While there isn’t exactly panic surrounding the team, there’s no question the Raptors’ rosy start has turned comparatively sour. It’s hard to overlook that the only wins for this team in 2015 have come against the Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers (the NBA’s cure-all) and the Milwaukee Bucks, who share a combined record of 43-81. Facing an most important stretch of the season headed to the All-Star break, the announcement couldn’t have happened at a better time.
I give Philadelphia credit, they came out, they competed, they played hard but that’s unacceptable … If we’re serious about being a playoff team or getting out of the first round or whatever, of if we’re satisfied with where we are now, we’re going to continue to play like we are now.” The sad-sack Sixers, just 8-35, gave 28-15 Toronto many scares, but as is their wont, found a way to lose in the end, mostly because they don’t have a talent like Lowry, who willed the Raptors to the victory, with a lot of help from Patrick Patterson. “I just didn’t want us losing tonight,” Lowry said. “I think my teammates were kind of counting on me and we needed somebody to pick up the energy and I felt like it was my time to pick up the energy and go out there and do my job … This is one of those games you’d look at in April and say, ‘damn we gave that one up,’” he said.
Nowhere more than the first quarter was Toronto’s malaise more apparent. The Sixers scored the first 15 points of the game, they hung a 30-point quarter on the Raptors and simply played harder, quicker and with more intent than Toronto did. It was that attitude, that “hey, we’re good” mentality that rankled Casey the most. “It’s not just one guy, it’s quite a few guys that have to come out serious about earning their money,” he said. “It doesn’t matter the way we came back or not. It’s one of things where it started at the beginning of the game. We come out, we think we’re just going to walk out and beat somebody? That’s not going to happen in this league, I don’t care who you are and we haven’t done anything yet.” Casey did make one lineup move that helped, replacing Amir Johnson with Patrick Patterson to start the third quarter. Patterson responded with eight of his 13 rebounds in the second half and also contributed 14 points.
Mired in a month-long shooting slump, Lowry leaned on his teammates more than usual through three quarters in a dreary, back and forth contest with the lowly, eight-win 76ers. Hitting just two of his nine attempts after 36 minutes and with DeMar DeRozan also struggling, Lowry deferred until he had little choice but to take over. The Raptors came out flat on Friday, trailing 15-0 before scoring their first bucket. Despite a second-quarter run, they found themselves down by nine nearly halfway into the fourth. They hadn’t scored a point in over five minutes when Lowry went off. The point guard bullied his way into the lane, earned and hit two free throws before knocking down his first three-ball of the night, followed by another, followed by a third. Lowry scored 13 straight Toronto points, forcing a tie with three minutes to go. He finished with 17 of his game-high 21 points in the frame, leading the Raptors to an ugly, but necessary, win.
Sixers give in to Lowry and the Raptors | Philly.com
“I just didn’t want us to lose tonight,” Lowry said. “I think my teammates were kind of counting on me and we needed somebody to pick up the energy, and I felt like it was my time to pick up the energy and go out there and do my job.” Robert Covington made 4 of 11 three-pointers to pace the Sixers (8-35) with 18 points – with 16 coming in the first half. Nerlens Noel added 12 points and 14 rebounds, and Michael Carter-Williams had 12 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds. The Sixers extended this current losing streak to four games. It was also their seventh consecutive series setback to the Raptors.
Kyle Lowry takes over in 4th to deal Sixers loss | Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia
“As a group we have had so many discussions on passing and playing together,” Brown said. “I saw so many signs of improvement tonight. K.J. [McDaniels] came to play. As a group they did a really nice job of playing together. Nerlens had 14 rebounds. We had six guys in double figures — that is rare for us. I give that group a lot of credit for responding to the areas we targeted over the past few days.” This team plays hard. They aren’t satisfied with moral victories, but they take positives from experiences like Friday night. “It was back and forth,” Carter-Williams said. “They made big plays, we made big plays. It was an all-around great game but we came up short.”
Philly’s Lowry completes great homecoming in Raptors’ win over Sixers | Philly.com
There hasn’t been a whole lot of change in Lowry’s game since he was bulling his way to the rim at Cardinal Dougherty and Villanova. He is as much of a bulldog as ever on the floor, shouldering through defenders and barking instructions to teammates. He is a Philly point guard through and through, which made this whole All-Star announcement so special for him. “I just take pride in being an All-Star, and being from Philly is definitely is special,” he said. “Being from here and even being mentioned with Wilt [Chamberlain] and Kobe [Bryant] is . . . Those guys are unbelievable, they’re greats, they’re legends, they’re Hall of Famers. For me just to be even to be able to say that [like them] I’m from Philadelphia as an All-Star is pretty cool.
Sims, 76ers come up short against Raptors | The Reporter Online
After playing a very entertaining and competitive 47 minutes and 50 seconds against the Toronto Raptors Friday night, the Sixers had 10 seconds to figure out a way to make up three points on the scoreboard. Odds are, Brett Brown did not draw a play on the greaseboard requesting that center Henry Sims, who had hit four 3-pointers all season, chuck up a bomb as soon as the ball was inbounded. But that’s what happened. The shot came about two feet short of everything, and after a replay showed the ball went out of bounds off the Sixers they trudged from the Wells Fargo Center court with a 91-86 loss to the Raptors. The failure to execute anything worthwhile on that possession spoiled an impressive crunch-time performance by Michael Carter-Williams. The second-year point guard, who spent most of the night running the offense and setting up teammates to do the scoring, took charge at the end, nailing a 3-pointer, then driving into the lane for a layup that gave the Sixers an 86-85 lead with 41 seconds left. The Raptors responded when Greivis Vasquez drove to the hole to put Toronto back up by a point with 26 ticks remaining. MCW again took charge, but as he drove into the lane he tried to hand off a pass to Nerlens Noel in traffic that never got to the center. “It was the same play we beat Brooklyn with,” Brown said. “That game he makes the pass and he’s a hero. This time, it just didn’t go our way.”
Sixers-Raptors: The Allen Iverson and Vince Carter Duel | The Sixer Sense
Of course, nothing is more Toronto than Vince Carter in a Raptors uniform and as we know, Allen Iverson is Philadelphia. At the time of this game in 2001, the Sixers were 30-10 and the Raptors were 22-19. As some may remember, these two eventually met in an epic seven game series in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. So, let’s take a trip back to January 21, 2001, when Vince Carter and Allen Iverson faced off.
Toronto Raptors edge out Philadelphia 76ers | Raptors Cage
Philly was without leading scorer Tony Wroten, yet the final margin of victory was just five points. Another trending issue among Raptor supporters is the dwindling appearances of James Johnson. Mr. “Cocked-That-Joint-Back” played a measly nine minutes in tonight’s game. His defensive presence would have made the final minutes a bit more comfortable. Additionally, the Sixers’ frontcourt trio of Robert Covington, Luc Mbah a Moute and Nerlens Noel combined for an impressive 40 points. Toronto was outscored 40-36 in the paint. Put two and two together and you have a glaring problem- lackluster interior D. It wasn’t a horrible defensive outing for the Raps but you have to expect better from a top-tier team.
NBA: Interview with Kyle Lowry of Toronto Raptors | ESPN Chicago
You know what, it’s a testament to all of the hard work I feel I put in throughout my career. Just to know people kinda noticing you for what you do is always good. You know I don’t do this for the recognition, I do it for the love of the game. It is always good to have recognition, just like what you do: When a reporter does a great article, he might not do it for the recognition; they do it because that’s their passion, but when they do get recognized for it, it’s always amazing, always an amazing feeling. And you can say, “OK, it’s cool that people recognize that I’m putting in this work and I’m doing the right things, and I’m saying the right things because I care about it so I want people to pay attention to it.” So for me, to be able to put the work in that I put in and for people to recognize me, it’s always good to get that love back sometimes.
A week in the life of Toronto Raptors’ Chuck Hayes | National Post
A game day at home starts off with a trip to Sunset Grill for Hayes. He orders an omelette and French toast, and goes unrecognized. He then heads back to his 18th-floor condo near the Air Canada Centre, to send a good-morning text to his wife, Rochelle, and his seven-year-old son, Dorian, who live in Houston. After some rest, he will head to the arena to do a cardio workout and watch film before the team’s 4:45 p.m. walk-through. (Since last year, the Raptors have eschewed the normal NBA practice of morning walk-throughs at home, opting instead to do them three hours before game time.) “It’s kind of like it’s the last thing you see, you remember,” Hayes said. “At 4:45, when we go to film, we’re locked in, instead of coming in, coming here, going over everything at 10 o’clock in the morning, leaving, and coming back and going through your pre-game ritual. This way, it’s fresh in your head.” About an hour later, Hayes goes through his individual workout at the same time as Amir Johnson. Their routines are starkly different. While Johnson sets screens and takes jumpers right around the three-point arc, as he usually does in games, Hayes works almost exclusively within 14 feet of the rim. Hayes practises the 10-foot floater that he misses in the game, off of a feed from Lou Williams, repeatedly. That is no accident — he and Jama Mahlalela, the assistant coach who is responsible for player development, put together his routine before the season based on the shots that would be available to him within the Raptors’ offence.
Raptors Bulls Among Teams Interested In DJ Kennedy | RealGM Wiretap
The Toronto Raptors and Chicago Bulls are among four NBA teams that have shown an interest in swingman D.J. Kennedy, a leading candidate for the Most Valuable Player award in the top German league, sources told RealGM. Kennedy, a two-way player at 6-foot-6, played in two games for the Cleveland Cavaliers during the 2011-12 season. He has since played overseas in Israel, France, Russia and now Germany.
Catching up with Coach Carter | St. Thomas Times-Journal
“I basically felt that Vince was the guy for us,” Butch Carter said in an interview Thursday at the St. Thomas Sports Spectacular. “And I had no idea that he’d turn out to be as great as he did. But at that point we needed someone who was very athletic and clearly he was that. “And in the workout he showed us – when I made an adjustment on his shot – that he was coachable. “He listened and he could execute after being told something.” Vince was the centerpiece as the Raptors became relevant for the first time, making their first playoff appearance in 2000 with Butch Carter as coach. Vince became an eight-time all-star, the first real superstar in franchise history. And while Butch Carter was along for only part of that ride, he championed a style of play that that emphasized back-door cuts and alley oops. “Style of play was extremely important, because young kids are mostly bored if they’re watching something too long that’s not exciting,” Butch Carter said. “And so I think without a doubt, the style of play led a lot of young kids to want to go out and shoot the basketball, especially in a country where it’s pretty cold in the winter.”
I can haz yo linkz??! rapsfan@raptorsrepublic.com
Raptors/Yoshi mashup credit: AK47_Studios
