Throughout the playoffs, we’ll be giving you brief notebooks after every practice, shootaround, pre-game, and post-game. They’ll vary in terms of length and analysis based on what’s said, what happens, and what else is going on, and the videos will all eventually go up on the Raptors’ YouTube page, anyway, but rest assured you can use us as your first stop for the relevant quotes and notes each day during the postseason. Feedback on whether or not these posts are useful is appreciated so we can spend our time accordingly, especially with respect to shootaround, which is usually fairly uneventful.
All is not lost yet. A 1-0 deficit is a difficult hole to have put yourself in, but it’s hardly a death knell. Last year’s Toronto Raptors know this well. History is also far from damning – NBA favorites dropping Game 1 at home are still 62-70 in series. The Raptors even remain series favorites with a -160 line, according to 10Bet. That’s an implied win probability of 61.5 percent, a downgrade from the series opening price to be sure, but one that suggests the Raptors, based on the respective regular seasons turned in, are still favorites to turn this around.
That’s going to be a lot more difficult to do if they’re out Serge Ibaka, though.
Ibaka sprained his left ankle landing on Giannis Antetokounmpo after taking a 3-point attempt in Game 1, and while he stayed in the game that night, it forced him out of practice Monday. Head coach Dwane Casey said at shootaround Tuesday that Ibaka was a participant – his ankle was heavily taped as he came off the floor – but that he remained a game-time call.
“He went through shootaround this morning, though I’m still gonna wait to see,” Casey said. “Game-time decision, see how he feels tonight, get some more treatment this afternoon.”
It would be pretty surprising if Ibaka didn’t go. This is the same guy who was supposed to be done for the playoffs a couple of years ago for the Oklahoma City Thunder and returned to nearly swing a 2-0 series deficit against the San Antonio Spurs, and that injury was far more severe. He seemed pretty optimistic Monday, and the Raptors better hope he can play – he was their best two-way player on Saturday and is immensely important both as Antetokounmpo help and as a small-ball center in this series.
The Raptors assigned Bruno Caboclo to Raptors 905 for practice on Tuesday but declined to do the same with Pascal Siakam. That’s not a huge warning sign, but it’s telling that the team preferred to have Siakam go through game-day preparation with the parent club rather than get a full practice session in with the D-Leaguers, just in case. If Ibaka sits, Siakam would dress, though it would seem very unlikely that he gets into the game. If Ibaka can’t go, Patrick Patterson would probably stand to start, as you can’t go super-small against Milwaukee from the opening jump.
More of the same – Adjustments, Giannis, etc
Shootaround was basically a re-hashing of the points that have been discussed over the last few days, which is not surprising, as there has not been a game played since Game 1, and neither side has actually gotten to adjust yet. As a refresher:
- The Raptors want to keep Giannis Antetokounmpo from getting out in transition, and that means less of an emphasis on offensive rebounding. And yes, that goes for Jonas Valanciunas, too. “Yeah, me included. We all have to come back,” the big man said. “It’s like I said, five-man defense. However, if I have good position under the basket, I can go. If I am on the free throw line or somewhere back there, I have to go back.”
- I’m not sure I agree entirely with punting a clear advantage on the offensive end, but Milwaukee scored 1.8 points off of turnovers and 1.16 points off of defensive rebounds to 1.05 points in the half-court in Game 1, so it’s a focus for a reason.
- The Raptors need to get out to better starts. That doesn’t sound like it means a lineup tweak for right now, but Casey’s patience appears to be wearing thin with the slot starts.
- “Pretty quickly,” he said when asked of how swiftly he’d make a change if the team starts slow once again. “The physicality is not there, the cutting, the defensive schemes and executing those things, is gonna be pretty quick. We don’t have time to go two, three possessions to figure it out. Not in the playoffs. I expect our guys to come out tonight with that focus and intensity. That’s what we’ve done. I’d be very surprised if we didn’t.”
- The Raptors can’t change their stripes. Even against Milwaukee’s defense, Toronto keeps saying it can’t change their core personality, which is that of a low-assist team. They need to adjust, of course, but in their minds the biggest adjustment to make seems to be just playing better.
- “We don’t have to be completely different team, but we know last game wasn’t us,” Cory Joseph said.
- “We just got to play our game as we showed this season we can play,” Valanciunas added. “We are so good when we are all enjoying the basketball and making good plays and cheering for each other. That’s what we are.”
So, yeah, a lot of the same stuff you’ve heard over the last few days. Some of it remains concerning, some of it less so, and all of it feels like, well…
J.V. would like to cut the chit-chat
Valanciunas said what was basically on all of our minds at the end of his media availability, cutting to the issue with having two days off between games.
“We can talk all X’s and O’s but you have to show it. I don’t want to talk before the fact,” he said. “We have to go and show that we can take advantage of that. It’s not about talking.”
Dwane Casey will have spoken to the media five times between games when Game 2 tips off, a ridiculous number. The scheduling obviously is what it is thanks to television deals and the desire to introduce a bit of additional rest to a series (the Raptors twice have two days off between games, though the next break at least includes a travel day), but you start to understand why players and coaches give rote answers and fans grow annoyed at the repetitiveness after a while.
Other Notes
- The NBA rescinded the technical foul assessed to Giannis Antetokounmpo in Game 1, per Charles Gardner of the Journal-Sentinel. He probably didn’t deserve it in the first place – it came when he punched the air after blocking DeMar DeRozan – but I had considered it all evening out since he had gotten away with the landing non-foul on Serge Ibaka. Since technicals cost money, that wouldn’t have been even, I guess. I still maintain we are on our way to Dark Giannis in this series.
- If you’re wondering why there hasn’t been a lot of buzz from the Bucks’ side, it’s likely because they travelled back to Milwaukee between games, and their primary beat writer didn’t head back with them. A few things have come out, and they held shootaround today, but it’s all mostly what you’d expect.
- The focus for the Bucks seems to be recognizing that getting out to a better start will be the focus for the Raptors. Impressive rookie Malcolm Brogdon saying the Bucks plan to ratchet their intensity up even higher in order to match once again.
- In a funny moment I’m not sure anyone else noticed, Brogdon talked up what a big deal it was to steal a Game 1 at the Air Canada Centre. Apparently, he hasn’t been watching a lot of playoff basketball the last few years.
- I’ve been posting occasional pics and quotes to my Instagram Story, if you want to follow along there, too. Here’s a picture of the shirts for tonight:
Shirts for tonight pic.twitter.com/0V7yN4rv5w
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) April 18, 2017
