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Packdog posted:

Raptors team defense is very good....and long with Gasol, Ibaka, Siakam, etc....We'll see if they can keep it up. Golden State can turn the tables in a flash. 

Gasol was so poor in game 1 and 2 against the Bucks, since then he's playing really well-on both ends of the floor. Guy has great hands on defense. 

Absolutely.  Best defense in the league.  I am beginning to think the Raptors may be every bit as good as the Warriors or at least in the same ball park.  Leonard, Ibaka, and Gasol all have been all defense.  Of course, Siakem is excellent as well.

Their success makes the Bucks look better.  They are just an extremely fine basketball team.

Siakam played out of his mind, but the consistent difference in Games 4-6 vs. the Bucks and also last night was Fred Van Vleet. 

In the last 4 games, Van Vleet is 22 for 33 from the floor and the Raptors are +76 points in his 119 minutes on the floor. The Raptors are 4-0. 

In the previous 8 games (which includes the double OT Bucks loss in Game 3 where he was terrible), Van Vleet was 7 for 39 from the floor and played 129 minutes. In those minutes the Raptors were -43. The Raptors record was 3-5. 

So in roughly the same number of Van Vleet minutes in a poor 8 game stretch vs. a dominant 4 game stretch (roughly 3 full games (40) worth of minutes), the Raptors have improved by 119 points in their +/-. 

I read somewhere (I think it was a Ringer article) that if Van Vleet would have "only" shot 50% from the three point line the last 3 games of the Bucks series, the Bucks would have won the series easily. Instead he was 14 FOR 17 from the 3 point line. In those 3 games, the Raptors were +65 points in the 96 minutes he played and MINUS 35 in the 50 minutes he didn't. 

Fred Van Vleet. For all the talk about the Giannis wall, Bledsoe's bricks from 3, and Kawhi Leonard's superstardom, it really came down to Fred Van Vleet playing out of his mind. 

Last edited by MichiganPacker2

Van Vleet has been unconscious on the offensive side, but I was pretty impressed with his defense on Curry last night. Actually seemed to hold him in check.  

Not to sound like a crabby old man, but watching Curry launch backwards, sideways, etc...into the defender in order to get a call is kinda bush league.  Of course when Sam Cassell did it......

Packdog posted:

Van Vleet has been unconscious on the offensive side, but I was pretty impressed with his defense on Curry last night. Actually seemed to hold him in check.  

Not to sound like a crabby old man, but watching Curry launch backwards, sideways, etc...into the defender in order to get a call is kinda bush league.  Of course when Sam Cassell did it......

I think Curry probably gets held more than any perimeter player currently. Compared to Harden and some others, his launching is nothing.

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