Fan Duel Toronto Raptors

Game Day: Toronto Raptors Take on The New Captain Canada in Minnesota

With Steve Nash's retirement Canadian Andrew Wiggins will likely assume the crown and moniker Captain Canada. Tonight he'll look to have a better showing versus the Raptors on his home court.

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When Andrew Wiggins made his first appearance in Toronto last month things didn’t exactly go as planned. It’s not as if the Timberwolves who’ve won just 16 games were expected to win, however the likely Rookie of the Year was definitely hoping for a better showing.  In the end the Wolves who had just 8 players available lost by a mere 5 points and registered 100 points on the scoreboard. Wiggins finished with 15 points on 6 of 9 from the field.

 

“I already love playing in Toronto, I already loving playing where I’m from. Even though we didn’t win the game, I still feel appreciated, and had fun.” – Wiggins

Cut to this evening where Wiggins will get his second chance to show his home town team exactly what they missed out on by avoiding the tank last season. If you’re like me you’ve burned up your laptop catching Minnesota games on NBA League Pass to watch Wiggins’ progress as well as reigning Dunk Champion Zach LaVine, young center Gorgui Dieng and  trade deadline addition Adreian Payne.

Wiggins may have hit a rookie wall after the All-Star break as his field goal percentage (specifically from behind the arc) has waned, but he’s averaging close to 40 minutes per game. He’s the only Timberwolf to have played every game highlighting his resiliency, and even if he’s exhausted it’s not stopping him from showcasing jaw dropping highlights.

 

Positional Breakdown:

Guards: Greivis Vasquez, DeMar DeRozan vs. Lorenzo Brown, Zach LaVine

Brown came to the Wolves via the D-League. My first experience watching him play was the game versus Cleveland when he played 48 minutes!

With the plethora of injuries on the Wolves, LaVine has been getting a ton of run and it’s paying dividends with him posting his best stats of the season this past month. In 16 games in March he averaged 13.3 points, 3.8 assists, 3.3 rebounds and saw his 3-point average climb to  42.6%

DeMar DeRozan enters the contest coming off a career high 42 point game, tied his career high of 11 rebounds in his best defensive effort of the season. Vasquez wasn’t as fortunate, shooting 1 of 10 from the field, but registered 7 assists, had 2 steals and added 3 rebounds.

Edge: Raptors – DeRozan is on a roll having notched 20 or more points in all but 2 of his last 15 games. March was his best month with him posting season bests in field goal percent: 43.8%, free throw makes: 7.2 points, free throw percent: 88.5%, rebounds: 6.0 (excluding 1 game in October), assists: 4.1, points: 23.9 and a surprising 45.5% from behind the arc.

Even though his numbers show consistency more importantly he finally looks less hesitant and appears to be moving and jumping like he did prior to the injury. This bodes well for the team as they fine tune heading to the post season and await Kyle Lowry’s return, for what is still considered one of the top back courts in the Association.      

Wiggins and Garnett Front Court: Terrence Ross, Amir Johnson, Jonas Valanciunas vs. Andrew Wiggins, Adreian Payne, Justin Hamilton

Andrew Wiggins is poised to win the Rookie of the Year and appears to be next in line to follow in the footsteps of Jimmy Butler, Klay Thompson and Kawhi Leonard as one of the best two-way players in the Association (in my opinion).

In terms of the line-up the Wolves will start, the player I’m intrigued by is Adreian Payne. The trade that brought him over flew under the radar with the copious deadline deals. Payne was selected 15th by Atlanta this past draft who traded him to Minnesota for a protected first round pick between 2017-2020. He comes via Michigan State University, a product of Tom Izzo’s defensive system. If he turns out to be even close to the player Draymond Green has, his acquisition could turn out to be the coup of the 37 trades made at the deadline.

With Dieng and Pekovic both on the injured reserved list Valanciunas has a real opportunity to register a big night on both ends of the court.

As I highlighted last game Amir Johnson has raised his level of play with Lowry out. His 16 rebounds in the win over Houston weren’t as lauded as DeRozan’s big night, but they were as important.    

Edge: Raptors – While I expect Wiggins will be amped to showcase his abilities, if the Raptors utilize their experience and continue to build upon their defensive effort this should be no contest.

Bench Mob:  Lou Williams, James Johnson, Patrick Patterson, Tyler Hansbrough vs. Anthony Bennett: Robbie Hummel, Chase Budinger 

Anthony Bennett, the other Canadian and first round draft choice from two seasons ago will get his first chance to face the Raptors as a Timberwolf. He’s yet to live up to the hype of his selection, but much of this may be due to circumstance. He entered the league recovering from an injury, suffered through asthma and sleep apnea and this season though he worked hard to get his body NBA ready was hampered by injury once again. His best is yet to come and perhaps he’ll never be a starter, however with the horde of young talent in Minnesota he could prove to be an extremely valuable bench player in the coming years.

Hummel reminds me of Hansbrough in terms of the level of energy he brings to the court and Budinger (though he lit Toronto up for 17 in the last outing) has been constantly hampered by injury since coming over from Houston.

I keep calling for a break out game from Patterson and while he’s been solid it feels like he is due for a big night offensively. Perhaps tonight will finally result in this prediction coming to fruition.

Edge: Raptors – The shear depth of the Raptors bench provides multiple options for the Raptors to wear down the already exhausted Wolves who will likely only dress 8 players.

Walking Wounded:

The Raptors face back to back squads who are devastated by injury. While some pundits have speculated Flip Saunders is holding out players in a bid to capture the top draft pick he maintains this is untrue. From a logistically standpoint It doesn’t make sense as many injuries occur when players are worn down. So why would you chance utilizing only 8 guys especially when two of them (Wiggins/LaVine) are the future of your franchise,  

Minnesota:

 

Toronto:

  • Kyle Lowry remains out and didn’t practice Sunday so unlikely to play tonight. Hopefully Lowry’s injury isn’t severe and this time off the court is purely meant to get him at 100% and with 8 sub .500 teams on tap it certainly can’t hurt to use caution in terms of when to bring him back to the line-up. In the interim there is one Lowry who has been blowing up the net and is worthy of another posting for those who haven’t yet witnessed 5-year old Karter’s brilliance.

 


TTOTambz Tips:

  • In their last meeting Kevin Martin tied his season high of 37 points, so if he remains out due to the hamstring injury it just adds to the Raptors odds.
  • Toronto has eight games remaining all versus sub .500 teams with 6 on the road.
  • With the win over Houston the Raptors earned their 44th win of the season which put them 3 games ahead of Washington and one behind Chicago. They’ll need to go .500 to equal last seasons total of 48 wins and 6-2 to capture their first 50 win season.
  • Toronto can guarantee home court in the first round with any combination of four Raptor wins or Wizard losses.
  • Minnesota had just 8 players available in the March 18 loss in Toronto with Rubio, Martin and Dieng in the line-up. Tonight’s contest will feature the first time Bennett, Hamilton and Hummel will face Toronto this season.
  • The Raptors hold a distinct bench advantage over the Wolves. Toronto bench production: 38.7 points (6th), point differential of plus +7.1 (6th) and efficiency 42.6 (7th) compared to Minnesota: 30.6 points (23rd), point differential of  minus -8.1 (27th) and efficiency 34.2 (20th).
  • The other areas where Toronto have advantages are turnovers where the Raptors rank 3rd and Minnesota rank 25th and points per game with Toronto ranking 4th to the Wolves 21st ranking.
  • The Raptors hold an all time head to head record of 25 to 12 versus Minnesota which is their best versus any opponent.

The Pick:

The odds makers have Toronto favored by a 8.5 points which is logical given the projected line-ups and records of the two clubs. What Toronto needs to guard against is not taking the Timberwolves seriously especially with Wiggins and Bennett looking to make a statement to their home town fans in Toronto. Further these Wolves have shocked upper seeded teams beating Memphis, Phoenix, Portland and most notably came back from a 20 point deficit to beat Washington by 20.

Toronto needs to continue to build upon their improvements on the defensive end in the past few games where they’ve held the past two opponents under 100 and look to create solid habits heading to the post season.

Their win over Houston marked the first time they beat a team over .500 since thrashing Atlanta following the break, but more importantly it was the first time they resembled the team who ended last season and started this year. Look for the Raptors to build upon that feel good win, continue their recent efforts and notch another victory in their pursuit of clinching home court for the first round.

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