Heat focused on limiting turnovers in Game 3 versus Raptors – Sun Sentinel
On Friday morning, Dragic awoke to a cake to celebrate his 30th birthday.
The question was if he could eat it. Dragic is still dealing with the aftermath of being hit in the chin by Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan in Game 2.
“My wife, when I woke up, she was with a cake,” Dragic said. “I said, `Oh, my gosh, 30 candles on this cake? It’s a lot.’ It’s nice to spend some time with your family, especially when it’s your birthday.”‘
Dragic said he ate the cake “very slowly.” After receiving six stitches, he expects things to return to normal within a few days.
“It’s happened so many times,” Dragic said. “It’s a little bit tougher to eat right now. Hopefully, in a few days it will be better.”
Heat’s Hassan Whiteside draws fuel from comment by Raptors’ DeMar De Rozan | Miami Herald
“You can honestly see who’s the dominant big out there when it comes to rebounding and scoring,” DeRozan said late Thursday night, referring to Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas. “JV is doing a lot for us.”
Hassan Whiteside had his chance to respond verbally to that comment on Friday. More significant, though, is how he responds during Game 3 on Saturday, when the second-round, best-of-7 series — which is tied at 1 — shifts to Miami.
“Last time I checked, I’m averaging more rebounds,” Whiteside said Friday when told of DeRozan’s comment. “I like that he said. … We’re winning the rebounding battle regardless of what anybody thinks.”
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nba/miami-heat/article76216397.html#storylink=cpy
Game 3 Preview: Raptors @ Heat | Toronto Raptors
Since returning from a 41-game absence, DeMarre Carroll has been focused on the defensive end of the floor. After repeatedly saying that he was worried only about stopping the scorer in front of him, and that his offence would come in time, Carroll’s words came true in Thursday’s victory. Playing just less than 40 minutes, Carroll led the Raptors in scoring, with 21 points on 7-for-13 field goals. He made three of Toronto’s four 3-point field goals, and, defensively, added four steals.
After the game, Raptors head coach Dwane Casey pointed to the time Carroll missed as he recovered from knee surgery, and said he thinks the 29-year-old now has his game conditioning back. There’s been an ease to Carroll’s game that wasn’t seen in his first few games back with his teammates as he’s grown accustomed to playing big minutes with this squad in the postseason.
Valanciunas’ coming out party timed perfectly for Raptors | NBA.com
“It’s extremely exciting,” says 36 year old teammate Luis Scola of Valanciunas’s coming-of-age postseason. “You get to a point where there’s nothing you can do to play bad. You can see the game in slow motion. You know what’s going to happen. Your body feels great.”
Valanciunas’s overnight emergence is the result of several years spent in adapting his body.
“I’m melting,” he used to joke among team officials who urged him to exchange bulk for agility. He had arrived to Toronto from the Lithuanian Basketball League in 2012 with the idea that he needed strength and size in
With guards struggling, Toronto Raptors should go to Jonas Valanciunas | ESPN
Nevertheless, Toronto’s half-court offense could be better. And with Game 3 against the Miami Heat looming on Saturday afternoon at American Airlines Arena in Miami with the series tied 1-1, Casey and his players will have to make some adjustments.
Those adjustments should start with getting big man Jonas Valanciunas more involved. Valanciunas has been a force in Games 1 and 2, scoring 39 points and grabbing 26 rebounds. It wasn’t until the Raptors finally got him the ball in Game 2 that they made their fourth-quarter comeback.
During the playoffs, Valanciunas has averaged 1.03 points per play in half-court sets (124 plays) as opposed to 0.66 for Lowry (166 plays) and 0.72 for DeRozan (216 plays), according to ESPN Stats & Information. Valanciunas also went 3-for-4 on post-ups in Game 2 and is shooting 8-for-18 on post-ups in the postseason.
At Friday’s practice, Valanciunas was asked if he wanted the ball more.
“Do I want the ball more?” Valanciunas replied to reporters in diplomatic fashion. “No, I’m good.”
Oakley has seen enough of Raptors’ one dimension: Feschuk | Toronto Star
Speaking over the phone on Friday, Oakley had a similarly plain-spoken message for Raptor all-stars DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry. To sum it up: If you can’t make a shot, don’t shoot it.
“They’re taking too many shots,” Oakley was saying. “My thing is, if you’re off, do something else. They can’t do nothing else. Play some defence. Pass the ball. Come on, man. What’s going on with (DeRozan) and Lowry?”
It’s certainly the question of the moment in Toronto. And Thursday’s Toronto victory in overtime, though it deadlocked the best-of-seven series with the Miami Heat at a game apiece, only produced more offshoots of that central head scratcher. Why, for instance, would Lowry, who’s shooting 16 per cent from three-point range for the playoffs, choose a 28-foot prayer as his buzzer-beater of choice when the Raptors had the ball
There are signs of an awakening throughout the Raptors’ roster | Sportsnet.ca
Lowry chose to take things into his own hands, even though he’s shooting 16 per cent from three in the post-season.
Was it the right choice? No, given the outcome — his shot was never close. But Lowry had just hit two jumpers that had helped the Raptors keep control of the game. In the same situation against Cleveland in the regular season, Lowry’s buzzer-beating three from the same spot provided one of the most electric regular season moments in franchise history.
So the choice was understandable, if not advisable. And it was also entirely in keeping with how the Raptors have played for the past three seasons.
Lowry and DeRozan have been the fulcrum of everything the team has done in the best era the Raptors have ever had.
But as their post-season production continues to flatline — in 20 career playoff games in Toronto, Lowry is shooting 34.4 per cent from the field while DeRozan is at 36.5 — it’s becoming evident that something is going to have to give, at some point.
Either Lowry and DeRozan are going to figure out how to produce against the locked-in defences they face in the playoffs night after night, or they’re going to have to embrace that they can accomplish more by doing less.
If it’s the latter, the timing couldn’t be better. While earlier in the playoffs the Raptors were undone in part by the lack of effective options beyond their two stars, there are signs of an awakening throughout the roster.
Raptors reserves a real pick-me-up this post-season | RAPTORS | Raptors | Sports
Joseph — and, for the record, most of the Raptors who took the floor in that five-minute frame — were in lockdown mode for all but about the final 30 seconds of it. The Heat couldn’t score. The Raptors wouldn’t let them.
Joseph, at his best, poses the kind of defensive challenge most NBAers have no answer for. He is a defensive jitterbug refusing to let his man go where he wants to go. Go left and he’s there. Reverse field and he’s there. Try to spin by him and he’s already anticipated that, too, and is standing there waiting.
His offence, which is really an afterthought for the defensive-minded product of the San Antonio Spurs, has been solid, as well. Consider Lowry is averaging 13.6 points a night in just more than 40 minutes while Joseph is giving the Raptors 10.3 points a night in 23-plus per game so far in the playoffs.
Patterson another Raptor who needs to get back to form | RAPTORS | Raptors | Spo
“Just guarding guys who normally play the three or the two (small forward or shooting guard),” Patterson explained in a brief sitdown with Postmedia before he left for the airport on Friday.
“This series, my matchup is either (Luol) Deng, (Joe) Johnson, or (Justise) Winslow, guys who aren’t normal fours, but then again, in this day and age, there aren’t normal fours anymore really.”
Patterson is doing a lot more chasing of opponents off of the three-point line and is being asked to recover quickly. He’s doing a decent job, but his offence might be suffering as a result. Not that he’d admit it.
“No, it’s nothing that they were doing. It’s just my shots come as they come, simple as that. If I get opportunities, I take it. Other than that, it’s just simple ball movement from side-to-side. If I’m open, just shoot the shot, if not, just make the next play,” Patterson said.
Hassan Whiteside Can’t Handle Jonas Valanciunas | Uproxx
The Raptors play slow. They were the second-slowest team in the NBA this season, with only the Jazz playing fewer possessions. So any claim that dumping it down to Jonas on the block somehow doesn’t match their style of play, or where the league is overall, is just wrong. They play a ton of isolation basketball north of the border, with DeRozan and Lowry either using Jonas and Patrick Patterson in a two-man pick-and-roll game, or simply going four out and playing one-on-one with shooters around the arc. They were seventh in points per possession this year, so the style of play works, too.
But it’s not working at all in these playoffs, and that’s primarily the result of their All-Star backcourt’s case of the yips. As Jack already mentioned, they’re last in points per possession among the remaining playoff teams, and things just aren’t working on that side of the ball, even after tying up the Heat in Game 2.
But Valanciunas has been effective, especially against Whiteside, who just can’t body the big man. In fact, the Lithuanian giant has to weigh close to 300 pounds (he’s listed at 255, which is bullish*t), and we don’t know if anyone in the modern game can really hold their own if he’s throwing his weight around from the low block.
For example, he’s given way too much time here to work. He sets up with one foot almost in the paint, and three dribbles later he’s spinning for an easy up and under lay-in.
Some of that’s on the surrounding Heat players, who need to be swiping at the ball, even if their guy is just slanting through the paint to open up room. Luol Deng can’t stay at home against DeRozan here. He’s gotta double Jonas because the Heat would be amped to have DeRozan taking above-the-break triples. But some of it’s just the fact Whiteside can’t do anything once Jonas is that low.
Raptors might need to embrace a pass time: Arthur | Toronto Star
“People understand on that team, when you come down and you know you’re going to touch the ball, it gives you something psychological that I’m going to touch the ball where I might be able to shoot, I might be able to be the person who assists it. So it gives you some feeling that you might be connected on the offensive end, rather than just going down, running, and you’re just not touching the ball.
“Plays are better when it’s in rhythm, not stagnant. Some guys like to play stagnant, but I feel like . . . it’s kind of bred out. Golden State opened it up.”
So, can Lowry and DeRozan think different? Can the Raptors? Toronto’s best passing work came in the free-flow time after forcing a turnover — witness Carroll and Ross playing catch, leading to a rhythm three that Carroll could see going in before he caught it — and its worst came in the grinding stasis of half-court sets. It’s hard to break habits, once formed.
“(Lowry and DeRozan are) our go-to guys,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey says. “They carried us all year, both of them are going through a tough shooting slump right now. It’s tough to say to them, just stop shooting and start looking for everyone else. They have to explore, to see what their heat check is . . . we have to live with some of their tough shots as the game goes on just to see where their offence is because we need them to be there as a threat of scoring as much as anything else.
“But in the meantime we have DeMarre shooting the ball well, Terrence shooting the ball well, Patrick (Patterson) has the ability to shoot the ball so there are other options to go to.”
Kelly: Valanciunas has been the Raptors’ best player this post-season – The Globe and Mail
Even the fact that he was not contractually able to come straight to Toronto seemed an advantage. The longer he stayed hidden in Vilnius, the longer he would remain unscarred by the animus that had slowly built up around Bargnani’s failure.
Upon arrival, you could not help but note his spindliness. Valanciunas was still a kid, and looked like one. He acted like one, too. There was a lovable goofiness to him that you rarely find in American stars.
Notably, that’s never gone away. Some guys arrive acting big-league. Most get there quickly. Valanciunas remains unaffected. Any request to talk is routinely greeted with a “Who? Me?”, as though he’s surprised people are interested.
Dwayne Casey on Kyle Lowry and Altering Offense | RealGM
I dont understand what ppl expect a coach to say. Hes not going to kill KL in the media and ofcourse hes going to encourage him, hes 12+% more open looks than vs the RS in the POs. Right now teams are daring this team to beat them on the perimeter, to the extent they are getting more open looks, if they cant hit them you just keep encouraging them to do so. Consequently, if/when they start hitting them, it will open things up theoretically for perimeter drives, PnR, and PostUps.
Rosen – Heat Need To Clean Up Offense | Today’s Fastbreak
Miami’s defense was sturdy except for one surprising flaw — the overall play of Whiteside. Yes, he made three steals, blocked three shots and intimidated several others. However, only once did he attack any of the many short jumpers that the Raptors attempted in his neighborhood.
Whiteside likewise had his hands in his pockets when Valanciunas set numerous high screens. By not making an attempt to move up and show himself, Whiteside allowed the Raptors to shoot a great many unopposed jumpers. That DeMar DeRozan (9-24) and Kyle Lowry (7-22) were mostly shooting blanks was purely accidental. Don’t expect this duo to continue missing so many makeable shots as the series progresses.
Whiteside was also at fault for his repeated failures to box Valanciunas off the offensive glass. Moreover, Toronto’s hard-working center grunted and powered his way to a pair of post-up layups mainly because Whiteside was totally focused on blocking Valanciunas’ shots and played defense with his body too erect. The one time that Whiteside bodied up and held his ground, he forced Valanciunas to shoot an air-ball. Whiteside’s reaction was a self-aggrandizing smirk.
However, he certainly wasn’t congratulating himself when Valanciunas netted a critical wide-open mid-range jumper in the extra period.
The Raptors’ Offence and the Jonas Valanciunas Conundrum | VICE Sports
Whenever the word “stagnant” comes up, the conversation turns to two men above all: Casey and DeMar DeRozan. Indeed, DeRozan has taken tight grasp of the last three games in the third quarter, and with a brief exception in the final contest against Indiana, it has turned out poorly. Those times usually correspond with Kyle Lowry on the bench. This regular season has proven, with zero doubt, that Lowry—even this off-brand version of the all-star—is the most important player on the roster. In the six minutes he did not play, the Raptors were outscored by six points. Single game plus-minus can be deceiving, but this has been a trend all playoffs long.
On Thursday, the DeRozan-takeover minutes also came without Jonas Valanciunas on the floor. And that was not a coincidence. Not to absolve DeRozan of responsibility, because he took some irresponsible shots in Game 2, but he has limited options in some of Casey’s lineups. That, however, does not give DeRozan and his teammates an excuse to ignore Valanciunas when he’s in the game.
Valanciunas was the best player on the floor as the Raptors tied up the series, scoring 15 points, grabbing 12 rebounds and finishing with a game-high plus-17.
“He’s a man-child down there,” DeMarre Carroll said.
“We can always include him more,” Lowry said. “But tonight it was just one of those games where he was setting great screens. He didn’t try to ask for the ball, he just went and did it. And that’s just the growth in him. Some games it’s not for him to get plays called for him. But when he did get some plays called for him, he made some plays. He had some great passes, some kickouts, re-posts. He was really, like (DeRozan) said, he was hungry tonight.”
Finality of Bosh’s dashed playoff hopes hits home for teammates | Sun Sentinel
“For Chris, it’s so tough,” forward Luol Deng said, with Bosh out since February after a recurrence of blood clotting. “I said it: Since the beginning of the year, since the summer, he’s the guy who was calling everybody and getting everyone to get together and work out. He saw us going deep in the playoffs, earlier, before anybody. And coming into training camp, he was staying behind, he was always early.
“So I know how much he wants to play and how much it means to him. And just from a friend’s standpoint, I feel bad for him. As a teammate, I wish he was out there with us. It’s always tough when you’ve got to sit on the sideline, no matter what the reason is, and watch your teammates out there.”
The Heat issued a statement in conjunction with Bosh on Wednesday that read, “The Miami Heat and Chris Bosh announce that Chris will not be playing in the remainder of the 2016 NBA playoffs. The Heat, Chris, the doctors and medical team have been working together throughout this process and will continue to do so to return Chris to playing basketball as soon as possible.”
Toronto Raptors: Can They Fix Their Offensive Problems? | Hoops Habit
The Raptors weren’t an assist heavy team by any means throughout the regular season (the Raptors ranked 29th in the NBA in 18.7 assists per game), but they’ve squandered many chances to get the ball to the guys that are producing, with the prime example being the team’s big man, Jonas Valanciunas.
Valanciunas has been as solid as they come for the Raptors as he’s averaged a double-double (14.9 points and 12.1 rebounds per game) throughout this year’s playoffs.
Yet the majority of Valanciunas’ scoring opportunities have come through either putbacks around the rim (Valanciunas is shooting 9-of-26 on those plays) or as the roll man in pick and rolls (Valanciunas is shooting 16-of-23 on those plays).
Sure, Valanciunas isn’t a polished threat when he gets the ball down low, but his size and strength have consistently caused problems during the Raptors’ first two games against the Miami Heat.
While Valanciunas is the best example, it doesn’t start and end with him as the Raptors have plenty of other solid scoring options like DeMarre Carroll who’s shooting 15-of-40 from three-point range this postseason) and Cory Joseph (shooting 35-of-62 from the field on 10.3 points per game).
Hassan Whiteside has become a defensive liability | Hot Hot Hoops
He’s not boxing out
You nay question this and say, well he’s getting double digit rebounds regularly. And that’s true. Whiteside is continuing to have great rebounding numbers. But so far against Valanciunas, he’s been getting hurt giving up offensive rebounds. Whiteside normally just uses his enormous length and vertical to go get rebounds. But JV has begun to use his body to get position and actually begin to box out.This has led to poor timing and consequently, second chance points against the Heat. In my opinion, it was one of the leading factors why the Heat lost Game 2. Whiteside simply allowed too many bunnies for JV. He needs to go back to the basics of boxing out first before rising for the rebound. He will still have solid numbers, but this should eliminate the easy ones.
Until he does this, he’s becoming a liability. And Erik Spoelstra might use Udonis Haslem more and more.
