Raptors 105, Nets 106 (OT)
The Raptors, a.k.a. the best team in the NBA, lost to the Nets 106-105 in OT. I won't bore you with the game recap because 1) that's not what I am here for and 2) who would come to this place for it when they can get a no-frills gamer like this?
Anyhoo, here are my observations/hot takes from that game.
1. The Nets hadn't beaten the Raptors in 12 meetings, dating back to April 2015. And this was exactly the kind of game that I feared the Raptors would drop. After that great win over the Sixers at home, at least some letdown was to be expected. And the guys could have been forgiven for looking past the Nets (8-18 before this one) and ahead to the home matchup against the Bucks, the only team to truly manhandle us so far this season.
(Yes, I am one of those fans who refer to their favorite teams in first-person terms. You'll see a lot of "we, us, our" in this space.)
And boom, the Nets put together a 15-0 run in the first quarter. Only some strong efforts by the starters, Kawhi, Lowry, JV, etc, kept the score tied at 53 at halftime. But it was just "one of those games" when shots weren't really falling, and I don't know if I ever felt confident that the boys would take this game.
Plus, I sort of believe in Basketball Gods, and you're not supposed to win many games when you're shooting 39.3 percent from the field, 31.4 percent from deep. Basketball Gods won't allow that. And it's fitting that we lost the game by missing a shot at the end, not by giving up a buzzer beater or something.
2. As a fan, I don't mind these losses very much. Obviously, you can't win every game, and losing to a lowly team always hurts. But better it comes in December than later in the season. I don't want to throw out the term "wake-up call" too easily, but every team needs a jolt like this once in a while.
3. Of the 27 games the Raptors have played so far, I reckon I've watched more than 20 of them. Two things that irk me to no end and that I think could hold this team back in the playoffs are turnovers and giving up offensive boards.
Turnovers weren't so much an issue in this one, but the Nets grabbed 16 offensive rebounds in this one. There were a handful of possessions where our defense really clamped down and forced a bad shot, only to see the rebound end up in the hands of a Net. There were some unlucky bounces (like an ugly shot clanking off the front of the rim and finding a Net player) but the Raptors also failed to block out would-be rebounders in the paint after shots. Fundamentals, boys, fundamentals.
4. On a more positive note, at least in the games that I've watched, I've not seen this team quit. Look, an early December game, down by 14 in the second quarter, with a touger opponent coming up in a couple of days, maybe the guys could have mailed it in and it would have been perfectly fine by me. You know, save it up for the Bucks and the West Coast trip next week (Clips, GSW, Blazers in a four-day span). But no, we pulled into a tie by halftime.
I got a kick out of the way the starters entered the game midway through that second quarter. The game was kind of sloppy on both ends, and during one stoppage, Nurse sent in Kawhi, Lowry, Green and JV. And as a group, they exuded this vibe that said, "Okay, we've seen enough. Let's go play some basketball." And that's exactly what they did.
5. Say what you will about Jonas Valanciunas. He's a dinosaur of a center in the modern NBA, and he has perhaps the ugliest pump fake in the NBA, in my opinion though it still works often enough. With Nurse at the helm, JV is no longer entrenched as the starting 5. Serge gets the bulk of starts at the position, and the two don't even play together any more (by my count, they've been on the floor at the same time on maybe three or four occasions all season). But rather than sulking over a reduced role, JV has thrived off the bench. Okay, he started in this one against Jarrett Allen and had his second-straight 20-point game.
JV had a dunk over Allen, (at 1:35, after a pump fake, of course), and Allen posterized JV, too.
(Edit: Previously, I had a link to another video on JV's dunk, but realized the clip was deleted.)
6. What more can you say about Kawhi? As an NBA fan, I alway knew how great a player he's been. But watching him on a regular basis now has given me a whole new level of appreciation of his value on both ends.
There was this sequence in overtime when he just put his head down and went to work, putting the Raptors on his back and almost carrying the team to the victory in a game we had no business winning.
With the Raps down 102-98, Kawhi threw down a left-hand slam. On a replay, you could see an almost angry look on his face. The man was determined to make that dunk, no matter who was standing in the way.
Then on the next offensive possession, he played a little catch with Green and drained a corner 3 to put the Raps up 103-102. With under 2 minutes to go, he made a runner for a 105-104 lead. That was the last time the Raptors held a lead, unfortunately, but Kawhi did more than his share. Maybe he's going to win his second straight Player of the Week honors.
And my favorite Kawhi play of the game happened during that second-quarter run. He picks a pass, saves it while falling into the front row, gets back up and comes all the way down to the other end for an emphatic slam. It's a quintessential Kawhi Leonard play. It defines who he is as a basketball player. If someone with no background knowledge of basketball wanted to know who this guy named Kawhi Leonard was all about, I'd play this video.
Words do no justice. Just watch.
7. The game began just before 10 a.m. Saturday morning in Seoul. Watching Toronto sports is tougher for me on weekends than on weekdays because of some family commitments. Now, this is not to say I'd rather be watching my Toronto teams on Saturday or Sunday mornings than spending time with my family (Actually, there are times when I'd rather be doing just that, but I digress). On Saturday mornings, my kids take in-line skating lessons. We get picked up by their gym, so I don't have to be their chauffeur. But I still have to help them put on their gear once we get there. So it calls for some multi-tasking when a game is on. The Raptors have games on the next three Saturdays (Blazers, Cavs and Magic). Gonna be fun.
8. I spent a lot of time self-editing my first entry last night. I realized I was treating it like a news article I write for a day job. Well, I think I've got to let the words come to me, if you will.
Anyhoo, here are my observations/hot takes from that game.
1. The Nets hadn't beaten the Raptors in 12 meetings, dating back to April 2015. And this was exactly the kind of game that I feared the Raptors would drop. After that great win over the Sixers at home, at least some letdown was to be expected. And the guys could have been forgiven for looking past the Nets (8-18 before this one) and ahead to the home matchup against the Bucks, the only team to truly manhandle us so far this season.
(Yes, I am one of those fans who refer to their favorite teams in first-person terms. You'll see a lot of "we, us, our" in this space.)
And boom, the Nets put together a 15-0 run in the first quarter. Only some strong efforts by the starters, Kawhi, Lowry, JV, etc, kept the score tied at 53 at halftime. But it was just "one of those games" when shots weren't really falling, and I don't know if I ever felt confident that the boys would take this game.
Plus, I sort of believe in Basketball Gods, and you're not supposed to win many games when you're shooting 39.3 percent from the field, 31.4 percent from deep. Basketball Gods won't allow that. And it's fitting that we lost the game by missing a shot at the end, not by giving up a buzzer beater or something.
2. As a fan, I don't mind these losses very much. Obviously, you can't win every game, and losing to a lowly team always hurts. But better it comes in December than later in the season. I don't want to throw out the term "wake-up call" too easily, but every team needs a jolt like this once in a while.
3. Of the 27 games the Raptors have played so far, I reckon I've watched more than 20 of them. Two things that irk me to no end and that I think could hold this team back in the playoffs are turnovers and giving up offensive boards.
Turnovers weren't so much an issue in this one, but the Nets grabbed 16 offensive rebounds in this one. There were a handful of possessions where our defense really clamped down and forced a bad shot, only to see the rebound end up in the hands of a Net. There were some unlucky bounces (like an ugly shot clanking off the front of the rim and finding a Net player) but the Raptors also failed to block out would-be rebounders in the paint after shots. Fundamentals, boys, fundamentals.
4. On a more positive note, at least in the games that I've watched, I've not seen this team quit. Look, an early December game, down by 14 in the second quarter, with a touger opponent coming up in a couple of days, maybe the guys could have mailed it in and it would have been perfectly fine by me. You know, save it up for the Bucks and the West Coast trip next week (Clips, GSW, Blazers in a four-day span). But no, we pulled into a tie by halftime.
I got a kick out of the way the starters entered the game midway through that second quarter. The game was kind of sloppy on both ends, and during one stoppage, Nurse sent in Kawhi, Lowry, Green and JV. And as a group, they exuded this vibe that said, "Okay, we've seen enough. Let's go play some basketball." And that's exactly what they did.
5. Say what you will about Jonas Valanciunas. He's a dinosaur of a center in the modern NBA, and he has perhaps the ugliest pump fake in the NBA, in my opinion though it still works often enough. With Nurse at the helm, JV is no longer entrenched as the starting 5. Serge gets the bulk of starts at the position, and the two don't even play together any more (by my count, they've been on the floor at the same time on maybe three or four occasions all season). But rather than sulking over a reduced role, JV has thrived off the bench. Okay, he started in this one against Jarrett Allen and had his second-straight 20-point game.
JV had a dunk over Allen, (at 1:35, after a pump fake, of course), and Allen posterized JV, too.
(Edit: Previously, I had a link to another video on JV's dunk, but realized the clip was deleted.)
6. What more can you say about Kawhi? As an NBA fan, I alway knew how great a player he's been. But watching him on a regular basis now has given me a whole new level of appreciation of his value on both ends.
There was this sequence in overtime when he just put his head down and went to work, putting the Raptors on his back and almost carrying the team to the victory in a game we had no business winning.
With the Raps down 102-98, Kawhi threw down a left-hand slam. On a replay, you could see an almost angry look on his face. The man was determined to make that dunk, no matter who was standing in the way.
Then on the next offensive possession, he played a little catch with Green and drained a corner 3 to put the Raps up 103-102. With under 2 minutes to go, he made a runner for a 105-104 lead. That was the last time the Raptors held a lead, unfortunately, but Kawhi did more than his share. Maybe he's going to win his second straight Player of the Week honors.
And my favorite Kawhi play of the game happened during that second-quarter run. He picks a pass, saves it while falling into the front row, gets back up and comes all the way down to the other end for an emphatic slam. It's a quintessential Kawhi Leonard play. It defines who he is as a basketball player. If someone with no background knowledge of basketball wanted to know who this guy named Kawhi Leonard was all about, I'd play this video.
Words do no justice. Just watch.
7. The game began just before 10 a.m. Saturday morning in Seoul. Watching Toronto sports is tougher for me on weekends than on weekdays because of some family commitments. Now, this is not to say I'd rather be watching my Toronto teams on Saturday or Sunday mornings than spending time with my family (Actually, there are times when I'd rather be doing just that, but I digress). On Saturday mornings, my kids take in-line skating lessons. We get picked up by their gym, so I don't have to be their chauffeur. But I still have to help them put on their gear once we get there. So it calls for some multi-tasking when a game is on. The Raptors have games on the next three Saturdays (Blazers, Cavs and Magic). Gonna be fun.
8. I spent a lot of time self-editing my first entry last night. I realized I was treating it like a news article I write for a day job. Well, I think I've got to let the words come to me, if you will.
Comments
P.S. Yea you should definitely ditch the AP style. Really nice to read a distinctive voice free from rigid writing conventions!