Following an awful loss to the Denver Nuggets on Monday, the Toronto Raptors have a chance to quickly right the ship. That opportunity comes against perhaps the most rudderless ship in the NBA, the Phoenix Suns. But things won’t be easy when the Raptors visit at 9 p.m. on TSN 1. Not only are the Raptors on the second night of a road-road back-to-back, an occasion in which the visiting team wins only about a third of games, but they’ll be quite thin on the wing, too.
The Suns, meanwhile, are painfully shorthanded but may get a boost in the form of new interim head coach Earl Watson. The Suns removed Jeff Hornacek from his post late Sunday night, and even if mid-season coaching changes rarely produce rest-of-season results, teams generally experience a one-game boost after a coach firing. In Watson, they’ll have an unrelentingly positive leader with a fresh young voice (he’s still just 36), one who has already spoken openly about trying to nurture the team’s more…umm, mercurial players like Markieff Morris.
So don’t take anything for granted Tuesday.
And hey, remember that time Archie Goodwin crammed all over Jonas Valanciunas? Me too, and I had nowhere else to put this.
Raptors Updates: James Johnson out
The Raptors were quick to rule James Johnson out for Tuesday’s game, per the team’s game notes. Johnson left Monday’s game with a sprained left ankle and was limping badly, though X-rays came back negative. Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun reports that Johnson is set for an MRI. He’s also on crutches, per The Woz.
With DeMarre Carroll still sideliend, probably for at least a few more weeks, the Raptors could be quite thin on the wing for a little bit.
Norman Powell drew the start in the second half on Monday but the guess here is that T.J. Ross jumps into the starting role Tuesday. Head coach Dwane Casey is a fan of role consistency and would probably prefer to keep his four primary reserves in their regular rotation, tasking Powell with big minutes immediately may be asking a bit too much. Powell’s only played 100 NBA minutes this season, and while he’s been really impressive in the D-League and is certain to bring energy and defensive intensity, he might be best-served getting his feet wet off the bench.
UPDATE: Powell will start, maintaining rotation consistency everywhere else.
Assuming that’s the case, and remembering that Bruno Caboclo remains on assignment in the D-League, the rotation will look something like this:
PG: Kyle Lowry, Cory Joseph, Delon Wright
SG: Powell, Ross
SF: DeMar DeRozan
PF: Luis Scola, Patrick Patterson, Anthony Bennett
C: Valanciunas, Bismack Biyombo, Lucas Nogueira
Heavy minutes for Powell would be a worthwhile endeavor, if only for a few games, and I’m of the mind he’s earned a shot now that there’s a hole. Failing that, Johnson’s injury means Casey will lean on the Joseph-Lowry pairing more and more or less put small frontcourt lineups on the shelf, save for maybe a closing group.
Suns Updates: What a mess
The Suns are out a coach. They’re out Eric Bledsoe (knee) for the season. They’re out Ronnie Price (toe) and probably Brandon Knight (groin, no official update as of yet). Now they’re out promising and entertaining sophomore T.J. Warren, a personal favorite, for the season due to a broken foot.
So who the hell is left? The rotation will probably look something like this:
PG: Goodwin
SG: Devin Booker, Sonny Weems, Jordan McRae
SF: P.J. Tucker
PF: Markieff Morris, Jon Leuer, Mirza Teletovic
C: Tyson Chandler, Alex Len
Watson might get creative with his lineups in his first outing behind the bench, hence the guess that Morris starts. There’s an argument to be made, given personnel and the Raptors’ own situation, that the Suns should go a little bigger with Morris or Teletovic at the three some. He may also just roll the young guys out and see what happens, who knows?
The Line
The Raptors are nine-point favorites despite all of the reasons this could be a tough one. That line’s down some from Raptors -9.5 at open but still suggests the expectation is for the Raptors to bounce back. That would be an affirmation for those who opted to take Monday as a one-time blip, the result of physical and psychological exhaustion from a long winning streak. I’m of that mind, and so I’ll take the Raptors. I’m not touching the over-under of 200.
Raptors 105, Suns 94
