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2015-2016 Toronto Raptors Thread: We Have "It"!

L K said:
That 4th quarter gave me a pretty nasty ulcer.

Derozan started off so good and then well........I mean he hits some important shots but 33 shots.  That was Kobe's retirement game level effort.
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Paul George was guarding DeRozan so I wonder if the strategy was to attack him on the defensive front to tire him out. Might account for the higher amount of attempts DeMar had.

They got it done. I'm pretty happy.
 
What a game.  It was a great atmosphere inside the ACC.

This team has ECF (and more) aspirations, and in order to get there, they needed this to be a 5/6 game series instead of a tough 7 game series. The only benefit is that Miami went 7 as well. 

 
Toronto  89  Indiana  84.  Raptors win series 4 games to 3.

R-e-1-i-e-f!  Success in winning a Game 7, something not too existent of late in the Raptors franchise history.

Led by much-criticized All-Star DeMar DeRozan, who up to now was having less than stellar performances in this playoff round unlike the regular season  where he dominated game by game, DeRozan racked up 30pts., in helping the Raptors stay ahead of the Pacers right up to the final buzzer.

Toronto got contributions from their other struggling AIl-Star Kyle Lowry, with 11 pts., & 10 assists on the night.  The scrappy Lowry was all over the Pacers defensively, in tandem with other Raptor teammates Patterson, Byombo, Powell,  Joseph, Valenciunas & Carroll all providing bench depth and strength on the court, making it particularly miserable for a Pacer named George.

This was a game in which the Raptors played it right, taking the lead from the get-go.  Having 29,000+ raucous supporters backing you completed the package.

"I hear so many people talking about the Toronto curse and all this but, man, if you play basketball and you play at a high level, I told plenty of fans, I told plenty of media that this is a different team," said Carroll. "We have a different mindset. This is a team that?s going to go out and leave it on the court and that?s what we did tonight."

DeRozan did. The Raptors followed his lead.

They did it.  Finally.

Fifteen years in the making.

Great job, Raptors!

Way to go!!!


http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/nba/derozan-raptors-take-pivotal-next-step-game-7-win/.
 
The Toronto Raptors will  play the Miami Heat, also coming off a Game 7 victory (over the Charlotte Hornets).

Game 1 starts Tuesday in Toronto.
 
There's just not much to say at this point. They're not going to win with Lowry/Derozan struggling to shoot 33%. If Lowry is hurt to the point where he can't shoot, they might want to sit him down and give his minutes to Joseph.
 
Nik the Trik said:
There's just not much to say at this point. They're not going to win with Lowry/Derozan struggling to shoot 33%. If Lowry is hurt to the point where he can't shoot, they might want to sit him down and give his minutes to Joseph.
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Mind you tonight Joseph was rivaling Lowry at being worst of the worst.

I don't understand this team and their desire to ignore Valanciunas in the second half.  He was 10/16 from the field.  He had four shooting attempts in the second half.  Free throws, two makes and a tip in.  So he put up 8 points on 4 shot attempts in the second half.  Miami didn't have a way to reliably stop JV.  Instead of abusing this mismatch we had Lowry taking terrible shots.  Derozan having another game where he started hot and then managed to find a way to take as many shots as points. 

Similarly you had guys like Ross who were hot early in the game and then got iced by Casey's rotations.

I think Derozan/Lowry have fumbled more than a dozen game ending plays this year now.  It's pretty awful.
 
L K said:
I don't understand this team and their desire to ignore Valanciunas in the second half.  He was 10/16 from the field.  He had four shooting attempts in the second half.  Free throws, two makes and a tip in.  So he put up 8 points on 4 shot attempts in the second half.  Miami didn't have a way to reliably stop JV.  Instead of abusing this mismatch we had Lowry taking terrible shots.  Derozan having another game where he started hot and then managed to find a way to take as many shots as points. 
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https://vine.co/v/O2ETQ0Oz9Dr
 
If they would stop throwing the ball away constantly, they may have a chance to score and why oh why do we have constant perimeter shooting. The way to win is in the paint. they seem to be afraid to step in it.
We can take this Miami team
 
Nik the Trik said:
There's just not much to say at this point. They're not going to win with Lowry/Derozan struggling to shoot 33%. If Lowry is hurt to the point where he can't shoot, they might want to sit him down and give his minutes to Joseph.
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I think Lowry must be hurt.  He must be right?  What other explanation could there be?  I didn't watch the 2nd half of this game but prior to that, it's not that he was missing contested jumpers.  He has been missing wide open threes.

 
Unfortunately, the situation is that with Lowry taking 8 3s per game and hitting 40% of them, Toronto is a legit 2nd seed, winner of 56 games, capable of taking Miami and losing cleanly to Cleveland.  With Lowry hitting 15% of 8 3s, Toronto simply loses 6 points per game with no real way to make them up.  That swings Toronto from having a positive differential to a negative differential and struggling to maybe make the playoffs.  That is the team we are now watching.
 
princedpw said:
Unfortunately, the situation is that with Lowry taking 8 3s per game and hitting 40% of them, Toronto is a legit 2nd seed, winner of 56 games, capable of taking Miami and losing cleanly to Cleveland.  With Lowry hitting 15% of 8 3s, Toronto simply loses 6 points per game with no real way to make them up.  That swings Toronto from having a positive differential to a negative differential and struggling to maybe make the playoffs.  That is the team we are now watching.
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Something has got to be wrong  with Lowry.  It's not like a team's star player suddenly falters.  Same with DeMar.  With Lowry, it could be that he still has occasional nagging elbow/arm problems, considering the 'minor' injury he had and the fact that he played so much up to that point.

As for DeMar,  big puzzling question mark. Hot and cold he goes.

It is said that sports requires mental preparation (mental toughness, concentration, etc.).  Is it so possible that this Raptors team still doesn't really have "it"?  Or, is it a case of coach Casey not strategizing/utilizing appropriately enough?
 
Raptors win Game 2 in OT to even up the series but there was a lot more guard nonsense in this one.

Valanciunas 7/9 15 points 12 boards
Derozan 9/24 and 2/8 from the free throw line
Lowry 7/22 and 3/6 from the free throw line

It's numbing how JV doesn't get more shots.
 
L K said:
Raptors win Game 2 in OT to even up the series but there was a lot more guard nonsense in this one.

Valanciunas 7/9 15 points 12 boards
Derozan 9/24 and 2/8 from the free throw line
Lowry 7/22 and 3/6 from the free throw line

It's numbing how JV doesn't get more shots.
Click to expand...

It seems to me that they almost purposely avoid him. How else can you explain both Lowry and DeRozan seeing him open and instead choosing a pull-up jumper.

Also, is there any offense with this team. It seems 80% of the time down the court DeRozan or Lowry or Joseph have the ball at the top of the key, than JV or Bismack set a high screen and they shoot a crappy low-percentage jump shot. Surely, they can be more creative.

The last shot of regulation last night with Lowry having 10 seconds to shoot and instead doing nothing for 8 seconds and then launching a prayer is the epitome of what is wrong with the team in the playoffs. It is maddening to watch the offense run sometimes.
 
Kyle Lowry's shooting percentage  30.8  prior to last night's game, is ranked as the worst in 50 years in NBA history.
 
The great news: Lowry had a great game
The good news: The Raptors won
The terrible news: JV sprained his ankle and didn't return to the game.
The consistent news: Derozan is inefficient and settles for fadeaway contested jumpers
 
I was only able to follow this game's first quarter and last 5 minutes on the radio.
From what I could tell, Casey finally changed the game plan to take advantage of the mismatch the Heat have against JV down low until he unfortunately went down (fortunately, looks to be minor). Then Lowry dropped 29 points in the second half to spearhead the comeback, especially the nice heads up deep pass down court to Carroll (or was it Joseph?) to ice the game. Raptors win, despite DeRozan's best efforts to give the game away with every possession (save for his clutch 5 for 6 free throws to preserve the lead in the dying seconds).
 
Man if the Raps could get a big Derozan/Lowry game at the same time that'd be pretty major.

Anyways, hopefully the JV injury is pretty minor because if Whiteside is out then that's something the Raps can exploit all day.

Tough to think that the Raps are a single point/decent overtime away from being up 3-0 but I'll take this for now.
 
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