10 things I noticed from Raptors-Knicks | Getting Benched
The Raptors really played down to their competition tonight. Offense got into a huge funk, missed 20 of 21 field goals at one point, and just kept making silly decisions. All the Knicks did was take away the paint, and the Raptors’ shooters (aside from Ross) just didn’t ever want to fire freely from deep.
Five takeaways: All-star backcourt has Raptors streaking | Sportsnet.ca
Toronto becomes the first host city since Los Angeles in 1972 to have a pair of guards participating in the same All-Star Weekend. The Lakers had Jerry West and Gail Goodrich in their hall-of-fame backcourt.
The Raptors had two players in the All-Star Game in 2001 when Antonio Davis and Vince Carter represented the franchise. Tonight the Raptors’ current backcourt combined for 52 points and 14 assists. Both DeRozan and Lowry had 26 apiece on 50 per cent shooting from the field.
Game Rap: Raptors 103, Knicks 93 | Toronto Raptors
Terrence Ross continued to be a spark off the bench, despite a quite scoring night. Ross scored six points and made two of his six field goal attempts, but added five rebounds, an assist, a steal and two blocked shots. The team was a +23 when he was on the floor, showing the impact he can make even when he isn’t scoring.
NYK 93, TOR 103: Raptors’ All-Star Backcourt Tops Shorthanded Knicks | New York Knicks
It was a story of All Stars tonight in Toronto. Shortly before game time, we learned that DeMar DeRozan would join Kyle Lowry on the Eastern Conference squad, and also that Rising Stars Game participant Kristaps Porzingis would join Knicks All-Star Carmelo Anthony — and starting point guard Jose Calderon — in street clothes for the divisional battle.
The Raptors would close the first quarter on an 18-4 run, building a 14-point lead against the shorthanded Knicks by the middle of the second quarter. Derek Fisher’s club would fight back, cutting the deficit to one midway through the third, but couldn’t get enough stops to overcome Toronto’s decorated backcourt tandem; DeRozan and Lowry scored 26 points apiece to reestablish a double-digit advantage and maintain it down the stretch.
Quick Recap: Knicks vs. Raptors | KnickerBlogger.Net
In a game that can only be described as a pre-All Star break Pre-Season game, the Knicks hung around. That’s all you can really say because the Raptors were never in any real danger of losing the game, even when the Knicks managed to pull it to one in the middle of the third quarter. The Raptors feature really good guards, while the Knicks mainly feature human beings in athletic wear. Jerian Grant’s good numbers tonight look better than his perplexing, herky-jerky, indecisive play. He had a few moments at the end of the game in desperation time, but overall he looks overmatched. Afflalo had 20 on decent enough shooting, but he was blocked 5 times because he’s an Earthbound sort of life form like the rest of us. Some day the Knicks will employ a guard who can take over a game, but until then….we’ll always have Vujacicity….or something like that.
Raptors 103, Knicks 93: “Eh, good try, good effort.” | Posting and Toasting
Even though the Knicks hung around all game, there wasn’t anyone who stood out very much. Galloway did some cool stuff, including an awesome save on a ball headed out of bounds, but was mostly just okay. Afflalo scored 20 points, but it took him 17 shots to get there, and also I’m mad at him for hitting some kinda tough shots tonight but missing every conceivable important shot on Tuesday night against the Thunder.
Final Score: Raptors make history, beat Knicks 103-93 for 10th straight win | Raptors HQ
Missed free throws were the biggest weakness for Canada’s lone NBA squad early on, evidenced by the Raps shooting 72 percent from the charity stripe. Considering how well this team has done in that area this season it’s a non-issue, but one that’s worth pointing out regardless.
Just like every game during this streak, Toronto won in a variety of ways. The Raptors, who shot 43 percent as a team, were simply not getting their shots to fall (excluding the backcourt), however they once again stepped up big on the defensive end. Entering the contest, the Raptors were allowing a league low 92.6 points per game since January 6. The Raps have now won 21 straight games when holding their opponents to under 100 points.
Toronto Raptors set franchise record with win over Knicks | Raptors Cage
As mentioned before, the Raptors didn’t have to go against the most talented offensive threats when they played the Knicks.
Despite that, the Raptors knew that they had challenges on the defensive end of the floor that they could learn from after losing to the Knicks on Nov. 10. Unlike their previous game, the Raptors did a solid job at defending the three-point line. They allowed the Knicks to shoot 26.6 per cent from distance before the final four minutes of the game, where the Knicks scored three three-pointers with the game already sealed.
The Raptors were also all over the Knicks’ shot attempts, combining for 11 blocks. The biggest factor was James Johnson with 4 blocks, including this one on Aaron Afflalo who led the Knicks with 20 points.
Knicks Limp to a Defeat in Toronto | The New York Times
The Raptors led by as many as 14 before the Knicks chipped away in the third quarter, cutting the lead to 1 on a floater by Lance Thomas. But behind Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, who scored 26 points apiece, the Raptors had too much depth.
Depleted Knicks fall to Raptors, 103-93 | NorthJersey.com
What appeared to be a one-sided matchup on paper Thursday was aided by Toronto’s late announcement that Kyle Lowry would start after suffering a sprained left wrist Tuesday. The Knicks countered with a roster that seemed like a throwback to last year’s troubles with castoffs and D-leaguers thrust into starting roles.
But the Knicks, who are now 0-6 without Anthony in the lineup, refused to fold.
Trailing by as many as 14 in the first half, New York whittled the deficit to one with a 9-0 run capped by a hustle play. Langston Galloway made a tremendous diving save of a loose ball, leading to a Lance Thomas jumper with 6:39 left in the third. But the Raptors methodically pulled away, opening the lead to 73-63 by the end of the quarter.
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A photo posted by Kyle Lowry (@kyle_lowry7) on
NBA: How the Toronto Raptors’ formula could add up to Eastern Conference crown | ESPN
Toronto, the NBA’s fifth-largest market, is the best-kept secret in the league. The city is cosmopolitan, demographically diverse and the team packs the Air Canada Centre to capacity every night. Media scrums in Toronto are robust. The Raptors don’t have a rich history or legacy, but they’re trending up in all the leading indicators of franchise health.
In many respects, Ujiri embodies Toronto. He’s an international presence in a franchise that has long aspired to be the NBA’s international outpost. He came up through the grind of the scouting ranks, yet has none of the residual schlubbiness. That refinement is balanced by a populism that appeals to Toronto’s rabid, starved fan base. How many other execs in the league stand in a public plaza and drop an f-bomb on a New York borough — a gesture whose fine was well worth the free media ginned up from the clip.
Toronto made LaMarcus Aldridge’s short list last summer, and though the Raptors were a long shot at best, meetings with top-line free agents have a way of sending notice to NBA players and their representatives that an organization can hold its own at the league’s adult table. In Ujiri’s mind, gone are the days when players kvetched about not having “the good cable” at their condos in Toronto.
Red-hot Raptors understand they have plenty to prove, eye playoff success | CBSSports
DeRozan said he doesn’t care how they are viewed outside of Toronto as long as every person who puts on a Raptors jersey is “playing for one another and for this country.” When it’s suggested that some see him and Lowry as a two-man team, he bristles.
“They’re delusional,” DeRozan said.
Eavesdropping from his neighboring locker, Lowry interjected: “Super delusional.”
“Outside of me and Kyle, the rest of the guys are just as important,” DeRozan continued. “Our bench has been playing extremely well, keeping leads and sustaining leads and gaining leads for us the last couple of weeks. It makes our job a lot easier.”
“Well put, son,” Lowry said.
Thursday NBA Roundup: Have the Raptors Finally Earned ‘2nd Best’ Label out East? | Bleacher Report
The key to Toronto’s hopes of giving Cleveland its comeuppance may well rest in Carroll’s hands—or, rather, on his knee. The Raptors’ ongoing run began shortly after their marquee free-agent signee underwent surgery on the same knee that bothered him in last year’s playoffs. But they’ll be hard-pressed to pester the East’s best wings—among them, Paul George, Jimmy Butler and, of course, LeBron James—without Carroll in the lineup once the postseason rolls around
Fortunately for the Raptors, he’s well on his way to returning to Dwane Casey’s rotation.
Chances are, Carroll won’t be back before his team and town host the All-Star Game on Valentine’s Day. The sooner he returns, the better-equipped the Raptors will be to not only hang onto the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference, but close the two-game gap between them and the Cavaliers.
The Raptors won’t falter down the stretch this year. Here’s why. | The Washington Post
Over the past 10 games, only the Spurs and Atlanta Hawks have held opponents to fewer points per 100 possessions than Toronto, and only the Portland Trail Blazers are grabbing a larger percentage of available defensive rebounds. In fact, no team saw more of a spike in defensive rebound percentage compared to last season than Toronto, a testament to the progressions made by the team’s frontcourt.
All-stars Lowry, DeRozan lead Raptors to team-record 10th win in a row | The Globe and Mail
“This is big. I took pride in putting on this Toronto Raptors jersey ever since I’ve been here, and now to have the all-star game here and two guys in it, it don’t get no bigger than that, and it’s a blessing,” a reflective DeRozan said after the game, recalling the frustration of the groin injury that limited his season last year, and of the years he spent losing as a Raptor early on.
“Kyle and I, we sat down this past summer and said, ‘This is what we’re going to work on. We’re going to have to be great for this team to take the next step.’ Kyle did it with his weight loss, I did it by trying to elevate my game in new ways, and it’s definitely showing,” DeRozan said.
Raptors’ DeRozan joins Lowry on East all-star team | Toronto Sun
DeRozan is averaging career-bests in scoring (23 points per game), assists (4.1), free throw and three-point percentage while most of his advanced metrics are way up (including player efficiency rating, win shares, true shooting percentage, assist percentage and value over replacement player).
Coaches such as Doc Rivers, Frank Vogel and Brad Stevens have spoken highly of DeRozan all year, so it’s not surprising he was an easy choice. Players around the league have deep respect for him, as well.
“Even though he was an all-star (before), I think he’s gotten better this year,” Raptors guard Cory Joseph told the Toronto Sun.
“Everybody notices his three-ball. It’s incredible how much he gets to the line and you’ve been able to see it every day how crafty and tricky he is. It’s eye-opening.”
Chris Bosh mentored DeRozan during his rookie season, the final one for Bosh in Toronto.
“That was the major thing that I loved about him when he came into this league, he wanted to be a very good basketball player and a great player eventually,” Bosh said.
All-Star DeRozan on mission to prove doubters wrong | TSN
His All-Star selection is an indication that people are starting to come around and take notice, at least around the league itself. Still, he’s not exactly a household name, not yet anyway. Perhaps that’s because he’s a Raptor – an excuse thrown out there for just about every player the franchise has ever had, with the exception of Vince Carter. Perhaps it’s because of his ‘old school’ game, predicated on that mid-range jumper and getting to the line.
As the Raptors – winners of nine straight games – get national attention so is he, and he’s earned it, but those who know him best insist he still deserves more credit for what he’s turned himself into.
“I feel like he should definitely get more credit where it’s due,” teammate Patrick Patterson said. “He deserves it, he works so hard for it. He’s the heart and soul of this team, he’s been around on this team the longest and he’s been here through the bad, now he’s here through the good and he’s dedicated. So I don’t think he gets enough credit from his peers or from fans or from anyone who watches NBA.”
Some of it may have something to do with the gradual way in which he’s grown. It hasn’t happened overnight. It rarely does. As a result, his continued improvement has gone under the radar, at least until recently.
DeRozan overcomes unique challenges to reach second All-Star Game | Sportsnet.ca
In this case, the numbers don’t lie. DeRozan, 26, is ninth in NBA scoring with 23 per game; second in free-throws made and third in free-throws attempted and on pace for a career-high 4.1 assists a game. He’s also posting a career-best defensive rating on a Raptors team that is 31-15 and in the hunt for the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
He and Lowry represent the NBA’s second-highest scoring backcourt tandem behind Steph Curry and Klay Thompson with Golden State. Perhaps most significantly, DeRozan has done it well into a career which not many believed would have resulted in the No .9 overall pick in the 2009 draft becoming one of the top players in the NBA.
But even as DeRozan was trying to find his way as a defensively uncertain shooting guard who wasn’t a particularly good shooter or ball-handler, he kept working at it. It was the doubts he encountered as the Raptors bounced around the bottom of the standings that helped energize him.
“You always think about the tough times, losing records, getting criticized,” he said. “People saying I can’t do this, I can’t do that. I am this type of player. All of the negativity you have to deal with. You look back on it and think about it. You really look at it and understand it as hard work. It’s cliché I know.
Congratulations, DeMar DeRozan! Named an NBA All-Star for Toronto 2016! | Hoop Heads North
This marks the first time since Vince Carter and Antonio Davis in 2001 that the Toronto Raptors will have two players on the same NBA All-Star Team. (Davis was named as an All-Star injury replacement that year for Grant Hill.)
Raptors set franchise record with win over star-less Knicks | Toronto Sun
The Toronto bench, which has been on fire the past week in particular and for a big part of the 10-game stretch, was solid again last night.
Recently it has been the duo of Terrence Ross and Patrick Patterson handling the scoring load from the bench, but last night it was Cory Joseph and Patterson who combined for 21 points and once again provided that energy defensively making things tough on the Knicks.
Even with a tough shooting night for Ross – he was jut 2-for-9 from the field – he and Patterson were a combined plus-43 meaning even when they weren’t scoring they weren’t letting the opposition do much either.
Outside of DeRozan and Patterson early on and Lowry in the fourth, it wasn’t such a banner night for Raptors shooters. Collectively the Raptors shot just over 43% which was comparable to why the Knicks shot.
Banged-up Lowry helps Raptors gut out historic win | Sportsnet.ca
“I just wanted to play for my teammates,” Lowry said. “I leave it all out there for those guys, because I know they’re going to leave it all out there for me.”
There’s impetus here. This past summer, shortly after the Raptors’ demoralizing first-round sweep at the efficient hands of the Washington Wizards, Lowry and DeRozan sat down to talk about the steps they wanted to take to make sure that never, ever happened to them again. Certain elements of that conversation will never be known (“some things we’re going to keep to ourselves,” Lowry says) but a major focal point was durability.
Last season the duo took turns watching their team play while wearing suits, as DeRozan missed 21 games in the middle of the year with a torn adductor longus tendon and Lowry sat out a handful at the end of the campaign with a variety of ailments before returning for the playoffs when he clearly wasn’t himself. All told, the pair barely had the chance to play together at full health and develop the take-over-the-game chemistry that they’re demonstrating on a nightly basis now.
Raptors win franchise-record 10th straight game | Toronto Star
What’s easily lost in this win streak is that it has come in the absence of starting small forward DeMarre Carroll. He’s expected back by the end of the regular season, another celestial blessing for this team as it sits two games back of LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
They’re happy, or whatever emotion that comes close to it for those unfamiliar with the feeling, to be on this streak and to be where they are with the all-star break inching closer. The focus is still on the playoffs and righting the wrong finish to last season’s first-round 0-4 exit.
“That’s the beauty of it for me, man, just as long as I can go out there, get up in the morning and dribble a basketball . . . I’m putting on the jersey and figuring out a way to be better and prove somebody wrong,” DeRozan said. “I’m going to figure out a way, that’s all I know. Until I’m an old man and I’m playing against guys who were born in 2005.”
Toronto Raptors: Ranking The Summer Moves | Hoops Habit
Bismack Biyombo is an interesting player, because he is one whose impact isn’t properly captured by statistics. He is regularly tasked with tough defensive assignments and is asked to protect the interior with the team’s bench unit. His on/off numbers say that the team is better with him on the bench, but the tough minutes he logs and the energy he plays with wear down the opposition and makes them think twice about driving into the paint.
His biggest contribution came in the 18 games he started when Valanciunas was out with an injury. He averaged 6.3 PPG and 11.6 RPG and helped the Raptors to continue their winning ways with his solid screens, rebounding and defensive intensity. There may not be a better barometer of how the team is doing than Biyombo. In wins, he has a +6.2 net rating and shoots 58.7 percent from the floor. In losses, he is a -15.8 net rating and shoots 39.5 percent from the floor. He may not be the most skilled or reliable player on the team, but he has served as a great change of pace backup center to Valanciunas.
Raptors’ Lowry, DeRozan detail elaborate late-night trips to McDonald’s | theScore.com
“Whose idea was it to walk to McDonalds to get McFlurrys at like three in the morning? It was yours,” DeRozan said to Lowry.
“That was when I was fat, though,” Lowry quickly shot back.
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