Photo by MattAzevedo.com
The Dallas Mavericks are visiting the Toronto Raptors on Monday, and you know what that means: A tall, white, sweet-shooting big-man is in town. Yes, it’s the return of Jarrod Uthoff, who was in camp with the Raptors and then spent time with Raptors 905 before being dealt to Fort Wayne and subsequently called up by the Mavericks.
Oh, and Dirk Nowitzki, he of the 30,000-point club, is here.
“Not yet,” Uthoff said at shootaround when asked if anyone has made the reductive parallel between the two yet. “I’ve gotten the Dirk comparisons since I was young in college.”
More than any actual comparison between their games, Uthoff was excited just to get to watch and work alongside Nowitzki. Nowitzki, obviously, will be the focus of most fans on Monday, as this stands as perhaps his final visit to Toronto. The Mavericks hold a team option on the 38-year-old’s contract for next season, and Nowitzki’s future has always been a year-to-year matter. His game is holding up well enough that he could almost definitely give it another season, and whether or not Nowitzki and Vince Carter (among others) want to stick around as the final relics of my early NBA fandom will be one of the more notable storylines of the offseason.
For now, Nowitzki is still here, and he’s worthy of serious appreciation. And attention on the court – he’s still averaging 14.1 points on nearly league-average true-shooting, and he’s long had an affinity for lighting up the Raptors, averaging 22.9 points in 28 career meetings with a 42.3-percent mark from long-range.
The game tips off at 7:30 on TSN 1/4/5 and TSN 1050. You can check out the full game preview here.
Raptors updates
All of the 905ers were recalled after their afternoon game at the ACC< and Jakob Poeltl and Pascal Siakam should be available. Poeltl is in a continued battle with Lucas Nogueira for the backup center spot, and while Nogueira deserves another chance at some point, Poeltl has given Dwane Casey little reason to go away from him. It’s not that big a talking point, anyway, as the Raptors have been leaning on a true backup center infrequently – Serge Ibaka is seeing ample time there, Patrick Patterson is even seeing a few minutes at the five, and the Mavericks are small enough that the Raptors could conceivably downsize without much risk in this one.
That’s especially true if DeMarre Carroll plays, which it sounds like he will. I asked Casey about his status before the game and Casey said he would play before dialling it back to a “we’ll see” and calling it a game-time decision. Carroll went through shootaround, which is a good sign. If he can go, the Raptors have plenty of options matching smaller. If he can’t, the Raptors will need more out of Patrick Patterson, especially from a shooting standpoint (that’s probably true regardless). Norman Powell or P.J. Tucker would stand to start in Carroll’s place, and the guess here is that Powell would get the nod to chase Seth Curry around.
UPDATE: Carroll is out tonight. He told me prior to the game that he aggravated the ankle injury in Friday’s game, similar to what happened with DeMar DeRozan earlier in the year. No word yet on who will start.
UPDATE II: Powell starts
PG: Cory Joseph, Delon Wright, Fred VanVleet
SG: DeMar DeRozan
SF: Norman Powell, P.J. Tucker, (Bruno Caboclo)
PF: Serge Ibaka, Patrick Patterson, Pascal Siakam
C: Jonas Valanciunas, Jakob Poeltl, Lucas Nogueira
TBD: Bruno Caboclo
ASSIGNED: None
OUT: Kyle Lowry, DeMarre Carroll
Mavericks updates
Nerlens Noel will sit due to knee soreness, though the fact that he traveled with the team to Toronto should be encouraging to Mavericks fans. That takes away a rangy defender and rim-protector, which helps the Raptors’ case here. It could also open up minutes for Uthoff or a bigger role for Dwight Powell, but the most likely case is that the Mavericks stay small for longer stretches. Wesley Matthews, Harrison Barnes, and Dorian Finney-Smith should all see some time across the forward spots, providing Rick Carlisle with multiple large defenders to throw at DeMar DeRozan.
PG: Yogi Ferrell, J.J. Barea
SG: Seth Curry, Devin Harris, Manny Harris
SF: Harrison Barnes, Dorian Finney-Smith, Nicolas Brussino
PF: Wesley Matthews, Dwight Powell, Jarrof Uthoff
C: Dirk Nowizki, Salah Mejri, A.J. Hammons
TBD: None
ASSIGNED: None
OUT: Nerlens Noel
Assorted
- Bruno Caboclo was recalled midway through the Raptors 905 game this afternoon, but it was mostly just a paperwork move. Caboclo is dealing with a right shoulder injury and is considered day-to-day. Jakob Poeltl and Pascal Siakam were also recalled.
- Siakam and Poeltl were both terrific in a 905 blowout victory at the ACC. They each played 32 minutes but should be available if necessary against Dallas – Fred VanVleet pulled the double-header in December, you’ll recall.
- Delon Wright cut his hair. I’m disappointed. I dug the look he had going for him. It’s always funny to see the whole team with fresh cuts the first day back after a long road trip.
- 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.
The line
The Raptors are 5-point favorites with a 196.5 over-under. That line has nudged up from Raptors -4 but is edging back to -4.5 in some places. It will be interesting to see if Carroll’s status moves the needle at all, but it seems somewhat unlikely this one will move by more than a half-point, anyway.
