2017-18 Toronto Raptors and General NBA Thread

[Machiavelli]

Beastmode engaged...52 points, new franchise record

[Karl]

What a game.

Phenomenal performance by DeRozan. Not a good offensive game for Ibaka overall, but he came up big to stuff Giannis' dunk attempt at a critical moment. Bulldog Lowry doing his thing again, and FVV has got major guts.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Terrence Ross being the other Raptor besides Vince and DeMar with 50+ is definitely one of the best Raptor trivia questions.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

I want to get excited for the Raps. I really do, but every time I see them play a decent oppponent like Milwaukee tonight I see nothing but a mediocre team who would be .500 in the Western Conference at best. These guys can’t win big games. They beat up on a garbage conference. That’s about it.

They are 11-6 against the west with all of those losses coming on the road. I'm guessing that doesn't really fit your narrative though.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

They are 11-6 against the west with all of those losses coming on the road. I'm guessing that doesn't really fit your narrative though.

The Raptors are 3-5 against teams with a record of greater than .500 in the West. Of those 3 wins, two were against Portland and Denver who are the bottom teams in the Western playoffs race.

So yeah.... it fits my narrative perfectly, you just don’t like it. The Raptors can’t beat actual competitive teams and beat up on bottoms feeders. Beating the Phoenix Suns/Sacramento Kings/LA Lakers is not impressive. Here are the teams the Raptors have played against this season in upper echelon of the league.


Spurs - Lost
Golden State - Lost
Washington - Lost
Boston - Lost
Houston - Won
Washington - Won
Thunder - Lost

They’ve basically played 7 meaningful games this year and are 2-5 in those games. They’ve had a cake schedule this year and we’ll see in the second half of they are actually a threat or not, but early signs don’t look good. January is a really hard schedule for them so we’ll start to see sooner rather than later. They’ve got The Warriors, the Cavs, the Spurs and Minnesota (x2) all on deck.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

The Raptors are 3-5 against teams with a record of greater than .500 in the West. Of those 3 wins, two were against Portland and Denver who are the bottom teams in the Western playoffs race.



So yeah.... it fits my narrative perfectly, you just don’t like it. The Raptors can’t beat actual competitive teams and beat up on bottoms feeders. Beating the Phoenix Suns/Sacramento Kings/LA Lakers is not impressive. Here are the teams the Raptors have played against this season in upper echelon of the league.





Spurs - Lost

Golden State - Lost

Washington - Lost

Boston - Lost

Houston - Won

Washington - Won

Thunder - Lost



They’ve basically played 7 meaningful games this year and are 2-5 in those games. They’ve had a cake schedule this year and we’ll see in the second half of they are actually a threat or not, but early signs don’t look good. January is a really hard schedule for them so we’ll start to see sooner rather than later. They’ve got The Warriors, the Cavs, the Spurs and Minnesota (x2) all on deck.

Road games are always tough in the NBA. They are a good team. They are not in the elite, not suggesting they are but they don't have the roster to be elite. Welcome to the modern NBA.


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[Jason14h]

They have always had an issue beating (or at least putting away, cause the games always seem close) the best teams.

It is probably because our best player, DD, isn't a true superstar. All the teams mentioned have a top 10 (or top 7) player.

Casey also tends to go straight ISO at the end of these game, which is mind blowing

[octothorp]

Raptors had one of the tougher schedules through the first month and a half of the season, a light December, and overall one of the easier schedules in the EC going forward. For east teams, the biggest measure of difficulty is long western conference road swings. The Raptors only have one WC road game left, and have no road trips longer than 3 games remaining (2 of those, including one starting now). They don't even leave the eastern time zone after the all-star break, and have only 6 games on the road against EC playoff teams after the break.

Cleveland, by comparison, is 1-5 on the road against the west, including 0-3 on their just-concluded road trip, and have a six game road trip out west later in the season. They've also got a 5 game mostly EC road trip this month which has 4 games against playoff teams.
Boston hasn't even had a road trip with more than 1 game out west, but will have two 4 game western trips and a 3 game trip still this season.

Right now any of those three teams could win the conference, but Boston and Cleveland definitely have the toughest stretches of their season still ahead on the calendar.

[TheAlpineOracle]

I’ve bagged on Derozan for years, but he’s an absolute animal this year. Just dominating.

[Machiavelli]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

I’ve bagged on Derozan for years, but he’s an absolute animal this year. Just dominating.

Added the 3-pointer to his arsenal. Scary good.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by Machiavelli

Added the 3-pointer to his arsenal. Scary good.

He’s also better on D. Not saying he’s a shut down defender but he used to be a pylon. He’s a decent defender this year.

[The Big Chill]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

He’s also better on D. Not saying he’s a shut down defender but he used to be a pylon. He’s a decent defender this year.

I think the improvement on the 3 point shot and better D go hand in hand. The 3 takes so much less energy then working for a tough layup, leaves a little extra in the tank for D.

Huge game tonight from Wright as well. Would love to see him take his game to the next level.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I've always maintained if he could shoot 40% from three he can be a no doubt top 10 player. I'm still tempering things about his shooting from deep right now, it is still only 10 games for a career 28% guy. But it is still exciting to think what if he can keep it up, because to me that is the missing piece to this team taking the next step. It doesn't only make him better, but it opens up space for everyone else since teams can't crowd the middle against him if they have to respect the three.

[octothorp]

JV with probably the best single quarter of his career, 20-9 in the third quarter against the Bucks, just feasting on Henson and then Maker.

[Drake]

Blake Griffin took an elbow to the forehead from JaVale McGee. Looked like he was out cold for an instant, body trembling uncontrollably after he hit the floor. That was ugly.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Cavs tonight, Warriors on Saturday, best home record in the league. Let's see what they got.

[The Big Chill]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Cavs tonight, Warriors on Saturday, best home record in the league. Let's see what they got.

Well its safe to say they've passed the first test!

[Displaced Flames fan]

Fred Van Vleet!

[The Big Chill]

Originally Posted by Displaced Flames fan

Fred Van Vleet!

I'm extremely impressed with the player he's becoming. I didn't think he was ever going to more then a 3rd point guard, but he's already showing to be much more then that. He's been a great addition to this team.

[bubbsy]

Finally!

What a great sports night!