76ers a stark reminder of what Raptors could have been | Sportsnet.ca
Philadelphia? They’re like the ghost of the Raptors’ Christmas past. A horror story of what could have been. Having tanked deeper and harder than any team in NBA history, the strain is beginning to show. Rookie Jahill Okafor has been a TMZ regular for bar brawls and speeding tickets. Just last week the club announced that former Phoenix Suns owner and president Jerry Colangelo would join the franchise as chairman of basketball operations. It’s rumoured that former Suns head coach Mike D’Antoni will join Philadelphia as an associate head coach shortly. It’s all widely viewed as a repudiation of president and general manager Sam Hinkie’s “process” — which has basically been to lose as many games as possible and accumulate as many high draft picks as possible. So far the results have been awful.
Raptors escape scare from Philadelphia 76ers | Toronto Sun
The overmatched group of Sixers valiantly hung around, ruining Dwane Casey’s plans to get his stars some rest ahead of another game Monday night, but the talent, experience and strength isn’t yet there for the Sixers to win games. Casey had warned that Sunday’s opponents don’t tend to get crushed very often. “Anybody can beat anybody,” Casey said pre-game. “This team had Miami on the ropes at Miami a couple of weeks ago. Had Denver down by eight or nine right after Denver beat us. Had us down early. We’re not in that stratosphere; I keep preaching that, we’re not in that stratosphere yet. We’re climbing to get there, we can’t overlook anybody in this league and for us to win, our margin of error is very small. So I know guys get bored of hearing that, you guys get bored of hearing that but it’s the truth and nobody wants to hear the truth anymore, I guess.” The truth was right there for all to see, though, as Philadelphia crept within six points before Lowry and DeRozan returned to finish them off.
76ers a stark reminder of what Raptors could have been | Sportsnet.ca
Philadelphia? They’re like the ghost of the Raptors’ Christmas past. A horror story of what could have been. Having tanked deeper and harder than any team in NBA history, the strain is beginning to show. Rookie Jahill Okafor has been a TMZ regular for bar brawls and speeding tickets. Just last week the club announced that former Phoenix Suns owner and president Jerry Colangelo would join the franchise as chairman of basketball operations. It’s rumoured that former Suns head coach Mike D’Antoni will join Philadelphia as an associate head coach shortly. It’s all widely viewed as a repudiation of president and general manager Sam Hinkie’s “process” — which has basically been to lose as many games as possible and accumulate as many high draft picks as possible. So far the results have been awful.
DeRozan leads Raptors over visiting 76ers | Toronto Star
Sure, it would have been nice if Lowry and DeRozan could have played 28 or 29 minutes instead of the 35 and 34 they did, respectively, especially with a Monday game in Indianapolis looming. But you have to play to win the game that’s in front of you, and when the bench was frittering away the lead early in the fourth, coach Dwane Casey had no alternative. It would have been nice had Terrence Ross made a basket instead of missing all six of his shots, or if Patrick Patterson had been better than 1-for-3 from the floor, or Cory Joseph more effective than 2-for-11. As it was, DeRozan and Lowry got a huge boost from Luis Scola, who tied his season-high with 22 points. The 35-year-old has a way of dominating the Sixers, as he had a 21-point game in Philadelphia last month.
Game Rap: Raptors 96, Sixers 76 | Toronto Raptors
“He’s just taking what the game is giving him, he’s not forcing anything. The game is coming easy to him. They switch a small guy onto him, he’s recognizing the situation where he can go to work. He’s knows how to get to the rim, initiate contact, draw a foul, he’s a veteran at that now. The main thing is he’s not forcing anything. The game is coming to him and when you do that, good things come to you.” – Dwane Casey on DeMar DeRozan’s efficiency from the floor
The Sixers try, but the Raptors pull away and win anyway 96-76 | Raptors HQ
Ideally this would be a game for the Raptors to let their bench get some run. To that end, Nogueira and Johnson got 15 minutes apiece. Norman Powell, who probably felt due, didn’t sniff the court by the 4th, and as the lead shrunk to six, it was unclear whether he’d make it out. Anthony Bennett was presumably upset. But come on, this is the Sixers. They’re not an NBA-level team. They had Nik Stauskas guarding Kyle Lowry for stretches. There is no way this team was going to reasonably beat the Raptors in Toronto. Especially not when Lowry and DeRozan are unfortunately forced to play 35 and 34 minutes each. Lowry finished with 16 points, DeRozan put in an efficient 25. The lead stayed up and then grew in the 4th; the Raptors ultimately won 96-76, and they’ve now won four in a row. (And yes, Powell and Bennett did finally end up getting in the game in the last 90 seconds; the former had a steal and breakaway dunk for his trouble, the latter a corner 3.)
Sixers Suffer 24th Loss as Raptors Run Away in 4th, 96-76 | Liberty Ballers
Tonight in Toronto, there were things to feel good about. Kendall Marshall, in two games, inspires more confidence at the PG position than most guys that have come through Philadelphia in the past year or so. His feel for the game and ability to pass instantly changed how the team was operating, on both sides of the ball. Jahlil Okafor was an immediate beneficiary to Marshall’s efforts. Overall, Okafor was as good as I’ve ever seen him play this year. Defensively, he looked focused and made the effort to engage players instead of sagging off. Offensively, he was showing a bit of everything about his game from post up to face up. Yes, it isn’t all perfect. However, for a rookie that’s given so much team responsibility, I don’t expect it to be. My eyes do widen when I see him do things like this, however…
Nik Stauskas’ homecoming spoiled by another Sixers loss | Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia
“The turnovers is where I go first,” Brown said discussing his team’s sixth consecutive loss. “We break our season down into clumps of 10. This 10-game clump that we’re on now, we hoped to [limit our turnovers] to 16, we’ve been talking about it a lot. That’s an average number by most team’s standards. For us, 22 is just far too many.”
Toronto Raptors take care of lowly Philadelphia 76ers | Raptors Cage
The Raps shot 41% from the field. DeRozan led the way once again with 25, but shot 6-14. He did shoot 13-14 from line. Luis Scola had a great game, scoring a crafty 22 on 10-14 shooting from the field. Lowry was the only other Raptor in double digits, scoring 16.
For the Toronto Raptors, Terrence Ross remains an enigmatic talent | National Post
He is starting now, the product of DeMarre Carroll’s knee contusion. He has started four games in a row, including Sunday’s 96-76 win over Philadelphia. And he has looked intermittently alive. “Playing time. Playing time. That’s one thing that guys want, need,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said of the difference recently for Ross. “To his credit, he’s stepped up. I don’t know when DeMarre’s coming back, so it’s got to continue for the next few weeks to hold that spot.” Ross went scoreless against Philadelphia, but he filled in the gaps nicely. After failing to step over into the paint to cover for the helping Bismack Biyombo early — he and Casey had a quick conversation about that — Ross was moving into passing lanes and getting involved on the glass, tipping the ball to keep it alive. These are exactly the plays that Ross’s athleticism should help him make with some consistency. That has never been the case, part of the reason Ross has taken the mantle from Andrea Bargnani as the biggest enigma on the roster. The best version of Ross is an essential piece in today’s NBA. He can stretch the floor and defend with his lateral quickness. It would be nice if he could add some off-the-dribble creativity to his game, but those two things on a regular basis would be plenty.
Consistency remains Raptors’ biggest issue | Sportsnet.ca
The Raptors are a solid team and should feel good about how they’ve fared during these last six games as well where they are at this point in the the season. However, you have to think the injuries they’ve sustained are going to catch up to them at some point, and the roller-coaster efforts they’re prone to certainly do the Raptors no favours.
Ranking the top five NBA backcourts by the numbers | USA today
In the midst of their fourth season together, Lowry and DeRozan are playing their best basketball. Solid defenders and skilled scorers, the two All-Stars complement each other nicely. 2015-16 combined statistics — Points: 43.3. Assists: 10.5. Rebounds: 9.2. Steals: 3.4. Three-point shots made: 3.3. Usage rate: 54.8%. Points created by assists: 24.9. Average statistics — Field goal percentage: 43.4%. Three-point percentage: 38.3%. Player efficiency rating: 22.55. Assist/turnover ratio: 1.88.
NBA Trade News: Raptors Eyeing Power Forward Zach Randolph For Playoffs | Morning News USA
The Raptors get an opportunity to dispose of Terrence Ross and land 34-year-old experienced customer Zach Randolph. Toronto looks forward to bank on the Power forward’s toughness against the Atlanta Hawks and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Randolph, though, is viewed as a short-term solution, but in the trade, the Raptors won’t lose any guys they want to retain.
Raptors-Indiana Pacers: Monday game preview | Toronto Star
This could be a night where the Raptors really miss DeMarre Carroll. George is enjoying a career-season, his broken shin bone becoming an increasingly distant memory as he puts up 27 points per game. A healthy Carroll allows other players like Ross or DeRozan a less taxing defensive assignment, which would allow them more energy to contribute offensively. The Raptors may want to look at what Marcus Morris and the Detroit Pistons did to George on Saturday, when they held George to 4-of-16 shooting and 13 points in a loss. It was his second-lowest output of the season.
Photo by Ron Turenne/NBAE
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