I thought this was going to be another blowout. It was looking so good too, then the same issues came back...
Poor defensive rotations, lack of any semblance of an offensive system, and turnovers. When that happens, then the shots stop falling (how many open treys were missed?) and the frustration builds.
It seems the guys play a couple of possessions of good D, then the effort goes. Sometimes despite good D they're going to hit shots, thats okay, they need to stick with it. Without some kind of defensive pressure they arent able to initiate any transition or semi-transition offense. Meanwhile, the Raptors were constantly pushing the ball up and (insert any guard here) was consistently winning 1 on 2 fast breaks against a backpedaling defender.
On the bright side, Kyrie is playing better than he ever has. Despite his own quickness, he cant stay in front of anyone but hes putting in the effort and generating some good things because of that.
The Andy pick and roll is back. The ball gets forced to the roller causing a TO sometimes but this should be expanded to Love as well.
On the other hand, the bench:
Tristan: Has become a disaster with the ball. Unless he has an immediate dunk he should just pass to someone else. Usually he'll catch the ball from 10 feet out, pause for a while, do some kind of semi-spin then throw up a blocked shot or just turn it over outright. Hes actually not playing bad defense but he should be garbage-man only. There's enough other guys on the team to take shots.
Dion: As soon as he figures out hes not starting and will have more of an impact that way, things might turn the corner. Seems to put up a ton of long 2's, and makes like 35%. Hes got the ability to slash and ability to play D which would be much better uses of his skills. He could probably get a ton of open 3s as well but isnt shooting them particularly well this year.
Will Cherry: I hope Delly gets back soon
