Fan Duel Toronto Raptors

Raptors Eaten By Wolves in Battle of Apex Predators

The Toronto Raptors got out-Raptor’d by the Minnesota Timberwolves last night.

The Toronto Raptors got out-Raptor’d by the Minnesota Timberwolves last night. They’ve established themselves as a very handsy defensive team that relies heavily on drawn contact on the offensive end. Last night both of those worked against them as they came up against a team that came at them with the same strategy but a faster, more aggressive version of it. If there’s a template for beating the Raptors as a less-talented team this was it: match their physicality on defense, attack the rim on offense and wait for them to get frustrated if the refs call an even game. It’s a solid strategy because Raptors stars DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry play with a lot of emotion and players like that do not seem to respond well to playing poorly in physical games.

We all saw what happened: the Raptors grabbed the lead by the end of the first quarter, built that lead in the second quarter, gave it away in the third quarter and then got beat to the finish line. DeRozan had a great first half but got soundly outplayed by Andrew Wiggins in the second half. The good guys got outhustled, losing the battle on the boards and at the free throw line. The pessimistic view of the loss is to shake your head at the Raptors letting an inferior team beat them at their own game. The optimistic view is to look at the Raptors limited rotation and the style of play and understand how much the recovering James Johnson and DeMarre Carroll would have helped in this specific game. The realistic view is likely somewhere in between.

The broadcast floated the theory that the Raptors were looking past this game to the all-star weekend but I really don’t think that’s what happened here, I think they just ran into a team that can do a better version of what they do when they’re performing at their peak level. We just got a glimpse of how good the Timberwolves will be when they have a bench and their core players learn how to play to this level consistently. The Raptors didn’t play a terrible game, the Timberwolves just played a better one. We all like to find a scapegoat, whether it’s the coach or the refs or a specific player, but sometimes this is just how things play out: you give it your best shot, do a good job and come up short anyway. C’est la vie.

That #*$% I Like:

  • At times, mostly in the first half, the Raptors offense resembled a real NBA offense with actual off-ball action. One of Jonas Valanciunas’ assists was the result of Cory Joseph setting a back screen for a shooter while Valanciunas was posting up. If they did both of those things(post up Valanciunas, screen for shooters) more often the team may end up cracking the top 20 in assist percentage.
  • Norman Powell, legit NBA player. I love his defensive stance, it’s the kind of try hard technical perfection that you only see from young players trying to prove themselves. I don’t think anybody over the age of 25 gets as low as Powell – even Cory Joseph is upright on defense sometimes. He hasn’t extended his range to the three point arc yet but he contributed enough on offense to justify continued playing time.
  • The continued dominance of the bench mob. The Bismack Biyombo Back Boo-Boo kind of derailed their momentum this game but the bench continues to show up the starters. Part of the brilliance of the bench mob is merely the absence of Scola but a bigger part of it is the fluidity of the offense and the consistent defensive effort. It’s a lot like the Raptors dominant Vasquez/Williams/J.Johnson/Patterson/Hansbrough unit from last season: a nice mix of effort and talent with complimentary skillsets.
  • Valanciunas post ups. The Raptors still need to consistently apply one of the biggest takeaways from the Kevin Love situation in Cleveland: if a player is giving something away on the defensive end because of a matchup issue you have to let him get it back on the other end. There were times when Valanciunas was struggling with the speed of the Timberwolves frontcourt but they were also struggling with his brute strength on the other end – use that. Let him punish skinnier guys like Gorgui Dieng and Karl-Anthony Towns. Take advantage of the higher percentage three point looks that come from inside-out passing. Spread shooters around him and let the defense pick their poison. Force them to adjust to your size, don’t constantly adjust to their speed. Good teams dictate terms.
  • First half DeRozan. It was one of the most efficient halves of basketball he’s ever played. Even I couldn’t find anything negative to say about it and I can find negative things to say about anything.
  • The Raptors grit. Valanciunas’ thumb started to bother him again and Biyombo took a nasty spill but they still kept battling. With their limited depth and the injuries issue they’ve struggled through to date they’re going to need a lot more of that before the season is done.
  • Cory Joseph’s crunch time defense. Andrew Wiggins was getting separation from Raptors defenders at will in the second half except the possessions when CoJo was tasked with guarding his Team Canada teammate. Joseph as a defensive stopper against all opponents is something that the Raptors are going to need to employ more often, size mismatches be damned. CoJo on Melo. CoJo on Dirk. CoJo on Shaq. CoJo on everyone.
  • First half rookie mob. Even though it was forced to some extent by foul trouble I really loved seeing Delon Wright and Bebe Nogueira on the floor together. It makes a lot of sense – you have a shortened rotation and need productive minutes out of these kids so let them play with at least one player they’ve already familiar with. I also like the first half rookie mob because it suggests that Dwane Casey reads Raptors Republic and listens to our suggestions, making everyone on staff de facto assistant coaches. We’ve made it.

That $&%^ I Don’t Like:

  • Luis Scola’s play. I like the idea of Scola and I like that he looks like he should be driving a convertible and dating a college student while wearing gaudy jewellery and wearing a shirt that shows just enough chest hair to let you know he hasn’t fully greyed yet. I don’t like him as a basketball player at this point in time. His release is too slow for him to be able to shoot as much as the Raptors need a stretch four to shoot and his feet are too slow for him to defend anybody under the age of 35. As great as I think Patrick Patterson has played recently a big part of that perception has to be influenced by how bad Scola has been.
  • “Working the refs”. Leave them alone, guys. You’re not actually gaining a competitive advantage by constantly bitching at the refs about their job performance. They’re going to miss come calls for the same reason you’re going to miss some shots: they’re human and missing things is what humans do. Lowry and DeRozan are the worst for this, with DeRozan standing out last night for complaining about obvious fouls called against him and getting on the refs for not giving him a bailout call on a missed shot exactly one possession after they gave him a bailout call. They’re not going to give out constant crunch time free throw trips, that’s why the offense should be focused on creating makeable shots.
  • Second half DeRozan. He complained to the refs too much and was obviously frustrated by the physical style of the game which was ironic because of the way he generates his own offense.
  • Losing the rebound battle. The Raptors have had an up and down season but the one thing that I feel has been really consistent has been their rebounding. Obviously they can’t outrebound opponents every night but not even having this as a positive makes the whole game seem a little more disappointing.

It would have been nice to go into the all-star break on a little winning streak but the Raptors are still having an excellent season considering the injury issues they’ve been dealing with. The team will regroup and come back fresh for what is sure to be an exciting post-break stretch with the team in striking distance of the conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers and pursued by a surging Boston Celtics team that has won 10 of their last 12 games. In the meantime let’s enjoy the long-overdue inaugural Toronto All-Star Weekend that will surely become a fairly regular occurrence as the Raptors as a team, Toronto as a city and Canada as a country all continue to increase their basketball profiles.