Indeed, the victory was win no. 36 for the Raptors. And of all of the victories, it might have been the one that most accurately summed up how the team has posted such a fantastic record. Remarkable night from Lou Williams, who scored a game-high 27 points, off of the bench? Check. A few key defensive plays from Patrick Patterson? Check. A spurt from Greivis Vasquez that spanned the third and fourth quarters? Check. Unreliable play from the team’s two third-year contributors, Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross? Check (and sigh). And then there were the exploits of DeMar DeRozan, who has had a wildly uneven season, beyond his 21-game absence caused by a groin injury. DeRozan missed 12 of his 18 field-goal attempts, taking some questionable shots. The only way he has stayed halfway efficient is by getting to the free-throw line — he took and made 10 from the stripe. With the score tied 93-93, however, DeRozan had the ball, and then he almost did not. He fumbled the ball as he tried to create separation between himself and Paul Pierce, and saw John Wall reaching for it.
But if the Raptors have shown anything this year, it is that they can battle with the best of them, regardless of how poorly they are shooting the ball or how badly they are getting beat up inside. And things were going pretty poorly in both areas on this night. The Raps got through the first three quarters shooting just 40%, were getting pounded on the boards and almost doubled up on by the Wizards in the points in the paint department. Despite all that and despite being down by 10 with only a couple of minutes left in the third quarter, the Raptors went into the fourth down by just a point. In the fourth, a lot of what the Raptors were missing started to come back, beginning with the three-point shot and, with that boost to the offence and a couple of key stops down the stretch, it was enough to get them into the break on a three-game winning streak thanks to a 95-93 victory.
Was DeMar DeRozan’s game-winner exactly what he was looking for? A contested, fading-elbow jumper over Raptor killer Paul Pierce that DeRozan barely got off after losing his dribble? No. Do you want to have to rely on Lou Williams coming off the bench for 27 points, including eight in the fourth quarter to help erase a 10-point third-quarter deficit? No, but it’s a nice option. Do you want to be down 10 in the middle of a lifeless third quarter? Again no. But so far this season the Raptors have found a way more nights than not, and Wednesday at the Air Canada Centre was another example. The result is a 36-17 mark before the moment in the season all Raptors other than all-star Kyle Lowry enjoy a franchise-record nine days between games that puts them on pace for 56 wins this season. That’s the Raptors people. 56.
To the obvious dismay of Raptors fans, Pierce — the six-foot-seven guard who was showered in boos pretty much every time he touched the ball Wednesday night — came on strong in the third quarter, draining a couple big threes and yanking down some rebounds as the Wizards maintained a thin lead over Toronto. He finished the night with 17 points, including some late-game baskets that enraged the home crowd and nearly gave the Wizards the edge. After the game, Pierce was nowhere to be seen in the visitors’ locker room. “It’s a dog fight in their own house,” said Wizards coach Randy Wittman. “We had a lot of unforced turnovers … that’s what hurt us.”
“I think after my first year, after I really got a chance to be thrown out there in the fire, I took note of that,” DeRozan told the Toronto Sun as he made his exit post-game. “Corey Maggette, I remember when he was with Golden State, he used to lead the league in free throws and he would just tell me that that was a major part of being a scorer. If you want to be a scorer, you’ve got to get to the free-throw line, so, even if you can have off-nights, you can still have 20 and 25 (points) if you get to the free throw line enough. Ever since then, that’s a big deal to me.” Though he didn’t attempt a free throw in the final quarter — coming close to getting fouled on a couple — DeRozan still managed to hit the game-winning jumper, an extremely tough shot.
Raptors enter All-Star break on high note | TSN
The Raptors entered the fourth quarter behind by one point, shooting 40 per cent from the field with the Wizards nearly doubling their production in the paint. Lowry’s dive was just one example, Toronto made winning plays on both ends of the floor, salvaging another less than perfect outing and coming out on top. “There were stretches tonight when you might think we already left for vacation,” Dwane Casey said, “but what I liked is they kept grinding. We’re not going to out-talent anybody, we’ve got to do it collectively. If we don’t grind it, get on the floor for loose balls – like when Kyle dove on the floor from like 15-feet and hurt his hand, those are the plays we need to make.” Overall, Lowry had a quiet night. Williams was the catalyst offensively, pouring in 27 points two days after his first scoreless game as a Raptor. DeRozan hit just six of his 18 jumpers, shooting under 40 per cent for the sixth contest in a row, but made all 10 of his free throws – he’s been to the line 35 times over the last three games – and hit the winner over the outstretched arm of a familiar foe, Paul Pierce.
Game Rap: Raptors 95 Wizards 93 | Toronto Raptors
“We have done a good job of just going into the games and being as consistent as we possible could. We had our one stint where we didn’t playing well and then lost two in a row after we had won six. Our mindset is just play as consistently as we can. I think now the proof is in the pudding that we are pretty solid basketball team. For us to win basketball games we all have to be on the same page. After the break we have to step it up one more notch when everyone comes back fully rested.” – Lou Williams on how the first half of the season has gone
Wizards come up short against Raptors, 95-93 | The Washington Post
The Wizards were dominating on the boards. They were controlling the paint. Somehow, undermanned without Bradley Beal and Kris Humphries, an elusive victory over a quality Eastern Conference foe — and a matchup nightmare — was procurable at Air Canada Centre. But a carelessness-infused combustion promptly vaporized the cushion and ignited a fourth-quarter tussle. By the end of it, DeMar DeRozan’s jumper with 12.9 seconds remaining proved to be the game-winner after Wall’s three-pointer bounced off the back iron as the buzzer sounded in a 95-93 Wizards’ loss to enter the all-star break. “When you are on the road and work yourselves up to a 10-point lead, there’s got to be precision,” Wizards Coach Randy Wittman said.
DC Council 54: Wizards at Raptors — Fossilized In The North | Truth About It.net
John Wall pushed the pace, found open players, made the game as easy as possible for his teammates, and, when he saw an opportunity, he sprinted past the entire Raptors team for buckets. Wizards watchers will remember this game (for a few days) as the one where Wall missed a desperation 3 at the end of the game, after Wittman’s “elevator doors” went absolutely nowhere (no respect for execution). But the Washington’s best player led the team in scoring for the 23rd time this season and, two minutes before the final buzzer, hit a 3 to tie the game at 93. “We just have to do a better job of closing out quarters,” Wall said. Totally. (Having your starting center in the game might help in that regard.)
Wizards fall to Raptors 95-93 thanks to cold fourth quarter | Bullets Forever
Coming into this game, the general feeling was that if Washington won, they’d officially be “back” and out of their slump. While they didn’t win tonight, it’s certainly not a sign that things are crashing down and that panic should be setting in during the break. The Wizards played the Raptors close for most of this game, staging multiple small comebacks, and were a crazy DeRozan shot away from at least taking this one to overtime. All of that without Beal or Humphries. Marcin Gortat continues to play himself out of his personal slump, scoring nine points and grabbing eight rebounds, while Nene shot an amazing 7-for-8. On defense, Lou Williams and DeRozan both had huge nights, but Kyle Lowry was held in check for most of the night by Wall and the frontcourt did an excellent job of protecting the rim. Frankly, this game came down to the fact that the Wizards failed to score in the final two minutes, that they turned it over 16 times and that their perimeter shooters just weren’t knocking them down tonight. That doesn’t mean they’re still in some sort of a slump, or that their past two wins against the Nets and Magic meant nothing.
Washington Wizards Fail To Close Out Toronto Raptors | Wiz of Awes
Again, the second unit ruined whatever momentum the Washington Wizards gained. Garrett Temple committed two dumb fouls on Lou Williams and it seemed like the Wizards were throwing up prayers every time up the court. When Kevin Seraphin is your best offensive option off the bench, you’re probably going to have a tough time sustaining leads. The second unit’s offense consisted of Seraphin 20 foot jump shot, Rasual Butler fadeaways, and Drew Gooden tip-ins.
Observations From Toronto’s Locker Room After They Beat Washington 95-93 | Hoops Addict
Casey: “You would think we already left for vacation tonight on a couple of possessions. What I liked about tonight is they kept grinding and it’s a grind-it-out league. Things are not easy. We have no easy games. If we don’t play the way we played down the stretch we aren’t going to beat too many teams. We aren’t going to out-talent anybody. We’ve got to do it collectively. That play where Kyle (Lowry) dove on the floor from about 15-feet or whatever it was and wrecked up his hand… those are the kinds of plays we need to make. The charge I thought that Amir (Johnson) had that David disagreed with? Those are the kind of plays we have to make.”
A Tale of Two Raptors: Toronto Beats the Washington Wizards 95-93 | Raptors HQ
The Raptors of the final 15 minutes or so were a team that could do no wrong. They were a team whereby every shot Lou Williams, human fireball, took went in (he finished 8-for-16, 4-for-8 from 3, 7-for-7 from the line for 27 points); where Patrick Patterson – despite shooting 1-for-8 – will make key defensive plays everywhere on the floor; where Kyle Lowry can win a foot race with the lightning fast John Wall; where DeRozan can shoot 6-for-18, take a myriad of awful contested jumpers and still hit the game winner (over Paul Pierce, no less; how’s that for dramatic stakes?). They are a team that has now won the season series 3-0 over the Wizards. The Raptors now head into the All-Star break at 36-17, their best record ever as a franchise. This is a team of ups and downs; that’s undeniably true. But it is also a team that wins more than it loses. “At the end of the day we won the game and I’m excited,” said Lowry. “We won the game and we are going into the break on a high note.”
Toronto Raptors sweep season series vs. Wizards, win 95-93 | Raptors Cage
The defence from Toronto was solid tonight. The Wizards present a tough matchup at nearly every position until they start reaching into their bench. The starters for the Wizards carried the load as expected, but Toronto was able to force Washington to commit 16 turnovers. Another key to winning this game was the collection of errors by Drew Gooden III, who was in control the final few Wizards possessions. The Raptors next test is a ways away, but you better believe that Atlanta team will be prepared for the Raptors.
Hardwood Paroxysm Alternative All-Stars: James Johnson | Hardwood Paroxysm
Interestingly, while he was considered a swingman coming out of Wake Forest and was played as such during the earlier periods of his career, up through his stint in Memphis, Johnson has primarily been a frontcourt player in Toronto, logging 97% of his minutes at the 4 or 5. The results have been marked. His on/off split stands at +9.1 points per possession, and his WS/48 stands as the fourth highest on the Raptors at .162. All of this combined to make James Johnson the perfect Alternative All-Star. There’s no way a defensive bench forward would ever get real consideration for the actual All-Star Game, but as it stands, he’s one of the best players on one of the best teams in the league and, above all, is incredibly fun to watch when he’s on, which is what this whole thing is about, right?
All-Star Break Can’t Arrive Soon Enough For Kyle Lowry | Hoops Habit
To be more specific, during the month of December, a 31-day span in which Lowry enjoyed his most productive month as a pro, producing a gaudy line of 22.3/4.2/8.9 on 57.5 percent TS% — in spite of the absence of All-Star teammate DeMar DeRozan — the Raptors managed to lead the league in Offensive Rating scoring 112.9 points per 100 possessions, while doing so on a true shooting clip of 56.2 percent as a team, per NBA.com; flaunting their way to a highly impressive 11-4 record. Similarly, in November, Lowry, alongside a healthy DeRozan, was able to put up a 19.7/5.2/6.4 line on 56.2 percent true shooting as the Raptors started the season off with the second best offense in the league, sporting an Offensive Rating of 110.6 on 56.0 percent TS% as a team, as Toronto won 12 of their 16 contests during the month. Conversely, as the Raptors’ season took a turn for the worse, a worn-down Lowry would average a pedestrian 16.6/5.1/6.8, during the month of January, on an uninspiring 47.7 percent TS%. Consequently, Toronto’s offensive efficiency dropped to 105.3, and likewise, their TS% to 53.0 percent, as the Dinos had to scratch and claw their way to a 9-7 record.
Terrible Terrence Ross Needs a Change of Scenery – RealGM
It’s just not working out for him here maybe he can be dealt at the trade deadline for something useful. He’s not some young player with upside he’s a lost inconsistent 24 year old with no heart or any desire to get better. Bruno can’t be that much worse than him at this point…. Hopefully the Raps will stop that bad habit they have of reaching for guys in the draft
Grading Every Toronto Raptors Player Heading into 2015 NBA All-Star Break | Bleacher Report
He was the odd man out after Casey tweaked his starting lineup by shuffling around Terrence Ross and Greivis Vasquez. A hamstring injury cost him a couple of games in between, but it was revisions in the rotation and DeMar DeRozan’s return from injury that primarily kept Johnson on the sidelines. Never fear, though. After two strong showings as a starter against the Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio Spurs this month, Johnson shouldn’t have to worry about his playing time fluctuating anymore. He scored 36 points on a combined 15-of-17 shooting as Toronto knocked off two Western Conference powerhouses in a matter of days. “With J.J. out there, he’s going to be just as aggressive as me and Kyle,” DeRozan said after the Spurs game on Feb. 8, per Eric Koreen of the National Post.
Toronto Raptors Have The Trade Grease To Make A Deal | Pro Bball Report
Young players and drafts picks are like wasting assets. If you can’t use them, you can lose them for nothing. There is almost no way Ujiri can keep all three of his upcoming first round draft picks, his two rookies (that aren’t playing) and use the draft rights to his second rounders. That’s five to seven players who aren’t ready for prime time on a contending team and the Raptors simply don’t have room for all of them on a 15 man roster. Ujiri has grease to burn on the hot list.
