The Toronto Raptors lost last night, but the Boston Celtics also had their funeral. Depending on what you think of the Wizards, it’s at least a push, right?
The frustration is understandable. By losing four straight, the Raptors have missed an opportunity to catch the Cleveland Cavaliers, losers of five of their past seven. It doesn’t get any easier tonight, as a late flight into Memphis for the second night of a back-to-back after a tight loss at home to the Spurs. Oh by the way, the Grizzlies are 8-2 on when facing teams in the Raptors predicament.
One point of interest will be to see how Kyle Lowry fares against his former team with the spotlight solely on him, and the matchup against Mike Conley only adds to the excitement. He scored 29 points on 13 shots to go along with eight assists at the ACC, but of course Conley did not figure in that one. Lowry finished the season series against the Rockets with averages of 14.5 points, 7.5 assists, and 3.0 rebounds per game on 36.4% shooting from the field and just 3-of-10 from deep.
Bottom line, the Raptors will likely need a special night from Lowry to steal one on the road tonight.
The game tips off at 8 on TSN and Sportsnet 590. You can check out the full game preview here.
Raptors updates
DeMar DeRozan has stayed back in Toronto for further treatment tonight, after which he will be re-evaluated. Norman Powell and Terrence Ross filled in admirably last night, combining for 37 points on 14-of-26 shooting. Kawhi Leonard sitting out helped, but they’ll have a tougher go of it tonight when matched up with Tony Allen.
Patrick Patterson returned to the lineup last night, and was great over the 21 minutes of court time he saw. He looked more assertive on offense with DeRozan out, but it remains to be seen if he will play tonight. Lucas Nogueira had a strong stretch of defence against LaMarcus Aldridge, but it’ll be interesting to see how he handles more imposing physical loads like Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph. How Jonas Valanciunas handles the Conley-Gasol pick-and-roll will be another subject of interest, and for those looking for a story on his pick-and-roll defence, there’s this.
Sam Dekker and Doug McDermott have both dropped career-highs against the Grizzlies over the past couple of weeks, so surely Powell is about to go off. That, or Ross is finally going to eclipse that 51-point night.
PG: Kyle Lowry, Cory Joseph, Fred VanVleet
SG: Norman Powell, Terrence Ross
SF: DeMarre Carroll
PF: Jared Sullinger, Patrick Patterson, Pascal Siakam
C: Jonas Valanciunas, Lucas Nogueira, Jakob Poeltl
TBD: Jared Sullinger, Patrick Patterson
ASSIGNED: Delon Wright, Bruno Caboclo
OUT: DeMar DeRozan
Grizzlies updates
JaMychal Green will surprisingly not be available tonight. Not as unexpected, is Chandler Parsons being listed as doubful with a knee issue. Parsons is experiencing soreness in his left knee; the same knee that caused him to miss a month earlier in the season, but not the one that has been surgically repaired twice.
Clearly the Grizzlies know the Raptors need all the help they can get right now.
Much like the Raptors though, the Grizzlies are also in a bit of a funk, having lost four of their last six. Despite the team struggles, Marc Gasol has been en fuego over their past four, averaging 28.0 points-per. No Daniels and potentially no Parsons will mean more minutes for Vince Carter, so there’s that to look forward to for Raptors fans.
PG: Mike Conley, Andrew Harrison, Wade Baldwin
SG: Tony Allen, Vince Carter
SF: Chandler Parsons, James Ennis, Troy Williams
PF: Jarell Martin, Deyonta Davis,
C: Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph
TBD: Chandler Parsons
ASSIGNED: None
OUT: JaMychal Green, Troy Daniels, Brandan Wright
Assorted
- Delon Wright played 22 minutes for the 905 in his first bit of action since returning. He finished with 10 points and four assists. You can click here for all the game details.
- Z-Bo is awesome:
Today, @MacBo50 surprised 2 families that will benefit from his $20,000 contribution to cover utility payments for more than 100 households💙 pic.twitter.com/PdYitOA5d2
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) January 23, 2017
- On that note, let’s keep in mind what we can do to help others:
Today is @Bell_LetsTalk Day. For every tweet/retweet using #BellLetsTalk @Bell will donate 5¢ to Canadian mental health initiatives. pic.twitter.com/88SqVmEaWU
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) January 25, 2017
The line
The Raptors opened as 4-point underdogs, and has now moved up a tick to the Grizzlies at -5.0. The over-under has dropped from 203.5 to 201.5.
