ECSF: | (3) Miami Heat vs (2) Toronto Raptors | TOR 2-1

[mademan]

Youd think the Heat were this amazing juggernaut reading this thread. At least Raps fans know how mediocre their team is. 2 games down to the wire after a tight 7 game series in the 1st round and ya'll think youre better than the East (other than the Cavs)? A ball bounce this way or that way and you lose the 1st round or are down 0-2 in this series.

[SaveTheHens]

Psychologists would love this thread lol. Raptors fans have been conditioned to have a losers mentality (saying their team sucks while we're doing okay against a good team), whereas Heat fans have been conditioned to have a very confident mentality.

At the end of the day this is the Raptors to take. Pacers were a harder playoff matchup than the Heat. Pacers had Vogel outcoaching Casey, PG who's a top 3 playoff player shutting down our offence & playing amazing offence himself, a good solid defensive scheme & experience.

Heat aren't the same. Old wade, Old Johnson, not much playoff experience in Dragic or Whiteside, Spoelstra's on the level of Casey if not worse. Pacers actually had me worried (maybe had to do with getting out of first round too), against the Heat it seems like we can have a lot more mistakes & still make a game of it. Once we clean up our act in at least one way (aka KL or DD hitting shots, 2pat hitting shots, making FT's, getting JV involved) I don't see much that the Heat can do to win this series.

[SaveTheHens]

Youd think the Heat were this amazing juggernaut reading this thread. At least Raps fans know how mediocre their team is. 2 games down to the wire after a tight 7 game series in the 1st round and ya'll think youre better than the East (other than the Cavs)? A ball bounce this way or that way and you lose the 1st round or are down 0-2 in this series.

Raptors are not a mediocre team. It's just that you've been conditioned from years of bad basketball & false hope to see this team through a loser mentality. Heat have been conditioned through years of pulling through in tough moments to not give up & to have utmost confidence in their ability.

Both sides are wrong, Raptors are the better team, they're 1-1 and not even close to playing at their usual level.

[SCHeat]

Lost in all the talk about how bad lowry and dd have been, is the impressive play of val.

He kicked Whitesides ass in the 4th quarter last night

[Kabookalu]

Youd think the Heat were this amazing juggernaut reading this thread. At least Raps fans know how mediocre their team is. 2 games down to the wire after a tight 7 game series in the 1st round and ya'll think youre better than the East (other than the Cavs)? A ball bounce this way or that way and you lose the 1st round or are down 0-2 in this series.

Raptors are not a mediocre team. It's just that you've been conditioned from years of bad basketball & false hope to see this team through a loser mentality. Heat have been conditioned through years of pulling through in tough moments to not give up & to have utmost confidence in their ability.

Both sides are wrong, Raptors are the better team, they're 1-1 and not even close to playing at their usual level.

We're not a mediocre team but we've been playing mediocrely this entire playoffs. We've been surviving off of Biyombo/Jonas picking up the rest of our team's garbage and getting key rebounds/defensive plays.

[RIP Kobe]

Youd think the Heat were this amazing juggernaut reading this thread. At least Raps fans know how mediocre their team is. 2 games down to the wire after a tight 7 game series in the 1st round and ya'll think youre better than the East (other than the Cavs)? A ball bounce this way or that way and you lose the 1st round or are down 0-2 in this series.

It's seed 2v3, not really surprising if it's going down to the wire every game.

[Revived]

Lol, this thread is pure entertainment.

I find this thread more entertaining than the actual games.

Honestly, I would be fine if my cable disconnected during the game, I would continue to eat my popcorn and read this thread and have as much fun or maybe more than watching the game.

[2pat]

why do the raps fans keep saying 'fam'? Is that Canadian slang or something?

No idea if it's a Canadian thing or not, but it's fairly new (few years) and people using it way too much.

[Kabookalu]

LOL fam isn't a Canadian slang word, it's used everywhere.

[TheDavinciCHODE]

I wish people would stop arguing about who is better and just took the time appreciate just how terrible Demar Derozan has been.

Can't we all just get along and cherish this history making performance? I mean, how many players in their best season, going for a max contract, would play this poorly and expose himself? He consistently ruins offensive sets, looks off teammates and takes bad contested jumpers that clang off of the rim.

He tried to give the game to Miami last night and almost did. I went from hoping the Knicks could pry him away to praying the Raps make a blunder and max him out. You can't just say it Paul George anymore. It's not that he's getting great looks and just not knocking them down. He can't get good looks against good defense and continues to think he's Kobe. Shooting more shots than anyone, shooting poorly from the field, and making JV clean up his offensive glass. Then, with the game in the balance, he chokes away two free throws. JV doesn't grab that board and put it back in, then we are talking about a very different game.

If the Raps had lost last night, Derozan would be getting burnt alive right now. He's and old school type guard, but one that can't even hit his midrange shots.

[2pat]

There's already tons of 'Quote material' available but its not from Raptor fans. Just have to go back a few pages.

Like I said before, I just don't see how the Heat can beat this Raptor team. They don't force turnovers and they don't hit threes. The two ways to beat the Raptors. They're older and fatigue will set in at some point. Game 1 was the Raptors inexperience. The series has just begun and the Raptors are taking at least one in Miami, guaranteed. I would feel good about this series, if I was a Raptor fan. Miami isn't scary at all.

As much credit as the Heat fans are giving their team, I must say that I was a lot more worried about the Pacers than them.

Trying to read the Heat board was painful. It's like they can't let go of the glory (LeBron) days and think they are still some powerful force in the NBA. I would say that's pretty sad, but understandeable. If the Raps play at just 60% instead of the 40% capability we're currently at, Miami would be getting swept.

[SaveTheHens]

Youd think the Heat were this amazing juggernaut reading this thread. At least Raps fans know how mediocre their team is. 2 games down to the wire after a tight 7 game series in the 1st round and ya'll think youre better than the East (other than the Cavs)? A ball bounce this way or that way and you lose the 1st round or are down 0-2 in this series.

Raptors are not a mediocre team. It's just that you've been conditioned from years of bad basketball & false hope to see this team through a loser mentality. Heat have been conditioned through years of pulling through in tough moments to not give up & to have utmost confidence in their ability.

Both sides are wrong, Raptors are the better team, they're 1-1 and not even close to playing at their usual level.

We're not a mediocre team but we've been playing mediocrely this entire playoffs. We've been surviving off of Biyombo/Jonas picking up the rest of our team's garbage and getting key rebounds/defensive plays.

I don't think it's fair to say we've been mediocre the entire playoffs. We've been ugly & very mediocre at times but there's been certain key moments where we've turned it up to an elite level & every time we've done that it's been when we've needed it most. That great comeback in game 5 of pacers, the comeback with a few left this last game. When we needed it most we showed up. Now it's up to our team to try and bring it even when things aren't as urgent so that we can have some momentum & steady play against the Cavs (and hopefully a more confident Lowry by then).

[SaveTheHens]

There's already tons of 'Quote material' available but its not from Raptor fans. Just have to go back a few pages.

Like I said before, I just don't see how the Heat can beat this Raptor team. They don't force turnovers and they don't hit threes. The two ways to beat the Raptors. They're older and fatigue will set in at some point. Game 1 was the Raptors inexperience. The series has just begun and the Raptors are taking at least one in Miami, guaranteed. I would feel good about this series, if I was a Raptor fan. Miami isn't scary at all.

As much credit as the Heat fans are giving their team, I must say that I was a lot more worried about the Pacers than them.

Trying to read the Heat board was painful. It's like they can't let go of the glory (LeBron) days and think they are still some powerful force in the NBA. I would say that's pretty sad, but understandeable. If the Raps play at just 60% instead of the 40% capability we're currently at, Miami would be getting swept.

And-1'd you about the Pacers comment. Pacers were intimidating when we played them, they were the aggressor, they were focused & their main guys played unreal at times.

Not so sure about us sweeping Miami if we were 60%, a 40% capacity Raptors would be a 27% win team and we're far above that. I do agree that this series would be a lot easier if Lowry was his usual self though

[mischievous]

Why do Raptor fans keep acting the Heat have played well? Their defense was awful in the 1st quarter or so and they had 2 straight games of turning it over at a high level. Wade actually hasn't had an efficient game yet either.

[qm22]

Not surprisingly, there are always haters who don't seem to enjoy basketball talking about how "bad" both teams are and the certain sweep of the victor by the Cavs. Both Miami and Toronto have shots at upsets.

I think we probably agree about the Cavs chances to advance after the ECF (70-90%).

Or not. It must suck to watch basketball when you know the outcome and when the Cavs do have a cake walk of no resistance to the finals. It must really suck for all those guys complaining how horrible the Raptors/Heat/Hornets/Hawks are when they're not even Cavs fans.

[anish23]

Keep feeding the ball to Val, Raptors will win... if they continue this hero ball with Chukmar Chuckrozen they are bound to lose... it was good to see Lowry step it up though.

[lilswift01]

Val is dominating the heat inside. Hassan not strong enough to keep him off the boards and establishing deep position.

Dragic is playing very aggressive and is confident with the shot.

Wade is good down the stretch but he has to find a way to limit turnovers. He has 8 so far this series.

[Heat_Fan_87]

Psychologists would love this thread lol. Raptors fans have been conditioned to have a losers mentality (saying their team sucks while we're doing okay against a good team), whereas Heat fans have been conditioned to have a very confident mentality.

At the end of the day this is the Raptors to take. Pacers were a harder playoff matchup than the Heat. Pacers had Vogel outcoaching Casey, PG who's a top 3 playoff player shutting down our offence & playing amazing offence himself, a good solid defensive scheme & experience.

Heat aren't the same. Old wade, Old Johnson, not much playoff experience in Dragic or Whiteside, Spoelstra's on the level of Casey if not worse. Pacers actually had me worried (maybe had to do with getting out of first round too), against the Heat it seems like we can have a lot more mistakes & still make a game of it. Once we clean up our act in at least one way (aka KL or DD hitting shots, 2pat hitting shots, making FT's, getting JV involved) I don't see much that the Heat can do to win this series.

[Green Backpack]

Dragic has been great but Spo needs to let him have the ball more.

Neither team has found their groove yet.. pretty ugly, but entertaining first two games.

[oikosnomos]

I think we probably agree about the Cavs chances to make the ECF (70-90%).

Or not. It must suck to watch basketball when you know the outcome and when the Cavs do have a cake walk of no resistance to the finals. It must really suck for all those guys complaining how horrible the Raptors/Heat/Hornets/Hawks are when they're not even Cavs fans.

Based on talent, the Heat and Raptors are pretty solid and could compete with the Cavs. The problem is, as an actual team, they are both terrible. I've watched all these games and the offense is so disjointed that is it is almost painful. It's weird seeing talented basketball players look inept because the system (or lack of it) their in. It feels like the Heat and the Raps are trying to defeat themselves instead of the other team.