Historic night for DeRozan as Raptors defeat Knicks | Toronto Sun
You can bet DeRozan is just as happy about what the team has been doing as a whole, winning 54 games and counting, then keeping things rolling in the playoffs, so the Raptors faithful gains some much-needed new happy memories.
“Yeah, that’s what it’s all about. That’s the fun part, being able to create your own legacy now for the next generation to look back and say how I looked at Vince,” DeRozan said.
“Maybe (there’s) a kid out there looks at me like that and maybe one day when I’m 40 like Vince, I can say, ‘I like this kid. You never know.’
DeRozan should pass Bosh and become the scoring leader early next season and later would surpass Jose Calderon and then Morris Peterson for the games-played lead.
Casey is more concerned with his side finding its best form with only a few days remaining in the regular season. The team got three of the dregs of the NBA to conclude the year, the Knicks Sunday, the nearly historically bad Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday and the atrocious Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday. Casey has been impressed with the way the Raptors continued to play hard, no matter who else was on the court.
“Totally different than last year. I thought last year we kind of relaxed a little bit once we got (playoff spot) locked up. That hasn’t happened this year,” Casey said.
Raptors Takeaways: A moment of appreciation for DeMar DeRozan | Sportsnet.ca
Kyle Lowry’s woes from the free-throw line may have continued — he split a pair on his only trip to the line — but his touch from deep is showing no ill effects from his nagging elbow injury. Lowry hit four threes on seven attempts and his points beyond the arc accounted for the bulk of his scoring, as he finished with 15 points, seven assists, two steals and most importantly no turnovers in 32 minutes. His best decision with the ball was lobbing a pass up high while inbounding from underneath the basket with 0.9 seconds left on the shot clock that Jonas Valanciunas caught, kept high and finished. That basket put Toronto up for good late in the fourth.
Big night for DeRozan as Raptors edge Knicks | Toronto Star
A DeRozan three-point play with about 65 seconds left broke a tie. The Knicks somehow forgot to guard Jonas Valanciunas on an inbounds play under the basket with less than a second left on the shot clock, and his layup put Toronto up three with less than 45 seconds to go.
“It’s good work for us to have a close game like that, it’s much better than us getting spanked or a blowout the other way,” Casey said. “That team out there was scrapping … they were into us defensively like it’s going to be and we have execute in those situations. You don’t get that kind of quality practice time at full speed.”
It will be at least late Tuesday night before the Raptors know who’ll they face in the first round of the playoffs, although the heavy money is now on the Indiana Pacers.
Indiana hammered Brooklyn Sunday night to move into a tie with the Detroit Pistons for seventh in the East. The Pacers, who hold the tiebreaker with Detroit, need to beat New York or Milwaukee or have the Pistons lose to either Miami or Chicago to finish seventh.
Toronto could still finish first in the East by winning its last two games while Cleveland loses its last two.
Three things from the Raptors win and a bit of the weekend mail | Toronto Star
Asked point blank, Dwane said there was nothing to giving Lowry, DeRozan and Scola last night off other than it was a long-planned rest night.
Makes entire sense coming off the game in Atlanta on Thursday and with today being an off-day; gets them each two full down days to rest and recuperate.
So it wasn’t trying to manipulate anything the Pacers-Pistons turtle race because that’s honestly not how Dwane rolls.
I am dead certain they’ll all be back on Sunday in New York and will likely all play Tuesday here before either sitting entirely in Brooklyn to wrap the season up on Wednesday.That would give them a day of rest before getting to all the hard preparation for the playoffs that’ll come Thursday and Friday.
Pretty good handling of personnel, I’d say.
Game Rap: Raptors 93, Knicks 89 | Toronto Raptors
UNDERRATED RAPTORS PLAYER(S) OF THE GAME
Jonas Valanciunas had another strong effort for the Raptors, scoring 14 points to go with seven rebounds, two assists and three blocked shots. Valanciunas shot 6-for-11 from the floor and made two of his five free throw attempts in 28 minutesagainst the Knicks. Toronto was a +6 with Valanciunas on the floor.
Raps grind out 93-89 win over Porzingis-less Knicks | Raptors HQ
After the dust settled the Raptors got win number 54, and will look to keep the winning streak rolling on Tuesday against the Sixers at the ACC.
Toronto Raptors squeak by New York Knicks | Raptors Cage
Defence: B+
Usually, keeping a team to under 90 points is an A+, but given that the Raptors allowed 89 points against the sixth worst offence in the league is mildly concerning, especially given that their only legitimate scorer played just half the game. As we saw last season, the Raptors got into a habit of getting lazier and lazier as the season went on and then carried that effort into the playoffs. This season should be different, given the off-season additions who play defense with pride. However, you never want to show even the slightest bit of weakness, particularly if you are looking to follow a San Antonio Spurs model of basketball as the Raptors are. It wasn’t a bad game by any means, but it could be better.
Raptors’ Big V feeling fit | Toronto Sun
Everyone knows by now about “Skinny Lowry” — the results of an off-season diet change that helped elevate Toronto’s point guard from an all-star to someone who could get a handful of MVP votes this season.
Quietly, Valanciunas has undergone his own transformation. When he broke his hand back in November, Valanciunas had a lot of time off to think about things, and the Raptors medical staff suggested he cut some things out of his diet, promising results when he returned to the court.
Particularly lately, the difference has been noticeable, with Valanciunas moving much quicker and arguably playing the best two-way basketball of his career (the 2.8 blocks per game he has averaged in April are by far the most he has averaged in any month of his career and his minutes are up without any decline in production as well).
“I changed my diet. I don’t eat no crap food no more. I’m trying to stay away from all the sweets, all the candies, all the deserts,” Valanciunas told Postmedia Network after the team’s shootaround at Madison Square Garden on Sunday morning.
“Sugar, watch what you drink — no juices, no soda at all … I lost the weight and I feel great. When I’m on the court I feel the difference.”
If Raptors rookies continue their act, whose PT is affected? | Raptors Rapture
James Johnson has been bounced around like no other player I can recall, from 48 minutes on the bench one game to starting the next. JJ should prove useful in the post-season in a defensive role, although too often he fantasizes he’s an offensive threat. He might be if he could shoot at all.
I don’t see how the Raptors can retain Johnson for next season, and not just because the Raptors will be severely squeezed by the salary cap. With cheaper kids emerging, and two more on the way in the draft, finding a roster spot for a marginal veteran like JJ will be tough.
Here’s Dwane Casey’s dilemma: should he play Johnson in a limited role, let’s say to shut down the hot hand of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope or whomever, or should Delon or Norman get the assignment? The only way to gain playoff experience is on the floor, so if Casey goes young, our kids will get their baptism by fire – but our team might lose while they are learning. JJ won’t be back, but he can still provide a memorable farewell.
While there’s no easy answer for this problem, coach has to find some way to ensure our young players won’t spend the playoffs on the bench. Ignoring the kids would be egregious short-term thinking and the biggest mistake Casey could make. They have earned the right to some playing time in the second season, and those minutes are essential to their development.
Raptors Rookie Norman Powell From Slasher To 3-Point Shooter | Pro Bball Report
“I saw (Powell could shoot) in the summertime,” Raptors 905 head coach Jesse Mermuys said. “One, he made a ton of shots in Summer League. He was knocking it down. Into our workouts after Summer League in L.A. and in the Clippers facility workouts, he was making a ton of shots and that was my message coming back out of the summer. I said look, for a guy that can’t shoot, this guy is making a lot of shots. It’s getting to the point where this isn’t, it can’t be just he’s hot. He’s shooting the ball really well. So, I felt really confident about his shooting ability coming out of the summer.”
DeMar DeRozan Wears the “Mamba Day” Nike Kobe 11 | Solecollector
If Kobe were its own Nike brand, DeMar DeRozan would probably be the right player to lead it forward. The All-Star guard has been a loyal wearer of Kobe Bryant’s signature sneakers since entering the league in 2009, even debuting a few colorways along the way. Once again taking on that role, DeRozan became the first player to wear the celebratory “Mamba Day” sneakers when the Raptors visited Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
Though Mamba Day isn’t until Wednesday, the Raptors donning their black and gold alternate uniforms created an opportunity too perfect for DeRozan to pass up. The Kobe 11 print will be available as a limited edition design option ahead of Bryant’s final game.
Helping the Raptors stay alive for the top seed in the Eastern Conference, DeRozan scored 27 points en route to a 93-89 victory.
Getting To Know Bryan Colangelo From A Raptors Fan’s Perspective – Liberty Ballers
Daniel Reynolds: Looking back on Colangelo’s reign in Toronto is funny because it feels like every decision he made can be argued as entirely correct or disastrously incorrect depending on your mood. Case in point, BC would be quick to identify what the Raptors needed at any given time, and then make moves to fill those holes. That’s great. But then those moves would only sometimes work out, so he’d then have to shuffle the roster to make it whole again. And so on. On the one hand, it takes guts as a GM to correct your mistakes quickly, but on the other hand: hey, maybe stop making so many mistakes!
Colangelo is now (quietly) lauded for assembling the key building blocks of the current Raptors (DeRozan, Lowry, Valanciunas, Ross), which is fair. But typical of ol’ BC, he couldn’t get out of his own way. I think it’s telling that for Toronto to unlock their true potential they had to get out from under two iconic Colangelo players: Andrea Bargnani and Rudy Gay. How can you assess a GM who has the eye to trust in the potential of a Jonas Valanciunas while also marrying himself to years and years of Bargnani? Like I said: It’s funny.
Did I miss something? Send me any Raptors-related article/video (or just to say hi): rapsfan@raptorsrepublic.com
