Raptors collapse on D, lose in Brooklyn

“Home-court and respect” – two things Dwane Casey stated the Raptors are playing for. While the former will probably come into fruition as the season winds down, the latter is going to be hard to come by if the Raptors continue to display a clear disregard for NBA fundamentals. And after all that, perhaps the worst part about last night’s loss is that the Raptors probably won’t play the Brooklyn Nets again until next season.

Never a dull moment against the Brooklyn Nets, is it?

You have to give them their daps. Somehow they managed to flip a counter-productive Kevin Garnett for an agile and tenacious 26-year old power forward. Shedding Garnett was addition by subtraction on its own, but getting Young in return has really propelled Brooklyn’s playoff push.

103 points combined – that’s how much production the Nets got from Young, Lopez, Williams, and Johnson. The rest of the team combined for just 11 points.

That’s mad.

This epitomizes the Raptors’ effort to stop that bleeding:

There is another angle in this morning’s NBA.COM highlight package that shows just how badly Vasquez neglected to box-out Young, it’s quite shocking. Sure, Jonas probably should’ve done better to tip/grab the initial rebound, but pretty much everything the Raptors do on defense is a domino effect where players get punished for other player’s mistakes.

One classic example is the amount over over-helping the Raptors tend to do on defense. That’s nothing new of course, the Raptors are known league-wide for constantly running around on defense, scrambling to rotate quickly enough to catch the open man. Dwane Casey calls it a defensive system of sorts – that’s debateable. If it’s a scheme meant to put pressure on ball handlers, then the Raptors probably aren’t quick nor sound enough to pull it off.

Case-in-point.

I wish I could pull out a more relevant vine that could be tied into last night’s game, but I’m not much of a viner or gif-maker; so I rely on what others post on those platforms. I can however, recall at least two instances where over-helping caused the Raptors all kinds of problems on defense last night.

In one instance in the fourth quarter, Vasquez rushed to provide help on a ball-handler behind the arc which left Deron Williams wide-open from three. Just before that, Patrick Patterson darted out to double Deron Williams behind the arc early in the shot clock – leaving Brook Lopez completely alone under the basket for the easy two.

These decisions are inexcusable really, and these lapses are easily preventable.

But such is what Dwane Casey’s system calls for. The Raptors won’t ever call it ‘over-helping’, instead they’ll say ‘we had to help’.

“It started in the first quarter (with) rebounding, dribble penetration, us having to help and not finishing plays with rebounds,” Patrick Patterson said. “Then we did a better job throughout the course of the game and got us that lead. But then in the fourth quarter, the same thing happened — miscommunication, a couple of bonehead plays, mental bonehead plays and just offensive rebounds again.”

Don’t let those 74 points in the paint by Brooklyn fool you. It’s a staggering number, sure, but it has mostly to do with the guards and their inability to prevent blow-bys. Vasquez was the main culprit last night, but the whole perimeter struggled.

There are a few positives to take away from this game. DeMar DeRozan just abused Alan Anderson over and over again. Valanciunas – despite a slow start and getting out-worked by Lopez early on – had a solid game and grew every quarter. Lou Williams was flat-out scoring. It’s amazing how good he is at putting the ball in the basket when it’s not an end-of-quarter iso.

As expected, the Raptors took advantage when both teams went to their second unit, out-scoring the Nets’ bench 39-11. If the Raptors can sort out their defense and continue their ball movement offensively, they’ll be ok when everyone is healthy in the post-season. All ifs and buts, of course.

My only other note: How on Earth does Dwane Casey not manage his time-outs properly last night? It was hard to fathom the Raptors didn’t have any timeouts remaining on that last possession. What a shame that that DeMar fadeaway at the top of the key was the best look the Raptors could get.

Hey Brooklyn, have fun with Atlanta / Cleveland.