GT#2 Round 1: Washington Wizards @ Toronto Raptors 4-21-15 8:00PM Air Canada Centre on NBAtv, CSNB

[nate33]

Same is true for us though. And DeRozan is an All Star. Better than Beal at this point in their careers. He was playing his best basketball going into this series. We've shut him down.

We don't have a significant talent advantage over Toronto. I think we have a little bit better top end talent but their bench is better. They're a lot better offensive team than us because they've got more ball handlers and much better shooters. But that doesn't matter as much as the difference in defensive ability in the playoffs and this is something of an NBA truism. Defense always friggin wins. Defense and our total domination of the glass is why we're beating them, and all of our superior offensive execution kind of builds from that.

With Lowry hobbled by back issues, the Wizards have 4 of the best 5 guys on the floor. I'd take Wall, Gortat, Beal and Playoff Nene over everybody on that roster other than Derozan. I'd rank them like this:

Wall
Gortat
DeRozan
Beal
Playoff Nene
Lowry

You can't easily replace Wall with an MLE-caliber free agent. You can't easily replace Gortat. You can't easily replace Beal.

[dckingsfan]

...

Next game thread evolushunize!

[AFM]

Same is true for us though. And DeRozan is an All Star. Better than Beal at this point in their careers. He was playing his best basketball going into this series. We've shut him down.

We don't have a significant talent advantage over Toronto. I think we have a little bit better top end talent but their bench is better. They're a lot better offensive team than us because they've got more ball handlers and much better shooters. But that doesn't matter as much as the difference in defensive ability in the playoffs and this is something of an NBA truism. Defense always friggin wins. Defense and our total domination of the glass is why we're beating them, and all of our superior offensive execution kind of builds from that.

No. They have a whole lot of chuckers.
I've noticed you have a soft spot for chuckers. You didn't play SG in high school, did you?

[MikeTheKid]

I needed a new sig after last night's win:

[KidHawk2020]

Same is true for us though. And DeRozan is an All Star. Better than Beal at this point in their careers. He was playing his best basketball going into this series. We've shut him down.

We don't have a significant talent advantage over Toronto. I think we have a little bit better top end talent but their bench is better. They're a lot better offensive team than us because they've got more ball handlers and much better shooters. But that doesn't matter as much as the difference in defensive ability in the playoffs and this is something of an NBA truism. Defense always friggin wins. Defense and our total domination of the glass is why we're beating them, and all of our superior offensive execution kind of builds from that.

No. They have a whole lot of chuckers.
I've noticed you have a soft spot for chuckers. You didn't play SG in high school, did you?

I agree, they just shoot crazy shots from any and everywhere. Chuck! Chuck! Chuck! lol

Washington's starting 5 is a lot better then Toronto's. And they actually run a competent offense which is why they are dominating the series thus far. I think the next 2 games will be ugly, 4-0 Sweep.

[stevemcqueen1]

Same is true for us though. And DeRozan is an All Star. Better than Beal at this point in their careers. He was playing his best basketball going into this series. We've shut him down.

We don't have a significant talent advantage over Toronto. I think we have a little bit better top end talent but their bench is better. They're a lot better offensive team than us because they've got more ball handlers and much better shooters. But that doesn't matter as much as the difference in defensive ability in the playoffs and this is something of an NBA truism. Defense always friggin wins. Defense and our total domination of the glass is why we're beating them, and all of our superior offensive execution kind of builds from that.

No. They have a whole lot of chuckers.
I've noticed you have a soft spot for chuckers. You didn't play SG in high school, did you?

I would compare my game more to Jan Vesely's except without the height or, you know, ability to dunk.

[stevemcqueen1]

Same is true for us though. And DeRozan is an All Star. Better than Beal at this point in their careers. He was playing his best basketball going into this series. We've shut him down.

We don't have a significant talent advantage over Toronto. I think we have a little bit better top end talent but their bench is better. They're a lot better offensive team than us because they've got more ball handlers and much better shooters. But that doesn't matter as much as the difference in defensive ability in the playoffs and this is something of an NBA truism. Defense always friggin wins. Defense and our total domination of the glass is why we're beating them, and all of our superior offensive execution kind of builds from that.

With Lowry hobbled by back issues, the Wizards have 4 of the best 5 guys on the floor. I'd take Wall, Gortat, Beal and Playoff Nene over everybody on that roster other than Derozan. I'd rank them like this:

Wall
Gortat
DeRozan
Beal
Playoff Nene
Lowry

You can't easily replace Wall with an MLE-caliber free agent. You can't easily replace Gortat. You can't easily replace Beal.

I don't disagree with you about our top end talent being better. I think it is even with a healthy Lowry. It's the guys outside our best three or four where they are better. But that hasn't made much of a difference in the playoffs like it did during the last two regular seasons.

They are a mess right now. Completely stymied by the way we are playing them and they have stopped trusting each other and they aren't executing their offense like they did during the season. This was the third best offense this year. We've gotten them to almost completely abandon what made them successful. They are kind of soft and we've exploited their inexperience.

[payitforward]

Last year, Lowry and Wall were at about the same level if I recollect correctly. Wall's had a somewhat better season this year than Lowry. On the other hand, much as I like Gortat, Valanciunas was more productive this year, is much younger (he's one year older than Bradley Beal!), has a far better contract, etc. Any team would be nuts to prefer Gortat over Valanciunas (and, again, I am a big fan of Gortat).

What would anyone think Demar DeRozan is a good player, I wonder? I suppose it's because he scores 20 points a game; everyone thinks that scoring is all there is.

DeRozan gets to the line a lot and shoots a high % when there, but that's about the extent of any really outstanding things he does. He doesn't shoot the 3 well, doesn't shoot 2pt shots at a high % and doesn't do anything else that stands out either.

Whatever -- in any case, we do seem to have their number! Go figure. The only guy who played really well for them the other night was Patterson, who played *extremely* well!

[hands11]

Game 2 Game Flow

http://www.popcornmachine.net/gf?date=20150421&game=WASTOR

[hands11]

I re-estimated the odds of each team winning their first round playoff series. The only one to change significantly was the Wizards-Raptors matchup. By winning game one, Wiz odds of winning the series flipped from from 30% to 56%.

So are we up to 80% yet? I think historically it would be around 90% (2-0 on road to start a 7 game series).

55-4 (.932) over all in first round.

Small sample size for home team going up 2..

3-1 (.750)

And one of those 3 is up last year. Think about that. Pretty amazing.

[McFilthy]

I needed a new sig after last night's win:

Nice MikeTheKid!

[McFilthy]

I haven't been about to read the whole thread, so sorry if I all this has been discussed, but wow I was expecting the Wizards to be down 0-2 at this point - feels good to be wrong. I couldn't watch game 1 but saw game 2.

- Nice to see WallStar level play in the playoff last game
- Beal dialed in!
- Otto! Oh my!! His development has me the most excited perhaps. I didn't know he was defensive stopper - DeRosen is probably having nightmares every night about Otto blocking his path to the bathroom and swatting his attempts at putting garbage in the trashcan. Love the attitude and development. I have knocked EG for not resigning Ariza, but if he had Otto would probably be playing sparingly right now.
- Pierce's leadership is so key. Glad is is relishing that role. It takes an opinionated future HOFer to get Wittman try him at the 4. The physiological warfare he lodged before game 1 with the "It" statements was brilliant.
- I hear Kevin did nicely in game 1 and had his moments in game 2, but watching him play is his like an infuriating dance... two steps forward, two steps back: Nice shot, stupid fool. I realize he can score in the post, so I sometimes think is not a bad backup center and our bench needs someone who can score. If someone is going to overpay him I hope it is not the Wizards. Can we please develop a young big with smarts in his game who can board?
- If the Wizards keep rolling Casey may need to update that resume.