The NBA is a strange place at times. Since the start of the 2013-2014 season, the Raptors have won 93 games compared to Charlotte’s 76. Yet, despite all that, the Raptors haven’t beaten the Hornets / Bobcats once in that stretch. The entire stretch spans six games – all the way back to March 20 2013.
You have to take it back to five days prior – March 15 2013 – to find the last win the Raptors managed to pull off against Charlotte.
Most NBA teams have at least one team that they just can’t seem to beat, but for the most part, it’s because they’re simply not as good as that team. In this case, the Raptors just keep losing to a team they should quite clearly be beating on paper. What is it about the Hornets that makes them so unbeatable from Toronto’s perspective?
It doesn’t help that Gerald Henderson – who averages 12.3 ppg on 44.3% shooting – has averaged 22 points on 61% shooting against the Raptors this season.
Henderson is a really good player who can pull off the odd spectacular dunk, but the Raptors tend to make him look better than he really is. His season-high of 31 points came against the Raptors in January, and it’s quite interesting to see how he scores his points.
Henderson actually does nothing differently than what he normally does. He’s an old-school guard who lives in the mid-range. He has no interest of shooting from behind the arc. The only difference is that the Raptors just make it too easy for him. Just look closely at the above video and you’ll see that DeMar, Lou, Ross, and Vasquez just do an awful job defending him. No verticality on the post-ups, late on switches, late on rotations, ample space given – all a recipe for disaster against a fundamental player like Henderson.
What Henderson does is basically what the entire Hornets’ team does. They’re just not much of a 3-point shooting team. It’s amazing how much the Raptors are struggling against a team which doesn’t stretch the floor. Charlotte takes just 18.5 shots per game behind the three-point line, which ranks 25th in the league.
I’m calling a Raptors win here. Every streak eventually comes to an end.
While Charlotte is one of those hungry teams trying to catch the 8th seed, they’re not nearly as hot as their direct rivals (Miami, Boston, Brooklyn) and they’ve lost six of ten. They will most likely miss out on the playoffs, and the fact that they’re struggling with injuries won’t help their cause. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Cody Zeller are already ruled out for tonight’s game, while Al Jefferson is questionable.
If Jefferson can’t go, then Bismack Biyombo will start in his place. Biyombo is really solid defensively and can protect the rim, but he’s a virtual zero on offense. When he gets the ball, he looks absolutely mortified – that is if he can even catch it. Defenisvely, the Raptors can put anyone on him and feel relatively unthreatened.
The biggest test the Raptors will face is in the back-court. Kemba Walker has really played well this season and Vasquez can’t keep continuing to play the way he has been if he wants to win the point-guard battle. I had to pull out this quote from Dwane Casey about Vasquez, which is quite frankly, terrifying.
“I think sometimes we look just at the shooting, but Greivis’ heart is always in the right place,” Casey said. “Sometime he takes shots that you roll your eyes at, but again, it’s from him trying to help the team and not from a selfish standpoint.”
That Dwane Casey is being so nonchalant about Vasquez’s decision-making on offense seems contradictory. There needs to be some accountability here. Intent of unselfishness is not a warrant to start chucking bad shots. If James Johnson – the best perimeter defender on the team – can be benched for gambling on defense, then certainly Vasquez can get similar treatment.
Tip-off is at 7 pm EST.
