It can’t be said that the Raptors didn’t show up for last night’s game with everything they had. No fan can rightly claim to have been left wanting for effort, focus or desire. It has also become unfortunately clear that no one claim that the Washington Wizards aren’t simply better than the Toronto Raptors. The Wizards have a much higher ceiling than the Raptors, and they’ve elevated their game towards it, while the Raptors remain unable to even make it back to the plateau they found months ago.
The Raptors came out strong, playing about as well of an offensive first quarter as they have in them. They were able to drive to the basket and DeMar found the breathing space he’s been gasping for all series, scoring 20 points on 11 shots in the opening frame. Washington was able to keep pace offensively though, and they quickly slammed the defensive door shut shortly into the second quarter.
The storylines from game 1 and game 2 again played out throughout game 3. The Raptors were simply unable to contain John Wall, who tore them apart getting to the rim at will, dishing to open shooters whenever the Raptors would collapse as a group to try and stop him and picking apart the Raptors slow footed bigs in the pick and roll. Jonas Valanciunas looked lost and confused throughout the first half trying to choose between sticking with his man and picking up one of the speedy Washington guards in the pick and roll. While Valanciunas was either better or on the bench in the second half, Patrick Patterson become the Wizards victim of choice, as he spent much of his defensive minutes scattering around from high to low, desperately trying to close a gap between him and the ball handler or shooter that he was always a step or two too many away from. Washington figured out how to score on the Raptors before the series started, and the Raptors bench brain trust has been either unable or unwilling to adjust to the small ball Wizards. James Johnson remained stubbornly on the bench, as the Raptors were unable to contain Paul Pierce, Otto Porter or Drew freaking Gooden. Drew Gooden! Otto Porter! Drew Gooden was out of the league 16 months ago and Otto Porter’s fate looked optimistically as a fringe rotation player just months ago. Both of those players have been a better in their roles for Washington than anyone short of Amir Johnson for the Raptors. And the Raptors have made it easy on them, assigning Tyler Hansbrough or Patrick Patterson to defend them. Neither one of those players is put in a position where they can succeed when they’re forced to float too far away from the basket to be relevant inside and forced to sprint out to challenge a shot that they either can’t make it in time for or foolishly leave their feet at a pump fake on only to watch their cover dribble unabatedly to the basket. Playing the same scheme on both sides of the court and hoping for better results based purely on ‘effort’, as Casey implied was the problem in an earlier press conference, is madness. The results are in on these matchups, and they don’t came out in our favor.
Offensively, the Raptors ran out of steam. Lowry is clearly playing injured, and apparently sick as well. His jump shot has no lift, and while he can throw himself around the floor for rebounds, loose balls and on defense and still see results, the lack of power in his legs has everything he puts up from outside hitting the front of the rim or even air balling. DeMar found a bit of breathing room in the first quarter, but the Wizards smothered him moving forward, taking away any semblance of a good shot, knowing that DeMar would take some bad ones and that sometimes the lack of movement and spacing in the Raptors offense would force him into others. Lowry and DeRozan were both inefficient again in the pick and roll, not even looking for the roll man, who in Amir Johnson’s case was wide open for an easy layup several times, and were instead swallowed by the Washington pick and roll defense which has operated against the Raptors as essentially a two man trap, with both big man and ball defender selling out to take away the ball handlers shot. Grievis Vasquez didn’t have a particularly strong game, but he was the only Raptors wing thus far to try going hard away from the screen to counter the Wizards stacking the driving lane, and he found a bucket and an assist in the two chances he got to try it. This is the kind of adjustment the Raptors needed wholesale a game and a half ago if they were to make something of the series.
Credit goes to the Raptors for fighting, hanging on and somehow almost tying this game late in the 4th quarter last night. They badly wanted it. But that’s probably as close as they can get if Washington is going to play hungry and engaged, as they did for the final 3 quarters. The Wizards have arguably gotten 5 of the best 6 performances in the entire series, with Amir Johnson being the only Raptors player you could make a case for playing better than one of the Otto Porter, Marcin Gortat or Paul Pierce trio. The Wizards have adjusted their own game from the regular season and adjusted to their opponent. The Raptors haven’t made an adjustment since training camp. If you’re expecting the results to be different in game 4, I’m really not sure what your justification for thinking so is. If you’re looking to feel better, then watch this clip of a puppy playing the drum solo from ‘In the Air Tonight’, because there isn’t any good news to be found here.
