Raptors don’t care about the odds | Toronto Sun
“We don’t care about nothing ESPN says, honestly,” DeRozan said. “We don’t care. I don’t have a problem with Hollinger, but nobody here cares what anybody else is saying. We care about anybody who has this Raptors jersey on. Everything else don’t even matter.” In order to provide some context to this, DeRozan was not angry when he said this. He, like his head coach, just doesn’t want to hear it. DeRozan has been in the Raptors uniform when it drew little more than a cursory look from any media south of the border. Now that the attention has come, he and his teammate Vasquez and the other 13 members on the roster want nothing to do with it. “We don’t want to be talked about,” Vasquez said. “We are fine like this. We got our confidence. We don’t need nobody to talk about us, good or bad. We know what we have to do.” It’s like nobody wants to acknowledge the position a 13-2 start to a season brings a team.
Tight-knit Toronto Raptors squad care little about outside talk | canada.com
“I’m not a betting man, how many more games have we got to go? A lot of games to go. I’m not putting any credence in that,” Casey said. When someone asked if the predictions had at least put a smile on his face, he answered: “No. Not at all. None whatsoever. I live in reality. All I know is we have a tough game (Friday) night.”
Raptors care little about outside talk, scoff at playoff predictions | CTV News
“We don’t care about nothing ESPN is saying, honestly,” DeRozan said. “Nobody cares what anybody says. We care about everybody that’s got this Raptors jersey on. Everything else don’t matter to us, man.”
Toronto Raptors’ Kyle Lowry Proving That Last Season’s Career Year Was No Fluke | Bleacher Report
Production numbers aside, Lowry has also improved his game from last year when it comes to doing the little things that often go unnoticed. For example, he has averaged just 1.6 turnovers per game compared to 2.5 turnovers from last season. Taking a page out of teammate DeMar DeRozan’s book, Lowry has also drawn more fouls and attempted 5.9 free throws per game compared to 4.9 attempts per game last year. The one major change in Lowry’s game from last season to this season has been his reliance on the three-point shot. Last season, Lowry averaged 6.3 three-point field-goal attempts per game and hit 38 percent of his shots from downtown. This season, the Villanova product has attempted just 4.6 three-point field goals per game and is shooting just 31.9 percent from beyond the arc. On the other hand, Lowry’s overall field-goal percentage this season is up to 45.5 percent compared to 42.3 percent from last year. This shows that he’s still finding ways to be an effective scorer despite not having as many of his three-pointers falling.
The Raptors’ bench remains excellent, one of the best second units in the league. Without getting too deep into the math, they are obliterating their opposition, a big part of the Raptors’ wonderful point differential. They have dominated despite lacking offensive production from their most explosive reserve from a year ago. Greivis Vasquez is shooting just 37% from the field, and only 28% from three-point range. In his 61 games with the Raptors last year, those numbers were at 42% and 39%, respectively. Vasquez had his best offensive game of the year against the Hawks on Wednesday, hitting eight of his 12 shots and three of his six three-pointers for 21 points. “I’ve been in this situation before,” Vasquez said of his struggles. “We’re 13-2. You always come here and try to come and get better. It happened to me [Wednesday]. I could be on a hot streak now, or not. Who knows? It’s more important that we won. “You don’t get into a bad mood at all,” Vasquez added of slumping while the team wins. “You just get back in the gym and keep working.”
Dallas Mavericks at Toronto Raptors preview: Mavs meet the class of the East | Mavs Moneyball
Just as important for a team without a lot of starpower is their bench, which is one of the deepest in the NBA. Holdovers Greivis Vasquez, Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes, all acquired in the Rudy Gay trade, give them some stability on their second unit, which has been taken to the next level by the additions of Lou Williams and James Johnson. Johnson is their defensive stopper, similar to Al-Farouq Aminu, while Williams has put his name in the ring for Sixth Man of the Year, averaging almost 14 points a game on 44 percent shooting. The game against Dallas is a big one for Toronto, as they start their first road trip out West on Sunday, a three-game swing through LA, Sacramento and Utah. Even the best team in the East is likely to struggle when they cross the Mississippi, which makes protecting their home court when someone from the West makes a visit all the more important. You may not have heard much about the Raptors coming into the season, but this is a team with all the pieces that is ready to make a run in the playoffs.
Rick Carlisle will be trying to earn his 300th win as Mavericks coach, which would put him in good company. Don Nelson (339) and Dick Motta (329) are the only other coaches in franchise history with more than 300 victories. … They have lost the last three meetings against the Raptors. … They lead the league at 109.3 points per game and are 11-0 when scoring 105 points or more. The Raptors allow 96.4 per game.
Raptors-Mavericks: Friday game preview | Toronto Star
Another purple throwback jersey night for the Raptors, who will also invited Jalen Rose back to be feted from what’s expected to be a sellout crowd . . . Dallas, 11-5, has one of the most efficient offences in the league and comes in off an overtime home win against New York on Wednesday. The Mavs, however, are just 4-3 on the road . . . Nelson expected back after missing Wednesday’s game with back spasms . . . Nowitzki (30) and Chandler (17) had season-high scoring nights vs. New York and Chandler chipped in with 25 rebounds in 43 minutes . . . Raptors head coach Dwane Casey was the top assistant with Dallas’s Rick Carlisle when the Mavericks won the NBA championship in 2011.
Dallas Mavericks vs. Toronto Raptors – Preview – November 28, 2014 – ESPN Dallas
The league’s two highest-scoring teams meet north of the border Friday night with the Raptors seeking their first seven-game winning streak since Vince Carter’s heyday. Dallas (11-5) was eighth in points per game and fourth in field-goal percentage last season, and after adding Parsons, Jameer Nelson and reacquiring Tyson Chandler, it’s no surprise to see Rick Carlisle’s club leading the league with 109.3 points per game. The Raptors’ emergence as one of the NBA’s best offenses is turning a few more heads. Lou Williams was the only prominent addition to the top eight of Toronto’s rotation, but the reserve guard has been a big reason the Raptors (13-2) have jumped from 13th in points per game (101.3) to second (108.0).
GameDay: Dallas Mavericks at Toronto Raptors | Dallas-Fort Worth Sports News
Although it was a struggle against an inferior opponent, Dallas snapped a two-game losing streak with Wednesday’s 109-102 overtime victory against the New York Knicks. … The 25 rebounds Tyson Chandler had against the Knicks were the most in the NBA this season and tied for the fifth-most in Mavs history. … Coach Rick Carlisle has a 299-193 record with the Mavs. With one more win he’ll join Don Nelson (339-251) and Dick Motta (329-409) as the only Mavs coaches with at least 300 career victories. … The Mavs are 22-13 all-time vs. Toronto, including 8-9 on the road.
Patrick Patterson: A Glimpse Into His Personal Style | Notable.ca
Toronto fashion is quite diverse. I have noticed there to be a kind of uniform, depending on the area you are in in the city. There is also clearly a lot of emerging talent in the Toronto fashion industry.
Raptors fans have reason to cheer | Toronto Sun
Head coach Dwane Casey surely will be on us for harping on this — like when announcers mention no-hitters that are in-progress — but based on how poor the local teams usually are coming out of the gate, it is a worthwhile distraction one month into the NBA season. Other than a 4-1 mirage back in 2004-05, the Raptors mostly have struggled in the autumn/early winter. You have to go back to 1999-2000, when the team began 12-6 and 2001-02 (11-6) for other strong starts. Those teams ended up with 45 and 42 wins, respectively. Last year’s surprising Atlantic Division winners and the 2006-07 edition, which also took the division crown, both did so on the strength of monster mid-late season surges.
Toronto Raptors finding ‘a different hero’ each night as team keeps piling up wins | National Post
Head coach Dwane Casey, who can’t say enough these days about how much work needs to be done and how the Raptors are still a growing team, said after the Phoenix win that balance and unpredictably have to be one of the team’s strengths. “Each night is going to be a different story,” he said. “Each night is going to be a different hero.” Some games they have won on the strength of hot shooting, some they have won thanks to ball movement and assists. Occasionally they have won with stern defence at the end of games. “One night it’s going to be rebounds,” Casey said, wistfully. Toronto will host a good Dallas team on Friday — the Mavericks are the only team outscoring the Raptors — before heading on a three-game Western swing, but again the schedule favours them: Sacramento is decent, but Utah is bad and the L.A. Lakers are terrible. Toronto doesn’t really face a tough stretch of games until just after Christmas, when a Western trip will include visits to Golden State, Phoenix, Portland and the L.A. Clippers. They could quite easily be 27-7 by that point, and 24-5 is not out of the question.
Toronto Raptors Getting Solid Contributions From the Whole Roster | Raptors Rapture
The Raptors are 13-2, have won six games in a row, and show no signs of slowing down. This season, the word to describe the Raps is clutch, since it seems like no matter what happens during the game, they find a way to pull it out. The key to the team’s success thus far has been how deep the roster is. Practically each guy has a had a huge performance in a game when the Raps needed it. The Raptors have no shortage of heroes ready to fly in and save the day, and coach Casey knows it. Casey has been great so far this season at figuring out which guys are hot, and getting them possessions. This is an unselfish team, and by extension, a winning one.
Ranking the top 14 back-courts in the NBA | Raptors Watch
The Raptors as you know are good, and the back-court has a huge hand in that. What’s interesting though, is that they become even better if you throw Lou Williams into the mix. The depth and team-oriented offense that the Raptors have allow DeMar and Kyle both to have off-nights and still come away with a win. Nevertheless, Lowry and DeMar are still putting up big numbers, but if there is one thing that has to improve it’s DeMar’s shot selection. DeMar is putting up all kinds of wild shots go get his 20 points – although there are certain times he decides to take good shots, like the second half in Cleveland. His shot-chart tells a good story.
Hard Foul: The Tyler Hansbrough Story – Sportsnet.ca
In his six NBA seasons, Hansbrough has earned a reputation as one of the league’s premier agitators, a brutish menace whose relentlessness brings out the worst in others. You may know him from such YouTube videos as: “Tyler Hansbrough tackles Mike Dunleavy,” “Sebastian Telfair slaps Tyler Hansbrough in the face,” “Will Bynum gets ejected for punching Tyler Hansbrough,” “Tyler Hansbrough stands up for brother Ben,” and, simply, “Bloody Hansbrough.” You may also know Hansbrough as the former face of college basketball, the 2008 National Player of the Year and Sports Illustrated cover boy (twice) who led the North Carolina Tar Heels to a championship in 2009. Or, more recently, as the Toronto Raptors’ de facto enforcer, a player GM Masai Ujiri brought in to add an element of toughness that had been missing since Charles Oakley rocked the purple and black.
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