15-4 (light news day)
Back-to-backs have been easy work for Lowry, Raptors | Toronto Sun
Kyle Lowry has been absurdly good in those outings, stepping up as the key Raptor in Leonard’s absence. There was the triple-double against Atlanta, 28 points and 12 assists against Washington, 20 and 12 against Philadelphia, 17 and 11 against Utah and, the only blemish, a 3-for-11 shooting night against Chicago where he still nearly notched a triple-double.
“We have never had a doubt in Kyle. He is a true warrior and he is producing every night,” Valanciunas said of the point guard who consistently found him for pick-and-roll finishes on Wednesday.
“We need to play more back-to-backs it turns out,” joked head coach Nick Nurse.
“They have done a good job and we talked about it this afternoon that we had 12 bodies suiting up and that we were probably going to need all 12 … We were subbing pretty freely and playing some unseen lineups (like Greg Monroe and Serge Ibaka beside each other up front), and everybody did a great job.” The next back-to-back will provide the biggest tests yet, since they come against the talented Clippers in Los Angeles and the powerhouse Warriors in Oakland.
Q&A: Raptors’ Miles on fatherhood, health status, C.J.’s PJs – Sportsnet.ca
SN – You’ve got your own little girl now who turns one tomorrow in Ava. Is that the reason why you’re getting no sleep?
CM – I mean she’s sleeping through the night now, but you definitely go through a long string of months with no sleep, especially with the schedule we already have and then you know, you want as much time with her as you can because you spend so much time on the road and back and forth. But she’s been a blessing, man.
SN – How has she changed you?
CM – I always say this not trying to make it sound like I was a terrible person before I had a child, but once you have a child it really puts a magnifying glass on your steps. Like, you know, someone is really watching. I’m her main source of information on how to conduct yourself and how to act, how I talk to people how I treat her mother, how I talk to my mother. I’ll talk to my father, like these things that seem little to us over time, but now every conversation she’s around and she sees. And it starts from Day 1. People think because she’s not talking, she’s young and things like that that it really doesn’t matter. All that stuff weighs in on a child from day one.
SN – The “bench mob” is not really together and you no longer are the bench dad. Has that been a different mindset for you?
CM – It’s definitely been different. We knew that coming into the season it was going to be different obviously with different players coming in and there was a chance that you know, the bench mob could not be together anymore. We lost one guy anyway, so we knew it was going to be a little different. It’s about us being the best we can be and we have to trust the coaches. They have to put guys in positions to make up the best team we can be and that’s part of being a professional and part of being a teammate and everybody says the goal is to win. So, if it’s going to help us win, which we are doing, I can’t be upset about that.
SN – From the outside looking in that seems to be an example of change between Dwane Casey and Nick Nurse. What is the biggest change?
CM – I think Casey was definitely a little cut from the old-school cloth. Which definitely helps when you’re starting the foundation because you need that. You need the foundation of it still playing hard, and still playing the right way, still doing the same things. I think Nick’s biggest thing is he likes to play with the lineups. He’s not afraid to. Not that Casey was but Casey was still learning to do that.
And I think he’s doing it more in Detroit. But you know, playing a small-ball game, playing a faster game, adapting to the three-point shot being a big part of it and all the things like that Nurse was already kind of ahead of that, which is what made our offence what it was last year because Nurse was in charge of that, so it’s been smooth.
They’re both, in their own manner, great coaches. It’s been fun playing for both of them.
Raptors’ Miles returns to the basics to get into game rhythm – TSN.ca
“I’ve had a new coach every year since…2013, maybe,” Miles said. “I had [Frank] Vogel two years in a row [with the Indiana Pacers]. I had Coach [Jerry] Sloan and Ty Corbin [in Utah with the Jazz], Byron Scott, Mike Brown [with the Cleveland Cavaliers], Vogel – I had Vogel two years – then I had Nate McMillan [also with the Pacers], Coach [Dwane] Casey and Nick Nurse [with the Raptors].”
When a team decides to move on from a head coach like the Raptors did from Casey in the spring after seven seasons, it can be a referendum on its players as much as it is the man leading them. As such, Miles believes that if a player doesn’t feel at least partly responsible for a coach’s dismissal in most cases, he should.
“I think there should be [that feeling], to a certain extent,” Miles said. “Obviously, the coach has to put the players in the right situations to be able to excel with the skill sets they have, but at the same time, the coach can only tell you something so many times. At the end of the day, if he’s doing the right things for that group and that group’s just not getting it done – like maybe they’re too young or they don’t have enough bigs or they don’t have the right point guard for the system – there’s nothing the coach can actually do about that. So again, there’s two sides to that story.”
But in the case of the Raptors, the club didn’t entirely turn the page. Instead of bringing in somebody from outside the organization, Nurse was promoted to the head chair after five seasons as Casey’s assistant. When the person leading practices is somebody who was already in the room, it brings with it a sense of familiarity unlike what would happen with an external hire.
“I think everybody’s a little comfortable because it’s somebody you know,” Miles explains. “You feel like he’s approachable. You can go right up to him from Day 1. Not that you’d feel like you couldn’t approach a new coach, but you’ve got to learn them a little bit [first]. I think everybody knows him, everybody understands what he’s trying to do. There’s not, like, a system flip, but at the same time, you have to get used to the fact that his responsibilities changed, also.”
Assistant coach Nick Nurse and Coach Nick Nurse aren’t the same person.
“When he’s an assistant he’s got different responsibilities with players and things like that,” Miles said. “The relationship is going to change because now somebody else has to move over to his job and he’s gotta handle all the other stuff of being the head coach. So that’s a little different dynamic, but with a new coach, you have no idea. You don’t know if he’s going to run a similar system. You don’t even know if he likes certain players. There’s a lot of things that can change, so it’s a mental thing you’ve got to be prepared for.”
Podcast: Locked on Raptors #421 – Shining Bigs, Lowry Back & Vince’s 25K Moment – Raptors HQ
In Episode 421 of Locked on Raptors, Sean Woodley and Vivek Jacob chat about the Raptors’ wins over the Magic and Hawks, from the late-game execution in Orlando, to Kyle Lowry’s monster triple-double, and Vince Carter’s dunk to reach 25,000 career points. All that … and more! Happy Thanksgiving to our US listeners!
Bamba Shares Unique Bond With Kawhi Leonard | Orlando Magic
Bamba, the No. 6 pick in last June’s NBA Draft and the Magic’s prized rookie center, got to know Leonard through his older half-brother, Sidiki Johnson, who was once a top-100 college recruit before washing out of basketball. Leonard, an NBA champion in 2014 and the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2015 and ’16, took a liking to the much younger Bamba when they first met some seven years ago, and he said he snickered at the bravado of Bamba’s bold predictions back in the day.
“He made it to the NBA. We all had high hopes for him and I remember him saying that he was going to get here (to the NBA),’’ recalled Leonard after his Raptors beat the Magic in dramatic fashion on Tuesday night. “I’m really proud of him for making it (to the NBA) and being a top-10 pick. He looks comfortable and looks like he belongs here. He’s playing with confidence, shooting the ball well and doing a good job of helping on the weak side of the defense by blocking shots. He’s doing really good.’’
The 7-foot Bamba is doing quite well for the Magic (9-9), serving as a key rotational cog on a team that came into Tuesday having won three games in a row and seven of the last nine. On Tuesday, Bamba gave the Magic seven points, five rebounds, a thunderous third-quarter dunk and what Orlando head coach Steve Clifford called some of the rookie’s best post defense of the season against the more physical Jonas Valanciunas.
None of it might have been possible without the mentorship of Leonard for the young and impressionable Bamba years ago. In 2015, when Bamba was rising as a top high school basketball prospect, Johnson – the older, half-brother – was convicted on charges of second-degree and third-degree armed robbery and given a four-year prison sentence in New York. Bamba, who grew up in Harlem but attended prep schools in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, was understandably rocked by the event, but said he luckily had Leonard there for support.
“After my brother went away for a while, Kawhi reached out to me. He just kind of stepped up and played the big brother role for me,’’ Bamba said recently. “He’s always been a family friend for us.’’
Considering Bamba’s chosen profession as an NBA player, having a mentor as accomplished as Leonard has been a boon. Following an All-American college career at San Diego State, Leonard was a first-round draft pick in 2011 and he proceeded to become one of the NBA’s most dynamic two-way players. In addition to being the Finals MVP of San Antonio’s 2014 NBA championship team, Leonard has been on the NBA’s All-Defensive team four times, he’s been first-team All-NBA twice, he’s been an all-star two times and he’s emerged as a perennial MVP candidate.
Raptors have the best record in the NBA. They could be better | The Star [subscription]
“And that’s all we should be worried about: Each trip down are we taking the shots that we’re looking for.”
Overall, the Raptors are 24th among 30 teams in three-point efficiency, shooting 33.8 per cent as a team this year despite being eighth in attempts per game (33.2).
Health will help, certainly. Miles missed all four games on the trip and is expected back for Friday at home against Washington, while Fred VanVleet’s battling a couple of nagging injuries, Anunoby has a bad wrist and Norm Powell is still expected to miss weeks.
When they are full healthy, the team’s shooting should improve and Kyle Lowry, who began the season as hot as any shooter in the league, went just 9 for 32 (28 per cent) over the first three games of the trip.
“I think that stuff usually levels out,” Nurse said. “Career numbers are career numbers and guys usually will go up and down, comparatively and get back to who they are.”
That the Raptors ran through three of their opponents with the roster they had available is impressive. Kawhi Leonard continues to sit out half of each back-to-back — Toronto is 5-0 on the second games of back-to-backs this season — and having him consistently in the lineup will help.
The Raptors don’t have another back-to-back until Dec. 11-12 and Leonard should play every game until then.
“I will say this, there’s been zero issues as far as any, too much minutes, or too long a run,” Nurse told reporters. “He feels good, so I think the early plan here through 18, 20 games is going really well.”
It’s been going well for the Raptors, there is no disputing that, but there are areas for improvement as they hold themselves to a higher standard reserved for legitimate championship teams.
Friday NBA preview: Washington Wizards at Toronto Raptors | The Star [subscription]
KEY MATCHUP
Wall vs. Lowry
It’s always a battle when Wall and Lowry go head-to-head. The Wizards’ point guard is putting up 21.5 points and 7.9 assists per game this season, ahead of his Toronto counterpart on points but behind the Raptors’ veteran in the assists category.
NEED TO KNOW
Dwight Howard reportedly might be held back from making the trip to Toronto due to injury. The 15-season veteran missed the first seven games of the year with the gluteal injury, left Sunday’s game against the Portland Traiblazers with the issue and didn’t play against the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday … The Wizards fought back from a 24-point deficit to beat L.A. in that game, led by 20-point second halves from Beal and Wall … Washington has been the centre of attention in the league this past week following a contentious practice. Wall was reportedly fined for cursing at coach Scott Brooks and the team is now reportedly willing to listen to offers for their all-star back court … Raptors OG Anunoby (wrist) and C.J. Miles were both expected to return this weekend but did not play Wednesday night in Atlanta. Recovery for Norman Powell (shoulder) will be more prolonged … Toronto won the previous game between these two back in October, a nail-biter that finished 117-113 in the Raptors’ favour in Washington.
Did I miss something? Send me any Raptors-related article/video to rapsfan@raptorsrepublic.com
