ECQF | P1 (2) Toronto Raptors vs (7) Orlando Magic

[PD28]

He tried and that's what matters lol

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[SpeedyG]

Of the lower seeds, Orlando has been playing the best down the stretch.They also have the athletes and size to match up vs the Raptors (and other playoff teams).

They have made a run with Ross getting hot. If he cools down especially, then they have no shot. But if he keeps playing like he's been playing, I can see them going 6 or 7 on this

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[Mauro Pedrosa]

Head: Raps in 6
Heart: Magic in 6

[ShirleyTemple]

Orlando outscored the Raptors by 7 points per 100 possesions in the 4 games regular season series.

Over the four games, the Raptors were a plus-8 in the first half and the Magic were a plus-38 in the second half.

The Raptors shot 38 percent from 3-point range (Green was 12-for-24), but just 44 percent in the paint over the four games. Orlando was the only opponent against which Toronto shot less than 50 percent in the paint.

I think Orlando's defense is legit and they can match up very well with Toronto. Obivously that doesn't mean they have a real chance to beat Toronto (?) but should be a fun matchup.

One aspect that could be important is transition. Raptors rank 1st in the NBA in transition PPP (1.19) and 3rd in transition frequency (20% of total offense) while Magic doesn't allow many transition opportunities (14.9 opponent transition possesions per game which is lowest in the league) and also defends the transition pretty well (7th best in the league at 1.07 PPP).

Interesting numbers preview --> https://www.nba.com/article/2019/04/11/numbers-preview-raptors-magic

[Metallikid]

We have a better chance of beating the Golden State Warriors than of losing to the Orlando Magic and nothing on the planet could change my mind on that.

[Johnny Bball]

Toronto has by far the hardest matchup of the top 4. Toronto in 6 but I wouldn't be surprised at all if it went 7

This made me laugh. Pacers are toughest team there all day long son.

[Duffman100]

Toronto has by far the hardest matchup of the top 4. Toronto in 6 but I wouldn't be surprised at all if it went 7

This made me laugh. Pacers are toughest team there all day long son.

I do like the Magic and I don't want to **** on them. But if you check their stretch down the end of the season,

Quality wins against the 76ers, Warriors and Celtics, good.

But it's also a lot of wins against crap teams. Atlanta twice, Cleveland, New Orleans, Memphis, Miami, Dallas, New York.

Their hot streak should be taken with a slight grain of salt considering who they faced.

Not saying they won't give the Raptors issues.

[TrustFundBaby]

2) Does coin-flip Ross (hate that name btw) continue his hot stroke and gets revenge from the team that traded him or are the bright lights too much for him and disappear as past history has shown?

excellent post. just want to point out that maybe you hate that nickname because it apparently got lost in translation on the way to Orlando. It's 'Coin-Toss Ross' which I think you'll admit is far superior.

Coin toss Ross was the best Raptors nickname these past few years

HM: 2pat , Swaggy V

[AddiFB]

Orlando has nothing to lose, but want to gain respect.

[CantStopTheRock]

Toronto has by far the hardest matchup of the top 4. Toronto in 6 but I wouldn't be surprised at all if it went 7

This made me laugh. Pacers are toughest team there all day long son.

I do like the Magic and I don't want to **** on them. But if you check their stretch down the end of the season,

Quality wins against the 76ers, Warriors and Celtics, good.

But it's also a lot of wins against crap teams. Atlanta twice, Cleveland, New Orleans, Memphis, Miami, Dallas, New York.

Their hot streak should be taken with a slight grain of salt considering who they faced.

Not saying they won't give the Raptors issues.

100% agree. People are getting caught up with their hot streak, but fail to look at the teams they faced and who was out on the tougher match ups. They had some nice wins in that stretch but mostly just beat teams that are terrible/injured.

Also, people are getting caught up with the regular season head to head games when we were missing either Lowry or Kawhi in our losses. Last time we played at full strength it was a clinic.

With that said, they have been playing great defense and will keep games close unless we get hot from 3. If we are hitting our 3's it will likely be a blowout. On the flip side, there offense comes and goes and will need to be in a hot streak to even steal a game or two.

Raps in 5 or 6 with a couple blow out wins for the Raptors and the rest being a tight contest. Should be an entertaining series. It will be interesting to see how we use Siakam because Isaac has been impressive guarding him.

[Duffman100]

This made me laugh. Pacers are toughest team there all day long son.

I do like the Magic and I don't want to **** on them. But if you check their stretch down the end of the season,

Quality wins against the 76ers, Warriors and Celtics, good.

But it's also a lot of wins against crap teams. Atlanta twice, Cleveland, New Orleans, Memphis, Miami, Dallas, New York.

Their hot streak should be taken with a slight grain of salt considering who they faced.

Not saying they won't give the Raptors issues.

100% agree. People are getting caught up with their hot streak, but fail to look at the teams they faced and who was out on the tougher match ups. They had some nice wins in that stretch but mostly just beat teams that are terrible/injured.

Also, people are getting caught up with the regular season head to head games when we were missing either Lowry or Kawhi in our losses. Last time we played at full strength it was a clinic.

With that said, they have been playing great defense and will keep games close unless we get hot from 3. If we are hitting our 3's it will likely be a blowout. On the flip side, there offense comes and goes and will need to be in a hot streak to even steal a game or two.

Raps in 5 or 6 with a couple blow out wins for the Raptors and the rest being a tight contest. Should be an entertaining series. It will be interesting to see how we use Siakam because Isaac has been impressive guarding him.

Totally.

The biggest issue with Orlando is Isaac. He shuts down our 2nd option (insane that Siakam is now our second option).

So this series it's really important for Lowry and Gasol to step up and for Nurse to put Siakam in situations where he isn't being covered by Isaac.

[Effigy]

How many games is Kwahi going to miss for load management?

let us know if we were supposed to laugh and we'll try out best to

I suspect you will find it a lot funnier in three months.

[OakleyDokely]

Orlando outscored the Raptors by 7 points per 100 possesions in the 4 games regular season series.

Over the four games, the Raptors were a plus-8 in the first half and the Magic were a plus-38 in the second half.

The Raptors shot 38 percent from 3-point range (Green was 12-for-24), but just 44 percent in the paint over the four games. Orlando was the only opponent against which Toronto shot less than 50 percent in the paint.

I think Orlando's defense is legit and they can match up very well with Toronto. Obivously that doesn't mean they have a real chance to beat Toronto (?) but should be a fun matchup.

One aspect that could be important is transition. Raptors rank 1st in the NBA in transition PPP (1.19) and 3rd in transition frequency (20% of total offense) while Magic doesn't allow many transition opportunities (14.9 opponent transition possesions per game which is lowest in the league) and also defends the transition pretty well (7th best in the league at 1.07 PPP).

Interesting numbers preview --> https://www.nba.com/article/2019/04/11/numbers-preview-raptors-magic

It's tough to analyse the four game regular season series because the Raps didn't have a combination of Kawhi/Lowry/VV in two of those games.

In the two games where the Raps played all their starters (Lowry/Green/Kawhi/Siakam/Gasol or Ibaka), the Raps won both games. The most recent game was a couple weeks ago when the Raps (with all their starters) were beating them by 20+ until garbage time.

[mowcrowbar]

Of the lower seeds, Orlando has been playing the best down the stretch.They also have the athletes and size to match up vs the Raptors (and other playoff teams).

They have made a run with Ross getting hot. If he cools down especially, then they have no shot. But if he keeps playing like he's been playing, I can see them going 6 or 7 on this

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I honestly can't. Ross is an extremely streaky shooter, and he has typically not showed up in the playoffs- shooting an abysmal 29% from 3 in his playoff career. Now with wings like Green, Kawhi or even Siakam guarding him, I can't fathom how his 3 point shooting, or regular season resurgence would continue. Even if Ross were to play out of his mind and go for 15+ppg, I can't see them having a legitimate to chance to win, as they have no experience, no depth and star power to push a team like the Raptors.

[mowcrowbar]

2) Does coin-flip Ross (hate that name btw) continue his hot stroke and gets revenge from the team that traded him or are the bright lights too much for him and disappear as past history has shown?

excellent post. just want to point out that maybe you hate that nickname because it apparently got lost in translation on the way to Orlando. It's 'Coin-Toss Ross' which I think you'll admit is far superior.

Coin toss Ross was the best Raptors nickname these past few years

HM: 2pat , Swaggy V

Coin toss Ross the boss or Coin toss Ross the loss, depending on the situation.

[theSkinny]

Orlando outscored the Raptors by 7 points per 100 possesions in the 4 games regular season series.

Over the four games, the Raptors were a plus-8 in the first half and the Magic were a plus-38 in the second half.

The Raptors shot 38 percent from 3-point range (Green was 12-for-24), but just 44 percent in the paint over the four games. Orlando was the only opponent against which Toronto shot less than 50 percent in the paint.

I think Orlando's defense is legit and they can match up very well with Toronto. Obivously that doesn't mean they have a real chance to beat Toronto (?) but should be a fun matchup.

One aspect that could be important is transition. Raptors rank 1st in the NBA in transition PPP (1.19) and 3rd in transition frequency (20% of total offense) while Magic doesn't allow many transition opportunities (14.9 opponent transition possesions per game which is lowest in the league) and also defends the transition pretty well (7th best in the league at 1.07 PPP).

Interesting numbers preview --> https://www.nba.com/article/2019/04/11/numbers-preview-raptors-magic

To my knowledge .. the raps will be showing a lot of stuff that has been used minimally.

If the raps come out focused and hungry, magic will be reeling ... if they don’t, magic have lots of manpower and opportunity to make this competitive.

[basketballRob]

Toronto has by far the hardest matchup of the top 4. Toronto in 6 but I wouldn't be surprised at all if it went 7

This made me laugh. Pacers are toughest team there all day long son.

I do like the Magic and I don't want to **** on them. But if you check their stretch down the end of the season,

Quality wins against the 76ers, Warriors and Celtics, good.

But it's also a lot of wins against crap teams. Atlanta twice, Cleveland, New Orleans, Memphis, Miami, Dallas, New York.

Their hot streak should be taken with a slight grain of salt considering who they faced.

Not saying they won't give the Raptors issues.

I agree and the Magic have no excuse about being tired like in the two losses to the Raptors this year. Like in the first loss on the third game in four days and second game fifth in eight days. This time both teams should be rested and no excuses.

[Johnny Bball]

This made me laugh. Pacers are toughest team there all day long son.

I do like the Magic and I don't want to **** on them. But if you check their stretch down the end of the season,

Quality wins against the 76ers, Warriors and Celtics, good.

But it's also a lot of wins against crap teams. Atlanta twice, Cleveland, New Orleans, Memphis, Miami, Dallas, New York.

Their hot streak should be taken with a slight grain of salt considering who they faced.

Not saying they won't give the Raptors issues.

I agree and the Magic have no excuse about being tired like in the two losses to the Raptors this year. Like in the first loss on the third game in four days and second game fifth in eight days. This time both teams should be rested and no excuses.

If the weren’t back to backs (and they weren’t), they aren’t legit excuses and it doesn’t matter.

[basketballRob]

Orlando outscored the Raptors by 7 points per 100 possesions in the 4 games regular season series.

Over the four games, the Raptors were a plus-8 in the first half and the Magic were a plus-38 in the second half.

The Raptors shot 38 percent from 3-point range (Green was 12-for-24), but just 44 percent in the paint over the four games. Orlando was the only opponent against which Toronto shot less than 50 percent in the paint.

I think Orlando's defense is legit and they can match up very well with Toronto. Obivously that doesn't mean they have a real chance to beat Toronto (?) but should be a fun matchup.

One aspect that could be important is transition. Raptors rank 1st in the NBA in transition PPP (1.19) and 3rd in transition frequency (20% of total offense) while Magic doesn't allow many transition opportunities (14.9 opponent transition possesions per game which is lowest in the league) and also defends the transition pretty well (7th best in the league at 1.07 PPP).

Interesting numbers preview --> https://www.nba.com/article/2019/04/11/numbers-preview-raptors-magic

It's tough to analyse the four game regular season series because the Raps didn't have a combination of Kawhi/Lowry/VV in two of those games.

In the two games where the Raps played all their starters (Lowry/Green/Kawhi/Siakam/Gasol or Ibaka), the Raps won both games. The most recent game was a couple weeks ago when the Raps (with all their starters) were beating them by 20+ until garbage time.

A well rested Raptor team is tough.

[drosereturn]

We have a better chance of beating the Golden State Warriors than of losing to the Orlando Magic and nothing on the planet could change my mind on that.

This. I dont think Magic is any good minus Vuc. It's a miracle they even made the playoffs.
Easiest 4-0 sweep but wonder what the bet odds are.