Wow...
Wow... I don't even know where to start... The Raptors walked into Oracle, minus our best player, on the second night of a back-to-back, and destroyed the Warriors 113-93 in a game that could have been even more lopsided.
Just go through the box score. Steph made just two 3s and scored 10. Klay went 0-for-5 from downtown (missed some open looks) and had 14. Durant, who torched us to the tune of 51 points in our OT win a couple of weeks ago, had 30 that didn't feel like that many. Draymond (more on him later) had but a bucket for 2 points.
Danny Green (our own D. Green!) made just one from deep but had 15 points, by torturing Curry down low with post-ups. Lowry put all the silly talk on "slump" behind him with a team-high 23 points and dished out 12 assists. Serge had a double-double with 20-12.
We're now 6-0 in the second game of back-to-backs this season. We've also swept the season series vs. the Warriors. The last time we beat GSW on the road was Feb. 8, 2004. It was 84-81 in OT.
If you don't want to bother clicking on that link, here are some names from those teams.
Donyell Marshall, Jalen Rose, Mo Pete, Vince, Cliff Robinson, Speedy Claxton, Erick Dampier, Jason Richardson. Only one player from that game is still playing in the NBA.
Okay, let's get these raw numbers out of the way. Here are my takes.
The "Real" Statement Game
That exciting OT win at home late November was viewed in some quarters as the proverbial "statement" game. Yes, it was great to beat the two-time defending champs, but they weren't at full strength since they were without Draymond and Curry. So I didn't think we deserved as much credit as people gave us.
Speaking of which... After that victory, Toronto media were getting all excited about how the U.S. media were saying some positive things about the Raptors. Because we're still a relatively young franchise and we're the only team not in the U.S., maybe people feel that we need that kind of "validation" from the U.S. press. You know, "Oh, they think we're good. So we must be good." That kind of thing.
And Sportsnet devoted an entire article on the U.S. media coverage of that victory, under the headline, "U.S. media buying Raptors hype after win over Warriors"
I found that almost amusing. Why should it matter so much what people who don't watch us regularly think about the team? We don't need these people to tell others the Raptors are a good team; the record and performances speak for themselves. C'mon, have more confidence/belief/conviction.
But, man, it felt good to win on their court on ESPN.
Bending, Not Breaking
Even with a 31-22 lead after the first quarter, you can never relax when you're playing these guys. Curry and Thompson don't need much time or space to go off on their 3-point barrage. KD is a professional scorer. The cliche, "No lead is safe," is never truer than when applied to this team.
But we held on. Survived a couple of 7-0 runs. Held them to 19 points in the second half and didn't allow them to plant some seeds of doubt in us that the second half would be different. We ended the half up 57-41, GSW's largest first-half deficit this season. They shot just 39 percent in the opening 24 minutes.
It was good to see CJ make a meaningful 3-pointer, and if there ever is a dagger in a 20-point game, this was it.
Then Moose made a three-point play over Livingston to make it 93-67. I started breathing a bit easier after CJ's bucket and then I could finally relax after Monroe made it a 26-point game.
Officiating
So why was Moose even playing in the 4th quarter when we were trying to put a finishing touch on this?
Because of this play:
Look, I'll never be objective enough to talk about officiating in Raptors games without going off on how we're always getting shortchanged, etc. Every fan base will argue the same about their team.
But, but... how was this not a foul again?
Can you imagine how hard you have to be hit to get your thumb discloated? We're talking about a professional athlete with a hardened set of hands. Those are tough to break. And still, Draymond wasn't called for a foul. Apparently, you can hurt someone and get away with it in the NBA.
I guess the major difference between this and Green's kicking incidents is that he didn't do it intentionally (I think...?)
This one, um, hurts because JV had been playing so well off the bench. He had a couple of 20-point games, and had 16 in 18 minutes vs. Clips. Before going down, JV had 6 and 7 in just 8 minutes.
At least it's not a knee or an ankle injury. So hopefully JV will be doing his conditioning drills and stay in shape, and maybe he'll hone some one-handed moves while his left hand heals. When Auston Matthews hurt his shoulder earlier, he was able to skate after a bit to keep his legs moving. Gotta stay positive!
D-Fense! O-Fense!
GSW came into the game having made 56 treys in the past three contests, and got just 6 against us. Granted, they did miss some open shots, but we also made life difficult for those guys. I bet this was the quietest 30-point game of KD's career. This was Steph's worst game of the season, and Klay's worst scoring game in a month.
I can't say enough about our offense. As great as Kawhi is, I had grown a bit concerned about iso-ball and how often he had the ball in his hands and everyone else stood around watching. The thinking among the Toronto media types was that maybe the incumbent guys were trying to help Kawhi find his offensive rhythm early in the season (with Kawhi having only played 9 games last season) and they were willing to get away from the system from time to time.
In recent games, though, Kawhi started distributing the ball more. But he was still forcing shots every now and then.
And after the win over the Clippers without Kawhi, Lowry had this to say about his return to the scoresheet:
Without Kawhi, FVV usually starts alongside Lowry in the back court. Kyle can play off the ball and get into some catch-and-shoot plays. He can step into shots like this:
Is that one of the reasons we're 7-1 without Kawhi? Not taking anything away from what Leonard means to the team. I think it says more about the type of player Lowry is. He has that ability to adjust his game to fit the team style depending on the presence of the ball-dominant superstar. He can put aside his own offensive game to be the main facilitator when Kawhi is playing. But when Klaw is out, then Kyle understands he has to pick up his scoring slack and does his things, whether it's driving to the basket, taking transition 3s, or sneaking out to corners for open shots.
Don't know when Kawhi will return. But when he does, let's see how Kyle's game changes this time (it just seemed to have changed more drastically on this road trip than in previous games that Kawhi didn't play).
Just go through the box score. Steph made just two 3s and scored 10. Klay went 0-for-5 from downtown (missed some open looks) and had 14. Durant, who torched us to the tune of 51 points in our OT win a couple of weeks ago, had 30 that didn't feel like that many. Draymond (more on him later) had but a bucket for 2 points.
 |
| Okay, this looks more like Kyle Lowry than that other picture I had earlier. |
Danny Green (our own D. Green!) made just one from deep but had 15 points, by torturing Curry down low with post-ups. Lowry put all the silly talk on "slump" behind him with a team-high 23 points and dished out 12 assists. Serge had a double-double with 20-12.
We're now 6-0 in the second game of back-to-backs this season. We've also swept the season series vs. the Warriors. The last time we beat GSW on the road was Feb. 8, 2004. It was 84-81 in OT.
If you don't want to bother clicking on that link, here are some names from those teams.
Donyell Marshall, Jalen Rose, Mo Pete, Vince, Cliff Robinson, Speedy Claxton, Erick Dampier, Jason Richardson. Only one player from that game is still playing in the NBA.
Okay, let's get these raw numbers out of the way. Here are my takes.
The "Real" Statement Game
That exciting OT win at home late November was viewed in some quarters as the proverbial "statement" game. Yes, it was great to beat the two-time defending champs, but they weren't at full strength since they were without Draymond and Curry. So I didn't think we deserved as much credit as people gave us.
Speaking of which... After that victory, Toronto media were getting all excited about how the U.S. media were saying some positive things about the Raptors. Because we're still a relatively young franchise and we're the only team not in the U.S., maybe people feel that we need that kind of "validation" from the U.S. press. You know, "Oh, they think we're good. So we must be good." That kind of thing.
And Sportsnet devoted an entire article on the U.S. media coverage of that victory, under the headline, "U.S. media buying Raptors hype after win over Warriors"
I found that almost amusing. Why should it matter so much what people who don't watch us regularly think about the team? We don't need these people to tell others the Raptors are a good team; the record and performances speak for themselves. C'mon, have more confidence/belief/conviction.
But, man, it felt good to win on their court on ESPN.
Bending, Not Breaking
Even with a 31-22 lead after the first quarter, you can never relax when you're playing these guys. Curry and Thompson don't need much time or space to go off on their 3-point barrage. KD is a professional scorer. The cliche, "No lead is safe," is never truer than when applied to this team.
But we held on. Survived a couple of 7-0 runs. Held them to 19 points in the second half and didn't allow them to plant some seeds of doubt in us that the second half would be different. We ended the half up 57-41, GSW's largest first-half deficit this season. They shot just 39 percent in the opening 24 minutes.
They outscored us 26-25 in the third but it was still 82-67 for us. Well, 15 points, 12 minutes to go. Surely, even the Warriors couldn't erase that deficit, right?
And I loved the way we came out All Guns Blazing in the fourth quarter, as if to erase any linger doubts.
It was good to see CJ make a meaningful 3-pointer, and if there ever is a dagger in a 20-point game, this was it.
Timely buckets all night. @TangerineHoops Game Highlights— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) December 13, 2018
📺 | https://t.co/OnfC5KOXmz pic.twitter.com/i06UE9xTge
Then Moose made a three-point play over Livingston to make it 93-67. I started breathing a bit easier after CJ's bucket and then I could finally relax after Monroe made it a 26-point game.
Officiating
So why was Moose even playing in the 4th quarter when we were trying to put a finishing touch on this?
Because of this play:
Look, I'll never be objective enough to talk about officiating in Raptors games without going off on how we're always getting shortchanged, etc. Every fan base will argue the same about their team.
But, but... how was this not a foul again?
Can you imagine how hard you have to be hit to get your thumb discloated? We're talking about a professional athlete with a hardened set of hands. Those are tough to break. And still, Draymond wasn't called for a foul. Apparently, you can hurt someone and get away with it in the NBA.
I guess the major difference between this and Green's kicking incidents is that he didn't do it intentionally (I think...?)
This one, um, hurts because JV had been playing so well off the bench. He had a couple of 20-point games, and had 16 in 18 minutes vs. Clips. Before going down, JV had 6 and 7 in just 8 minutes.
At least it's not a knee or an ankle injury. So hopefully JV will be doing his conditioning drills and stay in shape, and maybe he'll hone some one-handed moves while his left hand heals. When Auston Matthews hurt his shoulder earlier, he was able to skate after a bit to keep his legs moving. Gotta stay positive!
D-Fense! O-Fense!
GSW came into the game having made 56 treys in the past three contests, and got just 6 against us. Granted, they did miss some open shots, but we also made life difficult for those guys. I bet this was the quietest 30-point game of KD's career. This was Steph's worst game of the season, and Klay's worst scoring game in a month.
"I'm shooting all threes and I have to be better getting into the paint, into the mid-range and playing my game and going outside the box that they want me in."Hmm, box, eh?
Without Kawhi, FVV usually starts alongside Lowry in the back court. Kyle can play off the ball and get into some catch-and-shoot plays. He can step into shots like this:
Bingoooooooooo pic.twitter.com/ZwxqcbIdDF— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) December 12, 2018
Is that one of the reasons we're 7-1 without Kawhi? Not taking anything away from what Leonard means to the team. I think it says more about the type of player Lowry is. He has that ability to adjust his game to fit the team style depending on the presence of the ball-dominant superstar. He can put aside his own offensive game to be the main facilitator when Kawhi is playing. But when Klaw is out, then Kyle understands he has to pick up his scoring slack and does his things, whether it's driving to the basket, taking transition 3s, or sneaking out to corners for open shots.
Don't know when Kawhi will return. But when he does, let's see how Kyle's game changes this time (it just seemed to have changed more drastically on this road trip than in previous games that Kawhi didn't play).
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