Take Two against the muck that is Boston.
TIPOFF: Raptors at Celtics | Toronto Sun
SCOUTING REPORT
Boston has won the first two meetings of the season, including on Christmas Day. This time, the Celtics should be the tired side, having hosted Cleveland a day earlier. Boston has been rolling and has vaulted up to second place in the Eastern Conference. Already second in the NBA in defensive efficiency, the team will be even more dangerous with a 100% Marcus Smart. Boston also ranks fifth in offensive efficiency. Jaylen Brown’s 30-point outburst at Toronto boosted his scoring average to 20.2 points per game, giving the Celtics three players averaging at least 20 a game.
MARQUEE MATCHUP
Kemba Walker vs. Kyle Lowry
Lowry has averaged 21.5 points and 7.5 assists against Boston this season and is turning in another all-star caliber campaign, but so too is counterpart Walker. Toronto had all kinds of trouble dealing with Walker’s outside game on Christmas. The former UConn star can free himself for shots with the best of them, but also can create for others. Walker leads the team in scoring, three-point shooting percentage and assists per game, but he’s just one part of an extremely dangerous offensive group. Lowry has averaged 18 points, 6.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game in 26 games as a Raptor against Boston. Walker has averaged 19.9, 5.5 and 1.7 vs. Toronto.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh2cqHijsDg
Ailing Raptors may lack depth to keep up with Celtics again – Sportsnet.ca
But when your opponent shoots 50 per cent from the field and 42.4 per cent from deep, and features three players averaging more than 20 points per game – plus a fourth at a little over 17 per contest – blowouts like the one on Christmas are going to happen.
The question for the Raptors now is how are they going to prevent the exact same thing from happening again?
The truth is, as short-handed as the team is now, the Raptors may not have the depth at the moment to sustain all of what the Celtics can throw at them.
“They’ve got a lot of weapons. That’s the problem,” said Raptors coach Nick Nurse.” Kemba (Walker) with his speed and shooting is a handful every night. He’s gonna shake free at parts of the game to prevent problems. (Jaylen) Brown and (Jayson) Tatum, obviously are becoming really good players, really good scorers, and then they’ve got a bunch of guys around them.”
This isn’t to say the Raptors are already waving the white flag heading into Boston, of course, but given their injuries, the outcome is probably highly dependant on how hard they play and how much effort they manage to put into games to stay competitive and, perhaps, come up with a victory against teams of the Celtics’ calibre.
“They’re a talented group that can make shots when they’re open, and you’ve just got to make them work a little bit harder and make them feel our presence and make them go get it at the end of the day,” said Raptors forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
“We want to kind of focus on those things. We’ll live with the 15 dribbles and they score — we’ll live with that. But we want to make sure we get them moving and get them working.”
The Raptors send out McCaw for help in time of need | The Star
These are uncharacteristically hard times for the Raptors, with injuries decimating the heart of the roster, and the only thing they can do to survive is ask players to take on uncharacteristically different roles.
They need bit players to be consistent contributors, passive sorts to be more aggressive, backups to become regulars.
They need some topsy-turvy rotation machinations in order to tread water in the hyper-competitive upper echelon of the NBA’s Eastern Conference.
“We gotta play better, first and foremost,” Fred VanVleet said Friday, before adding the key codicil to that plan.
“Everybody from myself to Kyle (Lowry), everybody that’s on the court has to play better, but at the same time we could use a couple boosts from guys to get us through some of those rough stretches, and maybe get us over the hump sometimes.”
The perfect example of what the team needs exists in the person — and the personality — of Patrick McCaw.
The fourth-year wing is now elevated to a starting role, and everyone connected closely to the team recognizes his talents. They also are painfully aware that it seems hard for him to step out of his shell, to play a bigger and more dominant role, since he’s so used to being one of the “other” guys.
What they need is for him to be one of the main guys and be more assertive than he’s been.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x80ljYBPqnE
Former Raptors star Kawhi Leonard is AP's male athlete of 2019 | CBC Sports
Leonard is The Associated Press’ male athlete of the year for 2019, comfortably winning a vote by AP member sports editors and AP beat writers. He becomes the fifth NBA player to win the award, joining Larry Bird (1986), three-time recipient Michael Jordan (1991 through 1993), three-time recipient LeBron James (2013, 2016, 2018) and Stephen Curry (2015). The award has been made annually since 1931, and Simone Biles was announced Thursday as the women’s recipient for 2019.
Leonard was the NBA Finals MVP for the second time, leading Toronto to its first championship — five years after he first smudged his fingerprints on both trophies with the San Antonio Spurs. He wound up leaving the Raptors in the summer for the Clippers, returning to his native Southern California and turning the historically woeful franchise into one of the top teams in the league.
Wolstat: Champion Raptors earn title of Postmedia’s team of the year | Ottawa Citizen
Nurse had to deal with the impact of Leonard constantly being shuffled in and out of the lineup as we all learned what “load management” meant.
The coaching staff and management also had to convince players, many of them proud veterans like Serge Ibaka, Jonas Valanciunas, Marc Gasol and Kyle Lowry, to change roles, accept new responsibilities and take a step or two back, if need be. All in the name of doing what was best for the team.
Team. There’s that word again. So much could have gone wrong. Nothing is ever seamless or easy in professional sports. The egos are vast. Hundreds and thousands of dollars could rest on each decision.
“Obviously team of the year is fitting right? I think that’s the whole point of why we’re in this and it’s not an individual sport, it’s a team sport,” Webster told Postmedia.
“Watching some of the highlights and kind of reliving it in those moments I think that is what stands out to me, is how many different people contributed, and not just contributed in a small way. Basically, the top eight guys that played, you can look back and see each one of them had an iconic moment in their career throughout the run. And you don’t win unless all of those guys do it,” Webster said.
“Sometimes maybe individuals can have success or a team can have success, but different players don’t feel it. But I truly felt like everyone felt like they played a big part of that (accomplishment).”
Ibaka was one of those players. He wept when he finally reached the pinnacle of his sport. But the road to get there was bumpy at times. Ibaka spoke cryptically at times during the run about how difficult it was for he and others to adjust to their new lot of life.
Celtics notes: Marcus Smart eyeing Saturday return vs. Raptors – News – telegram.com – Worcester, MA
Smart was on the parquet floor prior to the game with the Cavaliers getting shots up and ran full court at the team’s practice facility during a workout on Thursday. The Celtics did not want to bring Smart back Friday, which would have meant having him play on back-to-back days.
“He really hadn’t done anything until the 23rd or 24th (of December) in a couple of weeks, so it’s a matter of making sure that not only is his cardio up but also it probably wouldn’t be best to start your playing again two days in a row,″ Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “He went really hard (Thursday). We’ll see how he responds. There was a thought that he could potentially play today, but it’s best to make sure that he’s ready to go full throttle. We’ll see how he feels like (Saturday).″
Smart sat out a Dec. 4 game against the Miami Heat after injuring his oblique in New York on Dec. 1. He returned to play Dec. 6 against the Denver Nuggets, but has been sidelined since then due to the infection that began in one eye and spread to the other.
Speaking to reporters in Toronto on Christmas Day, Smart said the infection was serious and that he was unable to leave his house because it was contagious.
“I thought I was going to go blind for a while,″ Smart said. “I think it was the worst case of viral conjunctivitis that they’ve seen. So basically I was a guinea pig to see how to handle this if it ever happens again.
Four Quarters with the Raptors: Christmas woes, comeback psychology, and wing debates – Raptors HQ
The Moment – The Raptors just not having it on Christmas
The holidays can be a strenuous time of the year for everyone. It’s branded as a time of joy and celebration, but the constant gatherings, cooking, cleaning, and maybe just a bit too much eggnog can take a toll on even the best of us. As the exhaustion builds leading up to December 25th, it can feel like you’ve been caught in a tornado of turkey, sugar cookies, and the sweet sounds of Michael Bublé and it’s just as tiring as a 60-hour work week. Then, finally, when Christmas Day hits, you just don’t have it.The Raptors certainly just did not have it on Christmas. After a 10-0 run to start the game, the Celtics took over with a run of their own and never looked back. After taking the lead midway through the first, the Celtics winning this game rarely felt in doubt. Any sign of life that the Raptors showed was quickly quelled by a Kemba Walker three or a jumper by Jaylen Brown, who was simply spectacular against the Raptors. Brown was so magical that, between his play and his beard, I briefly could have been convinced that he spent the night prior circumventing the globe delivering presents and joy to children all around.
Perhaps Christmas Day is a rare occasion when playing on the road is an advantage. At home, you are surrounded by family and it is easy to get caught up in the festivities of the season. Basketball is just one of the many things that is part of Christmas Day when you’re at home. When you’re travelling on Christmas Day, all you can think about is how pissed off that you are that you are not at home. Basketball then becomes the outlet for that fire.
Who would you pick to win a basketball game? The team that has had nothing to do but focus on the upcoming game, or the team with full bellies and partially occupied minds. Yes, the Raptors were short-handed, and the Celtics are a good team, but it was clear that on this Christmas Day, the Raptors just did not have it. So, thank you NBA for the home game on Christmas, but maybe we’ll go back to how it was.
https://www.instagram.com/coreyswish2019/
The Toronto Raptors Won The NBA And Our Hearts In 2019 | HuffPost Canada Life
It’s been a stellar year for the Toronto Raptors, who entered the decade in a state of uncertainty after failing to qualify for the 2010 NBA playoffs.
Since then, the team has gone on to make one of the greatest comebacks in franchise history, by winning their first NBA championship in 2019.
But the Raptors also had some incredible moments off the court.
Looking back at the top 2019 Raptors’ playoff moments | The Star
We are at the time of year-end stories because that’s what we do to jog the memories and fill the space at this time each year and they generally are a lot of fun.
I’ve got my own Raptors narrative coming sometime on the weekend – I imagine Saturday for Sunday because that’s easiest for me – but to set that up, how about this?
Five memorable moments, in descending order of five through one, from the championship run? I’m sure most of them will be referred to again whenever I get around to writing but I do have an angle to explore in that piece that isn’t here.
So here you go, let me know what you think:
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Take that, Giannis
The Kawhi dunk on Giannis in the clinching Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final against Milwaukee was astonishing, violent, decisive and basically broke the Bucks.
I have no idea how he summoned the energy to do it, I love the Lowry dish-off and how he stuck his hand out. Crazy, crazy play.
Toronto Raptors: Catching up with former players who laid path for turnaround
Greivis Vasquez
Sports teams aren’t always reflections of the cities that they are located in, but the Raptors’ focus on multiculturalism throughout their squad has only charmed Toronto even more. A native of Venezuela, Vasquez spent two seasons with the Raptors as an integral bench player and played a key role in breaking the Raptors’ long playoff drought.Basketball can be cruel on the body, however, and after stints with Milwaukee and Brooklyn, Vasquez was out of the league in 2017, having undergone seven (7!) right ankle procedures. The Athletic reported that “Vasquez, 32, can barely walk, jog or run correctly.”
But, Vasquez has landed on his feet, although hopefully not too hard on that right ankle. He is an assistant coach with the Erie Bayhawks, the G-League affiliate of the Atlanta Hawks.
How has the move back to Chicago been?
When I left Toronto, it was because of personal reasons. It had nothing to do with the team, nothing to do with the city. Obviously, I became a Canadian citizen, so I felt I was gonna be there for the rest of my career. As things unfolded, a lot of it beyond my control, it came to a point when I was offered a position with the Bulls that I had to seriously consider for the big picture of things. When it happened, it was very difficult leaving. In fact, it was extremely hard walking into the office of Tom Anselmi, who was running MLSE at the time, along with Richard Peddie and Larry Tanenbaum. I had really, probably, the best relationship I’ve ever had with any type of supervisor or people above me because things were very transparent, they respected me for what I did, they appreciated what I did, and in turn, I think I gave my heart and soul to the organization.
So to answer your question in long-form, the transition has worked out well. The Bulls are great, ownership’s great, management’s great, family is good.
You mentioned that in 2008 you became a Canadian citizen. Why was that important to you?
It was important to me because the foundation and the belief I had in the Canadian culture. Where I was living, that was in my DNA, in my soul. It was extremely important to me. And I’ve kept my Canadian citizenship. That’s something I will never relinquish and I’ll hold dear to my heart.
I remember the day I took the test in Hamilton, and I remember when she went down check by check by check and said, ‘Great, congratulations!’ It was a fantastic feeling.
