The turning point against Golden State came when Stephen Curry calmly drained three threes in the opening 3:30 of the fourth quarter. The Raptors defense on those three plays is the subject of today’s post.
One of the things that really bugs me about the Raptors league-worst defense is where the help is coming from. Generally speaking, we tend to send a lot of help in order to compensate for our defense at the wings.
Here’s a defensive possession from the first half where it’s evident what the Lakers are about to do, but only one Raptor anticipates the action while the one that was supposed to see it coming, didn’t move an inch.
Amir Johnson’s been known to pick up fouls at a fairly quick rate, every 5.49 minutes to be exact. He picked up three fouls in a span of 1:57 against Cleveland, one of those fouls was a little interesting and is a subject of this BID segment.
One of the things that stood out against Philadelphia were the Raptors’ 26 fastbreak points. Many of the points were the result of a convenient rebound combined with an aggressive mentality to run. We examine two such instances.
JV is a project with upside, not a focal piece. MU is doing important things right now, but his hires will be as important as firing the old guard like Kelly. We still have to sort out a long-term coach and handle the roster issues mentioned above. I think Lowry IS the backup guard, though.