Kawhi who?
Okay, no, I am just joking. I love Kawhi. He's our best player, of course.
But despite missing Kawhi with a bruised right hip, we took it to the Clippers on the road, 123-99.
I am going to throw out all these cliches here. We came to play. We showed up on time. We just played good basketball, in all aspects of the game.
It's not just the score. It was as gratifying a win as any that I've watched this season, coming as it did on the heels of a two-game slide and a stretch of three losses in four games. Couldn't have asked for a better start to what will surely be a challenging road trip, which will now take us to GSW tomorrow, followed by Portland on Saturday and Denver on Monday.
Before I get to my takeaways, I want to send condolences to Coach Nurse's family. His mother passed away, and Nurse traveled to his home in Iowa and made it back in time for the game in LA. He said his mother wouldn't have it any other way. He'll be on the bench again in Oakland and then fly back to Iowa to be with his family.
And what a great victory by his charges to win for their boss.
1. The Raptors didn't have any fast break point after three quarters against the Bucks. But in this one? We were up 17-0 in that department midway through the third quarter, and ended up with a 28-4 advantage. Most of the time, it was the classic case of stifling defense leading to easy offense.
2. The real Lowry showed up. After a scoreless game, Kyle went off for 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting (4-of-8 from downtown), along with seven assists and five rebounds.
And one of those seven dimes was this beauty.
He just needed to be himself, that's all. And without Leonard in this one, he knew he would have the ball in his hand more. And Kyle did a lot of good things with that.
3. My favorite part about this win was the way we didn't let up in the third quarter after building a 70-57 lead at half. They say in hockey a two-goal lead after the first period is the most dangerous one for the team that's ahead because that team may let up in the middle frame and get caught.
The Raptors have often let double-digit leads slip away in the second half. Not in this one. We kept the foot on the pedal and just beat up on the shell-shocked home team.
We kept making crisp passes to create good looks and playing such solid D. Had a 13-4 run to start the quarter and the game was pretty much over.
Kyle, Delon (stitches and all) and then Kyle took turns in draining 3-pointers. with Serge also getting some easy buckets. 103-74 at the end of third.
4. JV was doing JV things in the first half. 16 points in just 18 minutes off the bench. Making some sweet shots in the paint. And then he got T'd up for this:
I loved it! JV taunting (I believe) Harrell after a putback off a FT miss. I don't mind those technicals. It sent a message to the Clips. JV wasn't messing around.
5. There was one play during the Bucks game where Kawhi took a hard fall and was slow getting up. Hope he's not hurt too bad. Injured or not, I still don't think he would have played in this one. We need him at 100 percent (maybe 110 percent?) against the Dubs.
Draymond just came back. So they're already a different team than the one that lost to us in OT in T.dot a few days ago.
I don't think I'll be able to watch the whole game tomorrow. May have to grab an on-demand feed later at night. But it looks like a scheduled loss to me, so it's probably better that I skip the game.
But despite missing Kawhi with a bruised right hip, we took it to the Clippers on the road, 123-99.
I am going to throw out all these cliches here. We came to play. We showed up on time. We just played good basketball, in all aspects of the game.
 |
| I am sticking with cuff links today |
It's not just the score. It was as gratifying a win as any that I've watched this season, coming as it did on the heels of a two-game slide and a stretch of three losses in four games. Couldn't have asked for a better start to what will surely be a challenging road trip, which will now take us to GSW tomorrow, followed by Portland on Saturday and Denver on Monday.
Before I get to my takeaways, I want to send condolences to Coach Nurse's family. His mother passed away, and Nurse traveled to his home in Iowa and made it back in time for the game in LA. He said his mother wouldn't have it any other way. He'll be on the bench again in Oakland and then fly back to Iowa to be with his family.
And what a great victory by his charges to win for their boss.
1. The Raptors didn't have any fast break point after three quarters against the Bucks. But in this one? We were up 17-0 in that department midway through the third quarter, and ended up with a 28-4 advantage. Most of the time, it was the classic case of stifling defense leading to easy offense.
2. The real Lowry showed up. After a scoreless game, Kyle went off for 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting (4-of-8 from downtown), along with seven assists and five rebounds.
And one of those seven dimes was this beauty.
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) December 12, 2018
He just needed to be himself, that's all. And without Leonard in this one, he knew he would have the ball in his hand more. And Kyle did a lot of good things with that.
3. My favorite part about this win was the way we didn't let up in the third quarter after building a 70-57 lead at half. They say in hockey a two-goal lead after the first period is the most dangerous one for the team that's ahead because that team may let up in the middle frame and get caught.
The Raptors have often let double-digit leads slip away in the second half. Not in this one. We kept the foot on the pedal and just beat up on the shell-shocked home team.
We kept making crisp passes to create good looks and playing such solid D. Had a 13-4 run to start the quarter and the game was pretty much over.
Kyle, Delon (stitches and all) and then Kyle took turns in draining 3-pointers. with Serge also getting some easy buckets. 103-74 at the end of third.
4. JV was doing JV things in the first half. 16 points in just 18 minutes off the bench. Making some sweet shots in the paint. And then he got T'd up for this:
BIG SCIENCE HYPE pic.twitter.com/oz2HU9UFrK— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) December 12, 2018
I loved it! JV taunting (I believe) Harrell after a putback off a FT miss. I don't mind those technicals. It sent a message to the Clips. JV wasn't messing around.
5. There was one play during the Bucks game where Kawhi took a hard fall and was slow getting up. Hope he's not hurt too bad. Injured or not, I still don't think he would have played in this one. We need him at 100 percent (maybe 110 percent?) against the Dubs.
Draymond just came back. So they're already a different team than the one that lost to us in OT in T.dot a few days ago.
I don't think I'll be able to watch the whole game tomorrow. May have to grab an on-demand feed later at night. But it looks like a scheduled loss to me, so it's probably better that I skip the game.
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