It’s a Friday night before the holidays and we went really deep for the preview this morning, so let’s just dive right into the weird new cliches!
Dwane Casey QOTD: “They are a very good team and are well-coached. Once you play here in Utah, it’s a rock ’em, sock ’em, knock ’em game.”
— Ryan Wolstat (@WolstatSun) December 23, 2016
The game tips off at 9 p m. on TSN 4/5 and Sportsnet 590. You can check out the full game preview here.
Raptors updates
Everything’s clear on the Raptors’ side of things. DeMarre Carroll should be set to play without a back-t0-back, Cory Joseph is over the flu, Patrick Patterson has had a chance to rest for a game, and Fred VanVleet has been recalled. Yes, after playing in Mississauga last night while the team flew to Utah, VanVleet flew out this morning and re-joined the squad, leaving Bruno Caboclo behind for a 7 p.m. tip with the 905.
That means the Raptors will have close to a full rotation, leaving few questions about how things will shake out, other than the usuals: Will Norman Powell find time? Will Patrick Patterson start the second half? Will Lucas Nogueira do something that warms our cold, black hearts? You know, the normal stuff.
PG: Kyle Lowry, Cory Joseph, Fred VanVleet
SG: DeMar DeRozan, Norman Powell
SF: DeMarre Carroll, Terrence Ross
PF: Pascal Siakam, Patrick Patterson
C: Jonas Valanciunas, Lucas Nogueira, Jakob Poeltl
Assigned: Bruno Caboclo
TBD: None
OUT: Delon Wright, Jared Sullinger
Jazz updates
George Hill and Dante Exum are both out, leaving the Jazz with Shelvin Mack and Raul Neto at the point. That puts the Jazz back into the situation they found themselves in last season, strong everywhere but that position. Mack is fine as a third point guard but should be outmatched by Lowry, and Neto is mostly just a depth piece. Expect the offense to run through some of the teams forwards as a result, with additional ball-handling duty shifting to Gordon Hayward and Seven-Time All-Star Joe Johnson. Carroll figures to draw the Hayward matchup to start, and if Casey wants to go deep, he’s the type of forward Ross and Powell might be able to help with capably.
Hood, meanwhile, was questionable to play after missing the last three halves due to gastric distress, which sounds uncomfortable. He went through shootaround and is available to play, though whether or not he’ll start is unclear. Hood has developed really nicely and gives the Jazz a nice two-man punch on the wings, putting additional pressure on DeRozan to defend and giving the Jazz another defender to throw his way in turn.
If Hood were to sits, the Jazz would have been be a bit of a skeleton crew, and they might have been forced into playing big. It might be unfamiliar, but unfamiliar is the only thing that’s familiar for Utah this year – their most used lineup has played just 87 minutes together (the Raptors have three with more, including one with 280) and just two with a full game of 48 minutes (the Raptors have five). At least the Mack-Ingles-Hayward-Diaw-Gobert group, the likely starters if Hood comes off the bench, have been really good together in a small sample.
PG: Shelvin Mack, Raul Neto
SG: Rodney Hood, Joe Ingles
SF: Gordon Hayward, Joe Johnson
PF: Boris Diaw, Trey Lyles, Joel Bolomboy
C: Rudy Gobert, Derrick Favors, Jeff Withey
Assigned: None
TBD: None
Out: George Hill, Alex Burks, Dante Exum
Assorted
- Apparently rookie Jakob Poeltl, returning to where he played college, is in favor of a fairly obvious but fun and alliterative nickname/hashtag.
Jakob Poeltl says hopefully #poeltlpower hashtag will catch on in Toronto eventually. He’s a big fan favourite in SLC. NCAA big man of year.
— Ryan Wolstat (@WolstatSun) December 23, 2016
- Delon Wright, also a Utah alum, is not with the team for this one, according to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun. That’s a little weird considering he was posting Instagram videos with the team on their flight there, but maybe he just caught a connecting flight home to L.A. or something.
- It sounded like DeMarre Carroll was getting a lot of love in his former stomping grounds, too. Carroll basically resurrected his career with the Jazz in 2011-12, turning a 20-game stint into another season, then a two-year stretch with the Hawks, and then his big contract with the Raptors.
- Casey said the other day at practice that Jared Sullinger is still about a month away from returning to the court. There’s not much to take from that – not only does “the court” not specify practice or games, Casey also said Sullinger was “four or five weeks” away two weeks ago. It’s probably worth waiting on a more official update on his clearance, and I continue to use the All-Star Break as a rough penciled-in date.
The line
The Raptors start their road trip as a 1.5-point favorite, and the line has stayed there most of the day. Even with the travel, Utah’s injuries and Toronto’s play so far win out to a small degree. Respect! The over-under is down from 200 to 198.5 with two of the league’s slower-paced teams doing battle. I’m going with the under and giving the visitors the edge thanks in part to the point guard battle. Raptors 99, Jazz 94
