The Toronto Raptors did not play on Christmas day, the NBA’s largest annual regular-season showcase, which was a point of contention for fans and players alike. They did, however, make noise in the standings: Boston and Cleveland both losing bumped the Raptors to the top of the Eastern Conference.
There was a bit of confusion as to how, since Toronto is in first but one “game behind.” The standings are sorted by winning percentage, and the Raptors have the best one in the conference. But games behind are determined by wins and losses, so while the Raptors have two fewer losses than Boston, they also have four fewer wins. Essentially, Toronto would have to go 4-2 over the six more games they have to play to match Boston and 5-1 to maintain first place (which is a higher winning percentage than they currently have).
There are a few things to take away here. The biggest one is that the Raptors have six extra games to play, their road-heavy early part of the schedule having bought them some extra time off. That could prove tough, with some extra back-to-backs mixed in, but the Raptors also have more home games left than anyone in the NBA, which neutralizes that some. There isn’t much travel left, either, with the team never going more than one time zone away. It also means that the Raptors will have to continue to take care of lesser competition to “make up” the game on Boston. And they’ll want to – they won’t sell out for seeding and risk playoff health, but the top seed in the East has never felt more important.
The Raptors will look to get back rolling on Tuesday when they visit a struggling Dallas Mavericks team for the first night of a quick back-to-back that takes them to Oklahoma City on Wednesday. Dallas is the league’s second-worst team at 9-25, meaning there’s a good opportunity here for the Raptors to extend their winning streak to seven games and make it wins in 13 of the last 14.
The game tips off at 7 on Sportsnet One and Sportsnet 590.
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To help set the stage for the game, we reached out to Kirk Henderson of Mavs Moneyball, who was kind enough to help us out.
Blake Murphy: I know he’s out for weeks now after undergoing thumb surgery, but what the heck did Nerlens Noel do to get so far into the doghouse? Would the Mavs unload him at the deadline (if he waives the no-trade on his qualifying offer year) to be rid of the experiment?
Kirk Henderson: A few things! First, he freelances a ton on defense. While he’s a magnificent defensive player, in terms of team concept he was hanging his teammates out to dry and either couldn’t or wouldn’t stop. Second, and this is reported information so I’m not speaking out of turn, he didn’t ever put in extra work. That isn’t going to fly with Carlisle. He’s the Patron Saint of Getting the Most Out of Mediocre Players, so that a guy with as much raw talent as Nerlens wasn’t interested in becoming more is pretty amazing. He seems to be a good teammate and good dude, but his self worth is a bit too high. He thinks he’s a superstar and he is not.
Blake Murphy: Shout out to Dirk Nowitzki. I don’t really have a question, it’s just really fun to see Dirk in full Dad Mode on a young team and still playing pretty well offensively at 39.
Kirk Henderson: It’s so weird. He’s really rounded into form too because he started the season looking ROUGH. That he thinks he has one more season in him is pretty wild too.
Blake Murphy: Maxi Kleber seems like a potentially useful find out of Germany. I know not a lot of his game pops as sexy, so what is it about his game that’s making him such an important role player? It seems like his defensive versatility opens a lot up for Rick Carlisle.
Kirk Henderson: The key thing that’s helping him right now is there is no tape on the guy. Opponents don’t know what to do when they see a 6’8″ white boy playing center next to Dirk. Heck, he blocked the great Al Horford something like four times in Boston. Guy’s don’t know what they’re getting into so it’s largely shock.
The key thing about his game, and what separates him from Nerlens, is his raw energy. He reminds me of Eduardo Najera in that way. His defensive versatility is helping keep Dallas in games more than they should be in my opinion. As the year wears on, he may become less effective, but for now he helps make this ghastly team a bit more fun to watch.
Blake Murphy: The Mavericks are near the bottom of the standings and looking down a likely top-3 pick. Are there any prospects that have really drawn your attention as The Guy you hope Dallas lands as a reward for this tough season? Is Doncic Hive in full effect in Victory Park?
Kirk Henderson: I am quite literally a Luka Doncic Fan Account on twitter, but I’m really on a lonely island at this point. I think that’s due to a pair of reasons. The first is that the schedule has been brutal early and the Mavericks are something like 1-14 in games decided in the clutch, so everyone thinks we’re going to end up with 35 wins at some point because Carlisle could lead a pack of gum to 35 wins. The other reason I’m on this island is, for now at least, a lot of people aren’t willing to buy into the Doncic hype.
Which is profoundly stupid because there’s tape of him getting the best of professional NBA players from this summer, let alone his scorched Earth campaign he’s waging overseas. It’s nice to see Bagley do stuff against children, but I’m not sold yet. Ayton looks amazing as well, but centers are not at the premium wings are these days. I am all in on Doncic. There’s also the fact that the Mavericks need to get players who fit with Rick Carlisle’s mindset and Doncic is a beast in terms of competitiveness.
Blake Murphy: What is it that you have against Dwight Powell, or the entire country of Canada?
Kirk Henderson: So he’s not as bad as I think, but he’s also not as good as those fun plus-minus numbers Zach Lowe showed. I really don’t think he’d be getting minutes for any other team in the NBA. He’s an excellent rim runner but past that he’s close to worthless. He’s too skinny to defend the post, which also makes him an up and down rebounder. He also has a great shot that never falls. He hits one three and people throw it in my face. He’s just not good.
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Raptors updates
The Raptors had a late practice in Dallas last night but no updates came out of it. C.J. Miles and Lucas Nogueira remain up in the air for this one, though the hope will surely be that both are available – this gives Miles about a week since his dental procedure and infection, and Nogueira was upgraded to questionable Saturday and appears close to a return.
How Dwane Casey handles his rotation when everyone is back will be interesting. He was using a 12-man rotation for a while, and nobody has really played their way out of a spot. Fred VanVleet built up a lot of goodwill while Delon Wright was out, benching Norman Powell would be a little short-sighted despite his cold play, and Jakob Poeltl has only occasionally looked like he could use a spell. With the schedule condensed some over the next few weeks, it’s entirely possible Casey goes with 11 or 12 men, something he’ll need to tighten up closer to the playoffs (it may figure itself out by then, anyway, on merit).
PG: Kyle Lowry, Delon Wright, Fred VanVleet
SG: DeMar DeRozan, Norman Powell
SF: OG Anunoby, (C.J. Miles)
PF: Serge Ibaka, Pascal Siakam, Malcolm Miller
C: Jonas Valanciunas, Jakob Poeltl, (Lucas Nogueira)
OUT: None
TBD: C.J. Miles, Lucas Nogueira
905: Bruno Caboclo, Lorenzo Brown, Alfonzo McKinnie
Mavericks updates
Dallas is dealing with some injury trouble here, entering play with four players on the shelf. That’s made for an interesting rotation for Rick Carlisle, with a very large starting lineup that can throw a lot of length at DeMar DeRozan and then a bench that trots out three guards (a real opportunity for DeRozan-and-bench units with dual point guards to have some fun). It’s also meant a lot of turnover at the end of the roster, where Jeff Withey has been released and the team’s second two-way spot has bounced around – Kyle Collinsworth is currently with the team, having replaced Antonius Cleveland.
There are threats here. Dirk Nowitzki can still turn it back, Dennis Smith is a problem despite some shooting struggles, and it wouldn’t surprise anyone if Wesley Matthews or Harrison Barnes went off on a given night. They’re not deep or exceptional, but the Mavericks don’t really look like a “league’s worst team” on paper.
PG: Dennis Smith Jr., J.J. Barea
SG: Wesley Matthews, Yogi Ferrell, Devin Harris
SF: Harrison Barnes, Kyle Collinsworth
PF: Maxi Kleber, Dwight Powell
C: Dirk Nowitzki, Salah Mejri
OUT: Nerlens Noel, Seth Curry, Dorian Finney-Smith, Josh McRoberts
TBD: None
Texas: Jonathan Motley
The line
The Raptors are 5.5-point favorites with a 209 over-under.
