Game #51: Toronto Raptors @ Detroit Pistons - Feb. 8/16 7:30 PM EST on SN1

[hotfuzz]

Lol@ people being surprised at jv's minutes in the second half.

This shouldn't surprise ANYONE. I don't know why you're expecting any different. This is how it's always going to be with Casey.

[A.I]

Lol@ people being surprised at jv's minutes in the second half.

This shouldn't surprise ANYONE. I don't know why you're expecting any different. This is how it's always going to be with Casey.

Less surprised, more of it just annoys me.

[slaw]

Less surprised, more of it just annoys me.

So, you guys now want the stars out there playing big minutes in blowouts?

[DanH]

Great game!

Yes, the starting lineup and any lineup with both Scola and JV is still a terrible idea, yes JV should get more shots even if he doesn't need to play more minutes (which, yes, he should also do, in general), yes Lowry's minutes need to come down. But that's all old hat.

Big win on the road and the amazing run continues. 14-1 run. Wowzers. I'll take it.

[white men can't jump]

So, you guys now want the stars out there playing big minutes in blowouts?

No, I don't want to see any player out there for 12 straight game minutes. Even more so when that player is a backup energy player, and arguably the only one on the whole roster having a bad night. I think that's a pretty fair thing to be concerned about, and is even more mystifying when the starter is killing it.

*Oh and it was by no means a blowout until later in the 4th by which time JV was back in anyway. So there's that.

[Primer]

So, you guys now want the stars out there playing big minutes in blowouts?

Lowry played 37:45, JV played 25:22. It'd be nice if Lowry's was 4-5 minutes less and JV's was 4-5 minutes more.

[white men can't jump]

Lowry played 37:45, JV played 25:22. It'd be nice if Lowry's was 4-5 minutes less and JV's was 4-5 minutes more.

More importantly, Biyombo got 20+ minutes on a night where he was getting destroyed by Aron Baynes. But no, Casey doesn't play favourites.

[Superjudge]

Here we go, as usual, great game, easy win aaaaaaand, y'all still got so much to bitch about.

Heh.

[white men can't jump]

Here we go, as usual, great game, easy win aaaaaaand, y'all still got so much to bitch about.

Heh.

It's not bitching, it's observing. But if you think it's a good thing to play a backup energy big having a bad night for 12 straight minutes in the 2nd half, then hey, who am I to judge?

[Primer]

Here we go, as usual, great game, easy win aaaaaaand, y'all still got so much to bitch about.

Heh.

Better to critique the game than just critique the posts about the game. Lowry playing nearly 38 minutes in a blowout, yet again, should at least be able to be pointed out.

[A.I]

Better to critique the game than just critique the posts about the game. Lowry playing nearly 38 minutes in a blowout, yet again, should at least be able to be pointed out.

Exactly. In blowouts like this, you play the younger guys more, the older players less.

[Axel]

Here we go, as usual, great game, easy win aaaaaaand, y'all still got so much to bitch about.

Heh.

As is always the case, post on topics, not other posters.

[Fully]

The group that started the fourth quarter for the Raptors extended our lead from five points to blowout status… so they got to stay on the court together for a while. Sometimes I don't think it's any more complex than that, nor should it be really.

And that's not to say that a coach is above criticism any time he gets a win, but I do think we need to draw the line somewhere. Anyone can go back through the fourth quarter and tell you the exact stoppage when JV should have come in for Biyombo, the exact stoppage that it was safe to take Lowry out of the game, etc….. once they know the result and how the entire game played out. When you're not armed with that hindsight however, those decisions don't become as clear. Casey kept looking up at the scoreboard and seeing his lead get bigger and bigger with the group on the floor so he rolled with them. I'm okay with that.

[DanH]

The group that started the fourth quarter for the Raptors extended our lead from five points to blowout status… so they got to stay on the court together for a while. Sometimes I don't think it's any more complex than that, nor should it be really.

And that's not to say that a coach is above criticism any time he gets a win, but I do think we need to draw the line somewhere. Anyone can go back through the fourth quarter and tell you the exact stoppage when JV should have come in for Biyombo, the exact stoppage that it was safe to take Lowry out of the game, etc….. once they know the result and how the entire game played out. When you're not armed with that hindsight however, those decisions don't become as clear. Casey kept looking up at the scoreboard and seeing his lead get bigger and bigger with the group on the floor so he rolled with them. I'm okay with that.

I agree. I very, very often have issues with rotations (and I did in this game too, since the same terrible JV-Scola frontcourt is STILL getting saddled with minutes alongside our starting guards), but this game was one of the better ones. Yes, Lowry should have come out sooner (we really need to use these blowout games to try out lineups without him and see if we can find something that works) - probably when JV and DD subbed back in to give the bench guys a breather and the lead was double digits. But I have no issues with JV's minutes this game, or pretty much anyone else's besides Lowry's.

That said, you can't say that Casey is faultless for the long minutes of that lineup because they were crushing the opposition - they always do that. If Casey will hesitate to pull guys off the floor when that lineup is killing it they'll play long stretches. So if he is planning on reacting that way to a good run, he has to find rest time for those players when they are not playing together. He's not doing that with Lowry, and so, so many of those minutes he spends with the starters are zero-gain minutes, where Lowry is playing but the team is not outplaying the other team.

Still, besides the Lowry thing which has been a problem for a while, the rotations were pretty spot on last night. Even got all the scrubs in with a couple minutes left, including Powell with 3 minutes left.

As an aside, my concern with JV's minutes are not in games like these, but in tight games where we will often go foolishly with long stretches of Biyombo while JV sits. And my issue in this game was more with JV's lack of usage in the second half after his impressive first half - not his lack of minutes, but the lack of plays run for him in the time he was on the floor.

[Axel]

The group that started the fourth quarter for the Raptors extended our lead from five points to blowout status… so they got to stay on the court together for a while. Sometimes I don't think it's any more complex than that, nor should it be really.

And that's not to say that a coach is above criticism any time he gets a win, but I do think we need to draw the line somewhere. Anyone can go back through the fourth quarter and tell you the exact stoppage when JV should have come in for Biyombo, the exact stoppage that it was safe to take Lowry out of the game, etc….. once they know the result and how the entire game played out. When you're not armed with that hindsight however, those decisions don't become as clear. Casey kept looking up at the scoreboard and seeing his lead get bigger and bigger with the group on the floor so he rolled with them. I'm okay with that.

That would be fine if it weren't part of a much larger pattern. The coach has to remember the big picture and not get caught up in such micro things as "a good run in a quarter."

I don't think a line has to be drawn. Everyone is entitled to set their own line. For me, everything comes down to the playoffs and each game is a clue to what might happen when we get there. Fact that Casey keeps talking about Lowry's minutes being monitored and yet Lowry's minutes keep increasing is a bad sign. Fact that JV is still largely an afterthought on the offence is a bad sign too. Neither criticism is unfair, even in victory.