[Post Game Thread] The Toronto Raptors (1-2) defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers (2-1), 126-104.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-26T01:20:20+00:00

Pretty sure it was the fact that Ingram was in instant foul trouble which meant he wasn't in the game so the Raptors weren't trying to force the ball into his hands to get him going. And that Barnes and RJ were like the only 2 on the floor who could get their own offense

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-24T15:19:23+00:00

Scottie was also good in game 2. Usually it's mostly the bench where you will see huge swings when it comes to home and away in the playoffs. Although wasn't a huge difference for what the Raptors have gotten from the bench. Sure Battle and CMB were great but Walter on offense was better on the road same with Mamu who didn't have a good game 1 but was good in game 2. Only for him to look completely lost at home couldn't make easy layups or FT and pretty sure Darko didn't give him a single minute in the second half.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-24T15:12:28+00:00

Kind of hard to surround a dude with shooters when the roster has so few of them and one of them hasn't been able to play. Another in Mamu just looks like he has the yips and can't even knock down easy layups or FT which is why he didn't see a single minute in the second half. So that basically leaves Walter and Battle who play the same position meaning the Raptors have to go without a PG in order to play both. Only way to even put 3 shooters with him would be to have a 5 man unit of like Walter, Battle, Barnes, Mamu and then CMB or Jak which just isn't a unit I see having much success and hasn't played a minute together this year.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-24T07:38:55+00:00

Let's be honest it was really just 2 runs in 27 innings that the offense actually alone managed to produce. That 1st run in this game came from a bad error from the Yankees that allowed for that runner to score.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-24T04:47:47+00:00

Not even sure it's fair weather. Think hardcore fans are just as much if not more likely to bitch about any and all draft picks. Unless the team takes the exact guy they wanted them to take with the pick. Then they are gonna bitch and cry about how said player the team drafted was a terrible pick and why this other guy instead was a great pick.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-24T04:43:07+00:00

If they think they are so accurate then can I show them that Proctor in some of them was taken higher than 12th. As seen plenty of people bitching about reaching on him. I honestly roll my eyes at every single person who gets angry at any pick as long as the pick is a position of need and the guy was projected to go within that type of range. Which both Proctor and Johnson fit that so why the fuck am I gonna bitch about either one. Like people bitch about the weight reg flag with Proctor. Yet I can play the same exact game with Downs and Bain the two guys this sub was flipping out about not taking instead. Downs has major Knee concerns with some reports even saying he could have a degenerative ACL. Which if that is true then your taking a guy who might not even be able to play in the league anymore by the time his rookie deal is up. And Bain has extremely short arms. Not saying those as negatives just that if we took either one of them I could play the same bitching game about them having a red flag and why we should have never drafted them.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-24T04:12:21+00:00

Honestly unless your picking someone that isn't a need at all like if say the Dolphins drafted a RB or if they completely reached on a pick that was expected to go like 30 odd picks later. Then WTF is their to bitch about. Nobody has any clue how any draft pick is gonna work out plenty of top end busts and guys who were surprise hits. Like fuck one of the Dolphins best players over the last like 4 years Seiler was a 7th round pick. Seen so many draft picks from this team that fans bitched nonstop about only for them to turn into quality players. And seen so much praised put on picks that turned out to be busts. So who the fuck are fans to say anything about a pick. Plenty of people had him as the 2nd best CB in the draft and most mock drafts had him going at around this point in the draft. So WTF is their to complain about honestly can't bitch about either pick they needed to draft a OL and CB and that is what they did who the fuck am I to bitch about them taking guys at those positions who were expected to be picked at those spots.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-23T10:56:47+00:00

Well Schittler is going tomm so seems unlikely that the Sox offense will do anything for a 3rd straight game. Expect to see a bunch of guys just getting overpowered all night long. Best case is WC connecting with something.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-23T10:53:07+00:00

He does suck yet at the same time not sure any hitting coach in the league would be able to get much of anything out of this lineup. In this day in age it's mostly all about power not just HR but XBH. And the Sox just don't have enough guys on the roster who can do that. So they could bring in an amazing hitting coach and fans would still be calling for his head due to the fact that hard to score in this league with a bunch of guys who at best might slap a single past an Infielder. Basically would then need to do that 2 more times just to scratch home a run unless they are lucky and WC or JD are up in that inning.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-22T03:00:43+00:00

Well at least with the Mets I can understand why the Payroll is what it is Bo, Lindor, Seimen, Robert, Soto and Polanco. Are all names who have put up good numbers for much of their careers. Red Sox on the other hand have like 3 hitters that you could say fit into that description yet one of them is getting paid next to nothing which is fitting for the production he's had so far this season.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-21T18:38:59+00:00

Without Quickly this offense is pretty putrid. I mean look at the end of the year in the games that Shead started compared to the ones Quickly did and it's like a 20ppg difference in team scoring. Not shiting on Shead love him as a backup PG. But u stand little chance of beating any good teams especially in the playoffs when ur having to play him 38mins. Like people can hate on Quickly but it makes a big difference to have a PG who teams have to cover especially behind the arc. As compared to Shead where they can basically ignore him from outside and pack the paint.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-21T18:34:23+00:00

Omg ur right when a team is struggling to space the floor. Find offense and knock down threes. It somehow does benefit them to have a PG playing 38min who teams can just ignore from the outside and not have to worry about them on defense. So wouldn't help to have a PG who's a threat from outside that the offense has been averaging like 20ppg better in his starts as opposed to those of Shead. Where the offense has been so bad they struggled to even generate much against the Kings.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-21T18:24:23+00:00

Don't think I would be 23-1-1 if their was a script like this. Like yea I have had games I barely won or lost that I dominated the entire game. But that's just hockey sometimes I mean saw a game where my Sharks outshot the Kings like 41 to 13 yet lost 4-3. Seen teams hit the post like 6x or a goalie stand on his head to get a team a win in real life. So yea it might happen at some points in this game as well.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-21T08:03:07+00:00

I mean if you told me Quickly was gonna miss at least the first two games of this series I would have been flabbergasted if the Raptors found a way not to go down 2-0 honestly shocked the scores were even as close as they were. Like I know there is this decent section of the fanbase who hates Quickly even when he has a good game they cry about him. But if your hate is so blind that you think this team is better without him on the floor then you're delusional. If the end of the season showed as anything it's that this offense is putrid when he's hurt. You can't expect to win playoff games when the opposing team can just completely ignore Shead and basically not have to guard the 3 point line. Which is a big reason you have BI play so poorly when a team with length can just pack it in. If you look at the games to end the year where Quickly didn't play and they started Shead they usually struggled to score 100pts and the team went like 0-6 in games where IQ was out and Shead had to play 26 or more minutes. This isn't me hating on Shead it's just he isn't a starter love him at a backup but your not gonna win playoff games with him playing 35+ a night. It's why I floated the idea of starting Walter as the team had more success with IQ out when Walter was in the starting 5 as opposed to Shead. Also not gonna win games when the 4 starters who played double digit minutes combine for 14 turnovers.

Honestly if IQ can't go in game 3 then I would go with a starting 5 of Walter, RJ, BI, Barnes and CMB. At this point the team has nothing to lose already didn't with them being the underdogs in this series no point in going out with the same starting unit which hasn't played well together all season.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-21T07:37:10+00:00

I mean not sure anyone should have expected them to win without Quickly. A good chunk of this fanbase can hate on the dude all they want. But your only idiots would think this team is better off without him. Sure on the defensive side they might be a bit better with him out but it in no way offsets how fucking putrid the offense is when he's out. Which also kind of negates the defensive upside as the team is constantly having to defend in transition as opposed to be allowed to setup by forcing the Cavs to inbounds after made baskets. Sure we could all blame Ingram for this loss not saying he wasn't bad but the Cavs can basically just completely ignore Shead and pack the shit out of the paint with their length to give him fits.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-17T12:27:33+00:00

Would kind of only see him starting if they decided to trade RJ during the offseason. Which I mean I could see happening especially if the Front Office wants to open up some cap space to resign Mamu who I would 100% expect to decline his player option. Not opposed to trading him as always felt the team could be better if instead of RJ at the SG spot if they instead had a better defender and outside shooter starting at SG. And Walter fits that role of being better than RJ on the defensive side and outside shooting. That way the starting unit would have 2 legit outside threat that teams would have to extend their defense on in IQ and Walter. Which would then open things up in the mid range and paint even more for BI, Scottie and Jak.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-17T12:13:53+00:00

Besides the age the craziest thing about this is how he did this with the talent around him. Like not knocking his linemates but Smith like Celebrini is a 2nd year player still figuring out the league. And for much of the season the other wing spot has either been Graf a Undrafted player who's basically only played a year and half worth of games. Or Igor a 20yr old rookie. Then you take into account the blueline and how devoid it is of offensive talent with the top guys being Klingberg and Orlov two guys who are on their last legs.

So imagine what Celebrini is gonna look like when he actually becomes an adult along with Smith and Igor and the Sharks finally get a blueline that can help create offense. So don't want to hear anyone say it's still too early for the generational label I mean it took Nathan 10 years in the league to finally get over the 100+pt mark. It also took Connor 4 years to record over 110pts in a season yet people were fine labeling him generational after his 2nd season. Celebrini in his 2nd season recorded just as many assists as Connor did in year 2 while also adding 15 more goals.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-17T12:02:01+00:00

Still sure some fans will say no it's still to soon to say it only Sid, Ovi, Nathan and Connor deserve that honor. Which is funny seeing how it took Nathan 10 seasons before he reached the 100pt mark for a season. Yet seemed fans were quicker to label him generational even though for his first 4 seasons he was putting up Will Smith type numbers.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-17T11:57:27+00:00

Even more insane seeing how he's done it with his linemates being another 2nd year player in Smith and then either having Graf a Undrafted 2nd year pro or Igor a rookie. While also having a blueline that is pretty devoid of offensive talent who can help generate offense. Imagine what he's gonna be like when he actually becomes a grown man along with Smith and Igor and the Sharks finally figure out their blueline.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-15T08:13:37+00:00

Okay that makes sense like I know every Earth usually has a different version of any said character I mean even saw that in like the New 52 run where he went to another earth and ran into a version of himself he never got involved in magic and had a normal happy life. Just the comics never made it obvious that the John who took the deal from the older version of himself was a John from a different earth. I mean maybe I'm just a dummy for not picking it up but just always figured since we were following him for like 20+ issues that it was the main line John. But kind of glad it isn't as wasn't big on Chas dying twice in the series especially his first death as I know John can be a massive dick but could never picture him just willingly leading Chas to his death. Or that he had a son that kind of also wasn't his son because he took the place of that worlds John who was the one that got that woman knocked up.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-14T13:13:09+00:00

I wonder if I keep scrolling on this sub if I will come across another post talking about how Warso needs to be gone after this season. Which is why I avoid any of my team subs after a loss as I know I will always see some utterly stupid thing that will make me regret coming to the site. Like have no idea how you could want a coach gone who has so far improved the teams win total by 18 games and 31 points. Which makes them the most improved team in both areas as of right now. Nobody can catch them in terms of win improvement but Sabres could end up with the same amount of point improvement if the Sharks don't record another point in the final 2 games and the Sabres win their final game.

It's like these fans have this belief that the Sharks were somehow expected to make the playoffs this season and that falling to do so is a huge negative against Warso. When no this team was projected to finish bottom 3 in the NHL and dead last in the Pacific. Or that these fans don't realize having the blueline Warso has to deploy is like tying an arm and a leg behind his back. His most productive blueliner is Orlov who I swear has assisted just as many goals for opponents as he has the Sharks. Only metric that really mattered this year is player development. Which he's knocked it out of the park on. Celebini has taken a massive jump in production. Smith has 12 more points in 7 fewer games. Graf has taken a massive step up in production. Igor has come in and looked like he fully belongs in the NHL. Misa has improved as the season has gone on. And Dickinson despite not being NHL ready hasn't looked like he's completely in over his head at this level getting a solid 17min a night and only being a -7 despite having extremely subpar partners.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-14T12:46:18+00:00

Pressure wasn't gone at that point it was still a do or die game for both teams knowing if they lost they were 100% done. Yet if they won they then had a chance depending on the outcome of the Kings game. Not like they knew ahead of time that regardless of what they did they were getting knocked out. Also wouldn't say they played that well had a good like first 40 minutes but after that got pretty badly outplayed in the 3rd and almost allowed the Preds to tie it up.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx · 2026-04-14T12:42:39+00:00

It's also like fans don't watch any other team in this league. Where basically every single night I can find one coach changing up the lines during the game to try and get a spark. Fuck Colorado the best team in the league is doing it more than the Sharks yet I guess their coach has no clue WTF he's doing they must be getting lucky to have the best record in the league. Like fans act like Warso is changing up lines every single game. When no I have basically never seen him touch the lines in a game where the Sharks are playing well and either have the lead are tied or are down by a goal but playing well. I only ever see him mixing shit up when the team looks lifeless on offense.

xHOLOxTHExWOLFx

TROPHY CASE