Raptors are relying on kawhi too much

this team kind of reminds me of denver and why they are struggling.  played a bunch of different lineups throughout the season (due to injuries) and still making changes.  ibaka was starting most of the year and just before the playoffs, they moved gasol into starting unit.  i thought the orignial 5 with ibaka were matchup issues on offense because ibaka can stretch the floor better and run in transition without losing too much on defense.  i think they were 3-1 in regular season against 76ers with that lineup.

either way, they don’t win with games like lowry had last night.  he needs to do more than facilitate.  and maybe they need to think about getting lin in the rotation or meeks more minutes to add some offensive firepower to the second unit.

Philly can throw so many big athletic bodies at Kawhi and Siakam that it’s really disrupting their flow. People wrote off philly after that first game but when Embiid doesn’t settle for jumpers and Jimmy is locked in… Philly looks like the better team even though Simmons hasn’t found his game yet this series. Could be a very interesting match up vs golden state.

 They don’t have a choice..you got Pascal and who else? Kyle doing what he does every year in the playoffs..Gasol and Serge looking like they 45 years old plus..who else can they depend on? They have no other playmakers or players who can get buckets..

 Brett Brown made a wise move by relieving Simmons of bringing the ball up. It had gotten a little predictable 

 Raptors have Kawhi.  Siakam is good but needs to take it up a notch.  The Grizzly Express (Marc Gasol and Kyle Lowry) haven’t showed up yet.  

The Sixers are loaded too.  

Embiid is the super star we needed and we are finally figuring it out.  

But let’s not forget that he has been a top 15, all-nba, player for the past few years. Minnesota won 11 more games with him on their roster last year, and he missed nearly 30% of the season. They would have won 50 games if he played 72-75 games instead.

Jimmy is a really, really good player and this postseason is absolutely huge for him. He knows his perception is somewhat tarnished, and when he’s on his A game Jimmy is a series changing talent. 

I’m really hoping for a Kawhi / Jimmy back & forth battle for at least one of these games. They have that elite talent & dog in them to go after eachother, and that’s what the playoffs are all about. The best taking it right to the best. 

 A Sixers-Warriors Finals might have awesome ratings.

 Raptors r shooting only 24% fg when Kawhi isn’t on the floor. 

Why do people seem to think the regular season and playoffs are the same. They’re just not.

Teams have 7 games, 7 GAMEs in a row to set tactics, develop game plans and step up their defence. Defence during the regular season is non-existent (obvious hyperbole) compared to the playoffs. 

Philly have depth that can hurt you in a variety of different ways and can switch lots of their match ups. 

Lowry stinks. Like he honestly sucks when a team can have 7 games at him. He doesn’t deliver, cannot handle being matched up and cannot take the extra defence. I don’t know how you Toronto fans put up with him. Boohoo you lost your bestie and a way better player, he is lucky he wasn’t traded for a bag of peanuts. 

This is a rant, apologies if it doesn’t make any coherent sense. 

Gotta say, I thought we were past this. But it looks like the Toronto sports teams still cant even get past the bright lights and just play confident.

Why do they choke every year? I mean how is it even possible? Its not just Lowry, its the whole team. Philly’s been good but Toronto’s just missing shots. They just cant shoot all of a sudden. Other than the Spurs and Siakam the team is way too soft. Gasol’s offensive game is not built for playoff basketball and I expected this to happen when the trade happened. I knew it because I’ve already seen it happen when Valanciunas won this team playoff series singlehandidly in the past.

They get rid of Valanciunas and Monroe two high level finishing/rebounding bigs for Gasol a passing/shooting big, but he cant shoot and his teammates cant make shots. You also like Gasol for his defence but as we saw in game 3 its all team defence, when the rest of the team doesnt help a guy like Embiid, Vucevic etc. will still destroy him. Same goes for Valanciunas.