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The tale has been told now, but I’ll repeat: the Raptors lost Game 1 to the Cleveland Cavaliers. This, despite playing well enough to win, being in the lead throughout all of regulation, and then missing a bunch of shots down the stretch, letting the Cavs tie it up, and, finally, losing in overtime. It was a lot to deal with.
Nevertheless, the Raptors were back in front of the cameras on the off-day before Game 2, and they were asked about what happened, how the feel, and what they need to do next.
Kyle Lowry, to his credit, doesn’t sound defeated. In fact, it’s his cold-eyed assessment of the team’s performance — both good and bad, acknowledging things within their control and without — that has to give you hope for Game 2.
“We played the right way. We played our game,” said Lowry. “We executed the plays down the stretch. Gotta roll with it. That’s the things about this league, it’s a make or miss league.”
It’s also interesting to hear Lowry talk about his decision making with regards to that burned time out, and of course, his belief in Fred VanVleet. It ties into what Kyle said above about the make or miss league concept: the Raptors still have their sixth man’s back.
“We’re gonna come out and be us,” said Lowry in conclusion, before quickly adding: “Be a better us.”
Speaking of which, here’s Fred VanVleet talking about his injury, his recovery, the ups and downs of his minutes because of it, and the pain he’s potentially managing.
“Do I wish I wasn’t hurt? Yeah,” said VanVleet. “But like I said, I’m not looking for any excuses. I take and make those shots, and those ones didn’t go in for me.”
Really though, Fred’s availability is all about this quote right here:
FVV statue quote pic.twitter.com/LsnMQdblrd
— (((Eric Koreen))) (@ekoreen) May 2, 2018
That’s got to, got to, be the mindset heading into Game 2. Just keep going.
Here’s DeMar DeRozan, C.J. Miles, and Dwane Casey with the rest of the Raptors’ takes for the day.
DeRozan has some comments to make about why the elbow he got from Kevin Love wasn’t a reviewable play. In summary, he doesn’t know why it wasn’t reviewed, which, hmmm, yeah, I don’t know.
We’ll have a couple of posts tomorrow about Game 1, but for the most part it’s time to put it to bed and move on. Game 2 awaits at 6pm, and it’s best to just let this baggage go.
The Raptors are still the better team, and they can still win this series.