Grizzlies out-grind Raptors.
 | Amir Johnson, PF 32 MIN | 4-9 FG | 3-4 FT | 5 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 3 TO | 11 PTS | -3 +/-Played his heart out. Scored well in pick-and-roll, did a nice job managing Marc Gasol. Didn’t have enough ups to grab boards but held his own. It’s a shame to see his effort wasted. It’s the same story every time: it’s all about the health. |  | |||||||
 | Jonas Valanciunas, C 29 MIN | 4-8 FG | 4-4 FT | 10 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 12 PTS | -9 +/-Did all he could against Randolph, who hit a litany of tough shots. Had a few defensive slip-ups, but deserved the minutes he got. Looked a little winded in the second half after playing relentlessly in the first half. Didn’t get any looks in the post, which is understandable given the Grizzlies’ frontcourt. Scrapped and fought for a few putbacks. | | |||||||
 | Kyle Lowry, PG 40 MIN | 7-23 FG | 4-7 FT | 8 REB | 3 AST | 2 STL | 1 BLK | 3 TO | 20 PTS | -1 +/-Suffered a dislocated finger in his shooting hand in the first quarter and had no jumper for most of the first half. But he fought hard to push the issue on offense, sacrificing his body on reckless drives. Don’t buy too much into the assist numbers. The Raptors offense was solely designed for Lowry to isolate. No movement, no solid screen setting, nothing. That’s on Casey. |  | |||||||
 | Greivis Vasquez, PG 22 MIN | 1-8 FG | 1-2 FT | 2 REB | 3 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 3 PTS | -6 +/-He couldn’t shoot. At least four of his missed three’s were open. Moved the basketball well and had a few drives into the lane, but he lacked the finish on his floaters. Had a decent showing defensively in the first quarter before settling into his usual level of unspeakably terrible on-ball defense. |  | |||||||
 | DeMar DeRozan, SG 33 MIN | 2-11 FG | 2-2 FT | 3 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 6 PTS | -8 +/-Couldn’t drive to the basket. Completely neutralized on offense. Couldn’t work in the post against the Grizzlies’ bigger wings. Couldn’t do anything right. The team needed him and he came up completely empty. |  | |||||||
 | Tyler Hansbrough, PF 11 MIN | 1-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 5 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | -9 +/-Grizzlies’ defense completely ignored him, which made it hard for him to find court time. Played with energy in limited time on the court, grabbing a few rebounds. Was stuck defending Marc Gasol, which was an obvious mismatch. |  | |||||||
 | James Johnson, PF 8 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | 0 +/-Wasn’t very effective when he played as he failed to generate any headway on drives to the basket. Looked like his recent benching took all the piss out of him. Played passively, which was a first this season. |  | |||||||
 | Patrick Patterson, PF 24 MIN | 2-7 FG | 6-6 FT | 9 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 11 PTS | +9 +/-Strong effort defensively, if not excessively at times, but he really battled. Jumper wasn’t on, which is becoming an ugly trend. Without a reliable shot, the Grizzlies bigs could afford to treat him like they did with Hansbrough, overloading on the inside. | | |||||||
 | Terrence Ross, SF 18 MIN | 0-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | -1 +/-Yeah…he couldn’t make a discernable impact on either end of the floor. Bricked a few ill-advised jumpers with the second unit, which really doesn’t suit him. He needs to be set up to be effective offensively and the second unit is pretty much everyone fend for themselves. |  | |||||||
 | Louis Williams, SG 24 MIN | 6-15 FG | 7-7 FT | 3 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 21 PTS | -2 +/-He came out gunning. It worked to start, jumpstarting the offense with a few made three’s, but the Grizzlies eventually figured out that he only ever sways over to his left and started to play him away from where he was most comfortable. The shooting line doesn’t look great, but he was a source of much-needed offense. Wasn’t too hot defensively, but that’s nothing new. | | |||||||
 | Dwane Casey Hard to critique without being unfair. He got the defense to clamp down, which is huge, but drew up nothing on offense. I love grit-and-grind as much as anyone, but the offense was simply to hand the ball to Lowry and to watch him kill himself trying to piece something out of nothing. It’s on Casey to draw something up. The James Johnson thing is still fishy. |  | |||||||
Five Thing We Saw
- Back to the James Johnson thing. There must be more to the story that the Raptors aren’t letting on. Casey said it wasn’t a personal issue, but slashing the 5th-most productive player’s minutes to zilch, when the wing rotation is in tatters, would otherwise be insane. Something is up.
- It was a frustrating and ugly game to watch, but it’s encouraging that the Raptors were able to keep it close for 40 minutes on the road against the battle-tested Grizzlies. Valanciunas and Amir Johnson tried their best, but the Grizzlies’ bigs eventually proved too much. It sucks, but it’s an encouraging showing for what had been a terribly inept defense to date.
- The Raptors can’t afford for DeRozan to be invisible. It just cannot happen. It was always going to be a tough matchup for him, but DeRozan needs to find a way to impact the game when his usual schtick isn’t working. I’d rather he press the issue and fail, then to disappear altogether. That’s what stars do. They can’t fade.
- This game was reminiscent of last year’s playoff series against the Nets in its tight and physical nature. The biggest takeaway should be that the Raptors’ offense needs to find a way to be effective. Someone else needs to bridge the gap between the bigs in the post, and the wings on the perimeter. It can’t just be Lowry. It can’t. He’s getting driven into the ground at this rate.
- Just for the record, I am not on the camp that wants to fire Casey. I appreciate that he’s done a great deal of good with the franchise. He’s instilled a culture of hard work and the team. He gets a lot out of the players. Consider Lowry for example: He’s never played harder for any other coach. These pointers and grades aren’t a veiled “shot” at Casey. I’m not so jaded as to call for his job because he’s earned far more rope than this. But the team does have a lot of holes, some of which is up to Casey to fill.
