Post-game: Raptors DISMANTLE Bucks to reach .500

[Godaddycurse]

Good news is that IQ is a career 42/37/85 shooter who is currently shooting 38/28/77. He's going to improve.

How where the numbers the last two season? I think they are more valuable to compare to.

24-25 42/38/87
23-24 43/39/85

[Shakril]

The Raps schedule to start the year is one of the toughest in the league, so starting 4-4 is solid. The defense is coming around and the offense remains strong. Still think this will be a mid 40ish win team.

The record was never the issue. But since the 3rd Q in the game 2 against the Bucks, Mavs, Rockets and Spurs were all hideous losses. Thats why everyone was concerned.

If we played well and had a record of 2-6, i would still be optimistic.

Now we play against Atlanta again, also injured. Tough schedule for us, but also lucky breaks with those injuries.

[causal_fan]

The upcoming 5 game road trip will be a good test.

[Godaddycurse]

The Raps schedule to start the year is one of the toughest in the league, so starting 4-4 is solid. The defense is coming around and the offense remains strong. Still think this will be a mid 40ish win team.

The record was never the issue. But since the 3rd Q in the game 2 against the Bucks, Mavs, Rockets and Spurs were all hideous losses. Thats why everyone was concerned.

If we played well and had a record of 2-6, i would still be optimistic.

Now we play against Atlanta again, also injured. Tough schedule for us, but also lucky breaks with those injuries.

we played D + rebounded in the 4 games that we won and didn't in the games we lost. Offense have been fairly consistent throughout.

[ash_k]

It was dominant, however I dont want to see IQ take more shots than either BI or StarJ in a game ever again.
The gap in talent between us and the Bucks is quite evident..we are vastly superior....but again having that Greek God fellow......

[mihaic]

The Raps schedule to start the year is one of the toughest in the league, so starting 4-4 is solid. The defense is coming around and the offense remains strong. Still think this will be a mid 40ish win team.

The record was never the issue. But since the 3rd Q in the game 2 against the Bucks, Mavs, Rockets and Spurs were all hideous losses. Thats why everyone was concerned.

If we played well and had a record of 2-6, i would still be optimistic.

Now we play against Atlanta again, also injured. Tough schedule for us, but also lucky breaks with those injuries.

I haven't watched the Spurs game. I watched part of the Mavs and Rockets games and I saw Adams, Sengun, Lively, AD dominating our team, we were brutally undersized. We will be hopefully more competitive against those type of teams with Yak in.

[MiamiSPX]

Still think this will be a mid 40ish win team.

Same, and a lot of it has to do with the rest of the East. We know the Wizards, Hornets and Nets will be at the bottom, as trashy as ever. I fully expect the Celtics and Pacers to embrace a stealth tank. And on any given night we can beat the rest of the teams predicted to be between 3rd-10th. Magic don't look like anything special right now, and one or both of Embiid and PG13 will be done for the season by the All-Star break. We will be right there in the thick of things IMO.

[WuTang_CMB]

Still think this will be a mid 40ish win team.

Same, and a lot of it has to do with the rest of the East. We know the Wizards, Hornets and Nets will be at the bottom, as trashy as ever. I fully expect the Celtics and Pacers to embrace a stealth tank. And on any given night we can beat the rest of the teams predicted to be between 3rd-10th. Magic don't look like anything special right now, and one or both of Embiid and PG13 will be done for the season by the All-Star break. We will be right there in the thick of things IMO.

45 wins is the marker for me if we keep playing like this, getting better on both ends, more chemistry and stay healthy

anything above is gravy

[Appostis]

Not preseason. He played in the preseason like the last two years, that was the problem. Dont take things out of context. And nobody is a hater of scottie, but beeing realistic about him. And i believe everybody is happy that he is playing well and making his 3s.

You know we all can go back and look at those threads right?

I don't know why you're trying to pretend a solid number if people were going crazy with the Scotty doom hot takes during the pre season.

You will always find one or two exceptions, but when you go back and look, you will see that most takes where about scottie beeing more or less the same like the years before. His two biggest flaws are his shooting and his maturity, and that was adressed in those posts. Now since the start of the season, he has cleaned that up so far.

Sure thing..

[PushDaRock]

Bench Mob 2.0 actually has some pretty crazy on court and on/off splits to start the season. Mamu, Shead, Gradey and Ochai have been dominating their mins out there.

[PushDaRock]

They can only play whoever is in front of them. To become a good team, they first need to start winning the games they should win. The Knicks won 51 games last season but were only 12-19 against teams over .500. Not sure some of you realize that the majority of wins from those 50+ win teams is them beating up on the lesser teams. If we win 44 games and 38 are against teams under .500, would we really care? I mean, I know some of you will still whine about that, but most of us wouldn't care. All wins lead to building confidence and accumulating good habits.

Gotta love BI just strolling in and posting 21/6/4 with a 64 TS% like it's nothing. Only had 13 points but as someone pointed out last night, a few of those buckets were at key points, killing mini Bucks runs. Really love watching this guy play.

I can't say enough about Barnes. Averaging over 3 STOCKS per game is what really stands out to me. Dude is just engaged in every facet of the game. I too was down on him like most, and he has shut us all up so far. Only 8 games but he's posting elite numbers (which will come down).

Shead low-key huge last night also. Just makes winning plays.

Schedule looking really soft here in the next 15 games.

That's how we were good in the Derozan/Lowry years. We beat the crap out of the teams we were supposed to.

[theonlyeastcoastrapsfan]

This and Atlanta have been the two best efforts so far. I had us at 3- 7 with a tough opening schedule and we’re at 4-4.

Good to see Poeltl back, with his poor ft shooting, having him at 25 min, is probably not a bad thing.
Overall defense needs to come a long way, and it seems like we’re selling out a bit less a doing a better job playing together. Scottie’s been taking his threes when left open and has been punishing defences. RJ and BI and working together better on the wing than I imagined. Love what we’re seeing from Shead, and CMB and Sandro.

[redraptor77]

I agree with previous posters
The schedule was tough to start but my concern was how we were losing vs the actual loss
Our D looked much different last night
I still think we need a consolidation trade
Nice to grab a big or a PG that can penetrate and beat D

[Prestige]

I’m high on Ochai and Battle, but they see to be at the bottom of the depth chart. I think those two guys provide more impact than Dick and Walter right now.

[MEDIC]

Good news is that IQ is a career 42/37/85 shooter who is currently shooting 38/28/77. He's going to improve.

He looks like he has added some size to his frame. Sometimes there is an adjustment period for shooters after gaining strength/ bulk.

Hopefully this is the case & by the new year & he comes out on fire.

[tsherkin]

That's how we were good in the Derozan/Lowry years. We beat the crap out of the teams we were supposed to.

That defines how DDR looked good. He struggled when competition quality increased, but he was quite capable at beating up on weaker/mediocre teams.

[Syd-TK3]

I think the best part about Mamu atleast in terms of last nights game is even though he's primarily there as a undersized stretch 5 he still gets on the rebounds

[tsherkin]

I think the best part about Mamu atleast in terms of last nights game is even though he's primarily there as a undersized stretch 5 he still gets on the rebounds

He is not undersized at all. Dude's 6'10 and was 240 when he was drafted. His size is fine.

[PushDaRock]

That's how we were good in the Derozan/Lowry years. We beat the crap out of the teams we were supposed to.

That defines how DDR looked good. He struggled when competition quality increased, but he was quite capable at beating up on weaker/mediocre teams.

Yeah, people talk a lot about this team having treadmill upside. But, after the last 2 seasons, I would say let's just get to that point first before worrying about it.

[MEDIC]

That's how we were good in the Derozan/Lowry years. We beat the crap out of the teams we were supposed to.

That defines how DDR looked good. He struggled when competition quality increased, but he was quite capable at beating up on weaker/mediocre teams.

It's kind of like how some players look good playing against bench players, but just aren't as capable against starting lineups.

There are levels to basketball. Derozan was super skilled, but his game didn't translate against quicker, longer athletes who have elite athleticism & aggressiveness. He also depended heavily on a quick whistle.