Going through the Motions
No, the title isn't in reference to my work habits. I am talking about the Raptors' play of late.
There was that two-point loss to the Rockets in Houston. We were almost run out of the building before making a last-minute run (I mean, super last-minute run) that cut it to 121-119. Then with James Harden on him, Kawhi forced a contested 3 when a jumper from his mid-range spot would have at least forced an OT. But that final score is really deceiving and I didn't think we were ever really in that game.
Today, we had the 123-120 win over the Mavs on the road. It was kind of the opposite of what transpired in Houston. We had a scorching start, making 7 of 11 attempts from deep in the first quarter and putting up 38 points on the board. And we took a 12-point lead into the second half, seemingly in cruise control.
But the boys threw up a clunker in the 3Q. This was one of the worst quarters we've played all season, right up there with the 1Q against the Spurs. After scoring just 15 in the third frame, we needed another 38 points in the 4Q just to pull out this one, though we did have some strong moments late and it only ended up being a 3-point win because the other guys made a meaningless 3 in the dying seconds.
At least we shot 50 percent from the deep, making 17 out of 34.
On to my thoughts:
Rotation
With more than 50 games into the season, Coach Nurse has hinted he's done experimenting with different lineup combos. Injuries forced him to juggle his rotation, obviously, but with JV being the only regular missing in action now, the time is nigh for the boss to determine who's going to be carrying the load and who's going to be watching.
Delon got the DNP-CD against Houston. Today, all 5 starters got 30-plus minutes of action. With Moose just playing 3 minutes off the bench, Coach Nurse essentially played 9 guys. CJ, who's been shooting better of late, got his DNP-CD today, along with one of our new guys, McCaw.
And once JV returns, Monroe will be getting his share of DNPs. He'll lift some pressure off Serge or maybe if the coach is so inclined, we can play a really big lineup of JV-Serge-Siakam on the front court and Delon/Norm and Kawhi on the backcourt.
Against Dallas, I think I saw Siakam at the 5 with Kyle, Delon, FVV and Danny G. That's a great defensive unit but small. Siakam has struggled against more traditional bigs or 4s who are bigger and stronger.
But it doesn't matter who's on the court when you're missing 10 shots in a row, like we did at the start of the 3Q.
The Mavs had a handful of shots go in and out of the bucket. They also issed a whole bunch of FTs (only 23-of-34). I really thought we dodged a huge bullet today. It could well have been an ugly loss.
Check out the time on the clock. This was our first bucket of the 3Q.
Norm, FVV and Kyle made some early treys to start the 4Q to keep the game from going out of control. We were still down by 5 with under 9 minutes to go, but eventually clawed back our way for an ugly win (a few of those lately, eh?). There was a Danny G steal, Kawhi layup and we made FTs when the other guys didn't.
Luka!
Luka Doncic made it so tough for us. But I love watching him play. We only play the Mavs twice this season, and after I missed our first match earlier in the year, I have gone back to see a couple of odd Mavs games here and there just to see Doncic in action. It's a wonder someone so young (19 for another month) can have such an outstanding vision and awesome playmaking skills, not to mention his perimeter shooting. When he has the ball in his hands, you just get the feeling something good is going to happen. This kid is special.
Against us, he became the first teenager to post two triple doubles and to have a 30-point triple double. I am only glad it came in a Mavs loss.
In a rare move, I am going to post a highlight clip of an opposing player here. How can you not love this dunk?
I am a sucker for players who defy traditional positions and do things on the court that players their size aren't supposed to do. Luka is 6-foor-7 but he is their de facto PG, especially with Barea out. He throws lobs to their usual PG, Dennis Smith Jr., not the other way around.
And of course, Dirk Nowitzki, Luka's teammate, is one of the earliest players who obliterated the distinctions between positions., a 7-footer who shot 40 percent from downtown. Dirk is objectively one of the 15, 20 greatest players of all-time. And he's one of my 10 favorite players ever, because he's exactly the type of player that I would have wanted to become if I were a 7-footer in the NBA.
I've been playing basketball for a long time now. As a teenager, I was almost always the tallest kid on the court (even to this day, I haven't played against that many guys who are taller. My guess is taller/better guys play on fancier courts, while scrubs like me hustle on concrete). Whenever I got into pickup games, other guys expected me to play center. You know, back to the basket, grab rebounds, block shots, while smaller and faster kids got to handle the ball all the time.
Until they saw me shoot, that is.
Hey, this is my own space and I can pump my own tires whenever I want. For an amateur basketball player, I consider myself a pretty good perimeter shooter. Some guys have the speed, the handle, the moves, etc. But shooting is my bread and butter. I have no speed to speak of. I don't have the handle. I won't break anyone's ankle. But I can shoot the damn ball.
In a typical pickup game, I would step out to the perimeter on offense to get myself open. Sometimes, my teammates wouldn't so readily pass the ball, and I knew what they were thinking. "How's that lanky dude going to make shots from this far? What the hell is he doing out on the wings anyway?"
And the defense wouldn't bother guarding me up so high. They would dare me to shoot. Then I would knock down a few jumpers. And once the defense took notice, I would start setting up down low, where I could use my height advantage to punish smaller kids around the basket.
That's how I rolled, folks. This game can be so easy sometimes.
There was that two-point loss to the Rockets in Houston. We were almost run out of the building before making a last-minute run (I mean, super last-minute run) that cut it to 121-119. Then with James Harden on him, Kawhi forced a contested 3 when a jumper from his mid-range spot would have at least forced an OT. But that final score is really deceiving and I didn't think we were ever really in that game.
Today, we had the 123-120 win over the Mavs on the road. It was kind of the opposite of what transpired in Houston. We had a scorching start, making 7 of 11 attempts from deep in the first quarter and putting up 38 points on the board. And we took a 12-point lead into the second half, seemingly in cruise control.
But the boys threw up a clunker in the 3Q. This was one of the worst quarters we've played all season, right up there with the 1Q against the Spurs. After scoring just 15 in the third frame, we needed another 38 points in the 4Q just to pull out this one, though we did have some strong moments late and it only ended up being a 3-point win because the other guys made a meaningless 3 in the dying seconds.
At least we shot 50 percent from the deep, making 17 out of 34.
On to my thoughts:
Rotation
With more than 50 games into the season, Coach Nurse has hinted he's done experimenting with different lineup combos. Injuries forced him to juggle his rotation, obviously, but with JV being the only regular missing in action now, the time is nigh for the boss to determine who's going to be carrying the load and who's going to be watching.
Delon got the DNP-CD against Houston. Today, all 5 starters got 30-plus minutes of action. With Moose just playing 3 minutes off the bench, Coach Nurse essentially played 9 guys. CJ, who's been shooting better of late, got his DNP-CD today, along with one of our new guys, McCaw.
And once JV returns, Monroe will be getting his share of DNPs. He'll lift some pressure off Serge or maybe if the coach is so inclined, we can play a really big lineup of JV-Serge-Siakam on the front court and Delon/Norm and Kawhi on the backcourt.
Against Dallas, I think I saw Siakam at the 5 with Kyle, Delon, FVV and Danny G. That's a great defensive unit but small. Siakam has struggled against more traditional bigs or 4s who are bigger and stronger.
But it doesn't matter who's on the court when you're missing 10 shots in a row, like we did at the start of the 3Q.
The Mavs had a handful of shots go in and out of the bucket. They also issed a whole bunch of FTs (only 23-of-34). I really thought we dodged a huge bullet today. It could well have been an ugly loss.
Check out the time on the clock. This was our first bucket of the 3Q.
Norm, FVV and Kyle made some early treys to start the 4Q to keep the game from going out of control. We were still down by 5 with under 9 minutes to go, but eventually clawed back our way for an ugly win (a few of those lately, eh?). There was a Danny G steal, Kawhi layup and we made FTs when the other guys didn't.
Luka!
Luka Doncic made it so tough for us. But I love watching him play. We only play the Mavs twice this season, and after I missed our first match earlier in the year, I have gone back to see a couple of odd Mavs games here and there just to see Doncic in action. It's a wonder someone so young (19 for another month) can have such an outstanding vision and awesome playmaking skills, not to mention his perimeter shooting. When he has the ball in his hands, you just get the feeling something good is going to happen. This kid is special.
Against us, he became the first teenager to post two triple doubles and to have a 30-point triple double. I am only glad it came in a Mavs loss.
In a rare move, I am going to post a highlight clip of an opposing player here. How can you not love this dunk?
I am a sucker for players who defy traditional positions and do things on the court that players their size aren't supposed to do. Luka is 6-foor-7 but he is their de facto PG, especially with Barea out. He throws lobs to their usual PG, Dennis Smith Jr., not the other way around.
And of course, Dirk Nowitzki, Luka's teammate, is one of the earliest players who obliterated the distinctions between positions., a 7-footer who shot 40 percent from downtown. Dirk is objectively one of the 15, 20 greatest players of all-time. And he's one of my 10 favorite players ever, because he's exactly the type of player that I would have wanted to become if I were a 7-footer in the NBA.
I've been playing basketball for a long time now. As a teenager, I was almost always the tallest kid on the court (even to this day, I haven't played against that many guys who are taller. My guess is taller/better guys play on fancier courts, while scrubs like me hustle on concrete). Whenever I got into pickup games, other guys expected me to play center. You know, back to the basket, grab rebounds, block shots, while smaller and faster kids got to handle the ball all the time.
Until they saw me shoot, that is.
Hey, this is my own space and I can pump my own tires whenever I want. For an amateur basketball player, I consider myself a pretty good perimeter shooter. Some guys have the speed, the handle, the moves, etc. But shooting is my bread and butter. I have no speed to speak of. I don't have the handle. I won't break anyone's ankle. But I can shoot the damn ball.
In a typical pickup game, I would step out to the perimeter on offense to get myself open. Sometimes, my teammates wouldn't so readily pass the ball, and I knew what they were thinking. "How's that lanky dude going to make shots from this far? What the hell is he doing out on the wings anyway?"
And the defense wouldn't bother guarding me up so high. They would dare me to shoot. Then I would knock down a few jumpers. And once the defense took notice, I would start setting up down low, where I could use my height advantage to punish smaller kids around the basket.
That's how I rolled, folks. This game can be so easy sometimes.
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