“If you lose the last game of the season, nobody gives a s$@t.”

Brad Pitt as Billy Beane, Moneyball

So the Raptors did what Brad Pitt’s character could never do, in their win against the Celtics last night. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s what he actually had in mind.

It was fanapalooza night and the fans were treated to a good old fashioned blow-out. And while I have often criticized Raptor fans for being too emotional and too wrapped up in the moment, but I’ve also defended them as being among the most loyal in the NBA. And the most vocal.

Some sports writers, who shall remain nameless, will often throw out a Raptor comment knowing they get a lot of response from fans.

You go to any NBA forum and the Raptor boards are always the busiest.

This year, the Raptors had the 13th highest attendance in the league. And while that may not sound like much to be proud of, keep in mind that every team ahead of them had a better record, and either were in the playoffs this year or made the playoffs last year. The Raptors haven’t made the playoffs for the last 5 years.

That’s loyalty.

Speaking of the fans, there have been a number of comments on this site criticizing the writers here, including me, for being too negative. Some feel we should write more positive stories. Personally, I’ve always felt I simply wrote what I saw, whether positive or negative (and really, if I’m so negative, why did my prediction for the season fall one win short ?). With the team missing the playoffs for the 5th straight year, and a team that many feel is built for mediocrity, I think many of us can be forgiven if the “negative” outweighs the “positive” because that’s a reflection of the team. The team won 34 games for the season and were out of the playoff hunt almost a month ago. If it wasn’t for the Raptors taking advantage of a few playoff teams who treated the last few games as nothing more than an exhibition season, the Raptors might have ended up with the same winning percentage as last year, despite adding $20 million in salary and three “core” players to the team.

And then I really listened to Matt Devlin and Leo Rautins talk during the game.

If you listen to any Raptor commentator, and take what they are saying to heart, reading what any other Raptor writer, outside of Doug Smith, has to say would probably be jarring. You see, the Raptor commentators are Raptor employees. When Michael Grange was interviewing Bryan Colangelo, in the halftime feature, this was an employee interviewing his boss.

They HAVE to say positive things about the team or else they’ll be fired.

That’s why you heard Leo Rautins refer to Andrea Bargnani as a workable asset that has trade value, and not the unwieldy contract that will be nearly impossible to move.

That’s why they kept talking up the Rudy Gay trade as if it was such a great move for the team, and not a panic move that is meant to save Colangelo’s job. The organization knows the criticism being levelled at them, and they have an avenue to dispute it without argument.

Of course, there was a game last night, and while Boston came into it with the same level of interest as the Hawks and Bulls before them, the Raptors did have the professionalism to give their fans a good send off.

There wasn’t really a Raptors that didn’t play well, but the player of the game was probably Jonas Valanciunas, who finished the night with 18 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks. As usual, he got to the line and played hard every minute he was on the court.

In one sequence, Valanciunas beat every other player up the court to catch a lob from Kyle Lowry for a fast break dunk. If anyone is worried that the Raptors playing a faster pace is not conducive to playing Valanciunas, I suggest you watch this play.

One interesting moment. After a play where Valanciunas fouled Shavlik Randolph, first John Lucas approaches him to explain why it was a foul, and then Alan Anderson. A good sign that his teammates want to help him, and that he’s open to their help.

While Valanciunas had another good game, teams are obviously starting to scout him. All four of his turnovers were due to Boston doubling him and either taking the ball from him or making him pass it. Next year is going to be a big adjustment as teams start sending double teams at him.

Another of Valanciunas’ weaknesses is his penchant for fouling, which is normal for rookie big men. After his second foul in the first quarter, Dwane Casey, as usual took him out. One criticism I’ve had of Casey all year long, is he’s too by-the-book when it comes to removing players with fouls.

It was the last game of the year. Wouldn’t it be a good time to let Valanciunas play with two fouls and see how reacts? What’s the worst that can happen? He gets another foul and sits the rest of the half.

While it’s obvious the Raptors played well, one issue I have with them is the number of times they take a quick three early in the clock. Last night, many of them went in, but that’s hurt them a lot over the course of the season. When you’re hot, that shot is fine. When you’re not, it can be a killer.

I could talk more about the game, but whether you like it or not, it was a meaningless game to finish off a pretty meaningless season. While ending the season going 7-1 might seem like a great thing, how a team plays at the end of a season generally has no bearing on how they do the next season. Worst of all, though, if there was any question before about whether MLSE would pick up Colangelo’s option, this probably seals the deal. And that’s not good news for any Raptor fans that care about building a REAL winning team.

So with the season over for the Raptors, I suggest that everyone watch as much playoff basketball as possible this spring. And make this past season a memory.

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.

Milwaukee was in complete control from the first to the end of the third, which is when the lead was 25 points. The Raptor made the token garbage-time “run” to make it less humiliating. You can check the box score for the low-lights such as Rudy Gay’s 1-10 FG shooting performance, or you could take your pick from DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry etc. Even the lone bright spot of late, Jonas Valanciunas, suffered a poor game as the Bucks tested the Raptors to a man in transition and came out on top. Ironically enough, the team the Raptors were chasing for that final playoff spot clinched it right in front of their eyes in resounding fashion.

[Also read: Quick Reaction: Raptors 83 vs Bucks 100]

DeRozan found Ellis tougher than he had Ridnour the night before, and Gay stayed on the perimeter against Daniels, and never did assert himself. The third quarter surge that he’s come up with a couple times this year never materialized. Maybe his back is bothering him, and if so, shut him down because there’s zero reason he should be playing. The defense was non-existent, both in transition and in half-court. Effort was a major factor as is expected in a game as pointless as this. Maybe preventing Milwaukee from clinching a playoff spot might’ve been motivation, but that wasn’t clearly the case. The Bucks beat the Raptors in every single major statistical category here: rebounding, FG%, assists, turnovers, blocks, FTM…

Looking ahead to the off-season, and given the lack of flexibility on the roster (BTW, where’s the DeRozan’s worth $10M crowd?), I’m even pondering whether this is the year we do want that first round pick. It might be the only way we have a chance to add a quality player. Then again Bryan Colangelo was apparently in Italy scouting some people. Or looking for a job. Both are equally believable.

The Raptors strategy of building a team from other team’s rejected parts is backfiring fast, making the earlier strategy of playing out the season with Davis/Valanciunas/Ross/DeRozan and adding a piece or two in the off-season look rather attractive. The odds now are that the Raptors do a variant of one of the following:

1. Stay the course and bring this team back to training camp. The same results will be repeated, as teams around the Raptors aren’t exactly going to take a major step back (maybe Boston or Philly, but Detroit will get better).
2. Bargnani has zero trade value and we would have to trade an actual asset just to get rid of him (or amnesty him). The guy that Colangelo is likely to move in another gamble is DeRozan, and nobody would quite shed a tear, except that Terrence Ross’ terrible play has resulted with the Raptors having no insurance there. That won’t stop Colangelo to try to move DeRozan for someone that used to be something.
3. Adding Carl Landry and selling him as the missing piece, while bring back Jose Calderon as an official backup. Or something.

Either way, the core of Gay and Lowry will return which means it’s those two guys that the Raptors are going to lean on to improve the current pathetic state of the club. I think Lowry can turn it around and become a productive member of this team. I’m not sold on Gay, this theory of him adding weight in the summer and returning next season as an All-Star type player is ridiculous (sorry, Leo).

I’m kind of sad there’s no draft to look forward to, because that’s sort of kept us going between April all the way to June.

—

After giving Don Nelson and George Karl their 1000th win as coaches, the Toronto Raptors denied Rick Adelman from joining the exclusive club. A club that has fewer members than SNL’s Five Timers Club. It was nice, not only because it prevented the Raptors from being add to list of answers to trivia questions that include, “What team did Don Nelson beat to win 1000 games?”, “What team did George Karl beat to win 1000 games?” and “What team did Kobe Bryant score 81 points against?”. It was also nice because it gave some meaning to what would otherwise be a meaningless game.

Neither the Raptors nor the T-Wolves will make the playoffs, and about the only thing they’re fighting for now is draft seeding. And with the Raptors unlikely to retain their pick, I’m wondering how many Raptor fans even care.

Of course, now the Raptors are riding a two game winning streak, their longest in 20 games. The only danger now is that the Raptors start playing well, giving Bryan Colangelo more of a chance of returning next year to continue mismanaging the team and overpaying players.

But on to the game…

The Minnesota Timberwolves are a peculiar team. They have four point guards on the roster, the only shooting guard has knees worse than mine and who already retired once, their best three point shooter is probably their power forward and their best interior defender is their small forward.

Without a real shooting guard, 6’2 Luke Ridnour has been starting there for most of the season. If you’ve been following the Raptors at all this season, you should know that this pretty much guarantees a big game from DeMar DeRozan, who routinely feasts on undersized defenders.

I’ve been pretty critical of DeRozan over the last couple of seasons, but this year his post-up game has grown by leaps and bounds. And while he takes WAY too many long twos, still has poor ball handling skills and is a below average defenders, what he does do is take advantage of smaller defenders. And that’s exactly what he did against the T-Wolves.

While most of his shots still came from outside of the paint, he hit more than half his shots on the way to 25 points. On the downside, he only got to the line once. Not surprising since he only took took shots at the rim and only four in the paint. While did did score well and when the team needed him to, it was another inefficient night.

 Rudy Gay was the team’s leading scorer, with 26 point, his efficiency mirrored that of DeRozan’s, going 12-23 with only one free throw on the night. On the plus side, he seemed more engaged, after the first quarter, and got into the paint more than usual.

Speaking of Gay, I’d like to watch the game again and see what the ratio was of how many times Gay scored and then let his man easily drive by on the very next play. For a guy with his defensive ability, the number of times he let’s this happen is unforgivable.

Of course, the main reason for many of us to watch the game was to see Jonas Valaniunas. Before the game, it was announced that he had won the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for March, which seems like a great honour until you realize that most of the decent rookies are in the West, and the last Raptor that won it was Jamario Moon.

Jonas was going up against possibly the strongest player in the NBA, Nikola Pekovic. Pekovic is an absolute beast and the guy Blake Griffin said was the toughest player in the NBA to play against. I also don’t know if there’s a more underrated player in the league. This is a 7 foot center with pretty decent mobility who weighs in the neighbourhood of 280 lbs, most of which appears to be muscle. And he’s averaging 16.2 ppg and 8.8 rpg for the season. I’d say he’s easily a top ten center this year, yet you never hear anyone talking about him.

Jonas actually played Pekovic pretty well, and was able to score in double digits, yet again, but did have an off night on the boards, only managing 4 in 30 minutes. Still, considering what he was up against, you have to give him credit.

With Pekovic, you knew Aaron Gray was going to make an appearance and he didn’t disappoint. He definitely made an appearance. I was disappointed that I didn’t see his regular reaction whenever he’s called for a foul. I don’t recall another player arguing such obvious foul calls as Gray. Well, maybe Alan “Stink” Anderson, but despite playing in his hometown, Casey didn’t give him very many minutes.

So the Raptors won and are now a half game ahead of Washington for 10th place in the East.

Random thoughts for the game:

- When Andrei Kirilenko goes in to get his haircut, does he ask for the Tom Chambers?

- While the wife of T-Wolves owner, Glen Taylor, isn’t young, she’s quite attractive for her age. Taylor, on the other hand, was definitely not married for his looks.

-  I’ve really been intrigued about Derrick Williams as someone who might blossom on another team, and then I watched him slowly jog back on defense, well behind both teams. Twice.

The Toronto Raptors gave the Washington Wizards the business last night.

Armed with a strong rebounding game and a relentless interior attack, Toronto completely exploited Washington inside the paint.

The box score reads the Raps scored a mere 32 points in the paint but don’t let that fool you.

Jonas Valanciunas had a statement game. His production alone on this night warranted him getting more touches not only in the contest but possibly for the remainder of the season.

[Also read Reaction: Wizards 78, Raptors 88]

He isn’t always the most aesthetic looking player, but he gets the job done. According to Synergy Sports, the big man came into last night’s game converting 49.4 percent of his shots in post up situations.

Obviously, context is important in this setting. He doesn’t necessarily score that well against every opposing big man, but last night was one of those nights. Valanciunas owned Emeka Okafor and Nene.

He had a few post ups as well as a couple of drives — always to his right! — that allowed him to score.

But JV’s biggest contribution last night on offense was his toughness. Every time he was given an open shot in the paint, he pump faked himself (took him a few seconds to realize how open he was) and then used the landscape at his disposal to attack the basket.

Routinely he was met with resistance, but he kept drawing whistles. His aggressive and physical play resulted in a 16-of-18 free throw shooting night.

Valanciunas’ scoring in the half-court helped the Raptors overcome a sloppy game. The majority of their 15 turnovers on this night were unforced. On a few occasions, players tried threading the needle with passes and instead coughed up the ball.

DeMar DeRozan was on his game in this contest. Dwane Casey’s regular sets were favorable for Toronto’s starting 2-guard on this evening.

One of the Raptors’ pet plays has DeRozan curling off a screen on the left side of the floor for an open jumper. If the big man defending the action on DeRozan steps out to contest his jumper, the shooting guard can essentially drive past him and get into the paint.

DeMar mixed up his game by attacking the paint and nailing his midrange jumpers. According to Hoopdata, DeRozan converted 6-of-12 shots from 16-to-23 feet against the Wizards. He also got himself to the basket and into the paint where he put pressure on Washington.

DeMar DeRozan shot cart against Washington Wizards.

His final tall by night’s end was 25 points.

Valanciunas and DeRozan did a great job of taking whatever Washington offered them in this contest. But it can also be said that Toronto removed whatever available options the Wiz had, especially in the second half.

Indeed, Casey’s group held the Wizards to 28 points on 7-for-35 shooting from the floor in the final two quarters of the game. They kept John Wall out on the perimeter and the few times he wandered into the paint, he was met with resistance.

He managed 12 points in the second half, but was 3-for-11 from the field.

With the team hitting the road for their three next games, winning at home prior to leaving the friendly confines of Toronto is always a good thing.

I don’t have a ton to add from my quick reaction column, so this won’t be a long post-game, but after tonight (and Sunday’s Washington game), the message is clear: the Raps are in full-fledged tank mode from here on out. Whether you choose to root for such an outcome or not is up to you – click here for Blake’s excellent column debating the pros and cons with Raptors HQ - but I will say that, from my perspective, it’s extremely disappointing that this is where we’re at with 8 games left in the year after all the promise, hype, talk of playoffs, and major trades made both in the offseason and during the year. Unfortunately, all sizzle and no steak is quickly becoming a Raptor staple: start hot for 3 quarters, and then blow it in the fourth; sign Landry Fields, but not Steve Nash; trade for Rudy Gay, and your best player immediately becomes Amir Johnson.

Yes, these are not fun times in RaptorLand. But, before I depress myself too much, let’s talk a bit about the game itself.

To call this game a full-fledged tank job is probably a bit harsh, as the Raptors were in it for 3 and a half quarters, and actually held a double-digit lead in the 3rd. It would also do a disservice to the excellent effort put forth by Jonas Valanciunas and Quincy Acy, particularly Jonas, who is blossoming into a future star before our very eyes. He’ll need to put on a bit of bulk to continue playing with reckless aplomb, as he has been throughout the year; and he’ll need to work on his left hand during the offseason; but man, oh man, is he fun to watch. Watching him take Andre Drummond on the blocks time after time on both offense and defence (finishing with a career high 5 blocks on the night) was a nice reminder that yes, even in the darkness, there is always some light.

Unfortunately for Jonas, though, he didn’t exactly get much help on the defensive end of the floor tonight. The first half seemed like a lay-up line for both teams, as the Raptors and Pistons traded buckets like a streetball pickup game – both shooting over 55% for the half. For the Raptors, a lot of those made field goals were jumpers – they were 5/11 from 3 going into the break – but, for the Pistons, a disproportionate amount of points were scored on either the pick and roll or by simply driving past their mark and straight to the hoop. It got so bad in the first quarter that DeMar was switched off Brandon Knight and onto Jose Calderon for a time – unacceptable for a player who is looking to assert himself as a future face of the franchise.

Of course, one of these methods of scoring points is sustainable, while the other one almost always isn’t, and it was clear that the Raptors were going to have to make a concerted effort to stop the Pistons’ dribble penetration to win the game, even though they went into the half with a one-point lead. To their credit, the defensive effort was much better to start the 3rd quarter, where the Raptors were quickly able to pile up an 11 point cushion. Sure, Detroit was cold as ice coming out of the break, but where the shots were taken was the most telling stat. Take a look at the Pistons’ shot chart after 10 minutes of the 3rd quarter:
Keep in mind when looking at this that those two makes under the basket were both Greg Monroe buckets scored literally moments before I took this screen shot – basically, the Raptors were doing an excellent job keeping the Pistons out of the lane, especially compared to the first half. Take a look at Pistons’ second quarter shot chart for comparison:

Of course, after the Raptors finally managed to stop Detroit’s dribble penetration, Greg Monroe decided to take over the game, quickly bringing Detroit back and sucking any of the defensive life the Raptor wings had found. I found it shocking that Casey didn’t bring Jonas back into the game early in the fourth, even as Detroit quickly closed the gap and then took a lead themselves, instead choosing to go with a small lineup featuring Rudy Gay at power forward that essentially sealed the Raptors’ fate. I admire the coaching staff’s insistence to get Jonas as many minutes as possible – 37 in total for the night – but not bringing him in until there were 5 minutes left in the game and the Raptors had literally bled away the game was a major oversight. Who knows if it would have made a difference, but it should have been clear that the Raptors’ small-ball lineup couldn’t handle Detroit’s massive frontline even before the game started.

After Monroe did the heavy lifting and brought the Pistons back in front, the Raptors’ effort level noticeably waned, it began to look like a pickup game once more, and the Raptors were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. The Raptors have now missed the playoffs for five straight seasons – the longest streak in franchise history. Chew on that for a second.

Instead of leaving this post-game on a low note, though, let’s take a minute to celebrate the return of José Calderon – here’s the tribute video played at the ACC last night, and it was fantastic to see him have a great game in his return (finishing with 19 and 9 and just a single turnover), as well as the phenomenal reception given to him by the fans in attendance at the ACC. Truly a classy individual who deserves every bit of it – and, for the fans, it was good to at least have one reason to cheer at the end of the game.

Eight games to go, and Washington up Wednesday. On the bright side, a top-3 pick might not be totally out of sight after all.

The Lethaluanian
How ESPN credits DeRozan and Gay for this win in their headline is beyond me – they each scored 21 points on 50% shooting, while Amir Johnson and Valanciunas combined for 34-and-21 on 16-of-22 shooting, having a far greater impact on the game. Yes, Gay had a hot third quarter as the Raptors pulled away, but credit belongs with the post players today. Since Johnson has gotten his fair share of text lately, we’ll focus on JV today.

Valanciunas continued his excellent run of play with a 14-and-13 performance, shooting 7-of-11 and chipping in four blocks (he also had four turnovers). Let’s have a look at his 11 field goal attempts.

1. Offensive board tipped to him and he dunks it.
2. Gets ball on left block, posts up Monroe but he alters the shot, forcing the layup to miss.
3. Pump fakes at free throw line to freeze the help, drives for two-handed jam.
4. Gets open off a back door cut and gets ball on left block, takes one dribble into Jerebko and hits a hook shot moving away from the rim.
5. Gets ball at right elbow, posts into Drummond, passes to Lucas in corner. Jonas sets a screen, Lucas sends a bad pass his way but he recovers it. Hits a baseline jumper with five on the clock from about 15 feet.
6. Gets open on back door cut, receives ball on left block. Takes two dribbles on the post up, flattening Drummond, and lays it in.
7. Gets ball as trailer at the top of the key and makes the jumper.
8. Gets ball at right elbow, misses the jumper with Drummond on him. But…
9. Off Shot #8, follows his miss and collects the rebound for a lay-up.
10. Gets ball on left block with Kravtsov on him. Takes two dribbles on the post up, gathers and misses a turn-around jumper.
11. Sets screen for Lucas, gets ball at top of the key and air balls the open jumper.

He also had a pair of assists: First, a hand-off to Lowry where he immediately screened Calderon to free Lowry up; second, a high-low feed from the top of the key to an open Johnson under the bucket.

And now, to be fair, the four turnovers:

1. Lowry is stripped and Valanciunas tries to recover but loses the handle going up with it.
2. Valanciunas posts up Kravtsov but doesn’t see the double coming, and he’s stripped.
3. Spin move on Kravtsov works and is pretty, but referee calls Jonas for a push. Ticky-tack call.
4. Fields hands the ball to Valanciunas with three Pistons around and he can’t keep a handle on it.

It’s been really nice to see Valanciunas’ improvement around the floor on the offensive end. We talked about this on Rapcast #147 on Friday, but he’s really shown a lot of growth since the start of the year. Not only is his jumper improving from outside of 10 feet (he’s 40% from beyond 10 feet overall, not great but enough that teams need to start respecting it), but his post work has improved as well. While still somewhat sloppy, he’s using his body and his strength well and that should only improve. His touch around the basket is coming along, too, as he’s at 66% in the restricted area.

The improvement since his return from injury on Feb. 1 is obvious:

Valanciunas, first 28 games: -8.5 Net Rating, 8.2% Ast, 14% Reb, 14.2% TO, 56.7% TS, 17.4% Usg
Valanciunas, last 26 games: -1.4 Net Rating, 3.1% Ast, 17.5% Reb, 18.5% TO, 64.5% TS, 15.8% Usg

You can clearly see the scoring and rebounding rates going up, while the turnovers are rising and assists dropping. Perhaps most troubling is that his usage rate is down, which wrinkles the brain given the current state of the franchise. But maybe things have changed in March.

Valanciunas, 14 March games: -9.0 Net Rating, 3.3% Ast, 16.2% Reb, 16.5% TO, 66.9% TS, 17.5% Usg

We see a dip in net rating of late, but this stat isn’t a great indicator in small samples since so much relies on team context (perhaps a better indicator is on-court/off-court stats, which, for the season, show the team is better without him on the floor). That’s all fine, though, since the goal isn’t winning games right now anyway. It’s all about developing Valanciunas, and that’s something that is happening before our eyes in terms of rebounding and scoring. The playmaking and ball control need to come eventually, but Rome wasn’t built in a day, and I’m sure no Lithuanian city was either.

His defense is a topic for another article, but let me leave you with this for the offensive end of things:

Valanciunas, rookie season: 60.1% TS, 14.9 PER, 15.6% Reb, 3.9% Blk
Number of players who have done that in their rookie season: 2 (Jonas and Dean Garrett)
Number of players who have done that at age 20: 2 (Jonas and Andrew Bynum)
Number of times it’s been done by any player, any age, any year: 36

Yes, they’re random cut-offs, but it’s pretty rare company Valanciunas is in at a very young age.

Lowry’s Playmaking
Kyle Lowry had 11 dimes last night but only four points. It’s the second game in a row he’s had double-digit assists and single-digit points, and it continues a worrisome trend: Lowry appears to either be in “attack” mode or “facilitate” mode, and doesn’t yet grasp how to blend the two styles in the same game. Sure, he has a few double-doubles, but more often than not it feels like Lowry is picking either his KLOE persona or his Calderon Knock-Off persona.

For the year, his 11.9-4.8-6.1 line can’t be called anything but disappointing, as it represents a drop-off from his last two years in Houston. In rate terms, it’s more or less the same.

Lowry, 2011-12: 1.8 Net Rating, 55.8% TS, 32.4% Ast, 8.2% Reb, 21.8% Usg
Lowry, 2012-13: -0.3 Net Rating, 55.4% TS, 32.3% Ast, 9.5% Reb, 20.0% Usg

We thought that with the keys to the kingdom, Lowry would thrive. So maybe things have gotten better since Calderon left?

Lowry, with Calderon: -1.2 Net Rating, 57.8% TS, 34.6% Ast, 9.9% Reb, 23.0% Usg
Lowry, post-Calderon: 0.7 Net Rating, 51.7% TS, 30.0% Ast, 9.0% Reb, 16.9% Usg

More so than any Calderon effect, this tells me that Lowry might be having trouble adjusting to playing with other high-usage players. His assists and usage are both down a fair amount, backing up the anecdotal evidence that Lowry just isn’t handling the rock as much. When he does, he seems to be struggling with said scoring-playmaking balance. What I don’t understand is why his effectiveness when he does try to score has dropped off so dramatically – you’d think extra attention diverted to teammates would help Lowry, especially from long range, but his percentages have faltered.

Anyway, I’m not sure what the solution is beyond more time playing together (which was one of the reasons I didn’t advocate the team shutting down Rudy Gay unless the injury was serious).

And just for fun, here is a graphical representation of all of Lowry’s assists from the last night, because I’m a nerd and wanted to try something like this for future analysis. The blue lines represent his movement and the red lines represent the pass. The x indicates where the shooter got the ball. Hooray for colouring!

Man, that’s a mess. Oh well, live and learn.

And that’s all I’ve got for your post-game. Happy Easter/Passover/Whatever else you may celebrate this weekend.

In the first two quarters, Rudy Gay and DemMar DeRozan both looked like All-Stars. The swingmen ran off a series of screens that freed them up from mid-range for semi-contested looks.

Instead of settling for jumpers, Gay and DeRozan consistently caught the ball on the move and drove it to the basket for scores. It made for a relentless and punishing interior attack.

Indeed, the Raptors looked like the Denver Nuggets. They manufactured 32 points in the paint in the first half on the strength of their starting shooting guard and small forward. Both athletes combined for 24 points on 10-for-19 shooting from the field by intermission.

[Also read Quick Reaction: Hawks 107 – Raptors 88]

It’s worth noting Dwane Casey’s group was nonetheless sloppy with the ball, turning it over eight times. The scoring at the basket still allowed Toronto to take a 10-point lead heading into the break.

The second half on the other hand was a complete disaster.

The Atlanta Hawks took away the curls from both Gay and DeRozan by assigning Jeff Teague to rotate into the lane to cut off all driving angles. This afforded Kyle Lowry with some open looks from long-range but he missed his only two shots in both the third and fourth quarters.

The Raptors’ starting swingmen scored a mere three points in the second half. All of their drives were thwarted and thus all they could muster up were mid-range contested shots. Gay and DeRozan shot a frigid 1-for-9 after halftime.

The Hawks on the other hand posted up Josh Smith and Al Horford, which produced high percentage shots at the rim. In addition, Larry Drew used Horford as a stretch option at the top of the key because he knew the Raptors would help of him to protect the paint.

The former Florida Gator just made shot after shot from the free throw line extended. He finished with 20 points on 8-for-12 shooting in the third and fourth quarters alone.

The game was still close entering the fourth quarter, but Jeff Teague took care of that. Midway through the final period, Teague morphed into Steve Nash and just buried the Raps.

He went on a solo run, scoring at the rim and from 3-point range to put the game out of reach. What was a modest nine-point deficit with six minutes left in the contest transformed into a rout.

He made back-to-back treys off the dribble and scored right at the hoop. With Atlanta leading by 17 points, the game was for all intents and purposes over.

The Raptors gave a valiant effort early but self-destructed in the second portion of the game with their decision-making.

They coughed the ball up 19 times and did a poor job of focusing on Jonas Valanciunas. Every time the big man caught the ball in the paint, he produced a positive outcome either by scoring or getting fouled.

The Hawks stretched out their defense because of Gay and DeRozan, giving Valanciunas the chance at single coverage inside. He was given a few touches when the game became out of reach, but those same opportunities were made available throughout the second half.

The Raptors starting center was solid with 19 points and eight rebounds but could have had more.

Of note, Amir Johnson was lost early in the third quarter because of a left leg contusion and is listed as day-to-day.

Terrence Ross and Landry Fields got the start as the Raptors tried to match up with the Chandler-less Knicks, hung around in the first quarter on account of fast break points, got let down by their individual and team defense in the second which served as the Knicks’ resurgence, and were blown out proper in the second half.

The need for analysis is zero here, but I would like to point to something that irked me to no end at halftime. Check out these two first-half stat lines:

Jonas: 1-1 FG, 14 minutes
Anderson: 4-8 FG, 17 minutes

Valanciunas ended up taking and making four shots while collecting eight rebounds on the night. Anderson ended up taking more than three times the shots that Valanciunas did (4 vs. 14 – Anderson shot chart, Valanciunas shot chart). Casey cannot possibly justify this kind of shot distribution, or more importantly, the low level of Valanciunas’ involvement in the Raptors offense. When Valanciunas does get the ball in any post-up situation, the Raptors’ set just has better balance because he is literally the only player the Raptors can hope to play inside-outside with. Amir Johnson never did develop his post-game to the point where you could initiate something from it, which leaves Valanciunas the prime candidate to blend your offense with something different, yet we don’t see a concerted effort made towards doing so.

Our other man of interest, Terrence Ross, had a better showing. He went 3-5 from long distance and although looked horrible handling the ball and with some of the decisions he made in transition (3 turnovers), it was a step up from what he has been all season: invisible. He notched 31 minutes which was great to see, and I’m thinking his near-term offensive goal is to be someone like Jordan Crawford, except hopefully with better defense.

We got a good look at Landry Fields the last couple games against Carmelo Anthony and nothing new was really learned. We all want to believe that he’s a guy who does the “little things” well, and for the last two nights he has played fairly sound defense against Anthony (yes, Fields isn’t entirely to blame for ‘Melo’s point totals). Most fans acknowledge that he can be of some use here and there, mostly as a specialist of some sort and perhaps more if he can sort out that silly looking jumper of his. The problem comes with the expectations set for him and when Devlin describes him as a “lock-down defender”, that’s where you start rolling your eyes.

The usual backcourt-tandem of DeRozan and Lowry had reasonably good offensive games, other than Lowry jacking a few ill-advised long-range bombs early in the shot-clock and DeRozan letting guys like Novak off the hook in one on situations. The problem on the night wasn’t really offense but on the other end. The Knicks were +9 on the glass and shot better than 51%. It would be lazy of me to chalk up the bad defense to effort alone so I won’t.

When you look at this Knick team, the two guys you don’t want beating you are Carmelo Anthony and J.R Smith. Yet, those are exactly the two guys who beat them (Anthony had 28, Smith had 25, and Martin had 18). There was zero adjustment from the night before when the three Knick leading scorers were, you guessed it, Anthony with 37, Martin with 19, and Smith with 14). I realize those are tough guys to cover at times, but I expect a coach like Dwane Casey, who is known for his defensive mind, to throw out a scheme that does SOMETHING which forces guys like Felton, Shumpert, Martin, Copeland, Novak, or Kidd to try and take the game over, kind of like other teams do with us and Anderson.

Leaving strategy aside, the actual execution on defense was poor as well. The transition defense was late, picking up shooters were poor, and basic scouting report stuff was ignored. For example, why Kenyon Martin is being played for the shot is beyond me. Why we are not sending a double to ‘Melo when he’s within his comfort turnaround range, but sending one when he’s 22-feet out is also worth of a raised eyebrow. If this was an important game with something on the line we’d talk about these things in greater detail.

The Toronto Raptors were defeated at the Air Canada Centre last night by the New York Knicks in a game that had the potential to get away from them. The Knickerbockers looked better for much of the first half, but Dwane Casey made a few key adjustments that allowed the Raps not only to bounce back but also potentially win the game.

Carmelo Anthony was a beast early for New York. He parked himself down on the block where he scored and drew fouls in the first quarter. Toronto adjusted by sending hard double-teams at him, but their players were prepared for the strategy.

Every time Anthony was faced with additional help, he kicked the ball out and his teammates found the open man for an open 3-pointer.

[Also read: Reaction: Knicks 99, Raptors 94]

New York employed the same defensive philosophy on DeMar DeRozan and Rudy Gay. Unfortunately for the Raptors, they weren’t as prepared for the tactic and the offense stagnated whenever one of their key perimeter players faced extra attention.

As the game unfolded, Casey eventually lost Gay in the second quarter due to back spasms. With Toronto’s top shot-creator incapacitated for the remainder of the game, the Raptors struggled a little with manufacturing good shots.

They settled for several contested jumpers and even missed a few open ones on their way to a 5-for-20 shooting performance in the second quarter.

New York on the other hand continuously created decent looks at the basket. Even in the instances where they failed on this front, Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith converted a few contested jumpers, which resulted in a 50-37 lead at the half for the Knicks.

The Raptors came out in the second half armed with new strategy and a scorer almost as terrifying as Kobe Bryant: Alan Anderson.

Let’s not get too caught up in the comparison there. Anderson is not Kobe, but the third quarter certainly could have made one wonder. The former Spartan was simply unstoppable.

He went toe-to-toe with Melo and produced 20 points in the third period. He was perfect from downtown and overall from the field during the timeframe. His one blemish came at the stripe where he missed one of his six freebies in the quarter. His scoring outburst narrowed the gap and gave his team a fighting chance at pulling out a victory.

Toronto’s coaching staff got creative in the final period with their offensive concepts.

Casey’s game plan called for Kyle Lowry to run a pick-and-roll from the top of the floor with Jonas Valanciunas towards the right side of the court and share the ball with the perimeter player situated on the right wing.

This resulted in the Knicks occasionally losing the big man or simply switching on screens where Valanciunas easily posted up and scored.

Mike Woodson adjusted by sending additional help towards the paint. The Raptors countered by stationing DeRozan on the left wing, where Valanciunas promptly sprinted towards him to set a screen.

DeMar was then presented with the possibility of exploding off the screen and heading straight to the basket for a catch and score in the paint.

Toronto milked the play as much as possible and faced an 84-82 deficit with 6:04 left in the game.

From there, Melo just simply answered every Raptor run with a basket or by drawing a foul. In addition, the Knicks snatched two crushing offensive rebounds and ran down the shot clock on both occasions and produced backbreaking scores.

Alan Anderson was still heard from before game’s end. He put in another eight points in the final six minutes of the game and made the final score far more respectable.

The Raptors lost both Rudy Gay and the game last night. But the story of the contest was Alan Anderson’s ability to raise his game and nearly go point for point against an All-Star.