Against Dallas, things went very wrong. After a 10-0 start, the Toronto offence became discombobulated, almost too focused on identifying mismatches while losing the normal structure of their offence. Kyle Lowry picked up his third foul in the first quarter, losing his rhythm in the process. DeMar DeRozan missed all eight of his field-goal attempts, and left the game with a groin strain in the third quarter that did not look good. Lowry missed 12 of his first 16 field-goal attempts, before hitting five of his last six as Dallas more or less surrendered the paint to him in the game’s final minutes, not wanting to give up a three-pointer or foul. Still, the Raptors, like their fans, would not go away. “I really loved our fight in the fourth quarter, the way we ended the game and kept scrapping,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “I told the guys this a few minutes ago: If we continue to compete like that at a high level, we’re going to win a lot of games. That’s a good team. They’re not chopped liver at all. They’re going to be in the deep money in the West when it’s all over with.”
Don’t tell Carlisle that Casey is just a defensive coach either. The Raptors entered the game second in the NBA in points scored per 100 possessions — behind only Dallas. “One of the things about guys with a background as great defensive coaches is that they study so many offences that they are trying to stop that they have a mind flooded with great offensive ideas,” Carlisle said. “The other thing that Dwane has done is he has really helped developed these younger guys. (DeMar) DeRozan, (Kyle) Lowry, and (Terrance) Ross, who is turning the corner this year and is a really good defensive player. The key thing is they have all two-way players. They have guys that can play offence and defence. That’s how you build a team that is built to win in the playoffs.” Cuban is pleased to see Casey and the Raptors doing well — but only to a point. “I’m happy for him, except for two times a year,” Cuban said with a smile.
“When he came out it hurt our rotation,” Casey admitted. “I thought the second unit played well — Davis, Lou and Pat came in and really did a good job defensively. It slowed us down a little bit and it took Kyle a little bit in the second half to get going, but that happens in a game. You have to be able to make that adjustment. We cut it to three or four late and had a couple of big turnovers, so taking care of the ball is huge in a pressurized game like that.” DeRozan continued to struggle then, turning the corner on a drive at the 3:37 mark of the third quarter, slipped and went down, clutching at his leg. He limped off the court after a couple of minutes prone on the court and was confirmed with a strained left groin. The personal shutout marked the first time he had played more than 16 minutes and failed to score in five years. “I mean, it is what it is,” Lowry said. “We know he’s going to be fine. We know he’s going to take care of his body. We know he’s not here right now so we’ll see what happens in the next day or two. We’ve got to play . . . next man up. It’s a team, not about one guy. If anybody goes down the next man has to step up.”
Game Rap: Raptors 102 Mavericks 106 | Toronto Raptors
Down 97-83 with 2:21 to go, the Raptors rattled off a 13-2 run that cut the Dallas lead to just three with 33 seconds remaining. The Raptors then fouled Monta Ellis (instead of trying to make a defensive stand and playing for a final shot), who drilled two free throws to restore a five-point cushion with 25 seconds to play. A Kyle Lowry layup would get the deficit down to two with 9.9 seconds to go, but Devin Harris sealed the deal for Dallas with two more free throws the other way.
Work to Do: East-Leading Toronto Raptors Aren’t Yet Elite | Bleacher Report
For the most part, Toronto’s defense has taken care of business against Eastern Conference foes. But Friday’s matchup is more indicative of the type of opponents they’ll face late in the playoffs. The Mavericks were able to get 14-plus points from four different players, as they forced the Raptors to constantly move laterally and rotate. Toronto couldn’t corral Ellis on the perimeter, and Valanciunas showed that he’s still struggling to make all the right plays defensively from start to finish. The concern here is that we don’t know whether the Raptors can get stops against good opponents when they really need them. As the offense launched an exciting near-comeback during crunch time, the defense couldn’t slow down Ellis enough to get over the hump.
Lewenberg: DeRozan leaves with injury as Raptors fall to Dallas | TSN
“I really loved our fight in the fourth quarter, the way we ended the game and kept scrapping,” Dwane Casey said. “I told the guys this a few minutes ago: If we continue to compete like that at a high level, we’re going to win a lot of games. That’s a good team. They’re not chopped liver at all. They’re going to be in the deep money in the West when it’s all over with.” “We ended up losing,” said Greivis Vasquez, who scored nine of his 14 in the final frame. “I think you have got to give them credit. They played a great game. They shot the lights out. Our best player went down, but we still kept the game close. It was one of those games where you just have to move on and understand what we’re getting into, a west coast trip.” “We have just got to continue to grind. It’s not the end of the world. We lost a game. So what? On to the next one. We get better. We have to defend better. We have to rebound better. We have to play transition defence better. We have to do a lot of different things better. But we’re still, what, 13-3? That’s a pretty good record to me.”
DeRozan injured in Raptors loss to Mavs | Toronto Sun
Officially the injury is a strained groin. Whether it’s long-term or short-term or something in between will be determined over the next few days. In his career of five-plus seasons, DeRozan has missed a grand total of 11 games. DeRozan was kicking the floor in pain as the Raptors’ training staff made their way to the all-star. He stayed down for a few minutes and, when he got up, it was slowly and with some help. He went directly to the locker room and was gone by the time the game ended. Initially, it looked like the injury would be to his left wrist, as replays clearly showed him coming down on that wrist. Obviously the injury occurred before he hit the deck.
Raptors getting true measure of Draft Day surprise Caboclo | NBA.com
“I don’t understand this Twitter,” 18-year-old Bruno Caboclo said in his native Portuguese from the back seat. “I have, what, 10 followers.” The small talk continued nervously, excitedly, as the cab inched along. Caboclo’s agent, Eduardo Resende, checking his smartphone, announced the returns of the Draft as he sat next to Caboclo. Fernando Rossi, the general manager of Caboclo’s team in Brazil, was in the front seat.
Raptors Lose Game and DeRozan Against Dallas. Final Score 106-102 | Raptors HQ
The central heartbreaker was Monta Ellis; he went off for 30 points on 12-of-25 shooting with six assists for good measure. When the Mavericks needed a bucket, it always seemed to come back to Monta. It was his dagger three that bounced high off the rim and taunted the ACC before dropping through to crush the Raps. The other unlikely backbreaker was Al-Farouq Aminu who chipped in with 14 points and a couple of timely 3s. Meanwhile, Dirk Nowitzki was actually shaken out of his game tonight, tossing in 15 points on 6-of-19 shooting. Still, every time the Raptors seemed to be making their run, one of these Mavs made a play. For Toronto, the loss comes with a high cost. After playing 20 hugely ineffective minutes, DeMar DeRozan slipped on the floor and left the game with a left groin strain. He was 0-for-8 on the night, a particularly cruel outcome in advance of the upcoming game in DeRozan’s hometown of Los Angeles.
It’s never quite that easy with Dallas, though. Give credit to Kyle Lowry and the Raptors’ crowd at the Air Canada Centre, who refused to let up. The Mavericks’ always horrendous 3-point defense gave up back-to-back 3-pointers to Greivis Vasquez, and after a couple of Dirk free throws, Lowry hit a gorgeous step-back over Tyson Chandler to make it a six-point game with 49 seconds to play. Although breaking a full-court press is supposed to be one of the most fundamental abilities in basketball, the Mavericks looked a bit like the uncle who insists he knows how to cut the turkey but ends up butchering it against the grain. First, there was a seemingly hour-long replay review after Amir Johnson tipped out a wild pass intended for Dirk (seriously, let’s get those refs shot clocks). On the next play, Monta Ellis got it with a full head of steam at the basket. For a moment, it looked like he could beat the only Raptor defender to the glass, but it turned into a contested shot that he missed — up six with less than a minute to play. That’s like failing to put whipped cream on your pumpkin pie.
The Difference: Mavericks 106, Raptors 102 | Mavericks Outsider Report
The Mavericks just beat the team with the best record in the NBA and did so in shockingly convincing fashion. The final score isn’t really indicative of how well the Mavericks played, holding multiple double digit leads and fending off the Raptors time and again. This all occurred with the two most efficient Mavericks having off shooting nights (Dirk Nowitzki finished 6 of 19, Brandan Wright finished 2 of 7). The Mavericks were aided by the strong play of Chandler Parsons, who managed perhaps his most impressive outing offensively, with multiple confident drives and a few fantastic floaters. While he had a relatively low key stat line (16 points, seven rebounds), his fingerprints were all over the game.
Ellis scores 30 points, Mavs beat Raptors 106-102 | USA Today
“That was big,” Dallas forward Al-Farouq Aminu said of Ellis’ clutch performance. “He stepped up and took those shots. It takes a lot of courage to take those kind of shots. That’s what we trust him to do, that’s why the ball is in his hands.” Ellis connected on 12 of his 25 shots, including three of five 3-pointers. He scored 24 of his 30 in the second half. “He really hurt us today,” Toronto’s Greivis Vasquez said. “He had a great game.”
Dallas Mavericks vs. Toronto Raptors – Recap – November 28, 2014 | ESPN
“We’re fortunate to get out of here with a win,” Carlisle said. “We earned it.”
Post Game: Toronto Raptors run falls short versus Mavericks | Raptors Cage
The late fourth quarter run almost earned the team a higher grade in this area, but when looking at this entirety of this game, anything higher than a “C” would have been a tad bit generous. Jack Armstrong was spot on when he compared the Raptors early play to that of the Cleveland Cavaliers in their matchup with Toronto this past weekend. Like Cleveland on Saturday night against the Raptors, Toronto started hot from the floor in this affair with Dallas, rushing out of the gates with a 10-0 run to begin the game. Then the road team settled down and locked in on defense. After digging themselves into a 10 point hole, the Mavs outscored the Raptors 48-33 for the remainder of the first half. Though they’re known as an offensive team (number one in the league), the Dallas defense was absolutely staggering. Outside of Amir Johnson (who finished with 20 points), none of the Raptors starters were able to find a groove. While the play of Lou Williams (16 points, 5/11 FGA) and some of the other rotation players was enough to keep the game in striking distance, Toronto was unable to establish any sort of flow on the offensive side of things. Kyle Lowry was in foul trouble, Terrence Ross wasn’t making the shots he usually drops, and Jonas Valanciunas was clearly bothered by the inside defensive presence of Tyson Chandler.
Observations From Toronto’s Locker Room After Losing To Dallas 106-102 | Hoops Addict
Greivis Vasquez after the loss: “We just need to continue to grind. It’s not the end of the world. We lost a game. So what? On to the next one and we will just continue to get better. We have to defend better. We have to rebound better. We have to improve our transition defence. We need to do a lot of different things better. But we are still, what? 13-3? That’s a pretty good record to me.”
