PG: Wasted a Miracle

[Jadoogar]

Miami shot like 80% from 3. I'm hoping that comes down to the norm. Derozan bricking free throws, fumbling the ball, bad contested shots. Couple things bounce our way and we win despite playing terrible. Miami is not significantly better than us

[ruckus]

Raps offensive system is embarrassing. I don't understand how a majority of their plays waste the shot clock for 20 seconds then they heave it up. Zero flow and zero movement it's just stale.

Except we're getting goods looks that aren't falling. According to stats.nba.com, the Raptors were 7/31 when the defender was 4-6 feet away.

[RapsAndJays21]

I had fun watching that one, that Lowry shot was one of the best sports moments ever from the Raptors. The Heat do look beatable, and their late game execution wasn't that great. I still feel decent going into game 2.

[TheRealDeal]

If he really isn't injured then I actually want Lowry to shoot more. He keeps passing up shots that he usually makes. The type of shots (3's late in the shot clock, in transition) that make this team great. He needs to see a few go through the bucket to get his confidence back. Empty the clip Kyle.

[0 - 100]

Raps offensive system is embarrassing. I don't understand how a majority of their plays waste the shot clock for 20 seconds then they heave it up. Zero flow and zero movement it's just stale.

Except we're getting goods looks that aren't falling. According to stats.nba.com, the Raptors were 7/31 when the defender was 4-6 feet away.

That's fine but they clearly don't have a real offensive system. If the Raps are not getting to the FT line or scoring off drives, they settle on the perimeter. The system doesn't create good shots. You can't win by taking tough shots all game, you need ball and player movement which they don't have.

[skyheavy]

It was painful watching Whiteside get away with all those illegal screens. Something needs to be said, fine or not

[Gntts]

Whiteside wasn't even guarding him, we were 4 vs 5 on offense.

It started with being in foul trouble early but then Jonas was having a good game. Defensively Biyombo wasn't really doing anything and offensively he was worse. Just sort of a rough game for him but the rotations will probably be a little bit more normal going forward and he'll get into his normal groove. He'll match up well with anyone not named Whiteside. He's not a guy that gives you too many bad games. He does his job solidly pretty much every game.

Biyombo is a role player good for rebounds and blocks but this is completely nullified by Whiteside who's much better than Biyombo in both of these areas. Add in that Biyombo is a big liability on offense and he shouldn't getting much minutes in this series.

Casey should've anticipated Lowry's slump may continue into this series and planned to adjust for it. JV started off well but, as usual with Casey's freestyle system, the guards stop passing to him as the game went on. Passing more to JV also increase chance of getting Whiteside in foul trouble in having to defend JV more. But none of this happened and Casey just kept with the same old system of running plays through Lowry & DeRozan and they were a combined 12 for 35. Pathetic.

If I was Spoelstra, I'd continue to concentrate my defense on Lowry to make sure his slump continues. So with Casey once again unable to adjust, it comes down to this: If Lowry doesn't immediately start playing like his all star self, we are done.

Dear Kyle and Demar,

During 2014/15 and 2015/16 playoffs, your 3P% are respectively:

KL: 21.7% (5/23) and 16% (8/50)
DD: 37.5% (3/8) and 16.7% (3/18)
Total: 25.8% (8/31) and 16.2% (11/68)

You have already tried 99 times to hit from deep and have had plenty of time to ascertain that this does not work in the playoffs. Meanwhile, the less you hit, the more you shoot (31 shot in 2014/15 vs 68 this year). It is high time to settle down and stop hurting the team.

Please stop shooting 3s, let the team win.

Thank you in advance for your understanding.

Sincerely,

Gntts

[MavCarter]

The most frustrating thing in the world is this team looking like contenders during the regular season and then getting to the playoffs and looking like an 8th seed

[OakleyDokely]

If DD/Lowry continue to shoot like this, Raps have no shot.

Sad part is, Miami stinks and are very beatable. Raps played like complete crap and still almost won. But they need DD/Lowry to step up.

[missionman]

offenisively this team is built around an offense of two ball dominant iso players and good perimeter shooters. IN regular season the team shot 37% from three. This produced a top offensive rating in the league.

The problem is kyle. Not hating here, but with him being off/gunshy the offense falls apart, and you can't remake an offense in the middle of the playoffs. With KLow hurting/sucking:
1. You lose his offensive production - including what was good 3 pt %
2. You have only one legitimate ISO player to get points off drives/fouls in the paint (demar - and he is getting killed as the only primary high usage guy)
3. It makes demar think he is the guy to have the ball when the Raptors need to score late in games.

The Raptors don't have a go-to guy like Wade, Durant, Curry, Kawhi, PG-13etc, - guys with ice in their veins and have the IQ to male the right play, be it a pass, a drive or a stone cold dagger from outside. At least they don't now, because early in the season that was Klow. Demar just isn't that guy - and I am NOT a demar hater.

The 3 pt % of the entire team was certainly part of the issue yesterday, but they are supposed to be a good 3 pt shooting team.

Raptors had a lot of chances to win this game - stupid turnovers, stupid decisions, stupid missed free throws, too many missed 3's.

I still have hope (but don't expect) for the raptors to win this series. Again, you can't remake the offense from what it was. We might only need one of the following to win some games - 1) Klow somehow becomes early season Klow; 2) Demar makes smarter decisions and doesn't go into hero mode ALL THE TIME (which might happen anyways if Klow is back to being early season Klow; 3) Raps make their 3 pointers, which they SHOULD frankly - I have more faith in this than Klow recovering for this series frankly.

[G R E Y]

it's okay man you don't have to explain it to him, half the board doesn't even watch games. The only issue we are having is noone is attacking off the catch which is what the spurs do. we run pin downs, screening off ball, screening on ball, handoffs etc but noone uses these to their advantage

'The only difference is...' 'The only issue is...' and everything that follows is what is the huge difference between the Spurs and the Raptors. A girls high school basketball team can say it runs a Spurs O, too, doesn't mean the execution is there, and if it isn't, then it's not like the Spurs, is it? We keep reverting to the same habits on O, so it's not really running the plays, is it? And I most certainly disagree that a different coach would not get better results. A rebuilding far less talented Pacers just took us to 7 games with George and pylons led by Vogel, 7 games that featured a high screen and roll and refusing to give it to the open man. I've watched the Spurs for many many years. Pop has changed his schemes with the players and times and match-ups. We're running with who and what we've got come hell or high water. Don't think for a second that isn't also on the coach as well as on the players. If they're not running what he wants, why are they still out there? Either you're arguing they're flat out ignoring him, or they are doing what they're supposed to. Pick your poison. But please don't compare it to the antidote to bad basketball that is the Spurs.

They run good plays, but they don't execute properly. Pops has said many times that he is lucky to have players that are mature and that buy into his system. Pops obviously has a gift that many coaches in this league don't have--that being charisma. I don't know what Casey says to these guys in practice when it comes to offense, but I can imagine that he isn't telling Demar to go off the pin-down and dribble the ball 30 feet out for the ISO. I would definitely argue that at least Demar ignores his opinions on offense, but I don't know if that's because of Demar's maturity issues or Casey's inability to convince players to buy into his system. I can say for sure that this team would be better if Demar was more deceptive off the plays and used them the way they were meant to be used, and he should be mature enough and professional enough to see that. I never said Casey was an amazing coach. He obviously isn't doing a good job at gaining their respect from an offensive standpoint, but I also think that is an extremely difficult thing to do if you don't have intelligent and mature players.

Thanks for your response. You bring up some good points, just wanted to say that though we disagree about the O between Spurs and Raps, my original response was just about how disparate the teams' O were, not a dig at you for saying it. Enjoy the rest of the series

[alienchild]

Teams mirror the personality and traits of the coach. Casey believes in determination, competiveness, hard work, repetition. Casey isn't a bad coach, but he isn't very adaptable out of his comfort zone, so he stays pretty much with what he knows. And the team reflects that. He keeps looking at the trees and missing the forest, cause that's his comfort zone. We never seem to see the bigger picture. Casey isn't a bad coach, just probably not the right coach.

[Inevitable]

Raps offensive system is embarrassing. I don't understand how a majority of their plays waste the shot clock for 20 seconds then they heave it up. Zero flow and zero movement it's just stale.

Except we're getting goods looks that aren't falling. According to stats.nba.com, the Raptors were 7/31 when the defender was 4-6 feet away.

This has been a trend all playoffs, you gotta assume it's entirely mental with most of these guys now.

[SciencePiggy]

Also, JV with 41 minutes. Career high? Career game for his overall stat line?

Didn't see this one answered
Games where a Raptor C played > 40mins since 2012
Val 20+ and 10+ games (with special guest Aaron Gray!)

BTW if you torture yourself by looking at the PnR defense again can you key in on Wade / Whiteside sets? Picking your poison between a ~50% Wade*** and a Whiteside lob isn't fun. And I don't see Biz as being a magic elixir to the play.

*** Not sure if using the correct filter

[SciencePiggy]

Does anyone else feel that the Raps took their foot off the pedal when Whiteside went down? Or did they just get gassed from starting out so strongly?

I know I was complaining from my couch. As soon as the shot blocker left the game it felt like they stopped trying to get into the paint. The ridiculous amount of possessions where they wasted the clock before even starting their sets also made the jumper the easier option.

[ruckus]

Does anyone else feel that the Raps took their foot off the pedal when Whiteside went down? Or did they just get gassed from starting out so strongly?

I know I was complaining from my couch. As soon as the shot blocker left the game it felt like they stopped trying to get into the paint. The ridiculous amount of possessions where they wasted the clock before even starting their sets also made the jumper the easier option.

It was like Whiteside went out and, they figured they got the game in the bag already and they lost all focus. The play right after was like a microcosm of our season - the rookie - the guy who hasn't made a mistake in the past 2 months - turns over the ball by throwing the inbound to the back of Lowry's head - complete lack of focus from everyone on the floor.

[Hero]

Surprised at how many people are acting like this is no big deal.

The Raptors just lost a game 1 with home court advantage again. They could easily get swept if they don't show up for the next game. It's also really sad how they rack up all these regular season wins to only give up home court advantage right away.

[LLJ]

Surprised at how many people are acting like this is no big deal.

The Raptors just lost a game 1 with home court advantage again. They could easily get swept if they don't show up for the next game. It's also really sad how they rack up all these regular season wins to only give up home court advantage right away.

I guess Toronto fans have gotten too used to giving up Game 1s. In the last 5 years, the Leafs, Jays and Raptors all have given up every Game 1 they've played in the playoffs.

People need to understand that it's NOT normal to give up Game 1s when you have home court or home field or home ice advantage (okay, Leafs did not have home ice vs Bruins). It's HUGE, because it's the difference between eking out a series by the skin of your teeth (Jays-Rangers, Raps-Pacers), losing close heartbreakers (Raps-Nets, Leafs-Bruins) or actually giving your team a chance to finish a series a lot earlier.

[Mikistan]

Y'all seen this?
Lowry stepped out of bounds before the half-court heave anyway

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ernieochoquatro/status/727704061798174723[/tweet]

[curryking3]

I would've been fine if they reviewed and called that.

Raptors did not deserve to win last night. Maybe Jonas did, but not the team sadly

Still was an epic shot, almost jumped out of my seat when I saw it haha.