2015-16 Raptors and General NBA Thread

[The Big Chill]

The bench is getting it done tonight!

[DropIt]

Patterson and Biyombo have been absolutely key coming off the bench

[Senator Clay Davis]

I'm really liking this Lowry-Joseph-Powell-Patterson-Biyombo lineup. Has everything you need pretty much, should be the go to unit at the start of the 2nd/4th quarters.

[Da_Chief]

^Gotta get Jonas in there as well, too bad the refs seem to have it against him and keep calling everything on him.

[The Big Chill]

Good win! That was really needed.

[Regorium]

I'm sorry for jumping in so randomly, but I just don't understand why Derozan isn't stapled to the bench for the rest of the playoffs.

I hate players like Derozan. I hate him, Carmelo Anthony, James Harden and that ilk. Derozan is probably the worst of those 3 too - it makes no sense why he's the "face of the franchise".

Sit him, play anyone else in his spot, and Toronto will easily put the Pacers away.

[savemedrzaius]

So was Derozan benched for the whole 4th quarter? That's gotta hurt his ego and if he keeps it up, possibly cause him to lose some money when he signs his new contract. It will be interesting to see how he responds next game.

[savemedrzaius]

Originally Posted by Regorium

I'm sorry for jumping in so randomly, but I just don't understand why Derozan isn't stapled to the bench for the rest of the playoffs.

I hate players like Derozan. I hate him, Carmelo Anthony, James Harden and that ilk. Derozan is probably the worst of those 3 too - it makes no sense why he's the "face of the franchise".

Sit him, play anyone else in his spot, and Toronto will easily put the Pacers away.

You got to start him and give him a chance. But if he keeps playing like crap, I agree, get him out of there. I think what Casey did tonight was fair.

[St. Pats]

Originally Posted by Regorium

I'm sorry for jumping in so randomly, but I just don't understand why Derozan isn't stapled to the bench for the rest of the playoffs.

I hate players like Derozan. I hate him, Carmelo Anthony, James Harden and that ilk. Derozan is probably the worst of those 3 too - it makes no sense why he's the "face of the franchise".

Sit him, play anyone else in his spot, and Toronto will easily put the Pacers away.

It's actually been a topic since he joined the league. He is really a very one dimensional volume shooter. His defense is mediocre in regular season and in the playoffs he is a sieve. He has no second gear and in the playoffs gets hammered and gets no cheap regular season calls and sulks.

He works hard and improves parts of his game every year but no way is he a guy you give the max to as your star player. He isn't one.

They survived the first of the do or die games. I'm sure there will be more likely even in this series. Can they win them? Doubt, if they do, that Derozan has much to do with it.

[Da_Chief]

A lot to like with todays game. Lowry, Jonas, Bismack, Prince Patrick, Joseph, Powell all payed well.

DeRozen is due to cash in this summer if this continues it will be well worth it for the Raptors to let him walk. Let Powell play those minutes, really like his game. I think DeRozen will show up one of these games but I don't think the bad games should be over looked. Talk about choking under pressure, happened last year and its happening again. Could be a blessing in disguise.

[kmart]

Shutting down Paul George was always going to be crucial for the Raptors and I thought Norman Powell did a great job on Paul George when he had that assignment. When Lowry was put on George he did great as well. Like I posted earlier I never understood why DeRozan was put on George to begin with. Here's hoping that Powell continues to be on George.

I feel awful for Ross, since he finally put together a decent playoff quarter for once and then got injured.

Lastly, what a gem Cory Joseph has been. Defensively he's been great all season and offensively his ball handling is much needed since the Pacers really want the ball out of Lowry or DeRozan's hands.

As far as DeRozan is concerned he still needs to attack to rim, and look for teammates, as soon as he gets to the rim the defence loves collapsing on him and he's done an awful job of just playing the simple game of looking for his teammates. He'll be fine as time passes.

[Da_Chief]

You can tell the player is pressing and isn't reading the plays properly. At the 2nd of 2nd Q, time was running out and DeRozen could have passed it to wide open Joseph but instead tried going by 2 defenders and took a contested shot that wasn't close. Even Joseph was left with his arms up in the air thinking c'mon man. Little plays like that tell a players mindset.

As far as Joseph goes, you can tell he's been in a top notch organization. Just making smart plays all game and coming through when the team needed him. Would like to add another player or two from Spurs organization. Pop is an amazing coach.

Powell was a beat guarding George whenever he got out there. Just all over him, no space at all. This guy's going to be a player. I'd take him over DeRozen right now. Needs to continue playing this way.

[kmart]

I always knew that it was hard for Casey to trust a rookie, but now does he have a choice but to play Powell (a second rounder) on George?

Who else are you going to play on George? Carrolls slow thus far and recovering from injury, DeRozans a sub-par defender, and Ross has a couple brain farts a game. I think Casey has found something Powell and Powell has left Casey with no choice but to play him. Simply an amazing find from Masai.

[Drake]

KD with a night he will want to forgot. 26 missed shots, most in a playoff game since MJ missed 26 in 97.

Stan Van Gundy fined 25,000 for speaking the truth on LeChoke in game yesterday and the way he is officiated.

[Hockey_Ninja]

MJ missed 26 shots in a playoff game once? Man, even the great ones show flashes of being human once in a while.

[octothorp]

I feel pretty optimistic about where the Raptors are right now, for the following reasons:

1. The Pacers need to make a lot more adjustments than the Raptors. Pacers need to find a way to get secondary scoring. They need to find a way to get George rest and not get destroyed when he's on the bench. They need to adjust their defense to make defensive rebounding more of a priority. They need to find a way to slow down Valanciunas. And they need to do all of that without giving up the few positives for them (defense on DeRozan and Lowry).

2. Casey is coaching desperate. One of my biggest criticisms of Casey is that he coaches an extremely conservative game. Benching DeRozan in the fourth is probably one of the gutsiest choices he's ever made (even though it seemed perfectly obvious to fans). He's got a lot of options available, and if he's not afraid to use them, that bodes well for the Raptors.

3. Raptors are a very good road team. Tied for third best in the league, and they've played good road games against some of the top teams in the league: Clippers, Golden State, OKC, even San Antonio with a largely bench team. In particular, Lowry and DeRozan actually seem more comfortable in the role of being the villain on the road than being the hero at home.

4. DeRozan wants to win, but he often forgets that the team can win without him taking 20 shots. Last night should serve as a good reminder that he can relax and trust his teammates more (because he has at times been a good teammate, and that's when the Raptors are at their best). The Raptors don't need him to be a superstar to win the series, and if the Raptors largely use him as an off-ball decoy that's going to draw George away from the ball, that's actually pretty useful.

[killer_carlson]

on #2, I don't like Casey's default to go to Paterson over JV and BB in crunch time when he gets into a big game.

[The Big Chill]

DD on fire to start.

[The Big Chill]

It's amazing how JV gets picked out for fouls. He gets mugged twice in a row going for an offensive board and the only call goes against JV.

[Street Pharmacist]

Man the Pacers just aren't getting called on defensive fouls