Raptors get reality check vs. Bulls: Arthur | Toronto Star
You prove something every night, but Thursday night was a test. It was the first time the Raptors had a regular season game on national TV in the United States since 2002, in a game where Hakeem Olajuwon was a Raptor, and Patrick Ewing played for Orlando. As someone who was there put it, “oh, it was sad. They were blocking their own shots.” This was a big stage, and the best team Toronto has faced. Before it started, Masai Ujiri looked out at the court and wondered what would happen, what he would learn. Tim Leiweke bounded around like a great puppy, hugging people and laughing. Amir Johnson bounded out of a room saying “Big game, TNT baby, TNT.” It’s a small thing, a Thursday night game, in the grand scheme of the league. For some teams, it’s routine. Not here. And there were no evident nerves, not really. There wasn’t any stage fright. DeMar DeRozan forced some shots, and Greivis Vasquez tried to dunk on the six-foot-10 Nikola Mirotic, but at least those were aspirational mistakes. The officiating let some heavy contact go, but that’s the game. That’s one of the central challenges of Chicago — you have to match their will. “It’s a Chicago team with the toughness and physicality that you’ve got to defeat,” said Raptors coach Dwane Casey, beforehand. “They added a cerebral winner in Pau Gasol, who’s won championships before. But they’re a team that we compete well against as long as we meet their level of intensity and physicality on both ends of the floor. Everybody talks about defence, but against this team, you’ve got to be physical on offence, and bust through their grabbing and holding and that type of thing.”
Raptors get blitzed in third en route to loss against Bulls | Toronto Sun
Casey spent the better part of the past two days talking about the physical challenge the Bulls presented and how his Raptors would have to match it to have any hope of staying with them. Through the first half, and certainly the fourth quarter, the Raptors did just that but the 35-14 pounding the Bulls put on them in the third settled the matter for all intents and purposes. “You know that is the kind of game you’re going to have against (Chicago) and it’s a hard game to play,” added Casey. “But you have to make a muscle and fight through the physicality, the bumps and grinds.” The Raptors actually had a seven-point lead at the half and were feeling pretty good about themselves before the Bulls stole every bit of momentum and then some back in the third. “We let them get in a rhythm,” shooting guard DeMar DeRozan said. “I think we kind of had the game under control until the third. They just came on strong. They got a couple of turnovers and a couple of fouls and that got them going. Before you know it, we are trying to slow them down and play catch-up at the same time.”
Raptors don’t quite belong in NBA’s elite just yet | Sportsnet.ca
So the question – after the Raptors were fairly convincingly dismissed 100-93 despite having a seven-point lead at half time – what does this say about a club that is well on their way to be providing Toronto basketball fans with their best ever November? Are they the guys who failed to meet the dress code? The one’s who got too rowdy and got sent out on their butts? They went down fighting, but you know they would: After trailing by 16 with six minutes left the Raptors cut it to seven with two minutes to play after a stumbling Derrick Rose turnover resulted in a Terrence Ross triple. A Lowry steal and an Amir Johnson dunk cut it to five 20 seconds later and the crowd at the ACC could be heard through the television sets of our great neighbour to the south, but that was a close as they got. But the encouraging ending aside, the truth Friday morning will be that the Raptors couldn’t close the deal on their home floor. Was it because the bright lights crept into their focus as Raptors head coach Dwane Casey feared? Or are the teams inside those ropes simply better, bigger, tougher, more experienced?
Raptors’ DeRozan stymied by Bulls | Toronto Sun
By the end, Butler had hit 7-of-10 for 21 points, including a clutch jumper late, while DeRozan had struggled mightily. When playing against stellar defenders, DeRozan has a tendency to try to fade off of them, often fruitlessly, instead of trying to create for his teammates or looking for second-chance buckets. However, Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said afterward that DeRozan missed a lot of shots he would normally make and urged him to keep taking those shots. DeRozan was coming off of a 4-for-15 shooting performance against Orlando, though he had shot well in the previous two games. He said he isn’t worried and knows there will be “nights like this” and added: “If this was two years ago, I’d think it was the end of the world, but we’re only nine games in. I’d rather have (these) games now than later on.” Before this one, Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau had called DeRozan a “legitimate superstar” and he certainly game-planned against him like he was. Butler forced him into mistakes and shots with an extremely high degree of difficulty, instead of DeRozan forcing the action.
Lewenberg: Raptors schooled by Bulls in early-season test | TSN
In the end, it turned out to be more of a lesson than a test. To compete with the big boys, the elite teams in the NBA – to which Chicago is among – they can’t live like this. You can’t lose focus for even a few minutes, let alone an entire quarter. Leading by seven at intermission, and with the US spotlight focused on them, the Raptors looked like a team out of Chicago’s league in the third quarter. Going into the game they had not scored fewer than 20 points in any single quarter this season. On Thursday, the Bulls bested them 35-14 in the third, effectively ending the game 12 minutes before it became official. “We withstood their punches in the first half but in the third quarter they got us on our heels and we stayed on our heels,” Casey said. “You know that’s the kind of game you’re going to have against them. It’s a hard game to officiate and it’s a hard game to play but you’ve got to make a muscle and fight through the physicality, the bumps, the grind. And we didn’t meet that challenge in the third quarter. It’s a four-quarter game and that third quarter did us in.” The Raptors’ offence – crisp in the second frame when they shot 55 per cent – went dormant in the third. Chicago’s trademark physicality forced Toronto out of its comfort zone. They shot just 29 per cent while the Bulls, led by the veteran savvy of Gasol, hit 12 of their 18 attempts from the field.
Simmons: Step forward, step back for Raptors | Toronto Sun
“For me, if want to be acknowledged, you have to win. It’s very very simple. If you’re not a winning team, I don’t care what city you are in, you’re not going to be noticed. If you want to be good, you take this as a regular game, a normal game. I love that the feeling (of excitement) is out there. But if you want to be good, this is what you aspire to be. You aspire to be noticed, to be great, I don’t want to make this (appearance) a high for us.” The Raptors game was on TNT in the U.S. Thursday night. On the broadcast they mentioned the snow. “I knew they would,” said Ujiri. “My wife was in Washington today. It was snowing. I’m not sure what would be mentioned there.” On TNT, Charles Barkley couldn’t help but mention hockey and Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby, just to fit in. We are nothing if not a country of sporting cliches. A country that Ujiri has come to embrace. “We’re one team, one country,” he said, part of the WeTheNorth mantra. “We have to continue to grow and grow our fan base. The other stuff, it’s all excuses. It’s snowing, so what? It’s snowing in other cities. We should be appreciated and stand tall for what we are and what we’re doing.
Raptors Learn Lessons (Hopefully) in Loss to the Chicago Bulls | Raptors HQ
“That’s a good experience for us, you know, we coming off the win streak,” Jonas Valanciunas said afterwards. “So that’s good like a cold shower for us.” It was Valanciunas with eight rebounds (four offensive) in the first half. He added eight points but watched again and again as Pau Gasol, who finished with 27 points on 12-for-17 shooting, carved the Raptors’s interior D. Jonas watched the rest of the game from the bench. Cold shower, indeed. James Johnson, the hero of the Orlando game on Tuesday, looked to build on his hero status with 16 points in the game (12 in the first half) on 7-for-9 shooting. Despite a defensive fury exhibited in the dying minutes of the fourth quarter, Johnson’s effect seemed to shrink as the game went on. His words of wisdom? “Just move on,” said Johnson. “A lot of shots that we take and make didn’t go in.” A simple lesson.
Observations From Toronto’s Locker Room After Losing 100-93 To Chicago | Hoops Addict
Dwane Casey on Pau Gasol’s big game: “One of the things we wanted to do was take the 3-ball out and to a certain extent we were able to do that as they were 4-15. Coming into the game they were one of the top 3-point (shooting) and transition teams in the NBA. We just felt like we were going to make him score and make it as hard on him as we could, but not go into a double team and leave (Mike) Dunleavy and (Jimmy) Butler and all of those guys open on the weak side. We went to more traps there in the fourth quarter, but, again, he’s good at what he does and he made it hard on us.”
Bulls Win, But Who Cares. | Blog a Bull
The Bulls went into the half down 7, but they used suffocating defense to hold the Raptors to just 14 points in the third quarter, while racking up 35 points. As a team, Chicago shot 66.7% from the field in the third. They just got seemingly whatever they wanted. Pau was cooking, Dunleavy was hitting from outside, Taj was flushing easy finishes off of smart passes by his teammates. It was all working. This continued up until there were about 5 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, as the lead peaked at 18 points on this Rose fast break finish.
Derrick Rose Suffers Another Injury in Chicago Bulls’ Win | Pippen Ain’t Easy
The Bulls managed to slow down Toronto during an all-around team effort and eked out a 100-93 victory without their floor general. It took until over four minutes into the second quarter for Rose to score his first field goal, and he only had seven points at the halfway point with Pau Gasol leading the way by scoring 19. The second half was when Chicago truly turned on the jets, though. They outscored the Raptors in the third quarter 35-14, and Rose hit some vintage floaters and layups in the fourth quarter before his injury sent him to the sideline.
Recap: Bulls give Raptors a lesson | Raptors Watch
The Raptors were outscored 35-14 in the third frame, which is too bad, because they out scored the Bulls 79 – 65 in the other three. “I think we just didn’t play our game from start to finish.” Lowry said. “We played our game in spurts tonight.” The ugly third quarter was one problem, but another problem was Pau Gasol who scored 27 points on 12/19 shooting while grabbing 11 rebounds. The Raptors just had no answer for Pau. “We were going to try to make it hard on him (Gasol), but not go and double-team and leave (Mike) Dunleavy and (Jimmy) Butler and all those guys open on the outside. We went to more of a trap in the fourth quarter but, you know, he is good at what he does. He made it hard on us.” Dwane Casey said.
Gasol Torches Valanciunas And Raptors In 100-93 Bulls Win | Pro Bball Report
However, the Raptors would have trouble blaming the referees for this loss as too much of the damage was either self-inflicted or handed to them by Gasol in the paint. The veteran big man looked like he had found the fountain of youth in this contest as he posted 27 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. The Raptors came out flat offensively in the third quarter, let their 7 point first half lead quickly slip away and then let the Bulls finish the period on a 10-0 run for an 80-66 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Gasol continued his dominance over Valanciunas and sent him to the bench in less than 5 minutes for all but 11 seconds the rest of the way. For some unknown reason after Johnson carried the offense for the Raptors in the second quarter, Toronto didn’t go back to him in the third and fourth quarters and he only scored 2 more points on 3 attempts. Johnson did add 3 boards, 2 steals and 2 blocks for a very solid line of 16 points on 7-9 shooting, 5 rebounds, 4 steals and 4 blocks in 24.3 minutes, but it looked like he could have done more if given the chance.
One Stat, One Play: The Draw of DeRozan « NBA.com | Hang Time Blog with Sekou Smith
Last season, the Raptors ranked dead last in shots (both made and attempted) in the restricted area. But they also ranked sixth in free throw rate (FTA/FGA), getting to the line 31 times for every 100 shots from the field. That (and shooting those free throws at the league’s fifth highest percentage) helped them rank ninth in offensive efficiency. “There’s a knack by our guys to get in the mid-range area and get fouled,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said in the preseason.
How good are the Toronto Raptors? | SBNation.com
The problem with Toronto’s drive-at-all-costs offensive approach is that it doesn’t lend itself to great fluidity. Toronto doesn’t have many players adept at setting others up for shots. Lowry, as brilliant as he is, leans toward the shoot-first spectrum among point guards. DeRozan has improved his reads, but he, like Williams, is a scorer. Vasquez fits the profile, but has become more shot-happy since coming to Toronto. Terrence Ross is a spot-up player without much vision. All this explains why Toronto is in the bottom half of the league in passes per game for the second straight year and trending downward. Toronto was 17th in total passes and 22nd in assist opportunities last year; they’re down to 21st and 29th in those categories, respectively, this season. This is the flip side to being a low-turnover team: fewer passes means fewer chances to throw errant passes, but it also means fewer passes. This isn’t a fatal flaw in the regular season, but it could hurt them come playoff time when teams lock in on top offensive options. The Nets provided a blueprint for opponents in last year’s playoffs, shutting off DeRozan’s easy passing reads on post ups and forcing Lowry to create offense for himself.
Bulls’ Noah rips into media at ACC | Toronto Sun
“You don’t come back to the injuries that he’s come back from without (caring). I’m just watching the power that you guys have,” Noah said. “You guys (the media) can really just portray somebody as something that he’s not. Because I know how much he cares about this game. I see it every day. We’re all in this together. This is not a one-man team. “I know sometimes it’s frustrating he gets injured. Every time something happens to him, people act like it’s the end of the world. That’s so f—— lame to me. Relax. He’s coming back from two crazy surgeries … everybody needs to chill the f—- out. I’m sorry for cursing, I’m passionate. I don’t like to see him down, he doesn’t say that he’s down. I don’t like people portraying him and judging him because it’s not fair to him.” Rose had declined to apologize at shootaround on Thursday morning when asked if he could understand why some people have questioned his commitment to the Bulls and his teammates. He responded, “no, but I could care less. “Really I was just being myself. As long as I’m being myself, that’s the only person I can be.
I can haz yo linkz?!?? rapsfan@raptorsrepublic.com
