The Swamp

Rex wrote: ↑Sun May 26, 2019 8:18 pm Um, did Toronto not give us Blackberry?

Waterloo - which is about 80 miles west of here.

Sigh indeed.

I hate feeling like I missed something...

ESPN’s deep dive on the Lakers is worth a read. No one comes off well, but the criticisms of Pelinka, Magic and Rich Paul are particularly sharp.

It's insane. They are all insane. Lebron looks like an absolute doofus for choosing to go there. If he had to be in LA - he should have picked the Clippers.

TIL that the Raptors have homecourt advantage. I just assumed.

A_B wrote: ↑Wed May 29, 2019 8:33 am TIL that the Raptors have homecourt advantage. I just assumed.

IMO the Raptors are a very live underdog in this series, for this reason and others. They probably won’t win (Warriors in 6 feels like the most likely outcome), but have a significantly better shot than they’re being given. The Raptors are an outstanding defensive team—much better at that end than any Cavs team that GSW faced—and have the personnel to play big or small. If Lowry can keep playing well and Danny Green can get out of his brutal slump, they could absolutely win this.

tennbengal wrote: ↑Tue May 28, 2019 9:33 am It's insane. They are all insane. Lebron looks like an absolute doofus for choosing to go there. If he had to be in LA - he should have picked the Clippers.

This is really what I took from that article, Lebron's hubris that he and his people could come in and just transform an extremely dysfunctional franchise is off the charts.

Joe K wrote: ↑Wed May 29, 2019 8:39 am

A_B wrote: ↑Wed May 29, 2019 8:33 am TIL that the Raptors have homecourt advantage. I just assumed.

IMO the Raptors are a very live underdog in this series, for this reason and others. They probably won’t win (Warriors in 6 feels like the most likely outcome), but have a significantly better shot than they’re being given. The Raptors are an outstanding defensive team—much better at that end than any Cavs team that GSW faced—and have the personnel to play big or small. If Lowry can keep playing well and Danny Green can get out of his brutal slump, they could absolutely win this.

Your mouth to God's ear.

Starting at home is a huge advantage - obviously - just feels like there's no way they get run out of the gym in game one at home. A solid start and then who knows?

Winning 4 straight against the Magic and Bucks and taking 3 of the last 4 against the 76ers shows that this is definitely a resilient team. And Kawhi...

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Wed May 29, 2019 8:46 am

tennbengal wrote: ↑Tue May 28, 2019 9:33 am It's insane. They are all insane. Lebron looks like an absolute doofus for choosing to go there. If he had to be in LA - he should have picked the Clippers.

This is really what I took from that article, Lebron's hubris that he and his people could come in and just transform an extremely dysfunctional franchise is off the charts.

He got a douchy weirdo and a big white guy with mental issues and won the league in Cleveland. He could try to colonize Saturn and I'd flip a coin.

New Orleans refusing to bite is the only reason this didn't immediately work out again, no?

mister d wrote: ↑Wed May 29, 2019 9:01 am New Orleans refusing to bite is the only reason this didn't immediately work out again, no?

Perhaps, but Pelinka and Rich Paul badly mangled those discussions. New Orleans had very little incentive to trade Davis before the offseason to anyone, let alone the Lakers, who were offering only unproven prospects. That they won the Zion lottery only reinforces that point, since it obviously affects the team strategy going forward. But the Lakers and Rich Paul nevertheless pushed for a trade in a heavy handed way that led to virtually the entire roster being named in discussions. That pretty clearly nuked the team chemistry and any remaining semblance of cohesion.

JoeKs nba takes are invariably spot on.

My nba take is daryl more I s gonna do something bad to the lakers this offseason.

Circling back to Drake, why am I just now learning about this?



That was hilarious.

Think I’ll drink some Crown tonight for my Warriors

Dude's troll game...🔥🔥

(I'm actually in Ontario right now and will run through Toronto tomorrow for this Ragnar team I'm on, so this trip is cool on a couple levels suddenly.)

I swear I’ve watched at least 8 raptors playoffs games in the past two seasons not counting this one and I never realized how short Kyle Lowry was.

Fun game. Turns out I really don’t like warriors.

Joe K wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 9:04 pm

mister d wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 8:42 pm Lakers, right? Knicks miss on the two best players and Davis because their pick now isn’t enough to make up for the player portion.

Depends how much David Griffin values Ingram and Kuzma, who may not actually be good NBA players. I wouldn’t assume NOLA takes a platter of prospects. Watch out for an aggressive move by a team that’s already good and has young All-Star caliber talent. I’m thinking of the teams at the top of the East who could offer up someone like Middleton/Brogdon, Siakam, or Simmons.

After that game, I'm not sure Anthony Davis would be enough for the Pelicans to get Siakam!

Also, with Iguodala appearing to hurt his quad or hamstring late in that game, we can officially start the clock on the KD Watch for Golden State.

ETA: I read a piece by Kevin Pelton on ESPN earlier this week that took a deep dive into why the Warriors have played so well without Durant. The main explanation is that their defense improves, both due to heightened urgency and increased minutes for Iguodala. If Iguodala is hurt, that could be a serious problem for them if Durant still can't go.

Face made after Drake called Draymond trash.

I'm hoping Toronto can keep it up, but wow....Drake is an annoying fanboi.

I was pretty impressed how, when Toronto got the lead into double figures and the Warriors got back into striking distance with a little run, the Raptors always got a stop, then came back with a bucket to turn the tide (great fan support, by the way). Raps got a couple fortunate bounces late in the game (Siakam's driving hook/flip over his head - although he ended up doubled on the release and Ibaka was alone under the basket to clean up any rebound - and the lucky bounce on a corner jumper by either Van Vleet or Green, I forget which).

I'm very interested in any Raptors' adjustments because Siakam will not shoot that well again. Not sure which is more important - going small to get Gasol off the floor (just because he's that much better than any center the W's play) or how they handle Lowry and Van Vleet on the floor at the same time. The latter was mentioned as a concern for Golden State in a couple preview podcasts I listened to because they can't hide Curry on defense when the Raps' two point guards are on the floor together. Van Vleet got 33 minutes, which effectively made him the 6th starter (rest of their bench had 29 minutes combined), so it's a big issue.

This is incredible

I hate when an offensive player changes his trajectory to draw a foul. It’s clearly intentional.

Alone among the Raptors fans I've been talking to, I don;t blame the refs for that loss.

Just a veteran championship team playing like a veteran championship team.

Pruitt wrote: ↑Sun Jun 02, 2019 10:03 pm Alone among the Raptors fans I've been talking to, I don;t blame the refs for that loss.

Just a veteran championship team playing like a veteran championship team.

The Raptors just didn’t make enough shots in the second half (credit for some of that goes to the Warriors’ defense, of course). You’re not going to win many games shooting 37% from the field and 29% on 3s.

I assume Durant will return in Game 3, especially with Thompson and Looney now also hurt.

They also should have fouled Green after not being able to steal in the backcourt. They let the time run out.

degenerasian wrote: ↑Mon Jun 03, 2019 8:20 am They also should have fouled Green after not being able to steal in the backcourt. They let the time run out.

Fouling is clearly the right strategy there in an NCAA game but with the ability in the NBA to advance the ball to halfcourt with a TO, I’m not sure what the right strategy is. The Warriors and Raptors have also been making a pretty insanely high percentage of their free throws this series. If Iguodala missed and the Raptors secured the rebound, they’d have the ball in the frontcourt with 5-6 seconds left, down 2. Plenty of time to run a play. Even if Green hit only 1/2, it’s hard to get a good look against a team as strong defensively as the Warriors when they know you need a 3.

Come on you fucking Raptors!

Haaaaaaaaa. The current top Reddit post right now.

This Curry kid is pretty good.

This game is sloppy

"No need to foul so far from the basket!" Mike Breen says about Lowry fouling Steph Curry near the three point line.

EdRomero wrote: ↑Wed Jun 05, 2019 9:17 pm "No need to foul so far from the basket!" Mike Breen says about Lowry fouling Steph Curry near the three point line.

Yeah, it’s easy to call those bad plays by Lowry but Curry has been hunting fouls this series more than I’ve seen him do in the past. He’s definitely using some tricks from the Harden/CP3 playbook.

Would it even occur to Trump to invite the Toronto Raptors to the White House?

brian wrote: ↑Wed Jun 05, 2019 10:38 pm Would it even occur to Trump to invite the Toronto Raptors to the White House?

Trudeau would invite them to Ottawa. And no one wants to go to Ottawa.

If the series doesn't start until a road team wins a game, but then the other team wins a road game, too, does that mean that the series hasn't started again?

A_B wrote: ↑Thu Jun 06, 2019 7:11 am If the series doesn't start until a road team wins a game, but then the other team wins a road game, too, does that mean that the series hasn't started again?

Feels like you are workshopping this for Golic and Wingo.