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Morning Coffee – Tue, Nov 12

Siakam/Raptors come up just short against Kawhi/Clippers | Raptors moving up power rankings | Knicks want Ujiri and Giannis lol

Siakam/Raptors come up just short against Kawhi/Clippers | Raptors moving up power rankings | Knicks want Ujiri and Giannis lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laOwKNH6WLQ

10 things: Resilient Raptors run out of gas against Kawhi’s Clippers – Yahoo!

One — Grit: This was a scheduled loss, but the Raptors did everything within their power to prevent the inevitable. Even without half of their rotation, Nick Nurse had his team fighting tooth and nail before completely hitting the wall in the fourth quarter. Given that the Raptors were playing their third game in four nights, and considering their formidable opposition, the final result is far from surprising, but the defending champions can hang their heads high after this one.

Kawhi Leonard beat the Raptors, but it is clear what he lost when he left Toronto – The Athletic

“I think we are showing those guys who weren’t playing (before the injury) can help us,” VanVleet said. “Now it’s harder when your role is diminished and it’s eight minutes instead of 25 or 18 instead of 25 and (suddenly) you are playing in crunch time. It’s easier with more minutes and more opportunity and knowing that you are not coming out because we only got so many guys. But we knew we were a tough bunch and we were going to fight hard and our defence is really good.”

The one thing they were missing, then, was a superstar to change the balance of the floor. For as hard as the Raptors worked, it was unfair to ask VanVleet or Siakam to get the defence moving late in the game after all of the minutes they had logged. Every possession that wasn’t in transition was a slog late in the game.

For as sloppy of a game as Leonard had, he did get the Clippers a series of clean looks down the stretch. The Clippers, without Paul George, looked like a souped-up version of what the Raptors had to offer: a bunch of players with relentless motors, but with a bit more size than the Raptors could put out there with Ibaka and Anunoby sidelined.

“They (made) me better tonight,” Leonard said of the Raptors’ aggressive defence. “As soon as I walked across half court, they were trying to get the ball out of my hands, sending an extra defender. That’s gonna make my teammates better.

“I don’t think we ever did anything as aggressive (on) defence as they did on me tonight last year,” Leonard said. “I don’t remember doing anything like that. Sometimes we did trap the ball screens to make sure to get the ball out of the best player’s hands.”

That Leonard is a Clipper still seems a bit strange, and it is a choice that says a lot about him. He gets to play closer to home in a massive media market that allows his brand to flourish, and yet he still gets the relative anonymity that comes with being a Clipper in Los Angeles.

This isn’t a criticism of Leonard. There is no right way to be a superstar and no right team for which to play. Leonard earned his free agency, and home beckoned. Everybody in the league, save for one fan base, is happy that if he was determined to head back to Southern California, at least he forsook the Lakers. The Clippers are a tough, smart, talented team with a flexible and savvy front office. Trying to create a footprint for the franchise in the city is an interesting professional challenge.

Raptors show championship heart, but fall short vs. Leonard’s Clippers – Sportsnet.ca

The Raptors pushed the heavily favoured Clippers to the limit. Down four with just over a minute left, they had two chances at the rim that didn’t go – a Siakam layup that rolled in and out and a Boucher drive that got blocked by a fingernail. More shots rolled in and out than seemed fair for the undermanned group trying to win in the most unlikely circumstances.

The Raptors eventually fell 98-88 to drop to 7-3 on the season and 2-1 on their road trip, but could only have grown in the eyes of anyone that watched.

“Our guys played their guts out, we totally outplayed them, I thought,” said Nurse. “We were playing harder, we were executing better, we were creating a lot of problems for them, just not quite enough.”

Everyone chipped in. There wasn’t much choice, given the walking wounded.

A Matt Thomas three-ball late in the third and then a runner at the buzzer had the Raptors leading L.A.’s “other” team 78-73. Stranger still? Thomas, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Chris Boucher all had more points (eight, nine and 13, respectively) than Leonard’s 12. Leonard came into the game averaging 29 points a game.

Even down the stretch, the Raptors’ harassment of their old teammate wouldn’t stop. They pressed him at the three-point line and drove him into traffic where more often than not, big Marc Gasol was waiting to help. Nothing was easy.

The Raptors were trying – well what choice did they have, really – to replicate the success they had enjoyed in their unexpected upset of the Lakers on Sunday night. Once again, Nurse dug into his bag of tricks, junking up defences, doubling liberally, forcing non-superstars to beat his star-free roster.

Leonard was the target, and it mostly worked as Toronto held its old teammate to 2-of-11 shooting and forced him into nine turnovers to go along with his nine assists and 11 rebounds.

“We went obviously full guns on all the coverages on him to make life difficult for him and we did a good job on him,” said Nurse. “But he got some good transition buckets in the fourth, made some big shots for them when they needed them, which is what he does.”

Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard shows he’s all about winning – Los Angeles Times

With Leonard nearly recording a triple-double by registering 11 rebounds and nine assists, the Clippers won 98-88 over the team he led to its first NBA championship last season.

“That’s what a championship team is about,” Leonard said. “When your star is not going or they’re double-teaming you, you have other guys knocking down big shots like they did tonight.”

Leonard’s mental state was the subject of widespread speculation before the game, which was nothing new.

In the days leading up to the game, the notoriously guarded superstar told reporters he considered his reunion with the Raptors just another game. And that’s what it looked like.

When he walked onto the court for the start of the game, he lightly tapped fists with Raptors center Marc Gasol, who patted him on his backside. Leonard had a similar exchange with guard Norman Powell.

That was it.

No embraces. No smiles.

Raptors attack Leonard with double teams, but Clippers still win – Los Angeles Times

Facing the team he won an NBA title with last season for the first time since picking the Clippers in free agency, Leonard faced Raptors double-teams from start to finish at Staples Center, finishing with 12 points, 11 rebounds, nine assists but also nine turnovers.

Statistically, it was his least-impactful performance of the season. But there also was something else Nurse learned during his one-on-one meetings with Leonard last season. All he cared about, Leonard would reiterate, was winning.

And Monday, despite the frenzied coverages he faced — none of which he remembered the Raptors using last season — Leonard emerged pleased from a reunion that resembled a slugfest.

The Clippers had won 98-88.

“It wasn’t one of those nights for me,” he said, “and we came out with a win.”

The Clippers shot 37% from the field and 22% on three-pointers but grabbed 66 rebounds and played a tall lineup late in the fourth quarter that helped them wrest control of a back-and-forth game for good.

“What’d they have, 10 points in the fourth quarter?” coach Doc Rivers said. “This was one of those defensive wins.”

Recap: Raptors run out of gas against Clippers, lose 98-88 – Raptors HQ

Down three of their once impenetrable eight-man rotation, the Raptors played hard, but couldn’t get the necessary rebounds and offence to click in order to beat the Clippers late. They looked laboured scoring ten points in the fourth, and eventually lost 98-88.

The glass ended up being the most obvious difference between the Raptors and Clippers on Monday. Los Angeles out-rebounded Toronto 66-38 overall, with a 20-5 advantage on the offensive glass. Five of those came from JaMychal Green, but the starting frontline of Patrick Patterson, Ivica Zubac, and “Board Man” Leonard combined for seven more. This gave the Clippers seven more shots than the Raptors, allowing them to win with a shooting split of just 37.0/22.2/73.3.

That’s the rub. Aside from getting boards (OG Anunoby has become a critical piece in doing that), the Raptors played some of their best defence of the season. Their strategy against Kawhi was layered, at one point throwing a box-and-one at their former star on one possession and trapping him at half court the next.

Overall, it was clear that Nick Nurse wanted multiple bodies on Kawhi anytime he put the ball down. Being the superstar he is, he still managed 12 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists. It came, though, on 2-for-11 shooting and with nine turnovers — a trade-off Toronto was more than fine with.

The focus on Leonard left a margin for error with the other Clippers, however. Lou Williams stepped up big for the home team, scoring a game-high 21 points on 15 shots, expertly getting the younger Raptors up on shot fakes and pumping the tires of his line with five made free throws.

Williams’ pick-and-roll partner Montrezl Harrell was also tough to stop, scoring 14 points and grabbing 11 boards. The aforementioned Green also had a double-double off the bench, with ten points and 12 rebounds. Patrick Patterson made four threes for 12 points.

Raptors hang tough with Kawhi and Clippers but fall just short | Toronto Sun

Leonard had limited impact on the game from an offensive standpoint finishing with just 12 points, although he did have a game-high nine assists. Eight of Leonard’s 12 points came from the line. He only made 2-of-11 from the field.

His fourth-quarter domination that has been a recurring theme this year never really developed as the Raptors threw bodies at home in numbers forcing the ball out of his hands.

It didn’t matter as the Clippers used their advantage on the glass – 59 rebounds to 34 – to generate enough second-chance points to keep the Raptors at bay.

Toronto’s offence was not at its best on this night. The Clippers did a nice job taking Pascal Siakam out of the mix – he finished the night just 6-of-17 for 16 points. Leonard was a huge deterrent inside, leaving the Raptors having to rely on Fred VanVleet to create for himself or somehow get the ball in Chris Boucher’s hands.

Boucher had another solid game with 13 points and six rebounds but it wasn’t enough with the limited offence elsewhere.

The Raptors will now have a day to regroup before taking on the Portland Trail Blazers Wednesday in Portland.

NBA Power Rankings Week 4 – Sixers fall, Suns rise and L.A. at the top – ESPN

7. Toronto Raptors
Record: 7-2
Week 3 ranking: 10

Despite Kawhi Leonard’s departure, the Raptors remain one of the best teams in the NBA this season, with their only losses coming on the road against the Celtics and Bucks. The Raptors have arguably the best defense in the NBA, and with Pascal Siakam continuing to flirt with averages of 30 and 10 through three weeks, they still have an MVP candidate as their foundation. Their depth will be tested in upcoming weeks, though, with Kyle Lowry dealing with a fractured thumb.

The Athletic’s NBA Power Rankings Week 3: The #WashedKing looks clean – The Athletic

5. Toronto Raptors (Previously 6th), 7-2 (+6.9 net rating)

The Toronto Raptors received some tough news this week when they found out Kyle Lowry will miss a couple of weeks with a broken thumb and Serge Ibaka is out indefinitely with an ankle injury. Those are two very key members for this Raptors team that Nick Nurse now has to replace in the lineup, and it’s not exactly two positions of absolute depth for the Raptors. This team is very deep on the wings, but it has some issues with depth at the point guard and big man positions. Fred VanVleet can fill in easily at the point, but who backs him up? They can play a lot of Pascal Siakam at the 4 and utilize their wing depth, but there is a bit of a concern with how the Raptors avoid getting him worn down physically.

At least for a night on Sunday when the Raptors took down the Lakers in the second half, they had some contributions from lesser known faces. Chris Boucher filled in off the bench and gave the Lakers all kinds of problems. Rookie Terence Davis came in and knocked down shots and made a bunch of plays. Having those two give you consistent production is asking a lot, but the Raptors have been grooming these guys as much as they can for them to be ready for this. Toronto will still have to rely on its defense and hope Siakam can carry it most nights. But it’s fun seeing these guys get an opportunity to prove themselves against one of the top teams in the NBA and then taking full advantage of that opportunity. Raptors probably can’t endure many more injuries to key players, but they look like they’re having fun right now.

Power Rankings, Week 4: Celtics grab No. 1 spot, Lakers rise and Sixers fall | NBA.com

6 Toronto Raptors
Last week:10
Record: 7-2
Pace: 103.7 (11) OffRtg: 109.6 (8) DefRtg: 102.8 (8) NetRtg: +6.9 (5)

Nick Nurse has had a tough time trusting anybody beyond his top seven guys, and then he lost two of his top seven guys – Kyle Lowry (fractured thumb) and Serge Ibaka (sprained ankle) to injuries on Friday. So there Nurse was playing Chris Boucher, Terence Davis, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Matt Thomas in the fourth quarter of a close game in L.A. on Sunday. And of course, those four guys combined for 24 of the team’s 35 fourth-quarter points as the champs pulled off what was clearly their best win of the season. In fact, each of their other six wins have come against teams that are no better than 4-6. The relatively weak schedule could be a reason why Toronto opponents have barely shot 50% in the restricted area, with Ibaka ranking as the league’s best rim protector. But on Sunday (with no Ibaka), the Lakers (20-for-34, 59%) shot well below their league-best mark of 72%. More bench contributions will be needed as the Raptors’ reunion tour continues with a game against Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers on Monday (10:30 ET, NBA TV).

NBA Power Rankings: Old rivals Lakers, Celtics back atop league; Raptors make huge jump; Giannis taking over – CBSSports.com

2 Raptors

Hey, remember when losing Kawhi Leonard was supposed to mean a huge step backwards for Toronto? Yeah, that’s not happening. The Raptors are now tied for the league lead in wins after a 3-0 week capped off by a gigantic road win over the Lakers without Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka. Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby have been fantastic this season, and the “next man up” mentality has trickled all the way down to the likes of Chris Boucher and Terence Davis with the recent injuries. Nick Nurse and the Raptors are for real, and are dangerous no matter who they put on the court.

Nurse’s tough love provides reward when Raptors need it the most | Toronto Sun

The seeds for this particular win were sown back in the latter stages of the pre-season when Nurse put his tough love cap on and refused to settle when he knew there was more to get from some of his personnel.

It was an early week practice and the Raptors were six days away from opening the season. A run-of-the-mill question about how nice it had to feel that the newcomers to his team all came with defence-first reputations started it.
Nurse didn’t just disagree with the premise of the question, he went on to slag the defensive efforts of all the newcomers and stated that until they showed him proof of that defence-first mentality and an ability to match the intensity of the seven returnees playing ahead of them he wasn’t prepared to give them minutes.
Then he stuck to his guns and did just that sticking with a seven-man and at times eight-man rotation through most of the first seven games.

In the interim every time the Raptors stepped in the gym for a practice those Raptors not named Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Pascal Siakam, Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka and Norm Powell would be seen engaged in a spirited four-on-four game long after those others had hit the showers with Nurse and his staff taking it all in from the sidelines. On a physicality scale of 1-10 these games appeared, at least from our vantage point across the gym, to be an 11.

The payoff of that approach came Sunday night when with Lowry and Ibaka on the shelf with injury, Hollis-Jefferson, Chris Boucher, Terrence Davis II and to a lesser degree Matt Thomas played pivotal roles in helping knock off the 10.5 favourite Lakers on their home court.

That portion of the Raptors bench combined for 43 points.

Boucher and Hollis-Jefferson, in particular, grabbed the opportunity and ran with it. Hollis-Jefferson was in LeBron James’ personal space all night making it uncomfortable for a man with the physical attributes and basketball talent only perhaps two or three others in the entire NBA can match.

Anatomy of a Raptors upset: Siakam’s adjustment, Anunoby contains LeBron, bring on Kawhi – The Athletic

Pascal Siakam was adamant he had not fouled LeBron James.

When the whistle came to signal a shooting foul, Siakam let it be known. James, who has earned the benefit of every doubt when driving with a head of steam, let Siakam know that he had, in fact, made contact.

Siakam was having none of it.

It wasn’t heated, but Siakam was resolute. He hadn’t committed a foul, and he saw little reason to let it go. Even on a night when he’d been struggling mightily with his offence, and thrust into not just primary option duties, but also heavy lead ball-handler against the league’s best defence, his confidence wasn’t wavering.

There is little quit in Siakam’s DNA. At a pre-draft workout in Buffalo in 2016, he felt he should be competing with the lottery picks – including close friend Jakob Poeltl – instead of the options at No. 27. As a rookie, he felt he could start. While on G League assignment, he was out to prove he belonged in the NBA. At each successive step in Siakam’s growth, his demeanour has been unflappable. He is emotional yet always in control. Why, then, would he concede a 50-50 play (in real-time, anyway) to someone just because he’s LeBron James?

Siakam was insistent enough for Nick Nurse to challenge the call. Upon review, Siakam was right. The bench erupted in support of Nurse rather than Siakam. It broke Nurse’s 0-fer on the season challenging calls, which was occasion for the injured Kyle Lowry to pump a fist, Terence Davis II to jump and Nurse to playfully be mobbed by his assistants with hugs. Even nearby fans – the Raptors travel well, you may have heard – got into the celebratory act. It was the kind of nonsense that can only happen for a team that’s loose, emboldened by a championship and playing without the weight of the world on their shoulders.

What we know about the Toronto Raptors after the first 10 games | NBA.com Canada

Don’t forget this team is good

Listen, things could get rocky without Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka in the lineup.

Depth has been one of Toronto’s biggest issues early on in the season – they rank in the bottom-five in bench scoring – and without Ibaka’s consistency on that second unit and with Norman Powell sliding into the starting lineup, that will likely continue to be their biggest issue until two of their most reliable players return to action.

Unless of course what happened in Sunday’s win over the Lakers is a sign of things to come in which case The Bench Mob is back, baby!

But even if that was merely a flash in the pan, don’t forget how good this team looked prior to Lowry and Ibaka going down.

Recency bias is big in the NBA. Both the fans and the media get caught up in the day-to-day storylines and if the Raptors slide even a bit, their early-season success might be forgotten.

This team was 6-2, holding down second place in the Eastern Conference before Lowry and Ibaka got hurt. According to NBA stats, their 6.5 net rating ranked fourth-best in the NBA and they joined the Milwaukee Bucks as the only two teams in the league that ranked in the top-10 in both offensive and defensive rating.

They were counted out the minute that Kawhi Leonard decided to sign elsewhere and they proved those doubters wrong with a strong start to the season.

We’ll learn just how much the Raptors can rely on Pascal Siakam while they’re short-handed. We’ll see what Fred VanVleet is capable of as the full-time operator of the offence and more than anything, we’ll see just how much they can ask of Powell or someone like Chris Boucher or Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.

But above all, it’s important to remember that this team looks like a true contender in the Eastern Conference again when they’re at full strength.

Isola: The Knicks are in full-blown crisis mode again — Mills, Perry and Fizdale should consider themselves warned – The Athletic

According to several people familiar with the Knicks thinking, Dolan is plotting to take another run at Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri. It would take Phil Jackson-type money to lure Ujiri to New York but spending the big bucks is never an issue for Dolan. The issue is always hiring the right person, but in Ujiri, unlike Jackson, Mills and Perry, the Knicks would be bringing in an executive who has built a championship team.

Ujiri is under contract through the 2021 season and the Raptors ownership group will do anything and everything to keep him. However, Ujiri is an ambitious guy with powerful friends in high places, and we’re not just talking about Barack Obama. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is a close friend who remains forever frustrated with the train wreck in his own backyard that is the Knicks.

Ujiri’s possible arrival in New York could potentially put the Knicks in play for Giannis Antetokounmpo as well. Ujiri is well connected to some of today’s top stars. Mills claimed to be but couldn’t even get a sit down with Irving and/or Durant. That’s another plan he sold to Dolan that fell flat.

Several NBA executives and scouts in town for last week’s college basketball doubleheader at the Garden were linking Ujiri to the Knicks, so the story is making the rounds in NBA circles. As of last week, the plan was for Dolan to give Mills, Perry and Fizdale the rest of the season to figure things out. But things change quickly in Dolan’s world.

Reports: Knicks trying to hire Raptors president Masai Ujiri, could fire coach David Fizdale – ProBasketballTalk

This isn’t the first time the Knicks have been linked to Ujiri. Running the Nuggets, Ujiri famously outmaneuvered Dolan with the Carmelo Anthony trade. Then, with Toronto, Ujiri fleeced the Knicks with the Andrea Bargnani trade. Dolan was so shook, he later vetoed a trade for Kyle Lowry in fear of getting worked again by Ujiri.

That’s the type of executive a team should covet.

Dolan has spent big – just often on the wrong people. Phil Jackson, who had no executive experience, is the prime example.

Ujiri has proven he can assemble a championship team. He can manage an organization, completely. He’s worth a huge offer.

Would Ujiri leave the Raptors? The Wizards reportedly pursued him last summer and came up empty. Dolan’s deep pockets and New York prestige could give Ujiri things to consider.

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