Winning Start to 2019
After winning the last game of 2018, the Raptors took care of business in the first game of 2019, beating the Jazz 122-116 at home.
I watched about 60-70 percent of the game, not as much as I would have liked but just enough to make a few observations. And since we won this, I'll go back and watch it again later tonight.
But let's start with this beautiful reverse layup by Kawhi. Not even using the glass!
Kawhi Takes Over
Kawhi had a career-high 45 points on 16-of-22 shooting. He went to the line 17 times and made 13. Didn't drain a 3 but who cares when you can score that many points on such efficient shooting?
Speaking of going to the line... I think this was a game of two completely different halves in terms of officiating.
In the first half, we were getting no calls. And the Jazz got everything. Kawhi and Siakam were getting hammered and got no love from the zebras. Our guys simply put their arms up and stood their ground and were still charged with personals. That's why we were down 2 points at half even though we shot over 50 percent from the field.
Then something funny happened. In the second half, we were getting everything. Joe Ingles, mostly guarding Kawhi, had 5 fouls in this game and all 5 came in the second half, some of the variety that weren't called in the first half. Refs are human and all,
I think the discrepany in FT attempts at one point early in the game was 12-2 in favor of Jazz. We ended up taking 35 FTs compared to Jazz's 29. Obviously, I am not complaining.
Kawhi had 19 in the 3Q alone. We opened that frame with three straight 3s, including 2 by Siakam, who had his own career high of 28.
With no Kyle again (there's no timetable for his return), we just don't have a quality facilitator on offense. FVV and Wright are best suited as reserves. I feel Fred is at his best when he's either with other reserves or with Kyle on the backcourt. Wright is definitely a better player when he has either Kyle or Fred by his side. Wright is one guy whose game hasn't evolved quite the way I'd expected, though much of it can be blamed on his injury earlier in the season.
Our assists rate and scoring are both down without Kyle running the show. Given the current state of our offense, Kawhi often has to be ball dominant and just take things over on the offensive end. This has led to some iso-ball. You know, just give it to Kawhi and get the hell out of the way.
Luckily, Kawhi is that special player who can score at will if he puts his mind to it. He will drive, draw contact and make shots for 3-point chances. He can stop on a dime and make jumpers. With an exception of today, he's been very solid from deep as well. But he's also not such a selfish player that he'll try to force his way through double teams every time. As I've written here before, if our guys made more open shots from his passes, Kawhi would have a lot more assists by now.
In a way, Kawhi is a super rich man's DeMar, with their mid-range game et al. Kawhi is a more versatile offensive weapon and is a force at the other end, too.
Those two guys will face each other for the first time since the trade on Friday my time. It'll be in San Antonio. Kawhi will maybe hear some boos...? I don't know how fans there feel about his basically forcing his way out. But he did help them win a championship and he was the MVP of the finals that they won. So whatever boos there might be, hopefully they will be drowned out by cheers.
Pascal with a Big Night
Siakam dropped in 28, grabbed 10 boards and went 3-of-4 from downtown. Made all 7 FTs, too. Without JV, our struggles against some traditional 5s have been well documented (Whiteside, Embiid, Vucevic, and today it was the twin tower of Favors and Gobert) and Serge is still trying to find his stroke, it seems.
But we have a 4/5 who can run the floor like this:
I didn't find other clips of players where Siakam would do that signature Siakam thing: snatch a defensive rebound, bring the ball across the line and finish it himself around the basket for a quick 2.
Early in the game, the Jazz didn't battle particularly hard for offensive glass. On misses, all five guys were just backing up and trying to set up half-court defense to slow us down, rather than compete for a long rebound they might or might not get and risk giving up a fast-break opportunity.
But with his speed, Siakam was able to attack the rim before the Jazz were able to set up defensively. Gobert and Favors are strong rim protectors (though Gobert didn't have a block today, which killed my fantasy team) but Siakam still got the job done.
Completely Random Blue Jays Thoughts
This headline really jumped out at me.
Report: Yankees agree to deal with former Blue Jay Troy Tulowitzki
I don't know about you, but the way it was written bothered me because it could be misinterpreted into something like, "Oh, so the Yanks are gonna deal with him now." You know, as in, put up with the guy, or bear with the guy.
I guess it's not technically/grammatically wrong. But I would have written something like: "Yankees reportedly sign former Blue Jay Troy Tulowitzki" or "Report: Yankees agree on deal with former Blue Jay Troy Tulowitzki", something like that. I'd stay away from "deal with" to avoid confusion.
As for the news itself, the Yanks were in need of a shortstop with Didi sidelined for most of next season following Tommy John. Tulo is apparently going to sign for league minimum. No pressure there.
The guy was a Jeter fan (hence No. 2) and it'd be nice to see him in pinstripes playing SS for the Yanks. Since Jeter's No. 2 has been retired, not sure what number Tulo will go for... 22? 12?
Anyway, we're going to see a lot of him in AL East. His first game back at the dome, the man deserves major ovations.
I watched about 60-70 percent of the game, not as much as I would have liked but just enough to make a few observations. And since we won this, I'll go back and watch it again later tonight.
But let's start with this beautiful reverse layup by Kawhi. Not even using the glass!
Kawhi Takes Over
Kawhi had a career-high 45 points on 16-of-22 shooting. He went to the line 17 times and made 13. Didn't drain a 3 but who cares when you can score that many points on such efficient shooting?
Speaking of going to the line... I think this was a game of two completely different halves in terms of officiating.
In the first half, we were getting no calls. And the Jazz got everything. Kawhi and Siakam were getting hammered and got no love from the zebras. Our guys simply put their arms up and stood their ground and were still charged with personals. That's why we were down 2 points at half even though we shot over 50 percent from the field.
Then something funny happened. In the second half, we were getting everything. Joe Ingles, mostly guarding Kawhi, had 5 fouls in this game and all 5 came in the second half, some of the variety that weren't called in the first half. Refs are human and all,
I think the discrepany in FT attempts at one point early in the game was 12-2 in favor of Jazz. We ended up taking 35 FTs compared to Jazz's 29. Obviously, I am not complaining.
Kawhi had 19 in the 3Q alone. We opened that frame with three straight 3s, including 2 by Siakam, who had his own career high of 28.
With no Kyle again (there's no timetable for his return), we just don't have a quality facilitator on offense. FVV and Wright are best suited as reserves. I feel Fred is at his best when he's either with other reserves or with Kyle on the backcourt. Wright is definitely a better player when he has either Kyle or Fred by his side. Wright is one guy whose game hasn't evolved quite the way I'd expected, though much of it can be blamed on his injury earlier in the season.
Our assists rate and scoring are both down without Kyle running the show. Given the current state of our offense, Kawhi often has to be ball dominant and just take things over on the offensive end. This has led to some iso-ball. You know, just give it to Kawhi and get the hell out of the way.
Luckily, Kawhi is that special player who can score at will if he puts his mind to it. He will drive, draw contact and make shots for 3-point chances. He can stop on a dime and make jumpers. With an exception of today, he's been very solid from deep as well. But he's also not such a selfish player that he'll try to force his way through double teams every time. As I've written here before, if our guys made more open shots from his passes, Kawhi would have a lot more assists by now.
In a way, Kawhi is a super rich man's DeMar, with their mid-range game et al. Kawhi is a more versatile offensive weapon and is a force at the other end, too.
Those two guys will face each other for the first time since the trade on Friday my time. It'll be in San Antonio. Kawhi will maybe hear some boos...? I don't know how fans there feel about his basically forcing his way out. But he did help them win a championship and he was the MVP of the finals that they won. So whatever boos there might be, hopefully they will be drowned out by cheers.
Pascal with a Big Night
Siakam dropped in 28, grabbed 10 boards and went 3-of-4 from downtown. Made all 7 FTs, too. Without JV, our struggles against some traditional 5s have been well documented (Whiteside, Embiid, Vucevic, and today it was the twin tower of Favors and Gobert) and Serge is still trying to find his stroke, it seems.
But we have a 4/5 who can run the floor like this:
I didn't find other clips of players where Siakam would do that signature Siakam thing: snatch a defensive rebound, bring the ball across the line and finish it himself around the basket for a quick 2.
Early in the game, the Jazz didn't battle particularly hard for offensive glass. On misses, all five guys were just backing up and trying to set up half-court defense to slow us down, rather than compete for a long rebound they might or might not get and risk giving up a fast-break opportunity.
But with his speed, Siakam was able to attack the rim before the Jazz were able to set up defensively. Gobert and Favors are strong rim protectors (though Gobert didn't have a block today, which killed my fantasy team) but Siakam still got the job done.
Completely Random Blue Jays Thoughts
This headline really jumped out at me.
Report: Yankees agree to deal with former Blue Jay Troy Tulowitzki
I don't know about you, but the way it was written bothered me because it could be misinterpreted into something like, "Oh, so the Yanks are gonna deal with him now." You know, as in, put up with the guy, or bear with the guy.
I guess it's not technically/grammatically wrong. But I would have written something like: "Yankees reportedly sign former Blue Jay Troy Tulowitzki" or "Report: Yankees agree on deal with former Blue Jay Troy Tulowitzki", something like that. I'd stay away from "deal with" to avoid confusion.
As for the news itself, the Yanks were in need of a shortstop with Didi sidelined for most of next season following Tommy John. Tulo is apparently going to sign for league minimum. No pressure there.
The guy was a Jeter fan (hence No. 2) and it'd be nice to see him in pinstripes playing SS for the Yanks. Since Jeter's No. 2 has been retired, not sure what number Tulo will go for... 22? 12?
Anyway, we're going to see a lot of him in AL East. His first game back at the dome, the man deserves major ovations.
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