PG: Clear Path FTL

[RapsFanInOhio]

GTFO with the refs stuff - they were bad both ways.
- Lowry sucked. He's too short to create at the end of games.
- NO JV IN CRUNCH TIME OR OT. Are you kidding me? We will NEVER be a top team unless you use your 7' CENTER IN CRUNCH TIME YOU MORON.
- Casey continuing to rely on lineups that DO NOT work against playoff teams in a playoff setting. USE YOUR DAMN CENTER!

I don't even know how to react to such a dumb statement.

I know, right? Was he too short when he got those offensive boards?

And what was the result?

I love Lowry, don't get me wrong. But you aren't relying on him to win you a playoff series because he is too small. Wing players win playoff games unless you have a ridiculously good offensive or defensive system. Check the greatest players in NBA history; you're going to find a trend that they're all bigger players and that's not really debatable.

We play ISO-ball with two guys shorter than 6'4'', and I'm sorry but that is not winning you playoff games.

[cruwinas]

I don't even know what to say, we'll get one in GS.

Christmas are over. If we want it - we have to take it. W wouldn't be given to us as present from the team with only one home loss.

[BlaH_]

Guys, the refs again?

Lemme bring you back to stats -

Vasquez: 5-13, 3PT 2-7, 13 PTS
Williams: 1-10, 3PT 0-5, 7 PTS

I know Vasquez may have issues with the fam back home but he's still chucking when he should be passing. Almost ALL OUR LOSSES ARE BECAUSE OF THESE 2 GUYS.

Are people saying they shouldn't take open threes? Cuz I never hear complaining when they go in. Rap fans are so fickle.

I'm saying that when I've gone through our losses and check the stats for Vasquez and Williams, they continuously have poor shooting nights. They need to recognize those nights when they don't have it and make the extra pass. Do a drive and kick. All those shots they take work when they're on. When those guys are cold, they give the other team runs on us AND kill our momentum.

The most glaring thing is that neither WIlliams or Vasquez show up against good competition. It's easy to go 11 of 19 against Denver, but where are those numbers tonight?

Denver is a good team especially at home.

[Peja Stojakovic]

Have you seen the news in New York lately? Police Union?

Look up dirt on police union drama in Toronto too. Look up corrupt Mike Mccormick versus Mukherjee.

Unions don't give a ***k if they are too powerful.

yo don't use police unions to tar and feather unions for ordinary working people. they are on two different ends of the ideological spectrum

[Hue Durant]

lol
lololo

[RapsFanInOhio]

Amongst all the anger here, we just took a contender to the bitter end and barely fell short. If calls actually went our way, we would have won.

Theres no point now in being angry as it will get me no where so I need to take the glass half full approach. We have to keep this effort consistent.

They aren't a contender. They have the same shortcomings that we do.

[MEDIC]

So....The Raps bucket was more of a sure thing based on Lowry standing under the bucket, but that one wasn't clear path, & the other was?

Based on the rule that Matt read, Raps should have had the advantage of a clear path foul.

It is a stupid rule anyhow. Too much gray area & gives much too big an advantage in a close game.

I have no problem with a player giving a hard foul in the open court to prevent an easy bucket.

NBA and their B'S politics.

[tontonpoulet]

My wife was watching OT and she recommended that I stop watching basketball after I explained what a clear path foul was. She stated that the Raps have to win by a lot to avoid these types of sabotages. I told her that the Raps had the best point differential and it totally blew her mind that refs calls were so blatant. Then she asked whether anyone would speak up. To which I said that you get fined for questioning the refs. She then made a comment about how there's no motivation to improve the refs because the refs don't get penalized for performing poorly.

She doesn't watch basketball often but the state of the Raps, the game and the league was evidenced right there in OT.

So sad.

[rottenzombie]

We have a rabid fanbase too; how's that's working out for us?

Key word is tradition.

Blazers fans having been doing it for decades, and during these decades their teams have been good often enough to exert pressures on generations of refs. You can be sure that when new refs come into the league, the older refs will tell them what they should expect in Portland, and this gets passed down from one generation of refs to the next, to the point that right now it is essentially a tradition to give Blazers home cooking calls.

Give Raps enough time, and perhaps a vocal owner of two, you will see Raps getting more home cooking calls too.

we have to be willing to overcome our fear of paying fines first though, I don't know when that is going to happen.

You will need a passionate owner like Cuban for that to happen.

Even Cuban got screwed big time by the league in 2006, but his efforts were repaid in 2011.

Sadly I don't see it happening any time soon with this Raps team.

[jam_bar_23]

The only thing we can do to try and get a fair shake from the refs is a formal complaint and have a non player call them out. It's gotta be Casey. Step up and rip them. MLSE can eat your fine.

[Wizdome]

I honestly think Casey hit the panic button too early when the game was tied with 3 mins in the 4th. Instead of putting JJ in to keep the defensive intensity he opted for more offense with Lou, when it was our starters that gave us the lead for the majority of the game until the end when the rotations were all mixed up and had some starters mixed with some bench players.

I also think we only ran one post up play for JV that whole 4th quarter then giving up on him when he didn't deliver on it. Why can't we finish games off with our starters, Casey usually opts for more offensive firepower from our wings at the end of games.

I was critical of Casey not putting JJ back in, but at the same time, we needed offense. JJ can't really give it to you in crunch time. Honestly, a lot of it is just missing DeMar.

If you go back and watch game 2 last year. Our offense went cold once again, and it was DeMar who kept draining mid range jumper after mid range jumper to win us the game.

People may not like DeMar's game, but he can draw fouls, and hit tough contested shots, which is what you need in the league. It's why the media likes to show DeMar as our star player, because he's the guy who can make the tough shots.

Just another reason why it would have made more sense to put JJ in the game when our shooting is ice cold. JJ is one of our best post players and he does a great job backing his defender deep inside where he can look to pass off or take it himself. I don't think Batum has the strength to keep him from doing it either, granted he doesn't have the mid range shooting capabilities as DeMar.. he makes up for it with his strength and creativity in the post.

[simple_jack]

Amongst all the anger here, we just took a contender to the bitter end and barely fell short. If calls actually went our way, we would have won.

Theres no point now in being angry as it will get me no where so I need to take the glass half full approach. We have to keep this effort consistent.

We're a better team than Portland.

Don't give me this contender crap. Portland is not a contender and we all know it.

They'll be done in the 2nd round ...they'll probably get swept like they do every year. All they do is shoot 3's....More than us

[EFF3KT]

Amongst all the anger here, we just took a contender to the bitter end and barely fell short. If calls actually went our way, we would have won.

Theres no point now in being angry as it will get me no where so I need to take the glass half full approach. We have to keep this effort consistent.

They aren't a contender. They have the same shortcomings that we do.

I believe they are a contender in the west. Its Your opinion so you have that right.

[wow09]

[instagram]http://instagram.com/p/xQoAlRQKoS/[/instagram]

Always loved PK. But he just went up a million times in my books

[J-Roc]

I blame Vasquez for waiting for the guy to get by him. WTF.

And the Raps need to be able to adjust when refs aren't giving calls. That's a huge problem which will bite them in the butt come playoff time.

[kayliecee]

Refs were brutal down the stretch. We get denied the clear path while Portland can get one. Talk about BS, then that Wes Matthews flop on Amir pissed me the **** off. Masai needs to send the tape to the league offense. We were robbed this game.

It's not the refs fault. They called it by the book. The rule is faulty. Any ref would have called it the same way.

[Boogie!]

Take your **** out of here this ain't no **** circle jerk.

get that troll out of here.

hes a troll for telling the truth? enough of these post games telling fans of other teams that we hope they win the championship. Seems like we tell every damn fan base we hope they win the title except the knicks and nets.

I see through all your fake hope for other teams. Just tell the truth. YOU WANT THEM TO LOSE AND YOU WANT US TO WIN.

the hell are you talking about dude? i was calling that portland fan a troll for coming here with his pretentious backhanded support… hence, "get that troll out of here." don't know how you would interpret that differently.

[littlerock2277]

This is why we need cousins pu**y aldrige wouldnt be backin him down with his elbows.

Also We really need demar you could see how limited iwe are without him in close game. JV aint ready he doesnt look to finish in heated moments only looks for fouls by yelling and failing his arms around and crys like à baby when he doesnt get the calls in his favor. Dude needs learn how shoot à jumper or consistently havesome counter moves in his disposal he is are only relaible option down low.

[Danchan]

trashquez in teh 4th was why we lost. they must have scored 10 points off of him consecutively.

[LieCheatSteal]

Ultimately refs are humans and their decisions will be influenced by bias and environment.

There is a reason why Portland is one of the best home court in the league, their fans have a tradition of being rabid enough to influence refs on key calls.

This time it was especially a no brainer since NBA refs have inherent bias against the Raps. Being mostly Americans, they feel less pressure in making calls against the Raps because they receive less criticism from American media.

We have a rabid fanbase too; how's that's working out for us?

Key word is tradition.

Blazers fans having been doing it for decades, and during these decades their teams have been good often enough to exert pressures on generations of refs. You can be sure that when new refs come into the league, the older refs will tell them what they should expect in Portland, and this gets passed down from one generation of refs to the next, to the point that right now it is essentially a tradition to give Blazers home cooking calls.

Give Raps enough time, and perhaps a vocal owner of two, you will see Raps getting more home cooking calls too.

Can we stop the "woe is us, we're Canadians" thing now? A bad call is a bad call.