For those of you who didn’t have your eyes glued to 2 out-of-town games last night, there actually was a Raptors game. And while that normally excites most die-hards like myself more than most things on a day-to-day basis, last night, it was all about 2 games – and neither involved the Raptors. With both the Pacers and Pistons in action, tied for the 7th and 8th seeds in the east, and with the Pacers holding a tiebreaker, a Detroit loss was all it took to lock up both of those seeds. And in a game against the Miami Heat who were fighting for their own lives in the 3-6 seed showdown in the eastern conference, the Pistons lost. So for the purposes of this piece, I’ll pretend that wasn’t the most newsworthy Raptors headline from last night. It’s all about the Sixers and Raptors – and as Dwane Casey, Kyle Lowry and the others would probably say as well, that’s all that really matters.
The Raptors, who came into this one off of a narrow victory against the Knicks on Sunday night, were in ultimate cruise control to start the game. All of the clichés and Dwane Casey pep talks in the world probably couldn’t have gotten the team up for this one. With virtually nothing left to prove, the Raptors are simply going through the motions, trying to stay healthy and in rhythm, and are trying to avoid sloppy play that can carry over into the post season. But somehow, the atmosphere in the ACC last night made one thing very clear – Raptors players and fans do not care whatsoever about the regular season and the results of these last few games; it’s all about the post-season. That’s it.
I mean, the division banner (a much-celebrated event in the past couple of years), was basically snuck into the stadium for god’s sake (and rightfully so):
Hey, look what they snuck into the ACC pic.twitter.com/SuJwktFbOl
— Doug Smith: Raptors (@SmithRaps) April 12, 2016
And with that, the game’s first half began on a lethargic note. After closing out the first quarter with a 9-point lead, the 76ers, with a dismal record of 10-70 coming into this one, shot lights out in the second quarter, outscoring Toronto by 15 and entering the break with a 6-point lead. With the Raptors playing flat-footed defense and not getting up into shooters, the Sixers scored a blistering 11 3-pointers in the first half en route to 61 points. To put the first half into a more simple perspective, just note that Robert Covington, who averages just over a couple of 3’s a game, went 5/8 from 3 in the first 24 minutes, with all 5 of those shots virtually unguarded. And then, as we have become accustomed to these past 2 Raptors’ regular season, the Raptors woke up.
In the second half of the game the Raptors absolutely stomped on the Sixers, outscoring Brett Brown’s squad by 19 in the third quarter and by 11 in the fourth. Norman Powell led the Raptors, with 9 of his 18 points coming in the second half, to go along with 4 boards and a dime. Powell played a team-high 38 minutes, on a night where the star backcourt played under 30 minutes each (seriously, they did). In what has been a season of records, career-years, and team resiliency overall, the Raptors can now add finding what appears to be a second-round draft pick steal to the impressive list of 2015-2016 highlights. It’s been an unbelievable ride for Powell and the Raptors thus far, but with the first round of the playoffs basically here, he’ll have to earn his minutes again in what will promise to be a tight rotation, that will likely feature DeMarre Carroll matching up against Paul George.
The Sixers were led by Robert Covington’s 24 points, Ish Smith’s 18, and Nerlens Noel’s 14 points and 10 boards. Mississauga-product Nik Stauskas dropped 13 points on 6/13 from the field, including this nasty jam on Bismack Biyombo:
Notables of the Night
– DeMarre Carroll’s Journey Continues: As Carroll continues to ramp up his activity, conditioning and minutes earned on the floor, it’s encouraging to see that things seem to be coming around just fine. Carroll, who’s clearly not at 100%, seemed adamant on playing, and surprisingly, still seems fairly sharp on the court. Showing minimal rust, Carroll went 2/5 from 3, was active on defense and didn’t seem out of position in the Raptors’ offensive sets. As good as Powell has been playing, I’d be more than comfortable starting Carroll in a playoff series against Paul George this weekend if needed.
– JV’s Solid Play: In what has been a remarkable past couple of weeks for Jonas Valanciunas since the game in Memphis a couple of Fridays ago, the Raptors have now seemed to have proven that not only does this team have a backcourt punch, but the impact inside can be big as well. With 17 and 11 last night, JV is now averaging over 13 points and right around 9 rebounds a game the past 7 games (in under 26 minutes). If we can get that kind of efficiency and production from JV in the post-season, the Raptors will be just fine come the first round (in 2 games this season, JV is averaging 19 points and 9.5 rebounds against the Pacers).
– Depth: With DeMarre Carroll now back into the fold, Norman Powell playing out of his mind, late-season addition Jason Thompson representing a valid option at the 4, as well as Patterson, Joseph, Biyombo and Ross all being valuable bench options for Dwane Casey, the depth is abundant. While playoff rotations will obviously be tighter, featuring starters-heavy lineups, and likely only 3, maybe 4 guys off of the bench for Dwane Casey, it will be interesting not only to see how those minutes will be divvied up, but also how all this added depth will help the Raptors if a deep playoff run materializes.
Lookahead
The Raptors close out the best regular season in franchise history tomorrow night in Brooklyn against the lowly, lowly Nets. Ah, the Brooklyn Nets. This is the team that 2 years ago, tanked in the final game of the regular season, to land in the 6th slot and face the Raptors. And now, 2 years later, the tides have changed dramatically, with the Nets firmly out of the playoffs, and the Raptors gearing up for hopefully a deep run this time around. Tip time for game 82 tonight is 8:00 pm at the Barclays Center.
