The Raptors should feel embarrassed after the first two games of the second round. Each game was very winnable, and yet they continued to find ways to fall well short of that goal. Poor shot selection, bad free throw shooting, selfish decision making, bad movement away from the ball, a total fear of attacking the paint despite Hassan Whiteside having four fouls, etc., etc., etc.
Toronto could very easily have a two game lead right now, but if not for some sloppy first quarter play by the Heat, the Raptors would very easily be down 2-0.
And yes, a victory removes some of the sting from a pathetic showing like tonight, but it simply isn’t enough. A moral victory, if ever, is for the regular season. It isn’t for the second round of the playoffs.
So before we get into the negatives, let’s find a few positives to hang out hats on:
- Jonas Valanciunas is a monster.
- Lowry hit a few big shots towards the end of the fourth, which will hopefully help him get through this shooting slump (assuming it’s a mental problem). He also now holds the franchise record for the most playoff assists by any player in team history.
- DeMarre Carroll was great…on offence.
- TJ Ross was sharp once again.
- Cory Joseph, despite foul trouble, generally did a great job defending on the wing.
- The Raptors won.
But that’s enough positivity. Yes, the Raptors won, but game two was nothing to write home about. It was the way in which they played that deserves the negativity.
Casey loves to say that he is going to ride the Raptors’ best players. Guess what, Coach? Jonas Valanciunas has been the team’s most consistent and best player through the first two games. And it’s not particularly close. Through two games he is playing solid defence, he is shooting 68 percent from the floor, 83.3 percent from the line, dominating on the glass (averaging 13 rebounds), causing consistent problems for Whiteside, and competing on every play despite the fact that he gets ignored constantly by his teammates.
Hassan Whiteside had an early fourth foul, and the Raptors didn’t go to Jonas in the post once to attack him. Jonas sets a great pick and rolls to the basket open, no one sees the 7’0, 255lbs man standing galloping down the lane.
At this point it’s hard to know whose fault this is? DeRozan is taking plenty of horrible shots, almost always ignores Jonas on switches and rolls, and generally has been making terrible decisions…but it is still Casey who allows him to do it.
Add in the fact that Casey’s after time out play call to win the game was just to let Lowry dribble into a fade-away three…why? What is the point of that? Couldn’t we at least run some off ball action to pretend like something else might happen? Who knows, maybe someone gets wide open. Maybe Lowry could get a better shot off if a screen was set? Or the screener could get open on the roll?
With saying that though, I hope and expect that DeMar will have a solid scoring night in game 3. But does that make it okay? Does putting up good scoring numbers one night make up for selfish play in so many others? Does it add any value to need 24 shots to get 20 points?
What makes it particularly frustrating is that this feels like the DeMar of years past. He made such a concerted effort in the regular season to get to the basket and attack the defence. Now it’s all settling, and very little aggression.
Last night saw DeMar and Lowry combine for 46 shots, of which they drained just 16 (34.8 percent). Meanwhile, Jonas hit 7-of-9, grabbed a game high 12 rebounds, 1 block, and 3 rebounds. Despite his limited touches he even had more assists (2) than DeMar did (1).
I would hate to see what would have happened if not for Jonas last night. In 38 minutes of action, Jonas was a game high +17, and caused so many problems. He drew fouls at a high rate, and was a match-up nightmare for the undersized Heat.
So why doesn’t he get touches when Miami is playing Udonis Haslem at centre? Why doesn’t he get the chance to attack Whiteside, a player notorious for not wanting to foul out, when he is in foul trouble?
It feels like I’m being nit-picky here. We won, and yet I’m upset. It feels like winning a game like this just encourages a repeat performance. We’re going to see more plays on offence where only two players move, and the other three simply stand as decoys that the Heat don’t even need to pay attention to.
What makes it frustrating is that the Raptors have the ability to be so much better. They have moments where the ball is swung around beautifully, and the extra is made to create an open look. There are times when all five players are moving at the same time…can you believe it?
But it all comes down to this: why is Toronto seemingly trying to make the game harder for themselves?
Now, on to Miami for Game 3…
