Long Overdue Raptors Post
I haven't written all that much about the Raptors lately because the Leafs have just been so overwhelmingly terrible that even losses to the lowly Cavs and the semi-lowly Pistons didn't really register on my radar.
(I began writing this draft last Friday and this is Monday! And we've since lost back-to-back to OKC and Hornets, but more on that later.)
Kawhi has been in and out of the lineup. Ditto for Kyle. Nothing new there, really. We're still in second place, and looks like we're not going anywhere. Just gotta wait out and see who finishes in 7th place. And to be honest, with 10 games left, my mood as a fan is like, "Man, I can't wait for the regular season to be over. I am dying to watch some playoff basketball! Is it April yet?"
The blowout win over the super-lowly Knicks was fun, much like the way the Leafs came back from 5-2 down to beat the Flyers 7-6 was fun. The only downside was Kyle hurting his right ankle in a collision when we were up by more than 20 points in the third quarter. I always get nervous when we take big leads late in games like that. "Just don't get hurt. Why are these guys still playing? Where's Chris Boucher when you need him?" These are some of the thoughts that distract me from enjoying blowouts whenever the Raptors go up big.
Not the first time I am saying this here, but while we have proven that we can win a few games against quality opponents without Kawhi, doing so without Lowry has proven far more difficult. This is no knock against the player that Kawhi is. It's just a matter of their positions on offense and their roles in running the show, etc.
We push the ball better and move the ball better when Lowry is on. The pace is often breathtaking, not just when we grab a rebound off a miss, but also after the other team scores and we're simply inbounding the ball.
Kawhi is a scorer who needs the ball in his hands, so he can dribble it a few times, shake off an opponent and get to his spot for a mid-range pull-up jumper. Admittedly, the offense becomes a bit stagnant when Kawhi is trying to do everything himself in late moments of a tight game. The way he attacks his defender (provided there's no help D coming over) often leaves four other guys kinda stranded. Kawhi makes most of his shots. I mean, he drained exactly that type of a jumper to beat the Blazers earlier this month. He's clearly capable of doing such things. The concern may be that iso-ball isn't going to cut it come playoff time, as if we Raptor fans didn't already know that from watching DeMar do much of the same stuff in recent playoffs.
And this is why it was gratifying to see us beat OKC on the road by moving the ball to pass on good shots and get better shots.
We needed an OT to do it, and it's obviously not ideal to blow a big lead and get outscored 32-18 in the fourth quarter. But a W is still a W.
(And this is where my Friday draft ended.)
In the second game of home-and-home vs. OKC, we once again frittered away a lead in the second half and this time, we didn't even get to play in the OT, as the bad guys won in regulation. Though I've promised myself I won't get caught up with wins and losses at this point in the regular season, it was still a frustrating game to watch. In fact, I turned it off with about a minute left.
Then came Monday's game against Charlotte, and this was truly one of the most insane finishes I've ever seen.
Long story short: we turned the tables this time and staged a massive 4Q rally to take a 114-112 lead in the dying moments. The Hornets had the possession and had an inbound in our zone with a couple of ticks left. Siakam deflected the pass intended for Jeremy Lamb. As the ball skipped over into the back court, I thought, "Oh boy, we pulled this one off. What a gratifying comeback!"
And then boom! Lamb threw up a desperation heave and it went in!! Off the glass, too!!! And Pascal even contested the shot!!! He did everything he could!!! It was just a crazy play and there's nothing you could do about that. (Apologies for !!!)
It was a good thing this loss doesn't really mean much to us either way. Imagine if something like this had come in a playoff elimination game??
Siakam made a fine play to knock the pass off but in hindsight, maybe he should have let Lamb catch the pass and just launch a more ordinary three-pointer??? Who knows??
If I were to really nitpick, maybe the Raptors shouldn't have been in that position in the first place.
We gave up 68 points in 2nd and 3rd Qs. And the other guys shot lights out in the third, making 10 treys and turning a one-point lead into a 12-point advantage in a hurry. Turnovers and giving up offensive rebounds were a major problem for us, the two areas that somewhat concern me heading into the playoffs. We made 4 more field goals than the Hornets but they had 16 more shot attempts.
Now, the guys could have been forgiven for kind of folding it up in the 4Q and taking the loss. Instead, we threw a zone and some full-court press at them, and put together an exciting 12-0 run midway through the final frame.
We also put out a small lineup of Siakam at the 5, joined by Lowry and FVV on the backcourt and Kawhi and Green as two forwards.
It worked out great for stretches, I think. But see that point I made above about Kawhi hogging the ball in the final stretches of a close game? That's exactly what happened against Charlotte today.
He had a great late sequence, first draining a jab-step jumper in an iso-situation, putting us up 114-112 with 45.3 ticks to go.
At the other end, Kawhi made a block on Kemba and got the ball again for a chance to extend the lead. This time, the shot was well contested but he took it anyway and missed badly, which set the stage for Lamb's improbable heroics.
Kawhi had two defenders on him, though by the time he took the shot, there were only 2 seconds left on the shot clock and he probably wouldn't have had the time to make a decent pass out of the coverage.
I ran the replay and paused when two defenders collapsed on Kawhi. FVV was cutting to the basket and got behind a couple of defendrs. Kyle was alone at the top of the key, with his hands in front of his body and seemingly begging Kawhi for the ball.
Again, I don't know if passing the ball would have been a better play. If Kawhi made that jumper, I am obviously not writing about that play. But make or miss, there's no one on this team I'd rather see take that kind of shot in that kind of situation than Kawhi. We were up by two anyway and still had a chance to win even after that miss.
Closing with more thoughts on Kawhi... We don't have any back-to-backs remaining, but we'll be playing every other day until the end of the regular season on April 10. We have some softies coming up: Bulls, Knicks, Bulls again, Magic, Nets, Hornets, Heat and Wolves.
There's some traveling, too. From home to New York to Chicago, then back home for Orlando and on the road again to Brooklyn and Charlotte. Come home to host Miami and fly to Minny for the finale.
I am wondering just how much more rest Kawhi will get, if at all. We'll be playing every other day in the playoffs, or perhaps an extra day off here and there in earlier rounds. I think this is just about the perfect time of the year when you want to push Kawhi a bit (assuming that he's healthy) and have him play every game the rest of the regular season.
Kawhi has missed 20 games so far and we've gone 15-5 in those. It wouldn't have surprised me if Kawhi sat out the 2nd game of the home-and-home with OKC. But he was back out there and played vs. Charlotte as well. Since the next game is also at home, I think there's a pretty good chance Kawhi will play. I just hope we'll run the Bulls off the floor early so that starters will get to rest a bit in the second half.
We'll have to win out to match the franchise record of 59 wins for the regular season. I don't really care about the regular season win total at this point, and I am sure many other Raptors fans will agree. The goal is always to win the last game of the season.
It'd be nice if other teams stopped making those half-court heaves!
(I began writing this draft last Friday and this is Monday! And we've since lost back-to-back to OKC and Hornets, but more on that later.)
Kawhi has been in and out of the lineup. Ditto for Kyle. Nothing new there, really. We're still in second place, and looks like we're not going anywhere. Just gotta wait out and see who finishes in 7th place. And to be honest, with 10 games left, my mood as a fan is like, "Man, I can't wait for the regular season to be over. I am dying to watch some playoff basketball! Is it April yet?"
The blowout win over the super-lowly Knicks was fun, much like the way the Leafs came back from 5-2 down to beat the Flyers 7-6 was fun. The only downside was Kyle hurting his right ankle in a collision when we were up by more than 20 points in the third quarter. I always get nervous when we take big leads late in games like that. "Just don't get hurt. Why are these guys still playing? Where's Chris Boucher when you need him?" These are some of the thoughts that distract me from enjoying blowouts whenever the Raptors go up big.
Not the first time I am saying this here, but while we have proven that we can win a few games against quality opponents without Kawhi, doing so without Lowry has proven far more difficult. This is no knock against the player that Kawhi is. It's just a matter of their positions on offense and their roles in running the show, etc.
We push the ball better and move the ball better when Lowry is on. The pace is often breathtaking, not just when we grab a rebound off a miss, but also after the other team scores and we're simply inbounding the ball.
Kawhi is a scorer who needs the ball in his hands, so he can dribble it a few times, shake off an opponent and get to his spot for a mid-range pull-up jumper. Admittedly, the offense becomes a bit stagnant when Kawhi is trying to do everything himself in late moments of a tight game. The way he attacks his defender (provided there's no help D coming over) often leaves four other guys kinda stranded. Kawhi makes most of his shots. I mean, he drained exactly that type of a jumper to beat the Blazers earlier this month. He's clearly capable of doing such things. The concern may be that iso-ball isn't going to cut it come playoff time, as if we Raptor fans didn't already know that from watching DeMar do much of the same stuff in recent playoffs.
And this is why it was gratifying to see us beat OKC on the road by moving the ball to pass on good shots and get better shots.
We needed an OT to do it, and it's obviously not ideal to blow a big lead and get outscored 32-18 in the fourth quarter. But a W is still a W.
(And this is where my Friday draft ended.)
In the second game of home-and-home vs. OKC, we once again frittered away a lead in the second half and this time, we didn't even get to play in the OT, as the bad guys won in regulation. Though I've promised myself I won't get caught up with wins and losses at this point in the regular season, it was still a frustrating game to watch. In fact, I turned it off with about a minute left.
Then came Monday's game against Charlotte, and this was truly one of the most insane finishes I've ever seen.
Long story short: we turned the tables this time and staged a massive 4Q rally to take a 114-112 lead in the dying moments. The Hornets had the possession and had an inbound in our zone with a couple of ticks left. Siakam deflected the pass intended for Jeremy Lamb. As the ball skipped over into the back court, I thought, "Oh boy, we pulled this one off. What a gratifying comeback!"
And then boom! Lamb threw up a desperation heave and it went in!! Off the glass, too!!! And Pascal even contested the shot!!! He did everything he could!!! It was just a crazy play and there's nothing you could do about that. (Apologies for !!!)
It was a good thing this loss doesn't really mean much to us either way. Imagine if something like this had come in a playoff elimination game??
Siakam made a fine play to knock the pass off but in hindsight, maybe he should have let Lamb catch the pass and just launch a more ordinary three-pointer??? Who knows??
If I were to really nitpick, maybe the Raptors shouldn't have been in that position in the first place.
We gave up 68 points in 2nd and 3rd Qs. And the other guys shot lights out in the third, making 10 treys and turning a one-point lead into a 12-point advantage in a hurry. Turnovers and giving up offensive rebounds were a major problem for us, the two areas that somewhat concern me heading into the playoffs. We made 4 more field goals than the Hornets but they had 16 more shot attempts.
Now, the guys could have been forgiven for kind of folding it up in the 4Q and taking the loss. Instead, we threw a zone and some full-court press at them, and put together an exciting 12-0 run midway through the final frame.
We also put out a small lineup of Siakam at the 5, joined by Lowry and FVV on the backcourt and Kawhi and Green as two forwards.
It worked out great for stretches, I think. But see that point I made above about Kawhi hogging the ball in the final stretches of a close game? That's exactly what happened against Charlotte today.
He had a great late sequence, first draining a jab-step jumper in an iso-situation, putting us up 114-112 with 45.3 ticks to go.
At the other end, Kawhi made a block on Kemba and got the ball again for a chance to extend the lead. This time, the shot was well contested but he took it anyway and missed badly, which set the stage for Lamb's improbable heroics.
Kawhi had two defenders on him, though by the time he took the shot, there were only 2 seconds left on the shot clock and he probably wouldn't have had the time to make a decent pass out of the coverage.
I ran the replay and paused when two defenders collapsed on Kawhi. FVV was cutting to the basket and got behind a couple of defendrs. Kyle was alone at the top of the key, with his hands in front of his body and seemingly begging Kawhi for the ball.
Again, I don't know if passing the ball would have been a better play. If Kawhi made that jumper, I am obviously not writing about that play. But make or miss, there's no one on this team I'd rather see take that kind of shot in that kind of situation than Kawhi. We were up by two anyway and still had a chance to win even after that miss.
Closing with more thoughts on Kawhi... We don't have any back-to-backs remaining, but we'll be playing every other day until the end of the regular season on April 10. We have some softies coming up: Bulls, Knicks, Bulls again, Magic, Nets, Hornets, Heat and Wolves.
There's some traveling, too. From home to New York to Chicago, then back home for Orlando and on the road again to Brooklyn and Charlotte. Come home to host Miami and fly to Minny for the finale.
I am wondering just how much more rest Kawhi will get, if at all. We'll be playing every other day in the playoffs, or perhaps an extra day off here and there in earlier rounds. I think this is just about the perfect time of the year when you want to push Kawhi a bit (assuming that he's healthy) and have him play every game the rest of the regular season.
Kawhi has missed 20 games so far and we've gone 15-5 in those. It wouldn't have surprised me if Kawhi sat out the 2nd game of the home-and-home with OKC. But he was back out there and played vs. Charlotte as well. Since the next game is also at home, I think there's a pretty good chance Kawhi will play. I just hope we'll run the Bulls off the floor early so that starters will get to rest a bit in the second half.
We'll have to win out to match the franchise record of 59 wins for the regular season. I don't really care about the regular season win total at this point, and I am sure many other Raptors fans will agree. The goal is always to win the last game of the season.
It'd be nice if other teams stopped making those half-court heaves!
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