Raptors survive late collapse against Pistons

With a 32-15 record, the Raptors have now distanced themselves from third-place Chicago and lie just 2.5 games back of Cleveland for top-spot in the East. Up until now, they’ve played like a top-5 NBA ball club, hold a 14-7 record against teams with a +.500 record (third-best in the league), have beaten big teams like the Thunder, Spurs, and Cavaliers, and are now amidst a historic franchise run. So maybe, just maybe, Raptor fans should step back and smell the roses – even if the fourth quarter collapse last night was all too real.

We live in a ridiculously fun NBA-age, where despite the league being dominated by a historic team and there being a huge gap between the NBA’s elite and its minnows – anyone can beat anyone, and anyone can go on a run against anyone. If there was ever a time to cut the Raptors some slack for their disintegration during last night’s fourth quarter, it would be the same night – just minutes before, just 800 km away. Somewhere amidst the strange humdrum at the Air Canada Center where the Raptors had built a 20-point lead, the Philadelphia 76ers were completing their incredible 24-point comeback against the Golden State Warriors – only to see Harrison Barnes end their night with a 3-point dagger at the buzzer to prevent the game from going into overtime. Somehow, from a Raptors perspective, that entire ordeal in Philadelphia was timely, and served as a gentle reminder that even the best can suffer. Except in this case it wasn’t just the best, it was a giant going through a momentous season nearly collapsing against one of the worst teams in NBA history.

Mind you, the 76ers are actually playing better these days since acquiring Ish Smith. The point is this though: The NBA is a roller-coaster. Game-in, game-out, quarter by quarter – it’s a game of runs. Yes, what the smug Raptors went through last night as they nearly squandered a 20-point fourth quarter lead shouldn’t be ignored, but expecting perfection during an 11-game win-streak for a team who’s battled injuries to key players all season is perhaps, unjust.

The entire game was strange. It started with DeRozan and Lowry struggling to get going, and the Raptors were getting points from unlikely sources. In one instance, Biyombo did a dream shake (as well as Biyombo can do a dream shake) and hit a fadeaway on the baseline. During another offensive sequence, James Johnson hit a three. Just before that, Luis Scola picked up the ball from half-court and dribbled his way to the rim for a lay-up in transition.

The game was somewhat subdued after that. We had to witness Andre Drummond go 1/9 from the free-throw line, and then oddly fouling out. Odd, because Drummond didn’t receive his first foul until the third quarter. His struggles were threefold. Being fouled and missing free-throws at such an impotent rate strains you mentally and batters your confidence. It didn’t help that Valanciunas was working diligently to get the better of him on the boards; and Biyombo especially had a monstrous game down-low. By the end of it, Drummond was visibly frustrated.

Where the Raptors really took off was near the end of the third quarter and leading into the fourth quarter when Kyle Lowry – surrounded by players from the 2nd unit – went to work and opened up a lead which stretched to as many as 20. A huge part of this run was Cory Joseph, who turned in a really impressive game where he went 6/11 from the floor and brought all kinds of energy. CoJo did really well to get into the paint and there was little Reggie Jackson or Brandon Jennings could do to stop him.

Then, it happened.

“This game is fleeting . . . you can win 11 in a row and all of a sudden you lose seven, eight in a row if you continue to play with the lack of focus like we did in the fourth quarter,” coach Dwane Casey said. “Hopefully we learned from it, we have to learn from it.”

Dwane Casey gets a lot of shade thrown his way for his insistence in leaving DeRozan and Lowry in the game during late-game scenarios when the Raptors probably have the game in the bag. That might be unfair, as the Raptors haven’t been able to close-out games as well as they should have. DeRozan’s foul-trouble last night saw him sit for a large stretch to end the third and open the fourth, so for him to be in the game late is not a huge deal – given he got rest in periods of the game where he usually plays. That said, Lowry clocked in 40 minutes, and he went 4/15 from the floor. It was a laborious effort and Lowry seemed to still be shaking off a wrist injury. Could Casey have taken him out when the Raptors were up by 20? Probably. Though the Pistons all of a sudden took advantage of an over-complacent Raptor team to cut the lead to four by the end of the game. They scored 35 points in the final frame and forced the Raptors to turn the ball over five times. Coach Casey probably felt that his hand was forced and that he needed to keep Lowry in to tame the Pistons’ run. The flip-side of this argument is that he should trust his bench more, and having a hungry 2nd unit to combat the Pistons would have been more conducive to the Raptors winning this game.

There are a lot of interesting things happening with the Raptors right now (quick opportunity to plug that fun broadcast segment with Drake from last night’s game), but there’s something really interesting / worrying to note amidst this 11-game win streak: The Raptors aren’t dishing out many assists – if any. Last night they had 12 – which was somehow three more than the Pistons had – and they now rank dead last in the league when it comes to APG. Is it worrying? Based on last season alone, it could be. The Raptors went through a similar patch before the all-star break last season where they were widely regarded as an ubber-fun team who plays iso-ball without any real offensive scheme. No one batted an eye, because it simply worked. Lou Williams and Kyle Lowry were on fire – but it didn’t sustain itself. Surely nightmares from last season’s collapse still linger. But although the assists are sparse, as Tim noted, the Raptors are moving the ball much better this season – so there’s that.

To close, I have to mention how incredible it is to watch DeMar DeRozan these days. Even when he struggles – as he did last night – he comes away with a game-high 29 points. When I saw that number, I was somewhat dumbfounded. It was a relatively quiet offensive output, but he did get to the line ten times, and his ability to get to the rim is completely prolific. De facto, DeRozan is the Steph Curry of getting to the rim.