Kawhi didn't believe Toronto would repeat

[C Court]

Is it just me or does it feel a little like Christmas morning after getting the surprise present you really wanted!

[StopitLeo]

Not sure I beleive this at all.

[MixxSRC]

Kawhi never won as first option before Raps

[JShuttlesworth]

Would have, could have, should have.

Kawhi thought that playing with PG put him in a better position to win than the Raptors did. What actually played out is that the Clippers choked, plain and simple. George couldn't hit a shot to save his life and he just kept laying brick after brick. All that size and athleticism on the wing from Kawhi and George and they didn't even use it to attack the basket -- A combined 4/18 from deep last night.

At the end of the day Kawhi will avoid criticism this because he already has a couple rings, but the media is going to go in on George.

[xAIRNESSx]

How wrong he would’ve been. The emergence of Fred, Norm and Pascal was more than enough.

Read on Twitter

[Kevin Willis]

Based on a very winnable series with no plan B, sticking with Siakim for far too long, poor timeout management and getting out coached by brad Stevens

None of this happened though.

We just lost to a more talented team.


Try again.

Based on a very winnable series with no plan B, sticking with Siakim for far too long, poor timeout management and getting out coached by brad Stevens

The coach's job is to put his top players in positions to succeed, he did that, but they didn't get it done. Nurse can't shoot 3's from the bench.

No, raps had horrible shot selection, Laboured really hard to get open shots, constantly gave up open 3’s to the Celtics and not calling a timeout in the final 30 seconds of game 7 only for Van vleet to just dribble out for 20 seconds and force up an awful shot instead of nurse calling timeout was just bad coaching. Nurse did not coach a good series at all. His timeout management was horrible, he stuck with Siakim far too long, inexplicably leaving a hot Ibaka on the bench for most of the fourth. Raps played fairly mediocre in most of that series and were a buzzer beater away from losing on five.

Nurse did an awesome job last year, but in the playoffs this year he was fairly crummy.

1. Boston is a really good team. One of the best defensive teams in the league. Not sure why you're making it sound like we lost to scrubs.
2. Take out Pascal and replace him with who?? Give Ibaka all his minutes and who backs up Gasol? At least he was playing solid defense.
3. Brad Stevens absolutely did not out-coach Nurse. Nurse had two of his starters give him nothing much. Stevens starters at least played to the level expected and Smart played like a man possessed. Even with that handicap of lack of talent it went 7 hard fought games. His team showed up and gave better performances than MIlwaukee and Clippers. Not sure why you're criticizing him for not being perfect or maybe Nurse set the bar that high people expect every decision to be right.
4. Timeout management can be subjective. If FVV hit that shot he would be praised for letting them play and not allowing Boston to set their defense.
5. Raps played fairly mediocre in most of that series and were a Marcus Smart block away from still making it to the ECF. Raptors were one bounce away from not beating Philly. Spurs were one rebound away from beating Miami. Hypotheticals.

[OakleyDokely]

I wonder how many bad hotdogs Lawrence Frank had to eat while watching Raps / Hornets games on a Wednesday night at Scotiabank just so he could watch the Clippers blow a 3-1 lead.

[Bankai]

If Kawhi was on his team, he would be in the NBA Finals, but now on the Clippers he isint. Ho hum.

[Young Moosehead]

There are too many non winning personalities on this clippers team. And Kawhi is not a leader. And doc is not a good coach. And clippers gonna clip. And next year GS will dominate the west and the next year Kawhi leave The clippers and the rest of the decade the clippers suck.

This is fact - The LA Clippers are the WORST franchise in all of sport. (Just a bit worse then the a certain local hockey team)

But... but.... but... all last year ESPN wrote fluff article explaining how they have changed and are a model franchise to which everyone else should aspire to be. You mean, this isn't true? ESPN LIED TO ME?!?!?!?!

Woj was Ballmer's mouthpiece all year. Don't forget the stuff about Masai to the Wizards that he brought up right when we won the title.

I laughed so hard late last night, an hour or two after the Clips were bounced, when I saw that an article had already been written talking about how the Clippers were going to improve by taking on overpriced contracts for next season. Its timing and messaging reminded me of that Woj tweet.

[ruckus]

Not to make excuses for Kawhi but I'm pretty sure the people around him were putting those thoughts into his ear all season. It's not like his hangers on have a vested interest in him earning more through endorsements and the like.

I think his move to LA might have done more to hurt his brand than help it though.

[Johnny Bball]

What a dummy.

Star players make the worst GMs.

And that tweet by Lewenberg and the timing, savage.

[Johnny Bball]

Read on Twitter

so Kawhi went and got a guy with mentality like this? Makes no sense

Just piss away the best opportunity they will ever have. Wow.

[Son Goku 25]

Siakam as a 2nd or third option, kawhi having a real pg and leaders in Lowry and Marc with the rest of supporting cast plus emergence of OG who didn't ecen play last year... and the best coach in the league? You guys really think this team wouldn't have been favorites smh

Nurse is not the best coach in the league, he certainly didn’t look it in that Celtics series and Siakim didn’t even play like a top 5 option and completely derailed the series for the Raps.

Having said that, has Kawhi stayed, raps in the finals for sure

Lol ok

[missionman]

He remains the best Raptor leader in our franchise history and he deserves respect, since without him we'd had no chance to win a championship. He wanted to go back home to LA, cannot blame him.

I wish him well!

The team I cheer for now to win it all, it is Denver!

Fans respect his talent and his desire to go home.

But your post still gives him too much credit - something I am completely weary of in regards to kawhi.

Kyle Lowry was the best leader of this franchise.
Kawhi was the most individually dominant player the raptors have ever had. But he is a selfish guy. I can't see it any other way. All of kawhi's post game interviews with the raptors - he was always patting himself on the back because of all of his hard work.

Listen to Lowry on his interviews: always commending his teammates. He has sacrificed for the better or his team, and has come up big when the team needed him. Lowry is the bettwr teammate and leader and its not even close.

So I am not shooting down your post - but really it's you who should really be showing Lowry respect.

[StopitLeo]

Read on Twitter

Only 2 guys averaged more than 30 mpg for the Clippers in the playoffs. What a joke.

[kj_]

we didnt have a power house like paul george

https://youtu.be/BTxS87ee_S8


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[Oakville_Raptor]

You guys hate a guy who won you a title? Interesting.

I don't think anyone here hates Kawhi...

[Zeno]

Read on Twitter

so Kawhi went and got a guy with mentality like this? Makes no sense

Just piss away the best opportunity they will ever have. Wow.

This is kind of post loss spin that a lot of NBA guys do instead of looking in the mirror because they are more concerned with how they are perceived than admitting failure. The fact that he thinks he'd look better to the public if he says they weren't fully invested is actually his problem.

[Son Goku 25]

George Paul showed up again! Hahah I need to watch skip

[Danny1616]

For all the criticism Siakim got for his offensive performance, George is a 9 year veteran who has had some big playoff moments and played alongside an MVP caliber player in Kawhi as the 2nd option, and still stank it up.