I’m not going to waste a ton of time with preamble. I was on pre-game duty, you got plenty there, and I’m trying to enjoy this delicious dinner of Sweet Chili Heat Doritos and Monster Energy Drink ahead of this Raptors-Raptors 905 double-header. It’s a big game for seeding purposes. The Raptors can more or less secure home-court advantage with a win, as it would put them four games up on the next closest team and give them the tiebreaker against said team, the Hawks. It’s also important to keep pace with Washington and Boston, and so on, and yeah, we talked about all of this in the pre-game post. Let’s get it.
The game tips off at 8 on TSN 2 and TSN 1050. You can check out the full game preview here.
Raptors updates
There was no official word about DeMarre Carroll early in the day, as the Raptors opted to skip shootaround today. After spraining his ankle Saturday, he sat out practice sessions Monday and Tuesday, then missed Wednesday’s game. On Thursday, he was able to practice, and there was optimism he’d play Friday.
And it was for good reason! Carroll will play, according to Eric Koreen of The Athletic.
P.J. Tucker played well with the starters, and so Dwane Casey wouldn’t commit to naming a starting small forward for this one. He’ll keep it quiet until as close to tip-off as he’s allowed. The Raptors need all the depth, versatility, and most importantly, shooting, they can muster, so Carroll’s return is great news regardless, but I’d probably give him the nod as a starter to provide that extra sliver of spacing for DeMar DeRozan to operate with. Tucker starting would be fine, too, as he can provide some help on Paul Millsap and bully the Hawks’ wings off their spots to limit Dennis Schroder’s options. Tucker and Carroll are pretty interchangeable in lineups right now, is what I’m saying.
UPDATE: Carroll starts, per Matt Devlin.
PG: Cory Joseph, Delon Wright, Fred VanVleet
SG: DeMar DeRozan, Norman Powell
SF: DeMarre Carroll, P.J. Tucker
PF: Serge Ibaka, Patrick Patterson, Pascal Siakam
C: Jonas Valanciunas, Jakob Poeltl, Lucas Nogueira
TBD: DeMarre Carroll
ASSIGNED: Bruno Caboclo
OUT: Kyle Lowry
Hawks updates
In the preview, I wrote about how Atlanta may need to make the uncomfortable move of shaking up their struggling starting lineup. As it turns out, they’re doing so for non-basketball reasons – Thabo Sefolosha was late for walk-through (the Hawks also skipped shootaround), and so Tim Hardaway Jr. will start in his place. The new Hawks starters are actually the team’s second most commonly used lineup, putting up a plus-2.6 rating over 213 minutes compared to a -3.5 over 383 minutes for the starters with Hardaway. So this might not end up a huge positive for the Raptors in the grand scheme, though it does make life for DeRozan a little easier out of the gate.
Otherwise, it’s all straightforward for the Hawks. Lil’ Dun is sidelined with an ankle injury, Jose Calderon is working his way into the fold, and the big-man rotation has more or less stabilized.
PG: Dennis Schroder, Jose Calderon, Malcolm Delaney
SG: Kent Bazemore, DeAndre’ Bembry
SF: Tim Hardaway Jr., Thabo Sefolosha, Taurean Prince
PF: Paul Millsap, Ersan Ilyasova, Ryan Kelly
C: Dwight Howard, Mike Muscala, Kris Humphries
TBD: None
ASSIGNED: None
OUT: Mike Dunleavy
Assorted
- From time-to-time here, I’ve linked to my work over at The Athletic. That work is usually behind a paywall. Starting today, Raptors Republic readers can get 20 percent off the subscription price by using this link. I know some people don’t like the idea of paying for content, but it’s (in my opinion) an important journalistic experiment, and you get not only my freelance work but the full-time work of Eric Koreen, James Mirtle, John Lott, and many more awesome writers. Using that link also helps support me, personally, which in turn helps the sustainability of Raptors Republic.
- Bruno Caboclo will return from a one-game absence for Raptors 905 tonight. His shoulder is apparently fine. That game tips off at 9 p.m.
- Both the 905 and the Raptors return home Monday for a double-header at the Air Canada Centre. We don’t have a Raptors hook-up for you, but if you wanted to catch the 905 matinee, Raptors Republic readers can use the discount code REPUBLIC905 for a few dollars off.
- Oh, and I tried to stay on-brand for my beer selection tonight:
Staying as close to on-Raptors-brand as possible pre-game. pic.twitter.com/pjTT6SCPxl
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) March 11, 2017
The line
The Hawks opened as 2-point favorites, and the line shifted to Hawks -3 throughout the day. That’s a bit of a cushion if you have faith in the Raptors pulling out another road game without Lowry. The over-under edged from 202.5 to 203.5, as well, a bet on the Raptors’ slowing things down and Atlanta’s lower-scoring nature taking hold.
