Toronto 116, Dallas 107
Recap
- Good win for the Raptors without Van Vleet, Wright and Anounoby.
- The Raptors’ effort and execution in the first quarter seemed to shell shock Dallas. The Raptors continue to play with an intensity level that their opponents don’t seem very prepared for.
- Dallas is a good ball screen matchup for the Raptors defensively. Without Dennis Smith Jr., they aren’t very explosive at the guard spot and their bigs (mainly DeAndre Jordan) are not a threat to pop. The Raptors did a good job of forcing their guards to finish at the rim and limited Jordan’s rolling opportunities.
- In general, Dallas doesn’t have strengths that could cause the Raptors significant problems. Their best players aren’t good enough to force a team like the Raptors to have to give something up in order to stop them. When you can’t create problems for a defense, it’s tough to consistently score at a high level.
- Siakam and Lowry constantly put pressure on the basket in transition and are both passing the ball at a very high level.
- The Raptors are playing through Kawhi very often in the low/mid post. He had (at least) 13 isolations in that area in this game.
- The bench unit tonight was very limited in their ability to create but came through on the defensive end.
Defense
Compete Level
- The Raptors’ compete level needs to be highlighted as it is what stands out the most with this team. They are not winning games because they are the most technically sound defensive team, but because they compete at an elite level on defense.
There is nothing fundamental about this defensive series from the Raptors (meaning these rotations are not designed). The Raptors have bought into the concept of running shooters off the 3, and they know that to do that they need to simply have an insane desire to try as hard as they can every possession. This is less than a minute into the game, it is not surprising that the Raptors got off to an 18-2 start.
Watch how hard Lowry is competing in this clip. He’s at the nail when Doncic receives the handoff, he then helps when Doncic gets by Kawhi on a pump fake. Then, he is able to sprint out and fly by Brunson’s first 3pt attempt, only to force him into a one-dribble step back 3. This shot goes in, but this is exactly the type of shot the Raptors want their opponents to take. Not to mention, if your leader is this committed to the defensive end of the floor, that’s going to trickle down to the rest of the team (which it clearly has).
Ball Screen D
- The Raptors determined beforehand that the strength of the Mavs in the ball screen would be DeAndre Jordan on the roll and made it a point of emphasis to limit easy roll or lob opportunities for him. They did this by daring the Mavs guards to either shoot the mid-range pull or finish at the rim, forcing their below the rim guards (Brunson, Barea, and Doncic) to finish over either Ibaka or JV.
In this clip, notice what JV is trying to do. He is not concerned about committing to Barea because he knows that Barea is small and as a result would rather be a passer than a finisher at the rim. Therefore, he stays in stance and never allows Barea to dump it off or throw a lob to Jordan. The Raptors’ focus was to limit Jordan’s scores on the roll.
It’s even more noticeable in this clip. Serge is essentially daring Barea to finish at the rim. He knows that Brown is long enough to force Barea into a tough shot, and he knows Barea is looking to pass. Again, they are effectively forcing the offense into uncomfortable situations.
Lastly, when Serge realizes that Barea is actually going to try and finish, he can use his athleticism to block the shot at the rim. It seems simple, but understanding your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and forcing them to their weaknesses can go a long way in making them uncomfortable and never allowing them to find a rhythm.
- Along those same lines, it wasn’t just the bigs understanding personnel, but the guards as well. Watch in this clip how Kawhi realizes that he’s lost the guard on the ball screen, so he boxes out Jordan to prevent him from getting an offensive rebound.
Doncic turns the corner on Kawhi and is heading downhill. Instead of Kawhi just following the play, he “grounds” Jordan by making contact with his legs – effectively not allowing him to sky for the offensive rebound.
For understanding purposes, this is what the Raptors were trying to prevent. Lowry loses Brunson in the ball screen, and just follows the play instead of grounding Jordan.
Offense
Playing through Kawhi
- It is becoming more and more evident that the Raptors will increasingly play through Kawhi in the half court (give him the ball in specific spots and make him the decision maker). When games slow down, or possessions become very important, it makes sense to play through the player on your team who can best score on their defender 1 on 1, or cause 2 defenders to cover them which leads to kickouts – Kawhi is that guy for the Raptors.
- What is becoming increasingly interesting is how the Raptors are trying to space the floor when Kawhi is getting those touches. Let us look at these examples:
This is a good example of how the Raptors are trying to space when Kawhi gets the ball in the post. I paused the GIF to better illustrate the spacing. The Raptors want their non-shooting big (usually JV or Siakam when he’s on the floor with Serge) on the offside block (you’ll see why in the next clip), and they want their guards on the top of the key, offside 45, and corner. The purpose of spacing this way is simple – give the matchup the space to play 1 on 1, and if the defense sends a second player to double, the read out of the double is very simple.
Notice in this clip the Raptors are spaced in the same way. The difference in this clip is that Jordan leaves JV to go double and when he does JV circles under the rim for the dump off. This causes Kleber to make a decision. Is he going to drop to prevent JV but leave a passing lane to his man in the corner (I’m assuming the Raptors want their best shooter in the corner), or does he stay and allow JV to be open under the rim? Kleber does a good job of deflecting this pass, but Kawhi probably missed JV underneath.
Lastly, watch how active the Raptors are in this clip. They don’t have a player at the offside (probably because none of the 4 players on the floor want to admit that they’re the worst shooter on the floor – lol), but they are all creeping forward ready to take advantage of Dallas focusing so much on Kawhi. Kawhi feels the Mav’s loading up, and puts Kyle in a simple closeout situation in which he’s able to attack and get to the rim.
- This is definitely something to draw your attention to going forward. Kawhi is going to be the Raptors main matchup, and his ability to create for others as well for himself is going to be crucial.
New Sets
- Not including Spread ball screens and Kawhi post-ups, the Raptors didn’t run any of their sets more than 3 times in this game.
- Of those sets, the following are sets that the Raptors haven’t run yet this season:
Hig Post Entry to W
Lowry enters the ball to the high post and circles underneath for the W action (cross screen, down screen). Brunson is prepared for the cross screen, but Lowry smartly slips the first screen and sprints off the down screen creating the separation he was looking for.
Step up for Siakam
The Raptors usually run this for Lowry or VanVleet, but I haven’t seen them run this yet with Siakam. It works because Siakam is a good enough ball handler and passer to be able to make decisions off the ball screen. I’m interested to see if the Raptors will have Siakam coming off more ball screens in the future.
DHO (dribble handoff) with Offside Staggers
The Raptors ran this play twice in this game (once on the opening play). It’s a simple but effective action as it occupies both sides of the floor.
Notes
- I have noticed that teams, especially scoring guards, like to go after Norman Powell on the defensive end. I noticed it first with Cleveland as Jordan Clarkson continuously attacked him at every opportunity, and noticed it again in the 4thquarter tonight with Wesley Matthews.
- Jonas Valanciunas’s ball screen defense is starting to improve. Looking down the road, the Raptors’ biggest opponents will be teams that have elite guards and bigs that can pop, which forces defending bigs to be versatile. By splitting up Serge and JV, it has forced JV to focus on his weakness in the ball screen and the past two games he has shown improvement – or at least an increase in his willingness to be in stance and use his length. I’m interested (and have been interested) to see how this unfolds as the year progresses.
- I’m really excited for the Raptors to matchup with the Bucks on Monday night. Specifically, I’m interested to see if Nick Nurse starts Kawhi Leonard or Pascal Siakam on Giannis Antentokounmpo. On the other side, I’m interested with how much of an issue Giannis will be for Kawhi in the post. Kawhi’s gotten to his spots effectively against every defender so far, including Jimmy Butler, but Giannis’s length is different. We will see!
