ECQF | P2 (2) Toronto Raptors vs (7) Orlando Magic

[SOUL]

The Magic are definitely not your average 7 seed . Lots of good young players on that roster . They have a nice balance , i like Ross and Birch off the bench for them. Would take them over the other lower East seeds for sure . Guys like Issac are only getting better too. I’ve liked their core for a while.

That said the Raptors have the 2 best players in this series and that’s going to be very hard for Orlando to overcome in a 7 game series .

Vucevic is still a better player than Siakm. Not saying he has more value because he doesnt

Maybe during the regular season. If Siakam takes a true #2 role, I can see his impact being similar to Vuc's career impact and then better overall. I think this Vuc season is an anomaly.. very good.. but not sure if he can duplicate it to the same success.

[Raps in 4]

I'd like an unbiased opinion from Raps fans, since we have a small minority blaming Isaac's defense on Siakam this series for these losses.. keep in mind there is a very small minority that do not like Isaac for whatever reason so I take it with a grain of salt, but I want to make sure I'm not crazy.

I'm under the impression that Isaac is making Siakam work VERY hard for his points (particularly game 1) when he's guarding him. Definitely had some blow bys and some mid-range shots that have gone in over him, some contested threes, but a lot of times, Siakam is doing work on switches and transition dunks/layups where Isaac has nothing to do with that at all. Otherwise, Isaac is making Siakam use a lot of energy/pump fakes/aggressive drives to score if he's on him. Am I crazy?

Isaac probably defends Siakam better than anyone else in the league.

[mcgrady_1]

I'd like an unbiased opinion from Raps fans, since we have a small minority blaming Isaac's defense on Siakam this series for these losses.. keep in mind there is a very small minority that do not like Isaac for whatever reason so I take it with a grain of salt, but I want to make sure I'm not crazy.

I'm under the impression that Isaac is making Siakam work VERY hard for his points (particularly game 1) when he's guarding him. Definitely had some blow bys and some mid-range shots that have gone in over him, some contested threes, but a lot of times, Siakam is doing work on switches and transition dunks/layups where Isaac has nothing to do with that at all. Otherwise, Isaac is making Siakam use a lot of energy/pump fakes/aggressive drives to score if he's on him. Am I crazy?

I believe Isaac is pretty damn good defensively, even though he's gotten away with a few hacks. I believe he can be pretty good offensively too, he's got a nice stroke. He obviously has the length to stay with whoever he is guarding but he did get blown by a couple times by Pascal. That being said, Pascal is doing most of his damage on other players. But when Pascal's 3's start to drop, not even Isaac has much of a chance to contain him.

[PD28]

I don't see how you guys can blame Isaac for any of the losses. He's probably one of the better siakam defenders we've seen but obviously not the lockdown guy many of your fans were claiming at the start of the series. Having watched siakam for years, I do think Isaac was in his head because he was rushing shots in game 1 being worries about all that length on defense. I just think siakam is figuring out how play against Isaac with each game and is learning to punish Orlando when they switch. I think Cliff was smart to overload on Kawhi today but it looks like they really pushed siakam down the defensive assignment priority list and he made them pay all game long.

I'd like an unbiased opinion from Raps fans, since we have a small minority blaming Isaac's defense on Siakam this series for these losses.. keep in mind there is a very small minority that do not like Isaac for whatever reason so I take it with a grain of salt, but I want to make sure I'm not crazy.

I'm under the impression that Isaac is making Siakam work VERY hard for his points (particularly game 1) when he's guarding him. Definitely had some blow bys and some mid-range shots that have gone in over him, some contested threes, but a lot of times, Siakam is doing work on switches and transition dunks/layups where Isaac has nothing to do with that at all. Otherwise, Isaac is making Siakam use a lot of energy/pump fakes/aggressive drives to score if he's on him. Am I crazy?

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[PhilBlackson]

I'd like an unbiased opinion from Raps fans, since we have a small minority blaming Isaac's defense on Siakam this series for these losses.. keep in mind there is a very small minority that do not like Isaac for whatever reason so I take it with a grain of salt, but I want to make sure I'm not crazy.

I'm under the impression that Isaac is making Siakam work VERY hard for his points (particularly game 1) when he's guarding him. Definitely had some blow bys and some mid-range shots that have gone in over him, some contested threes, but a lot of times, Siakam is doing work on switches and transition dunks/layups where Isaac has nothing to do with that at all. Otherwise, Isaac is making Siakam use a lot of energy/pump fakes/aggressive drives to score if he's on him. Am I crazy?

While I'm sure some will claim there's some bias in my opinion (obv due to reppin Isaac in my sig lol) but really all they need to do is watch some Siakam HL's of his games this series...

You'll see he's made a ton of toughly contested shots by JI and also that from our gameplan, we've tried to get Pascal switched up by running him off of screens. He's made numerous buckets backing down guys like Ross, Fournier etc but he's also a Road Runner where we just throw the ball ahead and like a wide receiver he catches everything and finishes. They may want to blame Isaac but really they just need to credit Siakam, he's really stepped up and has surprised even most of us of how much so.

[Kabookalu]

I'd like an unbiased opinion from Raps fans, since we have a small minority blaming Isaac's defense on Siakam this series for these losses.. keep in mind there is a very small minority that do not like Isaac for whatever reason so I take it with a grain of salt, but I want to make sure I'm not crazy.

I'm under the impression that Isaac is making Siakam work VERY hard for his points (particularly game 1) when he's guarding him. Definitely had some blow bys and some mid-range shots that have gone in over him, some contested threes, but a lot of times, Siakam is doing work on switches and transition dunks/layups where Isaac has nothing to do with that at all. Otherwise, Isaac is making Siakam use a lot of energy/pump fakes/aggressive drives to score if he's on him. Am I crazy?

This is how I see it. Isaac is doing a great job on Siakam when they do get matched up (although Siakam has done a much better job scoring over Isaac than I expected).

One of the big problems I see is in transition. A lot of your players don't do a good job of tracking their man and recovering back to them, so they ask someone else to pick them up. Sometimes it wouldn't be just one player too, but two. So many unforced switches in transition where Fournier ends up on Siakam, but I guess Siakam deserves credit for that since he's always sprinting down the court.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

Siakam's been torching teams all year, it's not the defense on him. He does this to every team.

[SOUL]

Thanks! I just wanted to make sure I wasn't crazy and that some posters really do have an agenda. He's not locking him up like he did in the regular season, but he's making him work harder than others are, and that's the most you can ask for.. Siakam is just hitting a different level and punishing people inside and outside these playoffs.

[PhilBlackson]

I don't see how you guys can blame Isaac for any of the losses. He's probably one of the better siakam defenders we've seen but obviously not the lockdown guy many of your fans were claiming at the start of the series. Having watched siakam for years, I do think Isaac was in his head because he was rushing shots in game 1 being worries about all that length on defense. I just think siakam is figuring out how play against Isaac with each game and is learning to punish Orlando when they switch. I think Cliff was smart to overload on Kawhi today but it looks like they really pushed siakam down the defensive assignment priority list and he made them pay all game long.
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I 100% agree that Siakam is learning how to play Isaac (who did badly disrupt Pascal in the RS) but it doesn't mean Isaac isn't a great defender. Give credit where it's due and that's to Siakam for figuring out where he can find some (minor) breathing room.

But go watch some HLs of Isaac's defense, he absolutely a top level defender in the league, SUPER disruptive but it's tough because right now Pascal is just outwitting him on the court. It's obviously on a MUCH lower level but it's like Hakeem schoolin Robinson or Shaq...doesn't mean they weren't good defenders but simply Hakeem outclassed them. That's what Pascal is doing so far.

Give JI some time in the league. This is his 1st go round...you'll see in time.

[VanWest82]

For a really good team the Raptors sure do play like crap a lot. Nice that they're winning the series again, I guess.

[Kabookalu]

I don't think the Raps played their best game but it felt like the Magic beat themselves tonight with the horrible shooting and rebounding.

I said this in my last post, but a lot of your guys' problems from what I see is being inexperienced. Players not putting the extra effort to recover back to their assignment in transition is a huge problem. A couple breakdowns happened because you guys tried switching everything back up where everyone is back on their proper man, but then the Raptors are way too good to not exploit that. When you guys slowed it down and players defended who they're actually supposed to be defending, that's when you played your best defense on us and Isaac looked like a complete monster.

[RTran85]

I hope the referees from the game choke on their damn whistles.

[B-Ball Freak]

For a really good team the Raptors sure do play like crap a lot. Nice that they're winning the series again, I guess.

It's the playoffs man, you take it game by game and all that matters is the W.

[PhilBlackson]

For a really good team the Raptors sure do play like crap a lot. Nice that they're winning the series again, I guess.

It's the playoffs man, you take it game by game and all that matters is the W.

Well that and some people just like to complain a lot.

[GooniesNeverDie]

Orlando is going to be an annoying team moving forward.. so much length, athleticism and raw potential

[NoBias]

I'd like an unbiased opinion from Raps fans, since we have a small minority blaming Isaac's defense on Siakam this series for these losses.. keep in mind there is a very small minority that do not like Isaac for whatever reason so I take it with a grain of salt, but I want to make sure I'm not crazy.

I'm under the impression that Isaac is making Siakam work VERY hard for his points (particularly game 1) when he's guarding him. Definitely had some blow bys and some mid-range shots that have gone in over him, some contested threes, but a lot of times, Siakam is doing work on switches and transition dunks/layups where Isaac has nothing to do with that at all. Otherwise, Isaac is making Siakam use a lot of energy/pump fakes/aggressive drives to score if he's on him. Am I crazy?

Whoever is blaming Isaac for Siakams scoring is not watching the games.

[Mr.Raptorsingh]

Yep, but Siakam is finding his spots against guys like Ross, Fournier, etc. who just can't guard him, and then he runs the floor well and has caught them off guard a lot, too. I agree Orlando's best bet is to continue to have Isaac guard him as much as possible, maybe try to avoid switching as much, if possible.

[Chandan]

Siakam is just learning to make that last stride extra long (while adding hesitation) when dealing with defenders with similar length.

[Duffman100]

I'd like an unbiased opinion from Raps fans, since we have a small minority blaming Isaac's defense on Siakam this series for these losses.. keep in mind there is a very small minority that do not like Isaac for whatever reason so I take it with a grain of salt, but I want to make sure I'm not crazy.

I'm under the impression that Isaac is making Siakam work VERY hard for his points (particularly game 1) when he's guarding him. Definitely had some blow bys and some mid-range shots that have gone in over him, some contested threes, but a lot of times, Siakam is doing work on switches and transition dunks/layups where Isaac has nothing to do with that at all. Otherwise, Isaac is making Siakam use a lot of energy/pump fakes/aggressive drives to score if he's on him. Am I crazy?

Whoever is blaming Isaac for Siakams scoring is not watching the games.

100%. Nurse did what we said, he's got switches and Siakam off of Isaac

[Detective]

That, and I believe Pascal is taking a page out of Kawhi's book, wherein anything that happened in the regular season was just practice. Isaac playing hard on Pascal during the season series ended up being a good thing, because it seemed to allow Pascal to expand his game more from playing against a good defender so much. And anytime he now finds himself on a different defender than Isaac, is basically like taking a limiter/set of weights off, and makes Spicy P go off(even though he is scoring on Isaac as well).