I agree, that was far from inspired basketball for the majority of the game. Glad to see they still won (and to be fair, Lowry was out of the lineup) ... but that game didn't do a lot for me.
Now lost 7 of their last 8 after last night and since starting 11-2 have gone 27-22. Next 5 games are OKC, San Antonio, Miami, Portland and Indiana, so could easily be looking at 11 or 12 loses in 13 games. Things coming unglued and what started so well this season is now leading to an offseason where there might have to be significant changes.
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"Think I'm gonna be the scapegoat for the whole damn machine? Sheeee......."
It's so frustrating to watch, as these guys have clearly forgotten what made them successful in the first place. Moving the ball around, unselfish play, hard work on D. I'd say they're 0 for 3 in those categories over the last 40 games or so.
It's like Lowry/Derozan all of a sudden think they're superstars and want to do it all themselves.
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Spurs took the first half of the season off and are rounding into form now so the beatdown here isn't surprising. This sums it up: SA with 15 assists and 23 FGs (65%), Toronto with 5 on 17 FGs (29%)
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"Think I'm gonna be the scapegoat for the whole damn machine? Sheeee......."
It's the T.O meltdown. Raps heading towards a first round embarrassment, Leafs plunging to the bottom, Jays players falling down and blowing out various body parts before the season even starts.
I think they're still good enough to win one round over most of the crappy teams that will be in the bottom half of the eastern playoff bracket. But getting past the second round is looking very unlikely at this point. The thing that pisses me off more than anything is that they run a defensive system that requires them to be absolutely perfect all the time, if anyone mistimes a rotation, or a help, or a double-team, it's super-easy to exploit. A good system should be about making things easier on your own players and making it harder on the other team, but Casey seems determined to run a system that's the opposite. And last night was another game where JV's fourth quarter absence looked huge. 14-9 in 21 minutes, 7-of-7 shooting. And J.J. doesn't get any time until 4 minutes left in the 3rd, then plays 13 straight minutes and is stuck guarding Aldridge for a significant portion of his time on the court.
I can't imagine Casey being here next season. We routinely give up very high shooting percentages to opponents, and we depend way too much on jump shots.
Against Portland our starting bigs combined for 12/17 from the floor, including JV's 7/7. Yet despite that efficiency, we refuse to get them more touches inside. I just don't get it.
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I think they're still good enough to win one round over most of the crappy teams that will be in the bottom half of the eastern playoff bracket. But getting past the second round is looking very unlikely at this point. The thing that pisses me off more than anything is that they run a defensive system that requires them to be absolutely perfect all the time, if anyone mistimes a rotation, or a help, or a double-team, it's super-easy to exploit. A good system should be about making things easier on your own players and making it harder on the other team, but Casey seems determined to run a system that's the opposite. And last night was another game where JV's fourth quarter absence looked huge. 14-9 in 21 minutes, 7-of-7 shooting. And J.J. doesn't get any time until 4 minutes left in the 3rd, then plays 13 straight minutes and is stuck guarding Aldridge for a significant portion of his time on the court.
Their defensive system exposes JV so much. He is a good rim protector, but now he exposed because the Raps need to rotate so much and he is forced to go out into the perimeter guard guys that Vasquez, Lowry, Lou, and Derozan can't guard. If they choose not to use JV on offense they shouldn't even bother putting him in.
Nogueira has looked very good in his first two d-league games: averaging 13pts, 16rbs, 3blks, 1stl, 1ass, .5to in his first two games. Last night he held his own against PF Jarnell Stokes, who's exactly the sort of strong, physical post player that Bebe would be expected to struggle against. His FG% and FT% leave something to be desired, but he had a great FG% in Spain and a passable (for a C) FT%, so hopefully he can get those up again.
I continue to think that he has the potential to be the backup C on this team, not as a solution to this year's problems, but as the long-term solution.
^ I really don't put any stock whatsoever in D-league domination. It's simply a selfish league where marquee guys are sent to showoff their skills. Basketball has shown time and time again that when certain guys play against sub-par competition, and are handed the ball, they'll dominate. If a guy doesn't put up good numbers in d-league that tells me something is off. When they do, it's par for the course. GM's I think, are generally looking for particular skill sets in different situations when evaluating players in d-league, but being a good teammate isn't one of them. It's simply a help me first league. Impressive numbers, but simply a confidence boost for a bench player (generally).
