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octothorp · 10-31-2013, 01:20 PM

It's fascinating to see that the general sentiment from fans and media after one game is that 'sure, the Raptors won, but not by enough.' Suddenly style-points apparently count.

Last year, this team was anti-clutch. Like, one of the absolute worst in the league in close games (http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2013/1...in-the-clutch/). It didn't matter if they were playing Charlotte or Miami; they couldn't close anything out. Here, the starting unit is put out with nearly eight minutes left in the game, and over the next 5 minutes, go on an 12-2 run to make a tie game a 10 point lead. It was a clutch performance, that started with hard work on the defensive end (keyed by Lowry rushing back to break up what could have been an easy fast-break layup, which lead to the Amir Johnson 3 at the other end to give them the lead).

So yeah, there's a lot of problems with this team. JV was having trouble hanging onto the ball in the post. Poor shot selection by Gay and DeRozan. Bad decision-making on offense by Lowry. Amir Johnson not getting as involved as he usually does. But for one night, they were clutch. That positive outweighs all the other negatives.

10-31-2013, 01:20 PM	#30
octothorp Franchise Player Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: not lurking Exp:	It's fascinating to see that the general sentiment from fans and media after one game is that 'sure, the Raptors won, but not by enough.' Suddenly style-points apparently count. Last year, this team was anti-clutch. Like, one of the absolute worst in the league in close games (http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2013/1...in-the-clutch/). It didn't matter if they were playing Charlotte or Miami; they couldn't close anything out. Here, the starting unit is put out with nearly eight minutes left in the game, and over the next 5 minutes, go on an 12-2 run to make a tie game a 10 point lead. It was a clutch performance, that started with hard work on the defensive end (keyed by Lowry rushing back to break up what could have been an easy fast-break layup, which lead to the Amir Johnson 3 at the other end to give them the lead). So yeah, there's a lot of problems with this team. JV was having trouble hanging onto the ball in the post. Poor shot selection by Gay and DeRozan. Bad decision-making on offense by Lowry. Amir Johnson not getting as involved as he usually does. But for one night, they were clutch. That positive outweighs all the other negatives.