Shootarounds were introduced by teams so that players would be forced to come in early and hopefully not party as late the night before. That’s the sole reason they exist, because from a basketball point-of-view, shooting casual open jumpers in the morning isn’t going to influence what you do at 7:30 PM that night. In light of that, the Ratpors have cancelled shootaround, and a cynical view of it might be that they’ve folded:
Raptors scrap shootaround for Game 4.
— Ryan Wolstat (@WolstatSun) April 25, 2015
Nevertheless, there’s some quotes coming out from Washington which paint a picture of resignation more than fight.
Amir on no pressure now: "We've got nothing else to lose … We have to get it by any means, or else it's curtains."
— Ryan Wolstat (@WolstatSun) April 25, 2015
DeRozan said he got 2 hours of sleep last night. Amir said he had some chicken wings, milk & cookies, which put him "right out" (actually)
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) April 25, 2015
DeRozan was asked whether he regrets responding to Pierce before the series began:
Asked DeRozan if he could go back would he have not responded 2 Pierce: "Nah Nah. It’s part of the game Why not? Nothing would have changed”
— Ryan Wolstat (@WolstatSun) April 25, 2015
Nothing would have changed? Maybe, maybe not. In any case, master troll and future Hall of Famer, posted this on his Twitter:
— Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) April 25, 2015
Please notify the burn unit. Seriously, though, I would love to have a character and veteran like Pierce on our team. They’ll probably get killed by Atlanta, but man, to do anything in the playoffs you need someone with his swagger and confidence, because that sort of thing rubs off on everyone in the locker-room.
Dwane Casey spoke as well, first conceding that he was surprised by Otto Porter Jr., and then going some ways to clarify the ‘do or die’ phrase, just in case we thought he meant that the players were going to literally die if they lose Game 4.
Casey: "For us, it’s do or die…. And die doesn’t mean we’re going to die, die means the series is over"
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) April 25, 2015
Casey on Otto Porter: "He's really improved. From when he played at the beginning of the year to now, he's a different person"
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) April 25, 2015
Props to these guys:
You guys were awesome. Really. RT @Tea_RedRose Although we didn't get the win … We were LOUD #NorthSidePrideDC pic.twitter.com/VvWJ6ILlEc
— Kat Stefankiewicz (@MatterofKAT) April 25, 2015
I’ll leave you with some Casey quotes from last night as well:
Dwane Casey on Paul Pierce at the "four". pic.twitter.com/CajHFRKDMk
— Raptors Republic (@raptorsrepublic) April 25, 2015
Dwane Casey: "Our game plan was good…our defense was solid" (Wizards shot 47%)
— Raptors Republic (@raptorsrepublic) April 25, 2015
Whatever. See this Breaking It Down post I made. That’s apparently good defense and not being beaten because of a failure to matchup against the four.
