Fan Duel Toronto Raptors

Morning Coffee – Tue, Mar 14

10 things I saw from Raptors-Mavericks (13–3–2017) – The Defeated – Medium Dirk vs. Jonas: Mr. 30K was always going to burn Jonas Valanciunas in pick and roll, but Jonas also had his advantages in the post with Dirk Nowitzki playing center. Rick Carlisle wisely targeted Valanciunas in high screen action with Dirk. The Raptors…

10 things I saw from Raptors-Mavericks (13–3–2017) – The Defeated – Medium

Dirk vs. Jonas: Mr. 30K was always going to burn Jonas Valanciunas in pick and roll, but Jonas also had his advantages in the post with Dirk Nowitzki playing center.

Rick Carlisle wisely targeted Valanciunas in high screen action with Dirk. The Raptors hedged early on but that (predictably) opened up everything. Dirk was raining jumpers and it was an easy layup for the guard whenever he got around Jonas out top.

In turn, Dwane Casey force fed Jonas in the low block. 39-year-old Dirk couldn’t handle Valanciunas’ bulk and aggression and could only hack Jonas to pieces. Carlisle tried to send double teams, but the Raptors broke that by playing pick and roll and getting Jonas looks on the move. Basketball is about exploiting weaknesses and both coaches did that.

https://soundcloud.com/raptorsrepublic/607-raptors-reaction-podcast-taking-care-of-business

Defense keys Raptors’ bounce-back against Mavericks – Raptors Republic: ESPN TrueHoop Network Blog

Coming off of a pair of unsightly losses to end a five-game road trip, the Toronto Raptors needed a win. They needed it in the literal sense, because a 2-3 trip had squandered their cushion for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, and that’s a pretty important factor for this team looking ahead a month. They needed it in a more broad sense, too, because a losing streak can carry with it the seeds of doubt, and the schedule, while hardly arduous compared to earlier stretches, is fraught with teams fighting for their lives right now.

“I mean we’ve got what, 15, 16 games left?” head coach Dwane Casey asked rhetorically before the game, speaking to the urgency felt in the locker room. “And to understand what significance, it means in these next 16 games, home court.”

As with all things Raptors right now, that need comes with an accepted caveat: It’s probably not going to be sexy. The Raptors aren’t built to win pretty in general, and that’s an even more glaring reality when Kyle Lowry is sidelined, as he presently finds himself. It’s an old story despite being only a few weeks old right now: This version of the Raptors needs DeMar DeRozan to carry a heavy load against increasingly greater defensive attention, they need depth players to step beyond their roles, and they need to defend like hell, turning every game into an ugly war of attrition.

It couldn’t be more fitting, then, that with the Raptors in need of a win, the deciding stretch of play saw the hosts and the visiting Dallas Mavericks conspire to quietly ban all offense from the Air Canada Centre.

https://soundcloud.com/raptorsreasonablists/s1e10-best-friend-in-the-front-seat-and-my-pizza-in-the-back

Siakam and Poeltl help lift 905 in record-setting Air Canada Centre rout – Raptors Republic: ESPN TrueHoop Network Blog

Attempting to discern development through small, short-lived NBA windows is a difficult task. For the bulk of the season, it’s been the only way to evaluate Toronto Raptors rookies Pascal Siakam and Jakob Poeltl. Siakam was thrust into a major role early on but has played sparingly over the last few months. Poeltl has oscillated between the backup and third-string center jobs, providing encouraging glimpses in only the small bursts allowed. But the Raptors’ occasionally thin roster situation, lengthy road trips, and a desire for the young players to gain NBA exposure has kept the freshmen developing mostly out of site, away from Raptors 905 and the D-League.

With both the 905 and their parent club returning from five-game road trips Monday to play a doubleheader at the Air Canada Centre, it was a prime opportunity to get Siakam and Poeltl some extended run. The logistics were easy, with the rest of the team going through shootaround just upstairs on the 300-level, and it would be no issue to have both available later in the day (Fred VanVleet performed the rare D-League-NBA double-dip earlier in the year). As a handful of Raptors and staff watched on from the front row on the baseline, Siakam and Poeltl were given the chance to show how they’ve come along since their respective one-game visits to the 905 earlier in the year, in which each posted a double-double.

Raptors rebound to beat Mavericks | Toronto Star

“We weren’t out there thinking about what play to run,” Norm Powell said after his 19-point performance. “We get a stop, we’re pushing it. We’re going to focus on getting stops on defence, making it easier on our offence, not letting their defence get as set by walking the ball up the court.

“So I think our pace was really good from the start and to the finish of the game.”

Just about everything the Raptors did before the usual sellout crowd of 19,800 was really good, for once:

They held Dallas to 36.5 per cent shooting on the night, the second-lowest opponent’s percentage of the season.
They made nine three-pointers, a number they’ve exceeded just once in the last 10 games.
They dished out 19 assists, mainly because they shot 48 per cent from the floor.
“It makes the game a lot easier when you do that. That’s the way we want to play,” coach Dwane Casey said. “I thought we had a good rhythm from that tonight and that’s the key to it, getting stops.

“You don’t have to run an offence. You don’t have to worry about not knowing. Just run the floor.”

Raptors cruise to win over Mavericks, 100-78 – Raptors HQ

“I might head to Pizza Pizza after,” said Norman Powell, smiling. “Yeah, I felt the energy when I was at the free-throw line, about getting the free throws to get 100.” The smile then dropped away as Powell got serious in his post-game reflection. “That’s the most important thing, not only to make the fans happy. That’s double — we get a win and they get free pizza. But it was a big win for us coming off the road trip and dropping two, our last two games, so we were really focused and locked in.”

It’s been a searching run of games for the Raptors as of late. Without Kyle Lowry, we’re learning what the rest of this team is made of. Tonight, DeRozan kept up his usual level of attack, finished when the lane opened, drew a couple fouls, and most importantly, made passes when the Mavs tried to force the ball out of his hands. As Casey remarked, “that’s what he’s going to see.”

Power Ranking Poll Week 21: Just Another 40 Degree Day – Raptors HQ

The Raptors are in the midst of a bunch of 40 degree days. They beat teams, but the wins are thing. They lose to teams, and the results feel crushing — even if there is a huge excuse sitting there, ready to be offered up. We’re a little like Stringer Bell in this scenario (oh boy, here comes the stretch), we’re still eager for progress, but mad that it can’t quite be had. There’s belief there, but also immense frustration. How many more 3-for-5 weeks, or ugly .500 ball are we going to have? Will this team ever be pushing 60 degrees, operating at full strength? Man, I don’t know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgdX8Hjw-f0

The Backcourt Kids infuse Raptors with a dose of energy | Toronto Star

Not sure I’m ready to pronounce Patrick Patterson back but making three three-pointers is not to be sneezed at, even if a couple of them came in the fourth quarter when things had basically been decided.

He did look more comfortable, though, and they will desperately need at least that threat the rest of the way.

But …

One play kind of summed up what has been a continuing issue with him this season.

He was in some high screen action with either Wright or VanVleet, I can’t remember which but it doesn’t matter, and the Mavs switched the play right in front of their bench.

That left tiny JJ Barea guarding Patterson and Patterson should have been drooling at the prospects of either rising right up to shoot over him or backing him down in the lane.

But, no. Once again treating the ball like it was a hot potato, he got rid of it back to the guard in a split second and the Mavs were able to react and get their coverages right.

https://audioboom.com/posts/5704646-raptors-03-13-2017-raptors-mavs-recap-listener-qs?t=0