Since that win over Atlanta on Nov. 26, the Raps defence has been in a bit of a steady decline. The Raptors though at 2-2 since that game and through that decline and getting one’s point across when the team is really seeing consequences for their lacklustre ways at one end of the floor is very tough. That doesn’t mean Casey will stop. “We have to make sure we get defence in the game,” Casey said prior to tipoff. “The last two or three games we have really taken a step back of not really getting stops. Starters started out with the defensive focus and energy and we dropped off in the second quarter. That’s our goal and our charge as far as getting better.” And then there’s this problem. “On the other side our offence has taken off and it’s flowing like water. We have to get that balance between the two,” he said.
This group took the game by the throat in the opening minutes and never let go, leaving coach Dwane Casey to offer high praise indeed. “We’re developing a business approach, a professional approach, a mature approach about the game and that’s what you ask for from a team like this that’s young,” he said after Toronto crushed the Utah Jazz 123-104 for its second successive win on a quick three-game western foray. “We came in and took care of business. There wasn’t any bullcrap, there wasn’t any laughing and joking around. Guys came in with a focused attitude to start the game.” There does seem to be some steely resolve to this group, something that doesn’t let them get shaken by anything. With all that could have gone wrong – and all that would have been understandable when explained – they hung a 69-point first half on the Jazz and simply beat them into submission.
Kyle Lowry absolutely eviscerated the Jazz, posting a career high 39 points on 13 for 22 shooting (including four for five from deep) and a perfect 9 for 9 from the line. He also tossed in five rebounds, four assists, and a steal to complete one of his best lines of the season. Kyle is looking every bit the way-too-early-but-still-deserving MVP candidate. He is only one of four players this season with multiple 35+ point games. The other three: LeBron James, James Harden and Kobe Bryant.
The Triple Team: Three Thoughts on Jazz vs. Raptors 12/3/2014 | Salt City Hoops
The Jazz liked the kinds of shots Toronto was getting, but didn’t like the defense on those shots. As Quin Snyder explained during his post-game press conference, “We were there, but we weren’t there.” Several times, the defensive player was in position but didn’t get his hand up to contest the shot, leaving Quin to turn around the bench with his hand up in the air, motioning what his players should have done. As Quin further explained, “And these guys, they don’t feel you if you’re in the area. You have to impact the ball.” The Raptors are an elite team in the NBA at getting to the free throw line, ranked 2nd, so before the game, Quin showed his players “seven different clips of guys shot-faking us” from the game against Denver. The Jazz, perhaps almost too coachable, stayed down tonight, at the expense of the Raptors making their shots. Good defense walks a fine line between intensity and overaggression, right now, the Jazz are wobbling like drunkards.
It was an exciting up and down game where the Raps just made a ton of shots (shots that usually don’t even fall against the Jazz), but our squad kept fighting back to make it a single digit game. Eventually though, there wasn’t left in the tank for the Jazz to make a final push. Some people don’t like blow out losses. Some people don’t like losing, period. But if you come into the season with the idea that your team may be flirting with 30 wins, you have to recognize, through math, that your team is going to be flirting with 50 losses. If you’re upset by getting blasted by the #2 scoring team (by ppg) that’s also the #2 offensive team (by OFF RTG) then you are probably going to be upset about a lot of things in general. I’m cool with this loss, to a 15-4 team that is filled with younger guys who got the playing time early in their careers — and their franchise is reaping the rewards now.
Four thoughts after Utah’s 123-104 loss to Toronto | The Salt Lake Tribune
Raptors coach Dwane Casey is high on Hayward. He said as much before the two teams played in Toronto last month. And he reiterated that prior to tipoff on Wednesday. “The big cog is Gordon Hayward,” Casey said as he talked to reporters. “He’s playing like an All-Star. He’s scoring at will. So we’ve got to do an extra special job on him defensively.” The Raptors got Hayward to settle for jump shots. “I thought we made Hayward work, which was our focus going in,” Case said after the 123-104 victory for his team. “He only had 16 points and had 15 attempts to get them. I thought T. Ross [Terrence Ross] and James Johnson came in and gave us a great effort against him.”
The Roundup—Jazz 104, Raptors 123 | Utah Jazz
Recapping this one is pretty easy—Toronto didn’t really miss from the field and the Jazz, despite playing well, just couldn’t keep up. The Raptors entered the game ranked second in the NBA in scoring (at 108.9 points per game) and it showed from the opening tipoff. They hit 64 percent of their shots in the first two quarters (including 8-for-11 on threes) en route to 69 first-half points … and then scored another 54 in the second half. “You can take this game as a microcosm (of our season),” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said after the game. “We have possessions where we do a good job and then other possessions where there are breakdowns. I think our guys are trying to play the right way and trying to do the right thing. It’s hard when you play against a team that’s as good as Toronto is offensively. I think we need to compete harder on the defensive end.”
Lewenberg: Ross continues to grow with increased responsibilities in Raptors’ attack | TSN
For the second time this season, Hayward was barely noticeable against Ross and the Raptors. Utah’s leading scorer, averaging a career-best 19.6 on the campaign, was held to 16 points on 5-of-15 shooting. Ross was draped all over him for most of the evening. “We made Hayward work, which was our focus going in,” said Dwane Casey, his team taking two of three games, after stealing one in Sacramento Tuesday, to close out a mini road trip. “I thought T-Ross and James Johnson came in and gave us a great effort against him.” This challenge is not a new one for Ross, who has been asked to chase around the opposition’s best perimeter player since he stepped into Toronto’s starting lineup following the trade of Gay a year ago. Facing off with the league’s best on a nightly basis, Casey is not expecting him to neutralize these great players, most of them older and wiser than the young Ross. Instead, the goal is to make life difficult for them, make them work, something Ross has been doing a better job of on both ends of the floor. “It takes a lot of energy, a lot of focus on his part on the defensive end,” Casey said. “He’s done okay. He and James kind of tag team together on guys like that so we’ll see how that goes. But he’s been a good defender on guys, making guys work.”
Raptors will find out during DeRozan’s absence whether Terrence Ross is a player | Vancouver Sun
Ross has been something of an enigma. He has a great shooting stroke and unfathomable athletic ability but he has been somewhat limited on the offensive end. During the off-season Ross worked out with DeRozan to improve his game and he put on about fifteen pounds to build up his strength. Now, with DeRozan out, Ross is going to need to step into the role of consistent scorer. He won’t be relied upon to cover all of DeRozan’s twenty points but Ross needs to at least go from averaging ten points per game to becoming a fifteen points per game player. The Laker game was the first for the Raptors without DeRozan. As Casey said, “we have a number of offensive sets that are built around DeMar.” During the Laker game those sets went to Kyle Lowry, but Lowry is a little small to be hitting a number of fifteen foot jumpers surrounded by multiple defenders. The logical replacement on those plays is Ross. While the team has an overabundance of confidence it is the one major flaw in Terrence Ross. If he misses a couple of early shots he has the propensity to shy away, lose his aggressiveness and then lose his time on the court watching the remainder of the game from the bench. Ross showed in the Laker game he has an ability to create his own shot and to shoot with confidence—using floaters in the lane and pick and rolls to shoot from eighteen feet. He needs to continue to shoot, use his athleticism to take his defender off the dribble and attack the basket.
Kyle Lowry Steps Up For Raptors In DeRozan’s Absence | Pro Bball Report
The changing role for Lowry hasn’t come without it’s bumps. Lowry has been a volume shooter over the past three games, averaging 23.7 field goal attempts, however, he did find some compromise between his own shots and those of his teammates in that rare Raptors win in Sacramento. If Lowry can keep Toronto winning at .500-pace or better during DeRozan’s absence and continue to find the balance between his own offense and creating for his teammates, the elusive All-Star nod that some argue he was snubbed once in Houston and again last year in Toronto will be very hard to deny this time around. Where the Raptors are looking for the new young guns in Terrence Ross and Jonas Valanciunas to step up their respective games with the opportunity provided without DeRozan on the court for an extended period of time, their success and the team’s in general is closely tied to how Lowry handles the changed landscape. This is Lowry’s team and without DeRozan around, credit for continuing success will appropriately fall to him. Lowry’s push for the All-Star Game in New York is starting right now.
Winning Without DeMar DeRozan | The Runner Sports
When DeMar DeRozan went down with a torn left adductor longus tendon against Dallas on Friday night, fans immediately started speculating about how the Toronto Raptors, currently sitting at the top of the Eastern Conference standings, would cope without the 2014 All-Star Shooting Guard. There’s currently no official timetable for his return and estimates I’ve seen have him out anywhere from 4 to 12 weeks. With Dwane Casey inserting Greivis Vasquez into the starting lineup, let’s take a look at what we can expect from the Raptors while DeRozan rehabilitates. Let’s begin by looking at what the options were for the starting lineup after DeMar DeRozan went down. One of the keys that I talked about before the season started, was how much depth the Raptors have. That depth is paying off now, as the team has a few players capable of stepping up into that starter’s role. At guard the choices are pretty much limited to Vasquez or Lou Williams. Another potential option would have been to start James Johnson at Small Forward and move Terrence Ross to the 2-guard slot. I actually think this might be the best option for the Raptors instead of what we’ve seen with Greivis Vasquez starting.
I can haz yo linkz??! rapsfan@raptorsrepublic.com
