In what was another close, hard-fought battle, the Warriors and Raptors stood even for most of the evening, but the Warriors ultimately came out top. In a recipe that seemed almost too familiar, Stephen Curry took over when it counted most, with dazzling ball handling, crisp passes, efficient shooting, and laser-like accuracy from three-point range. Curry was simply magnificent, delivering with an unbelievable (and yet, not surprising) 44-point, 7 assist performance.
ICYMI, here was our quick reaction of the game.
And while we can all talk about how the Raptors came close twice against this team and still lost…we would be foolish not to remind ourselves of how truly dominant this Warriors squad has been this season. This team is the lights-out favourite to beat any team in the league right now, home or away. Now owners of a 21-0 record, and with an average margin of defeat of more than 14 points (seriously), they’re in a complete league of their own. Heck, the Monstars would be scared of these guys. And yet the Raptors competed very hard, and made it super tough on the Warriors…twice. While a loss is a loss, and we’ve seen this movie before, it’s at least encouraging to note that the Raptors (I’ll restrict the temptation to call them the Toronto Lowry’s) are fighting hard and staying competitive. A good sign as we head into a stretch with 4 more home games coming up.
Kyle Lowry – MVP Chants Coming Soon
Probably the most obvious, yet obligatory discussion of today’s post will be Kyle Lowry. What more can be said about this guy – with a new look, slick passing, deadly three-point stroking, and with crucial buckets time after time again, Lowry has simply been the 6 god. Forget Drake Night – let’s make a night for Lowry.
With a career high of 41 against the Warriors last night, you can bank on this guy being in the 10-man MVP race talked about every week. And while it’s encouraging and incredible to see Lowry playing at this level, it’s equally worrisome for the Raptors, who are seemingly unable to consistently provide Lowry with the scoring and minutes backup he’ll need moving forward. You can forget any playoff second-round aspirations if we have a tired Lowry, limping into the playoffs.
Kyle Lowry post-game.
The Key Takeaways
- Three-point defense: Not that it’s any easy task against one of the best three-point shooting teams ever, and with a player as prolific as Curry, but the Raptors needed to defend the 3. Plain and simple. In the 9 games the Raptors have lost this season, their opponent has shot 41.7% from 3, compared to only 32.8% in their 12 wins. While the interior defense has been a lot better this year with Bismack patrolling the paint, it has caused the Raptors defenders to back up and off of shooters, and in some cases (Teletovic comes to mind), forget them altogether. Guard the 3 well, and good things will happen.
- Hit us Bebe one more time: After a pretty awesome debut in Atlanta last week, Bebe Nogueira continued his assault on the NBA with another stellar performance. Not to be forgotten in a disappointing loss, is the 25 solid minutes provided by the young Brazilian, who went 7/9 from the field for 14 points, while also grabbing 4 boards and dropping 3 dimes. Not bad young man – keep it coming. With Jonas Valanciunas still a few weeks away, we should expect Bebe to be a consistent option for Casey off of the bench at the 5.
- Is Patterson back? While Patman is still struggling with his shot as he went 0-2 from 3, and 2-5 overall from the field, he still had an impact on the game. Terrence Ross, take notes my man. Despite his poor shooting Patterson competed hard defensively as a pick-and-roll and switch defender, and also grabbed 10 boards. If he’s playing this hard every game, I think it’s a matter of time until we see the real Patrick Patterson show up, 3-point shooting and all. It’s got to happen soon enough.
- Lack of team contribution: It’s no secret that when the Raptors share the ball and have a balanced attack on offense, they win. And especially againt the great teams in the NBA, a balanced approach is a more practical and sustainable way to win. Just look at our wins so far against OKC, Dallas and Cleveland. Save for maybe Atlanta, where Lowry took over once again, most of our wins against the better ball clubs have been team efforts. And once again last night, the lack of contribution from the other key leaders like DeMar DeRozan and DeMarre Carroll, burned us. For us to have any chance against an elite team, we should be able to count on these guys. It can’t be the Kyle Lowry show every night. Not for 82 games, anyway.
DeMar DeRozan post-game
Lookahead
Kyle Lowry and the Raps look to get back into the win column Monday night against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Kobe Bryant farewell tour continues with Black Mamba’s final career appearance at the ACC. While the logical part of me thinks this will be a comfortable victory, I can’t help but picture a game played close by the Lakers, and sealed with a Kobe Bryant fadeaway. Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, Kobe Bryant have all hit daggers in this building, even as struggling vets…let’s just hope Kobe doesn’t save his best for last.
