everyone do me a favor

[akashsingh]

watch the playoffs, look how tight the defense is. Guys are sacrificing their bodies to get stops. How do you score? with star power, how do you win? with spectacular offensive and defensive execution w/ guys with TALENT as well as chemistry.

Im watching this miami game right now, and I don't think bargnani would even be able to get 5 pts by halftime, hell he probably wouldn't even be able to get a decent look in the post, that's how tight guys are playing their man.

And derozan? say goodbye to your free points at the free throw line, guys are mentally tough and simply aren't fouling. And he is going to have to play twice as aggressive as he currently does just to get a call.

Just want to remind everyone how talent wins in the playoffs, and how far we are from acquiring the talent necessary to succeed in the playoffs. stay grounded you optimistic fools.

[Holy Craptors]

watch the playoffs, look how tight the defense is. Guys are sacrificing their bodies to get stops. How do you score? with star power, how do you win? with spectacular offensive and defensive execution w/ guys with TALENT as well as chemistry.

Im watching this miami game right now, and I don't think bargnani would even be able to get 5 pts by halftime, hell he probably wouldn't even be able to get a decent look in the post, that's how tight guys are playing their man.

Just want to remind everyone how talent wins in the playoffs, and how far we are from acquiring the talent necessary to succeed in the playoffs. stay grounded you optimistic fools.

I'm watching the game.

I'm noticing how tight the defense is.

That means I did you a favour.

That means you owe me one.

Can you get me a beer?

[akashsingh]

I'm watching the game.

I'm noticing how tight the defense is.

That means I did you a favour.

That means you owe me one.

Can you get me a beer?

no the favour is to be more realistic about where this team is, instead of this sickening delusional optimism. That doesn't mean btch and moan about how crap we are: That means not saying "oh we're one or two pieces away from winning this thing, the core of bargnani derozan is gonna win it all hurrr durrr" make suggestions based on that fact.

[NoPropsneeded]

watch the playoffs, look how tight the defense is. Guys are sacrificing their bodies to get stops. How do you score? with star power, how do you win? with spectacular offensive and defensive execution w/ guys with TALENT as well as chemistry.

Im watching this miami game right now, and I don't think bargnani would even be able to get 5 pts by halftime, hell he probably wouldn't even be able to get a decent look in the post, that's how tight guys are playing their man.

And derozan? say goodbye to your free points at the free throw line, guys are mentally tough and simply aren't fouling. And he is going to have to play twice as aggressive as he currently does just to get a call.

Just want to remind everyone how talent wins in the playoffs, and how far we are from acquiring the talent necessary to succeed in the playoffs. stay grounded you optimistic fools.

We aren't that far... look at the bulls besides Rose they don't have any other superstar players. They have 1 all star in deng and a borderline all star in Boozer and then they have rip hamilton and Noah. They also have a solid bench. Right now i'd say we are only short 1 superstar to be a contender. I don't know why your talking about the tight D because Dwane Casey has been there and done that. You seem to have forgotten that he was one of the big reasons Dallas dominated Miami like they did.

He turned one of the worse defensive teams in the league(Raptors) to a team in the top 10 in almost every defensive category. All the with unproven youngsters. As for bargnani not being able to score i seriously doubt that, i think he'd do even better in the playoffs. Did you see what Nowitzski did in the playoffs? he was almost unstoppable. I think you need to stop being soo damn negative. If you don't have faith in this team or organization you might as well leave.

[Matt52]

no the favour is to be more realistic about where this team is, instead of this sickening delusional optimism. That doesn't mean btch and moan about how crap we are: That means not saying "oh we're one or two pieces away from winning this thing, the core of bargnani derozan is gonna win it all hurrr durrr" make suggestions based on that fact.

Anyone who thinks that is delusional - no arguments from me.

However there is a fine line between delusion and the other extreme which many are bringing around here.

Defense does win in the NBA. Toronto was 9th in opponents scoring. Something much bigger - much, much, much bigger - that I have brought up this year a few times is their opposition field goal percentage. Toronto was tied for 6th with Dallas and Indiana and they were just 0.1% behind Miami at 5th. http://www.basketball-reference.com/.../NBA_2012.html

A lot of good was done this year and the team is in much better shape moving forward than many give credit for.

[Holy Craptors]

Anyone who thinks that is delusional - no arguments from me.

However there is a fine line between delusion and the other extreme which many are bringing around here.

Defense does win in the NBA. Toronto was 9th in opponents scoring. Something much bigger - much, much, much bigger - that I have brought up this year a few times is their opposition field goal percentage. Toronto was tied for 6th with Dallas and Indiana and they were just 0.1% behind Miami at 5th. http://www.basketball-reference.com/.../NBA_2012.html

A lot of good was done this year and the team is in much better shape moving forward than many give credit for.

Absolutely. The Raptors admittedly need better players to make the playoffs, but this year they started adopting the defensive discipline to succeed in the playoffs.

[DaveKim]

watch the playoffs, look how tight the defense is. Guys are sacrificing their bodies to get stops. How do you score? with star power, how do you win? with spectacular offensive and defensive execution w/ guys with TALENT as well as chemistry.

Im watching this miami game right now, and I don't think bargnani would even be able to get 5 pts by halftime, hell he probably wouldn't even be able to get a decent look in the post, that's how tight guys are playing their man.

And derozan? say goodbye to your free points at the free throw line, guys are mentally tough and simply aren't fouling. And he is going to have to play twice as aggressive as he currently does just to get a call.

Just want to remind everyone how talent wins in the playoffs, and how far we are from acquiring the talent necessary to succeed in the playoffs. stay grounded you optimistic fools.

Just another ignorant (maybe?) fool, mindlessly venting over yet another disappointing season. Its okay though, thats what forums are for.

[Lark Benson]

Just another ignorant (maybe?) fool, mindlessly venting over yet another disappointing season. Its okay though, thats what forums are for.

Except that he's 100% right.

There's not a single top-15-at-their-position two-way player on the roster. Not one. A team with deep playoff aspirations needs at least half of their 8-man rotation to be made up of that kind of player, with a superstar or two and reliable role players.

The Raps are a lot further away from being meaningful than most think.

[Bendit]

To the OP

You are comparing thoughts about a team that is likely to be in the finals (with Rose being carried off) to the Raptors?

I really dont see much mention on this site of putting the Raptors in the same sentence if they add a couple of "pieces". Sorry but the rant was unnecessary. Two of arguably the top 5 players in the world play on that team and yes they have the defense turned on with a shutdown defensive player like Battier added to their roster. But I dont think they are are going to sail thru the playoffs playing teams like the Knicks. The Raptors fully healthy can give the Knicks a run in a series so the game 1 debacle isnt saying much.

[akashsingh]

To the OP

You are comparing thoughts about a team that is likely to be in the finals (with Rose being carried off) to the Raptors?

I really dont see much mention on this site of putting the Raptors in the same sentence if they add a couple of "pieces". Sorry but the rant was unnecessary. Two of arguably the top 5 players in the world play on that team and yes they have the defense turned on with a shutdown defensive player like Battier added to their roster. But I dont think they are are going to sail thru the playoffs playing teams like the Knicks. The Raptors fully healthy can give the Knicks a run in a series so the game 1 debacle isnt saying much.

no, they cant.

[thead]

no the favour is to be more realistic about where this team is, instead of this sickening delusional optimism.

I'd rather you just got me a beer

[thead]

no, they cant.

Yes they can

[Matt52]

no, they cant.

Any basis to back up the claim considering the Raps were 2-2 versus them this year and the point differential was 0.

[Matt52]

Yes they can

lol - I was debating the same reply.

[ball4life]

lol akashsingh!!! you must be an accident man

[Riazan]

Can you guys recommend a quality streaming site to watch the okc game from tonight?
I am away from home and my usual cable channels.
I've got the orlando game on vipbox - its better than nothing but the quality isn't great.

Thanks.

[theycallmeZZ]

Can you guys recommend a quality streaming site to watch the okc game from tonight?
I am away from home and my usual cable channels.
I've got the orlando game on vipbox - its better than nothing but the quality isn't great.

Thanks.

http://www.firstrowsports.eu/watch/1...mavericks.html

Should be good.

I'm not sure about the rules pertaining to streaming on this site, so if I violated any terms, can you just remove the link?

[Riazan]

Thanks, I'll check it out.

[Lark Benson]

Any basis to back up the claim considering the Raps were 2-2 versus them this year and the point differential was 0.

Going by that logic, we would likely lose a series against Charlotte.

Really don't think you can put too much stock in regular series matchups and point differential.

[akashsingh]

Going by that logic, we would likely lose a series against Charlotte.

Really don't think you can put too much stock in regular series matchups and point differential.

especially this season, when fatigue played a bigger role than it usually would.