Raptors 101, Pistons 114 | Quick Reaction | Box Score
I’m going to be completely honest: I don’t feel like writing this recap. it’s been a long day. It started hungover, included a D-League game, the Kyle Lowry rest news, the Raptors-Pistons abomination, and the quick reaction. I just want to drink this wine and eat this cookie and make fun of the Oscars with my Twitter friends. But here I am, slave to the content.
The game was awful. The end.
OK, let’s rewind back to Lowry sitting out. The Raptors saw fit to sit Lowry down for this one, and it was a completely justified decision. Lowry is averaging a career-high 37 minutes, ranks third in the NBA in total minutes played, and absolutely nothing about the next six weeks matters if Lowry doesn’t enter the playoffs at 100 percent, at the top of his game.
And sure, he was definitely at the top of his game Friday, and I understand some people questioning the timing of his rest. The Cavaliers lost Sunday, so a win would have pulled the Raptors within a game of the top spot in the Eastern Conference. The Raptors also talked a lot about Friday being “just one of 82,” with head coach Dwane Casey saying that a win would mean nothing if they turned around and laid an egg Sunday. They definitely laid an egg Sunday.
But that egg doesn’t mean resting Lowry was wrong. Instead, I’d argue that it highlights exactly why managing Lowry’s workload is so important. I’m more risk-averse than most, but at this point, insulated in at least the two-seed, the only thing that matters to me is how the Raptors look come mid-April. If I’m in charge, I’m doing everything I can to insure everyone’s in the best shape possible for the playoffs. Because guess what? If landing the one seed winds up leading to a fatigued or injured Lowry that could have been prevented, then it will have been a Pyrrhic victory. The Raptors aren’t going anywhere in the postseason without Lowry in peak form, so anything that risks that isn’t worthwhile and anything that protects it is.
Again, I’m much more risk-averse than the average, but Sunday served to highlight exactly what the Raptors might look like without Lowry.
Complete and utter, flaming, disgusting, vile trash.
Just, a heap of garbage.
The Rafael Araujo of basketball games.
The Raptors turned in a solid first half on the offensive end, opted not to play much defense early, and then completely mailed in the second half. Only a late garbage-time surge from the D-League Detachment made the final score respectable.
To be clear, the game wasn’t this bad simply because Lowry was out. He’s incredibly important, and DeMar DeRozan and Cory Joseph struggled to keep the offense afloat in his stead (outside of the first quarter). He also brings an intensity level that can help set the tone, particularly when games begin slipping. We’ve seen that. He certainly would have helped, and maybe the team would have rallied around him at key junctures. Or maybe they never would have played that poorly in the first place – there’s a strong argument to be made that part of the second-half malaise set in could have been due to a lack of confidence or drive, knowing their leader was out.
The point is, it would have taken more than just Lowry’s presence, because the Raptors played terribly.
The most frustrating thing about games like this is that there’s little actual analysis to do. “It’s just one game” will permeate, but even if we wanted to dig deep, what’s there to say? When issue Nos. 1 and 2 are effort and attention on the defensive end, that’s not something you can gameplan around. The Pistons are a team many, myself excluded, are worried about in the playoffs, and we learned nothing about that potential matchup from this series that we didn’t already know: Andre Drummond’s a problem on the glass but Jonas Valanciunas can score on him, the Pistons lack point-guard depth, there are lots of quality defensive wings to throw at and frustrate DeRozan, the Pistons don’t have quite the shooting they’d like around that difficult Reggie Jackson-Drummond pick-and-roll.
What did we learn? Tobias Harris was fine but not a huge issue if Luis Scola wasn’t playing against him. Terrence Ross is ready to be the No. 1 guy. James Johnson is valuable as a secondary ball-handler when Lowry and DeRozan are both off the floor. Terrence Ross has an MVP in his future.
Again, we knew all of those things. From an analysis standpoint, this game was as big a waste as it was from a fan’s time-investment standpoint. It was bad. But I digress.
There were two positives I wanted to highlight, because I’m never willing to throw a game out entirely, and I’ve probably been too negative to this point.
The first is Norman Powell. He still can’t really shoot, which makes him a tough fit in most Raptors lineup iterations, but damn if he isn’t making the most of his spot minutes of late. Like Wednesday, he had a few savvy defensive plays in his short run Sunday, angling ball-handlers well, staying tight off the ball, and causing havoc in passing lanes. He also got to flash some of his north-south driving ability and finish a degree-of-difficulty alley-oop from Delon Wright. he’s not going to see major playing time at any point this year, but he’s turning in the type of performances that Casey will remember if they’re both still around next season.
The other is Wright. I was a little concerned about Wright seeing 15-20 minutes Sunday based on what he’s shown in the D-League so far this year. He hasn’t been bad, or anything, but his pick-and-roll defense was quite shaky, which wasn’t supposed to be the case. Facing up and off ball, he was fine, and his offense is polished and steady and creative (I had little worry on that end).
He didn’t have the best outing in the pick-and-roll, as the Pistons are a tough opponent in that regard. And in man situations, he did well, even hawking off the ball a little bit and making life difficult. He was solid.
That’s all he needed to be to wind up with 31 minutes of run, and he showed incredibly well. I’ve suggested recently I think he can take on spot minutes each game to help ease the load on Lowry while letting Casey keep using the two-PG lineups he likes, and Sunday was a confirmation of that. His confidence has grown a great deal in his jumper, and save for one long two he passed up wide open over a screen, he was quick to let fly if the opportunity was there. His 3-point stroke has been coming along in the D-League, and if it’s going to be even a remotely reliable weapon, that could be big for him.
In terms of attacking, he leaned on his idiosyncratic forays to the rim, changing speeds and direction and generally confusing defenders. He passed up a left-handed layup on one such amoebic drive, but he did so to whip a tough pass to Ross for an open three. He finished with 13 points, drawing fouls in true Andre Miller fashion, and six assists, and the Raptors were only outscored by one point in his minutes. He did well to crack down in defensive rebounding situations, too, a strength in his game that was inconsistent with the 905.
Foul trouble for Joseph and the blowout late let Wright get by far the most run of his NBA career, and he acquitted himself quite well.
On a night where the story, for better or worse, was Lowry, getting him rest, and managing his workload the rest of the way, the biggest takeaway was that the Raptors have an unused guard who can probably help to that effect. Maybe that’s worth taking the L.
