[Eastern Conference Semifinals] (2)Toronto vs. (3)Miami

Whiteside got punked by Valunciunas tonight. And Spo needs to come up with better plays than ISO-JOE.

 

I know I'm preaching to the choir, but god I hate Jon Barry doing PBP.

 

good outcome. Glad the series is tied.

 

Guy is always lecturing players/teams/coaches on how they're not playing smart and not doing what he would do. Barry is a turd of negativity.

 

Demar and Kyle did their best to choke this game off

They gotta play better

 

We once had Kyle Lowry and Goran Dragic and Demarre Carroll

 

Barry: "Why Are they doing this?!?? Why? WHY!? They should NOT be doing this! They should do it MY WAY, the RIGHT WAY. GOSHHHHH"

 

And half the stuff he says doesn't even make sense or contradicts exactly what is happening on the court. He's so dumb I'm surprised he hasn't accidentally burned his foot on George Foreman grill.

Ironically, I think Brent Barry is pretty good.

 

to be fair, that sounds like most game threads ive visited (including this one) :grin:

 

I seriously do not understand why they ran almost every single OT play for ISO JOE when Dragic was playing well and creating. If they were going to run ISO anything, at least go ISO Wade. Damnit Trollstra.

 

Every team Joe Johnson has ever played on does that **** and it never works.

 

I know, but why do they do it? Does he have some magical spell on them that makes them think it'll work this time around?

 

Actually, the Suns never ran that play for him. He can thank Steve Nash for all the money he's made.

 

since that obviously included 16 straight with lebron, i checked and lebron is up to 23 with a chance to extend it with 2 games in atlanta coming up. maybe it's not as uncommon as i think, but both streaks seem like long streaks.

 

This game was so sad. Dragic goes out to get stitches and all Heat can muster in his absence are Wade and Johnson ISO. Granted, they both were good in 3rd quarter, but how much did they miss earlier? Combined they needed 39 shots for 34 points.

To be fair, Dragic had 4 turnovers, so not everything went his way either. Lowry and DeRozan were even worse than Wade and Iso-Joe, but luckily they have 8 other teammates on court who are passing them the ball. 11 turnovers in 1st quarter, SMH...

Miami will have to get their s*** back together if they want to win 2 at home. Nice to see Dragon is still roaring though, especially after taking a beating.

 

Dragic impresses me more and more each game. I'm still not quite ready to say he's better than Lowry since the regular season still means quite a bit and there are some legit injury concerns regardin Kyle's elbow, but man... I think I've been a bit too harsh on him. Dragic just showed up when it really mattered. Without him, Raptors would lead this series 2-0 despite their backcourt playing like ****.

 

Well I'm glad you're coming around. Not to take anything from Lowry, he's a beast. But I've repeating myself like for 2 seasons now that all Dragic needs is a right role to play in (that's why he's a role player, albeit a very good one). He found that role in PHX in his All-NBA season and it seems like he's finally finding his groove now in Miami, too.

Look at Batum, for example...he's been good before, but this was his best season by far. It was especially surprising because he sucked so much in his last season with Portland. When asked how could he turn it around so quickly, he said new coach gave him free hands and he could play to his strenghts first time in his NBA career.

Dragic makes people around him better (Channing Frye and Gerald Green are prime examples), just like his menthor Nash did (anyone remembers how good Gortat looked in his last season with PHX?). But only if people let him. The interesting thing is while he may be the most important player on his team, he is not necessarily their best player as he lets others thrive in this high-paced offence he is running. That's what I like about him the most.

If only his confidence was this high whole season and his defense a bit better.

 

I love the Raptors fans but cannot stand their team. DeRozan is a choker of historic proportions.

Neither of these teams will make the Cavs break a sweat.

 

Valanciunas has been a beast in the playoffs.

PER36:
18.3 PPG
14.9 RPG (24.0 TRB%)
1.9 BPG
1.1 APG
1.2 SPG

27.4 PER
59.3 TS%
.260 WS/48

121 ORTG
97 DRTG

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Lowry is 1st player in shot clock era with 9 straight playoff games shooting under 40% while taking 10 or more shots.</p>&mdash; Micah Adams (@MicahAdams13) <a href="https://twitter.com/MicahAdams13/status/728420617649803264">May 6, 2016</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Raptors have 1 assist in the 2nd half</p>&mdash; ESPN Stats &amp; Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/728414431902879744">May 6, 2016</a></blockquote>
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