DeMar's Day
Boy, this has not been a good sports day for me.
I've seen both the Leafs and the Raptors lose on the same day many times before (more often than not, perhaps) but given the context and everything surrounding the occasion, the Raptors' 125-107 loss to the Spurs today has to rank up there among the most disappointing.
This was my "circle the calendar" game: the Raptors visiting the Spurs for the first time after the blockbuster Kawhi+Green for DeMar+Poeltl trade. The hype was there. Kawhi was coming off his career-best 45 points. The Spurs had also been on a roll. The media frenzy, though I wasn't obviously there, was probably off the charts.
For some reason, I had this hunch that Kawhi wasn't going to play that well today. He shot 8-of-13 for a quiet 21 points and grabbed only one rebound. Ho-hum numbers, coming as they did in a loss that was a lot worse than the final score.
I didn't know what to make of DeMar. Was he going to be really fired up and just take it to the Raptors? Or was he going to press and try to do too much and mess up everything?
I love DeMar as much as any Raptors fan. But unfortunately for the only NBA team I cheer for, the former turned out to be the case.
How great is it for DeMar to record his first career triple double against the team that, for all intents and purposes, dumped him? 21 points, 14 rebounds, 11 dimes. A perfect 7-of-7 at the line. Didn't even attempt a 3.
Watching this game was an emotional roller coaster for me. I was super pumped up about it, and then the letdown was massive.
Kawhi got booed during the warmup and during the player introduction, right after the Spurs played a tribute video dedicated to him and Danny G. Green got a loud ovation but those boo birds were out in full force for Kawhi.
Then in typical Kawhi fashion, he did this:
But seriously, this was the ONLY highlight of the game for me.
It was hard not to see the parallels with the Leafs loss from earlier today. The Leafs made a great play right out of the gate, with Marner scoring just 7 seconds after the puck drop, only to lose 4-3 to the Wild.
Well, after Kawhi missed the FT to complete the 3-point play, I should have known it was a sign of things to come.
We found ourselves down 15-5 but I still felt okay with that. Soon, it became 25-11, and then 30-11, and then 34-11. Those other guys came to play. The game was essentially over in those 10 or so minutes. Our guys looked shellshocked.
We made some stops and closed the half down 67-51. With 2 quarters left, I felt we'd still have a shot at making a game out of this, at the very least.
But the Spurs opened the 3Q on a 9-0 run. I lost what little hope I had left. I still had the game on but wasn't really watching. I shut it off before the 4Q started.
I don't really feel like talking more about this game.
Good for DeMar. He'll visit Toronto on Feb. 23 (my time). He'll be cheered, for sure, but I just hope he won't have another triple double in him. I also hope Danny G will actually score a point (he was 0-for-7 today).
I've seen both the Leafs and the Raptors lose on the same day many times before (more often than not, perhaps) but given the context and everything surrounding the occasion, the Raptors' 125-107 loss to the Spurs today has to rank up there among the most disappointing.
This was my "circle the calendar" game: the Raptors visiting the Spurs for the first time after the blockbuster Kawhi+Green for DeMar+Poeltl trade. The hype was there. Kawhi was coming off his career-best 45 points. The Spurs had also been on a roll. The media frenzy, though I wasn't obviously there, was probably off the charts.
For some reason, I had this hunch that Kawhi wasn't going to play that well today. He shot 8-of-13 for a quiet 21 points and grabbed only one rebound. Ho-hum numbers, coming as they did in a loss that was a lot worse than the final score.
I didn't know what to make of DeMar. Was he going to be really fired up and just take it to the Raptors? Or was he going to press and try to do too much and mess up everything?
I love DeMar as much as any Raptors fan. But unfortunately for the only NBA team I cheer for, the former turned out to be the case.
How great is it for DeMar to record his first career triple double against the team that, for all intents and purposes, dumped him? 21 points, 14 rebounds, 11 dimes. A perfect 7-of-7 at the line. Didn't even attempt a 3.
Watching this game was an emotional roller coaster for me. I was super pumped up about it, and then the letdown was massive.
Kawhi got booed during the warmup and during the player introduction, right after the Spurs played a tribute video dedicated to him and Danny G. Green got a loud ovation but those boo birds were out in full force for Kawhi.
Then in typical Kawhi fashion, he did this:
But seriously, this was the ONLY highlight of the game for me.
It was hard not to see the parallels with the Leafs loss from earlier today. The Leafs made a great play right out of the gate, with Marner scoring just 7 seconds after the puck drop, only to lose 4-3 to the Wild.
Well, after Kawhi missed the FT to complete the 3-point play, I should have known it was a sign of things to come.
We found ourselves down 15-5 but I still felt okay with that. Soon, it became 25-11, and then 30-11, and then 34-11. Those other guys came to play. The game was essentially over in those 10 or so minutes. Our guys looked shellshocked.
We made some stops and closed the half down 67-51. With 2 quarters left, I felt we'd still have a shot at making a game out of this, at the very least.
But the Spurs opened the 3Q on a 9-0 run. I lost what little hope I had left. I still had the game on but wasn't really watching. I shut it off before the 4Q started.
I don't really feel like talking more about this game.
Good for DeMar. He'll visit Toronto on Feb. 23 (my time). He'll be cheered, for sure, but I just hope he won't have another triple double in him. I also hope Danny G will actually score a point (he was 0-for-7 today).
Comments