We beat the crap out of the Hawks but if you don't lead by 40 against the Hawks at some point ...

The Hawks were terrible. Like G-League bad. Seriously, the NBA needs to have an annual game or miniseries of the worst NBA team vs the NCAA champs or G League champs. There are years when the NBA team would lose, no question. I don't *think* a G League team would beat them but I'm reasonably confident an NCAA championship team would beat them if you select for an average year, just because the stars or the teamwork would be better on the NCAA team.

I don't have any real comments on the game except that it was interesting that Demar didn't go for double digits.

Another terrabad 3rd qtr.

Raptors #1 in 4th qtrs 2 years in a row. #30 in 3rd qtrs. What in the?

Fortunately, we were playing the Hornets and they didn't have Kemba. Lowry and Derozan went ham and that was that--chalk up another victory for the Raps.

Potential revenge game against Lance Idiotsen and Los Pacers ton8. To be fair I don't really hate Lance. He's a true fool but he's talented and he makes games way more entertaining. If he could straighten his head and be consistent there's no question he'd be an All-Star.

^ Nice win against the Pacers.

And now onto Booker and a bunch of guys he's way better than. If we don't beat the Suns by 12 or more, I'll be officially annoyed. The Suns have been a really weird match-up for the Raps in recent years, but if you take Booker out and make Warren work for his buckets, it should be an easy win. Monroe seems to have big nights against the Raps. Gotta watch out for him if he's playing (haven't heard his name in a long time, does he come off the bench in Phoenix??).

Also, Bledsoe has been playing at an All-Star level since leaving Phoenix. Ouch.

Raptors are the only team in the east in the top 10 in offensive and defensive efficiency ( as of 2 days ago )

They also now have the best home record in the league and have played one of the most brutal schedules ...

Should be able to snatch that number 2 seed if Boston or Cleveland slips up even just a little bit

Also only 2 teams in the league have a better net rating than the raptors.... the rockets and the warriors ... both of which the raptors wouldn’t have to worry about for a longggg time .

On a side note ... the rockets are fucking scary ... with the warriors not playing with a sense of urgency ... I could see them getting absolutely fucking destroyed ... obviously a lot of season left for things to change

I think they had the best home record going into the Suns game. I didn't think we played well vs the Suns, but frankly it almost doesn't matter so long as Booker doesn't go off, and he was held in check. My only note for that game was that Anunoby was once again showing signs of freaky ability. I don't think his game is at all refined, but he plays hard and he's a strong and athletic player who doesn't panic. I think he sometimes tries to do something beyond his abilities, but I like that sometimes. It shows you that a guy is stretching and growing and figuring himself out. Eventually, some of his spectacular plays will go down.



The Rockets made 3x key additions that brought them closer to the Warriors and the Warriors have been whining and underperforming all year. The Rockets have a much better defensive mindset right now. Beverley was a great defender for them but his vibe didn't spread. I think PJ Tucker is the reason why it spread. Plus, because they added 3x good defenders (Tucker being an elite defender), it puts more pressure on everyone else to chip in. And then with Tucker & CP3, in particular, you spread the floor more. So I agree that the Rockets are scary.




I don't see why we can't beat the Cavs or the Celts if we're at our best. I don't think we need a chink in their armour. I think what we need is to improve within the new system and get the starters playing as hard as the bench. Boston has the #2 coach in the league and good depth (and Kyrie), but I think we can take them down if we play really well. The Cavs are a team that the Raps can flat out beat. They've always had some glaring issues but the problem is that they have the best player in the East and depth--and experienced role players who know exactly what to do to win. To overcome that I think you need to play with energy, and our bench has lots of that. I think you need a primary defender on Lebron, and then you need to flash Siakam and Anunoby on him. It's not the same as having PJ Tucker but it's better than Caroll. Powell might be the primary guy. He can play tight and he's fast enough to recover and angle on drives, giving the help a chance to be there. Toronto is in my view the one team in the East that's best built to beat the Cavs. Then I'd say the Wizards are next, oddly enough.

I know that goes into playoffs, and I'm sure we'll end up 3rd in the East. I just like what we have and what we're doing b/c I don't see why we can't beat Boston or the Cavs in the playoffs. At this point I'd rather play the Cavs.

I’m praying for second seed

I'm praying for sunflower seeds

I'd say that it's unlikely but possible. If the starters were playing consistently well I'd say it's probable. Derozan has been solid, Kyle started out rough but picked things up considerably, Ibaka has been inconsistent and at times pretty bad, and JV has been inconsistent. I think JV and Ibaka are suffering a bit from lost minutes + JV is psychologically soft. I think JV has worked on his mental game but I don't trust it yet. Anunoby is too young to really play at the level he could, but he's been good, and Powell seems to be better coming off the bench.

Boston has been Stevens'd and I don't think they will seem so amazing down the stretch, but I do think they can hang onto 1st or 2nd in the East. The Cavs had a crap start, barely won some games in their streak, but seem to have their swagger back. Between the three teams I'm guessing it will go:

Cavs
Celts
Raps

We could theoretically pull into 1st just because we're the least consistent team and our bench is really good this year--and we're still learning a new system. I believe we have a bit better talent than Boston. The Cavs have an edge on both the Celts and the Raps in terms of talent.