ICYMI from Raptors Republic
Lowry is passing up shots, + running to spots in transition where he can’t be a target. Ran right into DDR late 2Q instead of trailing for 3
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) May 4, 2016
Game 1 Post-Game Podcast – No worries, we got this…I think | Raptors Republic
We’re strangely calm and hardly melodramatic after the Raptors drop Game 1 at home to the Heat. After all, losing Game 1’s kind of our thing.
Both teams like their resiliency in bizarre Game 1, and other post-game notes | Raptors Republic
The Raptors might be able to steal a game or two with Lowry playing below his standards, particularly if DeMar DeRozan at least has a decent showing. On Tuesday, Terrence Ross and Jonas Valanciunas both stepped up in major ways in support, too, the former a pleasant surprise after an impact-free first round and the latter a necessity for a seven-game battle with Hassan Whiteside.
“Somebody else has to step up. I thought T-Ross got out of his, and gave us some punch off the bench,” Casey said, also calling it one of Valanciunas’ “best” games before turning back to Ross. “I think I said it before, we need him. We need his scoring, we need his shooting until Kyle gets his jump shot going again.
The game started out nearly as ugly as it ended, with the score stuck at 8-4 almost halfway through the first quarter. With a quick turnaround from series finales on the weekend, both teams may have been a little tired and a little less prepared than they’d like.
“There was no rhythm to it, I think is what you’re saying,” Casey said. “We wanted to create a tempo…We got a little frenetic.”
The Raptors also rolled with their fourth different starting lineup of the playoffs already, and that group played the Heat even in 16 minutes. They looked particularly strong defending early on, but the Raptors want to play a little faster than they did (that group averaged 96.5 possessions per-48 minutes, much faster than the Raptors normally play, albeit right in line with the rest of the game).
“Defensively, I thought the matchups were better for us,” Casey said. “But again, I thought the tempo, the pace of the game that it created was good for us. We’ve gotta continue to push the pace, makes or misses.”
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Kyle Lowry can’t lose his confidence or the Raptors are done | The Defeated
Without the jumpshot, Lowry is stuck in a predicament. He can’t score at the rim when Hassan Whiteside has 14 inches on him, and Goran Dragic is fairly big for a point guard so post-ups won’t go anywhere. His only option is to rekindle the jumper.
Knowing that his shot wasn’t falling, Lowry deferred to DeRozan, who had a fine game with 22 points on 10–22 shooting. But that presents a problem: DeRozan can’t beat the Heat on his own. It’s ridiculous to expect DeRozan to win four of the next six games by getting hot on midrange jumpers.
The dirty secret over the last three years has been that the Raptors are only good when Lowry is playing at an all-NBA level. And while they brought in additions to bolster the supporting cast, it’s still up to Lowry to make that all go.
So Lowry can shoot 3–13 again, and given how his shot looks, he probably will. But the Raptors don’t have any chance in this series if he doesn’t attack — and he understands that.
Raptors will need Lowry to beat the Heat: Arthur | Toronto Star
“Toronto made every play they needed to make down the stretch,” said Heat coach Eric Spoelstra. “Kyle Lowry’s three, as soon as it left his hand, I think everybody in the building had an idea that it would go. But from that point on . . .
“It’s just like a hitter. Hitters go through slumps,” said Raptors coach Dwane Casey, who said he liked Lowry’s defensive grit down the stretch. “He’s there, but we have to believe in him. We do believe in him.”
“The only way to get out of a slump is to keep shooting,” said Patrick Patterson, who also played with Lowry in Houston, and said he had never seen Lowry in a slump this deep. “Kyle’s a confident player. He’s an all-star for a reason, like we all say. And his shot’s just not falling. He’s missing shots that he’s been making all season long, he’s made much tougher shots. But for some reason, the ball just doesn’t seem to want to go in the basket right now. But Kyle’s Kyle. He’ll be completely fine.”
That’s blind faith, right now. Maybe it’s Lowry’s elbow — bursitis delivers pain when you snap the arm to finish the jumper, and maybe that altered his mechanics, messed his thinking up. Maybe it still hurts. Maybe there is something floating around in there. Maybe there’s a surgery in his future.
But given all the extra shots, repetition doesn’t seem to be the problem. Sources inside the Raptors won’t confirm his elbow is the issue, and Lowry insists it’s not bothering him. He would, though. Maybe it’s just in his head.
Whatever it is, Lowry made a handful of positive plays as the game went on, showed glimmers of life. But he looks as lost as he has ever been, and it pulls the whole team down with him.
Lowry’s continued struggles should be chief concern for Raptors | Sportsnet.ca
Lowry’s lucky heave will go down as a footnote on a loss that will sting. The search for answers began soon after.
“It’s definitely a feel, just trying to get the touch back,” he said of his late night session. “I don’t know where it’s at. It’s kind of mind-boggling right now. It’s frustrating. I’m not going to shy away from the criticism or anything. I’m going to continue to be aggressive, shoot shots and take the onus.”
Lowry’s been adamant that his shooting elbow – he was treated for bursitis in March and his shooting has been shaky since – is not the problem and evidence would support that. He’s been doing extra shooting, something you would avoid if the elbow was irritated. At one point during the second half, after a whistle, the ball came to him and he snapped up a 40-footer for fun – not something you would do if shooting caused you pain.
The storyline for the Heat series set up nicely. Way back when Miami’s Goran Dragic took Lowry’s starting point guard job while both played for the Houston Rockets. In Game 1 Dragic played like he wanted to prove why.
Dragic started tentatively – at one point he was 1-of-8 from the floor until he made a couple of layups in the last minute of the first half – but then got steadily stronger. He scored 10 of his 26 points in the third quarter as the Heat moved out to a 68-63 lead, by which point frustrated Raptors fans were, in pockets, beginning to heckle, angry that a winnable game seemed to be slipping away with the threat of Toronto dropping to 0-5 at home to start a playoff series looming. There were more boos when it became a reality, dropping the Raptors’ all-time record in opening games in the post-season to 1-9.
Kelly: We The Emotionally Stable: Toronto lost, but it’s only Game 1 | The Globe and Mail
Here’s a new one. The Toronto Raptors are involved in a playoff series in which they are not the basket-case franchise.
Granted, they did lose in overtime to the Miami Heat, 102-96.
This has become a local tradition. Toronto has now lost nine of 10 opening games in the postseason. They were beaten because, once again, they shot badly. How badly? The most reliable jumper of the night belonged to malfunctioning human catapult Terrence Ross.
The main culprit was, once again, Kyle Lowry. He went 3-for-13 with 7 points. The poverty of the performance was obscured by an impossible, not-even-at-half-court no-hoper that tied it at the end of regulation. And yet still …
Both Lowry and team management insist his elbow issues do not interfere with his shot. The question has now become: “Then what is it?” Because it’s something.
But although Toronto lost, no heads hung in the aftermath. No one booed.
For the first time ever, the team has freed itself from the boom-bust cycle of a single good or bad game. In keeping with that new mood, the Air Canada Centre crowd was late arriving, then spent much of the early going sitting back enjoying their mid-week chardonnay buzz. They didn’t rouse themselves until the final minutes.
Apparently, winning just one series was Toronto basketball’s own Bretton Woods. It evened everyone out.
Five moments from the Raptors’ Game 1 loss to Miami | Toronto Star
T-Ross comes in hot
Coming in off of a five-minute, scoreless showing in Game 7 against Indiana, Terrence Ross had a lot of post-season ground to make up for. He’d yet to hit double digits and aside from a sparse few threes (he’d made eight in the seven-game series against Indiana), hadn’t made a significant impact in a game yet. That changed when he checked into Game 1 on Tuesday. Ross started 4-for-5 from the field and had 11 points in 14:18. His steal and breakaway dunk late in the third quarter gave him a playoff career-high of 13 points, part of a 19-point night. He missed a free throw with four seconds left that could have cut Miami’s lead to one.
Game Rap: Raptors 96, Heat 102 | Toronto Raptors
RAPTORS PLAYER OF THE GAME
Jonas Valanciunas led the team with a 24-point, 14-rebound double-double. He played 41 minutes and shot 10-for-16 from the floor and 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Valanciunas added three assists, two steals and three blocked shots. The Raptors were a +10 when he was on the floor, a team high.
Raptors find new ways to break hearts, lose in OT to the Heat 102-96 in Game 1 | Raptors HQ
Deep breath. Let’s talk about the end of regulation, Kyle Lowry and his shot.
Lowry played probably the worst game of the 2015-16 season, tonight his 90th on the year. He had seven points on 3-for-13 shooting, and was eviscerated by Goran Dragic (26 points on 10-for-20 shooting). He’ll never admit his elbow is bothering him, but how else do you explain almost 48 minutes of invisibility? Lowry looked passive, afraid to shoot and except for little Lowry plays here and there (fewer and farer between than against Indiana), he had almost zero effect on the game.
I mean, besides hitting the most insane shot I’ve ever seen in person, and providing probably the wildest end to a regulation game in Raptors history. The stakes have literally never been higher.
Unbelievable, right? The Raptors managed to come back down six with less than 20 seconds left. A three from Terrence Ross, some missed free throws, a steal off an inbound and then, with 3.3 seconds left and no timeouts — Lowry, saviour.
But the Raptors lost in overtime. Because of course they did.
Heat holds on for thrilling Game 1 overtime win in Toronto | Miami Herald
Entering Tuesday, teams up exactly six points with between 10 and 20 seconds left in a playoff game were 161-0 all-time. The Heat attempted to become the first to lose a game, turning the ball over five times in the fourth quarter including three times in the final 30 seconds.
After the Raptors’ Terrence Ross sunk a three-pointer with 6.5 seconds to go to trim the Heat’s lead to 89-86, Luol Deng’s ensuing inbounds pass intended for Wade went awry and nothing but trouble ensued for Miami. Wade, who slipped on the pass, said afterward bruised his right knee on the play.
“If we would have lost – that would have been a bad one,” said Deng, who traveled on an inbounds pass with 22 seconds to go before his pass to Wade turned into his fourth turnover of the night. “I’m just glad we stuck together, guys had my back and we won.”
The Heat scored the first eight points of the extra period. But the Raptors made it interesting late.
Hyde: After self-inflicted wounds, Heat show mental toughness and pull out OT win | Sun Sentinel
“There was no rhythm to this game,” Toronto coach Dwane Casey said.
This wasn’t the Heat’s best game. They had 17 turnovers after all. But this series was expected go deep in ugly considering each team’s defense-first ideas and the normal course of playoff basketball.
It delivered that right from the start to the bizarre end. Was it ugly? Sluggish? Or just hard-fought basketball?
Hard to tell at times. The Heat had three, 24-second violations in the first quarter. They also made two of their first 10 shots.
Here’s what kind of night is was: Toronto’s DeMarre Carroll slipped to the ground on a drive and lost the ball to Deng, who dribbled the length of the court and went up for a dunk.
And missed it.
Do you get the idea both these teams just came off hard-earned Game 7 victories on Sunday?
Credit the Raptors for coming back and clawing their way back from the dead to force the overtime period, but the Heat can’t afford to close out games playing this unorganized and sloppy. Deng made several puzzling choices as the inbound passer during crunch time, including a costly turnover when he travelled along the baseline in an attempt to pass the ball to Wade when the Heat were up by six points with 22 seconds left.
Terrence Ross, who had kept the Raptors competitive in the absence of Kyle Lowry’s scoring, nailed a 3-pointer and Hassan Whiteside split a pair of free throws that paved the way for Lowry’s improbable 39-foot jumper, his only 3-pointer of the game and just his third made field goal.
Miami would quickly silence the crowd with Joe Johnson, Wade and Deng all hitting jumpers for the Heat to race out to a 98-90 lead in overtime to pave the way for the intense win.
Quick Take: Heat 102, Raptors 96 (OT) | Sun Sentinel
Jonas Valanciunas: Should be a tough matchup for the Heat the remainder of the series. His effort made things more difficult on offense and defense.
Lowry desperately searches for lost jump shot | TSN
Whether it’s physical or mental or both, Lowry is mired in one of the worst slumps of his professional career at the most inopportune time. All he can do is fight through it. If it doesn’t work, it won’t be for a lack of effort.
Immediately after the game ended, Lowry went up to the Raptors’ old practice court on the third level of the ACC, where he spent the next 30 minutes launching jumpers before coming back down to address the media, basketball in his hand.
“[I’m] trying to just get the touch back,” said the two-time All-Star. “I don’t know where it’s at, it’s kind of mind-boggling right now. It’s frustrating, but I’m not going to shy away from the criticism or anything. I want to continue to be aggressive, shoot shots and take the onus. I know I’m not playing well at all.”
Lowry is coming off the best season of his 10-year NBA career, leading the Raptors to 56 wins and the Eastern Conference’s second seed. After wearing down in the second half of the previous campaign, and into the playoffs – where Toronto was swept by Washington – he committed to changing his body over the summer and came into training camp with the weight loss to prove it. He kept himself in tremendous shape throughout the season and was as durable as he’s ever been before aggravating the elbow bursitis on his shooting arm in a game against Orlando on March 20. He missed the following game in Boston to rest the ailment and his shooting numbers have cratered ever since.
True to character, Lowry refuses to connect his shooting woes with the elbow issue, insisting that he’s feeling fine, physically.
Mentally, he’s certainly been in a better place. For a player that expects so much of himself, as he should, this has been understandably trying.
“Right now, it’s definitely a thousand different things going on [in my mind] because of how I’m not shooting the ball,” he admitted. “I don’t know, it’s weird.”
Toronto Raptors falter in overtime to Miami Heat, lose game 1 | Raptors Cage
Defence: B
The Raptors began the night highly engaged on defence. The new starting lineup (consisting of Lowry, DeRozan, Norman Powell, DeMarre Carroll, and Valanciunas) did a masterful job rotating as Miami swung the ball looking for options. At halftime, the Heat had been held to 38 per cent shooting and turned the rock over 11 times. While both teams were playing with an often frantic pace, the Raptors still forced three early shot-clock violations.
In the second, Miami’s veteran experience began to carry them through. Wade once again showed why he’s a future hall-of-famer, snaking through weak pick-and-roll defence to take and make open shots and layups. This continued into the first few minutes of overtime, as the Raptors looked gassed. It’s also tough to fault the team too much for being carved up by Wade, as he’s done that continuously throughout his career. It’s more than proven that good defence rarely slows him down.
But I’m burying the lead a little bit here. Overall, the defence was strong throughout, the only exceptions being from key stretches of the game. The Dinoes forced 17 turnovers out of the usually disciplined Heat. If they do that routinely this series, the Raptors will be just fine.
HQ Overtime Post-Game Show: Let’s talk about that shot | Raptors HQ
It’s just something about Game 1’s, right? Despite an insane (and I mean insane) Kyle Lowry shot to force overtime, the Raptors lost to the Heat tonight, 102-96. I’m joined by Dan Grant to discuss what exactly happened in this mess, the Wade/Dragic problem, the fearsome Hassan Whiteside, a poor performance by Lowry and an okay one from DeMar DeRozan.
Buzzer-beater aside, Kyle Lowry is struggling. | Sports on Earth
Despite Lowry’s performance, the Raptors have plenty to be encouraged about after losing another Game 1 at home. No longer working in the shadows of Paul George, DeMar DeRozan looked comfortable on the floor against Miami, getting to his spots, scoring 22 points on 9-of-22 shooting. Jonas Valanciunas was stellar in his low post matchup against Hassan Whiteside, scoring 24 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Terrence Ross, who has spent three postseasons appearing lost on the floor, scored a career playoff high 19 points. The Raptors defense forced 20 turnovers, and despite Lowry’s poor performance, had a chance in overtime to steal the first game of the series.
Outside of Cleveland, any matchup in the East is up for grabs. Like their first round series against the Pacers, the Raptors just needed to put together a five-minute stretch in the second half against the Heat to come back from a double-digit deficit in the fourth. Lowry’s only made three in the game was a half court heave at the end of regulation that swished through the basket, sending the already half empty home crowd into a brief moment of hysteria.
Even though the Raptors lost in overtime, 102-96, they know they can compete with this Heat team. They also know the playoffs are about superstars, and how they carry their teams. Regardless of the season, Lowry has not performed up to standards.
“We know he’s not shooting the ball well,” Casey said. “It’s like a hitter. Hitters go through slumps. We have to believe in him. He’s going to come out of it.”
But what happens if he doesn’t? Casey continues to point to other areas in which Lowry can impact the game, whether it’s attacking the basket, pushing the ball in transition, or using what he describes as Lowry’s bulldog mentality to be a factor on the defensive end.
As the shooting slump prolongs, these other facets of Lowry’s game that makes him an effective player on the floor are disappearing as well. He did not look for his shot at all in the first half of Game 7 against the Pacers. Against Miami, Lowry came out looking for his shot but became more tentative as the game went on, and the misses added up. In the second half, with a clear path to the basket for a floater, Lowry made the curious decision to pass the ball to Valanciunas instead. Even he admits the shooting woes are starting to take its toll on his overall game.
How Powell and the Raptors turned his jumper from a liability to a weapon | Sportsnet.ca
Shooting was supposed to be a weakness for Powell coming out of UCLA as a senior. Over four seasons, Powell canned 111 triples but shot just 31.4 percent, and while his mid-range stroke suggested he may ultimately improve, a perceived lack of range and a misplaced concern about his height were the biggest limiting factors to his draft stock.
The Raptors liked enough of what they saw in his pre-draft workouts and interviews. They also weren’t as concerned about his shooting numbers as most, seeing a slight mechanical flaw they believed they could iron out. “I think there’s a bit of a misnomer that he had a broken shot,” says assistant coach Jama Mahlalela, who, along with Jerry Stackhouse, is often tasked with overtime hours so Powell can get additional reps in. “It was a decent shot to start with. I think what we’ve done is just tweak it and provide him the repetitions at that tweaked positioning to allow him to be successful.”
The issue, Powell says, is that he rose just as high on his set catch-and-shoot threes as he did on his pull-up mid-range shots. That kind of lift is necessary to get an off-dribble shot off against a tight defender or in traffic, but as a stationary weapon, it was superfluous effort and movement. He already releases high thanks to his 6-foot-11-plus wingspan, and the height of his motion allowed a larger window for inconsistencies, like occasionally releasing the ball as he began his descent.
From the moment he was drafted, Powell got to work on retooling his stroke. He worked on it through summer workouts with DeMar DeRozan, who came away impressed with the rookie, before Powell moved on to work with Raptors staffers, including his eventual D-League coach Jesse Mermuys, who headed up the organization’s team for Las Vegas Summer League (he was 4-of-9 in that tournament).
His assignments to Raptors 905 during the season focused primarily on distributing when attacking off the catch, and Powell continued to shoot rack after rack to ensure opponents would close out on him hard enough to make that new skill valuable (he was 8-of-24 as a D-Leaguer). “There are a ton of grinders in the NBA,” says Mermuys, before listing Powell among a who’s who of notorious gym rats. “One thing that seems to separate him is the work doesn’t seem to fatigue him as much as others, and his mental approach seems a little more focused. Most really want it but are not as mature in the outlook or approach.”
Kyle Lowry, right now pic.twitter.com/zwRrKcUAb5
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) May 4, 2016
Hard for Raptors to get past Heat if Lowry, DeRozan continue to misfire | ESPN
As for not having to see Paul George every possessions, DeRozan said, “It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter.” Yet when George served as the primary defender on DeRozan, he shot 31.3 percent with 10 turnovers and averaged just 0.65 points per play, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
The Heat are a solid defensive team, with Hassan Whiteside serving as their feared rim protector, but Dwyane Wade, Joe Johnson and Luol Deng aren’t George defensively, and Dragic isn’t Hill defensively.
Ujiri has done a solid job of surrounding his core with talented role players. Yet in the postseason, you need your best players to play like your best players in order to make a deep run.
“I think [the Pacers] did a good job game planning, which I think Miami will also do — game plan for me and DeMar. That’s what good teams are going to do,” Lowry said. “We have to find ways to get open shots, get looks and be effective.”
A dimension where the Toronto Raptors lose Game 7 | Friendly Bounce
However, I believe there’s an alternate dimension where Toronto lost last night. The universe is huge, ya’ know? There’s an alternate dimension where DeMar DeRozan gets called for pushing Ian Mahinmi in the back, the Pacers inbound the ball, make a three and the game goes to overtime, where Paul George dominates and wins Indy the series. We explore the aftermath of the Raptors losing yet another playoff series.
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Toronto favored? No way, eh. Nothing will stop a Heat vs. LeBron Eastern finals | Miami Herald
I know Toronto had a better season record by eight games, won three of four vs. Miami and enjoys the home-court advantage, but still. Toronto advanced despite being outscored overall by Indiana in the last series, only the second time that has ever happened. And the Heat has better depth, more offensive talent and, most important, the playoff experience Toronto lacks.
Even coach-turned-TV analyst Jeff Van Gundy says Miami would be his clear favorite here, and we’ve had a soft spot for JVG ever since that melee in the 1998 playoffs vs. the Knicks when Van Gundy — wispy combover askew – latched onto the pistoning leg of Alonzo Mourning like a Chihuahua humping a redwood.
Then again, my thinking the Heat should win this series may be wishful thinking. That, too, I will admit.
Journalists are supposed to be neutral. Impartial. Nope. Sorry. Not here.
If I were any more a homer in this series I’d be wearing a Dwyane Wade jersey and have my face painted alabaster (White Hot) as I typed these words. There would be a “Let’s Go Heat!” chant playing in the background on a continuous loop. Every once in a while, for no apparent reason, I’d pause to exuberantly shout, “Dos minutos!”
The reason for my impartiality is simple.
LeBron James.
I want what everybody connected with the Heat from Micky Arison and Pat Riley on down wants. I want what every Heat fan wants. I want what South Florida wants.
A shot at LeBron. Not at the Cleveland Cavaliers — at LeBron.
Can the Raptors Make Franchise History By Toppling the Heat? | BBALLBREAKDOWN
Can Toronto’s backcourt get going?
After facing the smothering defense of George Hill and Paul George in Toronto’s first-round series, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan will be thrilled to receive a reprieve against Miami. Goran Dragic and Dwyane Wade present nowhere near as much of a formidable defensive threat, which should allow the two All-Stars to get into more of an offensive groove than they did against the Pacers.
In that first-round series, Lowry shot just 31.6 percent on 14.0 field-goal attempts per game, while DeRozan only hit 31.9 percent of his 138 shots across all seven games. Both were particularly dismal from three-point range, knocking down just 10 of their 61 tries. Hill held Toronto players to just 29.7 percent shooting during the series, 13.3 percentage points below their average, while the Raptors knocked down only 36 of their 96 shots (37.5 percent) against George, 6.0 percentage points below average. Seeing as Indiana had the league’s third-ranked defense during the regular season, allowing just 100.2 points per 100 possessions, the series-wide struggles of Lowry and DeRozan weren’t necessarily a surprise.
Miami’s defense during the regular season wasn’t much worse than Indiana’s, finishing seventh in the league while allowing 101.5 points per 100 possessions, so the sledding won’t necessarily be much easier for Lowry and DeRozan. With Hassan Whiteside lurking in the middle, both must be wary of driving into the paint, lest they’re ready for their shot to end up in the sixth row. For Toronto to have any chance of moving on to the conference finals, though, both Lowry and DeRozan need to be far more efficient than they were against Indiana.
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