Dwane Casey meets with members of the media ahead of tonight's game against Golden State.
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TORONTO – The goal was simple: After a whirlwind week where the Toronto Raptors were in the centre of the NBA storm and played five games in eight days – three of them without Kyle Lowry – just get back to winning as normal.
The Raptors did it with a return of their three-point mojo from their primary three-point maestros as Lowry and C.J. Miles combined to shoot 9-of-22 from three in Toronto’s 96-91 win. It was a pair of triples by the duo late in the fourth quarter that put a little air into a back-and-forth second half where neither team could separate itself.
It wasn’t exactly ‘normal’ in that it was a game without some of the elegant outlines the Raptors have been able draw in so many of their wins this season. It was kind of grimy and was won mainly by a lock-down defensive effort in the fourth.
But the Raptors have put together an impressive half a season by being remarkably consistent – they haven’t lost three games in a row all year — and being consistent means figuring out a way to win even when balls are bouncing off feet and not every possession comes off as scripted.
“It wasn’t a pretty win at all,” said DeMar DeRozan. “But we try to understand we don’t even want to lose two games in a row and tonight was one of them games where we could have made it three. We had to buckle down on this thing, get back to protecting home court and not lose multiple games in a row.
Lowry finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists to go along with his four triples and Miles had 21 in a season-high 26 minutes as he got some rare run down the stretch as Toronto shot 42.5 per cent from the floor and made 11-of-31 threes. The production from Miles was welcome on a rare off night by DeRozan, who finished with 17 points and five turnovers as he struggled with the Pistons double teams. The Raptors held the Pistons, clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot in the tightly bunched Eastern Conference, to 42 per cent shooting – and just 18 points in the fourth.
The win improved Toronto to 30-13 and 16-3 at home, drawing it to within three games of the conference-leading Boston Celtics. The Pistons fell to 22-21.
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As exciting as the Raptors week in the spotlight was – the domination of the Cavaliers, the gutsy near-comeback against the Warriors, a scrappy afternoon against Philadelphia. – it obscured somewhat that Toronto was only 1-3 over its past four games.
In their last two starts against the Warriors and the 76ers the Raptors were undone by two lacklustre first halves, a trend Raptors head coach Dwane Casey was eager to see nipped in the bud.
“We have to come out with a sense of urgency that we haven’t had in the last three games, I would say,” Casey said before Wednesday’s game. “The Cleveland game was different but I think it probably started in the Miami game, maybe even the Brooklyn game, where we were kind of like ‘let’s feel the game out’ or ‘let’s outscore them’ mentality.”
The first quarter was just what the doctor ordered. The Raptors jumped out to a 31-18 lead with six assists on 11 field goals, totals that could have been higher had the Raptors shot better than 1-of-7 from three.
That changed in the second quarter as Miles – 4-of-16 from deep over his past two games, both Raptors losses – knocked down a pair of triples with Norm Powell coming off the bench to hit one too, none of which were as energizing as the triple big man Jonas Valanciunas hit midway through the second quarter. It was his seventh of the year and the eighth of his six-year career.
For the moment the Raptors seemed to be rolling, but things are rarely that easy.
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There was a lot of stuff going on in the arena. Wednesday night marked the NBA’s first-ever You Can Play Night. The You Can Play project is dedicated to ensuring equality, respect and safety for all who participate in sports, including LGBTQ athletes, coaches and fans.
“The Toronto Raptors are honoured to welcome fans to Air Canada Centre for the first You Can Play night,” said Raptors president Masai Ujiri. “As an organization, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment prides itself on the values of diversity, equality and inclusion and we look forward to being a part of history, together with our passionate fans and the city of Toronto.”
Before the game the Raptors and Drake announced a partnership called ‘Welcome Toronto’ where the Raptors will host six OVO branded home games and Drake and the Raptors would donate $1 million over the next four years to refurbish outdoor basketball courts around the city and a $2 million donation to Canada Basketball over the same period.
“This has been a partnership that we’ve had going on for quite some time now, and I think the key is always to grow, the key is always to evolve,” Drake said at a press conference before the game. “It’s nice to have the uniforms and the fancy court and the merchandise and stuff like that, but what was most important to me was just the call to action. I think in this day and age it’s really easy to get on social media and talk about things we’d like to see change or things we think are wrong, and then there’s an opportunity when you’re presented with one to be able to do something about it.
“So for us, my biggest thing that I’m most proud of in this partnership is the million dollars that we’re gonna be giving to the city to redo these courts and hopefully create an amazing atmosphere for anyone in that community to come out and either play casual basketball or, you know, potentially breed the next generation of Canadian basketball superstars. Which goes to, obviously, our other donation of two million dollars to Canada Basketball.”
It’s all very noble and appropriate. But the ability for the Raptors to generate excitement and awareness is increased when they’re winning. For all the energy around the team in the first half of the season, keeping their recent mini swoon – albeit against some tough competition – to a minimum felt urgent.
The Raptors struggled to put their stamp on the game after their strong start. After being up by as much as 15 in the second quarter the Raptors surrendered a 12-2 run late in the half and went into the intermission leading 54-51 after appearing to be on the verge of a blowout.
“We kind of made things difficult for ourselves instead of making the easy play,” said Casey, whose club made 21 turnovers on the night. “I thought in that stretch where we built the big lead, we did do that. We moved the ball, the ball was humming and zipping, we were passing before the traps got there. We made it complicated on ourselves but we’ve got to give Detroit credit – they were really getting into us, getting after us and doing something a little different defensively that threw our rhythm off a bit with their traps. Hats off to them.”
The two clubs started the fourth quarter tied at 73-73 after trading body blows for the third quarter, but even after the Raptors put themselves up by nine with 2:23 remaining on a pair of free-throws by Valanciunas, who finished with 17 points and 16 rebounds, Toronto still had to scare itself by surrendering a pair of late threes by Avery Bradley that made it a one-possession game with 13.4 seconds to play.
But unlike some of their recent games the Raptors were able to stem the tide, get the win and get back to their winning ways.
TORONTO — Little can represent the crushing tedium this time of year lends quite like the start of Wednesday’s game between the Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors, which featured two teams not so much playing basketball as fulfilling their obligations. Possessions were botched; basic rules, such as defensive three seconds and over-and-back, were violated; it took Detroit nearly eight minutes to crack double digits.
Yes, this was a bad game from the jump — the kind of let’s-all-get-through-this-without-getting-hurt contest you’ll see between two non-rival teams at this dog-days juncture of the regular season schedule. Raptors head coach Dwane Casey called it “ugly.” Delon Wright said the energy was “weird and funky.” DeMar DeRozan went with “not a pretty win at all.”
But, aesthetics be damned, it was a win. The Raptors found a way to fight through the doldrums, vanquishing the Pistons, 96-91. And in case you, too, had trouble maintaining interest in this one, here are three things to take away from an otherwise forgettable night.
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A different look
Toronto’s offence sputtered and stalled at various points throughout the game, as the Pistons trapped Raptors ball-handlers aggressively in hopes of disrupting flow at least and creating turnovers at best.
Of course, every team blitzes and traps. But the Pistons found a unique way to do it, and the Raptors looked somewhat dismayed by it, coughing up 21 turnovers. After the game, Casey made it sound like a previously hidden flaw in his team’s offence had been exposed.
“They were really getting into us. Getting after us. Doing something a little bit different defensively that kind of threw our rhythm off a little bit with traps,” he said. “It’s different. It’s just different. I don’t want to get technical. They were jumping out with one guy, and hanging another guy. And then coming back with timing. They were taking the roll guy out and you had to find the weak side. I’ll show you the film someday.”
So, even in the ugliest of games, there’s a lesson to be found. And although it’s unlikely Casey will be leading any film sessions with reporters, you can be sure that he’ll be leading one with him team to address the double-team issue and correct it.
DeRozan was the primary target of those double-teams, and coughed the ball up five times. After scoring 10 points in the first quarter, he had only seven over the rest of the game, as the Pistons threw everything they had at the Raptors star.
“They were just extremely physical,” DeRozan said. “We’ve got to be able to read that ahead of time — not feel the physicality then try to make an adjustment. We’ve got to see it before time and make our decisions quicker.”
But it wasn’t just DeRozan. Kyle Lowry, Jonas Valanciunas and Wright faced increased pressure as well, and combined for nine more turnovers. Wright said a big difference he noticed was the Pistons were trapping point guards like himself off of shooting guard screens, instead of merely switching coverage like many teams have in the past.
“It was a little different — it took us out of a lot of our stuff,” Wright said. “I just think they had a great game plan on us and kind of caught us off guard. But I think next time we play them we’ll be able to dissect it. It was the first time playing them this year.
C.J. the unaffected
While Toronto’s primary ball-handlers were fighting uphill, C.J. Miles was lurking in the corners waiting to launch. The 12-year veteran was as free-wheeling from range as he has been all season, taking 12 three-pointers and hitting five.
“Man, C.J. — he was getting them up today,” Wright said. “When he’s knocking them down, he’s one of the best shooters in the NBA. So, whenever he gets a look at the rim, everybody on the team is encouraging him to take that shot. Because he can shoot them at a high percentage.”
Miles came into the game in a slight slump, having hit four of 16 attempts from beyond the arc over his past two games. But this is what shooters do — they shoot. Whether hot or cold, they take their opportunities the same as always.
And in a game like this, when Lowry, DeRozan and Wright were under constant duress, it was particularly important for Miles to be ready to fire whenever the ball found him.
“He really spaces the floor. He allows you — if teams are double-teaming — to pick them apart. And we took advantage of that a few times,” Casey said. “They had to make a decision on whether they were going to take the roll man or the kick out. And they gave us two or three or four kick-outs. And he had 12 attempts. We did a good job of finding him, and he did a good job of knocking them down.”
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Coffee is for closers
Perhaps you’ve heard a thing or two about how the Raptors are playing an extremely different style offensively this season. It’s not only a testament to how open Toronto’s stars have been to change, but also to Casey’s coaching acumen, and his willingness to adapt when it’s called for.
But another area Casey’s been adaptable in without the fanfare has been his closing rotations. He’s been much more willing to play the hot hand late in games this season, and you saw it again on Wednesday, as he turned to a unit of Lowry, Wright, DeRozan, Miles and Valanciunas to play the final seven minutes of a still tightly-contested game.
At times this season, we haven’t always seen Wright, Valanciunas and Miles in those late-game situations for various reasons. But Casey went with his most effective group Wednesday, and watched as they helped the Raptors pull away in the end.
“It was ball-handling. Delon did a good job of helping handle the ball,” Casey said. “I liked that part of it. I thought C.J. did a good job defensively with that group against the four. And JV rebounding the ball. That group did a good job. They did what they were supposed to do.”
Robert Gray is a Toronto-area writer and a devoted Raptors fan since Day 1. He’s been a fan since Walt Williams revolutionized the knee-high sock industry. He once asked Lamond Murray for an autograph in a convenience store and Murray thought he was being sarcastic.
As a life-long fan of the Raptors, the apparent American perception of our team makes my skin crawl.
If someone were to add up all the bones I had to pick with what was said in the U.S. coverage of Thursday night’s game vs. Cleveland, I might be awarded an honourary P.h.D. in Palaeontology.
While sports journalism can be entertaining when certain columnists take staunch stances on certain subjects (hello!), such biased b-ball banter seems to lose its charm when everyone in a discussion takes the same side.
And while I relish snippets into the brains of basketball’s best, like Magic Johnson or Gregg Popovich, the majority of U.S. coverage consists of preposterous preconceived pontificating by players who are past their primes— and like much of our sources of information today, facts don’t seem to matter (hashtagfakenews).
My (beautiful and patient) wife showed me a clip on her phone last week that made me snap. It was a “Panel of Experts” sitting on comfy couches, talking Raps. The Panel: former stretch-big Rashard Lewis. surefire-Hall-of-Famer Kevin Garnett, career-under-achiever Al Harrington, and owner of the best neck tattoo of a set of hot lips, Kenyon Martin. In other words, three Schnooks and a legend.
The topic of conversation: Who is the GROAT? (Greatest Raptor Of All Time).
When asked if DeMar DeRozan deserved the title, they all deferred to the “Vinsanity Defence.” Now, I can understand such a point of view, after all Vince Carter is perhaps the greatest showman in the history of the sport. But the next comment sent me into a full-out Three Stooges stupor.
“I put DeMar at … third. Obviously behind Chris Bosh”- Kevin Garnett
Snap… Crackle… Pop….
I untwisted the plumbing wrench from my nose and asked myself, “How could KG— such a genius on the court— possibly hold such a nefarious notion? It made me realize just how little any of these turkeys are watching our Raptors.
But KG wasn’t done wowing me with his wisdom.
“The Raptors’ depth is not where it needs to be.”
This comment came during a game when a Lowry-less, Ibaka-less Raptors were pummelling the Cavs— this at a time when the Raptors are by far the deepest they’ve ever been. Dwane Casey is regularly utilizing nearly every man down the bench!
Jakob “The Big Schnitzel” Poeltl has hands like Cal Ripken Jr. Delon Wright is so long he makes lay ups from the free throw line. VanVleet’s confidence is so pure, Prop Joe and Stringer Bell would call a truce to sell it.
Surely the rest of the couch-crew didn’t hold the same misguided opinion as Garnett. Yet the panel was unanimous.
“The Raptors have to take the next step for us to take them seriously.” — Shaquille O’Neal (among others)
One of the most tired and uninspired comments that I’m sick of hearing about is the fact that the Raptors have to prove themselves in the playoffs before they can be considered in the same league as a Cleveland or a … BOSTON!?
Obviously, I cannot refute the claim that we aren’t at Cleveland‘s level. I get it. They’ve won the title. They make the Finals every year. They are terrifying.
But BOSTON?? How did they sneak in there?? What has this Celtics team done that we haven’t?? This isn’t the Bill Russell Celtics of the 60s. This isn’t the Larry Bird Celtics of the 80s. This isn’t even the “Big 3” Celtics of a decade ago (whom I partially blame for this Super-Team trend that has buggered the NBA’s competitive balance).
This Celtics team has gone to the Conference Finals…just like the Raptors did two seasons ago. Only unlike the Raptors, these Celtics never even saw a game six. I’m just looking for a little consistency. Help me out here.
Here’s another one that Shaq, Kenny Smith, and nearly every other analyst south of the border like to hide our team’s proficiency behind:
“The regular season doesn’t matter. The Raptors choke in the playoffs.”
What’s most frustrating about this classic claim is not that there is some truth behind it. There is no doubt that we have had some serious stretches of under-performance during the past few post-seasons. Lowry’s gone cold in big games. DeMar has, too. A Washington sweep comes to mind.
Yet what is most annoying about this criticism is the that the same argument is mirrored by panellists and used to shield Cleveland from any condemnation over the course of their 82 game season:
“The regular season doesn’t matter. The Cavs thrive in the playoffs.”
Well I’ll be damned. It’s like you can’t win until you win it all, I guess.
Charles Barkley came right out and said it on last Thursday night’s broadcast:
“Nobody takes the Raptors serious.”
Well I must say that that is not true. The Raptors take themselves seriously; and that’s a good thing. Because there was a time when that was not the case.
True Story:
When I was 17, I was working part-time as a valet at an obnoxious restaurant in Yorkville. When it was time to go for my break, I would cross the street and head down Cumberland. One day, I entered a local convenience store only to find myself standing face to chest with none other than… Lamond Murray. THE Lamond Murray!!
I’m not making this up. He was right there in broad daylight. He just stood there, liquorice in hand, waiting for this star-struck-parking attendant to say something.
“Lamond Murray!!!” I gushed.
“Yup.”
He must be shy, I thought. “How’s it going, man!?”
“Ok.”
The strong and quiet type. That is SO Lamond!
Now, you have to remember that there was a lot of pressure on Murray at the time. Glen Grunwald brought him in to replace Yogi Stewart, the $24 million-dollar-1.4 points per game-powerhouse. Grunwald had good reason to believe in Lamond. After all, he was Tracy Murray’s cousin. To be fair, aside from probably Vince Carter, Lamond Murray would go on to become the greatest Raptor of all time to have had a cousin named Tracy also play here.
“Welcome to Toronto!” I squawked. “What do you think of the city so far??”
“Not much.”
Taken aback, I wondered if I had heard him right.
“No?”
“Nope.”
“Where would you rather be playing?” I asked, heart-broken. Looking back now, it’s funny because he was coming from a pretty crappy team: the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“Home.”
Aww. He was a homebody! Phew, for a second I was worried that he didn’t like it here.
“Where’s home?” I asked, curious.
And quite matter-of-factly, he replied: “The United States. You know, where we play REAL basketball.”
You see, sometimes you meet one of your heroes and they are everything you want them to be. Like when I saw Rick Moranis in a clothing store and he joked with me till I cried tears of laughter. And sometimes, you meet Lamond Murray.
End of story.
My point is that while a deep-seeded sense of the Raptors’ futility as a franchise may still linger south of the 49th parallel, it no longer exists within the Raptors organization itself.
Our own players and staff will proudly relay to anyone who asks that they believe Toronto has something special.
And we, the fans, believe it too. No matter how often those talking heads try to convince us otherwise. At least I think we do. We do. Don’t we?
Now our players sound like this:
“I’m not complaining. It’s okay. I mean, I don’t get why we win 50 games a year, two seasons in a row, go to the Conference Finals… and people still count us out, call us the underdogs, leave us out of the conversation. But I’m okay with it. It means we get to do our own thing, bring our new guys into our fold and teach them about what it means to be a Raptor.” — DeMar DeRozan
As a team and a franchise, and as a basketball city, it’s amazing to see how much we have evolved. But the recent American coverage of our red-hot Raps was a frustrating reminder that in spite of how far we’ve come it seems that in the eyes of the rest of the league, we’ve still got just as far to go.
