Official Game Thread: Raptors at Hawks

[lethalweapon3]

 

“But, OG… what about Scarves?”

 

I don’t have much to share ahead of today’s game, where the Toronto Raptors hope to leapfrog the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA East standings (8 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, TSN up in Maple Leaf Country) after playing the yo-yo’d Kevin Durant in Brooklyn last night. I do have one small rant.

With everything going on ahead of the start to this whack-a-doodle NBA season, I really didn’t have major wishes, aside from hoping the Hawks would start out looking like a Play-in threat in the East, and by season’s end, a Playoffs threat that no higher-seed wants to see coming. So far, m’kay, even with the foreseeable swoon of this Hell Week.

But there is one, really big, super-duper wish for this season that I want sitting under my NBA tree.

Under no circumstances should Central Florida get the opportunity to host NBA Finals games. Again.

Here in Atlanta, we had to jet our Thrashers to Manitoba after zero playoff victories in 12 seasons. Meanwhile, over in Tampa Bay last September, Lightning fans were thrilled to watch their team, all the way up in Canada, hoisting Lord Stanley’s Cup, for the second time in their history, no less. It’s early, but it appears as if they’re well on their way to a return trip to the NHL’s championship round this season, too.

Our Bravos got blocked out of the World Series for the third-straight season. But over on the American League side, the Rays snuck right in there. And a franchise that never seeks to splurge on anything suddenly had an intere$t in a feller named Ozuna. Thank you, pencil-pushers in some distant Colorado office park, for stepping up on our baseball club’s behalf at the last minute.

Our Falcons vapored off into the ether after reaching the pinnacle of success through almost three quarters of a Superb Owl in 2018. At least we’ve long had the Buccaneers to kick around. Until now.

Look who’s come in from the snow, looking for a salary tax break! None other than our old friend Tom Brady, who found the synchronicity with Tampa Bay’s initials too much of a marketing opportunity to pass up. TB12’s back in the Superb Owl, again. We can be happy the Saints didn’t make it, I suppose. Thanks a bunch, Tom Terrific.

Oh, and where are this year’s grand football festivity being held?

All because of one measly little ice storm and a sketchy Buckhead murder case, Uncle Arthur had to blow down a perfectly fine domed stadium (at least I think he did; I couldn’t see past the MARTA bus) and, for a nice dash of luck, tear down an old church or two, just to get a Superb Owl back in this town, one won by You Know Who. Tampa has had THREE Superb Owls in that rinky dink Ray J since then! Yes, the same place that will still put your eye out with a cannon-fired mini-football, that seats 6,000 fewer people than Atlanta’s “old” venue. What are they really packing in those Ybor City cigars during the sales pitch?

Uncle Arthur suffered through several unkind cuts in 2020, not just involving his Dainty Birds. He was supposed to get some of that sweet NCAA revenue at The Benz, before the pandemic hit. COVID couldn’t even scramble here fast enough to save Atlanta United from endangering Josef Martinez’s leg.

While the Five Stripes floundered and forced Arthur into Head Coach Firing #1, King Josef’s “children,” Orlando City SC, finally started smelling themselves after all these years. Atlanta’s Floridian foes nearly pulled off the MLS is Back tourney in their own backyard and finally claimed their first MLS Cup playoff win. Josef should be back to resume his reign of terror over Orlando City soon, hopefully if all the MLS players don’t wind up getting locked out.

About that backyard. I thought Disney said this would be a place where all one’s dreams would come true? Florida’s official NBA team (sorry, Magic. At least you made the Playoffs), the Miami heat, would get to “CuLtUrE!” their way through the NBA Bubble, all the way to a Finals matchup with LeBron and Company.

Central Florida got to host a Stanley Cup BOAT parade, World Series games, the Bubble NBA season, playoffs and Finals, the entire WNBA season, playoffs and Finals, the MLS is Back tourney, an MLS Cup playoff game. And tomorrow, the granddaddy of them all -- a Superb Owl, sickly barbers notwithstanding, with the home team in it for the first time ever, led by one very good, crazy-lucky QB seeking what should only be, like, ring #4. All in the past eight months, smack in the middle of a pan pizza.

It is that pan pizza, now stuffed with anchovies, that had Canada telling their nation’s sole NBA team, “I don’t know where you’re going, but you can’t stay here.” Like the MLB’s Blue Jays, the Raptors (10-12, just like the Hawks) and the NBA had to shop around for an All-American venue willing to borrow them. Seattle? Ha-ha, very funny. Louisville? KC? Buffalo? San Diego? Orange County, California?

Masai Ujiri had already moved the entire basketball operations to California, to keep things functional during the then-defending-champion Raptors’ time in the Bubble. But an East Coast arena made more sense for the Eastern Conference club. A place where, if there are to be fans, the protestor quotient would be low. And since there’s no need to replicate Toronto’s climate, a little extra sunshine for the snow-pterodactyls would be nice. Hey, here’s an idea! How about…?

So Tampa catches yet another break. Some sports cities have all the luck. But it’s not supposed to be the town that brought Creamsicles and pewter to our American football color palette. The one saving grace we’ve had is that, up until this past week, it has not been smooth sailing for coach Nick Nurse’s club.

Raptor fans raved about the opportunity to formally make Pascal Siakam their 1-A superstar. But Spicy P was nearly gobbled up faster than a Popeye’s sandwich under all the pressure. Tampa-to went 0-6 with him in the lineup to start the season, its only victory coming against the Knicks as Siakam was benched for a reported “disciplinary measure.”

Pascal was getting to obligatory 20/9/5 per-game splits, but by the time the Raptors fell to 2-8 by blowing a double-digit fourth-quarter lead in Portland, his mediocre 46.3/31.0/75.0 shooting splits were becoming worrisome.

Aaron Baynes is the only burly, prototypical center left around Siakam (Alex Len was, well…), and it’s perhaps the only reason the Baynes Train hasn’t been put in the shed (5.5 PPG in 19 starts, 40.9 FG%). What Pascal has been able to do is the leave the perimeter shooting (12.5% on 3.2 3FGAs/game over last 10 games) to his heady backcourt duo of Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet, while helping OG Anunoby and twizzle-sticked sub Chris Boucher from getting overwhelmed inside.

FVV has been flashy but inconsistent. Nine points (1-for-7 3FGs), 4 TOs and no trips to the line in Sunday’s win over the Magic in Tampa, 54 points (11-for-14 3FGs) two days later, in the Gator State rematch down Interstate 4, 11 points (1-for-9 3FGs) last night. Until recently, Lowry has struggled to force turnovers when he isn’t sacrificing his tuchus drawing charges. VanVleet was a big resigning, but Ujiri’s only free agent addition, besides Baynes, was DeAndre’ Bembry, and only now is the longtime Hawk cracking Nurse’s rotation.

Indicative of the Yboraptors’ woes is when Siakam has a tough time setting up his teammates – Tampa-to is 1-8 when he registers three or fewer assists, a respectful 8-2 conversely, including the loss to the Blazers and last night in perhaps his best performance of the season (33 points, 9-for-10 FGs, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, no TOs @ BRK). Despite Anunoby’s and Boucher’s best efforts, Tampa-to’s team rebounding isn’t potent enough to compensate when any combination of Lowry, VanVleet and Siakam are performing poorly from the field and/or not getting to the free throw line.

One fortune to Tampa-to’s season thus far is they’ve played just three back-to-back series this season, but they’ve dropped both, on the road at Portland and most recently a couple weeks ago by 15 in Indiana (without Siakam, who was missing time with a swollen knee). Anunoby remains out with a calf strain, which ought to help even the odds a bit for a Hawks team that is seemingly disadvantaged due to injuries with everybody they face (Trae Young and Onyeka Okongwu remain questionable; Kevin Huerter remains probable; the other usual suspects remain usual).

The Raps certainly were not built by Ujiri to advance deep through the Eastern Conference Playoffs, not this year. But then again, the Brady Bucs had to win three road games in order to host a Superb Owl, and here we are. It will be best for the rest of the conference, and for my sanity, to keep the Raptors down and looking forward to a return due north next season.

Like sands through the top of the hourglass, Tampa and Central Florida’s sports luck needs to run out, completely, after tomorrow. No Tampa Raptors in The Finals is all I ask of this league! In the meantime, my prop bet money’s on Queen Latifah causing a surprise wardrobe malfunction on Toronto-native and Canadian crooner The Weeknd at Sunday’s halftime show. The parlay: will she tell him, “Don’t worry about it”?

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

"Oh, say, C-D-C...!"

~lw3

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

 

[lethalweapon3]

Escape From New York: COVID-wise, all the Raptors are in the clear.

~lw3

[JTB]

We need this win tonight 

[lethalweapon3]

Probably getting minutes for Nick Nurse today on this back-to-back night will be swingman Paul Watson. The former Hawks 10-day contractee, who helped fill time in the Bubble ahead of Toronto's 2020 playoff run, sat out last night's game in Brooklyn. But he got some brief playing time in the prior five games, his longest stretch in the NBA so far.

also, Fear the Former Fro!

~lw3

[bleachkit]

7 minutes ago, JTB said:

We need this win tonight 

Hell yeah we do.

[lethalweapon3]

From the Hawks' Game Notes: The Hawks seek their first win over the Raps since March 2017 tonight. A Toronto win will even their record in Atlanta (currently 23-24).

Also, the guy we call "E.U." (Everybody's Uncle) around the Lethalhouse, Solomon Hill, and a guy I suspect will be mentioned a few times tonight, Yuta Watanabe, teamed together with the Grizzlies before Hill was sent to Miami last season. Watanabe and our old friend Tyler Cavanaugh played college ball together at GW.

https://www.complex.com/sports/2021/01/yuta-watanabe-making-mark-as-raptors-new-glue-guy

~lw3

[NBASupes]

We need Cam to show up if we want to win tonight. He's the worst 3pt% in the NBA by a mile right now. We need him to trend up. 

[Buzzard]

2 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

We need Cam to show up if we want to win tonight. He's the worst 3pt% in the NBA by a mile right now. We need him to trend up. 

We actually need LP to grow a pair and bench Reddish. Huerter, Snell. and Gallinari should be getting the bulk of the shooters minutes if Hunter is a no go.

[terrell]

10 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

We need Cam to show up if we want to win tonight. He's the worst 3pt% in the NBA by a mile right now. We need him to trend up. 

Is he still getting the start at SF?

[GameTime]

9 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

We actually need LP to grow a pair and bench Reddish. Huerter, Snell. and Gallinari should be getting the bulk of the shooters minutes if Hunter is a no go.

We need LP to stop giving out minute restrictions like we are championship contender.

[NBASupes]

14 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

We actually need LP to grow a pair and bench Reddish. Huerter, Snell. and Gallinari should be getting the bulk of the shooters minutes if Hunter is a no go.

Kevin been garbage defensively and on Trae's level of bad on that end while being a barely positive on offense. He's doing worse than Cam impact wise. Stop watching offensive possessions only. This ain't a damn highlight reel. Snell needs to be getting all of Hill's mins, some of Cam and Kevin's mins

Edited February 7, 2021 by NBASupes

[Buzzard]

4 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Kevin been garbage defensively. He's doing worse than Cam impact wise. 

Don't care one bit when we are dead last in 3P%. Hill in the shooter rotation as well. Huerter, Snell, Hill. Gallinari. Lets see what happens when Reddish gets a DNP for a change. Maybe it lights a fire under his ass.

Edited February 7, 2021 by Buzzard

[Cwell]

8 minutes ago, GameTime said:

We need LP to stop giving out minute restrictions like we are championship contender.

it sounds stupid giving minute restrictions to somebody you never play that many minutes to begin with

[Buzzard]

LP hardheaded and oblivious as ever. Reddish starts and here goes our attempt to be the most inefficient offense in the league for another game, Reddish has been playing like Wiggins on his worse day, but the man cannot see the forest for the trees,

[Carmine]

Good stuff Clint!

[Carmine]

JC comin out hot!

[Carmine]

Turnstile defense but at least our shots are hitting

[Atlantaholic]

9 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

LP hardheaded and oblivious as ever. Reddish starts and here goes our attempt to be the most inefficient offense in the league for another game, Reddish has been playing like Wiggins on his worse day, but the man cannot see the forest for the trees,

So we start Solo? That's not really a much better option like you make it sound.