Raptors

[Art Vandelay]

Currently with the third best winning per centage in the nba, second fewest loses. 3 games up on the cavs. In the playoffs, I still have a hard time seeing them beat both the Celtics and Cav's.

[TranaGreg]

there are moves to be made tho ...

edit: never mind. I really thought this was the year they would make a deadline deal

[B-Fly]

They're soaring on the strength of great bench play. I love what Wright and Van Vleet have been adding lately. Unfortunately for The North, however, the playoffs tends to be kindest to teams with the strongest top 7 or 8 guys -- depth tends to wash out. They need to get JV and Ibaka right for the playoffs, or they need to commit to significantly scaling back their role on the team.

[Art Vandelay]

They're soaring on the strength of great bench play. I love what Wright and Van Vleet have been adding lately. Unfortunately for The North, however, the playoffs tends to be kindest to teams with the strongest top 7 or 8 guys -- depth tends to wash out. They need to get JV and Ibaka right for the playoffs, or they need to commit to significantly scaling back their role on the team.

Valencunious has been a different offensive player this season. Appears much more confident and aggressive.

And the raptors three point shooting has been amazing. Not Warriors amazing, Toronto Raptor amazing.

Raps are right there for best differential off to def. with hous and g.s.

Big thing is getting past Bos and Cle. I think with home court, they have a shot. Regardless, how do you beat Golden State who play 4 super star talents?

[B-Fly]

Valencunious has been a different offensive player this season. Appears much more confident and aggressive.

And the raptors three point shooting has been amazing. Not Warriors amazing, Toronto Raptor amazing.

Raps are right there for best differential off to def. with hous and g.s.

Big thing is getting past Bos and Cle. I think with home court, they have a shot. Regardless, how do you beat Golden State who play 4 super star talents?

The chances of anyone beating Golden State are slim, but if you want something to cling too, it appears that Iguodala and Livingston and West are truly declining, the Young experiment is failing, and McCaw and McGee aren't developing the way GS would have hoped based on last year. It's becoming more possible for opponents to focus all of their defensive energy on Steph, Durant and Klay and to dare the other Warriors to score or otherwise make the right play at the right time.

[Art Vandelay]

1st in east

Just beat Houston

Hope they reach championship finals

[B-Fly]

I was pretty shocked that they blew that lead against Cleveland last night, but that game reinforced my feeling from post #3. The Raptors superb bench has provided them with a material regular season advantage that won't be as meaningful in the post season when more regular rest days will allow other teams to simply play their top 5, 6, 7 or 8 guys a lot more minutes. They built their big lead on bench superiority, but Cleveland got the win when their closers faced the Raptors' closers. I don't know if they can beat Cleveland in a 7-game series with LeBron in playoff beast mode.

[Art Vandelay]

I was pretty shocked that they blew that lead against Cleveland last night, but that game reinforced my feeling from post #3. The Raptors superb bench has provided them with a material regular season advantage that won't be as meaningful in the post season when more regular rest days will allow other teams to simply play their top 5, 6, 7 or 8 guys a lot more minutes. They built their big lead on bench superiority, but Cleveland got the win when their closers faced the Raptors' closers. I don't know if they can beat Cleveland in a 7-game series with LeBron in playoff beast mode.

All fair and valid points.

Having watched most games this season, I can say without a doubt that ibaka should absolutely stop taking important possession shots. It isn't so much that he misses most of them, it is him throwing them up when the shot clock is at 19 or 20 seconds! Ibaka should be the 4th or 5th option for any shot outside the paint.

Look for Lowery to keep heaving those 3 pointers. He has been on fire. Portel and JV have shown massive improvement this season. I especially like portle's D. Cream cheese (vanvleet) is the point guard late in games when he and Kyle are on the court together. The guy is smart, fast, and unafraid to shoot. Too bad he is a free agent this off-season, sure to leave.

Anyhow, until a team beats Labron in the playoffs, the Cavs are king of the east. That said, I think he is not what he used to be. 35. Lots of big games under his belt. But man, that was true excitement after Love hit a big three late in the game. You can tell labron still loves playing...

[B-Fly]

Another big psychological blow for the Raptors, losing Game 1 on their home floor after leading for pretty much the entire game. They're deeper than Cleveland, more consistent than Cleveland, and clearly a better overall basketball team. But the playoff history of these two teams and now this Game 1 loss on top of the big lead they blew against Cleveland in March has to be messing with their heads. Can they take the next two games to change the arc and psychology of this series?

[B-Fly]

From Deadspin:

Well, that settles that.

They’ll still have to play games 3 and 4 of the series, of course. But if last night’s Raptors-Cavaliers game, in Toronto, didn’t put to permanent rest any questions you might have about the Raptors, not just these Raptors but the holistic Raptors, what it means to be a Raptor, the grim heritage of all Raptors, please walk outside and hand your wallet to the first person you see. Honestly, it’s more than you should be trusted with. If U.S. Customs and Border Protection even lets these counterfeit sacks of crap across the border for Game 3, it ought to prompt a congressional inquiry.

https://deadspin.com/never-get-fooled-by-the-raptors-again-1825773166

Ouch!

[hacko]

Casey gets awarded coach of the year then gets fired. Thanks and See Ya!!!!!

[B-Fly]

Casey gets awarded coach of the year then gets fired. Thanks and See Ya!!!!!

Yep. Coach of the Year is a regular season award. Coach firings, on the other hand, are generally based on the last big, embarrassing failure, whether it's the 10 game regular-season losing streak, or the playoffs sweep at the hands of a lower seed.