The Toronto Raptors beat the Houston Rockets 116-109 behind big scoring nights from Fred VanVleet and OG Anunoby, and complete nights from Thaddeus Young and Otto Porter Jr. off the bench.
Here I give you my 3 key take aways, and my final thoughts as the Raptors head into a soft spot of their schedule.
CHAPTERS
0:00- INTRO
0:53- Thaddeus Proves the point
3:15- Another Hero fourth quarter from ‘Freddy All-Star’
8:58 – It’s time for Justin Champagnie and Jeff Dowtin Jr.
14:24- FINAL THOUGHTS
The upstart 2-9 Rockets were the worst of the 4 teams the Raptors are expected to face over a stretch which includes a back-to-back against the OKC Thunder and Indiana Pacers, and finally a showdown with former bench boss Dwayne Casey’s athletic Detroit Pistons.
If the Raptors continue to play disconnected hero ball, they’re in for a world of hurt in at least one of those games. These are talented teams and down Pascal Siakam AND with Scottie Barnes injured, the Raptors will not have a talent advantage on any of those teams.
God speed Raptors nation.
26 Comments
Can you make a video comparing prime Kyle Lowry to this version of Fred vanvleet?
Pistons is a scheduled loss. Until Raptors can beat Casey, it till be a bet on the Pistons.
Fred: hits a 3 in the 4th
Me: man 4th quarter Fred is different!!!
You: sir you are dumb
Me: oh
Keeping it 100% on Fred
So glad Thad got some good run. He is like a small ball Marc Gasol for this team, he just makes the offense so much easier with his short roll and post passing, and his screening ability, and although he's not their most athletic defender at this point, he doesn't make mistakes, and protects the rim better than you'd expect for his size. He fits really well alongside some of their core players, Fred, OG and Gary especially.
Trent Jr is making quicker decisions and not overdribbling…that's been the biggest difference in his game this season
The last three games Fred's + 19, Scotties +17 but plus minus is a bs stat anyway. Instead of cherrypicking to suit the narrative lets look at some real stats. VanVleet averaging 18.8 Scottie 14.2. Rebounds, Scottie 6.7 pg Fred 3.9. Assists Fred 7.2 pg Scottie 5.0. Steals Fred 2.3 pg Scottie 0.8. Blocks Fred 0.8 pg Scottie 0.5. Turnovers Fred 1.2 pg Scottie 2.0. Assists to turnovers Fred 5.91/1 Scottie 2.5/1. Effective field goal % Fred 52.6% Scottie 51.4%. True shooting % Fred 57% Scottie 53.3%. PIE Fred 12.9 Scottie 11.3. Usage Fred 19.8% Scottie 19.9%.
@Bobby Great work as usual. Get some sunshine 😉
Agree with you 100%
Huge Nick Nurse fan, with his scheming and creativity.. However his player usage im not a fan of.
1. Fred minutes need to be cut. Especially if he continues hero ball , i would yank him right away. Killing flow of game. Surprised no ones called him out 2 years.
2. Rest Barnes ankle please, is no one worried about long term repercussions.
3. Echoing your sentiment to play more intelligent players like Champagne and Dowtin.. Imagine those 2 with Thad and Porter of the bench..
Correction: Stojakovic never played on Toronto, Turkuglu did..
So Kapono and Dell Curry were are best shooters..
We have a bench this year vs last year. In the playoffs though, when the rotation gets shortened I wonder where the cutoff will happen?
Banton was red hot this summer, and he seems lukewarm in the official season, hmmm?
Great video as always.
Why Trent junior had 4 assists in the first half? Because Nurse watched your video Rob, and he showed it to VV, and asked Trent junior to help play making. VV of course knew what is at stake for him.
Achiuwa playing not well that's unfortunate. I think the potential contract to come up gets the better of him. And Raptors overcrowded front court makes him worried about being buried. This is tough, Raptors somehow need to trade some front court players for a good point guard who can speed inside and dish out.
Finally, Otto excelled, this gave me extra satisfaction knowing how warriors missed him.
Another great video Robert. Always learn a lot from you as sometimes i think you are watching a different game than me. After watching your analysis, i understand what i have missed while watching the game. Totally agree on all your points. I loved Dowtin when i first saw him playing in the summer league. He could be our best point guard if given the opportunities. Hope Justin gets some minutes now that we have few injuries specially on the bench with Kem and unfortunately Precious. Looking forward to your next video. Keep up the good work.
Missed the game. Thanks for the update
You are such a nerd. Most likely never ever played driveway ball nevertheless competitive ball of any kind. It all just analytics for you. But I love Raptors content and your videos at least give me pause and something to think about.
When van Vleet isn't hiding or playing injured, he's shooting 50% from 3…lol…you should not lose a game ever with that no matter what. He has a knack . One minute I think he's the worst player in the league. Then somehow he hits half his 3s and long ones too, just like Trey or Steph. Then he sneaks in and makes a crazy steal that just baffles me. He is truly an abomination….and the raptors should never lose when he has a lucky game….but my gawd achuiwa and an injured Barnes can just stink. This team has the ability to freaken dominate with a decent bench showing . But some days it's a real.pizz off . I actually believe that as great as a coach Nurse is, he gets the players so nervous because he's known to pull them out after one little blip. This affects Boucher, Achuiwa, Banton and Flynn a lot. It fuggs up the team more than anything… seriously….Also Dalano Banton and Scottie both had 40 inch vertical…that can be a huge benefit if used right
What about Dowtin's weak defense?
I would add that I didn't like Fred's first quarter, either. I LOVED most of his 2nd and 3rd quarters. When Fred and Scottie sat in the first and Banton came on, he made a bunch of good stuff happen in his first 2 minutes. Then he kind of disappeared. But the game complexion changed after that first substitution, and it was for the better.
Scottie's defense is easily explained by his wonky ankle. You can play through injury and still fake it on offense. But you can't cheat on defense. Any mobility issues are super magnified. We know Scottie can defend. We've seen him lock up players this season. It's far more likely that he just can't move like he needs to right now than he has forgotten how to play defense.
I'd love to see Dowtin and Champagnie get a shot. It would boost their development and also light a fire under Chris Boucher. We know that sometimes he needs to be challenged.
I'm 100% with you about Otto and Thad. I thought both of them were amazing. Thad was channeling some Draymond Green and Otto was doing exactly what he did for the Warriors last season. Both were legitimate difference-makers whose impact was camouflaged in the box score. They were everything that a second unit should be.
Make point 3
Gtj's development is so steady and consistent.
i absolutely agree also Freddie's hero ball has been one of the cause for the rise of my sugar levels.
Love your content, Robert.
I'm now a big believer in your Fred Vanvleet slander – the team would be so much better with a PG who distributes and can set up the other guys more effectively than he does. He just requires the ball in his hands too much when you've got a roster with this much talent. Let's throw him in a trade package with a ton of picks this year while his value is high for Shai or De'Arron Fox.
Hey Robert, I came across your channel a few weeks ago, and from the get-go was extremely impressed with what you have to offer. A couple of videos in, and I felt it's already undisputable that this is the best Raptors channel out there — and I watch most of them. And this isn't to disrespect the other channels, but you bring perspectives that other Raptors channels don't often provide, and do it consistently, without forcing enthusiasm to connect with viewers better. The tone of your channel and delivery, from the articulation, to the ability to dissect the bigger picture is very refreshing.
I really like how you are critical of FVV and Siakam. Many out there do discuss their shortcomings, but often get wowed by their stellar performances if they have eye-popping stat lines, but miss all the intricate details that people often miss (such as FVV not able to make simple passes, and how other broadcasters will point this out, etc). You are on point with your analysis of Scottie and Koloko, and that we really do need to play through Scottie — albeit needs to be rested for at least a week or so — and refrain from ball dominant moments to Freddy as much as possible, to allow him to flourish in the half court while playing off-ball like how he was most successful in the 2019 Championship run. I don't think ppl realize this, and perhaps still blinded from the hangover of that run, and have not noticed that our offense looks more and more like the Casey offensive schemes, with iso-heavy matchup hunting offense, and for the Casey years, quite frankly, put our team in the worst possible position to win, and only clawing out of each series due to raw talent (don't even get me started on Casey and his shortcomings lol). We don't have a KD, or Kobe, and should NOT be running iso's like it's going out of style. Also playing through Thad more will encourage more ball movement, more quality looks, so our 2 stars don't feel like they're forced to play hero ball.
It's encouraging to see how involved you are with trying to connect with your fans commenting as much as possible, and I would add this: if they don't like your content due to them hating on the fact that you're super critical of FVV and Siakam, it's okay Robert, don't stress about it, if they stay on your channel long enough, your arguments will eventually get through to them, because all they see is how well the regular season goes, but ultimately will see those shortcomings in the playoffs, if NN decides to play the same brand of basketball offensively. It will be glaringly obvious then. What I'm getting at is you keep doing you, and everything will fall into place.
It must have been quite the past few weeks, with how much time you have poured into your videos, and thinking of how to deliver the content that makes the most sense for you and your channel. One thing I'd like to note is for your transitions between clips, perhaps adding a second or so in between the clips would allow the viewers to breathe for a second, and also distinguish between each one. I recall in the Detail series, everything just felt a bit rushed, and a momentary gap, including silence, would do wonders. I think once you figure it all out, everything will flow much better and won't need to spend thaat many hours per video.
As your channel grows which clearly it will, so long as you keep pumping out quality thoughtful content out, I think adding a Discord for the channel would help too (I did a quick google search to no avail). This will allow a Pensare Community to establish itself, which will also present more content ideas/talking points for you, and also help you communicate to your most dedicated fans more efficiently, should they expect a delay from your videos for whatever reason, etc. And not sure if you ever go on the RealGM Raptors forum, but it's always interesting to see what other's thoughts are, and could be a way to subtly promote your channel as well lol
Lastly, never forget to continue to have fun with this channel, we all enjoy it clearly, so don't burn yourself out, and mistakes will inevitably happen, so don't stress about it too much.
I look forward to all new content in future videos ! Keep up the good work !
Nice video….again
I see the exact same things in FVV game that you do. He could be a net positive coming off the bench as a shooting guard. He is not a point guard, and he is not a starter. But he is elevated by the media (Jack and crew), and you are right. It is really really annoying. It's annoying because when no-one calls it out it just continues. Fred's game is noticably holding the team back. He's been anointed part of "the core" that will take them to a championship. I only believe that is true if he takes on a more narrowly defined role.
your Thad and Koloko videos are great, can you keep your Fred bullshit away from these fucking videos though? honestly man you're fucking exhausting, I thought this was about Thad. is every video going to be you talking about shit Fred from now on? you barely talk about Thad in this video it's fucking insane. be honest with your video titles.