Raptors refocusing on slowing Bucks’ transition attack in Game 2 – Sportsnet.ca
Milwaukee’s the best team in basketball when it comes to scoring in the paint, partially because they get there so quickly. Any miss you make or ball you cough up in Milwaukee’s end is quickly turned around, transitioned up the floor, and under your own basket in a matter of seconds. While they’re young and relatively unproven, no one can doubt the sheer inertia the Bucks generate as they sprint up the court.
The Raptors plan to counter that in Game 1 was to stay away from the offensive glass and focus on taking a positive first three steps back towards their own end whenever the ball changed hands around Milwaukee’s basket. That didn’t happen. But they’ll try again in Game 2, and you’ll know how well it’s going by the number of times Casey has his hands on his head after a Raptors wing crashes the offensive paint or one of his players gets knocked down and doesn’t get back up and in the play quickly enough.
“To win in this league we’ve got to play at another level,” Casey says. “You can’t play at regular-season level. You’ve got to screen in playoff form, you’ve got to cut in playoff form, you’ve got to turn in playoff form. And we didn’t do that long enough in Game 1. We did it in certain parts of the game. But not long enough.”
There is also the issue of Giannis Antetokounmpo, the designed-in-a-basketball-lab superhuman who unsurprisingly gave the Raptors fits Saturday. It’s folly to think you can ever truly contain a player like Antetokounmpo. He’s too big, too athletic, too talented. He’s getting his points in every game of this series, one way or another.
Armstrong: Raptors are architects of their own anxieties – TSN
TSN 1260 NBA analyst Jack Armstrong joins Nielson & Fraser to take a look around the opening round of the NBA postseason, and explains what the Raptors need to do to get back in their series down 0-1 to Milwaukee, with Game 2 set to go tonight
Raptors’ management of Antetokounmpo may define rest of series – Sportsnet.ca
What to look for in Game 2?
How quickly the Raptors on the weak side of the floor (opposite the ball) rotate back into a defensive position. Transition baskets are so valuable in the NBA that most teams don’t even want their perimeter players crashing the offensive boards and the Raptors are no exception. Even before the shot goes up they need to get bodies back to take away Antetokounmpo’s runway.
But when you’re seven feet, quick and a great ball-handler, you’re an issue in the half court as well.
There was a play at roughly the 6:25 mark of the second quarter when Antetokounmpo got help from a screen on Carroll and squared to attack the basket.
Serge Ibaka met him outside the paint and kept a body on Antetokounmpo, but the Greek prodigy kept pounding toward the rim before reaching up and dunking over Ibaka, one of the NBA’s premier shot-blockers and one of the few players in the league even remotely in his wheelhouse, athletically.
Just a superstar doing superstar things, right?
Not from Ibaka’s point of view.
“I remember that play. A guy like him, when you switch you have to be up [up the floor, further from the basket]. I was down,” he said. “Those kind of plays we have to do a better job, like, myself, when we switch, I have to be up and then get back. On the switch you go up first and then you back up and you’re ready to play one-on-one.”
Shirts for tonight pic.twitter.com/0V7yN4rv5w
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) April 18, 2017
Raptors always making it hard on themselves | Toronto Sun
It is a problem that has plagued this team when it is at full strength, and when DeMar DeRozan was hurt last year and when Kyle Lowry was out this year. It was an issue when the starting lineup included Luis Scola, and then when it included Patrick Patterson and now that it has Serge Ibaka.
It is, as coach Dwane Casey said on Monday, “our biggest mystery.”
Not that he hasn’t tried to solve it.
“We’ve done everything,” he said. “We’ve looked at the numbers, statistics, matchups, rotations, groups that were in there …,” and the coach trailed off a little, in that way that you sort of throw up your hands when you’ve looked and looked at the evidence and haven’t found any kind of useful revelation.
Like, if they could identify the actual problem, they would have fixed it by now.
“It’s in our DNA,” he said. “Slow starts and hard finishes.”
For Serge Ibaka, who has been here for only two months, it’s just as much of a mystery.
“I don’t know why,” he said of Toronto’s poor early play. He said that everybody seemed ready to bring playoff intensity, and as the most playoff-savvy player on the Raptors — with more than 90 post-season games on his resume — he would know.
Five thoughts on Raps’ offence, urgency and more – Article – TSN
TORONTO’S OFFENCE: The eight winning teams this weekend scored an average of 109.1 points. The Raptors only managed 83 against Milwaukee. Full credit goes to Jason Kidd’s team defence. The Raptors have their hands full with this opponent. When you get into postseason competition you need great team offensive toughness against a stifling, physical and athletic defence. You also must improve every aspect of execution and have guys who convert shots. Dwane Casey will have to consider playing Patrick Patterson more, along with pondering using Norman Powell and Delon Wright at times. Kyle Lowry had a difficult Game 1, but I understand that. There’s a whole different level of conditioning required for a playoff game and he’s clearly not there yet. He’ll figure it out. My bigger issue is that, in a league where scoring is way up consistently, you can’t keep getting outplayed and outscored in the first and third quarters. In this league, you have to think long and hard about the overall benefit of playing a starting small forward in DeMarre Carroll who gives you five points in 24 minutes. The guy is that spot needs to give you outstanding defensive effort, but he also must provide significant scoring pop. I respect and admire Carroll’s effort and team play. He plays the game the right way and is a good teammate. This is nothing personal. It’s about productivity. I think you need to look at surrounding Lowry and DeMar DeRozan with three other pieces the opposing defence has to respect and guard to open up space. Firepower is vital at every spot this time of year. The Raptors can’t keep playing from behind.
Slow-starting Raptors face ‘DNA’ test in Game 2 | Toronto Star
Whether the Raptors start the same group in Tuesday night’s Game 2 as they did in the opener is at least a bit in doubt as Serge Ibaka tries to get through the pain of an ankle he tweaked on Saturday.
Ibaka landed on the foot of Bucks big man Giannis Antetokounmpo after taking a shot, finished the game mainly on adrenaline and hasn’t done much gym work since. He did not practice fully on Monday and will see how he feels after Tuesday morning’s game-day shootaround.
“It would be tough (to play if the game was on Monday),” Ibaka said. “Don’t really think so. But I’ve been there before. This is not the first time I’ve sprained an ankle. I’ve been there before, so things can be changed. (Tuesday) I can be 100 per cent.”
Ibaka, who has only been with the Raptors for half a season, is as perplexed as anyone about the starts, too.
“I don’t know why because what I saw from guys, every time before the game, everybody is ready, everybody is (motivated) . . . like even today, people are here earlier, working hard to get ready for tomorrow, and then when it comes to the game those kind of things happen.
“Even for myself, sometimes I ask myself why . . . I don’t really know. Maybe you guys from outside can tell us.”
Raptors’ Ibaka won’t fall into funk over dunk | Toronto Sun
Ibaka knows exactly why he got dunked on and, more importantly, exactly how to avoid it again.
“I remember that play,” Ibaka said sounding like a guy who has been thinking about that one play a lot. “A guy like him, when you switch you have to be up. I was down (waiting for him at the rim). It’s not just him, anybody in the league, when somebody is coming full speed, it’s tough. In my mind, I was worried about foul.
“Those kind of plays we have to do a better job (defending), like, myself, when we switch, I have to be up and then get back. On the switch, you go up first and then you back up and you’re ready to play one-on-one. If you wait for him, he’s going to come full speed, he will attack you and it’s a foul or a basket.”
The rule of thumb for Game 2, if you are a member of the Raptors, should be this: If you see open space in front of Antetokounmpo, quickly fill it. Fill it with your body, or throw someone else in front of him if you have to. Just don’t let him see open space in front of him because when he does, only bad things happen for the Raptors.
Basically, Antetokounmpo is like that deer on the side of the road. If your lights catch him standing still, you are probably OK. But once he’s moving, brace yourself. He’s more than likely going across the road and coming through your windshield or, in the case of the Raptors, going by you in two long strides and cramming the basketball through your rim.
DeRozan compares Raptors’ slow starts to an old Buick Regal – Video – TSN
Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan makes light of the team’s slow starts to games, comparing them to an old Buick Regal. DeRozan and Dwane Casey also say the Raptors know they can’t rely on comebacks in the playoffs and are banking on their resilience to bounce back in Game 2.
Young Buck Maker no ‘deer in headlights’ in NBA playoff spotlight | Toronto Star
He’s not an integral part of what the Bucks do offensively, but he’s seven-foot-one and long and disruptive on defence, which fits perfectly with Milwaukee’s style. He went basically unnoticed early in Game 1, but had two blocked shots and a basket early in the third quarter that helped change the momentum.
“I was a little bit all over the place, trying to figure out what they were running,” Maker said. “But in the second half I already knew what they were into, so I had to just go a little bit harder and be more aggressive.”
Going hard is what has allowed Kidd to play Maker as a starter in crucial games. He may not have fully developed skills or experience, but he goes full-out all the time and his impact on games is subtle but vital.
“He covered the rim (Saturday) night pretty well in the second half. He runs the floor really well, and he’s really good in that scheme,” Raptor P.J. Tucker said. “I think he spaced the floor. We’ve seen him make shots, so he’s been pretty versatile for them. He’s won that spot with them, so we’ve got to respect him and he’s somebody we definitely have to take out.”
Raptors vs. Bucks Game 2 Preview: A Bounce Back Game from Kyle Lowry? – Raptors HQ
Which Kyle Lowry?
But not everything. Because really, this is all prologue for the main event: Where is Lowry?Look, the Raptors are sunk — and I’m talking 2015 post-season sunk — if Lowry is a shell of himself. There’s no two ways about it, even with strong play from Joseph, or a miracle run from Delon Wright, or JV going off, or whatever permutation you want to think about. The Raptors cannot win in the post-season without Lowry.
Last season, even when Lowry wasn’t shooting well (which was most of the time), he was a net-positive for the Raptors. He made a difference in other ways — be it with passing, smart defense, or heady/disruptive plays on and off the ball. That’s long been Lowry’s MO. Which makes getting outplayed by a rookie Brogdon all the more galling. (I don’t care if Malcolm has a graduate degree.) That matchup should favour the Raptors in a big way. NBA teams rarely have rookies play for them in the playoffs, and rookie point guards least of all.
So, which Lowry will we see tonight? It’s the question of today, tomorrow, and the rest of the Raptors’ post-season run — a run that could be very short if the answer is “bad Lowry.”
Get ready.
2017 Playoffs: Game 2 Preview – Raptors vs. Bucks | Toronto Raptors
Though Serge Ibaka has only been with the Raptors since the mid February trade deadline, he’s one of the most experienced players on their roster when it comes to the postseason. Making it to the Finals with Oklahoma City Thunder — as well as multiple trips to the Western Conference Finals — gives Ibaka a perspective on postseason success that other players are still learning. After assessing the team’s Game 1 performance, he’s confident there’s plenty the team can improve upon in Game 2.
“We can do better on both ends of the floor,” ibaka said. “Both ends of the floor we can do better. It’s about discipline and defence. I think the key is about defence. Communication, getting back on defence and being physical.”
Another thing Ibaka discussed on Monday was the importance of being ready to act in the moment, as well as to sacrifice for the greater good of the team. If mistakes happen, keep moving and focus on making the correct play next. Staying locked in to the present is key for Ibaka.
“We already know its the playoffs,” Ibaka said. “It’s not really the time to wait or the time to say ‘I’m sorry’ [if you make a mistake]. The time you’re saying sorry, you’re down one already. It’s right now. We have to be ready to give everything we have for the team. Also like I said earlier, the playoffs is about sacrifice. You have to able to sacrifice.
Be ready, mentally, knowing this is the playoffs, I’m going to do whatever it takes for my team.”
Game 2: Milwaukee Bucks at Toronto Raptors, Tuesday preview | Toronto Star
KEY MATCHUP
Brogdon vs. Lowry
The Milwaukee rookie point guard had 16 points and made four three-pointers in Saturday’s Game 1. Lowry and the Raptors have to limit his effectiveness — Lowry must score more than four points for Toronto.
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