Raptors (2-3) at Celtics (3-2) Round 2 Game 6 9/9/20

[Atzar]

It's not as simple as "just don't switch Kemba onto Lowry". 

There's a reason ball screen offense has become the norm for almost every team:  no matter what you do, you give something up.  If you don't switch the screen, you either risk a foul by fighting through or you risk a three by going under (and Lowry was 6/10 on those tonight).  Worst case, you give up a three AND foul when you run up the ball-handler's back.  You could blitz him, but Lowry has good vision and will likely pass out of it... now you have three to guard four.  There's no perfect answer.

Kemba has to handle his business on defense, and in the playoffs, he generally has.  And on that particular play, I don't really fault Kemba.  Lowry hit a tough shot.  That happens. 

[jambr380]

Theis outside of a few nice lob dunks...really played poorly today

Letting OG open like that. Crap defense.   

Taking eye off that Smart inbound pass

Very disappointing

That is an interesting take. I thought Theis was excellent. That being said, RWill deserves more than 8 minutes..

Game was too close too early in the 2nd half and TL has a habit of making dumb mistakes. Don't get me wrong, I think he is a game changer, but I think Brad wanted a steady line-up out there. Unfortunately, our 3 best players were subpar, including Kemba who was an epic fail tonight. I agree with you on Theis.

[Mahk E Mahk]

at least we find out friday night if this team is a pretender or a contender.

this team really misses gordo.

Trying to imagine how the game ends if they’re able to give Tatum and Brown some rest in the 4th. Lack of depth hit us hard.

agreed. plus we know gordo is more than just depth. once again, the offense was either frenetic or stagnant, especially with a stifled kemba. if gordo was playing, running the offense through him instead of kemba balances the floor and gets jayson & jaylen (and kemba) easier shots with less iso and turnovers.

[86MaxwellSmart]

Nick Nurse allowed on court to masquerade as a Celtics player in the corner.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Poor coaching by CBS

You knew Raptors were going to switch Kemba onto Kyle.  And CBS just let that be for most of the game, including OTs

Have Kemba guard OG. Let him beat you

Over and over again they were picking on Kemba

I mean its hard to understand

Sure, but to be fair (ugh to be fair-ugh. Sorry, I had to, I'm a Letterkenny fan). . .

Kemba played as great a defense on that play. Kyle Lowry nailed a difficult fade away shot to close us out. I get what you're trying to say, but in a way, it was the correct decision. I don't know how much better can Kemba play Lowry on that play. He blanketed him, he had good contest and he was in his airspace all trough out, Lowry just made an incredible play.

I mean, this is exactly the point - why is Kemba on Lowry to begin with when he's so much bigger and has been killing us all series long? Lowry should be getting the Smart treatment like we do with Harden - that's his man and no switching off. Why Brad continue to let Kemba get owned time after time by Lowry is beyond frustrating.

They would have attacked Kemba regardless of who he's defending anyway.

If not Kyle Lowry, it probably would be Fred Van Vleet, who can beat Kemba off the dribble with his speed and shooting. OG and Siakam would have killed him with their size. Norman Powell has the size on him, too.

Either way we are screwed, you just have to make a decision to either trust him to hold fort or send the help and risk having a man open. Kemba played excellent defense on that Lowry play, unfortunately he made an extremely difficult shot. Sometimes, that's basketball. 

[staticcc]

Poor coaching by CBS

You knew Raptors were going to switch Kemba onto Kyle.  And CBS just let that be for most of the game, including OTs

Have Kemba guard OG. Let him beat you

Over and over again they were picking on Kemba

I mean its hard to understand

It won’t make a difference. Kyle will just ask OG to set the pick then?

[jpotter33]

I get disappointment, but ppl are acting like they got blown out or quit. They got too tight and didn't make enough big plays; they still made a bunch and had chances to win. The raps just hit some tough, clutch shots. I think we beat them in game 7. Time for the young guys to grow up.

No. It should've never got to that point in the first place. In every period down the stretch but in particular the end of regulation, we had opportunities (at least two in regulation) down the stretch when we were tied with the ball to set up a play, get a good look, and put us up for good. Instead, our incompetent coaching staff let us play on and just iso up bad shots when our offense had been off all night long.

These are just inexcusable mental mistakes that our coaching staff continues to make in end of game situations. There's lots of blame to go around, but these bad decision-making errors are particularly terrible given they're from the coach on the sidelines whose job it is to make these things happen.

[liam]

It's not as simple as "just don't switch Kemba onto Lowry". 

There's a reason ball screen offense has become the norm for almost every team:  no matter what you do, you give something up.  If you don't switch the screen, you either risk a foul by fighting through or you risk a three by going under (and Lowry was 6/10 on those tonight).  Worst case, you give up a three AND foul when you run up the ball-handler's back.  You could blitz him, but Lowry has good vision and will likely pass out of it... now you have three to guard four.  There's no perfect answer.

Kemba has to handle his business on defense, and in the playoffs, he generally has.  And on that particular play, I don't really fault Kemba.  Lowry hit a tough shot.  That happens.

It's because the NBA allows so many moving screens.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

It's not as simple as "just don't switch Kemba onto Lowry". 

There's a reason ball screen offense has become the norm for almost every team:  no matter what you do, you give something up.  If you don't switch the screen, you either risk a foul by fighting through or you risk a three by going under (and Lowry was 6/10 on those tonight).  Worst case, you give up a three AND foul when you run up the ball-handler's back.  You could blitz him, but Lowry has good vision and will likely pass out of it... now you have three to guard four.  There's no perfect answer.

Kemba has to handle his business on defense, and in the playoffs, he generally has.  And on that particular play, I don't really fault Kemba.  Lowry hit a tough shot.  That happens.

Yes. TP.

I really don't know what Kemba would have done more to prevent that shot from not going in. It was near perfect defense.

[hpantazo]

It's not as simple as "just don't switch Kemba onto Lowry". 

There's a reason ball screen offense has become the norm for almost every team:  no matter what you do, you give something up.  If you don't switch the screen, you either risk a foul by fighting through or you risk a three by going under (and Lowry was 6/10 on those tonight).  Worst case, you give up a three AND foul when you run up the ball-handler's back.  You could blitz him, but Lowry has good vision and will likely pass out of it... now you have three to guard four.  There's no perfect answer.

Kemba has to handle his business on defense, and in the playoffs, he generally has.  And on that particular play, I don't really fault Kemba.  Lowry hit a tough shot.  That happens.

Yes. TP.

I really don't know what Kemba would have done more to prevent that shot from not going in. It was near perfect defense.

Kemba did a great job on it, but Smart is taller and bigger, he would have bothered the shot more. Smart is also a heck of a lot more intimidating in that situation.

[jpotter33]

Poor coaching by CBS

You knew Raptors were going to switch Kemba onto Kyle.  And CBS just let that be for most of the game, including OTs

Have Kemba guard OG. Let him beat you

Over and over again they were picking on Kemba

I mean its hard to understand

Sure, but to be fair (ugh to be fair-ugh. Sorry, I had to, I'm a Letterkenny fan). . .

Kemba played as great a defense on that play. Kyle Lowry nailed a difficult fade away shot to close us out. I get what you're trying to say, but in a way, it was the correct decision. I don't know how much better can Kemba play Lowry on that play. He blanketed him, he had good contest and he was in his airspace all trough out, Lowry just made an incredible play.

I mean, this is exactly the point - why is Kemba on Lowry to begin with when he's so much bigger and has been killing us all series long? Lowry should be getting the Smart treatment like we do with Harden - that's his man and no switching off. Why Brad continue to let Kemba get owned time after time by Lowry is beyond frustrating.

They would have attacked Kemba regardless of who he's defending anyway.

If not Kyle Lowry, it probably would be Fred Van Vleet, who can beat Kemba off the dribble with his speed and shooting. OG and Siakam would have killed him with their size. Norman Powell has the size on him, too.

Either way we are screwed, you just have to make a decision to either trust him to hold fort or send the help and risk having a man open. Kemba played excellent defense on that Lowry play, unfortunately he made an extremely difficult shot. Sometimes, that's basketball.

Lowry has by far been their best player this series. You absolutely put Smart on him and make the others beat you. FVV isn't going to win you a playoff game like Lowry just did, and Kemba has a much better chance of containing him than Lowery.

[RPGenerate]

Theis was thoroughly mediocre today, but Timelord's absolute inability to guard the 3-point line makes him unplayable when Ibaka is on the court. Every time we sag on Ibaka he kills us, and it's usually Timelord who does it.

[NKY fan]

This one is on Danny for the bench he built ... his never ending eagerness to make draft picks brought us to this situation in a high stake game where we only have 5-6 playable basketball players

What? Our bench has been amazing this series. Brad Wannamaker has been good. Time Lord and Grant Williams has contributed. Semi Ojeleye contributes on the defense. Our bench is fine.

Did you really expect Brad to play them on what is essentially a do-or-die game in Overtime against the defending champions? The Raptors themselves didn't dip on their bench for the 1st and 2nd OT.

I have no idea why you're blaming our bench when they have been good this series.

Not blaming the bench! They do what they can .. it’s Danny who should have brought vets for the bench if he anticipated we would be playing tight games like this in the playoffs .

[Tr1boy]

Poor coaching by CBS

You knew Raptors were going to switch Kemba onto Kyle.  And CBS just let that be for most of the game, including OTs

Have Kemba guard OG. Let him beat you

Over and over again they were picking on Kemba

I mean its hard to understand

It won’t make a difference. Kyle will just ask OG to set the pick then?

True. But we didn't see that happen.  So we don't know if Raptors would do that.

In certain situations, you sit Kemba then.  Defensive/offensive subs

[Yoki_IsTheName]

You know what really bugs me off, this one.

I mean, Tatum should have better presence of mind on that one, sure, but how was Nick Nurse allowed to do this? He's literally on the playing court. He knew exactly what he was doing here. Unless this is not breaking the rules, what the heck?

Clever, I'll give you that, but darn!