Owner Real Deal Posted December 24, 2011 Owner Report Share Posted December 24, 2011 TIME: 7:00 PM ET TV: NBALP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleveland's Finest Posted December 26, 2011 Report Share Posted December 26, 2011 I'll be at the game tonight, very very excited. It'll be great to see Irving, Thompson, and Casspi together. Should be fun to watch. Go Cavs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Built Ford Tough Posted December 26, 2011 Report Share Posted December 26, 2011 Go Cavs! Agreed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleveland's Finest Posted December 26, 2011 Report Share Posted December 26, 2011 Haha why is that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Built Ford Tough Posted December 26, 2011 Report Share Posted December 26, 2011 (edited) Haha why is that? Big game for Tank Nation. I also really want to see Irving light up the Raps, which should be a given considering he will be going up against Bayderon, the worst defensive point guard duo in the league. http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx144/lillehammer/RasualSmall.jpg Tank commander Rasual Butler is checking in for duty and will be starting tonight in order to lead his troops to victory (failure). MattDevlinRaps Matt Devlin Starters Jose, DD, Butler, Bargnani & Amir...Want to give James Johnson time with 2nd unit & play him at 4 some. Butler has ability shoot 3. Edited December 26, 2011 by Built Ford Tough Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Built Ford Tough Posted December 27, 2011 Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 Bayless doing a great job of commanding the tank after Jose left the game. Hope he keeps it up. On a more serious note, Bargnani played well in the first half. He had a couple of nice defensive plays (mainly hedging on screens) but had a few glaring blunders by being completely unaware of where his man was on the floor. Offensively he took some good shots and with his ability, he usually knocks them down. I've got family over so I haven't been able to pay a lot of attention to the game, so I can't really comment on much more than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted December 27, 2011 Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 Bargs and Calderon have been very impressive with their D, but then again cant get any worst then they were before. The connection between Calderon and Amir has been great,I think they have about 3-4 buckets off the pick and roll, 2 or 3 being allyoops. It has been a block party for the raptors. 3 blocks for James Johnson and 9 in total for the team. The defense that Casey has set has really hit the team. Demar, Bayless, and Barbosa are doing too much. They are forcing too much which is resulting in turnovers and bad shots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Built Ford Tough Posted December 27, 2011 Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 - DeRozan with a nice 4th quarter after being completely invisible, at least from what I saw, in the first 3 quarters. He needs to be more aggressive and look for his own offense like he was in the 4th. He was way too passive for a large majority of the game but when he decided to be aggressive upon entering the game in the 4th he was getting quality looks and creating scoring chances for not only himself, but his teammates as well whether it was from 2nd chance opportunities (by drawing the defense in and creating rebuonds for Amir) or by passing out to the perimeter on his penetration. - Amir showed today just why he became one of my favourite Raptors last season. He is all heart and hustle out there. He never gives up on a play, battles with all of his energy for loose balls and on the glass. He has a great set of hands which enables him to make tough catches in traffic and also makes him a very reliable finisher around the rim. I am glad that Casey decided not to start Magloire just because he is a "true 5". Great game for him with 13 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks. - Calderon also looked great, which was probably the most surprising part of the game for me. He ran the offense better than he has since Bosh was around, his jumper didn't look broken like it has over the past few years and Casey even had him playing active defensively. It was just a good, solid all around game for him and his statline showed that (15 points, 11 assists and 6 rebounds). - Davis was, in my opinion, the best Raptor on the floor tonight. In just 17 minutes he put up 14 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks on a perfect 7-7 from the floor. He had 4 offensive boards and played very well defensively. He struggled a little bit early on in the game fighting for position defensively as he allowed Tristan Thompson to get too deep on a few occasions, but he made the necessary adjustments and kept himself in great defensive position. As the season goes on and his minutes increase I can definitely see him putting up some very impressive numbers. - After a shaky start, Bayless settled in nicely in the 2nd half. He stopped forcing things offensively, did a better job of running the offense and was a big spark in the Raptors taking control of the game and holding off the Cavs run in the early part of the 4th quarter. - To be perfectly honest, the entire team played well tonight. Everybody that played contributed in their own way and the fact that they had 7 players score in double figures and had 34 assists on 42 shots showed just how well they played collectively. As for the Cavs: - Irving really struggled in his debut. He was forcing things offensively and his shot was really off tonight. He did a decent job of creating offense for his teammates and took good care of the ball, which he is known to do. His 7 assists and only 1 turnover were nice to see, but from a scoring and defensive standpoint he looked like an overwhelmed rookie. Still, despite his struggles, you could definitely see the talent in him and I wouldn't be worried about him moving forward. I doubt he sets the league on fire this season, but he is going to have a very good career. - Thompson was very good off of the bench. He did a nice job of fighting for boards, creating energy and finishing around the rim. I liked his game tonight as he was very aggressive and didn't seem intimidated at all. Him and Davis had a very nice battle going on for most of the night and it was very enjoyable to watch. - Jamison looked like crap. He was a ball stopper and chucked some brutal shots in the game. I know his role on the team is to score and they want him to be aggressive offensively, but he went overboard tonight and it hurt his team. - Sessions played really well off of the bench. He was a nice steadying influence for the Cavs and did a really good job of running the offense and picking his spots. When he was forced to create at the end of a possession he did a good job of making something out of nothing. He also did a solid job of creating for his teammates. Him and Irving are going to be a very nice point guard duo this season if you ask me. - Gee provided some nice energy and scoring off of the bench. He didn't force things offensively like Barbosa did for the Raptors and scored the majority of his points within the flow of the offense. It was also great to see him bounce right back up after that nasty fall that he had early in the game. That looked like it could have been very dangerous and luckily he wasn't injured on the play. - Varejao was probably the best Cav on the floor tonight. He played the exact type of game that we have come to expect from him. His motor was going non stop and he never quit on a player. It was really fun to watch two of the best hustle big men going at each other tonight in Varejao and Amir. Now, despite all of the positive things I had to say about the players tonight, make no mistake about it, both of these teams are going to be in for a long season and battling for the top spot in the draft lottery this season. I did see things I liked from both teams, but both are clearly still in for a few more years in the lottery, but I do like the youth on both of these teams. Both do have a fairly bright future ahead of them, especially with the addition of their lottery picks in the 2012 draft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Check my Stats Posted December 27, 2011 Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 Can someone explain why Demar only played 25 minutes? Davis is a stud and has been for a while now, get this dude more run! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Built Ford Tough Posted December 27, 2011 Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 Can someone explain why Demar only played 25 minutes? Davis is a stud and has been for a while now, get this dude more run! Was playing lazy on defense so Casey sat him for most of the 3rd quarter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleveland's Finest Posted December 27, 2011 Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 (edited) Kind of annoyed that Coach Scott put in the starting unit for the final 6 minutes after the secondary unit made it a 3 point game. Tristan looked awesome...if someone told me he would score 14 I'd be pretty surprised. He's got a heck of a word ethic. Jamison went 6 for 20 and Casspi/Parker were not up to par, so Irving had a tough time working with those guys. Gee looked solid and I really think we should play him more. I think he can be a good player in this league. And how can I forget Sessions...great play...showed why he should be starting maybe. Boobie was solid also. Whenever it felt like we could finally tie the game, the Raptors made the shots they needed to to make it a 4 or 6 point game, so we never really had a chance to get back in it. Overall frustrating...but the crowd was great and looking forward to getting a win. Edited December 27, 2011 by Cleveland's Finest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Check my Stats Posted December 27, 2011 Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 Was playing lazy on defense so Casey sat him for most of the 3rd quarter. Accountability???? I almost forgot what that was.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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