Game 55 - Toronto Raptors 122 - New York Knickerbockers 95

[white men can't jump]

We're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. Confidence is huge. Everyone out there is talented.

Confidence is a random factor that has little conclusive impact on outcomes. Again, think of missed heat checks. Guys are clearly confident but they miss. Think if really cocky guys who don't play up to their talk.

You're also trying to blame someone for another's confidence, which is even crazier. For all we know Lopez was feeling good because he had an extra good shit and it helped him feel more energetic. And I ain't even kidding. You ever tried to play gassy or bloated vs. nice and emptied out? Maybe he had really good crazy sex the night before and was very at ease.

If confidence is so important why did Lopez's impact fade as the game progresses? Did he get less confident somehow?

But yeah, he got a couple of good plays vs. JV, so clearly he had the confidence to channel his inner Jabbar....smh


**btw I say this stuff as a player. I've had games where I'm hitting everything. And yeah, you feel good and confident. But confidence wasn't why I was hitting everything nor can I explain it. Was just having one of those games, and ask any player that's what they'll say. No one will be like " oh I made a couple of plays against so-and-so, so I knew I could hit everything against him". In fact when you're feeling it, you don't even register who's guarding you...it doesn't matter.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

[JWash]

I'm not trying to hate. Its the NBA and the NBA is all about confidence. These guys are all talented players but, what separates them is confidence. I'm pretty sure Lopez practise those hooks a whole bunch of times. JV just made him feel confident enough to take and hit them. If JV would of came out with more energy on that end to start the game than we wouldn't of seen any skyhooks.

Bruh.... you can't be serious right now

[JWash]

Wait, you do realize that TOR's starting lineup is second worst of those listed teams, most of which are borderline playoff teams, yes? And most of which still have positive net ratings for their starters? I set my sights higher than that, personally.

I'm not setting my sights low, it's obviously not OK for your starting 5 to have a negative netRTG. Although we haven't seen a fully healthy starting 5 yet other than maybe the first 5 or so games.

I was just pointing out that a LOT of teams have starting lineups with much lower netRTGs than their other top lineups. Like it's not a crazy phenomenon that's exclusive to Toronto. It's also very prevalent when teams have strong benches.

Even though the Spurs/Warriors starting 5s have good netRTGs at +6.8 and +9.3 respectively. Their 3rd and 4th most used lineups have much better netRTGs than their starting units (average of ~+23 for the Spurs and ~+45 for the Warriors).

Like for example the Warriors looking at their top 5 lineups are MUCH better with Iguodala on the floor with the starters than Brandon Rush... so why isn't Iguodala starting? Like Patterson he closes games, but he doesn't start even though he fits better with the starters on both ends of the floor. It's a similar concept just scaled much differently.

[white men can't jump]

I'm not setting my sights low, it's obviously not OK for your starting 5 to have a negative netRTG. Although we haven't seen a fully healthy starting 5 yet other than maybe the first 5 or so games.

I was just pointing out that a LOT of teams have starting lineups with much lower netRTGs than their other top lineups. Like it's not a crazy phenomenon that's exclusive to Toronto. It's also very prevalent when teams have strong benches.

Even though the Spurs/Warriors starting 5s have good netRTGs at +6.8 and +9.3 respectively. Their 3rd and 4th most used lineups have much better netRTGs than their starting units (average of ~+23 for the Spurs and ~+45 for the Warriors).

Like for example the Warriors looking at their top 5 lineups are MUCH better with Iguodala on the floor with the starters than Brandon Rush... so why isn't Iguodala starting? Like Patterson he closes games, but he doesn't start even though he fits better with the starters on both ends of the floor. It's a similar concept just scaled much differently.

I think you don't need to care too much about starting lineups, so you're right about that.

You do have to be worried that Scola has been consistently bad for about almost 2 months. It'd obviously be less of a problem if Carroll was healthy, but he's not and we don't know when he's coming back. If it'll be another 3-4 weeks, it'll be very hard to sit and watch if Scola continues to suck.

And as has been dicussed, the worry is this isn't a "slump" with Scola, at least not one he can work out of, and maybe he's just falling apart a little bit. He's having far fewer "flashback" games than he had in the first couple of months. He's playing worse in literally every category (*I confess I haven't checked every category, but every one I have checked he has been worse in), and he's hurting us defensively quite often at the moment, especially since his rebounding has dropped off so he's not even helping close possessions like he was. And really, I don't want to bring Casey into this, but when Scola has been intentionally matched against a guy like Towns, you've gotta want to bang your head against the wall at least once and wonder why they're (coaching staff) exacerbating things instead of trying hard to hide him.

You don't necessarily need to start Pat, but yeah, Scola's minutes may need to take another hit at the very least. I give credit for to the coaches for clearly at least realizing there is an issue. Of that I have no doubt. Scola's minutes haven't been as high post-New Year (my arbitrary splitting date) as before, but maybe they're still too high.

Anyway, I'm not confident we'll see a change. I'd like to see it just to try it. Why not start Pat for 3-5 games at least and just see what happens? Not expecting it though. Just hoping that since this seems like it could easily continue to be an issue, they react more aggressively in managing his minutes and/or experimenting with lineups. *Because I also agree with something I believe Dan said somewhere up here, about how this rotation has already dealt with several lineup issues because of JV, Carroll and JJ all missing time, so I don't think the danger to the bench unit chemistry is any kind of problem at all, just an excuse. After all, if you improved the starters net rating, the bench's wouldn't have to be so high anyway.

[Axel]

And as has been dicussed, the worry is this isn't a "slump" with Scola,

I'm confident that Scola will stop slumping soon, like when he retires this summer. His beach game will be all good.

[Katman]

After 500+ posts ... never under estimate the value of a good shit!

[DanH]

I'm not setting my sights low, it's obviously not OK for your starting 5 to have a negative netRTG. Although we haven't seen a fully healthy starting 5 yet other than maybe the first 5 or so games.

I was just pointing out that a LOT of teams have starting lineups with much lower netRTGs than their other top lineups. Like it's not a crazy phenomenon that's exclusive to Toronto. It's also very prevalent when teams have strong benches.

Even though the Spurs/Warriors starting 5s have good netRTGs at +6.8 and +9.3 respectively. Their 3rd and 4th most used lineups have much better netRTGs than their starting units (average of ~+23 for the Spurs and ~+45 for the Warriors).

Like for example the Warriors looking at their top 5 lineups are MUCH better with Iguodala on the floor with the starters than Brandon Rush... so why isn't Iguodala starting? Like Patterson he closes games, but he doesn't start even though he fits better with the starters on both ends of the floor. It's a similar concept just scaled much differently.

Well, obviously, you don't expect your starters to maintain the same net ratings that specialty lineups like small ball units that are brought out in specific match ups maintain. For example, we have that closing lineup with CoJo playing and Carroll at the 4, which has a very nice +20 or so net rating. But I wouldn't suggest we start those guys. It's not just numbers, it's also common sense, which has screamed for PP to start since last July.

But you also want your most played lineups to have net ratings close to what your overall net rating is going to be, so you aren't relying overmuch on getting those favourable matchups for your specialty lineups to be able to do real damage and make up for it. If we want to model our rotations off of the mess of mediocrity in the East, sure, we can feel a little less bad (though still bad) about the current starting lineup. But if we want to be able to make noise in the playoffs, maybe reach the ECF and see how many punches we can take from the Cavs, I'd say we look elsewhere for a model.

[Axel]

After 500+ posts ... never under estimate the value of a good shit!

Imagine if we lost.

[TrueTorontoFan]

Imagine if we lost.

lol this conversation is hilarious

[Nilanka]

Clyde Frazier referring to Lowry/DeRozan carving up the knicks as "genocide", lol.

[Axel]

Clyde Frazier referring to Lowry/DeRozan carving up the knicks as "genocide", lol.

But did he think their beard was weird or stache is trash?

[Nilanka]

But did he think their beard was weird or stache is trash?

Who needs crying Jordan when we've got crying Emit?

[rocwell]

Dolan would have a more than a handful of reasons to be upset on Monday, starting with a loss to a team that owns the Knicks’ 2016 first-round pick. It was Dolan who approved the trade for Andrea Bargnani just like it was Dolan who months later would veto a deal to send another future first-round pick to the Raptors for Kyle Lowry, who recorded a triple-double on Tuesday.

Lol.. If i was the Knicks fan..I'd organize a protest/demonstration against Mr. Dolan.

[JWash]

I still can't believe Masai actually traded Bargs for that pick and a couple short term contracts.... like what the actual fuck.

How did he get value back for Bargnani??? I know the knicks must've thought they were gonna be a playoff team going forwards but wow

[DanH]

Lol.. If i was the Knicks fan..I'd organize a protest/demonstration against Mr. Dolan.

It's a beautiful perfect storm of timing - blowout win over the Knicks, Lowry gets a triple double, Bargnani had just gotten waived by the Nets, pick moves well into the top 10 and Raptors get a stronger hold on 2nd in the East.