The Vertical Podcast with Chris Mannix: DeMar DeRozan | The Vertical Podcast
On this week’s episode of The Vertical Podcast with Chris Mannix, Toronto Raptors All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan and The Vertical Front-Office Insider Bobby Marks join the program.
DeRozan discusses what it was like growing up in Compton, Calif., and how he was able to stay focused on his dream of getting to the NBA.
Raptors can’t afford to repeat sins of the past | Sportsnet.ca
Hosting the woeful Nets should have been an opportunity to cleanse the soul and beef up their stats. Instead, the Raptors’ 104-99 win only offered more fuel that something is amiss, turning up the heat higher on a team, organization and fan base for which good fortune only means one thing: the worst is yet to come.
It wasn’t that they won, it was the way they won. The Nets, a team so far in NBA purgatory that they may never emerge, should have been the listless, disorganized squad. The Raptors made them look like they were fighting for home court advantage instead of their 19th win of the season as they had Toronto down by 16 points midway through the third quarter.
The better team finally emerged, washing away a lacklustre effort with a stellar run after that point that tumbled over into the early moments of the fourth. The Raptors still didn’t do it the easy way. The Nets had the ball down three with a minute left but Patrick Patterson hounded Thadeus Young into a turnover. Kyle Lowry’s floater in the lane pushed the Raptors’ advantage to five and that was enough.
Raptors show a little defence in win over lowly Nets | Toronto Sun
If the Raptors take nothing from this game, it has to be the return to some form of physicality to its defence.
Casey was lamenting both at the shootaround and before the game the Raptors’ lack of desire when it came to getting into an opponent. He has sensed his team was unwilling even to put a hand on its opponents.
It’s a recipe for disaster as opponents get far too comfortable as the game goes on when they meet little to no resistance.
That physicality finally showed up in the third quarter and when it did, so too did the opportunities at the other end of the court.
Ragged Raptors rally to edge visiting Nets | Toronto Star
“Our guys know they didn’t play well the first half,” Casey said. “It shouldn’t take me going in at halftime jumping up and down and challenging them, ‘Who do you want to be?’ We came out in the second half and that’s who we have to be but we have to start that sooner in the game.”
Casey shuffled his starting lineup, resting power forward Luis Scola (that was announced in the third quarter) for the first time this season and benching forward James Johnson. He started Jason Thompson, who signed with the Raptors a week ago, in Scola’s place, and went with rookie Norman Powell for Johnson.
Thompson had nine points, five rebounds and two blocked shots in 24 minutes. Powell had five points, three rebounds and two assists in 20:32.
“I thought giving Luis a rest tonight was important. I second-guessed it there for a little bit,” Casey said, as he watched Lopez and Nets power forward Thaddeus Young go to town in the first half. “But giving him a rest, we’ll do that periodically down the stretch here.”
Raptors coach shakes up starting five | Toronto Sun
After spending the morning and his pre-game scrum hinting that minutes would be removed from those not performing up to his tough defensive standards, Raptors head coach Dwane Casey inserted both newcomer Jason Thompson and Norm Powell into his starting five for last night’s game against the Brooklyn Nets.
Out of the starting five for the first time all year is Luis Scola at power forward along with James Johnson at small forward.
There is no question the Raptors have had some defensive lapses of late. They went into the all-star game with a top-10 defensive team and in nine games since the break have ranked 27th defensively in the NBA.
Thompson goes with flow as Raptors starter | Toronto Sun
Coming into the game, Thompson had taken exactly four three-pointers in his past 274 games. To attempt three in one was wildly out of character.
All told though it was a pretty solid effort for a guy who is still learning the Raptors’ ways.
“I thought he did a good job and I thought he gave us some pop,” Casey said of Thompson. “He was a guy who was excited for good reason out there.”
Thompson finished with nine points and five rebounds in just over 24 minutes.
Nets waste Lopez’s herculean effort, blow 16-point lead to Raptors | The Brooklyn Game
It’s no secret that the Raptors have struggled since the All-Star Break, but this was another case of talent prevailing in the end. Toronto, who had hit just 5 three-pointers in the first 3 quarters, nailed their first 4 attempts in fourth, turning a 2 point deficit into a 10 point lead. More superheroism from Lopez by way of an And-1 and his 7th (!!) block lead to an unlikely 102-99 opportunity. It would prove to be fool’s gold though as Young would travel in the corner and the Raptors would put the game to bed not long after Sloan’s ridiculous layup attempt down 3 sealed it.
Ultimately, this performance sums up the Nets-Raptors rivalry as of late: fun and competitive, but Brooklyn just doesn’t have enough to finish anything off. In the end, the Raptors had two stars combine for 48 points while Lopez could only muster 35. A potential moral victory turned into just another tally in the loss column while the Raptors will keep chasing bigger and better things.
Lopez goes off for 35 but Nets can’t top Raptors | NetsDaily
It became the tale of two halves and the Brook Lopez vs. Toronto Raptors show.
The Nets led by 16 at halftime following a 35-point second quarter outburst. Everything seemed to be going their way… until the third quarter.
The Raptors, behind Kyle Lowry’s 10 points in the third, outscored the Nets 36-22 and closed out the quarter on an 8-0 run. The Nets’ 16-point lead turned into a 10-point deficit following a 22-2 Toronto run with 8:50 to play.
The run got so bad that Tony Brown used all of his timeouts with 6:45 left in the game. But the Nets weren’t giving up.
A photo posted by Jason Thompson (@jtthekid) on
Raptors come back from a 16-point halftime deficit to beat the Nets 104-99 | Raptors HQ
The Raptors got the win, but their defensive struggles were still obvious for roughly two-thirds of this game. The Nets still managed to shoot 51.2% from the field and 6-for-12 from deep, while having their way in the paint. Most of that damage was done by Brook Lopez, who scored 35 points on 13-for-17 shooting, while adding five rebounds and a whopping seven blocked shots.
Raptors rest Scola in ugly win over Nets | TSN
Spend any amount of time speaking with or listening to Scola and you’ll quickly realize the cliches will be few and far between. The long-haired Argentine is as real as they come. The reality here is that everybody reacts to adversity in different ways and Scola isn’t afraid to admit that, despite all his experience, he’s still his own toughest critic.
“I usually make a big deal out of things,” he admitted following the team’s morning shoot around. “So I did at some point overreact a little bit, less than I would have 10 years ago, but it’s still [in] my personality and it’s just the way I’ve been playing my whole career.”
“I believe that when things go wrong you’ve got to have some level of concern and worry. That’s just the way I approach it.”
Scola and head coach Dwane Casey both had their best poker faces on when they chatted with the media ahead of Tuesday’s game. Scola insisted he’s been feeling a lot better, a lot more confident about his play over the last couple outings. Casey insinuated that he would trot out his regular rotation despite an inferior opponent, the 18-win Brooklyn Nets. They both knew the starting power forward would be getting a night of rest. They’re two of the only people who knew, as it turned out, it came as news to most of the team’s staffers just prior to tip-off.
Raps Beat Nets Behind Big 2nd Half | Toronto Raptors
“This is a fun game. I told the guys a while ago, you’d probably be somewhere in a gym playing basketball in a rec league somewhere if you weren’t an NBA player, you love the game. So why not play that way here. . . Let’s have fun, have a smile on our face and play with some excitement. We’re playing like we’ve got a two-by-four on our back.”
The Nets _ second last in the Eastern Conference _ led by as many as 16 points before the Raptors clawed their way back into the game late in the third. They’d cut Brooklyn’s lead to 80-78 going into the fourth quarter.
The Raptors lit it up with four three-pointers to open the fourth, and a Patterson basket capped a 24-2 run that gave Toronto a 12-point lead. Biyombo had the Air Canada Centre roaring when he stole the ball off Lopez and then took a pass from Cory Joseph to finish with a massive dunk for a 14-point lead with 6:51 to play.
The Nets answered with a run of their own, cutting Toronto’s lead to just three points with 3:14 to play. Lowry finally put the game away for good with a floating jumper with 38 seconds to play.
Toronto Raptors rally back for win against Nets | Raptors Cage
Defence: B
Just like the offence, the Raptors defence picked up in the second half. In the first, they were humiliated by giving up 58 points to the Brooklyn Nets, while letting them shoot 53.2 per cent from the field. Luckily for the Raptors, the Nets didn’t seem to rely on their shooting, finishing an unfulfilling 6-12 from the 3-point land.
Instead, the Nets were able to pound the Raptors down low, outscoring them 38-28 in the paint. Lopez was the biggest focus on offence for the Nets, torching the Raptors with 14 points in the first half, then another 14 in the third quarter.
The Raptors were able to find their footing on defence in the 4th, allowing the Nets to shoot only 38.9 per cent from the field. The final frame produced the most energy from the Raptors, who were able to finish the game with 7 team blocks.
Quick Stat Hits: Are we looking at a Raptors’ defensive collapse? | Raptors HQ
Lineup | Defensive Rating | Net Rating
KL-DD-JJ-LS-JV: 114 DRTG, -9.3 RTG — Yep, it’s the same old story.
KL-CJ-TR-PP-BB: 128.6 DRTG, -17.7 RTG — Or, you know, not.That’s bad. Really bad. Something has gone awry with that bench unit. And with it being the catch-all solution of late to all of the team’s struggles, when they struggle something bad is happening.
On the upside, the DeMar plus bench lineup has been solid defensively and in general.
NBA: ‘Contender or Pretender’–Eastern Conference Edition | Hoops Habit
Oh — that’s one more thing. Toronto has been without starter DeMarre Carroll for most of the season. Carroll proved a valuable asset in the postseason last year with Atlanta, and remains one of the better “three-and-D” players the Association has to offer. If there’s two things that NBA teams can’t get enough of, it’s outside shooting and defense. Hence the impact of Carroll.
The Raptors’ attack has been unstoppable this year, as the team ranks fifth in offensive efficiency. On defense, Toronto is still in the top-five for points allowed, even despite a major slippage in February. It has the size, firepower, and defenders to challenge anyone and everyone in the East, and possibly even some Western Conference powerhouses.
Verdict: Contender
Road To The Six: Week 16 Recap | Toronto Raptors
Player Watch
The assigned players played big minutes this week, not leaving much playing time available for the affiliate players. Despite this, Shannon Scott put up two solid (but different) games. Scott started at the point against Fort Wayne, playing 34 minutes and putting up 12 assists. He didn’t have a great shooting night, shooting just 3-for-10 and finishing with six points before fouling out. Scott did have the highest plus/minus rating on the team on the night with a +8 thanks to his ability to find his teammates and defence. In the next game, Scott came off the bench and looked for his own shot more. He scored 19 points on 7-for-15 shooting along with a season-high three field goals from beyond the arc.
Did I miss something? Send me any Raptors-related article/video: rapsfan@raptorsrepublic.com
