Topic: NBA Thread: Brought To You By The Tampa Bay Raptors Of Toronto

[Soren]

It's an Achilles. Holy crap this sucks.

[Soren]

Also, I wasn't watching the game live because I was watching Squeenix's E3 event but holy **** Toronto fans non-stop cheering of KD's injury is downright despicable.

[BeautifulShy]

Emotional response by Bob Myers on KDs injury.

Linky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrB5ObKXWaE

[BlackNMild2k1]

OMG. Does Steph always hunt for fouls this badly, and whine and complain when he doesn't get them?
A few of those shot attempts were Houston level BSery.

(I kid you not, I've lost some respect for him this series. The guy has so much pure talent that the flopping and contortions detract from.)

When you constantly get mauled and the Refs apparently never notice and never give you the call, you start to exaggerate it. Curry has a fat ass scar across his chest from a foul that I didn't see called. Klay has one similar, and if you watch the game closely, you will know that Curry and Klay are constantly fouled w/o a call being made.
Klay got slapped on the elbow during a 3pt shot tonite and they gave the ball to Toronto. He pleaded his case, but somehow the refs missed it. I don't know how often Klay misses a shot that bad without the ball being challenged, but replay showed it was clearly a foul on the shot.

But we won. 1 more game in Oracle.
Bringing it back to the Bay one more time. I can only hope we win it all for Durant.
otherwise his sacrifice is pointless. We gotta win this next one, and then the one after that as well.

[ejamer]

Also, I wasn't watching the game live because I was watching Squeenix's E3 event but holy **** Toronto fans non-stop cheering of KD's injury is downright despicable.

Totally agree.

The only defense is that many of the people who can afford those tickets don't represent real Raptor fans. Instead it's a lot of "who's who" of Toronto (and beyond), the well-off people who are coming for the spectacle instead of the basketball.  That's not an excuse - there is no excuse for cheering when someone goes down with a serious injury - but it was a pretty disgusting moment.

...
When you constantly get mauled and the Refs apparently never notice and never give you the call, you start to exaggerate it. Curry has a fat ass scar across his chest from a foul that I didn't see called. Klay has one similar, and if you watch the game closely, you will know that Curry and Klay are constantly fouled w/o a call being made.
Klay got slapped on the elbow during a 3pt shot tonite and they gave the ball to Toronto. He pleaded his case, but somehow the refs missed it. I don't know how often Klay misses a shot that bad without the ball being challenged, but replay showed it was clearly a foul on the shot.
...

You've seen how GS play defense right? Those missed calls (and fouls that shouldn't have been called) go both ways. But the way Klay handles his business and the way that Curry feints and flops hunting fouls isn't comparable.

I won't defend Harden hunting for fouls instead of trying to rely on his talent; I'm not going to defend Curry doing the same thing. (Curry does do it less often, but that almost makes it more noticeable.)

[Adrock]

Kevin Durant potentially injuring his Achilles was a concern that was discussed on ESPN’s Hoop Collective podcast before Game 5. After practice, Brian Windhorst saw him with ice on his calf and Achilles. Clearly, Durant loves playing basketball, but someone in the Warriors organization should have put their foot down and forced him not to play.

It’s a shame. Analysts and armchair GMs would have questioned his toughness had he not played. After getting injured, I bet they’re waxing about how he should have been more careful etc. etc.

[nickmitch]

There was some press about the Warriors being "frustrated" with his progress, but I remember that being kinda vague.  Like was it a frustration that he was still hurt or just that he wasn't toughing it out?  Not being specific makes it seem more like the latter to me, but either way it implied the team was in a rush to get him back out there.  And then they rushed him out there, so it seems.

[Soren]

There's a weird narrative as well. Kerr washed his hands immediately last night and deferred to Bob Myers. So it makes sense that there was a lot of uncertainty going into the game. Add to that the Kawakami report over the weekend talking about "player discontent" and it's a very messy situation.

The thing I want to know is did Durant understand the potential for re-injury was high? Because if he did then it's hard to really assign blame within the organization. But if trainers or staff withheld information from him then the **** has really hit the fan.

[ShyGuy]

This is turning into quite the drama.

[BeautifulShy]

Everyone is making a bigger deal of this than it is. It seems this recent injury is different from the one he had a month back.  He was good to go and the only concern was that he would of tweaked the leg going into game 5 in the interview with Kerr before Game 5.   He was good to go with practice and he did practice with the younger/lower mins players the day before game 5 so he was ready.   

As to Kerr brushing it off to Myers, Myers was in the back and knew more about the situation since ya know Kerr was coaching the game when Durant went back into the locker room.  Just let things lie until we know more about the situation aside from what we know about the Achilles after one day.

[Adrock]

I’m no scientician. However, my understanding is that the injuries can be related. If Durant’s calf was still not 100%, playing on it would cause more strain on other parts of his body such as the Achilles. Like they’re compensating for a weaker body part and doing more than they were meant to do thus further injury. Additionally, I’ve read that Achilles injuries can be kooky. You could step off the curb, feeling perfectly fine, then boom, your Achilles explodes.

[BeautifulShy]

Not talking about the Achilles injury itself, yes obviously that is serious.

I was more talking about some of the responses on how the Warrior's orginazation rushed Durant back on the court and that they knew more than they did and just wanted him on the court. Not a fan of those hot takes.

[Soren]

As to Kerr brushing it off to Myers, Myers was in the back and knew more about the situation since ya know Kerr was coaching the game when Durant went back into the locker room.  Just let things lie until we know more about the situation aside from what we know about the Achilles after one day.

Kerr was asked if he had any regrets about putting Durant back in the series and he shut down the reporter by saying "I'm going to leave that to Bob". Even if his intent wasn't to start **** he did it anyway by handing off the question in such a manner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-V2fwvY8Wo - the sequence starts around minute 1:45.

[Adrock]

So I just found out that Drake has a $750,000 watch that can display, among other things, "I lust to devour your pussy." That's in my brain now so I want the Warriors to win this series because I don't want Drake to be happy. Ever.

I don't care how good 0 to 100 is.

[nickmitch]

But Adrock, listen. The mixtape he might drop if the Raptors win could be epic. Anything could happen.

But! What if Pusha T, in an effort to rain on Drake's self-insertion into the Raptor's championship parade, decides to drop the rumored follow up diss he had planned last summer?

Suspense!

[ejamer]

Oh no! Last two minute report from game 5 confirms that Gasol should have been awarded two free throws after getting fouled by Cousins on his drive attempt in the final minute. Raptors should have won!

(Not to be taken seriously. This changes nothing. Calls are missed all through the game, on both sides. Gasol should have gone up stronger. Curry and Thompson put up 9 points in the final minutes compared to 2 for the entire Toronto team. Focusing on one missed call at the end of the game - even in a close game with high stakes - would be pretty silly.)

[Soren]

https://twitter.com/NickFriedell/status/1138895352893923329?s=20

The more Kerr opens his mouth, the more I grow to mistrust the Dubs staff/trainers.

[ejamer]

Any hot takes for the game tonight, or picks to win? 

It's really hard to imagine the Warriors losing 3 in a row to close out Roaracle (is that how you'd spell it?) Center. And yet I expect the Raptors to bounce back from a mostly sub-par game and play much better. Tough call...

I'll say that Toronto closes out the series tonight with a tough-fought win. Partly because I'm terrified of a reinvigorated Warriors team coming back to Toronto for game 7, knowing they are one win away from a historic championship moment. Partly because I think the Raptors let the last game slip away and will come in more focused this time around.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I'm hoping the Splash Bros put up one helluva show for the last outing at Oracle
but that's for nothing if the bench doesn't show up.

Dray has to be on point, Iggy gotta be productive, Livvy needs to hit his short shots, and Cousins NEEDS to Shaq on fools.
If Boogie can find some way to BEAST in the paint and stop flopping and not hopping to flail the ball looking for a foul instead of a guaranteed basket, he will draw fouls and help defender. This will open things of for quick touch passes to an open Steph or Klay running around the court.

I think this will be a good one, but the Warriors will have a breakout quarter and seal up Oracle with one last win in the building.

the ghost of KD's Achilles will haunt Toronto for the remainder of this series. That will be the Karmic Kurse of the fan response from the KD injury last game. Toronto will have to make a sacrifice to tip the Karmic scales back to even.

[ejamer]

...
the ghost of KD's Achilles will haunt Toronto for the remainder of this series. That will be the Karmic Kurse of the fan response from the KD injury last game. Toronto will have to make a sacrifice to tip the Karmic scales back to even.

Can we sacrifice some of the rich, faux fans who know jack-all about basketball but spend thousands on tickets while the heart-and-soul of fandom stands outside (or watches the game from home, since the Joe Blo bandwagoners have made even standing outside in Jurassic Park impossible)?  I mean, they were the fools who didn't understand what a non-contact injury like that meant and were making our whole country look bad.

(It's like this for the Warriors too, isn't it?  That's what I assumed after game 4 when all the "fans" were streaming to the exits down 9 points with about 2 minutes left... despite having a couple of the best shooters EVER on the floor. I mean, the Splash Bros were in almost the same situation for game 5 and proceeded to hit 3 very wet triples to win the game. Have these people never seen Reggie kill the Knicks?)

[Soren]

The Oracle die-hards have long since been priced out. Anyone who goes to the games now is basically just chasing trends and looking to be seen rather actually going to see a game.

[BeautifulShy]

I feel like Steph and Klay are going to go all out and score but it won't be enough for the Raptors balanced scoring.  Raptors win by 10.

[BeautifulShy]

At the half it is 60-57 Raptors and the Raptors are shooting the 3 more efficiently than game 5 and that is keeping them in it. Lowry is the leading scorer with Klay just behind him with 18.  The second half is going to be interesting.

[ejamer]

Lowry looks pissed off about having his shot blocked in game 5.
Klay is just amazing.

What a game so far!  Not a defensive showcase, but both teams are just flying.

[Soren]

OH FOR ****'S SAKE