A Brickfest vs. the Celtics – LIVE Raptors Reaction w/ Samson

A Brickfest vs. the Celtics – LIVE Raptors Reaction w/ Samson

Hey that’s pretty bad it’s not all the way bad you know because the Celtics are the better team they’re one of the best teams in the league but also just the Raptors keep losing and you can’t stomach that kind of stuff for too long especially since there was hope since it

It seems to Spring Eternal after the trade but that just hasn’t been the case to join me to talk about that game Celtics versus Raptors 105 for the Celtics 96 for the Raptors is our Celtics delegate our Wizards delegate Baker Baker how you doing uh first thoughts after that

Game um well I’m doing well thank you for asking Samson and uh first thoughts of this game uh very very ugly you know to start and uh you know probably to finish as well but you know very grimy game um but uh you know a very very good

Win for Boston um I thought defensively was really the the calling card for this game um you know just switching up the coverages going from Zone to man from Man to Zone you know really just putting the Raptor half court offense in flux and um you know that was kind of what

Turned the tide in this game you know offensively you know they were okay um they were able to just um get by you know 16 to 39 from three will definitely help and all all five of your starters and double figures um yeah so uh it was a very grimy game you

Know credit for the Raptors for you know not giving up you know there certain stretches of that game where it could have got out of hand but you know they they kind of buckled down for some turnovers got themselves back in this game but uh you know a good win for

Boston can you kind of walk me through as far as you know the the Zone with Drew holiday in the middle uh why you thought that was effective in this game it’s so it’s it’s a new wrinkle obvious obviously because you know last year I I

Don’t think they played a ton of Zone and you know this season especially these the past couple weeks you know they’ kind of just Incorporated him in the zone with just him being the free safety him communicating to everybody like telling them where they go and then

You know it’s just like it just it’s causing a lot of problems and it’s very um it’s very weird because you know you’re not used to having a guard in the middle you know kind of just a you just like playing free safety usually it’s a

Wing or a big but um he’s so versatile he’s so smart and um you know the Zone definitely worked today you know it got the Raptors out of their comfort zone um a lot of you know hesitancy whether to shoot whether to pass and uh you know in

That third quarter when I thought Boston came out flat you know I thought their defense really really buckled down and that zone really helped them out to like you know come up with this win Taco nacho battle Channel says I’m convinced if Steph played for the Raptors he’d shoot

34% um a quick stat for anybody so the Raptors were four of 32 on threes tonight this is via Blake Murphy this is only the 17th time in NBA history a team shot that poorly on 32 or more threes and only one team the hard and arrow

Rockets has won a game like that ever it also tops the six of 42 against heat Zone from 201920 as worst three-point shooting night in Raptor history so we’re dealing in some unprecedented areas for the Raptors and what we just talked about that zone is kind of a big

Deal for that because they got to play The Zone a bunch playing Drew in the middle is a great way to quarterback to pressure the ball handling of bigs who catch in the middle of the zone and to also make sure that for the Raptors who are playing like a couple small guards

In Dennis and IQ if they want to enter the ball middle they have larger players on them on the perimeter this makes everything feel more crowded this makes those like middle entry passes way more difficult the bounce pass isn’t as accessible as you might think it is

Because it’s not a big in the middle of the Zone it’s Drew holiday hunting that bounce he can kind of shoot the Gap if that happens he can pressure the catch of like Scotty or Pascal in the middle and so all that stuff is happening when

They go middle and then obviously just I think IQ and Dennis had a tough time finding especially Pascal and Scotty in the middle and then on top of that too you have an uncharacteristic knight from both Scotty and Pascal and Pascal obviously the biggest deal is that you

Know he goes 0 of six from downtown he had I think he was 30 of his last 58 from downtown so on a really hot shooting streak over 18 games he goes 0 for six tonight couple rimmed out but some really bad misses and even within

That too a couple of those faders in the middle of the court that he typically can hit a few of you know we saw there’s been games against the Celtics where he’s hit a lot of those that’s been the bread and butter of their offense especially in clutch time he didn’t

Really make those Scotty unfortunately left stuff on the rim too so the Raptors are relying largely on like Emanuel quickley shot making RJ Barrett shot making and Dennis shudder knifing into the lane towards the end but they aren’t able to rely on Pascal and Scotty to

Kind of lift them out of the doldrums you know 17 for Pascal 10 for Scotty four assists for Pascal two for Scotty it’s that’s tough you know I know that’s the meme is that I say that’s tough but Baker like what were your thoughts from the other side of the Court you like

Hell yeah we’re locking these dudes up yeah um I thought the defense today was like exceptional um uh especially because you know offensively they weren’t able to get it get it going um like they usually do you know missing Jaylen Brown you know he’s really the

Tone Setter of this team you know he kind of gets like in the first quarter in the third quarter he kind of just hunts his own shot he gets it going and then everybody just kind of just picks it up from there but uh you know not

Having him today you know kind of like you know had the offense in a bit of a stall um but you know luckily you know Derek White through holiday those guys are just so good like you know they’re just like able to just uh that is the

Third game in a row that Derek white has been like the Grim Reaper down the stretch against the Raptors yeah he hit the he hit the game winner in the other one and he hit the three in the corner where the Raptors messed up their coverage in the in the playing

Tournament game the Raptor’s first one they played and in this game too he banged that corner three yeah this guy is just and he’s just he’s just money man and also the game in Boston he hits the step back three that was kind of like a little like you know you could

Say it was a little lucky but you know he had some clutch buckets down that game too so um he’s been he’s been very he’s been very good for this team you know um Drew Holliday probably one of his best games of the season um both both offensively and defensively when

The Raptors made their runs he made a lot of big shots um well hitting crucial threes um and then you know many threes as Raptors they you know exactly so um just having a back court as reliable as those two is very it’s very um it’s very it’s a it’s it’s

A big blessing because you know when you when Jason tanum has like a seven shoots goes seven for 19 you know and chrispus only takes six shots like that’s just like and you can lean on those two guys to know pick up the scoring load like

That’s a very big like that’s a very big uh thing to lean on and you know it’s very nice to have but yeah um I credit their defense I think this was a very much defensive minded game from start to finish you know because obviously their

Offense was not like was not clicking at all today so um credit to them for locking that walking down the Flor and but yeah that’s that’s pretty much it yeah there’s a comment from Lil yoyo that says do you think tonight was more about dead legs of the Raptors or the

Raptors just can’t shoot or tired I think that the rap raps have been overperforming their jump shots a little bit lately because you’re getting like Pascal sakim is not a 9% shooter like during his worst stretch this season but he’s not a 60% three-point shooter like

30 for 58 which is a huge run that’s like almost you know that’s like a quarter a fifth of the Season almost of a sample size it’s a really big run good for him but he’s not that level of shooter by the end of the season maybe

He’s hang around like 34 35% RJ Barrett maybe like 36 37 they were getting like 50 plus% from these guys over the last handful of games but you also in this game as we talked about with the zone and also playing a lot of gapping in the

In the in between during like these man possessions um you have Pascal and Scotty having a tough time navigating that middle area you’re not getting the regular points you get out of the mid-range the stuff that they usually get at The Rim is not coming as frequently so they didn’t have that

Backup that counter as a salv in this game so you know Mel says Pascal is checked out that’s a comment here I don’t I think this is just like bad shooting um I think Pascal like actually um I’ve said on the last however many podcasts that Pascal his Lowman defense has actually

Been really toothless for a lot of games so far this season but I thought defensively like he he was he was he did well enough in this game he was part of good defensive units the Raptors as a whole I think actually played very impressive defense tonight so I don’t

Think he’s checked out because he didn’t shoot well from the floor the same way that I don’t think Scotty’s checked out because he only scored 10 points I think sometimes you know the shots don’t drop in now there’s other indicators that everybody can keep looking for but I

Don’t think that’s that there’s a strong correlation there defensively I think that the Raptors did a really good job of making it tough on the Celtics I think they had a really good mix of the coverages that they threw at Jason Tatum seven for 19 is nothing that Jason Tatum doesn’t want to

Talk about this game he had the two big dunks and those like the one is off of like RJ Barrett gets caught up on a screen right the other one he gets pass p kelakam in isolation on the wing and like the two big dunks they punctuate

And so you’re like damn he’s go like he’s going off but he scored 19 points and Baker just popped out the chat so for anything else um welcome back Baker but Tatum only scored 19 points and when you look at Derek white as well Derek

White is for 18 overall five of 11 from three he couldn’t get anything inside the arc I thought that the Raptors as a whole they rotated to the ball pretty quickly they put a lot of help out there and they protected the paint as best they could but the the bad part about

That is like if Drew holiday and Dereck white are gonna be banging threes then there you go yeah so great yeah they threw a lot of double teams a lot of traps um at Tatum porzingis you know I got porzingis out of his out of his game a little bit he had six

Turnovers so uh you know they were able to just uh discombobulate him a little bit and um I thought Tatum had like I thought this wasn’t his one of his best games but I felt like that third quarter when you know it started to get a little

Get away from them a little bit he kind of settled in he had he had those two dunks he had a layup um and you know he kind of was able to get by Chris B nice dump off past the L cornette you know that little stretch got their offense

Flowing and it kind of just reinvigorated the defense a little bit because you know from the six-minute period to the end of the third like the Raptors didn’t score a point so so um it’s small stretches that he he was he was able to display his Brilliance but

Uh yeah they the Raptors did a really good job you know defending him you know getting getting him out of his comfort zone you know sending traps um you know and also porzingis only six shots today but you know he was able to get to the

Line a lot uh um so you know overall you know they played a really good defensive game it’s just you know their offense was uh very anemic you know especially in the second half so uh yeah yeah you know this was a this was a this was a

Very uh defensive minded game um you know this is probably the best the best uh game the Raptors have played defensively in a while um because you know they yeah because like they haven’t really been buckling down on the road trip and uh even before the trade so uh

This is probably their best defensive effort um so far yeah this is just to reiterate something I said at the top of the podcast Koko says we’re also a less than 500 team playing a team at the top of the league yeah like the Celtics are the better

Team if the Raptors won this game that would have been massive even without Jaylen Brown because also the Raptors are missing yaka purle and Gary Trent Jr and yaka purle obviously helps with a lot of defense and some of that stuff on the inside like the Zone may not have

Worked as effectively being able to go to yaka Perle in in the zone then work more high lows off of him because then you know he’s he’s a lot bigger it’s it’s going to be tougher for Drew to bother him up top because he doesn’t have to put the ball down low there’s

Like different avenues that they could have gone there but also Jaylen Brown the way that the Raptors were rotating so heavily towards guys on Ball and you know trying to get back off of it he could have made a killing as well I know sometimes he can be like he can catch

And hold but he can also like make a killing when the defense is til it away from him this Raptor’s team you know now three and five since the trade was originally 3 in one has lost four in a row you know the last game was the evil

Pizza party people are still looking for this singular like positive pizza party but I want to talk about something positive as we’ve been you know you’ve been positive for the Celtics but we’re going to talk positive for the Raptors RJ Barrett let’s do it man what do you

Think you’ve seen a lot of him on the Knicks what do you think about him on the Raptors he’s played really well man um he’s played a lot better than I would think because you know his end the end of his Nick stint he wasn’t really playing his best ball you know he

Started well during the SE in the beginning of the year but you know he wasn’t able to just find his that consistency like he did in the first like cut 10 15 games but you know today he if he if he hits like maybe if he

Goes maybe two for four in this game from three instead of 0 for four like you know this is a a really good game and they probably are in position to win this game or at least you know make it make it more a little bit more

Interesting so uh his his attack he’s attacking the rim really well he’s getting to the left hand whenever he wants yeah um you know uh the mid-range is there you know just around the rim he’s been really good and I thought defensively you know he had his moments

Today um as well so uh you know it’s a very he’s been very uh comfortable to start and you know maybe because he’s home you know maybe because he he’s home he’s eating Osmos out uh in Toronto but uh yeah um he’s he’s been really good you know that

And uh also um you didn’t mention him but Emanuel quickley has been really good too um y so this trade has looked um has looked very positively you know even though you you give up like OG but uh he’s been way better than I thought and I think uh you know moving forward

He’s going to be very very good 10 made shots in the paint tonight this is kind of the thing like I see in the chat people are talking about you know RJ being inconsistent in the past all that kind of stuff but the thing that’s a little bit different about RJ

Currently is that and you know you can appeal to I’ll be doing the Strickland podcast with you know it’s like a Nicks they cover the Knicks over there later on this week but Nicks fans say like oh we haven’t seen this from RJ before like the current stretch he’s having yes he’s

Had you know inconsistent runs of play good you know good stretches but a lot of that was tied to his three-point shooting the fact that he can go out there and have like 24 points on 19 shots in a game like this because he’s getting into the lane with a live

Dribble because he’s cutting off the ball actively because he’s making good reads off of second side actions and he’s making stuff at The Rim I think is a huge indicator like that this is positive progression because of some shot making sure but also because of decision making that elevates his skills

I’ve talked about this on many podcasts so far but a guy who seems to have like a real finishing package who has strength for sure and can get to the rim with the live dribble but just isn’t finishing there has been below average every year of his career how do you

Think you can make those things Elevate with a role change and a context change and he’s just been phenomenal you know somebody made the joke that they said RJ Barrett number one option I mean when I looked at you know Grant it’s been three or two games since I put out the touches

And usage percentages but as far as touches on the Raptor since the trade two games ago it went Scotty IQ Dennis yakob Pascal RJ neither Pascal or RJ have had that much of the ball Pascal had a decent amount RJ had a decent amount tonight but like they’re they’re

Just taking advantage of when they get it a lot recently and with Pascal that was happening before the trade happened and with RJ it obviously just happened after the trade there’s we can’t talk about him on the Raptors until he’s there he’s been so impressive in the decisions he makes like especially when

The Celtics are stunting and St stunts affect me as a player stunts affect NBA players it’s like a guy is suddenly like filling the Gap where you wanted to attack and RJ is like making the right read when hey I have a live dribble a guy filled the

Lane okay have to pull it out reset or there’s a guy leaning he looks like he’s going to be there but maybe it’s a stunt and he’s saying like I’m gonna test it and he just blows through him like you if you want to get in the way of RJ you

Have to come with conviction and that’s been really impressive is that like since teams are more in tune to Scotty and Pascal the backend guys they’re kind of like okay we’re and even Emanuel quickly right they’re like okay we’re going to see what happens but R.J is

Like you got to meet me with the same conviction you’d meet a number one option I might not be a number one option in the NBA but I’m going to bring it to you like I’m trying to score every possession so that is like extremely impressive and the decision- making to me has

Been perfect uh Pascal cakam you saw a bad game I’m curious where you are on him and uh just overall Pascal what you think happens at the trade deadline all that good stuff um you know not his best game today uh you know the jump shot

Jump shot wasn’t going at all you know um he kind of you know all the shots that he usually makes they kind of just rimmed out today um he had a he had a couple of like turnarounds at the at the free throw line where like he usually

Makes them but like um you know they just kind of just rimmed out um but uh you know he had a lot of good looks today they just didn’t go his way so a very rough game for him but uh you know nothing to worry about honestly he’s

Still like he’s still very good um but uh overall um I’m I’m curious to see like where they trade him because you know there are reports that they’re going to definitely move him before the deadline so um I’m interested to see like where he goes um

And you know what they get back for him but um it’s uh it’s tough you know losing a player like that you’re probably not going to get like the the requisite value that he should get um because you know he he is on an expiring and you know there is uncertainty

Whether he’d resign in his new locations so um so yeah it’s it’s a tough situation you know letting a player like that go um and uh you’re probably gonna let him go for like not full market value than what he’s really worth so um you know he he’s still really good he’s

Gonna help with he’s going to help whatever he whatever team he lands on because you know he he provides such a need on both ends of the floor that teams could could use def for sure and um but yeah um it’s very tough you know because you know like if they had

Handled the situation like any differently maybe like you know he’s still on the team or uh maybe instead of like you know 60 cents on the dollar you’re probably getting ad adequate to um adequate to fair value for him if you do end up trading him sure and and an

Interesting comment from Abu who says one foot out the door not even pre pretending to defend at this point I think this is interesting because I think like the the half court performance from the Celtics in this game game was really poor the Raptors had a really good defensive game and

Pascal had good like defending sessions in isolation he was playing against porzingis he made contact early porzingis didn’t have a big rebounding game and Pascal was mostly in the right spots as rotational guy I don’t think this was like this is the correct stance from this game now I’ve talked about in

A lot of my coverage about Pascal’s waning effort defensively but I actually thought Pascal was quite good defensively tonight as was most of the Raptors because again the Celtics are a really good team and the Raptors played really strong half court offense now some of the the transition stuff was a

Little bit tough and that’s a little bit Juiced because of Drew holiday banging threes late in the game but I think like the half court stuff you know outside of like carrying the narrative like I’ve heard this thing about this player I’m gonna say it I think that like Pascal

And the Raptors they played some pretty damn good basketball now of course like you know Scotty got beat in isolation by Jason you know bu got beat Pascal got beat RJ gets stuck on a screen Jason Tatum is incredible he’s gonna he’s gonna wriggle through a few times yeah

And yeah I I like I know people are caught up on some talking points but I think like the reason why the Raptors lost this game and if you were wanting to blame Pascal you can look at the 0 for six from three and say we needed a better shooting performance but the

Effort stuff and that kind of stuff it does not sit on the defensive end of the floor they brought their lunch pail in this game like up and down the roster jonte Porter it wasn’t his best game and you know he was overmatched but he brought his lunch pail same thing with

That same thing with Scotty same thing with Pascal like everyone up and down the roster they brought it they just they also shot the lunch pail you know yeah just like yeah it was tough man yeah if you’re if you’re like if you’re losing the if you’re losing the three Point

Battle by like minus 36 then like you’re not going to you’re not going to win many games where where are you trying to make up that point differential you know like in your mind where do you go and you know what’s kind of funny they also

Lost the free throw battle by seven as well yeah you know it’s just like there go man yeah um yeah just let’s talk about quickly since I have you here you said he had a good game you’ve been impressed it was like a bit of a volume shooting game but the Raptors clearly

You scor 96 points you’re trying to get offense as often and from as many places you can as you can possibly muster what did you think about his response against like a Celtics defense that I think does a really good job of funneling guards does a really good job of like paying

Attention to guards off ball what are your thoughts on his performance um I thought he was very uh just yeah I thought it even though like he didn’t um he shot a lot of he put up a lot of shots today I thought um you know he was aggressive you know he got

To even the shots that he missed you know they were very good looks you know I think he had a three on the on the left on the right wing he was like wide open he just missed that was a lot of the shots that the Raptors took today it

Was a lot of shots that the Raptors took today that they could have easily made but um you know overall you know he’s just being aggressive you know he’s getting a lot more opportunity um on Toronto so uh yeah you know even even though like the game itself it’s eight

For 20 two for seven and three but um you know I thought he was aggressive you know in transition I thought he was he got out and ran very well and you know he’s just like he’s just a weapon to use like if somebody collapses the defense

And he’s wide open for three like that’s like something that they haven’t really had this season so like now they have somebody able to like um take advantage of the of the advantages that Scotty and Pascal can create and you know just having those play finishers like like RJ

And IQ like it’s it’s a very big thing that’s why their offense has like jumped incredibly since the trade and um you know they’re shooting the ball well they’re getting good shots even today like when the shots weren’t even falling I thought today they generated a lot of

Good shots and um you know they just didn’t fall today so um you know he had a good game um you know surely you would like the efficiency to be better but you know at the same time you know not everybody’s making you know enough shots

As it is so you know you kind of have to you know sacrifice a little bit in volume there’s a I think I have to go to my Twitter to find it and credit the person properly but there is something happening with these Raptors and it constantly happens with teams that

Aren’t very good so it’s from Jason Hudson says they just do not fail to disappoint every night we get glimpses but nothing ever sticks we’re also missing leadership on the court too many passive guys I don’t know as much about the passive guys but as far as like

Mentioning like we’re getting glimps but things aren’t really sticking on a game where you manage to buckle down and play some defense the shooting doesn’t translate and on the nights where you were when guys are banging threes and you have it going you can’t buckle down

Like you can look at a game like this at the end and you can throw your hands up and say nobody’s gonna win this game if you shoot that bad from three and you can say that and in a vacuum that’s a perfectly fine stance to take but as far

As the fourth loss in a row you’re looking to find an identity and nothing really sticks game to game and you know the Hallmark of a good team is being able to win a lot of different ways the Hallmark of a bad team is being able to

Lose a lot of different ways Raptors fans you know are well aware of what a really good team looks like they just saw it in the Celtics but you’ve also seen it in the recent past with these Raptors it’s Phoenix play says this team isn’t talented at the end of the day you

Know I think they’re better they’re more talented than their record I think they’re underperforming it but also it’s they’re not a super talented team they have to find an identity they have to be cohesive they have to work in lock step and in unison with one another and

They’re just not able to bring it night tonight the flashes are what you have to hold on to and those flashes mostly for the future reside with Emanuel quickley Scotty Barnes RJ Barrett Pascal cakam we’ll see what happens with him I had a long discussion with Lewis on the last

Raptor weekly podcast and uh you know I came away from it saying like I think the probably the best case scenario for the Raptors is that Pascal is traded somewhere where he has a chance and that the Raptors get stuff back that they like I don’t know exactly how that

Shakes out but that seems like the optimal outcome currently and then the Raptors have the flexibility to try and build a team around Scotty and iQ going forward and RJ who has been so good that he makes you consider like he’s not he’s no longer just like a starter but you

Say like man could this guy be a Lynch pin moving forward that’s the kind of thing so it’s uh it’s been tough they are not able to get consistent effort every spot on the floor every night on a night like this you want to say well hey

They managed to do it they competed against the Celtics and maybe they come out next game and bring that defense again and then they hit the triples but it just as easily could be that they hit some triples and they defend like terrible again that’s kind of it’s tough

Man yeah it’s very tough um you know it’s the inconsistencies over and over you know since last year even you know like there stretches where like you know the defense is good but you know they they can’t score in the half court but uh but you know and you know like they’re

Hitting every three imaginable but like they’re going on the other end they’re like allowing all the any there are a bunch of defensive gaps and guys are hitting wide open shots like it’s just you know it’s it’s it’s it’s this and that it’s the other and you know this

And but like you know they haven’t been able to just string both components you know for a stretch of games and you know for a while you know they’ve been they’ve been trying to just win on offense lately like um try to just outscore teams and you know it kind of

Worked for a little bit but then like you know defensively you know they’re not as stound at the point of attack and you know they’re allowing guys to just get um comfortable on the perimeter and in the paint so um you know it’s it’s tough you know if this team could just

You know get what they did today and just like like just add it to what the success they’ve had on offense this is a really good team but um you know they haven’t been able to show that because you know they haven’t just been able to

Find out like what is our identity what is what we want to do every game like what are we going to lean on when stuff gets tough and you know when the games aren’t when the shots aren’t hitting or like you know we’re not getting com getting good looks on offense like what

Are you g to lean on for your identity you know they’ve kind of struggled to find that you know once this team finds their identity like I feel like they’ll they’ll be really good yeah and an identity that will no doubt revolve around like at this point Scotty and

Emanuel quickly because Pascal cakam is heavily involved in trade talks he’s an expiring player and we’ll see what happens um Richard pilsky says it’s going to be a long month with the seak trade Cloud hanging over us certainly there is a sect that is like looking you

Know wistfully at it and saying like oh I can’t wait till it happens New Era all that kind of stuff don’t begrudge anybody you’re allowed to cheer for the team you like and then there’s a you know people who are maybe like saying well I wonder if they can make it work

With Pascal all that kind of stuff he’s a franchise icon two camps well there’s a bunch of camps but those are the two biggest I I suppose and if anybody’s interested this is at advertisement time downtown Toronto live podcast at rivy last year we sold it out you can go to

Raptors republic.com and get your tickets myself and lisis zatman will be hosting the panels but the panels will have a whole bunch of special guests and we’ll be talking February 6th pre-trade deadline live podcast last year was super awesome was a total blast a bunch of people came out talked basketball amongst themselves

Panel q&as all that kind of stuff and it was really really fun and I can’t wait to do it again and that’s February 6th for anybody who is uh who is interested this team man I re I really wonder what kind of identity they find

Yeah you look you look at him you say and especially you look back at uh Scotty at the start of the Season he’s been a bit out of sorts defensively being like put on the point of attack more often lately lately and especially like he was awesome on the glass in this

Game but he had been averaging less than four rebounds a game since the trade had happened so as far as like that I feel comfortable saying like Scotty good Defender okay number one IQ I think definitely can be a good Defender at the guard position especially with the on

Ball stuff I feel that way RJ I don’t think is there yet Pascal I don’t think has been a good Defender lately we don’t know what this team I think yakob is a good Defender he’s had some ups and downs this season but we don’t really know what it looks like but

If you have a budding star in Scotty at the forward position who can do all the things that we know Scotty can do he’s been the best player on the team so far this year you have Emanuel quickley who isn’t like the type of guard who will

Just get completely run out of a playoff you know series something like that it’s not like he’s the world ending Defender but he won’t get run off that’s a really strong place to start I like that they start there how do you feel about starting there um you know uh

Just starting with that it’s it’s a good start because you know you have a guard you know who’s who’s who has you know what has stretches of good point of attack um you know flashes and also can hit shots on the outside and also has

Some juice you know on pick and roll um you know also RJ Barrett you know he’s a you know he’s not there he’s not OG at the point of attack but you know I think you know with more years and more training and more uh and more um

Experience under his belt I think he could definitely mold himself into it a decent you know point of attack Defender and also on offense you know he’s been very good you know just um just cutting and you know attacking the basket with his left and you know and also Scotty

Barnes who’s been you know amazing this season um if he can just like if he can take another step maybe just add a few more wrinkles into his offensive game game and also you know be a a bit more be a bit less aggressive at the point of

Attack you know be a little bit more like just give the Defenders a little bit of a buffer you know try to use your length and athleticism and don’t try to like just press and uh try to just uh bother opposing Defenders but um it’s

Just um so at that point you know you have a good you have a good mix of you know you have a point you have a point guard you have a two you have a three I think um if you want I think maybe just adding more adding a lot more spacing around

This team could definitely help and you know hopefully you think Grady can maybe turn the corner and just provide that you know fingers crossed but uh uh um obviously you know the future is definitely bright you know if Scott Scotty being good this quickly definitely makes you know everything um

A lot more um a lot more um hopeful because uh you know if he’s a because year three he’s he’s looking like this you know who knows what the future is going to hold for you so um I think just continuing to just add players that fit

Next to him you know IQ and RJ Barrett are two very good um pieces that fit around him and fit in his timeline so um can I can I ask you a question specifically from your point of view Scotty when he has these quiet games like 10 points he had six points the

Other night from your point of view because you’re watching Boston first so fan is going to look at this game and say you know focus on Scotty’s Point his POV for this defensive offensive matchup you’re going to look at it from like what are the Celtics doing to Scotty

Whereas the Raptor Fan’s gonna say what is Scotty not doing like that kind of stuff what did you find it a case of passiveness did you find it uncomfortable in spots did you find that he was limited did you find that he was passive what was your point of view I

Thought it was a mix of you know just you know the Zone was kind of just you know putting him in flux kind of making him you know should I shoot this should I not and I think it was passive this a little bit too a little bit too um in

The last game you know it was C ball like I’m I’m putting it up like because like that was the game I think he had like um I think he shot like 15 threes or something so I seven for 15 yeah seven for 15 so um I feel like this this

Game today he wasn’t really being as aggressive as like he was the last game um just you know constantly putting pressure on the defense and just constantly hunting hunting his shot his own shot and you know today I thought the Celtics you know they they actually

Gave him a lot more attention than they did last game you know when especially when he was coming off screens you know they were pressing up on him you know making sure not allowing a pullup and even on the threes that he did have you know they did a good job just making

Sure he had no air space to shoot and you know just contesting which is the ultimate sign of respect you know he’s made a tremendous leap as a three-point shooter this season so um you know um it’s it’s a tough it’s a tough team to

You know to get your game off against um they threw a lot of different coverages a lot of different looks you know to everybody and you know it just kind of just put put the half court offense for the Raptors and a and a bit of a

Standstill so you know you can’t really um I can’t I you can’t really like um you know blame him for not being aggressive you know because the defense today I thought was very good um but uh at the same time you know you would like him for to be more aggressive you know

Um but uh at the same time you know he did a lot of good things today um you know rebounding you know I thought in the in the shots that he did make he he was very aggressive um and you know uh obviously you know you’re going to have

Games you’re not GNA you’re not going to be super consistent every game you know you’re gonna have like some slow some slow stretches of of of basketball so um you know it’s not the end of the world um I I still I I still believe you know

No matter what the season is I think he’d be on my All-Star ballot um so um for sure and um uh are you voting have you done it they’re coming for you um I haven’t done it yet but uh I I’ll definitely uh try to you’ll have some

You’ll have some fans I think he’s definitely worthy of an All-Star selection um Fenix play Z says I can coach a middle school team to bust a Zone more effectively than this current Raptor coaching Squad I don’t think you could but I think that there’s something

Here I’ve looked at like nurse I I did this breakdown during the 2021-22 season on for the now you know Yahoo sports they no longer have a thing up here for Canada um but anyway I did this video kind of breaking down how the Raptors attack through zones and a lot

Of it is just like pinin screens in the corner or disguised flares they don’t run a ton of cross screens and I think that’s also the case with the Raptors you know now under Darko and I think that cross screens if you have a ball handler like Emanuel quickley can be one

Of the best ways to initiate and bust his own to get into the middle and honestly like if you time it correctly it’s like all about timing the drive with the cut lining those two things up where is Drew being pulled from with a live of dribble where is porzingis

Stepping up from based on that kind of stuff you want to have a read like have a cross screen if they if they play like skinny go wide and then you create different angles to make that pass to the middle if they play wide go skinny punch directly into the middle of it

Start making cuts and see where they respond one guy collapse it from each side there might be a three open we know they aren’t hitting tonight but at least like that’s the process there’s a bit more motion to it whereas the Raptors I think they got stuck in this game above

The break a lot of the time not punching into the middle and I understand it go ahead yeah um I thought like um you know completely like you know quick tangent but like I felt like in that third quarter there was a moment when they

Were up seven I thought I think I think they just got I think they forced another turnover and it’s three onone and you know they turned and Scotty like instead of you know going I think it was maybe IQ on on his right side Scotty in

The middle IQ on the right Pascal on the left and yeah and um you know Tatum’s kind of kind of predicting he go left on the left side but and he you know he guesses right I think that if that’s two points if that’s two points rather than

Just a turnover I think the game completely flips but you know they go on the other end they get two point the Celtics get two points and they stop the run so I felt like that that completely changed the the the momentum in this game but yeah keep keep that that was a

Strong indicator to me that like Scotty was out of sorts in his read against the Celtics defense because Scotty I think is one of the best open court decision makers in the NBA like he’s like Pascal has been a great transition player for years and years and years but he doesn’t

Like hold a candle to Scotty with a live dribble because Scotty with a live dribble the way he pressures the basket with a bit more Force than Pascal is like guys will sit on Pascal and try and contested at the top but Scotty’s going to make you meet his body and he’s going

To pressure the rim and if you keep like you know pedaling back he’ll put you in it he’s really strong you know and to see like that passiveness and then to bail out and have Jason who was already leaning out of the lane to not take it

Into the rim I was surprised and there also a few other playmaking decisions he made in this game that just ended up in uh ended up in turnovers like he had four tonight and I think that’s a big indicator that he was out of sorts not

Just the the lack of volume as a shooter but stuff like that showed up and it was like damn tough game for Scotty still been the the best Raptors player this year still an Allstar but a game he won’t be happy with and I assume he comes back better than ever you know

Against you know Miami and Chicago but we’ll see man but yeah back to the back to the Zone I think that the Raptors could stand to try more stuff but maybe considering precious is gone OG’s gone Malachi’s gone RJ and IQ are in they they’ve practiced twice or

Three times that’s it I think they may not have that many things to like they might not have the structure of the zone that they want to run through or they might not be that comfortable especially with yakam not being there so there’s extenuating circumstances I guess but as

Far as uh excuses hey man you can you can always find excuses uh Andre donates five or I don’t know if donates is the right word Andre gifts five thank you Andre uh for supporting the show um I guess we’ll see what happens but another loss do you have any final thoughts on

This Raptor team and this Celtics game before we get out of here um you know uh on the Zone um you know this this might be a good you know this might be a good way you know when they when they watch film tomorrow because you know Wednesday

They will be playing Miami who is going to run a lot of is going to throw definitely throw out a bunch of own Concepts so you know maybe they learn something from this game you know kind of just Implement those uh those adjustments you know because Miami is a

Heavy Zone team as well so you know while Boston isn’t like a crazy Zone team but you know to this game might be might get them might be able to get them ready for what’s coming on Wednesday but uh other than that um a fun game uh uh

Eight and0 under Missoula against the Raptors um so it’s fun it’s fun that when our chat it’s fun especially because on the lad Celtics fan in our chat so uh you know you know the Raptors I don’t think they’ve won a game in the Atlantic division so far this season

They have it yeah I think I think the and 10 0 and 10 yeah the broadcast said they were 0 and nine coming into this game so uh 0 and 10 now sheesh that’s nasty that’s very bad this team they used to run the Atlantic division man

For a long time they did they got a lot of banners that they don’t end up hanging but like good Lord 0 and 10 0 and 10 is very bad um yeah missou is 0 eight and0 against this team uh in his tenure I think uh which is pretty crazy

To pretty crazy to see but uh your your Celtics are 11 and one in the division yeah I think their only loss was to Philly that was like early y so yeah right and um but yeah it’s it’s it’s nice to get a win against the Raptors uh

Our buddy our buddy our buddy our buddy uh Trey he guaranteed a victory call him Trev call him Trev Trev he guaranteed a win today so I wasn’t able I wasn’t able to respond to that but uh you know um but yeah wow sorry Trey sorry about that man you

Maybe you maybe you can get them to give you like we’re doing a pullup try episode this week maybe you can get them to give you an apology or something like that you’ll have to haggle him wow he guaranteed a win tonight yeah he said we’re gonna win yeah I’m sure

It’s in the it’s in the chat somewhere um it’s in the chat somewhere but yeah I don’t want to I don’t want I don’t want to leave too many too much information I don’t want right yeah no it wasn’t me um okay uh Baker thank you very much for

Hopping on it’s been an absolute blast uh correct me if I’m wrong but your Twitter is Baker fresh 35 off the Dome if anybody wants to follow Baker for insights on Twitter um some about the Raptors more about the Celtics and wizards but lots of stuff about the

Raptors and NBA at large Baker fresh 35 for myself uh the best thing you can Poss possibly do is just subscribe to Raptor Republic come hang out at the live show February 6th it should be an absolute blast and like the video right now as you’re sitting here watching and

Listening it’s totally free it takes no time it helps suggest this conversation to other people helps grow the channel etc for free so thank you thank you thank you um I think that’s about it Joe toy oh go ahead go ahead one more thing uh shout out Samson shout out our buddy

Aspan barini shout out Trayvon Heath uh business M business Mogul uh up and coming upand cominging journalist uh maai Bruce uh um shout out hoop go uh that’s our that’s our that’s our best friend shout out Tim shout out Josh codera um shout out all you guys I love

You guys yeah big big shout out um Joe Tully has a question about darko’s use of the lineup in spite of the short bench I will talk about that next game if it happens again I’ll include this as well but we’re getting out of here Baker thanks for giving all the lovely shout

Outs ingratiating yourself further with the friend group to everybody listening thank you so much for tuning in I hope you enjoyed Baker’s outsid looking in presence I certainly do it’s much easier to talk about these types of games when I’m not sitting by myself being like

Damn they shot four for 32 from three that’s crazy um from myself and Baker thank you to everybody for listening thank you for being so kind and insightful in chat and whether you got into this in the morning or at night have a blessed day and goodbye

Samson Folk details the Raptors loss to the Celtics.