Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Lowry played OK but forced shots in crunch time, DeMar was fine but played weary of driving, James Johnson was awesome, Valanciunas was very solid but mysteriously absent down the stretch and Amir’s ankles were a visible problem. That’s been the storyline too many times in 2015 to not be frustrated by it. Scheduling circumstances make it seem forgivable to concede a game played as the third in four nights on the road against winning teams. While that assuredly played a role, it conveniently ignores the fact that last night was a very winnable game that the Raptors let slip through their fingers.
Patrick Patterson was out for last night, and his absence was felt. His minutes were mostly split between Valanciunas and Special Agents Johnson and Johnson, no relation. James Johnson continued to play more than adequately during his time at power forward, driving to the basket methodically, using his body, coming up with a block and several deflections on defense and even hitting a three (and badly air-balling another, but shhhhhh). Valanciunas finally got the minutes that fans have been clamoring for him to see, and the results were impressive. 17 points, 14 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block and 10 free throw attempts. Jonas dominated both Asik and whichever of New Orleans super tall, super awkward backup 7-footers they threw at him between Withey or Ajinca. The same cannot be said, regrettably, for Amir Johnson. After a solid first half that saw Amir playing an efficient role in the offence rolling to the basket with the ball off of high screens, his second half was a defensive disaster. Amir fell to the ground early in the 3rd quarter simply trying to follow a Dante Cunningham cut inside, his ankles betraying him. It’s worth wondering whether he might have sat for most of the second half in a game where Patrick Patterson was healthy. As it was without him, Johnson had a very hard time guarding Ajinca or Asik, both of whom holding considerable height advantages over Amir who seemed unable to challenge their shots or rebounding vertically and was a step behind helping on defense. I’ve been the biggest Amir fan boy out there; I’m not trying to damn a player I know to be a pivotal part of this team. But his being unable to let his ankles get healthy because there simply isn’t anyone to take his minutes in the meanwhile is most likely going to be a problem down the stretch.
Casey’s recognition of Amir’s restrictions is another issue. In a game where Amir was a -12 and Jonas was a +10, Casey pulled Jonas from the game with about 7 minutes remaining, and didn’t put him back in until the final minute when the Raptors had already surrendered the lead. Jonas was winded and worked when he came out, having already played 35 minutes by that point. I understand the substitution. The problem is the inability to think ahead enough to balance your minutes accordingly. Valanciunas demonstrated an ability to dominate the Pelicans bigs all game, giving the team their biggest advantage. He was also the only one able to contain the size of the Pelicans centres, something that opened a hole inside in their defense when he was out that not only surrendered put backs and rebounds, but also lead to the rotation breakdowns that created a trio of wide open looks for Babbit in the corners. Casey needs to be able to recognize that if Valanciunas is his weapon, he should probably organize his minutes so that he’s able to play the most important 5-minute stretch of the game. Minute distribution and lineup management has been and continues to be a big problem in an otherwise good season from Dwayne Casey.
It’s not a surprise that the Raptors would get outplayed in the second half of a game when they’re on their third in four nights. For what it’s worth, the team played great in the first half on both ends of the court. But in the second half, Vasquez made himself unplayable by forcing every opportunity he found for a shot, Lou Williams went cold and Patrick Patterson wasn’t playing. Ross was the only backup player that brought anything in the second half, with a solid defensive effort and a couple of threes. It was hard for the Raptors to try and steal a schedule loss type game without a bench to contribute anything for them in the second half. The bench lost the lead, and the starters simply couldn’t get it back. Ultimately, it’s frustrating but understanding. Understandable given the schedule and circumstances, but frustrating in that it’s reasonable to imagine that a little bit better lineup management and just a little bit more responsible decision making from the bench unit could have still snuck out a win. The Raptors are now 4-3, with one game left on this brutal stretch where they would have been happy to go 4-4, so there’s that at least, if you’re looking for a glass half full type rationalization to leave on a happy note.
