The title defense was off to a good start.
(PHOTO CREDIT: John Solokowski/USA Today.)
The reigning, defending NBA champion Toronto Raptors are not as talented as last year’s. Anyone that watches basketball can tell you that. NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard went home to Los Angeles to join the Clippers. But the Raptors fans seem at peace with it. After all, a lot of them didn’t seem to think it would work out in the summer of 2018. Fast forward to the end of spring of 2019 and here were the Raptors, holding the trophy with Kawhi leading them to the promised land. So while it’s disappointing that he left Canada, the Raptors fan base seem okay with it because Kawhi got them the elusive title no other team could get them.
So yeah, Kawhi is gone as he and his new team battled the Lakers to see who the better team in Los Angeles is. Meanwhile, today’s Raptors were collecting the jewelry that every team strives for every year. Less talented? Yes. Disrespected? Of course. Will that stop them? They might as well NOT play the games if they did.
I said yesterday that Toronto Raptors are still a REALLY good team. Not championship good but still really good. I’m sure the Raptors heard that from all sides and that’s what will fuel them throughout the season. A certain former Houston Rockets head coach once said, “Don’t ever underestimate the heart of a champion.” And I feel like everyone, including me, is doing that.
The heart and soul of the team, Kyle Lowry, knows it. He ain’t a dumb jock. Hell, he wrote about the disrespect on the Player’s Tribune. And he may be right; the Raptors may never get the respect they deserve for various reasons (history, location, etc.). But they ain’t laying down for anybody.
Pascal Siakam is the next designated franchise player for the defending champs and he showed that against the New Orleans Pelicans in the first game of the season. He scored 34 points before fouling out. But what of Fred VanVleet? He also scored 34 points. Siakam and VanVleet teamed up for a key 7-0 run in regulation to erase a late six-point deficit. And then VanVleet made a three in OT with 88 seconds left to put the dinosaurs up five.
Pascal Siakam may still be raw but the talent is undeniable. Fred VanVleet is probably better than we all think. Kyle Lowry will do ANYTHING to win. And we still got stabilizers in the middle with Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka.
Sure, they don’t have as much firepower with Kawhi off the team. But they’re going to scoff at everyone’s disrespect and let us know that the NBA title is still going to go through the North.
Bullet Passes
*Nickeil Alexander-Walker of the Pelicans, who happens to be Shai Gilgeous-Alexander‘s cousin, might boost up to the top of my favorite NBA players to watch. He has NO conscience. I don’t care if he goes 1 for 10 (which he actually did). CHUCKERS ARE FUN.
*Of the former 2017 Lakers on the Pellies, Josh Hart impressed me the most. He guarded whoever, had a double-double, and made a clutch three even though he hurt himself earlier in the game with that ankle tweak. We know what Brandon Ingram can do. Lonzo Ball can pass the hell out of the ball but I’d like to see him play more than 25 minutes.
*I know some look at the Lakers/Clippers as a big game. The bragging rights to who’s better. Who really does run L.A.? I simply looked at it as fun. And the Clippers and Lakers fans are going to yap back and forth no matter what time of the year it is, anyway. I prefer to look at the big picture; it’s only the first game of the season. Yes, it will count in the standings and this loss could bite the Lakers at the end. But both teams should be better at the end of the year. And that’s where the stakes will be higher, anyway. Especially if they face each other in a playoff series.
*Geez. With the way the Lakers were posting up (and, honestly, I was good with that), you would think that they were bringing the ’90s back (I DO LOVE ME SOME ’90s). However, they didn’t really mix things up. You got some good roll men in JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard. USE THEM.
*By the way, we sorta forgot this because he didn’t play 21 of the last 36 games of the season but Anthony Davis is really, really good.
*Are you kidding me with that Clippers bench? We know what Lou Williams can do (he’s won three Sixth Man awards). Montrezl Harrell probably would have won last year if it wasn’t for Lou. Moe Harkless is a pest defensively. And JaMychal Green is a dog inside.
*Like I said, I picked the Clippers to win the title. Whoops. There I go disrespecting Toronto again.
Hey, #NBATwitter
Tuesday night really was the Raptors’ night.
Most points tonight:
Siakam – 34
VanVleet – 34
Leonard – 30
Green – 28How fitting is that on the night the Raptors raised their championship banner?
— Vivek Jacob (@VivekMJacob) October 23, 2019
Watch This Play
Well, this actually has TWO.
(VIDEO CREDIT: Bleacher Report.)
It’s LeBron James doing some offense (a soaring dunk at nearly age 35) and defense (the signature chasedown block). The dunk was actually my favorite play on Tuesday. But we’d be fools to ignore the chasedown block.
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
TNLP on FaceBook.