Raptors (1-0) at Celtics (0-1) Game #2 10/25/19

[PhoSita]

On paper the Celts ought to be able to body up and slow down Siakam.

If Siakam isn't scoring, who can the Raps go to for offense?  VanVleet bombing away from deep?

I don't think Lowry or Gasol can carry an offense anymore even though they're still really good.


In theory I think the Celts ought to be able to defend the Raps, so they just need to find ways to score.  Should be doable.  But we'll see.

[footey]

On paper the Celts ought to be able to body up and slow down Siakam.

If Siakam isn't scoring, who can the Raps go to for offense?  VanVleet bombing away from deep?

I don't think Lowry or Gasol can carry an offense anymore even though they're still really good.


In theory I think the Celts ought to be able to defend the Raps, so they just need to find ways to score.  Should be doable.  But we'll see.

I'm not so optimistic we have anyone to defend Siakam. Who would you put on him?  Jayson and Gordon are too slow. Jaylen may be best bet, but would probably get posted up a lot.   

On paper their backcourt doesn't scare me, but they have the ability to play well better than what they are on paper.

VanFleet played awesome game 1 vs Pels.

[Briantir]

If the Pelicans were in the East they are a playoff team lol...

Dont think we should take the Raptors lightly without Kawhi last year they were like 17-5 and as for Siakam I think there's only like 3-4 guys in the league who can guard him straight up one on one and the Celtics don't have anyone who can.

We gotta hope they have an off shooting night the Celtics have never matched up good against Toronto to be honest even in the DeRozan days.

[LilRip]

Should be a win for the good guys! Really looking forward to Kemba痴 bounce back performance. Our guys looked like their shooting was stuck in the preseason! Lol

[Moranis]

I would have picked Boston to get the win, but with Kanter not playing I'm having 2nd thoughts.  The team really is poorly constructed and Kanter not being out there is going to be a big problem as the Raptors have an excellent and big center.  Even guarding Ibaka off the bench is going to be a challenge.  Kanter's loss might very well spell a loss for Boston.

[Phantom255x]

Said it in another thread, but the frontcourt construction for this season was just awful.

I mean, seriously, who do we have behind Kanter. Theis, Timelord (still progressing), Pourier? Ever since the days of KG and Perkins, I feel like Ainge in general has done a mediocre job with building a frontcourt. Horford and Baynes are the only bright spots in that time, but even in some of those years the depth behind them was also a glaring issue which at times got exposed. And now this year, we have neither and when Kanter is injured... yikes.

[ozgod]

Without Kanter, this game going be ugly

I'm a little worried about Gasol. I have a feeling we might be overrating all our other bigs but we will see.

Excited to see if Gordon's mentality has really changed, apparently against Philly he drove the ball 18 times:


https://twitter.com/Timi_093/status/1187358367502733313?s=20

No wonder he went to the line 11 times. That's the G that we need this year.

Also looking for better shooting nights from Kemba and Jayson. And hoping our perimeter defense remains solid with JB the anchor. We were good against Philly for the most part till Jayson shot us out of the lead in the 2nd quarter and then we got blown away in the 4th.

[ozgod]

Said it in another thread, but the frontcourt construction for this season was just awful.

I mean, seriously, who do we have behind Kanter. Theis, Timelord (still progressing), Pourier? Ever since the days of KG and Perkins, I feel like Ainge in general has done a mediocre job with building a frontcourt. Horford and Baynes are the only bright spots in that time, but even in some of those years the depth behind them was also a glaring issue which at times got exposed. And now this year, we have neither and when Kanter is injured... yikes.

Well to be fair to him I think he did the best he could given the circumstances...he probably didn't expect Al to leave. Baynes leaving (apparently) needed to happen to accommodate Kemba and people here have been clamoring for more Timelord, in fact wanting him to start. Poirier is an unknown quantity who also needs minutes. Also remember that the entire plan was to get AD. I agree he could have and should have done better but bigs weren't exactly knocking the door down to come here and to get someone via trade would have meant giving up one or two of JB, JT or Marcus which nobody wanted.

[The Oracle]

I would have picked Boston to get the win, but with Kanter not playing I'm having 2nd thoughts.  The team really is poorly constructed and Kanter not being out there is going to be a big problem as the Raptors have an excellent and big center.  Even guarding Ibaka off the bench is going to be a challenge.  Kanter's loss might very well spell a loss for Boston.

Kanter would be virtually unplayable against Toronto anyway.  He is one of the single worst defensive bigs on the perimeter in the entire league. 

[ozgod]

Everyone slitting wrists already? At the start of the game thread? Come on be positive! It's our home opener let's save the wrist slitting for the end of the game thread if/when we lose   

LETS GO CELTICS!!!!

[Who]

Is Marc Gasol really that big of a deal?

Is he actually go into the paint and abuse smaller defenders? Is he going to pound the boards and create lots of extra possessions? How many times will he post up? He has a fairly mechanical post game to begin with. How much damage will he really do?

Gasol is mostly a perimeter big nowadays.

Are we so sure someone like Theis cannot cover him? I am sure there will be a couple of bad moments -- but will there be so many bad moments that we can't live with it and need to sub Theis out for a bigger body?

[OhioGreen]

I believe once/if BS stops deferring to the veterans, that we will find Pourier is our best all around center,  GWill is our best PF, and TW is easily our best backup PG.  Brad is extremely stubborn, however, when it comes to playing veterans (with little regard to their performance) over rookies, and playing SMALL BALL!  The cream always rises to the top.  Go C's!!

[PhoSita]

On paper the Celts ought to be able to body up and slow down Siakam.

If Siakam isn't scoring, who can the Raps go to for offense?  VanVleet bombing away from deep?

I don't think Lowry or Gasol can carry an offense anymore even though they're still really good.


In theory I think the Celts ought to be able to defend the Raps, so they just need to find ways to score.  Should be doable.  But we'll see.

I'm not so optimistic we have anyone to defend Siakam. Who would you put on him?  Jayson and Gordon are too slow. Jaylen may be best bet, but would probably get posted up a lot.   

On paper their backcourt doesn't scare me, but they have the ability to play well better than what they are on paper.

VanFleet played awesome game 1 vs Pels.

I don't think speed is the issue with Siakam.  He's pretty mechanical and methodical with his driving and post-up moves.  Main thing is having the strength to keep him off his spots and disrupt what he wants to do.  Siakam does not have a variety of offensive moves but is very good at the ones he has in his repertoire.  He's athletic and quick moving straight but isn't good at making quick changes or direction or anything like that.


I think Jaylen, GRANT, and Semi should all be able to handle him well enough.  Even Theis should be able to deal with him.

[PhoSita]

Is Marc Gasol really that big of a deal?

Is he actually go into the paint and abuse smaller defenders? Is he going to pound the boards and create lots of extra possessions? How many times will he post up? He has a fairly mechanical post game to begin with. How much damage will he really do?

Gasol is mostly a perimeter big nowadays.

Are we so sure someone like Theis cannot cover him? I am sure there will be a couple of bad moments -- but will there be so many bad moments that we can't live with it and need to sub Theis out for a bigger body?

With Theis I'd be more concerned with giving Gasol too much space to pass rather than giving Gasol a green light to score.

[Phantom255x]

Said it in another thread, but the frontcourt construction for this season was just awful.

I mean, seriously, who do we have behind Kanter. Theis, Timelord (still progressing), Pourier? Ever since the days of KG and Perkins, I feel like Ainge in general has done a mediocre job with building a frontcourt. Horford and Baynes are the only bright spots in that time, but even in some of those years the depth behind them was also a glaring issue which at times got exposed. And now this year, we have neither and when Kanter is injured... yikes.

Well to be fair to him I think he did the best he could given the circumstances...he probably didn't expect Al to leave. Baynes leaving (apparently) needed to happen to accommodate Kemba and people here have been clamoring for more Timelord, in fact wanting him to start. Poirier is an unknown quantity who also needs minutes. Also remember that the entire plan was to get AD. I agree he could have and should have done better but bigs weren't exactly knocking the door down to come here and to get someone via trade would have meant giving up one or two of JB, JT or Marcus which nobody wanted.

Yeah, I guess that's a true point. I just think what's more frustrating is that this has been an issue for many years now, and it may remain that way unless Timelord makes the leap. I mean, not like Kanter and these other guys are likely to be considered "long term options" for us