ICYMI from Raptors Republic
Game 7 Reaction Podcast – Bring me the head of Dwyane Wade | Raptors Republic
Recorded shortly after the Game 7 win, Andrew and Zarar go back and forth between the Pacer win and the upcoming Heat series, while urging Raptors nation to unclench those buttcheeks.
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That it was so hard only makes it so much sweeter | The Defeated
Save for the result, the finish was classic Hitchcock. Rising tension rose to a crescendo like a rolling tide rushing in from the horizon. Disaster was on its way and the Raptors were paralyzed by the moment. With every possession carelessly cast aside, time itself seemed to slow down so that fear could settle in, fluff the cushions, grab a beer, and truly set itself upon the hearts over every Raptors fan.
The Raptors led by 16 with seven minutes left. It looked like a sure victory — but only a fool would believe that.
Toronto did everything in its power to give that game away. Forget finishing the game with poise — they abandoned their entire strategy to run out the clock. They scored six points over the last 7:31 and two of those were free throws at the very end. Their only baskets came courtesy of certified madman Kyle Lowry recklessly launching himself into outer space for miraculous layups that then saw him smack down to the court in a pile of smoking wreckage. That was a crash landing.
It had all the feelings of an all-time collapse at the worst possible moment for the Raptors. But somehow, through the good graces of some truly perplexing decisions by the Pacers and the referees, they were spared from their fate.
They didn’t need perfect. They needed to survive.
Raptors leave post-season baggage behind with win | Toronto Sun
The highly criticized DeRozan came out strong for the Raptors. He scored 13 points in the first quarter, which is more points than he scored in three of the previous six games. The 13 points were the most any NBA player has scored in a quarter this post-season. His second quarter didn’t end so well with DeRozan hitting 1-of-7, and, in the final seconds of the half, he tried to get a shot off and couldn’t. Raps led 50-44 at the half. The shooting trouble plagued DeRozan into the third quarter. He went 1-for-9 after hitting his five baskets … Paul George got into first-quarter foul trouble when he picked up his second foul, but Indiana coach Frank Vogel, realizing he couldn’t leave him out for long, brought George back to start the second quarter. George hit his first three shots from three-point range … George outscored DeRozan 17-15 at the half but that was a good number for the Raps. At the end of three, it was DeRozan 28, George 20. The final tally: DeRozan 30, George 26 … Indiana centre Ian Mahinmi also wound up in early first-half foul trouble. The Raps didn’t take advantage of Mahinmi’s time off the court by getting more balls to Jonas Valanciunas … This may not be a great basketball city, but this much is once again obvious: Toronto is a great Raptors city. The Raptors’ crowd so out-performs the rest of Toronto’s teams … The Raptors bench outscored Indiana 18-8 in the first half. Norman Powell and Cory Joseph combined for 16 of those poins … The win for Toronto was its 60th of the season. That’s never been done before in Raptors history … DeMarre Carroll, who didn’t have a great shooting night, hit a huge three with 8:17 left in third quarter. It put Toronto up by 12, 58-46. It was the largest lead in the game to that point.
Raptors ‘fed off the energy’ of Powell in Pacers series | Sportsnet.ca
It’s no exaggeration to say the Raptors don’t win Game 7 without Powell, who went 5-for-6 in his 23 minutes, scoring 13 points — second to only DeMar DeRozan, who scored 17 more points on 26 more shots.
Powell hit important, lead-extending shots in the first half and then provided much-needed energy on defence in the second, when Raptors head coach Dwane Casey wanted a big-bodied ball-handler on the floor while DeMarre Carroll was busy trying to contain George.
“That young man is earning his keep right now,” Casey said. “He’s doing a heck of a job.”
In the fourth quarter Casey was even drawing up plays for Powell out of timeouts, like the one with a little more than eight minutes left in the game that set up Powell for an open three right in front of the Pacers bench. He drilled the shot to give his team a 14-point lead and ran back up the court with his arms extended out at his sides before promptly stripping George of the ball at the top of the key, gathering it up and sending the Raptors back the other way.
Powell scored double digits in three of the seven games, but guarding George was perhaps his most important contribution to the series victory, as he helped contain the Pacers star who was the best player on the floor in each game. After Game 7, George pulled Powell aside on the court as red, white and black shirts jumped up and down around them, and told the Raptors guard he respected his effort.
“I was in that position as a rookie,” George says. “I had to guard the best player in the game at the time: Derrick Rose. So I gave him a couple words.”
Raptors move to conference semi-finals with Game 7 win over Indiana | Toronto Sun
If you’re looking at this series logically, there was no reason it should ever have got to seven games, but that would be completely ignoring history.
And don’t kid yourself, history played a huge part in this series.
The demons of the past two years and many of the 18 before that were part of this series from the very first game.
An inability to win a seven game series in team history weighed large on this team but likely not as large as the past two playoff failures which including one of two seven-game losses in franchise history to Brooklyn two years ago and perhaps even more last year’s four-game sweep by the Washington Wizards.
Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Jonas Valanciunas, Terrence Ross and Patrick Patterson were part of both of those losses.
They finally put those and every other bad series loss to bed with a tipoff to final horn effort necessary to finally send these pesky Pacers packing.
It started with DeMar DeRozan getting back on track. The Raptors first option on offence had a tough series but when it mattered most, when the Raptors needed him most, DeRozan was there with a game-high 28 points.
Through all of his struggles this series, DeRozan has remained even-keeled refusing to get too high after 34 point effort in Game 5 or too low after an eight-point effort in Game 6.
DeRozan, Raptors take pivotal next step with Game 7 win | Sportsnet.ca
Go from there? The Raptors are going to the second round. On Tuesday night, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat are coming to the ACC and the No. 2 seed Raptors will have a chance to play themselves into the Eastern Conference Finals.
Just make two shots. Put this baby to rest.
Now, DeRozan is an excellent free throw shooter — a career-best 85 per cent this season — but he was finishing a wild game, so anything was possible. He missed all kinds of shots on Sunday night, though no free throws. He missed every other kind.History will show that DeRozan scored 30 points in Game 7 and helped the Raptors shed the playoff piano they’ve been staggering under for a couple of years at least.
But it wasn’t your standard 30-point game where a guy gets hot and the numbers add up. The man missed 22 shots, which is hard to do. It’s also hard to put up 32 shots in a must-win game while being covered by Paul George, one of the best defenders in the game.
It’s hard not lose your nerve or your sense of purpose. But very quietly DeRozan’s will is a formidable force. He doesn’t make a big deal of it, but he’s going to do things his way. It’s helped turn him into a late-blooming two-time all-star and the winningest Raptor ever, a fixture across most of the team’s all-time scoring categories.
You can quibble with the forced shots and volume of them, but you have to respect a guy who is willing keep putting himself out there after coming into a Game 7 having shot just 32 per cent, hearing about it after every game and practice.
Raptors must clear their heads: Coach Casey | Toronto Sun
But right now, they have no time or inclination to look back. Looking back begins with that Game 6 letdown, the second half of which the Raptors would best forget.
Thinking back is not in the Raptors’ best interests right now. At least not back on this series. If they think too much about that, they just might come out on Sunday expecting to lose.
Head coach Dwane Casey had a three-fold message for his charges as they stared down the barrel of a first-round elimination for the third consecutive year.
“One: Let’s go in with a clear head,” Casey said. “Second: Push the reset button. Flush what’s happened in this series. You’ve got to go out and do what you did for 82 games. You played at a high level, you played to your personality. Don’t worry about what’s happened in this series. Just come out and stick with the process and our identity: Playing hard, defence first and sharing the ball on offence. Stick with it.
“Third: Stay together,” Casey advised. “Don’t fragment, don’t listen to the noise. Play for the guy sitting next to you and stick with him. He’s the most important guy. That was the message this morning.”
It also wouldn’t hurt if either Kyle Lowry or DeMar DeRozan could actually approach their season average scoring. In the three games the Raptors have lost this series, that duo has combined to average 21 points. In the three wins, the pair has averaged 39.3. One of them has to be on in a scoring manner on Sunday.
Kelly: Raptors finally get last laugh with clutch victory over Pacers | The Globe and Mail
There were plenty of opportunities on Sunday night to maintain local tradition and blow it late. In the third quarter, when a 15-point Raptors lead shrank suddenly to six points, cheers gave way to a deep, unceasing moan.
It was DeMar DeRozan – continuing to play despite the encumbrance of goat horns – who finally provided a cushion. It got far too close at the end – a 16-point lead cut to three in the space of five fourth-quarter minutes. But they managed it.
Permanent, low-level anxiety: It’s the true hallmark of a Raptors fan.
Ahead of the game, they had arrayed the giveaway T-shirts hung off Air Canada Centre seat-backs in the pattern of a maple leaf.
The Raptors have long aspired to be a whole country’s team, rather than just a city’s. The country wasn’t necessarily that interested. It’s hard to grab hold of something that’s always receding at the time of year most people are paying attention.
That may have changed, too.
Canada is in the midst of its basketball moment. The women’s national team is a bonafide powerhouse. The men’s team is likely to become one. NBA rosters are peppered with players, most of them from in and around the Greater Toronto Area, who weren’t just born here. They were blooded in this country.
We will always be a hockey nation, but we are becoming a basketball one as well. It’s a mark of Canada’s burgeoning cosmopolitanism that the two ideas can co-exist. Together, they are perhaps the most visible marker of the larger trend.
Five moments from the Raptors’ Game 7 win over Indiana | Toronto Star
DeRozan vs. George, finally
For the first time in the series, DeMar DeRozan and Paul George came out duelling. DeRozan’s 13 first-quarter points eclipsed the measly eight that he had in Game 6 and outdid the 11 that George had, though the Pacers’ all-star picking up his second foul with a minute to play in the quarter factored into that. DeRozan cooled off in the second quarter, but George stayed efficient and productive, hitting 17 points on 10 shots at the half. DeRozan caught absolute fire in the third, scoring 13 on a determined 12 shots. DeRozan finished with 30 points, while George scored 26.
Game Rap: Raptors 89, Pacers 84 | Toronto Raptors
SURVIVING THE INDY RALLY:
With the season on the line, the Pacers came out firing in the final quarter. After turning the ball over five times though the first three quarters, Toronto had four turnovers in the fourth quarter as they also struggled to score. When a Monta Ellis 3-pointer cut the lead to three, Kyle Lowry responded with a layup. When a pair of Paul George free throws again brought the Pacers within three, DeMar DeRozan got a steal and was fouled with 6.5 seconds remaining. DeRozan sealed the game by hitting both free throws as the Air Canada Centre crowd erupted.
Raptors beat Pacers to move on to round two, and a nation breathes | Raptors HQ
If you were looking for reasons to feel confident as the Raptors move on to the second round against Miami, you won’t find them in the fourth quarter game film. It seems safe to assume Kyle Lowry’s jump shot isn’t rounding back in to form this year. He went 5-of-14 from the field, 0-of-4 from long range, but thankfully continues to do all of the other things that make Lowry the ball of energy at the core of this team. Toronto was almost overcome by the moment once again, and came within a few possessions of launching the franchise into an off-season in which the theme could have been widespread upheaval. A couple more minutes of the Raptors scared offense down the stretch could have tipped the game in Indiana’s favour.
All of that said, if you’re looking for a reason why the last two decades of tortured fandom were worth it, you found in those final three seconds, as a Paul George three missed, Bismack Biyombo grabbed the rebound, Lowry heaved the ball across the court and the elation of the crowd took hold.
As much as it seemed like the Raptors didn’t want it to happen in the closing minutes, they’re on to the second round to take on the seasoned and rolling Miami Heat. After seeing how the soon-to-be combatants performed in their respective Game 7’s today, it’s easy to think the Raptors don’t stand a chance.
“I hope everyone continues to doubt us. I think that’s motivation for us,” said Dwane Casey.
Toronto Raptors punch ticket to 2nd round with Game 7 win over Pacers | Raptors Cage
Defence: B+
When the Raptors limited the Pacers to under 90 points this series, they were are 3-0.
Tonight, they limited Indiana to 84 points, and not one quarter of scoring more than 25 points. The Raptors held the Pacers to 46.6 per cent shooting from the field, but during the 4th quarter they allowed them to hit their stride by converting on 50 per cent of their shots.
The Raptors were horrible once again at containing the 3-ball, with the Pacers shooting 47.4 per cent from beyond the arc. The Raptors were able to be effective defensively in other ways, like with the 5 turnovers they forced the Pacers into during 4th quarter, and the 7 blocked shots they had throughout the entire game.
Indiana Pacers’ Game 7 Comeback Falls Short vs Raptors | 8 Points 9 Seconds
There is, however, reality vs. emotion. The emotion is understandably running heavy right now since the team was wronged. But the reality is that it is unlikely that the Pacers would have won even if that foul was called.
Ian, a 60% free-throw shooter, would have had to make both of those free throws. And then, in the ensuing 14 seconds, the Raptors would inbound the ball to a good free-throw shooter and likely build on their 1-, or 2-, or 3-point lead. And then the notoriously-bad-late-game-offense-running Pacers would have to score again.
It may have gone down in a way where the Pacers come out on top or force overtime. Hell, Solomon Hill is the new Reggie Miller it seems, so perhaps he would have won the game with 4-point play.
But while that call was rotten, the Pacers put themselves in a big hole and had to rely on a blend of really good fourth-quarter defense and the Raptors going into an inexplicable prevent offense to even crawl back as far as they did. Credit them — big-time — for that. They tightened the vice and showed why such a flawed roster was still able to have the third-best defense in the NBA this season. They held the Raptors, a team that largely looked like it only wanted to run out the clock in the final five minutes, to just 11 points in the fourth quarter. That’s remarkable even if the Raptors were playing “prevent” offense.
So the comeback effort was commendable and the no-call on Mahinmi was trash. It could have swung the game, the series, and — without exaggerating — Raptors’ franchise history.
Really, though, the Pacers lost this game in the third quarter on small, but vital, mistakes that you cannot make in a Game 7 and expect to win. And in a more forgivable sense, they lost this game because Toronto’s role players stepped up whereas those of the Pacers, with the notable exception of Rodney Stuckey (and Solo to a much lesser degree momentarily with a dunk), did not produce. Myles Turner was awful, and Norm Powell was a beast.
NBA Playoffs: Pacers comeback falls short in Game 7 loss to Raptors | Indy Cornrows
The no-call (which will almost certainly see a league apology) and struggles to execute late all summed up nicely the 2015-16 Indiana Pacers, who lost the only two games in this series decided within ten points. The Pacers outscored Toronto 20-11 in the fourth, but unlike their own loss in Game 5, their offensive output couldn’t overcome Toronto’s incompetence late in the game.
Paul George was exceptional from the get-go in the deciding game, scoring 17 first half points on 6-10 shooting. Toronto made things more difficult in the second half for George, who had just three in the third before scoring six in the fourth to finish with 26 on the night. While George left the court the best player in the series, it wasn’t enough from his supporting cast to come away with the win.
While Toronto had five double scorers, Indiana had just three. George Hill had 19 points, including three three pointers and Monta Ellis scored 15 with seven assists, but to the very end, the Toronto bench simply had the biggest advantage in the series, outscoring Indiana 24-14. Rodney Stuckey scored nine, but had to contend with eight points from Cory Joseph and 13 from Powell.
The Pacers enter the offseason with much work left to do. Despite nearly advancing, the seven postseason games, as the 82 before it, illustrated that this is team that’s very much a work in progress. There’s no question Indiana is set at the top with Paul George and rookie Myles Turner will be a crucial part of the team moving forward as he looks to improve this summer following his first taste of postseason basketball.
Paul George Has Been the Best Player in the NBA Playoffs | 8 Points 9 Seconds
In DeMar’s defense, it hasn’t been simply a matter of him struggling and failing to step up his game in the postseason.
It’s a lot of that. An absolute, enormous amount of that.
But the Pacers defense has been phenomenal. While plenty of fans have been critical of Frank Vogel — all year, but especially after the team’s Game 5 meltdown — there is one thing he does better than almost any human alive: coach defense.
This was a transition year for the Pacers in which Vogel lost both of the big-men anchors who formed the foundation of his previous defensive system. Even so, the coach managed to lead a team that had the third-best defense in the NBA in 2015-16, with 100.2 points allowed per 100 possessions, via NBA.com.
They have been even better in the playoffs, allowing the Raptors to score just 98.5 points per 100 possessions. In the Pacers’ three wins, they have held the opposition to 90 or fewer points.
It certainly helps to have Paul George to throw at DeMar. He absolutely confounded and embarrassed DeMar in Game 1, and little has changed since then. Paul George has been one of the best defenders in the world since his second year in the league, and he’s playing as good as ever right now.
Mistakes prove costly for Pacers | Toronto Sun
Indy would test the Raptors to the very limit, climb back from a 16-point hole and put doubts into the Raptors, who came unglued, unstable, and uncertain.
Myles Turner has potential, his first Game 7 experience testing the kid’s toughness under such a punishing microscope.
But when you fight back, the margin of error gets tighter and mistakes can’t be made.
In the end, that’s why the Pacers came up short in Game 7, losing 89-84, as Toronto won its first post-season series since the days of Vince Carter.
You can’t trail for what seemed like the entire game, save for a brief one-point lead in the first. You have to protect the basketball and you can’t yield second-chance points.
There’s no consolation in defeat, but there are pieces to work with, pieces that need to be acquired and developed.
Night after night after night, George was the series’ best player. And he’s only going to get better. This year, he had to deal with mid-season fatigue, courtesy of a full summer of killing himself to prepare physically for the season. Next year, he shouldn’t hit that wall. The Pacers have a great one, a player around whom they can build their franchise, along with Turner.
“The game has really slowed down for me,’’ George said.
Isn’t that obvious? The Raptors used five different players in an effort to slow him down, and each one, he found a way to eventually shred.
For years, the Pacers have taken pride in playing big-boy basketball, smashmouth, overwhelming opponents with size and physicality. In this series, though – and especially in Game 7, the one that ultimately mattered most – they got pushed around by the bigger, nastier Raptors. You don’t need to know the metric system to understand the following: The Raptors out-rebounded the Pacers, 49-38. The Raptors had 18 offensive rebounds to the Pacers’ five. The Raptors had 17 second-chance points to the Pacers’ three. Worse than that, the Raptors had 16 more field-goal attempts than the Pacers, plus nine more free-throw attempts.
The Raptors’ two big people, Jonas Valanciunas and Bismack Biyombo, had 26 rebounds, 10 of them offensive rebounds. The Pacers’ big people, Ian Mahinmi and Myles Turner, had 10 rebounds and one offensive rebound.
“You know what? I’m sore, I’m beat up but it was great to go through a series like that with two really big, physical players like that,’’ Mahinmi said. “It’s especially good for Baby Myles (Turner) because now he knows what he needs to do and how he has to add strength for next year.’’
HQ Overtime Post-Game Show: Let’s talk about Game 7 | Raptors HQ
They did it. The Raptors are moving on to Round 2 after a 89-84 win over the Pacers, and I’m joined by Harsh Dave and Russell Peddle to talk about an epic Game 7 at the Air Canada Centre. We’ll discuss DeMar DeRozan’s shooting night, the seesaw fourth quarter, and get into the Miami Heat.
The Heat will be on the Raptors in next series | Toronto Sun
Miami finished seventh in the NBA in defensive efficiency and has an excellent perimeter defender in rookie Justise Winslow, a rim protector par excellence in Hassan Whiteside, the best shot-blocking guard of all-time in Dwyane Wade and more.
Miami can also score and since going small with Luol Deng or Raptor-killer Joe Johnson at power forward, has been dangerous. The Heat stormed back against Charlotte, winning the final two games, and has veteran experience and the East’s longest-tenured head coach, Erik Spoelstra.
Goran Dragic and Kyle Lowry once battled every day at practice with the Houston Rockets and are friends that know each other’s tricks. Dragic was once third-team all-NBA and Lowry will earn that honour for the first time this season, barring a stunning turn of events.
Johnson has long been a thorn in Toronto’s side, but DeMarre Carroll was brought to town for matchups like these, as well as for the now-completed battles against Paul George.
Rookie Josh Richardson is Miami’s version of Norman Powell. They were the second-round steals of this past draft.
Chris Bosh wants to play for the Heat, but the team is being cautious following his latest bout with blood clots.
Bismack Biyombo said to expect another physical battle of a series. He and Jonas Valanciunas can’t wait to mix it up with the towering Whiteside, once a summer-league cut by the Raptors who seems to love playing against his former team.
It should be a compelling series.
Raptors move to second round for first time since 2001. | Sports on Earth
“I think everybody wrote [us] off and gave us up for dead,” Dwane Casey said.
The Raptors, save for a remarkable fourth quarter in Game 5 that saved their season, had been outplayed in three straight games by the Pacers, who defeated Toronto by 18 points on Friday in Game 6. The confidence in the city of Toronto wasn’t wavering — it was non-existent.
“Hopefully everyone continues to doubt us” Casey continued. “I think that’s motivation for us.”
The Raptors won not because of their two stars, who continued their woeful shooting in Game 7. They won because the supporting cast made seven of their 15 three-point attempts, including three timely makes from rookie Norman Powell. They won because Jonas Valanciunas and Bismack Biyombo grabbed 26 rebounds. The Raptors pulled down 18 offensive rebounds, to the Pacers’ five. They committed just eight turnovers. In a game that nobody wanted to win in the fourth quarter, all of those little things were enough.
But they also won because DeRozan decided he would take matters into his own hands in the third quarter, when the Raptors guard pulled his best impersonation of Kobe Bryant, elevating the difficulty of his shot attempts on each possession, on his way to a 10-for-32 shooting performance. Thirty points on 32 shots is not the definition of efficiency, not that anyone minded.
“I don’t care if he shot 40 times,” said Lowry, who shot 5-for-14 from the field in Game 7 and finished the series shooting below 40 percent in every single game of the series.
They don’t have teammates, they have family.
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Magic Johnson says the Lakers should pursue DeMar DeRozan in free agency | Silver Screen and Roll
DeRozan will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, and many have reported the Lakers will attempt to bring the Southern California native home to Los Angeles. Lou Williams has publicly pondered recruiting his former teammate, but with DeRozan’s Toronto Raptors able to offer the most money and already proving they can win a lot of games, the ball will truly be in Toronto general manager Masai Ujiri’s court.
Even if the Raptors let DeRozan get away or he desperately wants to return home, there is also still an open question as to whether or not he is the type of player the Lakers should want to max out. Even in a league going smaller by the day, DeRozan lacks the size to play small forward effectively, and all indications point to the Lakers retaining Jordan Clarkson as their starting shooting guard.
Even more worryingly, DeRozan has been brutal so far in the playoffs. The player some fans hope will fill Kobe Bryant’s shoes next season has done his best impression of the 2015-16 version so far over seven first-round playoff games against the Indiana Pacers, averaging 17.9 points per game on 31.9 percent shooting as well as seeing declines in his assists and rebounds.
Some of this has to do with being defended by the Pacers’ Paul George, but nearly as much of DeRozan’s inefficiency is attributable to his declining free throw attempts in the playoffs. After averaging 8.4 trips to the line during the regular season, DeRozan has attempted just 5.6 during the postseason. That doesn’t sound like a huge drop-off, but with referees swallowing their whistles for the playoffs and DeRozan’s inability to knock down three-pointers or defend consistently, the Raptors have been outscored by 8.9 points per 100 possessions with DeRozan on the court against the Pace
A big monkey off both their backs #rtz #wethenorth
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Views from Game 7 #wethenorth #rtz
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