big leap to go to a contender as it was in 2018.

[PushDaRock]

I think majority of the board felt this team would be a playoff team.....Now us being an actual threat to win in the post season or compete against the actual good teams in the NBA was always the question people were asking. Some on the board think we have no chance to compete and some think we could make a run.

Imo we do not have the fire power to come close but some people still have high hopes we make a Blue Jays type run but the chances are slim imo. Not a knock on our team but just speaking realistically. We will see who becomes available at the trade deadline and hope we can grab someone to put us in another tier so i guess we will see what happens.

Most thought Play-In Team not Playoff Team. Still might be the case, we aren't a Playoff lock yet certainly.

Nah looking at the landscape of the East this year and also the amount of teams actually trying to tank we are a lock for the playoffs....Many teams are going for 2026 ping pong balls and the teams actually trying to compete in the East are meh teams still including us....OKC Vs Nuggets/Lakers will be the real NBA Finals this year just like it was last year.

A few injuries to key guys changes things quickly. This team isn't that much better than all the other Top 6 teams that they can cruise into that spot without trying.

[LoveMyRaps]

Darko > Nurse

Cap

[PushDaRock]

I think this team is prime to make a big Kawhi like trade. The league isn't as deep as it was in 2019 - contender status is way lower than it was then. think about the East then. Prime Giannis Bucks. Embiid/Butler Sixers. Kawhi Raps. Kyrie/Tatum Celtics. Arguably 4 teams who all would be #1 in the East right now.

We’ve had one playoff appearance, two playoff wins, and one all-star selection in the past 5 seasons.

When we traded for Kawhi we had four division titles, four playoff series wins, 21 total playoff wins, six All-Star and two All-NBA selections in the prior five years.

Our highest paid player has only played 15 games for the franchise, this team deserves a season (at the very least) to build together

Which is fine, because there won't be a player available until the summer anyways.

But if a guy like Giannis comes available you just kinda gotta go for it.

But what we did pre-kawhi and what we have done now don't matter. Like I said, its a VERY different league now than it was a decade ago. Look at the teams you used to have to go through? The Big 3 Heat. GSW dynasty. The Spurs.

With the new cap stuff, teams are not nearly as good with the increased parity. It is not such a big leap to go to a contender as it was in 2018.

Hard to not think we would be the fav in the East with Giannis + whatever is left on the roster

[Potential]

Read on Twitter

[PushDaRock]

Read on Twitter

lol this is just somehow funnier because it was McCain

[aminiaturebuddha]

MCL sprain

Thanks. Funny the team is so deep now that for some reason my brain didn't realize he was missing.

Could've used him tonight. 76ers owned us on the glass.

This probably would have been a good game for Mogbo to get some minutes, but they've obviously got him working on some things with the 905 and didn't want to fly him to Philly when the 905 also played today (and moved to 5-0 on the year).