Raptors get Texas-sized win over Spurs | Toronto Sun
It certainly helped that the Spurs starting five looked more like the Philadelphia 76ers starting unit than what you would expect from the perennial contenders from San Antonio. But give the Raptors a ton of credit for coming out of the gate hard and keeping their foot on the pedal for most of the night, a trait that hasn’t always been in vogue where the Raptors are concerned this season. Head coach Dwane Casey has pleaded for consistency for his charges for much of the year and Wednesday he got it as the Raps won the first three quarters before holding off the inevitable run by the Spurs in the fourth. They never trailed in the game. Casey liked what he saw but he needs to see more of it. “We can’t just do this tonight and then turn around and give it right back on Friday,” Casey said. “We got to build a consistent identity of playing this way if we are serious about doing anything. We can’t be up and down and get happy on the farm and do all this one night and come back and lay an egg then next night. We have to make sure we attend to our business and keep this same concentration and execution in the next game.”
The Raptors have been frustratingly slow and sloppy out of the gate. Coach Dwane Casey had even talked about switching up the starting lineup. They finally showed what a decent first quarter can do, sprinting out to an 11-point lead, and continued to hold their own, taking a 73-62 lead into the fourth quarter in front of a capacity Air Canada Centre crowd of 19,800. The Spurs, second in the NBA to only the undefeated Golden State Warriors, came to life in the fourth, and when Danny Green drained a three-pointer that circled the rim before dropping, it put San Antonio within three points with 2:47 to play. A floating jumper by DeRozan — with two Spurs draped on him — had Toronto up by five with under a minute to play. A Green bucket made it a three-point game with 29 seconds left, then DeRozan grabbed a huge rebound with eight seconds left to secure the victory.
Raptors make good use of mighty Spurs’ formula | Sportsnet.ca
A win over San Antonio has to be savoured. It’s not easy. The Warriors are 23-0 – smashing the record for the best start in NBA history – yet the Spurs, who have quietly integrated free agent signees LaMarcus Aldridge and David West, remain on their heels. Even after the loss they leave Toronto with an 18-5 record and playing the best defence in the NBA. Raptors head coach Dwane Casey tries not to think about benchmark wins. His view is they all count the same and his club is in no position to pick and choose who they deem to be a worthy opponent. But he holds the Spurs in the highest esteem possible. The Raptors head coach has been building game plans since 1995 and during that stretch the Spurs’ worst season was one in which they won 50 games, with the exception of 1996-97 when they went 20-62 and drafted Tim Duncan No.1 overall. Cue the championship years, five and counting.
Raptors use 48-minute effort to surprise Spurs | Toronto Star
“This is all about the big picture,” Casey said. “We have to be consistent, let’s not do this tonight and turn around Friday night and give it right back. “We have to build a consistent identity of playing this way if we’re serious about doing anything. We can be up and down and get happy on the farm and do all this one night and come back and lay an egg the next night. We have to make sure we tend to our business and keep this same concentration, execution, the next game.” To be sure, the Spur weren’t themselves, missing a handful of open shots and getting precious little from their starting five. Kawhi Leonard, still suffering the effects of a stomach ailment that kept him out of a Monday game, had just nine points, Tim Duncan and Danny Green eight each and Tony Parker only four. But for a while, it looked like the Spurs were going to be the Spurs when it counted most. They made a series of big plays down the stretch and if DeRozan hadn’t scooped the Lowry miss, San Antonio would have had a shot to tie and who would have bet against them.
Scola gives Raptors a jumpstart against Spurs | Toronto Sun
Scola was a big help in avoiding yet another poor Toronto start, chipping in with eight points in the first quarter, then another six in the third for the bulk of his scoring. “It was a big game for us … everything is pretty tight in the East, so we need a lot of (wins),” Scola said. “Probably, San Antonio right now is (the) second-best team in the NBA, so, good win.” That it was, with San Antonio playing poorly to start, before turning it on late to take it down to the wire, despite never leading. “They will always be in games. It’s very hard to run away from them,” Scola said. “That’s the reason why they win so many games. They hang around, hang around and then they make a run, they make a play and then they win.”
Led once again by Lowry and DeRozan, the Raptors hang on to beat the Spurs, 97-94 | Raptors HQ
Doing what they needed to do for the Raptors usually involves notable games from the 1a and 1b of the team: Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. On this night, Lowry played an efficient and tough 37 minutes, dropping 19 points on 6-for-11 shooting with eight assists and five rebounds. His running mate, DeRozan, did him a few better: 28 points on an uncharacteristic 10-for-15 shooting (plus 8-for-8 from the line) with six assists and four rebounds. Sure, DeMar added six turnovers to his line, but this was against the league’s best defence–nobody’s perfect. “We played consistent throughout the game. From the start to the finish, we knew they were going to make a push, we stayed disciplined,” said DeRozan after the game. “They hit a couple big shots, but we didn’t let that rattle us. I’m happy we played a 48 minute game.” To round out the game the Raptors got stirring contributions from Bismack Biyombo–10 points, seven rebounds and a few catches/finishes in traffic–and Patrick Patterson, who mixed up his offence on the evening (a couple of threes and one runner for ten points), while working on defence against some bigger and craftier opposition. And while former Spur Cory Joseph’s line doesn’t reflect it (six points, four assists), it was clear he was up for the game against his old employers. “This is the first time I’ve ever changed teams, but I was kind of expecting I wouldn’t change teams, so little bit of emotion.”
Game Rap: Raptors 97, Spurs 94 | Toronto Raptors
DeMar DeRozan led the way on Wednesday, with a game-high 28 points on 10-for-15 field goals. While DeRozan did have a team-high six turnovers, he made up for them with four rebounds, six assists and a steal in 38 minutes of action. He was also a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line.
Spurs can’t complete the comeback, lose to Raptors 97-94 | Pounding The Rock
The Spurs couldn’t get their fifth win in a row in Toronto. They came out lethargic and trailed the entire game, never looking like the defensive juggernaut they have been this season. A late push got them a chance to win it but some poor decision-making prevented them from completing the comeback. Manu Ginobili led the Spurs in scoring with 17 while DeMar DeRozan had 28 for the Raptors. The first half shouldn’t have been close. Kawhi Leonard was clearly not fully healthy after coming down with food poisoning in Philadelphia, the starters were a mess and the team kept coughing up the ball. The Spurs’ 11 turnovers resulted in 18 points for the Raptors while Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan punished a defense that didn’t look anything like the league-leading meat-grinder that it has been so far.
Luis with the cheeky pass to Biyombo. #5hole #WeTheNorth
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Spurs rally comes up short in Toronto | Project Spurs
“They played well, give them credit,” Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich said. “It’s not a certain play, or anything new that happened, they played sharper than we did and I thought they were more aggressive than we were.” Toronto finished the game with 57 percent shooting and outscored San Antonio 20-16 in the third quarter. The Raptors went on two different 11-0 runs in the first quarter as they built an early advantage. The Spurs would never lead in the game. Demar DeRozan led Toronto with 28 points on 10-for-15 shooting. Kyle Lowry added 19 and two players chipped in 16 for the Raptors (14-9), who led by as many as 13 in the game.
Toronto Raptors knock off West-coast juggernaut San Antonio Spurs | Raptors Cage
It will always be a must when playing the Spurs to force tough shots and gain key turnovers. The Raptors were solid tonight in being able to get that done. Its common knowledge the Spurs like to move the ball and have multiple players capable of shooting so the Raptors would have to stay strong and not run out of puff especially without Carroll in the line up. The Spurs were heavily reliant on Ginobili tonight as he and Leonard tried to take over down the stretch. Toronto dug in however finding a way to disrupt the Spurs fluency making them force up shots from less than ideal positions. San Antonio was able to get some open looks but luckily tonight could not find their range, shooting 44% from the field and 26% from beyond the arc as a resilient Raptors team held them to just 94 points.
Raptors 97 – San Antonio Spurs 94: Subduing a monster | Raptors Rapture
Coach Dwane Casey maintained a tight eight-man rotation, meaning even James Johnson got 15+ minutes of burn. Bismack Biyombo scored 10 points (a critical late-game slam dunk should have been waved off, as Biz had pitched a tent in the key) but was in foul difficulty, so Patrick Patterson needed to step up. His 10 points and defensive hustle were most welcome. Ultimately the Raptors backcourt starters won this game. DeRozan was efficient, needing only 15 shots to score 28 points. Lowry had 19, with 8 assists. Toronto took an absurdly low 64 shots, but made 37, and missed but 2 of 22 from the free throw line.
Spurs’ influence evident in Raptors’ Joseph | TSN
Pop often tells the story of Joseph, a rookie at the time, coming to him privately and asking to be assigned to the D-League, a rarity among NBA pros who generally view being sent down as a demotion. Appearing in just 29 games with the Spurs that year, Joseph knew his game needed seasoning, he needed to play. He would make eight trips up and down from San Antonio’s D-League affiliate in Austin over his first two seasons. “It’s pretty unique,” Popovich said. “He came to me and asked to go down to the D-League so that he could play and get more minutes and get more experience, so that takes a special character and somebody that really cares a lot. He’s a unique young man.” “From day one he was somebody who wanted to just keep improving. He spent time in the D-League, worked through it the hard way, earned his way onto the team and became a very important factor for us. He’d still be with us if we could’ve paid him, but you can’t pay everybody.” This isn’t the story of a team that gave up on a player, only to have that player succeed elsewhere to the dismay of that old team. No, as Pop alluded to, the Spurs did not want to let Joseph go and they’re certainly not surprised to see him breaking out in an expanded role with the Raptors. But, in order to pay Aldridge’s $80-million price tag, San Antonio was forced to pull its qualifying offer to Joseph, making him an unrestricted free agent. It didn’t take long for Toronto to scoop him up and bring him home.
Spurs miss Joseph, and the feeling is mutual | San Antonio Express-News
The early highlight of his Raptors career came Nov. 28, when his buzzer-beating 3-pointer defeated Washington 84-82. Joseph’s heroics that night did not go unnoticed back in San Antonio. “I texted him but I guess it was his Texas phone,” Manu Ginobili said. “I got no reply.”
Kelly: Masai Ujiri admires Spurs’ template, needs a cornerstone player | The Globe and Mail
In many ways, Joseph is the signature signing of the Ujiri era. He combines several of the GM’s obsessions. The first is buying character on the relative cheap. Like so many modern executives, Ujiri gives public lip service to the analytics end of things, but still believes that you build a team on the right mix of personalities. He got rid of a bunch he didn’t like last year, and replaced them with players he did. Ujiri still has guys he doesn’t love, but tolerates for the sake of talent. Joseph is a hedge against that. A second Ujiri fixation is with Canadians. He remains convinced that this franchise’s best macro strategy to find a game-changing talent is to lean hard on patriotism. Ujiri is drawing a long-term free-agency flow chart that goes from Joseph and current roster-baggage Anthony Bennett to Andrew Wiggins, University of Kentucky phenom Jamal Murray and beyond. Joseph is a cornerstone of the Canadian national team, and acts as a rabbi to many of its young stars. If your intention is to win over younger players, he is the perfect wrangler. Third, and who knows how important this might have been, was sticking it to the Spurs. Ujiri works hard to stay in the off-season social orbit of Popovich and Spurs GM R.C. Buford. He judges them the best at what they do, and so wants to breathe the same air. On July 4, the Spurs reminded Ujiri of his place in the NBA hierarchy by signing Aldridge. Five days later, Ujiri reminded them he’s still swinging by signing Joseph.
Using true shooting percentage to find the next breakout star | ESPN Fantasy Basketball
Lowry’s jump in TS% is thanks to a vastly improved 3-point shot. He’s hitting 3s at a .420 clip, a huge jump over his career .353 ratio. Lowry lost weight over the summer. He’s worked to defy the historical dip that usually accompanies a point guard turning 29. But like Curry, he’s due for at least a 10 percent regression.
Raptors 905 feed the Toronto frenzy for basketball | NOW Toronto Magazine
In all, four Canadians have spots on the 905’s permanent roster, giving locals the opportunity to watch high-level Canadian ballers play in their home nation, a spectacle nearly impossible to behold before the team’s creation. One considers the possibility of the next Andrew Wiggins, Tristan Thompson, or Kayla Alexander (GTA natives all) watching from the stands, inspired by a team that their predecessors never got to see. The unique circumstance isn’t lost on the 905 community, some 6000 of which turned out for the team’s home opener on November 17 (average D-League attendance two seasons ago was under 3000; the Los Angeles D-Fenders averaged a measly 385). In attendance was a contingent of TFC supporters, a group going by the name Inebriatti12 (you can probably guess the root word), who led the crowd in all manner of futbol-style cheers and jeers. A member of the club knew player Nogueira from their mutual presence at TFC games, and thought nothing of bringing his allies to the Hershey Centre to show support, no doubt helping the Brazilian feel a little more at home.
Photo Credit: Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP
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