Toronto Raptors: Game 1 Lessons
By Joshua Howe
The Toronto Raptors dropped Game 1 of the playoffs to a Washington Wizards team that they owned during the regular season. None of that matters now, clearly. As is a common phrase, the playoffs are a different animal.
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Yet the Wiz didn’t do it on their own. They had some help from the host team themselves, from the GM to the coach. As true as it is that the Wizards beat the Raptors, it is equally true that the Raptors beat themselves.
They did this in a few ways. Here are the most salient of them.
1. Cussing Wakens The Truth
Not only did Masai Ujiri get fined $35, 000 for spewing out another curse word at a pre-game rally (this might become an annual thing), but he was made to look even more silly by Paul Pierce when the game was all said and done.
The Truth had a great night, scoring 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and 4-of-7 shooting from deep. He played a lot of minutes for him, cranking out 36 minutes of action in a contest that went to overtime.
Pierce hears everything. The man just knows. Unlike a lot of other players, who legitimately try to tune out the noise of media and fans or pretend to the world that they do, Pierce sucks in everything. He feeds off of haters as if absorbing their violent wills makes him stronger.
Pierce might be the closest thing the league has to a vampire.
Anyway, not only did he make Ujiri look foolish, but he also took the opportunity after the game was over to troll the Toronto Sun for their front page that had taken a shot at him earlier.
Out of all the players in the league, Pierce is the one you never want to talk smack to even if you’re not stepping on the hardwood yourself. He will hear you. And then he will crush your dreams.
2. PLAY JAMES JOHNSON, DANGIT!!!
In the most bizarre postseason coaching decision yet, Dwane Casey opted to not play James Johnson a single minute against the Wizards in Game 1.
The worst part? He gave no good reason as to why. When asked about it, he merely said that the reason Johnson didn’t play was because of matchups. Johnson himself didn’t seem to mind the decision too much, saying that he knows and is comfortable with his role.
Great. So Casey and Johnson don’t mind. But the rest of the world does.
There were multiple times throughout the game that putting Johnson in for his defense would’ve been an excellent idea. For example, when Pierce shifted to the power forward position, that would’ve been a great time to sub James in and let him defend him that way.
Or even when the Raptors were faltering and the Wiz were making runs. It would’ve been nice to have had another capable defender in the game, especially when most of the starters were finding it increasingly difficult to score.
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But nope. Johnson stayed rooted to the bench. It’s moves like that that cost teams games. Things might’ve been completely different had Casey decided to use his versatile small forward.
Now Toronto has lost home court advantage and is already down 1-0.
3. Kyle Lowry Needs to be Kyle Lowry
Wouldn’t you know it? The Raptors don’t play as well when their best player is performing like a smoldering pile of donkey manure.
Lowry played just 33 minutes and had to leave the game early due to fouling out. Bradley Beal even game him a friendly goodbye.
But even before leaving the court, Lowry was stinking things up. He shot just 2-10 from the floor, went 0-4 from three and had only seven points. He did manage to at least grab eight rebounds and dish out four dimes.
Still, there was never a moment where Lowry truly looked like himself. In truth, he hasn’t looked much like an All-Star player since the break. He’s been inconsistent and often comes across as being tired.
He’s the life-blood of the Raptors and without him grinding away, there’s no way Toronto can defeat Washington. He knows it. Everyone knows it.
Look for him to come out blazing in Game 2.