2. Pick a starting lineup and stick with it
The Raptors decided to throw Brooklyn a curveball (or, at least, attempt to) when they put temporary starter Thad Young back on the bench and opted for the height mismatches brought on by Christian Koloko. Considering how deep a hole they found themselves in, the addition wasn’t good enough to stabilize the squad.
Koloko did record five points and nine rebounds, but he was one of the main reasons the Nets raced out to such an insurmountable lead in the first quarter. Young went from starting to playing just four minutes, showing that it took all of two games for Nurse to fall out of love with Thad again.
The Toronto Raptors changed their lineup again.
Where Nurse supporters may see him mixing and matching to get the most out of a limited roster, haters will wonder how this team is supposed to execute any coherent strategy over the course of a 48-minute game when the lineups keep changing so frequently.
Young and Koloko both have their drawbacks as centers, but the Raptors need to choose one of them and mold their style of play around it. Either go all-in on small ball and concede rim protection with Young or get that shot-blocking while dealing with spacing issues due to Koloko. Flip-flopping gets us nowhere.