Hurricane_Herm wrote:
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The first half was a fantastic display of team-oriented, pass-first ball. Some 'good' shots were missed (ie: JV & JJ in close, Ross, PP and Lowry from 3pt land), but the ball movement was fantastic.
The second half started out as a hero-ball brick-fest (DD, Lowry & Lou), with the guards taking turns forcing their offense, leading to terrible shots and turnovers. Once the selfish perimeter game reappeared, OKC was able to collapse into the paint, making it nearly impossible for the Raptors to re-establish an interior game (ie: JV post-ups or dribble-penetration). It was a tale of two teams, with the 'bad Raptors' causing the game to be lost.
Taking it one step further, this good/bad Raptors really boils down to how DeRozan and Lowry play. DeRozan's best game as a Raptor was the home win against LAC, when he played a tremendous all-around game. His first half last night was similarly fantastic; he picked his spots to attack, didn't settle for any bad shots and made his teammates better. In the second half, he was forcing everything, to the point that Jack called him out numerous times for terrible shot selection (I even remember his selfishness leading to losing the ball from behind during a 3-on-1 break, where a quick pass to Ross would've resulted in a highlight-reel dunk). My point is, it just seems like the Raptors go how DeRozan/Lowry go - the same could be said for Lou and the 2nd unit on most nights. For key players to have such vastly different approaches to the game even from half to half, it has to come back to the coach, either for game-planning decisions or wavering accountability.
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