Game Recaps & Analysis

Chronicling the Raptors on their title run was a true privilege, though it was not without stress. Starting with the second round against Philadelphia, I wrote up each game for the remainder of the postseason, analyzing what had just happened and how it all fit into the bigger picture of an organization trying to deliver on the massive bet made by an aggressive management team. Being able to dive into game film and crunch the numbers placed the journey into perspective, and in the end this was a special team that fought the emotional ebbs and flows of a playoff run to finally break through.

Never forget that Kyle Lowry outscored Stephen Curry in the final game at Oracle. (Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam did too.)

Second Round: Raptors vs. 76ers

A Game 1 loss to Orlando led to a business-like series win, with Joel Embiid waiting in the second round.

SportsEthos • 14th May 2019

Kawhi Leonard is Inevitable and the Old Raptors Come Through

It’s rare to watch something unfold in real time and declare it to be the “greatest” anything. There’s too much time and too many possibilities to definitively call any one moment the height of achievement. Sunday night gave us an opportunity to throw convention out the window.

SportsEthos • 28th April 2019

Marc Gasol is The Difference & Game 1 Observations

The big story from Game 1 is obviously Kawhi Leonard. The second story from Game 1 is Pascal Siakam. The most important story from Game 1 might just be a guy who had eight points, two rebounds and four assists in 26 minutes.

Marc Gasol has been exactly as advertised for Toronto.

SportsEthos • 30th April 2019

Beyond Shooting Slump, Danny Green Has More to Give

Game 2 was an arduous one. It was the kind of game that the Raptors have yet to be involved in this postseason, and the sort that the Sixers would love to play given their flaky shooting and shaky depth. As the game dragged on that script flipped, with Toronto’s bench getting outscored handily and their shooters largely disappearing.

SportsEthos • 4th May 2019

Now In the Deep End, Raptors Need Decisiveness

One of the main critiques of Dwane Casey as a head coach was his playoff stubbornness. He was too slow to adapt; that the adjustments that eventually came were so haphazard that the Raptors were figuring new things out on the fly with the stakes at their highest. Anyone that watched poor C.J. Miles get roasted by LeBron James and/or Kevin Love time and time again knows why Casey got the axe in the same year he took home Coach of the Year.

SportsEthos • 6th May 2019

Raptors Push the Right Buttons in Game 4

The Raptors were left searching for answers after an embarrassing effort in Game 3.

Beyond Kawhi Leonard’s constant brilliance, the team came up short in multiple facets and wasted another sterling effort from its superstar. From coaching to mindset to simple execution, the other Raptors were simply not good enough.

SportsEthos • 8th May 2019

Kawhi Leonard Looks Human but Raptors Reach Their Platonic Ideal in Game 5

In our look at Game 3 of the series between the Sixers and Raptors, we discussed what Toronto needed to change in order to get back on track following a shellacking in Philadelphia.

Ultimately, the Raptors were leaving too many points on the board by overusing bad bench groups, having their complementary players play far too passively and getting barely any production from anyone not named Kawhi.

SportsEthos • 12th May 2019

Raptors Need to Trust Their Game After Bad Habits Reappear in Game 6

For all the intricacies that fold into any one play of any one game, basketball can boil down to the simplest of conclusions — you’ve got to hit your shots.

The Raptors had another atrocious evening from the field in Thursday’s Game 6, and their struggles allowed all of their bad habits from Game 3 to sneak back into focus. Beyond the points that weren’t scored, the Raptors reverted to an uglier, less-effective form as the scoreboard tilted.

East Finals: Raptors vs. Bucks

A miraculous Game 7 triumph brought the Raptors to a dance with the league's top team.

SportsEthos • 29th May 2019

The Raptors’ Best Players Make History, Where the Final Challenge Awaits

The Toronto Raptors are headed to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.

Their series-ender had shades of Game 5, where the Bucks rode a hot start to a lead that was slowly eroded. Milwaukee’s lead in Game 6 was built on tenuous ground, with Bucks making contested threes and the Raptors bricking open looks. Once it became clear in the second quarter that they wouldn’t be getting unsustainable shooting all night long, it was only a matter of time.

SportsEthos • 17th May 2019

Raptors Will Rue Missed Opportunity After Folding Late in Game 1

Perhaps saying that the Raptors missed an opportunity in Game 1 is overly diplomatic.

It’s too passive, implying that the Raptors failed to take hold of something that was there for the taking. They controlled the game for 36 of its 48 minutes, exerting their will on the league’s top team with a calm command of the court. They did indeed take hold of the game – they also tossed it aside entirely in the fourth quarter.

SportsEthos • 18th May 2019

Pascal Siakam’s Neutralization is an Unfortunate Part of the Process

Pascal Siakam may have put forth his worst effort of the postseason on Friday night, scoring eight points on 4-of-9 shooting before fouling out in 26 minutes, on the same day where he was announced as a finalist for Most Improved Player.

SportsEthos • 21st May 2019

Kawhi Leonard Authors Another Signature Performance in Game 3

Game 3 was stuffed to the brim with talking points and narrative arcs, providing us with dozens upon dozens of threads to chase. It was rarely pretty, but it was closely contested and brought a new level of intensity out of both participants. It was a game whose physicality was delivered to placate the people who complain about things being tougher in the 90s.

SportsEthos • 23rd May 2019

Out of Necessity, Raptors Find Their Team Game to Take Game 4

Kawhi Leonard has been the MVP of the postseason, and it’s not much of a debate. Aside from one illness-related, 16-point outing against the Magic, Leonard has been front and center for the Raptors, carrying the load to an uncomfortable yet astounding degree.

It was more of the same in Game 3 against Milwaukee, even as Leonard played 50 of his career-high 52 minutes while dealing with an obvious left leg injury. Leonard played the entire fourth quarter and all 10 minutes of overtime, scoring 36 points and putting another punctuation mark on his playoff run.

SportsEthos • 25th May 2019

Fred VanVleet’s Game 5 Indicative of Something More for Raptors

Fred VanVleet made up for lost time in Game 5.

VanVleet had struggled mightily over his playoff run, adding to the Raptors’ depth problem and furthering the “one-man team” narrative that had taken hold after Kawhi Leonard’s individual dominance had bailed the team out repeatedly.

NBA Finals: Raptors vs. Warriors

The Raptors enter their first NBA Finals, facing off against a dynasty in its prime.

SportsEthos • 21st June 2019

Raptors Push Back On the Narratives in Improbable Run to Title

The Toronto Raptors are NBA Champions.

SportsEthos • 2nd June 2019

Pascal Siakam Could Be the Focal Point of the Finals

Most of the Raptors’ postseason story has been defined by which player steps up alongside the ever-brilliant Kawhi Leonard. It’s been a rotating cast of characters, with Kyle Lowry, Marc Gasol, Fred VanVleet, Serge Ibaka and Norman Powell all stepping up over the course of the last two rounds of the playoffs.

SportsEthos • 5th June 2019

Raptors Defense Being Pushed to New Limits

Coming out of the halftime break, the Warriors ripped off an 18-0 run that ultimately delivered a series-tying Game 2 victory.

It was a classic Warriors stretch with a relatively new flavor. Golden State absolutely blitzed the Raptors but only hit four 3-pointers in the frame. Despite their vaunted shooters, the Warriors ground Toronto down with precision cuts and timing plays, turning one of the league’s top defenses into Swiss cheese.

SportsEthos • 7th June 2019

Raptors Backcourt Steps Up in Game 3

The Raptors were staring at a gift from the heavens in Game 3. The opportunity to take a game on the road with the Warriors missing two of their six All-Stars qualifies as a must-win. Facing a never-ending stream of terrible takes had they lost (and a limited amount of terrible takes even in victory), the Raptors took care of business to take a 2-1 lead in the Finals.

SportsEthos • 9th June 2019

Discipline Shines Through as Raptors Move to Brink of History

Discipline manifests itself in many forms, but it has become the Raptors’ defining trait. Sometimes it emerges in the form of patience, others in trust and others still in assurance. It is their steady commitment to the craft, their resolute belief in doing things “their way,” that has put them one win away from a championship.

The Raptors know who they are and what they need to be in every moment, and it is a demeanor that extends from the top down.

SportsEthos • 13th June 2019

Raptors Need to Re-Prove Their Resilience After Draining Game 5

Monday represented an incredible opportunity for the Raptors. They had a chance to dispatch one of the greatest teams of all time in five games, collecting their elusive first championship and sending the fans home happy.

They failed. Even with the flamethrower version of Kevin Durant departing early, the Raptors could not quite close. It is the sort of situation that haunts the franchise’s torturous history – the Raptors are the masters of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

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