Transcription
Of course, like I'm a homer. I'm not going to ignore that.
What are they seeing this guy? This guy sucks.
Prepare yourself for the Raptors Report podcast with your hosts Julian and Steve.
We could make it up. You should have a healthy meal.
Hello Raptors fans. Welcome back to the Raptors Report podcast. I am your host Julian. With me as always is Steve. How you doing, Steve?
Excellent. Much better than last week. How are you?
Oh, I'm doing real good. Uh it is Monday, April the 27th. We are about to watch the Toronto Raptors play basketball in May, which is a treat. You don't get to see that very uh often uh lately. So, we've got a lot to talk about in this episode. I am so pumped, so jazzed to talk about the two games, the successful home stand that the Toronto Raptors had against the Cleveland Cavaliers and really kind of swung the momentum back in their favor. So, what we're going to be talking about in this episode, I don't know why this is point number one. Ingram struggles continue. That's a great way to lead off the uh the list there.
Yeah, we we'll talk about something first. Uh CMBB's emergence. How about that? That sounds pretty exciting. Uh how the Toronto Raptors adjusted their pick and roll coverage, how the Cavs can counter that. Uh we're going to be talking about Emanuel quickly. Bad news about him. Uh we will talk about the Toronto Raptors and whether they may have played the ultimate Toronto Raptors game. Uh we'll talk about Jameson Battle because you know this is a weekly podcast. We didn't even get to talk about Jameson Battle going nuclear in game three. We'll we'll discuss that. Uh we'll be talking about RJ. Uh we will be talking about the shooting variance between game three and game four. Uh we will talk about the Toronto Raptors possession war success. And last but not least, we are going to talk about the coaching battle here. And uh Steve, why don't we start out this episode by talking about Colin Murray Boils? How about that?
Start with most exciting thing first.
Right now he's he's got a generational PR run going on. You're seeing every single account finally give this kid his flowers that we've been trying to say all year. Every Raptors fan is like, "What do you mean you're not putting him on your rookie first, second team? This kid's good and he's getting to show it on the big stage. Oh my god, he's he's tying records. He's setting records and he's like in big moments coming up with big plays and he just looks calm, cool, collected. Like he's been there before. like it's not his third fourth playoff game ever. It's insane.
He He is just out there doing stuff, pushing guys under the basket, getting a finger on a ball to keep it alive, picking people up on on the perimeter, that that sick ass uh lob breakup where he just jumped and smacked the ball out of the air and started the fast break. he is and and the bullying like yeah just kawaii kind of vibes going on here. I know different type of player but in terms of like what I'm the the aura surrounding them sort of very co calm very cold I was like going to combine those two words together um very kind of just contained and focused on you know doing the best he possibly can like I'm it's crazy this is a I don't know if you're a newer fan or you haven't been watching basketball for a while. Rookies do not play very well in the playoffs.
No, they they are generally they, you know, light is too bright. It's their first time. The level of physicality is too much for them. The the, you know, possessions slow down, more defensive attention, you can't make mistakes, which means like you're afraid of the hook.
There's so many obstacles for young players.
Those are those are not there. No, I
I can't think of a time I like it'd have to go back to LeBron's first playoffs. I don't even know that a rookie would be guarding a playoff scorer like Donovan Mitchell in an isolation game tying game-winning moment and staying down to as Donovan tries to draw the the foul. He even like he kind of jumped exaggerated limboed backwards to make it obvious he wasn't touching uh the you know
Yeah.
Donovan Mitchell's shooting hand and then chases Donovan down as he goes into the stands.
Yeah. Yelling at him.
Yelling at him, barking at him.
Do you see how much [ __ ] these guys were talking in Cleveland? Oh, you better believe that. That was first top of mind that those guys were, you know,
get these guys out of here.
Yeah.
Like we're packing them up. This is over. Like all that stuff, just talking all that. So you D that guy up on the final possession and you bait him basically into throwing up a brick.
Yeah. Yeah.
And Oh, man. Yeah. Let him know.
And let him know. Exactly. cuz like I mean that would typically be the preferred moment. You know, you you see you've got a rookie on you in isolation. You can get them to to go up on your shot and get three free ones. It's easy. But this is not a normal rookie. This guy is insane. Like all the rookies that are in the playoffs right now are doing fantastic. This class is crazy. But VJ's had a bad game.
Had some bad games. Yeah.
Look awesome. Yeah,
Dylan's been kind of taking turns. like Dylan Harour's been taking turns with the Spurs stuff, but CMBB has just been consistent in his two-way impact, his scoring, his um his rebounding, everything. He's doing everything the Raptors need. And I mean, you really can't say enough about the guy. And the the future looks so bright having him and a guy we'll talk about soon, Scotty, together. Like,
there have been people who have been like they can't play together. They're the same like you can't it's like
do you know the term heruristics?
Huristics are heruristics are basically like mental shortcuts that you can use in order to help your like make your day a little simpler. Okay. They're basic sort of ideas that are written down in pencil that if they don't apply then you just sort of disregard them. I think people got caught up in heruristics about positions thinking saying well it has to be this way because this is how it usually works.
If you I feel like every situation is unique.
Yeah.
There's no two identical snowflakes. There's no two teams. You cannot carbon copy one team or another. We've seen, in fact, like this isn't even a new idea. Like Draymond Green.
Mhm.
He's not like he's not the center on on the uh uh Warriors, but he is he is the center.
Exactly.
So like they have him playing with another bigger guy who can rebound. Um, most of the time that was Cavon Looney, but he can play center and he usually does like when he's on the court. This is the same idea here. You've got a guy who is a looks like I'm not gonna I don't want to write huge checks for this guy to cash, but he looks like he could be a generational type defender.
Yeah.
And he can't shoot.
I mean, at least not yet. Where do you put those guys? Yeah.
Generally,
under the basket just and and he's so strong that
he's strong and has decent amount of verticality. some of the critique of him coming out of the draft. For some reason, they thought he was not athletic because he was heavier, but he can shuffle his feet with anybody.
Oh, yeah.
Cuz he's actually got amazing footwork, especially defensively. Um, he has an 8 foot 10 standing reach.
I I don't get why he's actually und sized. He he is where his head is. But when you look at some players when they're just all neck to get up to like seven feet, it's like why does that matter more than a guy who's actually built like he is?
They're having no problem playing him against centers against seven footers.
He pinned Jared Allen's [ __ ] to the backboard.
Y
I don't know why I'm spelling that out, but like
he is playing big enough.
Let's be clear here. He has been more physical and stronger than the Cavs centers.
Yeah.
If you include Moy in that conversation,
people are already like making these sort of pretty absurd statements like uh I take him over Moy right now.
Yeah.
Like I love the guy. I I I he has the potential. Let's just put it that way. But
yeah, I think he has been unbelievable. He has been clearly the Raptor's second best player. Um, you know, there's another guy that, you know, maybe this is a good way to segue here because we could go on all night about CMBB, but I think we got to spread the love around. I think we got to talk a little bit about R.J. Barrett and kind of why he has been important in this series. Like what have you seen from RJ that you've liked aside from him providing a scoring punch that the Raptors need and just doing what you need him to do his RJ Barrett thing of actually punishing the Cavs guards which helps tire them out. We talked about it last week of a way that the Raptors could help capitalize against the Cavs backcourt is to use somebody like RJ to physically drive them downhill. and that's what he's been doing. That's been fantastic. And then of course, defensively, the Raptors have been using him in a more interesting way than they were earlier in the season where they were just seemingly kind of trying to hide him or they would be having uh like a hedge double kind of next to him, but they've actually been changing it up and and moving them around.
Yeah. I I feel like that we could blend it into kind of what was happen like how they've adjusted some of the coverages like his defense was very problematic in the first two games him and Purle they were kind of being put into this pressure cooker uh the James Harden pick and roll and RJ was doing an okay job counter punching but it was definitely the Raptors were on the losing end of that but they made the adjustment and he has looked a lot better and in a lot of these coverages because he is guarding a lot of the time under the basket like guarding Jared Allen a lot of the time. But what will happen is if they do bring Jared Allen out to screen, they'll just switch that off and then they can have R.J. covering uh James Harden. It's really when the screen is involved in the play, then that is where they're having trouble guarding uh James Harden with um with R.J. In fact, I've actually like he's had a couple of possessions in isolation against Harden where, you know, he uses his kind of physicality, his his very broad body to kind of just bump uh Harden, stop him from getting into the paint. So, I he has not like I don't want to say the guy he's been great defensively, but that's not really the role that he has now that they've moved Jacobe into the starting lineup. Like that was the big Oops.
Whoops. Uh that was the big adjustment that they made was putting Jacobe in the starting lineup so that they don't have a mismatch where um James Harden is being guarded by shed. So now they can have a more comfortable uh like they obviously have R.J. guarding a center which is exploitable but I I think it's worked well enough. And uh on the other end, that's kind of where he is really providing a lot of stability for the Raptors. I find like Ingram has been bad mostly, but there have been some rays of sunshine, whereas R.J. has just sort of provided a consistent stream of paint touches.
Yeah.
Paint touches where he's getting the ball downhill into the paint and then putting up a shot. And a lot of those shots, we were talking about this before the show, you mentioned it. The a lot of those interior shots are becoming offensive rebounds.
Yeah,
those are easy because, you know, when you have uh a CMBB under the basket, he's so good at reading the ball coming off of the rim, he's just able to sort of use his uh longer arms to go and grab that. So, I I really like what he's been doing. He's so crafty and so physical.
Yeah. And and another key part of it is like when Scotty, because he's been fantastic, is cooking offensively and everything, you do want to give him a couple of breaks in between these offensive possessions to not just be running himself ragged doing it. I've watching the Pistons series and stuff and there's there's times where it's like, okay, Cade can't be the guy every single time. So then he gets Tobias Harris involved to try to give him a break while he creates and gives a different look at the defense. R.J. has been able to provide that where it's like, okay, we went this way, we went that way. Okay, and now let's get an RJ drive in there. And boom, they've got the defense collapsing in there. He's he's making a lot of shots. These little floaters he's been making. He had a super efficient um game. Nobody had an efficient game last game, but his third game, highly efficient. Scotty, highly efficient. And that just comes from getting his shots in the right spots. He's not doing anything outside of himself where he's like, "Oh, I'm going to start taking midies or something now." He's doing what RJ Barrett's supposed to do. And it's the Raptors have needed every bit of it with Ingram being so
Yeah. Like the whole thing about R.J. sort of involving himself and creating is that when he gets into the paint like he can really throw his weight around and sort of punish the smaller guards like they have um Sam Merrill guarding him some of the time and on that like penultimate possession or third to last possession he just kind of jammed Merryill under the basket and then uh scored like no matter who is guarding him unless it is I mean I guess Dean Wade like or I mean I'm Jaylen Tyson. I don't know how much they put him on him but that might be a good matchup for the Cavs. I don't know. But
like
his ability to punish the the Cavs guards. It means that the Raptors are kind of playing physically. They're beating up the Cavs guards and beating up the Cavs forwards and their centers and stuff like that.
That's kind of where you want to be. You want to be the hammer. You don't want to be the smaller team in the series where you're constantly getting kind of pushed around and bullied. I'm not surprised that it turned into this crazy rock fight at the end of four games where these guys have just been slamming into one another and kind of just creating chaos. So, I love that. I think that if the Raptors can continue to be the more physical team and, you know, there has to be some luck there, too. I don't think that
the Cavs they're going to come out and put their best foot forward in Cleveland most likely. So
yeah, I I'm just very happy right now.
But yeah, I mean it's it's more of the as as we said last week, they just trying to it's like a a battle of of styles where it's if the first two games were very much more the Cavs style, more of a shootout. Raptors can't play that way. You do not want to play that way. You have to muck it up. You have to drag them down with you. um and play in the mud. And that's very much what last game was. That was insane. Like first quarter 17 to 14.
I I don't know when I've seen that in the playoffs. It's it's
it's crazy. And um both teams super inefficient. Like remember shot 32% or something like that.
Yeah, they shot 32%. Uh if I'm not mistaken, that is the uh the last time a team shot that percentage and won a game was in the 70s. in the playoffs, I believe, which is that feels just completely Toronto Raptors basketball.
And maybe that's a good time to talk about uh this. Did the Raptors play the ultimate Raptors game? Because we know how they like to play. Yeah,
they are a team that is consistently just trying to muck things up and make things sort of get out into transition, turn other teams over, get offensive rebounds, throw your weight around, get offensive foul calls, all that kind of stuff. And all of that happened. All of that. 8-second violation. Like, come on. Exactly.
That is a Raptor special. The 8-second violation that was called in the game. They shot they they're one of the only teams in the league that has a winning record when they shoot under 30% from three. They're eight and four when they shoot under 26% from three, which is like
Yeah,
that that's a weird team and I love that kind of.
Yeah.
Um so, yeah.
Yeah. And I mean last game they had like 60 paint points I want to say compared to I think first game maybe they had about 40 or 38 or something. So they just really start to take it inside and put a lot more pressure on the Cavs bigs and we're seeing the Cavs big fold to that physicality and that pressure which is something that we mentioned before this series happened. I said when we were talking about which series like what opponent would you prefer and I was like I'd prefer Cavs over Knicks because the Cavs front court can be bullied by physicality. The Knicks not so much. Um, so I mean the Raptors are doing that right now with CMBB, with Scotty. Um, Yak getting in there and mucking it up. Looked a lot more physical this game. Um, still not grabbing a ton of rebounds and stuff like that, but you're trying to use him in whatever way you can to not have to play CMBB for for the whole game. Um, so I I mean I mostly liked what I saw out of Yak in that game in his limited usage. He got a one or two blocks. He had a good close out.
Yeah, he he uh knocked the ball loose a couple of times. Yeah,
he he was disruptive. It looked like he got a lot of deflections, fingers on balls and stuff like that. And then he is probably like there's one of the things that I think about uh why they're playing him here is as you said number one they want to give CMBB a breather but they also like he is probably one of their better scoring options where he offers the Toronto Raptors a very high uh like true shooting percentage option when he gets the ball in a certain spot.
Yeah.
They really don't have Yeah. they really don't have another player that can c can give them a possession as efficient as as he can give them. And that happened in the third quarter. He just made a ton of those stupid push shots and those layups and and he got out in transition and stuff like that. And he's making his free throws, too.
So, like I get it. And the thing is is like people don't understand that like there's no backup plan.
Yeah.
You know what I mean? like in the season you can just lose a couple of games and then you know think about the future or you know get a 10day contract guy or something like that. In the playoffs you kind of have to use the tools that you have and if you like put a tool back in the toolbox and don't use them at all you know you're limiting yourself. I feel like what they've got to do is just try and put these guys in better positions and fix the problems rather than just like do the Eay Udoka thing where it's like this guy is [ __ ]
Yeah. Get him out of here.
Get him out of here.
You got to kind of change the dynamic. And they've kind of done that both with R.J. and with Yakob Purle by changing the coverage, which I think has been probably one of the biggest uh you know successes for them this off seasonason. uh or postseason. God, I always get those too confused.
Yeah, I mean it's it's the right way to go about it where it's like, yeah, you couldn't have just given all of Yak's minutes to Mamu because he doesn't offer the exact same things and he would be playing with a little less size everything. I understand why they're doing it and it worked a lot better last game than it did the first couple. Um also because the Cavs were a lot more condensed this game. Like they had game one, game two, they had Jared Allen spread out at the three a lot of times. So Yak would have to step out there and then Jared Allen would be able to blow past him. That didn't really happen so much this game because whether it was just trying to have more rebounding because of all the miss shots that were happening. I don't know. But it was a lot more paint focused of a game which worked in the Raptors favor for sure.
Yeah. I mean like the the paint focus was cuz that nobody could hit any shots, right? because they were just like, "Okay, this isn't working. We got to get points some other way." But maybe we can parlay that into Darko out coaching Kenny Atkinson. Um, I don't want to put too fine a point on it, but I think that he has made an adjustment. Yeah.
That has been very successful and we will see. Like I mean this the book isn't written yet. It's still unfolding. There are the series is tied.
Yeah.
So, if the Cavs go back to Cleveland and they have a new way of fixing the Toronto Raptors coverages, a way of exploiting it that we haven't seen yet, then this could swing right back in Kenny Atkinson's favor. But at this point, Darko has taken a team with much lower expectations with, you know, just happy to be here smile and, you know, they're they're a killing machine right now. they are playing like warriors. So you gotta you gotta give this guy some flowers here. And I think also just like the rotations have been pretty good. Yeah,
you you can't fault him for many of the decisions that he's making in terms of personnel on the floor. A lot of people questioned the Purle reinsertion, including myself. I said, I don't know, like maybe start CMBB. And they started Purle. And while I mean he he's he's letting CMBB close the game, right? So that is what is important here is that who do you have on the floor at the very end of the game? It's CMBB. So let's not, you know,
let's not uh pick hairs here. Split hairs.
Yeah.
Let's not split hairs over what Darko is doing right and wrong. I just feel like the direction of the team is in a positive direction. Yeah. So, yeah,
and it and it feels like so it feels like the Raptors prepared for the Cavs to play a certain way and the Cavs have continued to try to play that way. So like I haven't seen anything too surprising of a change from the Cavs. It's like okay, they're going to keep trying to play through their guards and uh get the pick and roll going whenever they can. That's pretty obvious. That's where their skills are and stuff. Um, you know, spray out to three-point shooters like Stru Merrell when they have the chance. So it's like, okay, and the Cavs are confident in that strategy, so they're going to keep going for it, being like, our shots will fall. That's fine. But it feels like the other way around. The Cavs were like, we can game plan for A, B, and C. And then all of a sudden they're like, what is this D, E? What is this E? What is this F? Who are these guys? Who is Jame Battle? Who is Colin Murray Boyce? They should know about Jameson Battle, but it seemed more like and then now Atinson has to adjust like, okay, how do we cover CMBB? Okay, uh we didn't expect Barnes to be scoring like this. How do we do that while not leaving Ingram too free once we've figured out how how to stop him? It just seems more like uh Atinson is now maybe it's just because the momentum feels this way that Atinson is now the one going, "Okay, how do I get out ahead of his next move?"
Yeah, I think that you always have to be one step ahead, but a lot of the time you're limited by like what you have. And people like I did I do some reading like I was reading what the Cavs were saying on their um on Reddit and all of that kind of stuff and they were like well why aren't they playing uh Keon Ellis? Why aren't they Keon Ellis can't shoot right now and he's too small. Like that is the problem with him and has been the problem with him is that he's like a good point of attack defender.
Yeah.
But he can't guard RJ. Who is he guarding?
Yeah. Exactly.
On the Raptors.
Yeah. He they they have so many guards Yeah.
on their team that they have to sit somebody and he's a guardsized player.
Yeah.
Like Kenny Atkinson is Hamstrong. He has one forward on the roster. Like if you're not counting um Moy as a forward, he's kind of like a big, right? You play him at center a lot of the time, too.
You have uh what's his face there?
You have you have Dean Wade and then Dean Wade.
The closest is using Jaylen Tyson, who is sizing up a bit to be able to do that. Exactly right. And um like even he used Dennis Schroer got a lot of quick points. He was nice offensively but he's small. So the Raptors were like cool punish them right back. RJ drive on him blah blah blah. Soon enough Schroers's running around taking stupid shots and he's out of the game. Like that's fine if you want to go to Schroeder. He's not going to be their best guard option. That's okay. But exactly like Kenny doesn't really have these options in the same way because he's using Merryill to try to guard these like overt taxing his shooters because they've got all these great shooters to try to guard physical Raptors players.
Yeah. And that was like I I said that that's where the Raptors had an advantage before the series started. And it's it's kind of cool to see it play out like in a way that that I kind of thought it might. But I I do like what Darko has done. And I mean, if your team can win a game where your shoot your your team shoots what 17 what was it? 13% from three.
Yeah.
RJ made one three-point shot and Brandon Ingram made three and that's it. Then nobody else made a shot from three-point range, which is nasty. That is crazy. which like we should touch on Jacobe just what is that 0 for7 0 for8 and 0 for six the other game that's going to start falling a bit but I wonder how long he keeps going to him defensively he's been nice
right
but he's bricking a lot but if he starts hitting any of these you start to wonder if Battle's going to get more chance than he does when it comes time to get an offensive punch essentially
yeah the problem with Battle is that he like as soon as he was on the floor That's when they put Shruder on.
Mhm.
And Shruder carved up battle on multiple possessions.
So like he's going to be a target on the other end of the floor.
Uh whereas Jacobe is just like he is outside of Scotty your best option to put onto James Harden or Donovan Mitchell.
So he's going to get a lot of minutes in this series. Like I'm not sure who you would go to outside of Jacobe Walter if you wanted like maybe CMBB honestly. Yeah. like if you needed somebody to guard one of those guys, but
I think he's just like he's too important to to bench right now. You have to have a guy who can guard Donovan Mitchell or James Harden. And if Scotty is sitting on the bench, that guy is uh Jacobe Walter.
Yeah, that is a good point. He was also sick.
He was also
Yeah.
Um ill, so maybe he'll be better by the next game and those shots will start falling. I hope so. Um, maybe we can talk about Ingram because now that we're on the struggle, we'll make this the struggle section of the podcast. Um,
yeah, Ingram is not playing well. I'll just read you the stats that he has in this series.
So, he's averaging 15 points per game, about 35 minutes a game, uh, with four rebounds, two and a half assists on 34% from the field, and 38% from three. So, 38% from three. That's pretty good. 34% from the field is not good. What did you think of his game yesterday? Cuz like if you're just watching the highlights, you might be like, "Oh, that was pretty good game from him."
Okay. I like that he kept shooting.
Yes. Um and you know, empty the clip, go ahead. But he he hit that clutch three off of that CMBB offensive rebound. So it washed away everything else for I was like, I don't even care at this point. You hit the big one. That's awesome. Defensively, he had a couple of nice plays. Um, he showed more effort than he did his first and second game. There was kind of like almost looked like some laziness. It looked like some disengagement I didn't like, but he was a bit more engaged in this game. Um, and
defensively, yeah, for sure. Like he was he was actually guarding the basket, doing some of the things that we've seen in the regular season like
Exactly. He got a nice block. Um, yeah. So, I didn't hate it as much as the other games. There's his shots are going to fall, you hope. And then the he could flip the narrative. I I just am a firm believer in the the internet age has made everybody into a seessaw.
Yeah.
And this guy is a goat or he is a bum. And it's just what have you done for me lately?
Yeah. Yeah,
if he has a good game five, like it doesn't even have to be amazing. If he scores 25 points on 43% from the field and 35% from three, everybody will be right back saying he's he's a good player.
So, I'm not too concerned.
Um well, that's not fair. I I think that I I am concerned that he could lose the Toronto Raptors this series.
Yeah.
My god, he has made so many costly mistakes, plays, turnovers. Um
the bumbling. What is with the bumbling, man?
The doesn't make any sense.
Like I get it. He's not the best ball handler. like not even close, but dribbling off his foot and and stumbling around. What is happening?
No, exactly. Like that that was like what I kept literally yelling. I was just like, "What is going on?" Like, "This is not him, period. He's not a guy who's just like can't stay on his feet, yada yada." No. Like,
yeah. So, yeah, you you have to hope that it's just an aberration and that he figures this out because it's like, are you drunk? What is going on?
Somebody said like, "This is what the floor looks like after uh Brandon hits the pen." Like the and the floor is just like a wave.
Yeah. Him having a bad game on 420 was not a good look. That
Yeah, that's so true.
Yeah. And I I I don't need to hear any more Glorilla quotes about
Oh my god. Did you see this stupid [ __ ] quote that the uh Grock came up with the caption?
No.
Where it said uh on the side that Brandon Ingram's Glorilla uh quote boosts the Raptors to a victory over the Cavs in game four. I'm like, what?
No, the hell it did not. It just took two stories that are in the press about the Raptors. Yeah.
Brandon Ingram and the game that happened and they're like, "These things must be related." So, put it together here.
God, I hate AI.
Oh my gosh.
Oh, yeah. What were you talking about? Oh, yeah. Brandon Ingram. Okay. So, my thoughts on him. I think like the concerning thing is like falling down constantly. That is annoying.
Yeah.
And weird. But I feel like the shots he's taking are the shots that he made during the season. And those shots are similar to how a three-point shot has a lot of variance to it. Long twos also are a higher variance shot as well, which is why, you know, he can look like a goat on one night, like the goat on one night, and the next one he looks like a goat. And he is, you know, I think do like isn't that a gambling term? you're due if you just keep going broke because I don't know it has to regress to the mean and level out and this guy has done this for almost a decade he has hit these shots so
surely surely
surely some regression to the mean is going to happen right script writers
or is that progression to the mean I don't exactly know how it works in that way but yes don't be too obvious about it script writers
yeah exactly We don't actually be very obvious. Subtlety is for boring writers. You can make give him a 45 point game performance. Uh in game five, which now I I want to mention one thing is that the Raptors extended this series without any help from Scott Foster. He was bouncing around the league doing his extender thing and he was not called in to help the Raptors. Why would he? But the Raptors did it on their own.
That's true. They did not need any outside help. I mean, Adam Silver was in attendance. He was probably the one responsible for all of those BS calls against the Raptors.
Yeah.
God, his Did you He had the most boring like his interview thing. I muted it.
I I like muted it with my brain. Like, have you ever like you've had a boring teacher where you just sit there and the words through your brain and don't leave a trace? That's what happened with him. I know he talked about the NCAA. I think he talked about the WNBA. Why don't any of I know that because they're employees of the league. Uh but I need to hear somebody ask him some difficult questions.
Yeah.
Like why am I seeing you know a FanDuel ad every other commercial? Yeah. Like is that something what's happening with the Clippers investigation?
Yeah. Exactly. What's happened with that hammering for all these things?
Yeah. Exactly. Uh anyway, we're getting too far a field here. Uh what can we talk? Oh yes, we're we're in the bad section of the podcast. The one skip over Emanuel Quickley is out for the whole series. Uh he the plantar fascitis that became a hamstring injury and now he is out for the whole series.
I think we said it.
Yeah.
Last week we said something like probably not going to see him the next couple of games and now it's just confirmed like he's not. he reinjured it in the ramp up process or something which is my whole concern was like if it's if it's not ready ready at all don't put them on the floor. We're seeing guys tear their ACL's and their Achilles and everything just like that. The last thing you want to do is put him on the floor 10 minutes later he tears his ACL tears his Achilles and then he's out for the next summer, the next year or whatever and you've got $32 million of dead cap. You can't trade it. He can't play. he's got to suffer through this injury. It's the last thing you want to do. It's the better thing to just keep him on ice. Whatever. It would be great if he could have come back. You can't.
Yeah. You roll with the punches.
You're 100% correct. The The last thing that they need, like I know that like I am now invested in this series in a way that I wasn't prior to those two wins. And I want to see them succeed and I want them to to be successful. I want them to get to the next round. Frankly, I I if what's happening uh in the 1 to8 bracket is any, you know, like the the Pistons are vulnerable.
Yeah.
They have some weaknesses and a big physical team like the Orlando Magic is giving them some trouble. Like, can the Toronto Raptors take either of those teams in in a series? Like, I think so.
Yeah.
This why not go for it this season?
Yeah. But at the same time, like the the whole thing about like Quickly is on the books for a long time.
Yeah.
If they screw this guy's leg up.
Yeah.
And he's out for the next season, that's an albatross. It is basically your franchise is is I I want I don't want to say hamstrung, but they are significantly held back by this this contract.
Yeah.
So, do what you need to do. if he needs to sit out the rest of the playoffs, I would rather him do that than have the situation I just described where he he is or what you described where he like tears his ACL or like screws his leg up some other way.
Yeah. And then you can forget about like any deals you might have been working through to trade him like that just won't happen.
Yeah. Even if you don't want him on the team.
Yeah. It's just it would be a bad all around. So, you know what? You have to keep running with running a sophomore in your sophomore or rookie in your starting lineup. It's crazy, but you're doing it and you've won a couple games doing it. I think um there's a chance that next game they'll go back to Jamal Shed as a starter because he had some big moments. Jacobe missed a bit of shots. I don't know, but they like Jacobe in that matchup defending. Either way, you're playing a young guy in position of like either way they're stepping up for their starting point guard who is expecting to be there. So, I appreciate either of them for coming in there and being like, "Okay, now I have to guard a guy who's played 175 playoff games." Uh, I have to guard a 30 point per game playoff scorer. It's crazy, but it's amazing experience that Shed, Jacobe, Colin, these guys are all getting as a cost of quickly missing time.
Yeah, I think it is. there is an element for them to grow, to get better, to experience the postseason, to make a name for themselves. Like, here's the thing is that a lot of the time people's first time being exposed to Raptors players is through the playoffs.
Yeah. And if you want your assets to be valuable, like the prestige zone, uh, where like in LA or the Celtics or any of the other marquee franchises that are constantly in the playoffs, those players become more valuable as a result of being there. And like, think about R.J., what he is doing for his value. Like we just sort of biged him up. And one of the reasons that he's having such a great series is that, you know, James Harden and uh Donovan Mitchell are guarding him. They're not good defenders. So like you can get these things where you sort of rapidly uh you know, grow the the worth of your assets just by being in in the playoffs. So I don't think it's necessarily a you know it's it's all about the draft. Of course, the their the draft is how the Toronto Raptors got their two best players, the Scotty Barnes and uh CMBB, but also you can get uh a decent return on investment if one of your role players has a good series. Uh I think that should be uh something that you consider when you're looking at uh sort of the benefits for being in the playoffs.
Exactly. Yeah.
Speaking of which, watch this transition. Jameson Battle. People will see this guy pop off in that game and he will be a talking point. People will mention his name. This is a guy that the Toronto Raptors picked up just out of thin air. He was on their uh summer league roster and he shot the ball well and they were like, "Okay, let's bring him to training camp." This is a guy who I remember watching and I was like, "Oh, okay. This guy can shoot the ball. I like this." And he's pretty big, too. Mhm. And then the years go by, like two years, uh, with the Toronto Raptors, and he is in game three just pulling the Toronto Raptors out of the fire.
Yeah. That was one of the craziest experiences from a Raptors role player I've ever seen.
Yeah. What were your emotions just just seeing this guy go nuclear in game?
So fired up, dude. like like I I constantly repost this tweet that I had from Jameson Battle's first summer league uh game, so whatever 2024 or whatever, where he hit a couple shots and I was like, I would run through a wall for this Jameson Battle. This guy is awesome. And he continues to just like deliver, especially against the Cavs. Like he had that flawless whatever 20point game uh the second time the Raptors beat the Cavs this year.
I think so. I think you're right. the the second time they were like super injury ravaged.
Yeah.
Raptors were putting in this kind of doldrum performance and they were getting dogwalked by role players and stuff and he had to come in with the Superman cape on and literally just pull the fire.
Yeah. He's a weapon that it literally might strike fear into the Cavs when they see him on the court and they go, "We can't leave him open. He straight up cannot because he's been a Cavs killer." So, it'll be interesting to see how he gets deployed the rest of it. I know he missed his shots in in this game. Everybody missed their shots. I think the Raptors might have done something to maybe blame the game the arena staff for messing up both rims because nobody get a shot.
Blame Toronto Saturday night and the 1:00 p.m. uh start time.
Yeah. Yeah,
I think that like the game started getting better uh during the day as their hangovers wore off.
Yeah,
they started the game at 1:00 probably still feeling the effects from the the night before.
I mean, as they progressed through the game, they kind of worked themselves back into uh sobriety. So
yeah, I it's it's crazy that they even do these 1 pm playoff games because it's like players play most of the season playing at 700 p.m. 8:00 p.m. and that's what their traditional, you know, they're they're creatures of habit. That's what they prepare for and then all of a sudden it's an early game. You get maybe two or three early games throughout the year, but it's not the same like preparation like Ingram was talking about the amount of sleep he's trying to get and everything. It's like messes you up a bit. It's a curveball.
He can't be giving answers like that. I know. All of his answers have just been like, "Take this guy's mic away."
The RJ questioner, he's like, "This guy, he's just, you know, he's a scrub. He's like, nobody nobody rates him. He's uh this guy."
You're waiting for the like the followup to bring it in and just like, but actually, he's proving everybody like Yeah.
Yeah. I was like, "Oh my god, you can't do that." That's like something you'd see in the office where a person accidentally humiliates their coworker by saying that they stink and he forgets the mic is on and he Yeah, exactly. Right.
Yeah. But um
pretty funny.
I don't know how we got to this topic from uh Jameson Battle, but I do want to kind of talk about Jameson Battle
Like banging those shots. I um, I am not like the hugest. Like I know that you're big on Jameson Battle, and there's some people in the fan base who are like, "This guy is the—it's criminal that they're not using him." And I don't know. Like, in game four, he did get cooked by Dennis Schröder. But the game three, where I think that this is kind of what Darko has done really well in this series, is that he does give things a chance, and he does try and, you know, make those little micro adjustments. Taking Ingram out in game three and replacing him with Jameson Battle was like super genius-level stuff.
Yeah. Which do you think he'll let Ingram get that fourth foul? Uh, cuz I, I've seen that bounce around that, oh, it was an easy excuse to keep him out of the game if he has the fourth foul.
Oh, Ingram, don't get your fourth foul.
Exactly. Right.
Imagine if he was like, "Just go out there and go out there. Be aggressive. Don't back off. I, I don't want to see you avoid the foul. Go for it. They're not going to call you. Just go for it."
Sure. Exactly. Ah, dang.
Oh, Brandon, I'm so sorry. And then like, doesn't play him hardly at all in the second half. So, yeah. But and then, yeah, bringing in a, a, you know, a really hot hand in Jameson Battle. But no, I agree. Battle has limitations where like, he is very large, surprisingly for a shooter. He's like six foot seven and like 250 pounds.
Yeah.
Which is crazy, but that means he's not that agile of a defender.
Yeah.
Um, he's like, can be a physical defender somewhat, but he's, he's more of a three than a D. So, sacrifices special. They call the people with either the three or the D, but not both. You call those guys specialists.
Yes. They are the specialists where it's just, they're there for one reason.
Yeah.
And his reason is when you put him in and he's feeling right, he can just make, you know, five shots in a row, four, four of four from three, and just blow a game open.
I was levitating because I got to watch both games, the both the home games with my family, and we were going nuts.
Yeah.
Both of the games. But the Jameson Battle, I was like hooting, screaming, yelling, all of that kind of stuff when he was hitting those shots.
Fist pumping. I'm sure I'm not alone. I, I love that kind of commitment from fandom when you get to have those huge emotions. And you saw the, the crowd, the, the, we should talk about the Scotia Bank Center and the fans actually really showing up. And there was concern that it was like, "Oh, they haven't been in the playoffs in a while and fans are getting priced out, you know."
Yeah, exactly. Right.
And they're only giving you t-shirts once and now they're giving you towels. But the fans really showed up and there were some really good crowd pops and, uh, all the players talked about it, you know, like Colin never, yeah. He's like, "Never had this before." This is like, um, you know, like imagine you're Ingram and you've played in the Smoothie Center or whatever that place is called, the Smoothie Bowl, for your whole career with the unenthusiastic, like, it, it's quite the difference and it's really nice to see that the fans really showed up for it.
Yeah, I think I feel the exact same way. Like I got chills and I, I got like, kind of a little misty when I was seeing the Raptors in that third game. Really just make the fans proud. Like you can tell that the fans are, are really feeding off of what this team does, and really vibes with their kind of, uh, energy.
Like the Toronto Raptors don't play a style of ball that a lot of people consider to be very pretty. They are a run-and-gun team that tries to just kind of like out-hustle you.
Yeah.
But that is like, that's pretty popular in Toronto. Like when I was a Maple Leafs fan years and years ago, I remember that like always the, the most popular players on the Maple Leafs were always the kind of like lunch-pail guys who are trying to, really just beat the other team down physically and impose their will, uh, in that way rather than the guys who are like the big scorers or that kind of stuff. So,
Yeah.
The city likes heart.
Oh, for sure.
You know, and like that 8-second violation that Jamal Shed forced, I was up and screaming. That was a huge moment. That was crazy. Um, like it was such a momentum swing as well. And I think just the whole arena fed off of it, fed back to the team.
Yeah.
Oh, like you, you can tell like these guys are getting hype on the court. Like when Jamal Shed forced that 8-second violation, he was just really like hyped up. And when C.J. B.B. like had that, you know, successful possession against, uh, uh, Donovan Mitchell at the end of the game and he was yelling, like these guys are ready to go and they are definitely feeding off of, uh, the juice that's coming from the stands. So, I, I hope that like, you know, time heals all wounds and even the players like, cuz when Brandon Ingram has been struggling in this series every game, uh, even the first game when he was hot at the beginning of the game, in the second half, he just didn't touch the ball at all. But he's been struggling. The fans gave him some pop when he hit his threes.
Like they have been kind of trying to egg him on and get him going. So, I really feel like this was a successful homestand just from the players, from the fanbase. I think it was a really positive step for this franchise. So, I'm, I'm very proud of that. So,
For sure. And and like, I don't want to disparage the Cleveland Cavs fans or anything like that that's going on in their arena. According to fans online, the dampening the sound on the broadcast. I don't know if that's real,
But
When you have to have consistent social media posts yelling at your fans saying, "Put on the shirt when it's defense, you yell, play defense," like telling them how to fan. I feel like that's not a great sign. The, I like the Raptors approach that was very hands-off where they were just like, you know what you're doing. Here you go. Here's a shirt. Here's a thing.
Here's a towel.
Here's a towel. How are they charging that much for seats and giving you a friggin towel?
It's got a logo on it. These are
I know it's got a logo on it.
Looks like it was spray-painted on.
Yeah.
It just look, it looks like they put a stencil over top of it and just spray-painted it.
It'll be gone in a couple washes.
Yeah.
Yeah. Absolutely. Whereas like Blue Jays, I saw there's like a special ticket that you could get and it's like 60 bucks and you get a Spongebob Blue Jays themed jersey along with it.
That's incredible value. That's a, that's a great product.
Yeah, maybe I'll go to a, a baseball game this season. Um, there's one more thing that I kind of want to discuss about this series. Well, maybe a couple more things, but let's talk about this one first. Uh, possession war success. So, we were kind of harping on about that. In the first two games, they, in the first game, they just got, they turned the ball over more times and they got outrebounded. So, it was just a complete failure. In the second game, they outrebounded the Cavs but they turned the ball over too much.
Mhm.
But in their two homestands, they have won the possession war battle and gummed up the game and made it look gross and really kind of like made the Cavs afraid to make the extra pass. So, I feel like the possession war thing, like that's what you and I were talking about, that the Raptors had to get back to. And it's something that isn't always obvious. Like, you can look at a team and it can be literally confusing for some people. Like, how can you even win a game when the other team shoots better? Like, 36% for the Cavs and 32% for the Raptors, and the Raptors only shot 13% from three. How do you even win that game? It's because the Cavaliers did not get a defensive rebound in the final five minutes. This is a thing that talking point that has gone around social media like wildfire is that they could not secure an offensive rebound in the final five minutes of the game. That you can't win a game like that if the other team just keeps getting their own misses.
It's over.
Yeah.
They're going to score eventually and you're going to run out of time on the clock and you're going to lose.
So, that was the, the scariest part of a Knicks matchup for me. I was like, they're going to lose the possession battle because you can't contend with their offensive rebounding and inevitably you will lose. So, yeah, getting more shots, even if you're not making them at as high of a rate as the other thing, you know, I think in the last game they had maybe 10 or 11 more shots ultimately than the Cavs did. It's, it's how you got to win it if, if you're not the more efficient team.
Yes, exactly. And it feeds into what the Raptors are good at. Like, I've gone over this a bunch of times, but like, when you do turn the other team over a lot, you get to run.
Yeah.
And the Raptors really like that because their half-court offense is so bad. So, like, one hand is feeding the other. You know what I mean? Like, one, you're doing one thing so that you can get the easy baskets that you can't get in, um, in the half-court. And as a result, they play really weird. Like, it is so bizarre. Like, people are like, "How can you even play Jamal Shed?"
Yeah.
He's small and he can't shoot. Like, that's deadly, right? And the answer is, is because he will get you three extra possessions a game.
And it's kind of like that scene in Moneyball. Like, he gets on base. It's like, well, he's shooting like 20% from three and he's a six-foot-tall guard. That shouldn't work. And yet the Toronto Raptors have this way that they play where they are trying to just create as much chaos as possible. And they are trying to, like, the synergy of the team kind of flows from one thing to the other. The high rate of turnovers makes it so that his three-point shooting doesn't matter as much. You don't shoot as many threes in transition. It doesn't matter if he, if he turns the other team over either through a steal or, you know, a kick-ahead or something like that. Who cares if he can shoot or not? It doesn't matter.
Yeah. And the Raptors, the Raptors really like to leak out on those the break up. Like they had, um, I don't remember who passed it. Maybe it was Shed, but the long downfield pass to, um, downcourt pass to Scotty.
That was him. Yeah.
Yeah. Who, who has a great catch radius. He can come down with these balls. The Raptors are consistently risking that pass, right? Where they send one guy, RJ, Scotty, whoever, and they try to make that, uh, long bomb because it's how to get behind the defense. It's how to get a quick cheeky field goal out of it. The Raptors run on makes.
They, they do all this stuff that makes it so impossible for the other team's defense to get comfortable and set up.
Yeah.
Because you don't want to have to play against that.
No. Like, there's so many different ways to win a basketball game.
And it's cool that they've picked one way that, um, of course, it requires like superhuman effort and it requires a lot of like roster. Like, you, you cannot, you can't play this style with any roster. Like, let's just put it that way. You,
They're pulling it off because they have Scotty Barnes, C.J. B.B., and RJ Barrett who's good on the break and can rebound and and and do that kind of stuff. If you tried with this with the, the Cavs roster, it wouldn't be very successful.
So, but like, it forces you to play that way, right? So, if it's not working or the other team, like, we've seen it before, like the Celtics, the Knicks, like they've got the personnel to kind of turn that kind of water, turn, turn off the Raptors water. Yeah. When it comes to creating that kind of chaos. But I feel like to, to, to go back to what I was talking about with, or what we were talking about with the fans, I feel like that kind of play style requires like a sustained like sort of effort level.
Yeah.
And the fans have to reward the team by like continuing to support them when they're trying to do this.
That's true.
And they have. They really have. Like, they, they are cheering when the Raptors are putting in the effort. They are really feeding this team oxygen, uh, to to continue burning, like, and really trying. So,
Yeah.
I just love what I saw.
When you're extra effort causes even just breaking up a pass. Like, if you just get a hand in the passing lane, tipping it out, breaking up a, what would have been maybe an easy basket, and the fans all respond just like, that's going to make you try to make the next play again because you're just feeding off of them. And they're feeding off of you. And it gets to the other team. They get like, the, the weight of that starts to play on you where your mistakes are going to get recognized like crazy by the fans around you. You airball, everyone lets you know. Like, this is the benefit of a home court. So, it'll be really interesting to see how the Raptors can try to keep this going.
I'm worried about that. Like, we're, we're talking about kind of like the feedback loop between the, the, the Raptors and the, uh, the fans. That's not going to be there in Cleveland.
They're going to be trying to ride on the momentum of what they've established so that they can continue to just kind of build their own kind of, you know, good feelings there.
Yeah.
But I, I, I don't know. Like, the, the Cavaliers played really well in their building. In fact, they made it seem like this was going to be a sweep.
Yeah.
So, going back into Cleveland, like, they could just whoop the Raptors. This could just be a beatdown. But I, what I want to see is, number one, how they're going to adjust, how the Cavs can respond to what the Toronto Raptors have done with their coverages, and whether or not they can create an advantage. And I was thinking actually about this. So, like, when we were, when I was thinking about how they can fix their pick-and-roll coverage. So, one of the things that I talked about in my episode today was that I said that they have not been very successful with their lobs into, uh, Allen when RJ is guarding him.
I'm thinking that what the Cavs are going to try and do to exploit that coverage is they are going to try and run plays where they, the play is a decoy. The idea is to get the ball to, uh, Allen, uh, under the basket, right? Because that is such a matchup disadvantage for the Toronto Raptors that if they can just make the, the connective play where they literally just get the ball to Jared Allen in the post, they are going to have like a 70% shot around the rim. So, I think there's going to be a big effort by the Cavs to just identify. They, I, I don't think they want to go through Scotty and through Harden.
They tried that and it's just, he can score, but it's not the type of efficiency that is going to carry you, uh, past the Toronto Raptors, especially if the Raptors continue to win the possession war. They want those big-time, uh, true shooting percentage shots, those really high, uh, uh, efficiency shots. And there's one just staring you in in the face, which is the Allen matchup in the post against RJ Barrett. They can problem-solve and say, like, how do we get the ball to him over and over again? So, they have to make another adjustment to get RJ or to get extra help under the basket. So, that's what I'm kind of worried about.
Yeah, I would, I would expect it. I think that's a good call because neither Allen nor Mobley got it going. They, they combined for 11 points and you're looking at two guys like Mobley led the league in dunks. He, as a dunker spot guy, that's an option that they love to go to. And then Allen, same thing. Like, they were killing the Raptors in the first two games with that little lob to him where you make a paint touch and it's Donovan Mitchell, it's James Harden. It's these guys who have so much gravity that you kind of have to shift over to them and once you come off of Allen, it's a pretty easy dump. So, yeah, that's what I would be worried about too, is, uh, them going, "Okay, what worked easy for us? Let's go back to that."
Yeah. And we were discussing before the episode how like the Cavs bigs are limited when they are the guys who have to to to make a play, but they are talented when they get the ball inside. They can finish. And it really comes down to like, a, can the Cavs guards get the ball in there without turning it over? And, b, um, like, is Kenny Atkinson going to draw up good enough plays to facilitate that happening? Um, I, I think that the Raptors have made a good adjustment, but I feel like the next chess move is to be made by Cleveland and the Raptors are kind of the, the Cavs have serve right now.
Yeah.
They have to hold serve and the Raptors have to kind of weather what they're going to throw at them at Cleveland. So, I would say the Raptors are a bit of a dog here in in Cleveland. Like, even after those two games, uh, where they built up that really sort of feeling of unstoppability when at the end of that game when the vibes were just through the roof, it felt like they were going to win the the remaining games. But I feel like going back to Cleveland is going to be a tough recipe for the Raptors. One thing I want to see is slump busters. Can the Raptors get some guys out of these slumps that they're in? Maybe Purle has that big rebounding game like he did against the Cavs earlier this season.
Yeah.
Maybe Brandon Ingram, those balls where we've seen him make them so many, him make them so many times where he's just shooting two-point shots and they go in. Maybe those start to go in. You know what I mean? Like, I just want to see the Toronto Raptors at least have some kind of advantage that they didn't have in these past two games. I want to see something new from from this team.
Yeah. Like if you can get Mamu going, if he starts hitting some threes, um, or even like if Jacob's threes start falling, these are the things that will make the Cavs have to second guess and go, "Okay, how do we adjust for this new threat as that's happening?" Because yeah, if you just continue to try to go through Scotty and RJ and stuff like that, the Cavs might slowly be starting to figure that out and you're kind of wearing your guys down to the ground doing that. So, yeah, that'll be really interesting to see. Um, and it would, I mean, they're, they're those guys are due, right? The especially Ingram, like, law of averages, it'll, it'll some will start to go. And, um, you know, if, if the Cavs have to make an adjustment and go, "Oh my god, put Dean Wade back on Ingram," then maybe you open Scotty back up more. It, I, it could work in the Raptors' favor. Ingram surely, if he has another bad game, like, how, how many, they can't survive that. He, I think that he has to have at least mediocre games from here on out if the Raptors are to to have a chance to win this series.
They, they have literally dodged so many bullets.
Yeah.
From the Cavs. Like, in that game four, man, every single shot that they took from beyond the arc was like, it felt like I was underneath a knife.
Yeah.
You know what I mean? And they just couldn't hit enough of the shots to punish the Toronto Raptors for having Brandon Ingram be so bad. I feel like if they go back into Cleveland and he has another stinker, they're just going to get their butts whooped. So, what a great way to end a podcast, right? Nothing like a, a little negativity to send you guys off. But hey, if they, if they win, then it's a relief, right?
They're, they're going to win. They're coming in. They're stealing the game. All the pressure is on Cleveland. So, the Raptors are going to march into their town. They're going to take it. And then it's game six and the six. Boom. Series over. Raps move.
All right. Well, you know, leave a comment. Let us know. What do you think? Are the Raptors gonna do a reverse sweep against the Cavaliers? Do you think they're going to have trouble in Cleveland? You know, anything can happen. And, uh, yeah, it's, uh, it's been a really fun series so far. And, uh, we're having a great time covering it. And thank you guys for watching. I think we're going to call it an episode. Tune in next time. We will be dropping another episode on Monday. Um, as long as there isn't. I haven't looked at the schedule, I can be honest. Uh, so, yeah, just catch the episode. We always upload it to Spotify the day afterwards. And, uh, Steve, do you have anything to plug or?
Nope, nothing to plug right now. Um, but, uh, yeah. Yeah, stay tuned to this, guys. And thanks everybody for being here and, uh, engaging in chat and everything. Uh, we'll see you guys next week. Cheers, guys.