The Toronto Raptors have already topped several franchise records this season. Most total wins, most road wins, most home wins, and a bunch of other random or qualitative marks that truly make this the best regular season in franchise history.
The Raptors have a chance to set one more record before we turn our attention to the playoffs: Worst game ever. That honor probably belongs to the 2012 Raptors and The Ben Uzoh Game, which also came against the Nets on the very last night of the season.
To attempt to break the barrier for ugliness (for basketball – your man already set it for general ugliness, ma), the Raptors will rest five regulars, turning control of the team over to Raptors 905. To the best of my knowledge, Jesse Mermuys has not been recalled from the D-League to coach this one, but he may as well have. Let’s start with the resting.
Raptors rest five regulars
Kyle Lowry – Currently fifth in the NBA in total minutes, he’ll end his season averaging 21.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 6.4 assists, and 2.1 steals with a 57.8 true-shooting percentage, a 22.2 PER, and a top-10 ranking by most catch-all advanced metrics. It was likely the best non-Vince Carter season in Raptors history (it’s fourth in Win Shares, behind Carter’s 2001, his 200, and Lowry’s own 2014, but I’d argue only Carter’s 2001 was the better all-around year).
DeMar DeRozan – Currently in the top-10 in minutes played, free-throw attempts, and average miles run on offense, there may be no player who can boast a more exhausting offensive workload this season. He wraps the year averaging 23.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, four assists, and one steal with a 55 true-shooting percentage and a 21.5 PER. This was DeRozan’s best offensive season to date and a top-10 individual Raptors season all-time (it ranks fifth for scoring average and eighth for Win Shares).
Jonas Valanciunas – The big man gets to hang back in Toronto and will finish the season with 60 games on his ledger. In those games, particularly down the stretch, he showed marked improvement at both ends of the floor, averaging 12.8 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks while shooting 56.5 percent. The biggest development, though, was that the Raptors now trust him defensively late in games against most opponent types, which is huge for his potential playoff role.
DeMarre Carroll – There was little sense in playing him on a back-to-back since there are no such scenarios in the playoffs, though Carroll himself pushed to be allowed to get a fourth game in to shake the rust off. Each of his three tune-up outings looked better than the last, and he totaled 18 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, and six steals over 52 minutes. He should be able to play in the low-20s once the playoffs open on the weekend.
James Johnson – A disappointing year comes to a close with Johnson battling foot soreness. Presented with a major opportunity with Carroll shelved, Johnson was unable to run with it, both because of ineffectiveness and injuries of his own, ultimately seeing him jumped by Norman Powell in the rotation. Johnson will probably still be active, if healthy enough, in the playoffs, as he remains the team’s best Carroll insurance, a matchup specialist for power-threes and combo-forwards.
The Raptors have to play somebody
All of those absences leave the rotation looking like this:
PG: Delon Wright, Cory Joseph
SG: Powell, T.J. Ross
SF: Bruno Caboclo
PF: Jason Thompson, Patrick Patterson, Luis Scola
C: Lucas Nogueira, Nibsmack Biyombo
It will be really interesting to see who head coach Dwane Casey starts. He told me last week that the team would like to get Caboclo a few minutes – read more about the Brazilian’s development here – but he’ll probably opt to start Ross and give Caboclo more protected minutes off the bench. Caboclo is still scoreless on the season in five minutes.
UPDATE: Bruno’s starting! It’s happening!
The Raptors will definitely be running some weird lineups, to the point that Patterson could see some time at the three and Wright could see time at the two. We’ll also get all we can handle from Bebe. How’s this for a closing look: Wright-Powell-Caboclo-Thompson-Nogueira?
Wait! UPDATE: That’s the starting freaking lineup!
For what it’s worth, Joseph and Patterson both rested Tuesday but probably won’t be tasked with heavy run – no Raptor played more than 27 minutes Tuesday except for Powell. I’d expect Biyombo’s minutes to be managed closely, too.
Nets updates
Brook Lopez and Thad Young have been shut down for additional rest.
Jarrett Jack tore his ACL.
Willie Reed is out due to a personal matter. Thomas Robinson is out with a knee injury, too.
and Sergey Karasev is questionable for a similar reason.
PG: Shane Larkin, Donald Sloan
SG: Wayne Ellington, Sean Kilpatrick, Markel Brown
SF: Bojan Bogdanovic, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson
PF: Chris McCullough
C: Henry Sims
Who even knows?
The line
The Raptors are five-point favorites. Yes, on the road, without four starters, the Raptors are five-point favorites, and getting two-thirds of the action, no less. And you know what? That’s probably right.
Raptors 107, Nets 98
Around the league
If you actually care about this game, there’s a game preview here, but seek help. Contained within that preview is a breakdown of a couple of other games that are meaningful to Toronto tonight. Here’s a quick review.
Subject: Knicks-Nuggets pick
Games to watch: Sac-Hou, Ind-Mil, Den-Por
Rooting for: Sac, Mil, Por
Subject: Potential 2nd-round opponent
Games to watch: Mia-Bos, Orl-Cha, Atl-Was
Rooting for: Depends on personal preference
Subject: Own pick
Games to watch: Tor-Brk
Rooting for: Tor if you care about owning 4th-best record and don’t mind No. 27 pick, Brk if coin-flip for No. 26 pick is more important to you
