Three things the Raptors need to do to even up the series.
How I feel about Game 2 is how Fat Faced Rick felt about the New Day Co-op. We done talked this shit to death. When are we going to play?
No but for real, we have talked this shit to death. It’s been three days since Game 1 and we damn near dissected every single possession across 53 minutes of horrendous basketball. But if living in salt is your thing, then I’ll direct you to our many autopsies of Game 1.
- Quick Reaction – Zarar Siddiqi
- Why didn’t James Johnson play? – Ryan McNeill
- Why James Johnson is an obvious adjustment – Blake Murphy
- Breaking it Down: Lowry’s gambling, Pierce at the four – 6ix Man Will Lou
- Game 1 Gamer: Glass half full – Blake Murphy
- Game 1 Gamer: Glass half empty – Matt Shantz
- Reaction podcast – Zarar and Matt
But forget all that. Game 1 was the past. The Raptors and the fans need to turn their attention to Game 2. By no means is it a “must win”, but dropping both games at home to start a series is obviously less than ideal. So let’s focus on the three things the Raptors need to do to even up the series.
Rebound, Rebound, Rebound
The Raptors got out-rebounded 61-48 last Saturday, including a 19-10 margin on offensive rebounds. If the Raptors have any hope of winning, ever, they need to clean up the glass. That can be done in one of two ways.
First, the Raptors simply cannot afford to get by with the lineups they tried in Game 1. Dwane Casey cited a lack of effort, but that only goes so far. Look at the Raptors’ closing lineup: Lou Williams, Greivis Vasquez, DeMar DeRozan, Amir Johnson and Patrick Patterson. That’s two non-factors at guard, an exhausted small forward, a broken power forward and a poor rebounder at center. How is that lineup supposed to out-rebound John Wall, Bradley Beal, Otto Porter, Pierce and Nene? It can’t.
The situation would have been improved had Kyle Lowry not gambled his way into six fouls and a horrendous shooting line. When he puts his mind to it. Lowry rebounds like a small forward and is a major plus. Of course, he needs to stop putting himself in foul trouble so he can stay on the floor.
Jonas Valanciunas and James Johnson would also help, but they’re more “matchup players” in Casey’s eyes. I actually agree with Casey on this point, as Valanciunas and Johnson have obvious shortcomings. Valanciunas is too slow to play smallball five and Johnson is a bit of spacing nightmare. But getting out-rebounded is even more of a nightmare. You can’t do much unless you have the ball.
This bit about rebounding also blends in nicely to Casey and his players’ directive to play more up-tempo in Game 2. It’s true; the Raptors’ offense functions best when they’re getting into the halfcourt with more than 16 ticks on the shot clock. But the key there is to get the rebound first. That means no leakouts.
Paul Wall Drive Slow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWoUCDTfWqA
This is more than a bad Kanye West reference. No, it’s a bit of praise for the Raptors’ transition defense. There were a few lazy possessions in Game 1, but for the most part, the Raptors did a good job of getting back. Washington scored only 13 fast break points in 53 minutes, which is about four points less than Washington’s season average. Lowry aside, the Raptors didn’t commit useless resources to poaching offensive rebounds against the Wizards’ stronger defenders. They need to keep doing that.
Transition defense is key because the Raptors’ defense, for all its unsightly flaws, can stop the Wizards’ halfcourt offense (unless PP plays four; more below). They key, then, is to cut Washington from what they do best, which is catapulting Wall into a sea of helpless pylons in the fullcourt. This also applies, to a lesser extent, to Ramon Sessions, who was surprisingly decent in Game 1.
Match up with Pierce
Look, it’s cute that the Raptors’ coaching staff figured they could get by with checking Pierce with Tyler Hansbrough and Amir Johnson, but all the evidence points to the contrary. If anything, last year’s playoffs made it plain and obvious. At least Masai Ujiri got the message and picked up James Johnson for this exact matchup.
I’m not going to extol James Johnson’s virtues. Everybody and their distant second-removed cousins on their mama’s side knows that Johnson is the right call. But rather, since the coaching staff seems more concerned about James Johnson’s shortcomings, I’ll ask the same question: what are the shortcomings of staying big against Pierce at the four? It’s not like the Raptors are going to post him up. It’s not like the Raptors are crashing the offensive glass (good call there). And their bigs certainly can’t stay with Pierce on offense. So what is the advantage of going big?
Having said all this, it’s important to note that James Johnson isn’t the silver bullet (no, that’s education, for all the politicians out there). Johnson is the best matchup to check Pierce, but that doesn’t mean it will stop Washington altogether, because Pierce at the four isn’t necessarily about Pierce’s scoring. It’s about everyone else’s scoring.
It’s plays like the one below, with Pierce situated in the corner. That chains Hansbrough to the perimeter, instead of helping on the pick-and-roll action as he normally would. This will be a problem regardless of who guards Pierce. Playing shooters at the four will have this type of effect on a defense.
So what’s the solution? I’m not entirely sure. Deploying the Raptors’ best defenders would help, but it won’t be entirely easy to manage. The Wizards’ biggest problem is that they suffer from spacing issues and settle for too many bad shots, but the first half of that is alleviated when they go small.
Instead, the key might be Otto Porter. Playing Pierce at four means sliding another wing onto the floor and the Wizards aren’t exactly stocked with decent wings. In scenarios like the one above, the Raptors have to bite the bullet and help off Porter and pray he can’t connect from deep (he shot 33 percent on the season). But if the Porter from Game 1 shows up, that being a long-armed, defensively solid and opportunistic rebounding wing, then that gives Randy Wittman more latitude to play Pierce at the four.
The other option would be to attack Pierce on offense. But that’s easier said than done. Pierce is a good defender and he knows how to stay out of foul trouble. DeRozan needs to attack even more to put pressure on Pierce to defend. Run the man through screens. They had some success with their staggered screen sets in Game 1. Attack off the dribble. Anything to make him work.
