12th November - New Orleans Pelicans @ Toronto Raptors - 6-6
Well, this is gonna be a difficult one.
After cleaning up at home against two bottom-of-the-bin teams, getting our record back to .500, we are on the road against one of the top teams in the league. The Toronto Raptors, fronted now by Kawhi Leonard, have been brilliant so far this season, posting a 12-1 record. Payton and Mirotic are both listed as questionable, so they might play: if I had to guess, I'd say Payton will be back and Mirotic won't, but that's purely speculation.
They are just good all over: They are the 3rd highest scoring team in the league, with the 2nd highest offensive rating and the 8th highest defensive rating. They are 1st in the league in 2pt %age, 4th in defensive rebounding, 5th in steals, 6th in assists, and with only 13.7 a game, they are not a turnover prone team either.
Admittedly, they have had a pretty easy schedule so far: 13 games in, they have played Cleveland, Washington, Sacramento, Phoenix, Dallas, New York Knicks, and Minnesota. Those teams have a combined record of 25-63. So, there is an extent to which they've been beating up on bad teams that you would expect them to win anyway, but they do have some good wins against Boston, Philadelphia, and Utah, so their record isn't a complete rogues gallery.
So, how do we win? It's pretty simple: we play defense, and we score. Their leading scorer is Kawhi Leonard, but I don't think he's the guy we should focus on: instead, that should be Kyle Lowry, who is averaging 17pts and 11 assists on basically 50% from the field. His playmaking is a huge factor of what they do on offense, and if Jrue can do to him what he's done to literally every other guard he's been on this season, that will go a huge way towards negating their offensive strength. On defense, their best player is obviously Kawhi, but Kawhi is not big enough to guard AD or Randle, so if either of those guys can get hot early, we should be able to build a league.
This is a game that looks like we should lose it on paper, and there's no question that it will be difficult, but the potential is there for us to take it away if we play smart, and with discipline. That can sometimes be easier said than done, but it's better than nothing.
Let's hope our team plays the way we know they can, and pulls off a shock win to get over .500! #DoItBig
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Originally Posted by bahmamamba
