Will Raptors gain because of Kentucky Wildcats defeat?
Sorry for the tortured headline, but I’m trying to get my head around something which may be completely bogus. The University of Kentucky’s perfect season ended shockingly on Saturday night when underrated Wisconsin defeated UK 71-64. Both teams have players eligible for the NBA draft on June 25. The headliners include UK’s Karl Towns and Willie Cauley-Stein, and UW’s Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker. All of these worthies are likely to be snapped up in the lottery, and so aren’t relevant to the Toronto Raptors with their late pick (probably around #20, like last year). However, what about UK’s lesser stars, like Trey Lyles and Devin Booker? They are both projected to be later first-rounders. Does UK’s disastrous end to their title hopes mean Lyles and Booker are going to tumble down the draft boards?
We The North: Toronto Raptors Blog : Ideal First Round Matchup for the Toronto Raptors
Raptors fans, let’s be honest, we’re kind of hanging on by a thread at this point. Night in, night out, our defence is lacking and we’ve been playing below our standard set at the beginning of the season. But not all hope is lost! As I write this (April 5th 10am), we’re sitting (45-32) in 4th place in the Eastern Conference trailing the Chicago Bulls by only 1.5 games. If the playoffs were to start today, The Raptors would face the 5th seed, Washington, in the first round and if win, play Atlanta in the second. This, to be quite fair, doesn’t seem like that bad situation. However, with how tight 3rd and 4th seed are right now, let’s go over what the best possible matchup for the first round will be: Washington in the 5th seed, or Milwaukee in the 6th.
Casey says Raptors learned from last two ‘intense’ losses | canada.com
The Raptors are coming off a pair of nailbiting losses: 114-109 to Brooklyn on Friday, and 117-116 in overtime against the Boston Celtics the following night. “It’s good to have those kinds of games, because they’re like playoff games, close games, hard games, intense games, so it’s good preparation for the playoffs,” said centre Jonas Valanciunas. Casey blamed both losses on mental lapses on defence down the stretch, and agreed with Valanciunas — they provided lessons heading into the post-season. No surprise, Monday’s practice was all about defence. “Those game situations against Boston and also against Brooklyn were very valuable to us. We were simulating (those late-game situations) today,” Casey said. “I thought offensively down the stretch we executed probably as well as we have all year, getting the ball where we needed to get, got the shots we needed to get, execution was good, defensively we had a couple of breakdowns down the stretch, mental breakdowns.”
Raptors’ Lowry works out but timetable unclear | Toronto Star
“He’s still sore, still limping, can’t put any weight on it,” coach Dwane Casey said of Johnson, who left the practice gym early but who was wearing sneakers instead of the walking boot he sported on the weekend. Lowry got through the practice and Casey said it will be wait-and-see before he is cleared to do more in Tuesday’s workout.
Raptors preparing for playoffs
“We’re working on some things offensively and defensively that we know we’re going to have to use in the playoffs, intermittently after a timeout, and those situations,” Casey said after Monday’s practice at the Air Canada Centre. “It’s a two-edged sword, you don’t want to expose everything. … We’ve got to make sure we don’t overexpose ourselves, but at the same time get some game situations.” The Raptors are fourth (45-32) in the Eastern Conference, one game behind the Chicago Bulls and one ahead of the Washington Wizards. So if the playoffs started tomorrow, they’d open at home against Washington. Maintaining home-court advantage is key.
Raps enact ‘Valanciunas rule’ to further JV’s development – Article – TSN
“We have a rule,” said head coach Dwane Casey ahead of Saturday’s 117-116 overtime loss to Boston. “If [Valanciunas] gets pushed out at the logo, don’t give it to him. It’s a rule of ours and it makes him work to get deep post position.” Only 14 teams, less than half the league, still have small team logos adjacent to the paint on their home court. Many newer designs, including the hardwood at the Air Canada Centre, have a cleaner look. However, ‘the logo’ – as Casey points out – is a common NBA term that refers to a spot on the elbow, between the key and three-point line, roughly 16-18 feet from the rim. “If I said to JV right now, ‘get inside the logo’, he’ll know where to go even if there’s no logo out there.”
Time’s running out on Raptors to improve | Raptors | Sports | Toronto Sun
Casey, in other words, will have to resort to everything and anything, any player and any scheme because this unit, in the final analysis, just simply does not have the requisite basketball IQ and awareness to make a late-game stop. “I don’t know if we’re going to change overnight,’’ said Casey. “But as a team, we can get tighter and make better decisions as a team. It’s definitely what we’re looking for in the next couple of games.” There’s athleticism among this group, but no jumping ability and no amount of length can compensate for poor decision making in crucial moments. There’s some good on the ball defenders who can harass in the open floor, but late-game moments against Brooklyn and Boston show how far this group needs to go for the Raptors to be considered as legitimate playoff threats, regardless of matchups.
With playoffs in sight, Raptors refocus on defence – The Globe and Mail
The Raptors have had limited practice time recently. Monday and Tuesday were likely to be their final two regular-season workouts at home, and they were focused on shoring up their defensive fundamentals: They ranked 25th out of 30 NBA teams this season in defensive efficiency. “We’re not going to become a defensive juggernaut in a month,” said Casey. “We have to shore up certain areas and positions, and improve mainly as a team. We’re not going to change some of the weaknesses we have overnight. We have to make sure we have our team decisions and our togetherness.”
We The North: Toronto Raptors Blog : Ideal First Round Matchup for the Toronto Raptors
Our Situation Raptors fans, let’s be honest, we’re kind of hanging on by a thread at this point. Night in, night out, our defence is lacking and we’ve been playing below our standard set at the beginning of the season. But not all hope is lost! As I write this (April 5th 10am), we’re sitting (45-32) in 4th place in the Eastern Conference trailing the Chicago Bulls by only 1.5 games. If the playoffs were to start today, The Raptors would face the 5th seed, Washington, in the first round and if win, play Atlanta in the second. This, to be quite fair, doesn’t seem like that bad situation. However, with how tight 3rd and 4th seed are right now, let’s go over what the best possible matchup for the first round will be: Washington in the 5th seed, or Milwaukee in the 6th.
NBA Eastern Conference playoff projections – NBA – ESPN
ESPN’s Ben Alamar offers this look at each of the probable first-round matchups as the regular season draws to a close. These percentages are not set in stone and could potentially change in the two weeks before the NBA Playoffs officially begin, but they offer a rough idea of what fans can expect in the postseason.
