WE THE NORTH

[iveyfan]

Of course if Casey wants to keep the bench unit mostly together tonight (which I don't think he will) it could look like this...
PG: Wright, Joseph
SG: Powell, Ross
SF: Bruno, (Ross), (Patterson)
PF: Scola, Patterson, Thompson
C: Nogueira, Biyombo, (Thompson)

 

[iveyfan]

Also, on the line today is the seeding for 3-6.
Battling for the 3-6 seeds (in bold)
Miami(48-33) @ Boston(47-34)
Atlanta(48-33) @ Wash(40-41)
Charlotte(47-34) vs Orl(35-46)
I do not want any part of Miami in the second round (plus I think they could beat the Cavs) and I'm not sure how the tie-breakers line up.
Best case scenario imo is that Boston beats Miami, Atlanta beats Washington and Charlotte loses to Orlando so we get the following seeding
3. Atlanta (49-33)
4. Boston/Miami (48-34)
5. Boston/Miami (48-34)
6. Charlotte (47-35)
That gives us the winner of Atlanta/Charlotte, two teams that I think we would beat in a series, and it means Miami/Boston would play Cleveland which would be a tougher series for the Cavs

 

[iveyfan]

Okay, sometimes they deviate from this but tonight's starters are announced:
Cojo, Ross, Powell, Thompson, Biyombo, so depth chart should be a mix of the above. Also looks like Scola might get a rest day as well
PG: Joseph, Wright
SG: Ross, (Powell)
SF: Powell, Bruno, (Patterson)
PF: Thompson, Patterson, Scola(active?)
C: Biyombo, Nogueira

Bruno is the only real wing on the bench, so I think he ideally plays the role that Ross normally does. Hopefully, we see about 15-20 min of him tonight. Alright, I'm going to stop talking now

 

[iveyfan]

Of course if Casey wants to keep the bench unit mostly together tonight (which I don't think he will) it could look like this...
PG: Wright, Joseph
SG: Powell, Ross
SF: Bruno, (Ross), (Patterson)
PF: Scola, Patterson, Thompson
C: Nogueira, Biyombo, (Thompson)

They psyched us out and went with this lineup anyways w/o Scola tho. Norm and Delon continue to blow my mind every game... It's ridiculous. Masai Ujiri deserves to win executive of the year for the work he did this offseason. Only negative to come out of today is that Miami kept the 3rd seed, so I'll be cheering hard for Charlotte in the first round against the Heat.

Also shout-out to Ross ho had a very solid game off the bench: 24 and 10 reb

 

[Firstclasskaos]

The beginning of the game had me scared, falling behind that much that quickly. But the young guns turned it on. I think they all deserve a hand.
Powell is playing awesome ( might make TRoss expendable ) and Delon is a big guard I see big things for him in the future.
Masai is the executive of the year in my eyes, can't think of one that comes close

Oh yeah and Sam Mitchell got fired too. To bad.

 

[Shumkoolie]

I am definitely looking forward to the playoffs. The Raptors have endured a couple of quick playoff exits now, and I think they have learned some tough lessons on what it means to win in the playoffs. I'm hoping for at LEAST the Eastern Conference Finals where, most likely, they will run into the Cavaliers and with Lebron playing like he normally does, will be a VERY formidable test for the Raptors.

Ultimately though, I think Golden State is going to win the Championship, and many will say (and I agree) that the REAL NBA Finals will be in the Western Conference, assuming that both the Warriors and Spurs make it to the West Finals. I wouldn't sleep on the Clippers or Thunder either, but it would be surprising if it wasn't the Spurs vs. Warriors.

 

[99TERRANCE99]

The beginning of the game had me scared, falling behind that much that quickly. But the young guns turned it on. I think they all deserve a hand.
Powell is playing awesome ( might make TRoss expendable ) and Delon is a big guard I see big things for him in the future.
Masai is the executive of the year in my eyes, can't think of one that comes close

Oh yeah and Sam Mitchell got fired too. To bad.

Thats sad i think he could have helped the t wolves i didnt realize he got fired ,that was a tough spot when flip sauners passed suddenly to take over

 

[99TERRANCE99]

Great start Jv is battling and the Raps are up get er done guys ,i say raps take game one its late in the first quarter

 

[Firstclasskaos]

Smh. I'm so bummed out, I really thought we'd beat them in game one easily. PG is a good player, and we shut him down in the first half. But that 3rd quarter was bad for us, George getting 17 in the 3rd quarter and us just falling apart. JV was a monster, too bad refs fouled him out.
Raps in five !!!

 

[99TERRANCE99]

56 wins and you play like that and even worse the non calls for the subtle bumping when shots are being taken and bumps when going by them and nit called is pathetic JONAS was rolling and killing it so of course they need to call acouple invisable fouls on him ,what a joke but we will smash them out in game 2

 

[iveyfan]

I hate the fans that have already given up on the team man... some Toronto sports fans are so "fair-weather" it's ridiculous. We should have won game 1, but we knew coming up that PG13 would steal a game or 2 for Indiana. Game 1 was one of them. In fact, Demar and Kyle played like trash and we were still in the game with a couple of minutes left. If they played average, we would have won the game. That alone should give people more faith than anything.

I predicted Raps in 6 at the beginning of the series and that prediction hasn't changed at all.

 

[Firstclasskaos]

Stephen A Smith says DeRozen is done in Toronto after this season, says he's leaving for LA in the summer. I'm not sure if I believe SAS, Demar seems pretty happy here.
I saw the video on espn website

 

[iveyfan]

Stephen A Smith says DeRozen is done in Toronto after this season, says he's leaving for LA in the summer. I'm not sure if I believe SAS, Demar seems pretty happy here.
I saw the video on espn website

Stephen A. Smith says a lot of stupid stuff though. I don't trust a lot of what he and Skip say at all. When it comes to baskerball reporting, you have to only trust the few names with legitimate sources,
Adrian Woj
Marc Stein
Zach Lowe
Sam Amick

and then in the next tier of trust you probably have guys like Brian Windhorst and Marc Spears.
SAS and Skip just try to drum up ratings. SAS said a few moths ago that he had sources that said Durant was going to the Lakers, and Durant said:
"I don’t talk to Stephen A Smith at all. Nobody in my family, my friends, they don’t talk to Stephen A Smith. So he’s lying.”

 

[99TERRANCE99]

Smh. I'm so bummed out, I really thought we'd beat them in game one easily. PG is a good player, and we shut him down in the first half. But that 3rd quarter was bad for us, George getting 17 in the 3rd quarter and us just falling apart. JV was a monster, too bad refs fouled him out.
Raps in five !!!

I couldnt agree more ,very frustrating leaves us all wondering if we dominate today or just just win :/ refs were a joke i stand behind that mi ref basketball here and i was losing my mind because they were missing things regardless of the team its about the calls ,all stats need to be far better

 

[99TERRANCE99]

Stephen A. Smith says a lot of stupid stuff though. I don't trust a lot of what he and Skip say at all. When it comes to baskerball reporting, you have to only trust the few names with legitimate sources,
Adrian Woj
Marc Stein
Zach Lowe
Sam Amick

and then in the next tier of trust you probably have guys like Brian Windhorst and Marc Spears.
SAS and Skip just try to drum up ratings. SAS said a few moths ago that he had sources that said Durant was going to the Lakers, and Durant said:
"I don’t talk to Stephen A Smith at all. Nobody in my family, my friends, they don’t talk to Stephen A Smith. So he’s lying.”

Agreed far better sources ,Smith likes stirring the pot right or very wrong at times ,if Demar gets paid its unlikely he leaves even for hometown La which im sure would be a draw to anyone but situation is everything hes staying !!

 

[99TERRANCE99]

I hate the fans that have already given up on the team man... some Toronto sports fans are so "fair-weather" it's ridiculous. We should have won game 1, but we knew coming up that PG13 would steal a game or 2 for Indiana. Game 1 was one of them. In fact, Demar and Kyle played like trash and we were still in the game with a couple of minutes left. If they played average, we would have won the game. That alone should give people more faith than anything.

I predicted Raps in 6 at the beginning of the series and that prediction hasn't changed at all.

We owned our homecourt this season they did it to themselves now it wont be as easy as it should have been we move on but i bet its a grind more so now cause they have players and PG13 has even more confidence

 

[redwards92]

SAS is an idiot and super annoying I hate him. Woj is amazing. Although I wouldn't be too devastated if Demar were to abandon the north and head home. He's going to have a large price tag and we may be better off exploring free agency and trade opportunities with some of the assets we currently have (Knicks pick+ for a solid 4 or something idk).

Being Canadian I like to root for the raps so lets hope they can deliver versus Paul George.

If the Raps manage to choke round 1 I guess I'll have to settle for the entertaining ball we should get to see out west in the semis and conference finals.

Heat vs Cavs conference finals should be fun if it ends up happening.

 

[iveyfan]

Great showing from the Raps especially on the defensive end and I have to give big props to Casey for benching Demar in the 4th and keep playing the linup that was able to shut down the Pacers. Also shout-outs to Pat who played incredible D again, and the Lowry-JV pick-and-roll which was giving Indy fits all night.

Hope Ross is all right. He hit some big threes in the 2nd and was fairly active on D

 

[iveyfan]

SAS is an idiot and super annoying I hate him. Woj is amazing. Although I wouldn't be too devastated if Demar were to abandon the north and head home. He's going to have a large price tag and we may be better off exploring free agency and trade opportunities with some of the assets we currently have (Knicks pick+ for a solid 4 or something idk).

Being Canadian I like to root for the raps so lets hope they can deliver versus Paul George.

If the Raps manage to choke round 1 I guess I'll have to settle for the entertaining ball we should get to see out west in the semis and conference finals.

Heat vs Cavs conference finals should be fun if it ends up happening.

Remember we have Demar's bird rights so we can go over the cap to sign him. I think we keep the Knicks pick and draft a PF as I think JJ, Scola, (Biz) and Thompson are all FA's. Then maybe package next year's Clippers 1st round pick (that we got in that Vasquez for Powell deal) with a player for another PF. I really like the idea of Horford on this team. He could easily play the 4 as a perimieter shooter and has pretty good floor awareness on both ends,

 

[99TERRANCE99]

We won thats all that matters just keep winning

 

[iveyfan]

6th man voting just came out and 2Pat only got 1 third place vote, which I find ridiculous. So much of what he does doesn't show up on the box score, probably does show up on the defensive box +/- but who looks at that. There were a lot more deserving than Crawford.

Even nba.com writer John Schuhmann was shocked https://mobile.twitter.com/johnschuhmann/status/722425481002356736

 

[Firstclasskaos]

I can see JV going off for 20 and 15, Indy doesn't really have an answere for him. DD can't suck three in a row, so mark him down for thirty.
DC and PP will shut the Pacers down. I'm thinking 110-85.

Raps in five!!!

 

[99TERRANCE99]

Lets hope the pootr officiating gets better and Demar plays through it finally ,abit disgusted with his effort and not going to the basket

 

[iveyfan]

So far the officiating hasn't really cost us yet so I'm not too upset about it, but PG made it seem like the officiating was favouring the Raps when he got away with so much defensively, and gets phantom calls on the other end.

 

[iveyfan]

I think that baseball strategy might be needed a bit here. Start off with a couple of successful JV lobs and then start faking the lob and driving when the defense shifts much like you throw an inside or high pitch to a batter before pitching down and away.

Might be a way for lanes to open up for Demar