Donyell Marshall was ahead of his time | VanVleet out, Thomas in | Blazers up next
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyeWqTPBeHc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-pewsaFbvk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFzsTMG0axI
The Oral History of the night Donyell Marshall hit 12 threes for the Raptors – The Athletic
Sam Mitchell, head coach: You know, the thing that’s weird to me about all this and the 3-point shooting, you know, nobody ever talks about those teams that I coached and all the 3-point shooting we did. No one ever gave us credit for that. It’s amazing. Everybody looks at me like I’m some kinda old-timey, grind-it-out coach. Well, when I was coaching the Raptors, we led the league in 3-point shooting.
Technically, the Raptors finished the year third in 3-point makes (20.5 per-game) and second in 3-point percentage (38.5). They also ranked 10th in pace and 11th in offensive rating.
Sam Mitchell: But you know what’s crazy, man? This is what’s crazy: We never talked about it from an analytical standpoint. Obviously, we understood that three meant more than two. But this was the thing that we felt was our advantage. The thing I remember about that team, in general, was that we played to our strengths. I realized, as a coach, to let us play to our strengths and just shut up.
Once Chris and our players understood that that’s how we had to play offensively, then it was easy after that. Our guys bought in, and they enjoyed it, and Donyell, and then we had the make-up of a 3-point shooting team. That’s just how we were built. We would take 3s, we could shoot 3s with people running at us out of control, like it was nothing. We had Matt Bonner, Donyell, Mo (Morris Peterson), we just had so many guys that could shoot the 3. So at a certain point as a coach, instead of trying to force guys to do something that they just can’t do and aren’t comfortable doing, you just put ’em in positions they do well and let ’em play.
“I’m ready to help the team in any way that need be,” Thomas said. “Obviously, yeah, that Miami game was tough. It’s hard to sit out. It’s even hard to sit out as a shooter when we’re struggling like that. That will never happen again, going, I think it was 6-for-42. We were getting good looks, it just was one of those nights shots didn’t fall. I’m just ready to get back out there and help the team any way I can.”
That shooting is always valuable, but it would have been especially valuable of late when the Raptors were so light on it. The Raptors shot 35.9 percent on 3s before Thomas’ injury and have shot 34.7 percent since, including a 28.6 percent mark over two weeks in December and a 33.1 percent mark over their last eight. A quick couple of plays for Thomas on Thursday could have been a nice way to counteract Miami’s remarkably effective zone.
Even the threat of Thomas helps open things up for teammates. Earlier in the season, he was an occasional fit with the bench light on shooting, as his gravitational pull helped expand the breathing room others were playing with. It was similar to how C.J. Miles helped “The Bench Mob” thrive despite an oft-disjointed offensive approach, drawing two defenders to his routes and wild close-outs when he broke free. That same logic could extend to the starting lineup, where offence has been at a premium. If VanVleet misses any amount of time — and the expectation is that he will — Thomas’ importance grows, as the Raptors would be without one of the only two consistent shooting threats they’ve had healthy as of late. Thomas is, after all, an elite sharpshooter, and defences will respect that.
“I know what my role is with the Raptors. They need me to come down and knock down shots,” Thomas said. “We have other guys that can make plays. When the opportunities present themselves, I think I’m more than capable of making plays, and because of my ability to shoot the ball, I draw a lot of attention and that usually leaves guys open, and I feel like I’m a smart player and a smart passer to make the right reads.”
The Raptors hope Monday’s appearance makes Thomas even more ready to step in and contribute Tuesday.
One step forward, another step back for injury-plagued Raptors – TSN.ca
Thomas’ imminent return is overshadowed by the status of VanVleet, who’s doubtful for Tuesday’s game with a hamstring injury he sustained late in Saturday’s win over Brooklyn. (Fortunately, Ibaka, who tweaked his previously sprained ankle on Saturday, is fine.)
It’s just the latest setback for one of the NBA’s most banged-up teams. The Raptors have already lost 128 man-games due to injury. That’s third most in the league – behind Golden State (185) and Washington (158) – and more than they totalled all of last season (113, not including Kawhi Leonard’s load management).
However, credit Nurse and his team for making the most of their unfortunate luck. While the Warriors (missing Klay Thompson and Steph Curry) and Wizards (missing John Wall) have a combined record of 20-52, the Raptors sit fourth the in the East at 24-12.
Coming out of training camp, Nurse’s rotation was made up of the eight players returning from last year’s championship-winning team. So far, not even halfway through the season, seven of those eight players have missed at least five games.
Come Tuesday, six of them will have missed at least 10 games, including their leading scorer (Siakam), five-time all-star (Lowry), most important defender (Gasol) and two best reserves (Ibaka and Powell). Remarkably, the Raptors have gone 13-6 in games without two or more of those players.
“We got hit with the injury bug so far this season,” said Thomas, who is on a rehab assignment in the G League and will play for Raptors 905 on Monday before making his NBA return Tuesday night. “But it’s something that comes with the game. It’s part of the territory. You just have to play through it. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. No other team is going to. They’re going to come in here and try to beat us. They don’t care what product we have on the court. So, we have to be ready. Everyone, all 15, 17 of us, have to be ready to play. And hopefully we can fully all of us get back healthy here soon.”
Imminent return for Raptors’ Matt Thomas signals three-point boost – Sportsnet.ca
Thomas’s return will at least provide some much needed three-point marksmanship for a team that has suffered some truly horrendous shooting nights of late. That includes a 10-of-38 performance against the Cleveland Cavaliers on New Year’s Eve and a disastrous 6-of-42 showing against the Miami Heat.
That second one was particularly difficult to watch as Miami frequently utilized zone coverages on defence, which clogged the paint and left plenty of room on the perimeter for the Raptors to shoot. And miss.
“Yeah, that Miami game was tough. It’s hard to sit out. But it’s even harder to sit out as a shooter when we’re struggling like that,” Thomas said. “But that will never happen again — going, I think it was 6-for-42? We were getting good looks, it just was one of those nights shots didn’t fall.”
Such is the varying nature of three-point shooting, and it was no surprise to see the Raptors turn their fortunes right back around 48 hours later in Brooklyn when they hit 13-of-32 from beyond the arc against the Nets. Even in spite of some extremely woeful shooting nights this season, the Raptors still sit fifth in the NBA in three-point percentage (36.8), averaging more than 13 made threes per game.
Matt Thomas is about to get his first real shot with the Raptors | The Star
Coach Nick Nurse has to hope Thomas can shake off the rust quickly. The stint in Mississauga, along with Stanley Johnson and Malcolm Miller, was aimed at easing the transition when it comes to timing, cardio and game conditioning.
“It’s just a matter of how much can he go, and is he ready to go, and is he going to be able to step right in after a long layoff and knock them down. But there’s certainly opportunity there, that’s for sure,” Nurse said of Thomas.
Thomas had 18 points for Raptors 905 in a 124-114 win over the Erie Bayhawks, shooting 7-for-19 from the field in 34 minutes. The crowd included Nurse, Siakam and Powell.
“I want some threes, bro. I’m here for threes,” Siakam told Thomas in a video posted on the team’s social media account.
NBA Power Rankings Week 12 – Lakers, Thunder, Jazz rise as 76ers continue their fall
7. Toronto Raptors
Record: 24-12
Week 11 ranking: 7The Raptors continue to battle, turning in two blowout victories and a close loss to the Heat this week despite the continued injury absence of three of their top six rotation players. Pascal Siakam, Marc Gasol and Norman Powell are all still “a ways away” from returning, according to Raptors coach Nick Nurse, but the Raptors have a good short-term schedule with six of their next seven games against teams with losing records. — Snellings
The Athletic’s NBA Power Rankings Week 11: X-Factor or X-Files? – The Athletic
7. Toronto Raptors (Previously 10th), 24-12 (+5.5 net rating)
X-File: This team’s health.
While the Raptors have quickly become one of the top standards in developing players, they still have a depth issue when it comes to this roster. Mostly that gets exposed when Pascal Siakam and Marc Gasol are out with injuries, which of course that’s going to affect how this team looks. They’ve still been a good team, but they’ll need a full squad healthy and available in order to make some noise in the playoffs and cause a lot of problems for the rest of the East. This Raptors team is on the brink of being good enough to march back into the conference finals. They might even be good enough to surprise a lot of us and return to the NBA Finals. That may depend more on the other East powers, but it’s still a real option for their success the rest of the season. They just can’t have these injuries continue to linger or rear their ugly head at the wrong time leading up to the postseason.
8 Toronto Raptors
Last week: 10Toronto lost a slugfest with the Heat this week, but also picked up solid wins over the Cavs and Nets. This team is a true Eastern Conference contender with all the pieces intact — we just never get to see it. Pascal Siakam and Marc Gasol remain out, with no imminent return in sight. But, as always, they figure out ways to win with their big guns on the sideline.
10 Toronto Raptors
Last week: 10Record: 24-12
Pace: 100.7 (14) OffRtg: 109.1 (13) DefRtg: 103.6 (2) NetRtg: +5.5 (6)The Raptors remain undefeated (19-0) against the 17 teams currently under .500, picking up wins over Cleveland and Brooklyn last week by outscoring the Cavs by 21 points from 3-point range and committing 16 fewer turnovers than the Nets. But they have the league’s biggest differential between their winning percentage against those 17 teams and their winning percentage against the 13 teams currently above .500 (5-12, 0.294). The bigger difference in those games has been on offense, and in Miami on Thursday, the champs scored five points (on 2-for-16 shooting) over a nine-minute stretch of the fourth quarter, turning a one-point game into their worst offensive performance of the season. The Raptprs have had their opening-night starting lineup for just 11 games and Pascal Siakam’s return from a groin strain doesn’t appear to be imminent, but they’ve lost all five games in which they’ve had all five guys against the over-.500 group. Their win in Brooklyn on Saturday began a stretch where they’re playing 13 of 15 games against teams currently below .500.
Fred VanVleet doubtful for game against Blazers as Raptors injury list grows | The Star
By Monday’s practice, VanVleet was in treatment with his availability against Damian Lillard, Carmelo Anthony and the Trail Blazers up in the air.
“Freddy is being checked,” Nurse said. “He’s going to be questionable for (Tuesday). Doubtful, whatever.”
An injury for VanVleet would mean four of the Raptors’ top six players are on the sidelines. Pascal Siakam (stretched groin), Marc Gasol (strained left hamstring) and Norman Powell (subluxation of the left shoulder) were all injured in a Dec. 18 game at the Detroit Pistons.
There is no timeline for their returns, though Nurse told reporters in Brooklyn over the weekend that Powell, Gasol and Siakam would likely get back on the floor in that order.
Portland Trail Blazers at Toronto Raptors Preview – Blazer’s Edge
Don’t Let Injuries Fool You. While the Trail Blazers have a case to be the second most banged up team in the league, the Raptors are no slouch in the medical department. They are without their leading scorer in Pascal Siakam, as well as two of their top three rebounders. If VanVleet doesn’t play, they will be without three of their five best players. The Trail Blazers have had a nasty habit of playing down to battered competition. Now is not the time to take the foot off the pedal, especially since the car has stalled as of late.
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