The playoffs are finally here! And because the NBA loves the Toronto Raptors and the impact of the Canadian market on U.S. television deals so much, they’ve given the Raptors the honor of kicking things off for the entire NBA with the first game of the postseason. Jest aside, any worrying about start times or visibility or respect is out the window now – if the Raptors want to prove anything, the opportunity to do so begins now.
The Raptors will tip off their 2016 postseason when the Indiana Pacers visit for Game 1 at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday. Things get underway at 12:30 on ESPN in the U.S., Sportsnet in Canada, and Fan 590 on Canadian radio.
Over the last two days, we’ve tried to hit you from all angles with preview content.
- Masai Ujiri gave Dwane Casey a vote of confidence in his pre-playoff address.
- Dwane Casey lamented the 12:30 Saturday start time in his pre-playoff address.
- We went deep with Ian Levy (Hardwood Paroxysm) and Jared Wade (8 Points, 9 Seconds) topreview the series.
- We hit up writers from around the league for their opinions on the matchup.
- William Lou asked 19 questions about the series, and then answered them.
- Cooper Smither took a long look at how the series could play out in tactical terms.
- The Raptors Weekly Extra Podcast went way too long previewing the series.
- The entire RR crew previewed the series in roundtable fashion.
- Shyam has your Game 1 Preview right here.
Now, let us get this money.
Pre-game notes & quotes
Both head coaches spoke to assembled media before the game. Here are some brief notes:
Toronto
*Not expecting start time to be an issue. Raptors’ experience starting early last two years could help.
*Big focus is protecting the ball and not letting Indiana get points off of turnovers. “Wrap up the ball” in the paint.
*Know how they’ll play at both ends of the floor. Better feel for who they are, “it’s still 5-on-5 for 48 minutes.”
*Norman Powell’s experience and maturity as a four-year college player is big relative to Jonas Valanciunas and T.J. Ross two years ago.
Indiana
*Focus is on the running game, getting Monta Ellis and Ty Lawson the ball in the open court and running with them.
*Raptors are a “great defensive team,” disciplined, Vogels’ impressed by them. But “so are we,” and Pacers not mindful of being underdog.
*They really like that they’ve hit their stride of late, focus is best it’s been all year, have rotation where they like it with big starters, small second unit, Solomon Hill playing.
*Big lineup still built around speed, Pacers feel they’re far more versatile than before.
*Start time should have no impact. Once guys get to arena, routine is the same.
*Rapt
Raptors updates
The Raptors enter the playoffs entirely healthy, and the only question to be answered is how high DeMarre Carroll’s minutes restriction might be. The 20-25 range seems the best guess, but if it’s any higher, head coach Dwane Casey may opt to start Carroll. He may opt to do that, anyway, but the Carroll-Powell and Luis Scola-Jason Thompson starting lineup decisions will surely be kept close to the chest until tip-off. So check back for those updates.
Assuming Delon Wright and Bruno Caboclo draw inactive and Casey rolls with the same starters, here’s what the rotation will look like:
PG: Kyle Lowry, Cory Joseph, Wright
SG: Powell, Ross
SF: DeMar DeRozan, Carroll, James Johnson
PF: Scola, Patrick Patterson, Thompson
C: Valanciunas, Bismack Biyombo
UPDATE: Powell starts. As does Scola. Lucas Nogueira draws the second inactive, not Wright.
The Powell decision is a tough one but entirely justified. If Powell moves to the bench, it’s much harder to find him minutes, and he’s played well enough to have confidence in him starting. The Pacers will dare the Raptors to feed him in the corners. The Raptors will probably opt to have Powell chase Ellis around, leaving DeRozan on Paul George.
Scola’s more tenable against Indiana’s big lineup than a smaller look, but he should still have a very short leash.
Pacers updates
The Pacers also enter mostly healthy, although Paul George’s ankle doesn’t sound as if it’s 100 percent and C.J. Miles was dealing with a shoulder issue down the stretch. Like with the Raptors, any lineup changes will be kept to Frank Vogel and company until the last possible minute, though the Pacers will probably stick with Lavoy Allen at the four for at least one game.
Assuming Rakeem Christmas and Shayne Whittington are your inactives, the rotation will look something like this:
PG: George Hill, Lawson, Joseph Young
SG: Ellis, Rodney Stuckey
SF: George, Miles, Solomon Hill, Glenn Robinson
PF: Allen, Myles Turner
C: Ian Mahinmi, Jordan Hill
UPDATE: No changes here. Christmas and Whitting are inactive.
Casey-Vogel gamesmanship begins early
The chess match between the two coaches in the series didn’t take long to heat up. It didn’t even take game action before the first salvos were fired, with Frank Vogel getting an early start on trying to prime the referees for what’s to come.
Vogel’s been emphasizing hands to his team – keeping them down, keeping them to themselves – and made sure the public is aware of the Raptors’ penchant for inviting contact. Here’s Vogel, via the Indianapolis Star:
We’ve got to be disciplined with our hands and with our body position and understand that they’re going to throw their bodies into us, snap their heads back and swing their arms through legal defenders and hope the whistle blows.
…
(Officials) know (and) we know how it’s going to be called. If we reach in and there’s contact on the arm, it’s going to be a foul. So we’ve got to get our hands out of there. The league does a great job of understanding what’s a foul and what’s not.
Some fans are concerned that the Raptors may stumble if the whistles go away in the series. Toronto relies heavily on free throws – they rank second among all playoff teams in free throw attempts per-field goal attempt – and while free throws don’t decline in the macro in the postseason, there’s a belief that the Raptors’ style of foul-drawing is more difficult to come by in the playoffs. (Personally, I’m less concerned about this than most others seem to be.) The Pacers, meanwhile, foul an average amount but drive a great deal of offense from turnovers, something the Raptors aren’t often willing to cough up.
It will be interesting to see how the early parts of the series play out in that regard. The Pacers are saying they’ll be more conservative with their hands, which could make turnovers harder to come by, which could stifle their offense. But if it keeps the Raptors off the line and forces them into more mid-range looks or late-clock heaves, maybe that’s a net positive for Indiana.
For his part, Dwane Casey isn’t letting Vogel’s comments go without a response. He acknowledged them before the game and agreed that Vogel’s trying to prime the league office. And here’s Casey from Friday, via Chris O’Leary of the Toronto Star:
The way Indiana plays with their physicality — grabbing, holding, bumping and grinding — we’ve got to play through that and I’d much rather be doing that at home than on the road.
…
We’ve got to be ready to go. We are going to get a hard-charging team that is going to be grabbing, holding, hitting, slashing, ripping. If we are not ready for that at 12:30 we may as well just stay home.
Kyle Lowry has a simple response if the calls dry up: “We have to put the ball in the hole, that’s the counter.”
The officials, by the way, are Scott Foster, Tony Brothers, and Josh Tiven.Road teams have won the last 12 playoff games Foster officiated. Umm…what?
Expect this to be a talking point for the losing side no matter how the game turns out, though Casey said Saturday he doesn’t want to get into a back-and-forth with Vogel about it.
Alert for those heading in for the game
There is no service on Subway Line 1 between St. George & Lawrence West stations. The DVP from the Gardiner to the 401 is also closed. Good luck, folks.
Shirts and Squares
You won’t be seeing a red-out or white-out. There are four different color shirts being given out at the ACC today.
The square is filling up! If you’re out there waiting, check the box office some tix have been released! #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/qQj19UurJa
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) April 16, 2016
The line
The Raptors are 6.5-point favorites as of this writing. Covers.com had projected a Raptors -5.5 line but it actually opened at Raptors -6 and has since nudged to 6.5. That’s a fair bit of confidence in Toronto, suggesting the Raptors are about three points better on neutral court (and projecting ahead, that Indiana would only be maybe a one-point favorite when the series swings back, assuming nothing fundamentally changes before then). The over-under is oscillating between 194 and 196, splitting the difference at the moment.
Raptors 99, Pacers 94
