Quick Reaction | Reaction Podcast
Hey! So, that was awful. Like, really dispiriting.
And then I got to sit in traffic for two-plus hours on the way back to Cambridge. Because, personal news: I’m preparing for a move (right around the corner from BioSteel Centre, actually), which has eaten up a bit of my time this weekend.
THAT, by the way, is my excuse for this post coming at 6:30 instead of immediately after the game. For the rest of the series, expect a “post-game news and notes” post about an hour after the game ends, once media availability has wrapped up. Whether it’s transcribed quotes or just notes from the pressers (and the videos once they’re up), this will be your game-by-game hub for post-game reaction from players and coaches.
Zarar Siddiqi covered the big post-game quote-fest from Saturday’s ugly loss, throwing up a post in response to Dwane Casey essentially shrugging off the loss and, far more frustrating,
Here’s Casey:
And here’s Zarar on Casey’s comments.
I’ll have more on Casey’s rotations on Monday (and a full recap tomorrow morning, plus Matt Shantz will have a piece reacting to Game 1). For now, note the following:
Raptors best lineup: When Carroll and Patterson shared the floor, the Raptors were a plus-3 in 14 minutes (and yes, that’s their best two-man pairing, sadly). Shocking, right? In seven minutes DeRozan played with them, they were a plus-5. Some of that is end-of-game noise, but Patterson and Carroll have always made sense as the team’s best forward duo.
Raptors worst lineup: Pretty much every lineup with Lowry and DeRozan unless it included Patterson. The full five-man bench unit was a minus-2 in five minutes, not a terrible showing but a really bad idea in theory. The starters were a minus-1 in 15 minutes.
And look, the rotations were pretty brutal, but even pristine rotations would have made for a tough victory given that the team’s two stars combined to shoot 8-of-32. Neither player seems to think that will be the norm moving forward.
Here are DeRozan and Lowry:
“I’m pretty sure I won’t go 5-for-19 again,” DeRozan said. For his part, Paul George doesn’t even see himself keeping DeRozan to that kind of shooting night every game. He said the focus was constant pressure on DeRozan, which is the only thing you can really do because he “makes tough shots.” Tonight, he “just missed shots.”
In terms of George’s scoring outburst, he said he watched film at halftime to figure out a better approach. “I know it’s going to be hard, that’s the given. It’s not going to be easy to score,” he said. But he says he was to trust himself to make big shots.
Maybe the solution to both DeRozan and George’s offensive nights would be to, I don’t know, not have the team’s top scorer and an average defender guard George all night, conserving some energy for offense while also giving George a harder time? Casey curiously kept DeRozan on the bench when George sat, missing a great opportunity for DeRozan to attack a C.J. Miles or test Solomon Hill, in what was probably the weirdest rotation decision.
The Raptors are paying someone to be their George cover, after all, and he was able to play 19 minutes on Saturday. Carroll looked decent, if not all the way back, when tasked with the George assignment, and he should probably see more of it. He should be starting, to be quite honest, unless Casey is going to give Norman Powell a shot on Carroll, which would be a justifiable gambit, too.
In any case, here’s a frustrated Carroll:
Sorry this post is a bit scattered. It will be the only time in the playoffs that’s the case. They’ll be a lot more focused and timely for Games 2-7 and the second and third rounds. Right? We’ll still have that coverage, right? Yeah!
Oh, and one more bit of personal news: I’ll be on CTV News tomorrow at 1:15 discussing Raptors-Pacers, so tune in for that.
