Raptors in Mid-Playoff Form, Drop Game 1
At this writing, I have no idea how the Leafs did against the Bruins in Game 2. It's actually not that difficult for me to avoid the news.
But I did watch the Raptors lose to the Magic 104-101 to open their first round series on home court. Maybe I should have avoided watching that game live altogether!
As I mentioned in my Raptors preview piece, I was on a family trip over the weekend, a couple of hours out of town. I did get up at 5:50 a.m. to get myself ready for the 6 a.m. tipoff for the Raptors game (though the actual starting time was a few minutes past the top of the hour).
During the crunch time, with the outcome on the line, I was fixing breakfast for the family and was just listening to the game. Suffice it to say, I am almost glad I didn't watch the train wreck of a finish as it unfolded.
To be honest, I am not surprised that the Magic won this game. I predicted they were capable of stealing a couple of games in this series. I am just not happy with the way we went down.
My thoughts.
Mid-Playoff Form
We Raptors fans are all too familiar with our team's maddening inability to win the opening game. We're now 2-14 all-time in Game 1s in the playoffs. Whether we're No. 1 seed, No. 2 seed or whatever, it doesn't seem to matter. We keep dropping 'em.
And boy, frigging Kyle Lowry was in his mid-playoff form, too!!! And we Raptors fans know that's a terrible thing!!! The guy scored zero point!!! He went 0-of-7 from the field and missed both of his free throws.
Yes, yes, he was plus-11 with eight dimes and seven boards. But man, in a game we lost by three, one free throw and one 3-ball from our starting point guard would have made the difference, no?
Kyle has been around long enough, but there's something about the playoffs that seems to get to him every spring. The shots he missed weren't really that close, either. He wasn't so much shooting the ball as he was just chucking it in a straight line toward the bucket. Almost as soon as the ball left his hand, it didn't look like those shots were going in.
Speaking of missed free throws, we missed 5 today (9-of-14). That's such an underrated part of the game that could haunt you in the playoffs if you aren't careful. That's five gimme points that we threw away. This is a very good FT-shooting team (top-five in the regular season) but even the reliable ones like Kawhi an FVV missed 'em today. It just wasn't meant to be.
We saw flashes of "Playoff Kawhi." He had 25 points on 18 shots and made 3-of-5 from downtown. Siakam, in his first playoff game as a prominent player, dropped in 24 points on 50 percent shooting and grabbed nine boards.
But hard to remember those lines when your starting point guard doesn't score a point.
Consistent Effort
We had a seven-point lead early in the second quarter and I felt we really missed a chance to the Magic away early. I think we took the foot off the pedal and let the Magic creep in. At both ends of the floor, our guys stopped moving.
I mean, when someone like MCW is making 3-pointers, there's something seriously wrong with your defense.
We found ourselves down 16 points with about a minute left in the first half. Only a couple of 3-balls by Gasol and Green helped cut it to eight.
Then we came out really strong in the third and turned the deficit into a lead with relative ease. We went up 63-59 midway through the 3rd Q, thanks mostly to some really impressive defensive effort. We forced the Magic into rushed shots and we contested and challenged every attempt.
But we failed to put them away once again. Ended the quarter nursing a 76-75 lead and I didn't feel great about our chances. We were up, but we weren't playing great basketball.
I felt like we were just scrambling for the whole 4th Q. We were up six with under six minutes to go and really, there's no way we should have blown a lead like that on home court.
Going Forward
I am not that concerned (yet) because I expected the Magic to give us a good run. We shot just 12-of-36 from downtown and had some ugly misses, but I think shots will come as the series moves along.
Augustin, who drained the game-winning three, isn't going to score 25 points every day like he did in this one. He just caught fire. On the flip side, it would have been nice to beat the Magic on a night when Vucevic (their lone All-Star) was very quiet (just 3-or-14 for 11 points).
I guess you could say we let players other than Vucevic try to beat us, and those other guys obliged.
And of course, Kyle isn't going to be held scoreless again. Or will he?
My bold prediction: Kyle is going to go off for 30 points in Game 2.
But I did watch the Raptors lose to the Magic 104-101 to open their first round series on home court. Maybe I should have avoided watching that game live altogether!
As I mentioned in my Raptors preview piece, I was on a family trip over the weekend, a couple of hours out of town. I did get up at 5:50 a.m. to get myself ready for the 6 a.m. tipoff for the Raptors game (though the actual starting time was a few minutes past the top of the hour).
During the crunch time, with the outcome on the line, I was fixing breakfast for the family and was just listening to the game. Suffice it to say, I am almost glad I didn't watch the train wreck of a finish as it unfolded.
To be honest, I am not surprised that the Magic won this game. I predicted they were capable of stealing a couple of games in this series. I am just not happy with the way we went down.
My thoughts.
Mid-Playoff Form
We Raptors fans are all too familiar with our team's maddening inability to win the opening game. We're now 2-14 all-time in Game 1s in the playoffs. Whether we're No. 1 seed, No. 2 seed or whatever, it doesn't seem to matter. We keep dropping 'em.
And boy, frigging Kyle Lowry was in his mid-playoff form, too!!! And we Raptors fans know that's a terrible thing!!! The guy scored zero point!!! He went 0-of-7 from the field and missed both of his free throws.
Yes, yes, he was plus-11 with eight dimes and seven boards. But man, in a game we lost by three, one free throw and one 3-ball from our starting point guard would have made the difference, no?
Kyle has been around long enough, but there's something about the playoffs that seems to get to him every spring. The shots he missed weren't really that close, either. He wasn't so much shooting the ball as he was just chucking it in a straight line toward the bucket. Almost as soon as the ball left his hand, it didn't look like those shots were going in.
Speaking of missed free throws, we missed 5 today (9-of-14). That's such an underrated part of the game that could haunt you in the playoffs if you aren't careful. That's five gimme points that we threw away. This is a very good FT-shooting team (top-five in the regular season) but even the reliable ones like Kawhi an FVV missed 'em today. It just wasn't meant to be.
We saw flashes of "Playoff Kawhi." He had 25 points on 18 shots and made 3-of-5 from downtown. Siakam, in his first playoff game as a prominent player, dropped in 24 points on 50 percent shooting and grabbed nine boards.
But hard to remember those lines when your starting point guard doesn't score a point.
Consistent Effort
We had a seven-point lead early in the second quarter and I felt we really missed a chance to the Magic away early. I think we took the foot off the pedal and let the Magic creep in. At both ends of the floor, our guys stopped moving.
I mean, when someone like MCW is making 3-pointers, there's something seriously wrong with your defense.
We found ourselves down 16 points with about a minute left in the first half. Only a couple of 3-balls by Gasol and Green helped cut it to eight.
Then we came out really strong in the third and turned the deficit into a lead with relative ease. We went up 63-59 midway through the 3rd Q, thanks mostly to some really impressive defensive effort. We forced the Magic into rushed shots and we contested and challenged every attempt.
But we failed to put them away once again. Ended the quarter nursing a 76-75 lead and I didn't feel great about our chances. We were up, but we weren't playing great basketball.
I felt like we were just scrambling for the whole 4th Q. We were up six with under six minutes to go and really, there's no way we should have blown a lead like that on home court.
Going Forward
I am not that concerned (yet) because I expected the Magic to give us a good run. We shot just 12-of-36 from downtown and had some ugly misses, but I think shots will come as the series moves along.
Augustin, who drained the game-winning three, isn't going to score 25 points every day like he did in this one. He just caught fire. On the flip side, it would have been nice to beat the Magic on a night when Vucevic (their lone All-Star) was very quiet (just 3-or-14 for 11 points).
I guess you could say we let players other than Vucevic try to beat us, and those other guys obliged.
And of course, Kyle isn't going to be held scoreless again. Or will he?
My bold prediction: Kyle is going to go off for 30 points in Game 2.
Comments