To borrow an now over-used term, DD was en fuego on Sunday afternoon as he notched what must be a career high in three-balls. Not one, not two, but three, folks. The third one was so surprising that the officials reviewed it, when it was clear his foot was not close to the 3-point line.

Now the real question is whether this is the beginning of sustained improvement from behind the arc or not. If in fact it is, then not only does DeMar improve his own efficiency and help space the floor (which is what a shooting guard should do, not a big by the way), it opens up his own game that much more. Despite his handles being non-elite, it’s easier to do it from further out then it is long two range.

As has been pointed out recently on this site and elsewhere, the shooting guard position is going through some sort of famine. Never has the talent pool been so diluted, especially with the rules tilted so much in the favor of perimeter players. With that in mind, a DeRozan with a somewhat proficient shot would become a net-positive player going forward. It is a development everyone should keep an eye on.

If you really want to analyze this game, it was really Brooklyn’s anemic offense in the first half that cost them the game. They settled for too many jumpers, thinking the Raptors would be another notch on their winning streak belt. By the time they made their run, it was just enough to make it a close game, rather than to pull ahead.

Quincy Acy was a second round steal. Finally Bryan Colangelo pulled one off. He’s a good fit for today’s game of mobile bigs, although the term “big” is quite generous when applied to him. His basketball instincts, like his pass out of a double team to a streaking DeRozan, are above average.

A word here to temper any kind of optimism you want to draw from this stretch of decent games. The Raptors are in the enviable position of playing relaxed stress-free basketball with nothing to lose AND without “tanking” being a factor. That’s why a banged up Amir Johnson is getting big minutes in these inconsequential games. Generally management and coaching start to give more playing time to the lesser lights under the veil of “development” but really are hoping to not win as many games.

Now Brooklyn is playing for playoff positioning, but come on, it’s not really that important. But what we can applaud is the way the team withstood the 4th quarter run and were able to still preserve a victory when the Nets flipped the switch.

Well, he remains the one and only story line on this night. He seems like an emotional guy, so it’ll be interesting to see how he responds. Rumor has it that he may be back next year. Semi-interesting, to say the least.

There is actually another storyline. Amir Johnson is on my fantasy team and I need FG% and blocks in the worst way, so Amir, please man up and sacrifice your long-term health for tonight.

My fantasy research has revealed that he is with the team in Detroit and is a game-time decision. It also revealed that Andre Drummond may be back tonight after missing significant time with a back injury. Probably the second most impressive rookie this year, after Damien Lillard.

Alright, without further ado, here are the cold hard numbers for your perusal.

The Tale of the Tape
O-Rating: Detroit 103.0 (23rd), Toronto 105.6 (16th)
D-Rating: Detroit 108.3 (25th), Toronto 108.1 (23rd)
Pace: Detroit 90.6 (23rd), Toronto 90.4 (24th)
Strength: Detroit, 11th in Offensive Rebounding %
Weakness: Toronto, has Bryan Colangelo as a GM

The Picks
Bet365: OTB (Off the board)

Wally: I’m Off The Board too, for the same reasons as Vegas probably has it. Not sure if Amir will play, a Drummond is also not certain. But Detroit is most certainly in “losing ain’t so bad” mode so this should tilt the game in Toronto’s favor if it’s close down the stretch.

Despite letting Miami toy with 60% shooting for most of the game and shooting around 40% themselves, the Raptors were actually in this game at the start of the 4th quarter. Great offensive rebounding and a stellar 3rd quarter by Gay/DeRozan had them at evens early in the final quarter.

So what happens? Ray Allen happens, with no Lebron and no Chris Bosh on the floor. Ray Allen happens, early in the shot clock with hardly any ball movement from Miami. It was like, dribble, dribble, dribble, Raptors collapse, kick it out to Ray-Ray. Rinse and repeat.

It just doesn’t make a sense why a wing on the weak side near the three-point line needs to hop over and join the fun. Especially when Ray Allen is your mark. If you’re a wing, you aren’t going to defend anything. Maybe if you’re close to the rim already you can rotate and take a charge. But out there, just stay with Ray Allen would ya? Thanks. Maybe next year.

Another frustrating thing regarding X’s and O’s. The zone defense is a bend-don’t-break type of strategy. It was working against the Heat. This is basketball, teams score about 100 points every game, so just because they score a few times on the zone, doesn’t mean you should abandon it. It’s an effective defense against the Heat and it would be amazing to see a team play it all game against them. With a little extra attention paid to Ray Allen, of course.

By the time he hit three in a span of a couple of minutes, he was on auto-pilot and even the semi-contests did little to deter him. By the time Lebron checked back in, the game was already out of hand, but Lebron fed the fire one more time to really drive the final nail in the coffin.

The key to Miami’s streak has been a couple of things. Most importantly, it’s Dwyane Wade’s health. He’s playing like the old Wade and that makes him a top 5 player in this league. Second is Lebron James’ perimeter shooting, which was his one non-elite skill and what’s so scary is that he’s hitting three’s and the shot looks better than it ever has. It used to have a more line-drive quality to it, not so much now. Obviously the bench has been bolstered with the addition of Ray Allen and that helps win games in the regular season more than anything.

Onto some positives about our team.

Jonas Valuciunas had an eye-opening game. His buckets were mainly in post-up situations and they were clearly defined moves. The best one was where he decided he was going to go over Chris Bosh and executed it perfectly. That’s the encouraging part, where the defender knows exactly what you want to do and still can’t stop you. That’s NBA ability.

Terrence Ross has started to show a couple of nice things every game. Especially the drive and dish skills. One starts to wonder that his very timid personality has held back his game. He has a deceptively quick first step and gets to the rim in a hurry.

Rudy Gay’s talent can be summed up like this: He can make Lebron James look bad.

Problem is, he’s very good at making himself look bad, too. Just imagine this guy being coached by Popovich/Jackson type. He’d be a top 10 player in this league.

Right now though, Amir Johnson is the best player on this team. This will get repeated over and over until everyone understands, although the bandwagon is filling up recently. Elite defender, with some elite rebounding recently and starting to show flashes of an effective face-up offensive game. He’s actually still getting better as he continues to fill out his frame.

Lowry had a bad game, and it’s hard to understand why the media and coaches are so tough on the kid. He’s still an above-average point guard and he’s shown a willingness to become less selfish this year, which is commendable.

We all love his work ethic, but it would be interesting to see a lineup of Lowry, Ross, Gay, Johnson and Valunciunas play together for extended minutes. That’s a lot of athleticism and talent right there. Unrefined, but talent nonetheless.

Only way to find out if Colangelo’s gamble of talent turning to into effective basketball players will actually pay off this time.

Amir Johnson has a career night on the boards, Andrea Bargnani has his best game of the season, Rudy Gay actually has an efficient night, Kyle Lowry barely misses a triple double.

And what do we have? Another L.

That tells you all you need about this team and the guy who put this all together. Flawed.

122 points allowed against Milwaukee, 125 points allowed last night. So the offence looks a little better with Bargnani hitting his shots, but the defense regresses even worse when he plays major minutes for this team.

Rudy Gay makes one or two jaw-dropping plays every game but has shot 50% only once as a Raptor; his first game against the Clippers. Seriously, what makes him that much different than someone like Michael Beasley? Go check out the stats, with the one year Beasley played 30+ minutes (2010-2011)

Take a look how Memphis has been playing recently. 9-1 in their last 10 games, with their only loss to the Miami Heat. Does that look like a team that lost an “all-Star calibre” talent? Were the majority of analysts who criticized Colangelo for the trade right? Or maybe we still need a whole season and a training camp.

Or yeah a new coach because he will turn Andrea Bargnani into a guy who will play defense in the paint and gift the three-point shot to DeMar DeRozan and turn Rudy Gay into a better decision-maker. These are flawed basketball players.

Bargnani we found out about very quickly, yet he was allowed to pretty much ruin a team that had a budding talent in Chris Bosh, until he left. He drafts DeRozan who dropped to 9th in the draft for a very good reason that still applies today. He was not a steal. Then the feather on the cap, Gay. John Hollinger and the Grizzlies, how much did they take back in that trade? Ed Davis hardly plays, so it was basically Tayshaun Prince. Rudy Gay for Tayshaun Prince. Addition by subtraction much?

It was a late game so I’ll have to spare everyone the hurried analysis of the actual match. But really what’s the point anyway. This team is not making the playoffs and we should be concentrating at least on the development of Terrence Ross, Quincy Acy and Jonas Valunciunas.

But they aren’t getting any time. At least Bargnani may be accumulating some trade value, but is there a GM dumb enough not to realize that any team that takes him on will still need two more bigs playing help defence whenever he’s on the court?

The only one who is, is gainfully employed by the Toronto Raptors.

Indiana comes into town on the second half of a back-to-back after a tough loss to the Clippers. Apart from that loss, they have been playing quite well, with their only recent blemish being a loss to our very own squad at the ACC earlier in February, where Rudy Gay hit the game winner as the newly anointed Saviour. Remember those days?

Roy Hibbert will be back, chomping at the bit after serving a suspension. Danny Granger is also back after a long layoff from a knee injury and is rounding back into form, albeit off the bench. He played about 19 minutes last night, and he may not play much more tonight if the Pacers are trying to be careful with him.

Let’s get to the tale of the tape:

O-Rating: Toronto 106.1 (12th), Pacers 103.4 (21st)
D-Rating: Toronto 107.7 (24th), Pacers 98.9 (1st)
Pace: Toronto 89.9 (25th), Cavaliers 89.9 (26th)
Strength: Toronto ball control (3rd), Pacers (5th in Offensive rebounding)
Weakness: Toronto Freebies (30th in Opp FTA/FGA), Pacers ball control (26th)

Positional Breakdown

Point Guard: Kyle Lowry v. George Hill
Advantage: Raptors
Again, Lowry is the better PG as he is on many nights, but will he take advantage of it? Hill is good defensively, but if Lowry can play the way he can it will change the entire complexion of this game. Hill can struggle with good defensive pressure, Chris Paul locked him up last night and Kyle held him to a 9 pt/5 ast performance in their last meeting.

Shooting Guard: DeMar DeRozan vs. Lance Stephenson
Advantage: Raptors
Stephenson is one tough, mean player. The kind of guy the Raptors need, but at this point in his career he’s still not accomplished offensively. If DeMar can take away his shot, his FT totals suggest that he can’t finish at the rim, although he does have enough court vision to make the right pass. He will give DeMar a hard time on the defensive side of the ball, so it remains to be seen if DD can build on his very efficient performance last game (34 points off 19 shots)

Small forward: Rudy Gay v. Paul George
Advantage: Pacers
Paul George, so hot right now. It’s been a breakout season for the former 10th overall pick, but if there is a guy out there who has the ability to contain him, Gay would be it. George isn’t much of a slasher, he prefers to use his length to shoot, or drive and pull up, to shoot. If Gay isn’t required to help too much, he should be able to contest these attempts. Offensively for Gay, there were nice flashes of court awareness last game. Even if it didn’t translate to a win, it will help the team if he continues to distribute the ball, especially to his boy Lowry and to Valunciunas on pick-an-rolls.

Power Forward: Amir Johnson v. David West
Advantage: Pacers
This is a tough one. One-on-one Amir can handle West. Problem is that no other big on this team can. You can put Bargnani in there but right now but we know how that’s working out right now. He chewed up Valunciunas and spit him out last game, especially in OT. So if Amir can stay out of foul trouble, it’ll really help. Amir could probably get some offense going against West if he wanted, but it’s doubtful the coaching staff will take advantage of that.

Center: Jonas Valunciunas v. Roy Hibbert
Advantage: Pacers
It’s not necessarily the matchup that Hibbert wins, but the overall impact on defense. The shot-blocking will definitely cause guys like DeRozan and Gay issues at the rim. When will Val see the 4th quarter? At the very least he will get an offensive rebound or two when the points are harder to come by in crunch time.

Bench
Advantage: Pacers
The Pacers have Danny Granger coming off the bench. The Raptors have Andrea Bargnani.
#FreeQuincy

The Pick

bet365: Pacers -125 Raptors +105
Me: Pacers by 5

Indiana takes this on the strength of their bench. This may sound overblown, but when a team is playing with the current Andrea Bargnani on the floor, they’re playing a man short like a power play in hockey. And with the margin of victory for this team already as thin as it is, even 15 minutes of him can/will make the difference. By the same token, Amir Johnson needs to be on as much as possible, and has to avoid foul trouble at all costs, because if he’s on the bench David West automatically requires double teams and the Pacers become deadly offensively. Not what you need from a team that plays the best defense in the league.

The Raptors did their best to gift this one to the listless Washington Wizards, but the team from the boys from D.C. refused to accept the victory.

DeMar DeRozan had a solid night offensively, but it was probably Amir Johnson’s superb interior defense that made the greater overall impact in the victory.

Scratch that, it was John Wall who really made the difference. 1 for 12 from the field with 7 turnovers is not pretty. A great physical talent, but right now is not getting the right coaching or guidance to help his team win games.

Rudy Gay continues to be Rudy Gay. Inefficient offensively, but still coming through for the team when things are getting tight. It’s sacrilege right now to say anything truly negative about the new Raptor golden boy, but here it is. The man has such good speed and dribbles that he gets by pretty much anyone his size if he wants to, and he has been doing that quite frequently as a Raptor, so good on him. But….but, but, but he almost never takes advantage of the other team’s broken down defense by delivering a good pass. It’s the one skill he lacks, which happens to be the same issue that DeRozan has had his whole career and is only now taking steps to rectify. It would really turn him into something truly special, if he learned to make that pass off the bounce. He’s so talented that he’s been able to make really tough shots his whole career, so he’s never felt it necessary to defer in those situations, but the results bear out a string of sub-par shooting performances. That will eventually catch up to him, perhaps not against the Wizards, but against the type of teams that the Raptors have to climb over to challenge for the playoffs.

Make no mistake though. His impact on this team is of ultimate importance, especially the way the NBA is structured. A go-to scorer that has the respect of the officials. The latter part is just as important as any. Case in point, Gay gets fouled on the way up against Nene. The call itself wasn’t blatant, it could have been argued that Gay initiated the contact. But that’s besides the point. Rudy went off on the official, for a while in a very public display of anger. Yes, he did get a technical after a prolonged verbal attack, but the next offensive possession he gets what looks like a borderline call on a post-up. Clearly a make-up call that someone like DeMar DeRozan or any other Raptor would have not have gotten, unless it was a really bad call on home court.

But he could be so much better if he kept his head up while driving, is the point here. Or if the rest of his team actually ran to a spot where they can accept the pass, rather than gaze in awe/admiration.

So the Raptor defense was pretty solid, as much as the Wizards helped in making them look good, but there were stretches when yes, Andrea Bargnani, was in there and it really was painfully obvious how the interior defense suffered when he was on. 26 minutes is too much, even against this team, and that’s all the space and effort that will be expunged on this topic.

About the point guard play. Solid, but not spectacular, although John Lucas has been resembling a backup NBA point right now. Actually he’s morphed into something of an off-guard because the assist totals are down from earlier in the year. This is a Lucas who is in Alan Anderson mode, except the little man can actually shoot. In fact, he’s the best long-range shooter this team now has, although Kyle Lowry would be in the conversation. Why Lowry doesn’t shoot the three more is another issue in itself.

It’s the confidence factor for John. He may be on the wiser side of thirty, but he’s a pup in terms of NBA experience. Small guys in the NBA have all been ultra-confident, and you see that since that watershed game against New Orleans, he’s been looking for his shot. Two notable plays were his stare-down three late in the game from the corner and an acrobatic layup, also in the fourth. Pleasant surprise right now for the Raptors, but they still need another point guard for depth.

So five games in a row, which is great, but the best part about it is that it doesn’t feel like it’s happening with smoke and mirrors. This team now looks talented enough to pull of victories even when it’s not playing it’s “A” game and that’s what helps over the grind of an 82 game schedule.

The New Orleans Hornets walked into the ACC last night with a similar record to the hosts, but if their last meeting was any indication, this was the Raptors’ game to lose. It did turn out that way eventually, but not without a little theatrics.

This team and drama? Go together like butter and toast.

The game started off on the right foot, with a burst of offence and some nice ball movement. Amir Johnson typically was on the receiving end of some nice dimes by Kyle Lowry. The Lowry we saw in the first quarter is the kind of player we saw to start off the season. Although he wasn’t able to maintain that torrid pace, partly due to being benched in favor of the great Lucas, it was an encouraging sign that perhaps everything is starting to normalize for him.

He’s the clear cut starter now. Rudy Gay has gotten acclimated to the team, and Lowry didn’t seem to force feed the swing man as much as he had in previous games. Kyle needs to be one of the top 3 scorers on this team every night. He’s got that kind of ability. Motivation should not be a factor as this has become his team after the trade. The annoying backup in Calderon who had Lowry constantly looking over his shoulder is gone. His best friend was acquired, perhaps with some of his prodding. Now he has to show us whether he can play at close to an All-Star level. The assists have been there, but the scoring needs be at 15+ per game.

So the Raptors held a cozy 11 point lead after one quarter. This game had the feeling of a wire-to-wire blowout, but the bench came in with one John Lucas, and horror ensued. It’s not that the Hornets’ bench closed a double-digit gap in the matter of minutes, it was the ease that they did it with. It didn’t matter that DeMar DeRozan was out there to lead the subs. It didn’t matter that the “untouchable” Terrence Ross is still nothing more than a glorified 3-pt shooter. And John Lucas, boy it’s been white-knuckle time with John Lucas running the show. Whatever transpired later on this night was a unicorn. It’s the aberration of all aberrations.

Maybe, just maybe, the tongue lashing the bench received from the rest of the team that Lucas referred to on the post-game TV interview, sparked the spark plug. If he can play more like that, which is a big if, then we might have something resembling an NBA rotation player. The step back long jumpers were fluky, that we could all live without. His quickness and dribbles that he used so aggressively to get into the lane, that was something we need to see more of. His spot-up shooting, that’s where he needs to be one of the best.

He was the story in the second half. The starters couldn’t replicate their first quarter domination, and this time when the bench were reluctantly called out on to the floor, the Third was ready.

Perhaps it wouldn’t have even mattered, as if this team has shown anything this year, it’s that it can put away lesser teams at home. Partly because the referees, who have been a real story this year, have just as less respect for the other team. The bigger reason is that this current outfit is more talented than New Orleans. That could all change if Anthony Davis could play like a first overall stud that he was hyped up to be, but right now Greivis Vasquez is the best player on this team and that’s not a compliment, as good as Vasquez has turned out to be this year.

Seeing the way Landry Fields defended a smaller quicker Eric Gordon, and the way Alan Anderson is starting to turn into another Mikes James situation, a lineup of Lowry, Fields, Gay, Johnson and Val/Gray would be intriguing (at least defensively).

Let’s end with a nice comment in the Reaction segment, about Alan Anderson, whom Raptor nation seems to have unanimously turned on. Couldn’t agree more, although it`s pretty clear not many will care to see the other side of the coin, it`s summed up nicely here.

This is by poster Ion66:

I get where AA is coming from. The guys had a long journey, lands an NBA job and his play and scoring were a big part of our “comeback” run. Now he’s got to worry about his position with the team and he’s playing like he’s auditioning for a contract, not just playing within himself. I totally understand that, and can’t say I’d not try and do the same in his shoes. I just wish he’d let the game come to him and not try and force it, because I think that’s a big part of why he’s not making those buckets, and trying to get hot and keep his job. I like what he did and has provided for us, so I’m not going to call for his head, but someone needs to sit him down and tell him to just relax and play.