Yet, there were now fewer than 40 seconds left in the quarter, and Ross did some quick math that would have made the perpetually calculating Kyle Lowry proud. Look for a perfect shot, taking 10 or more seconds, and they probably would not get another clean possession, given the 24-second shot clock. Fire away quickly, and the Raptors would get the ball back. Accordingly, Ross pulled up from beyond the arc in an effort that might have made even Lowry blanch. That the shot went in was nice, but ultimately unimportant; the process was sound, and that was the interesting development. It made you rethink all of the frustration that Ross had provided this year. Maybe he is learning. That is the gift of this year’s Raptors, now 30 games into the season and heading for a brief Christmas break after their 103-99 win over the Dallas Mavericks: They give you evidence to believe whatever you are predisposed to believing. On the pro side: They have beaten the Thunder, Heat, Cavaliers and Spurs, pushing the Warriors to the limit twice as well. They have also lost to the Nuggets, Kings, Knicks and Suns at home.
Making sense of the Raptors is no easy task | TSN
Through its first 29 contests, Toronto had been out-scored by 51 in the first quarter – fourth-worst in the NBA – yet they had bested teams by 152 points over the final 36 minutes, including a plus-65 mark in the fourth quarter, second-best in the league. So naturally, they held Dallas to 16 first-quarter points – Sacramento’s point total less than four-and-a-half minutes into the game two days earlier – and led by 16 going into the second. Makes sense, right? As they disperse for a short break over the holidays, it’s nearly impossible to get an accurate read on who the Raptors are, and we shouldn’t necessarily be surprised or alarmed by that. Playing without the injured Jonas Valanciunas (who missed his 16th straight game Tuesday) and DeMarre Carroll (who missed his 11th) for the better part of the last month, Toronto has had its opening night starting lineup intact for 11 of the team’s 30 games. Factoring in Terrence Ross’ early-season injury, they’ve had their nine-man rotation at full strength seven times. It’s no wonder their identity remains a mystery. “It’s hard to get a read,” Dwane Casey admitted before Tuesday’s game. “I like our team, I like what we have. Now, when those guys do come back the challenge is going to be getting everybody back, getting the chemistry going again. It’s going to be almost like training camp again, getting the rust off of guys, getting back in the flow of the game. But it’s hard to get a read on it right now.”
Raptors dig deep in win over Mavericks | Toronto Sun
The Mavs were too perimeter happy, not inclined to move the ball and went the entire quarter without attempting a single free throw. A tone gets set, a will imposed when a home team begins the right way, the biggest question on this night being whether the Raptors could sustain their level of play. Toronto never trailed and each time the Mavs threatened, which would be often late, the Raptors had a response.
Raptors start quickly, hold off Mavericks’ charge | Toronto Star
Bennett provided 9:49 of playing time and withstood Nowitzki’s most productive stretch of the night, an 11-point quarter for part of his 20-point outing. The Toronto native added five points, including a big third-quarter three-pointer, and two rebounds. “He had to,” Casey said of Bennett guarding Nowitzki. “He’s the guy in and (Dallas coach Rick Carlisle) was trying to rest Dirk. “We had (Bennett) on Powell and Dirk subs in and you’ve got to go with it. I thought Dirk thought he had something good to eat on, but I thought A.B. held his own and hit a couple shots and did his job.”
Raptors beat Mavs 103-99 despite brutally short bench | Raptors HQ
Luckily for the Raptors, it wasn’t just Lowry and DeRozan who turned in game-saving performances. The rest of the starters – Luis Scola, Bismack Biyombo and, yes, Terrence Ross were all fantastic. Biyombo had his usual missteps with the ball in his hands around the basket, but he hauled in a monstrous 20 rebounds and was one point shy of a double-double. He also hit a turnaround jumper early on that was about as unbelievable as DeRozan’s dunk on Rudy Gobert. Scola played his usually stretchy role, draining 15 points on 11 shots and adding 9 boards. And Ross had one of his more complete two way games of the season. He was attentive on defense, and did a solid job of sticking in front of his check on drives to the rim. On the other end of the floor, he went 4-of-8 from outside and tallied a clean and crucial 16 points. Over the last five games, Ross is averaging 14.6 points on 19-of-42 from distance (45.2%). There are holes to poke of course – this is a 2015-16 Raptors game after all. Following a 32-16 first quarter, things got dicey for a few minutes when Dallas scored the first 11 points of the second. Toronto withstood the Mavs in that instance, and went into the half with a healthy 49-36 lead. But as the starters were stretched and the deepest depths of the bench had to be mined, the lead slowly began to disappear. Bennett’s utter inability to stop Dirk Nowitzki in the frame helped Dallas’ cause.
4 things from the Mavericks’ 103-99 loss to the Raptors | Mavs Moneyball
Much like the rest of his team, Nowitzki had a bad start as well. But, he got it going in the third quarter to help Dallas rally back. Dirk ended the first half with six points on 3-of-10 shooting, but had 11 points in the third quarter and ended with 20. His third quarter output helped Dallas only go into the fourth quarter only down 72-67. Wesley Matthews, meanwhile, bounced back from a two-point outing with 15 for the game despite some foul trouble. Meanwhile, Toronto had five players in double-figures, led by its starting back court of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan who caused Dallas fits. DeRozan finished with 28 points while Lowry finished 17. Weirdly enough, the Mavs garbage time lineup of Jenkins, J.J. Barea, Justin Anderson, Charlie Villanueva and Jeremy Evans messed around and helped Dallas get back into the game and made it a one-possession game multiple times with under a minute left. Ultimately, the deficit Dallas put itself in was too much to overcome.
The Difference: Mavs 99, Raptors 103 | Mavs Outsider
The bad start shooting doesn’t bother me that much. It’s a lot like baseball slumps. If they’re not at the beginning of the season (or game in this case) you don’t notice of emphasize them nearly as much. Yes, it sucks to look up at the scoreboard and see that you’re being doubled up at the end of one frame. Does that mean you stop playing? Does that mean you can’t climb back in the game over the final 36 minutes? Of course not. It typically means the shooting is going to balance out and adjustments will be made because the coach or players grossly misjudged something. What I can’t deal with is a team that looks passive. A team that looks like they can’t match an opponent’s physicality. A team that reacts as if their opponent was doing something illegal or uncouth by hustling and making their offensive night hell. Bismack Biyombo was a legit problem for the Mavs on the boards as he rendered Zaza nearly useless.
Toronto Raptors overcome injuries to defeat Mavericks | Raptors Cage
Since it is the giving season, I might be a little generous with this one. The Raptors were unusually poor in the fourth quarter, especially given that the Mavericks’ main players sat out most of it. For most of the game, the Raptors were aggressive defensively in the backcourt and combined that with solid rim protection. However, after Rick Carlisle emptied out his bench, the Raptors became complacent, giving up on shots and nearly costing them the game.
The Toronto Raptors’ weird week and Christmas in the NBA: The Post-Up podcast | National Post
Koreen and MacKenzie discuss the Toronto Raptors’ play without a pair of injured starters, Terrence Ross’s streak and a sassy wardrobe choice from Warriors fans.
Is Anthony Bennett in the NBA next year?
Quick Stat Hits: Hey look, it’s the bounce back bench | Raptors HQ
Over the past month, these two players have improved their games in different ways. First, Patrick Patterson. Oddly, his shooting has been worse. He’s shot 29% from 3 since the start of the month. Well, I guess that in itself is not that odd – shooters go through slumps. But what makes Patterson ineffective is when he stops shooting – because then the threat of him on the perimeter can be ignored, and the paint becomes much busier and harder to navigate for the Raptors’ top inside scorers. The good news? Even with his struggles hitting the shot, he took more threes in December than prior to it – up to 4.4 per game from 3.7 per game. (Though this is largely because of an increase in minutes played; it is good he is not scaling back his shooting with more minutes). The real good news? Patterson has become even more of a positive impact player in December. He has the second highest on-court net rating among the regulars (behind only Cory Joseph). He has the second highest on-court offensive rating as well (also behind Joseph). His on-court defensive rating is the best of the regulars.
Do The Raptors Have Too Many D-League Prospects? | Pro Bball Report
For all intents and purposes, Ujiri gave head coach Dwane Casey an effective 10 man roster with which to work this season. Take out two starters for a big chunk of the team’s first 29 games and that 17-12 record starts to take on a new meaning. The complaint in Toronto has been a lack of consistency. A team that has the ability to beat top-ranked clubs like the Spurs and Cavaliers, but has dropped a pair of games to the 11-17 Kings. It might be hard to admit, but 2015 All-Star Kyle Lowry is starting to wear down. Cory Joseph has never played so many many minutes and it’s starting to show and it seems like Patrick Patterson has been so focused on defense that his offense is often missing-in-action. At this point Casey needs his two injured starters to get back soon as the eight guys he relies on are fading fast. Part of the problem may be just timing. Those young guys Ujiri was hoping would develop over the season were never expected to be ready this early and the team has gotten a little more than expected from Nogueira after he was recalled from Mississauga following the injury to Jonas Valanciunas. Nogueira shows a lot of potential and may be just a short step away from becoming the effective backup center Casey can trust in all situations. The D-League experience was really advancing the young center’s game in a hurry. Being called up instead of getting another dozen D-League games under his belt might have stalled his progress?
Photo credit: Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP
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