Raptors might be the best team you never saw: Arthur | Toronto Star
“We just need to get in the playoffs and take advantage of it,” DeMar DeRozan said in a conversation earlier this season. “If we go far and prove we can play with anybody, on the main stage when the whole world is watching, you know what I mean, that could be the next step to breaking the stereotypical barrier of how people look at Toronto. We just got to do what we have to do in the playoffs.”
It’s simple, when you put it like that, and it’s true. Once a team has a great regular season and then honks the playoffs, the regular season becomes the line you have to sit in before your appointment, and that’s what basketball success has brought to Toronto. This city has been conditioned to expect this Raptors team to find the trapdoor, the banana peel, the fart cushion. This is the team the piano falls on, year after year. It’s all they’ve ever done, more or less. And even when We The North ramped up, gathered, filled the square outside the arena with enough people to fill the arena again, the team barely missed and then went splat. That leaves scars.
And as a result, Toronto — and Canada, which basketball-wise is a different country — are both missing out on an admirable team. Kyle Lowry hasn’t fallen apart this season, and has instead played second-tier MVP basketball, willing the Raptors to win after win. DeMar DeRozan is someone you can depend on, more or less. The bench has filled the gaps with DeMarre Carroll limited to 23 games, with Jonas Valanciunas out, with whatever comes. They are ticking the boxes, filling in the forms. Last year you could see the cracks. This year, not so much. The Raptors haven’t lost so many as three games in a row since early November.
Raptors’ Kalamian: ‘We’re a different team and getting better’ | Sportsnet.ca
“It’s amazing, our defensive intensity is getting better as the season has gone along, and that’s the way a good team should react,” Kalamian told Joey Vendetta on Sportsnet 590 The Fan Monday morning. “We’re a different team and we’re getting better, we’re progressing.”
The Raptors set a franchise record with 49 wins last season but stumbled down the stretch before being swept in four games by the Washington Wizards in the first round of the playoffs. But with some added depth and all-star guards Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan in the midst of career years, the Raptors have been a much more consistent team this time around.
“The NBA is all about consistency … Player consistency, team consistency and organization consistency, and we have that right now,” said Kalamian.
Met a Die Hard Raptors Fan After the Game Last Night! 😁😁 #WeTheNorth
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Kyle Lowry Named Eastern Conference Player of the Week | Toronto Raptors
Lowry ranked fourth in East scoring last week averaging 27.2 points and led the NBA in fourth quarter scoring at 10.8 points. He also posted 6.8 assists, 6.4 rebounds, 2.2 steals and shot .471 (16-for-34) from three-point range while helping Toronto post a 4-1 record.
Lowry recorded double-doubles on consecutive nights March 14 vs. Chicago (33 points, 11 rebounds) and March 15 at Milwaukee (25 points, 11 assists) to start the week. He followed up by scoring eight of the team’s 16 points in overtime March 17 at Indiana and then 13 of his game-high 32 points in the fourth quarter March 18 versus Boston.
Kyle Lowry named Eastern Conference Player of the Week | Raptors HQ
Lowry is the first Raptor since Chris Bosh during the 2009-10 season to be awarded Player of the Week multiple times in the same season. He also earned the honour for games played between February 22-28.
This is of course nothing new for Lowry, who was named to the Eastern Conference All-Star Team for the second time this year. All season, he has been a terror for opposing teams on both ends of the court. Lowry leads the NBA with 2.2 steals per game, posting three or more steals in three games last week. On the offensive end, he is averaging 21.9 points, 6.4 assists and 5 rebounds per game – the best totals of his career.
World STOP✋ ..carry on👄 #mood #mikakika #toronto
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Under-the-radar addition of Thompson paying off for Raptors | Toronto Sun
The timing of Thompson’s arrival is fortuitous on one hand and a little unlucky on another. Fortuitous because he arrived at a time when he was needed. Unlucky because he also arrived at a time when practice days are few and far between.
Even with a long stint in Sacramento and a shorter one in Oakland under his belt, Thompson still had to familiarize himself with the schemes of a new team and gain a trust with them on the court.
That’s not easy to do when you’re not on the court between games for practice.
The Collective Bargaining Agreement maintains a minimum number of days off a coach must provide his players over the course of a season.
Combine that with this being the time of the year when players bodies must be preserved for the actual games and practice time just isn’t that plentiful.
Thompson has benefitted from informal walk throughs on non-practice days with the help of some of the younger Raptors getting in a little extra work on their own time in addition to whatever he could pick up on film, but picking up another team’s defensive scheme and getting familiar with the offensive sets is tough at this time of year.
Blossoming Biyombo has given Raptors double threat in middle | Toronto Star
The way Biyombo gets up high to block shots, or swoops overtop of packs of bodies to pull in rebounds, then successfully springs back up to power a dunk home is the stuff that makes highlight. Biyombo is fun to watch, but statistically, Valanciunas does those things at a very similar rate to Biyombo, while doubling him in scoring (12.7 points per game to 5.6 for Biyombo).
#Squad @3tross1 @amberrose @el_kone ! Thank you @jasonrjohnson for taking care of us last night! 🙂
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Toronto Raptors: Bismack Biyombo Should Start At Center | Hoops Habit
Unlike Valanciunas, Biyombo does not command offensive touches in the post which allows the team’s perimeter orientated attack to have more space to operate. He’s also the best screen setter on the team, which creates offensive spacing when the Raptors surround him with four perimeter threats.
Biyombo has also improved his offensive decision making and seems to have a better time catching the ball within a simplified role. He continues to be a threat as a finisher in the pick and roll, but in situations where he does not have a shot inside, he has done a much better job this season of recognizing that situation and giving the ball up.
The improved decision making has been reflected in his increasing field goal percentage each month. He shot just 43.4 percent in November, but that number has steadily increased to a peak of 65.5 percent in February. While his March shooting is down to 59 percent, that would still be one of the best marks in the NBA if done for a complete season.
Raptors’ tight salary cap space means keeping momentum won’t be easy | Sporting News
Complicating matters further, most of the Raptors’ other free agents are worth bringing back. Biyombo certainly will turn down his player option after his best season, while role players Scola and Johnson also contributed to this successful season as they hit unrestricted free agency. While Toronto may let one or all three of those players go get paid elsewhere, replacing them will not be easy as the Raptors bid in a crowded marketplace.
If DeRozan returns, their best avenue to add a free agent comes in the form of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, which will be $5,628,000 next season. Biyombo’s situation compounds this because, as a non-Bird free agent, the Raptors will need to use cap space or an exception to sign him if he commands more than $3.37 million in 2016-17 salary, which seems definite at this point.
Raptors shouldn’t concern themselves with first place | TSN
An important thing to remember, and something they haven’t forgotten despite their recent success, is that they’re not the Cavaliers. After winning the East and making it to the finals last year, it’s championship or bust for James and company. Internally, the Raptors’ expectations are different and, as a result, so are their priorities.
The Raptors’ season has gone better than anyone could have imagined, especially when you consider the injuries they’ve been forced to endure. With 13 games to go, they’re one win shy of matching last year’s franchise-best mark and two away from reaching 50 for the first time in franchise history. Still, they know better than to get ahead of themselves. Their goal hasn’t changed: win a round and go from there.
To do that, from wherever they finish in the standings, they’ll need all hands on deck. They’ll need DeMarre Carroll, who has missed 11 weeks following knee surgery; they’ll need Jonas Valanciunas, who’s been out after re-injuring the hand he broke earlier this season; but, more than anything else, they’ll need Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan – third and fifth in minutes played, respectively. They need their all-star backcourt healthy and as fresh as possible going into the playoffs or they’re toast. So that is the mandate going forward. Health is the priority first and foremost. Everything else, including first place, is secondary.
Toronto Raptors: Toronto Is Close To Seizing The East | Hoops Habit
Lowry may be the most important Raptor, but he isn’t the only one doing work. DeMar DeRozan is having the most efficient season of his NBA career, and like Lowry he’s scoring more per game than he ever has.
DeRozan is averaging 23.8 points, 4.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game. Toronto’s leading scorer may be entering unrestricted free agency this summer, but DeRozan has made it clear that he’s looking to stay with the Raptors.
Lowry and DeRozan have quickly emerged as the NBA’s best bromance, and the second-best backcourt. Those two are the only Raptors to score more than 12 points per game this season. They’ll be the key to Toronto’s success–or failure–this year.
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