2018-19 NBA and Raptors thread

[bluejays]

I personally don’t blame the coach much but basketball being a game of c’d and o’s and momentum, has led me to also put a huge blame on nurses lack of time outs at the right time. There were several times the raps looked like they were narrowing the gap only to have long swings the other way with no timeout called to kill the momentum. Not good choices this game.

[bluejays]

And the Gasol deal isn’t looking good at all. Hindsight is 20/20 but if I were to do it all over I’d take Val.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

If they manage to lose this in 7, where do you even go from there as a franchise.

Purgatory. Not bad enough to tank, not good enough to win anything.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by fleury

And the Gasol deal isn’t looking good at all. Hindsight is 20/20 but if I were to do it all over I’d take Val.

The only aspect of the trade that hurts is not having Delon, at least he can penetrate and create. But Gasol has made Embiid irrelevant in this series. Would obviously be nice if he could contribute more offense, but that's not really why they traded for him.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by fleury

And the Gasol deal isn’t looking good at all. Hindsight is 20/20 but if I were to do it all over I’d take Val.

Yup, I called that when it happened. Gasol's defense on Embiid is great but the 76ers have countered by just bringing him out to the perimeter and saving his effort for defense and rebounding. With JV, Raptors could throw the ball into the post and have him go to work on an already banged-up Embiid and really grind him down. When the shots aren't falling, it helps to be able to just slow things down, pass it inside to your big, and let him go to work and create a high-percentage shot.
And then you throw in that the Raptors could desperately use a long perimeter defender and shot-creator off the bench, and that's exactly what they gave up in Wright.

I still think the Raptors come back and win game 7, but yeah, the losses this series have been exactly the style of game I was worried about when we made that trade.

[Senator Clay Davis]

You know really how that trade was screwed up was by not paying the extra cost to dump Lowry for Conley. If it cost a couple extra firsts to make it happen then so be it, you talk about slowing the game down and that's something Conley does very well, he is an efficient operator and not scared of big moments like Lowry has been. I think they'll probably win too, but I also don't think they have much of a chance in the next round unless we see a drastic improvement offensively from guys not named Kawhi or Pascal.

[Beninho]

Nm


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[Beninho]

Man I don’t think I’ve been as angry after a loss than after this one. That’s really all I can say about that #### of a game. I trust Kawhi, I really don’t trust anyone else to come through in a game 7. We shall see


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[agulati]

It was an embarrassing game tonight. I think (hope most likely) that the raptors show up with their A game for Game 7. They just didn't seem to be able to do much right.

[Sainters7]

I still think they'll take game 7. I just don't see how this hot & cold team gets by Milwaukee, especially without home court. Would be awesome to see the Raps get to their first NBA Finals, was hoping Boston could pull the upset in the 2nd round there. We'll see what happens

[Joborule]

GSW on to another championship.

[Strange Brew]

Disappointing end for the Rockets. Really thought they were poised to take this series to 7 games and steal that last one on the road.

Couldn’t get any stops tonight. Or in the 4th quarter of game 5.

You have to be near flawless to beat the Warriors even without Durant.

[Senator Clay Davis]

But you didn't even need to be that flawless either of the last two years. Just execute better in crunch time and the Rockets would have won one or both of those series. The Rockets can't even just hope Durant leaves because if he and Kawhi do end up on the Clippers then that iteration of the Clippers is probably even better than the Warriors right now. Lot of soul searching for Houston, Chris Paul's contract looks like an anchor, Capela took a huge step back this year and the way they play has been proven as unsustainable for winning a title. Like the Raptors they are in purgatory of not being good enough to win it all, but too good to tank.

[Strange Brew]

Your analysis is over dramatic Senator. You would have every team in purgatory. Two years in a row the Rockets have been on the cusp of beating the Warriors. Last year, Paul’s hamstring was a big blow when they were up 3-2 with home court advantage. And Capela didn’t take a huge step back this year, in fact it was a step forward in the season. Playoffs were different as they went small and he wasn’t that effective.

IIRC two years you were saying should have dealt Harden when his value was highest. Instead we have had two years of incredibly competitive basketball, just losing to a great team.

When you’re this close you don’t give up. You make the changes you can and come back more determined IMO.

[Senator Clay Davis]

What changes can you make when you're paying $105 million to three guys, one of whom is clearly in decline and the other who is clearly limited? Capela absolutely took a step back, he was exposed once teams started taking away Harden's lobs to him. Once that went, he was a negative value player. He can't shoot and he isn't physical enough to bang down low. He's basically a better version of Bismack Biyombo, but they're paying him to be an elite contributor.

Also the Chris Paul injury costing them last year was rendered irrelevant last night when they lost to the Durant-less Warriors in a game in which Curry literally had 0 points at half time. How do you lose that game? But that's how they are mentally, remember in 2017 when Kawhi missed game 6 and the Rockets lost by 39 (!!!!) at home to get eliminated? Definitely not a mentally strong team. And yeah I said blow it up, you could have acquired major assets and probably would be in for Zion right now. That you were competitive means nothing. The Raps were competitive too. At least they gambled on the right guy with Kawhi. Chris Paul's contract is very ugly and a terrible gamble.

Morey tried to win a title on shooting an unsustainable amount of threes and drawing (or flopping) to an unsustainable amount of fouls, both of which are poor approaches to playoff basketball where the game is allowed to be played more physically. Harden also had an unsustainable season that won't be replicated. I just don't see them improving, and the rest of the West is only getting stronger. This was their shot, and they won as many games against the Warriors are the Clippers who have literally zero stars. If they do get Durant and Kawhi, say goodnight to any chance. Ironically, you'd probably like to have the Chris Paul trade back and have the guys you dealt to the Clippers. Such is life.

[transplant99]

Weird story.

Dallas Mavericks power forward Kristaps Porzingis was involved in a bloody altercation over the weekend at a club in his hometown of Liepaja, Latvia.

"It is our understanding that Kristaps was jumped and assaulted outside of a club in Latvia. We will provide an update when one is available," the team said in a statement.

A source told ESPN that the Mavericks' understanding was that several Russians attacked Porzingis, who fought back before the club security broke up the scuffle.

TMZ reported that the men who attacked Porzingis were upset that he left the New York Knicks, who traded him to the Mavericks on Jan. 31 due in part to the All-Star being disgruntled with the franchise.

Do the "Russians" have some weird connection to the Knicks who have been a train wreck for decades?

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...dy-altercation

[Senator Clay Davis]

What a choke for the Nuggets, although I guess it doesn't really matter since winning this series means getting swept by the Warriors. As for the Raps tonight, they really need to blow them out, cannot see them winning a close game. In a close game I bet they'll lose on something utterly catastrophic like Ben Simmons making the game winning three.

[activeStick]

Feeling pretty nervous about this game 7...

[Machiavelli]

Simmons, weak ass flopper

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Machiavelli

Simmons, weak ass flopper

That was a soccer dive and calling a foul there is beyond ridiculous. It was not remotely close