Tag / toronto raptors

Ben Simmons, Jaylen Brown, Sixers, Celtics, Trade, Atlantic Files
by Alex Fischbein

The Atlantic Files ep202: Jaylen Brown for Ben Simmons?!

This week’s episode of the Atlantic Files is a spicy one as we talk about the rumored Ben Simmons for Jaylen Brown trade, Nikola Jokic and Markieff Morris fighting, Kyrie Irving still not getting a change for the vaccine mandate, plus some quick-hitter topics about the New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors.

First of all, the thought of a Wrestlemania type of fight between the Jokic brothers and the Morris brothers sounds like some amazing television. If you haven’t seen the video of the little spat that Jokic and Markieff Morris had, then you should go check that out and come right back. Nikola Jokic’s even made their own Twitter account to reply to Morris’ tweet about noting that Jokic pushed him when he turned his back. We’re getting our popcorn ready for this one!

Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that there were apparently trade talks between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics. Those talks were centered around Ben Simmons and Jaylen Brown and included Marcus Smart, Robert Williams, and picks. Everyone knows that a haul like that would be way too much for Simmons. Would a Brown for Simmons straight-up trade make any more sense? Brad Stevens might want to get a little crazy in the front office, who knows!

After a bunch of big man injuries, the New York Knicks are starting to slow down from their hot start in the first week or two of the season. Julius Randle is delivering every other game, and the rest of the team is very inconsistent. We know the team will be in playoff contention, but how far can they really go with this version of the team?

Finally, Pascal Siakam made his return from injury this week. For a return from a lengthy absence, it wasn’t a bad game by any means! Now that he’s making his way back to full force, it begs the question of whether or not this team is destined for the playoffs. They’ve played very well without him, now they add his talent, and this team could really surprise a lot of people,

Timecodes:
0:00 – Intro
1:35 – Nikola Jokic and Markieff Morris kerfuffle
20:38 – Ben Simmons for Jaylen Brown trade
38:00 – Kyrie Irving still waiting on a vaccine mandate change
51:08 – Are the New York Knicks good enough to truly compete?
57:38 – Pascal Siakam returns, playoffs for the Toronto Raptors?

James Harden, Kevin Durant, Brooklyn Nets
by Alex Fischbein

Last night in the Atlantic (11/7/21)

The Knicks fall victim to Ricky Rubio’s insane 37 points while the Nets spoil Pascal Siakam’s return!

Standings:
Philadelphia 76ers 8-2
Brooklyn Nets 7-3
New York Knicks 6-4
Toronto Raptors 6-5
Boston Celtics 4-6

Let’s talk about last night.

James Harden

James Harden is slowly, but surely getting back to cooking up defenses. His 3-point shot isn’t exactly up to par just yet, but shooting 10-20 from the floor overall and finishing with 28 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists with only 2 turnovers is still pretty great. There has been a handful of moments over the last few games that makes us all question his hamstring’s health and even his is physical shape, but at least he’s getting better. By the mid-point of the season, we’ll probably know how he’s going to end up this season.

Pascal Siakam

Pascal Siakam is finally back! Yes, we know he’s on a bit of a restriction, and the first game of his return wasn’t exactly the greatest game. Either way, it was great seeing him back on the court! 15 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks in 25 minutes isn’t too bad and we’re looking forward to him gelling with Scottie Barnes!

Obi Toppin

As mentioned before, the Knicks fell victim to an insane 37-point performance from Rubio. Obi Toppin was one of the only couple of Knicks players that finished with a positive +/-. When he was aggressive and attacking the rim, Cleveland wasn’t able to stop him. If he can continue that and build his repertoire from it, he’ll definitely deserve more minutes and be held higher in the depth chart than Gibson.

Julius Randle, New York Knicks
by Alex Fischbein

Last night in the Atlantic (11/5/21)

The trio of Atlantic games last night was highlighted by a big-time win by the Knicks. Both New York teams actually got a win with Toronto’s game ending in a little bit of a controversial way.

Standings:
Philadelphia 76ers 7-2
Brooklyn Nets 6-3
New York Knicks 6-3
Toronto Raptors 6-4
Boston Celtics 4-5

Let’s talk about last night.

Julius Randle

Julius Randle, after a bit of a rough streak, finally got back to his ways from last season. He dropped 32p, 12r, 4a, 2b in an awesome comeback win against one of the top teams in the East! Randle was leading the way for the offense again and it shows that this team really fires on all cylinders when Randle is going. The biggest question is if he can stay consistent and if he doesn’t, can this team win despite that.

Gary Trent Jr.

Gary Trent Jr is really proving to be an awesome return for the Norm Powell trade. He’s been playing some great basketball and making sure he’s playing his way into the starting lineup. His defense has improved and his quick trigger on offense has given the Raptors some great shooting to go along with their main core. He finished with 17p, 2r, and SIX steals!

Blake Griffin

Kevin Durant had another great scoring night, James Harden had another triple-double, but this time we’re showing love to Blake Griffin. The guy that’s bringing his hard hat and lunch box to the game and doing a lot of the hard, dirty work. He even has a celebration that goes along with that. He deserves even more of a shoutout because he has bought into his role and has been playing it perfectly for this team.

Fred VanVleet, Toronto Raptors
by Alex Fischbein

Last night in the Atlantic (11/3/21)

All five Atlantic teams were in action, but the Knicks were the only ones to not grab a win. A lot of teams debuted their city edition jerseys and courts as well!

Standings:
Philadelphia 76ers 6-2
Toronto Raptors 6-3
Brooklyn Nets 5-3
New York Knicks 5-3
Boston Celtics 3-5

Let’s talk about last night!

Fred VanVleet

Fred VanVleet was nearly unstoppable last night! He shot 50% or better from the field overall and from three. His separation on any of his dribble moves was insane and he was consistently giving himself open shots all night long. On top of that, he worked the pick and roll to perfection and even attacked the lane with ease. He finished with 33 points & 6 assists.

Seth Curry

Here’s your reminder that the Dallas Mavericks really traded away Seth Curry for Josh Richardson. Yes, the same Richardson who isn’t even on the team anymore! Curry has proven to be one of the most underrated offensive talents in the league right now. Plus, he’s played a big part in showing that Ben Simmons is quite expendable as he keeps contributing to winning more and more games. This win against a very good Chicago team was huge as they didn’t even have their second-leading scorer in Tobias Harris either. Curry finished 22 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists on 9-14 FG & 2-4 3P.

Jaylen Brown

This game was Jaylen Brown’s turn to go crazy in the scoring department as he put up 28 points on 58.8% shooting compared to Jayson Tatum’s 14 points on 25%. It was reported that the team had ‘an emotional’ meeting after Smart’s comments. Not sure if we can say the meeting changed anything in terms of on-the-court production, but they did get a much-needed win!

RJ Barrett

The Knicks had a really tough night shooting the three as they went 5-24 as a team. RJ Barrett was the high-man, as he has been the last couple games, with 23 points on 40% shooting. His defense has improved and his offense is coming along too. As a team though, it looks like they’re hitting a little wall at the moment. To be fair, the Pacers couldn’t miss in this latest game as they shot 46.2% from the floor as a team.

Kevin Durant

There’s not much more to be said about Kevin Durant that hasn’t already been said. He’s a walking video game. He’s a cheat code. He’s not human. If you don’t have him in your top 3 of greatest scorers ever, you’re just wrong.

Boston Celtics, Jayson Tatum
by Alex Fischbein

The Atlantic Files Ep201: Boston Celtics are crumbling

This week on the Atlantic Files, the Boston Celtics are crumbling as we speak, Scottie Barnes and the Toronto Raptors are on a hot streak, and all of a sudden the Charlotte Hornets, Washington Wizards, and Chicago Bulls are at the top of the East.

First of all, the Boston Celtics have plenty of time to not crumble and get themselves back together. Marcus Smart called out Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for hogging the ball, especially at the end of games. He said it’s something that they’ll definitely learn from and they’ll get back on track. This sounded more like something he’s been trying to tell them behind closed doors for a long time and since they weren’t listening he finally said something to the press.

Then there’s James Harden and the Brooklyn Nets. Harden hasn’t looked like his usual self until just recently. He finally started attacking the rim, hitting his usual step-back jumpers, and wreaking havoc in the lane. A lot has been said about him being out of shape due to rehabbing during the off-season on top of the fact he’s getting used to the new foul rules. Does anything need to change on the Nets front to make sure they succeed without Kyrie Irving?

Another Atlantic team is surprising a lot of people at the moment. The Toronto Raptors have hit a little stride early on in the season. Scottie Barnes, OG Anunoby, Fred VanVleet, and Gary Trent Jr. have all been improving and showing some great offensive flashes on top of a pretty fun defensive system to watch. This team is fun and they’re finally playing like it!

Finally, we have the Chicago Bulls at the top of the East along with two surprising teams. Both the Charlotte Hornets and Washington Wizards were not supposed to be this high in the standings at all. Which of these two teams are the most for real? LaMelo Ball might actually be a real MVP candidate which is a scary thought!

Timestamps:
0:00 – Intro
1:15 – James Harden doesn’t look right
8:20 – Scottie Barnes and the Toronto Raptors
19:00 – Chicago Bulls are top of the East
29:00 – The Boston Celtics are crumbling and Marcus Smart is calling people out
40:30 – Who is an actual playoff team, Charlotte Hornets or Washington Wizards?

OG Anunoby, Toronto Raptors
by Alex Fischbein

Last night in the Atlantic! (11/1/21)

Honestly, all three Atlantic games ended with quite surprising results! Didn’t really see the Raptors pulling out a tough win over the Knicks and swore the Sixers had no chance without Joel Embiid nor Tobias Harris. Let’s talk about last night!

Standings:
New York Knicks 5-2
Philadelphia 76ers 5-2
Toronto Raptors 5-3
Brooklyn Nets 4-3
Boston Celtics 2-5

OG Anunoby

OG Anunoby cashed in a big-time night! In a game where the Raptors especially weren’t supposed to win without Scottie Barnes over a good New York Knicks team, Anunoby took control. This is the exact kind of performance that the Raptors were hoping to see more of and what will move him up the MIP ladder. The fact he was able to score like he did, in all of the various ways that he did, against a defense like the Knicks bodes well for the Raptors future. His slow start is starting to turn into a scorching hot streak that could even last a whole season if he starts to turn into what we predicted him to be this season.

Georges Niang

Georges Niang was that guy last night! He was the one to step up outside of the normal starters for the Sixers. His offensive production and timely buckets were needed ten-fold as the team didn’t even have Joel Embiid nor Tobias Harris for a tough matchup against the Blazers. As the fans chanted for Lillard, who shot 7-20, Niang was going to work to the tune of 21p, 5r, 5a on 43.8% from the field. The funny thing is that he does look slow a lot of the time, but his anticipation and his shooting prowess allow him to counterbalance that a lot of the time.

Al Horford

Boston drops yet another game, but Al Horford definitely gave it his all to keep the lead they built up until the end of the third quarter. Once it hit the final quarter, all bets were off as Chicago outscored Boston 39-11. Horford, however, was trying to be the steadying force outside of Brown/Tatum as he put up 20p, 10, 3a. It got so bad with this game that even Marcus Smart called out Tatum and Brown for not involving the rest of the team on offense enough. Usually, that’s the kind of thing a team hopes that Horford would do since he’s supposed to be the veteran leader, but I guess that’s Marcus Smart’s thing instead.

by Alex Fischbein

The Atlantic Files Ep200: New York Knicks szn with Josh Hayes

This week on The Atlantic Files:

This week on the Atlantic Files we welcome special guest Josh Hayes! He is the on-air host of Rotoballer Radio on SiriusXM. He joined us to talk about Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Scottie Barnes, and a plethora of Atlantic and NBA topics!

The Brooklyn Nets are only 2-2 so far this season. Their offense has looked very lackluster without Kyrie Irving and it’s a little concerning that James Harden hasn’t looked so great either. His offense has taken a big hit and we’re not sure if the foul rule changes have anything to do with it or if he’s just not mentally into it just yet. It’s obviously not time to hit the panic button, but something to follow as the season goes on.

Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers are still in the midst of a big battle. Should Daryl Morey and the Sixers just cave already and ship him off for anything? Josh Hayes seems to think that Morey needs to clean his hands of the whole thing already. Not sure if a lot of Sixers fans would love getting pennies on the dollar though.

On top of that, Scottie Barnes has already looked like Rookie of the Year material. Yes, it’s very early this season, but Barnes has still shown some huge flashes of amazing potential. Dennis had this thing called from the beginning, but it’s going to be fun to watch his growth.

Timecodes:
0:00 – Intro
2:40 – Brooklyn Nets, Kyrie Irving, Patty Mills, and James Harden
15:50 – Philadelphia 76ers and Daryl Morey need to trade Ben Simmons for anything
19:50 – The New York Knicks look explosive
26:00 – LaMelo Ball for MVP?
29:00 – Lonzo Ball’s growth and the Chicago Bulls undefeated
33:10 – Boston Celtics don’t look great
44:03 – Minnesota Timberwolves a sneaky good team
50:12 – Scottie Barnes for Rookie of the Year and Toronto Raptors great youth
57:35 – Fantasy Basketball gems