Fan Duel Toronto Raptors

Morning Coffee – Thu, Feb 6

Raptors win in epic fashion over Pacers | Oscar nominations are in | Ujiri and Webster now? GTFO! | Today is trade deadline!

Raptors win in epic fashion over Pacers | Oscar nominations are in | Ujiri and Webster now? GTFO! | Today is trade deadline!

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10 things: Serge Ibaka nails the dagger in thrilling comeback vs. Pacers – Yahoo!

Four — Throwback: Lowry provided consistency while Siakam righted the ship and put together one of his finest performances of the season with 32 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists. Lowry paraded to the rim all night in spite of all of Indiana’s formidable shot blockers and found an incredible groove on his jumper as he nailed three treys in the second half. The noticeable difference in Lowry is that he’s become unflappable since the championship. No matter the odds, no matter the situation, Lowry keeps his cool and wills his team back into the game.

Another big comeback and a franchise-record winning streak beg the question: Is anything unlikely for the Raptors anymore? – The Athletic

In the tunnel to the locker room after the game, Ibaka expressed doubt about the shot to Lowry. Almost as if the play had yet to take place, Lowry affirmed him to stick with it. Their conversation was interrupted by a team staff member, bellowing on the way into the room to “start the car, we just stole something!”

Ibaka’s shot had dropped. It put the Raptors ahead 119-118, which held as the final after the Raptors closed the Pacers out with 30 seconds of absolute madness on the defensive end. The Raptors, once ahead 12, had come back from down 19, just the latest in a long line of unlikely comebacks and capping what is now a franchise-record 12-game winning streak.

It’s hard to decide what, from that paragraph, is least probable.

On a purely statistical basis, it might be the comeback. The Raptors opened the game quite well despite some early warts showing — Lowry’s aggression and dominance and Ibaka’s play-finishing were enough to make up for a rough offensive start for Pascal Siakam and a quiet night from the supporting cast. (Lowry, by the way, came up two rebounds shy of the first 30-point triple-double of his career.) Things turned sour, with the Raptors losing the second by a season-worst 25 points, then digging a bigger hole early in the third. With Ibaka in some foul trouble, Nick Nurse went to a lineup with Siakam at centre, leveraging the team’s speed and buying a bit of additional spacing that could tilt the scales against Domantas Sabonis, who figured to benefit. It worked, too, enough that a larger sample would be worthwhile while Marc Gasol heals. Still, after a predictably poor bench stretch to start the fourth, the Raptors were deep in the hole they’d dug.

With 2:58 to play, they trailed by 11, giving them a 0.05-percent win probability based on historical precedent per InPredictable. It might pale compared to the 30-point comeback against the Dallas Mavericks earlier in the year, but it was pretty damn unlikely. It’s a Raptors special by this point, as it tied them with Denver for the league lead with 13 double-digit comebacks.

The Raptors dialed up the aggression with presses and traps, frustrating the Pacers into early clock turnovers and late-clock heaves. Lowry and Siakam were everywhere on defence (Siakam had maybe his best defensive game of the season) and Siakam’s earlier struggles around the rim subsided, making way for a number of clutch finishes, foul-draws and kick-outs. The Pacers didn’t score over the final 2:27 of the game, the 9-0 closing run pushing the Raptors to fifth in the league with a robust plus-17.1 net rating in the clutch.

Raptors’ record-setting miracle win proves nothing overwhelms them – Sportsnet.ca

It was spectacularly entertaining. The Raptors looked ready to blow the Pacers out early, then tried to give the game away in the second quarter. They seized it back with a 24-8 spurt in the third quarter that helped cut Indiana’s lead to four, 86-82, to set the table for the back-and-forth final frame and the frantic finish as the Raptors completed their NBA-leading 13th double-digit comeback win.

The win showed the Raptors at their best as they proved again there is no situation that seems to overwhelm them.

“We’ve said this before during this win streak: we haven’t played great all the time but we keep finding a way and that’s a heck of a characteristic to have,” said Nurse. “Tonight we weren’t very good and they were very good, I give them credit. They were awesome, they were cutting and flying and moving and hustling and guarding and all the things you can be and they were trying to knock us out and we wouldn’t quite go away and luckily we hung in there and pulled one off.”

But if we’re being fair, their early showing against the Pacers emphasized a nagging concern about the Raptors’ performance this season: record aside, can they beat good teams?

It’s relevant given the Raptors have ambitions of defending their 2019 NBA title.

Victor Oladipo starts but Pacers experience epic collapse vs. Raptors – Indy Star

For a loss of this magnitude, at this time in the Indiana Pacers’ season and with the NBA trade deadline hours away, is crippling.

Victor Oladipo made his first start of the season against the team that he went down against one year ago, when he tore the right quad tendon in his knee.

The Pacers (31-20) were on the verge of erasing two home losses, including a terrible performance against the New York Knicks, beat an elite Eastern Conference team and silence any questions about exactly who they are.

Instead, they cracked. The faltered. The panicked. The best game by Oladipo in his fourth game went to waste. Leading by as much as 19 — and by eight with 2:10 left at Scotiabank Arena — the Pacers lost 119-118 Wednesday night to the Toronto Raptors, who have won a franchise-record 12 in a row.

“I felt like they knew exactly what they wanted to do down the stretch,” Oladipo said of the Raptors, who made 13-of-22 shots in the fourth quarter. “We weren’t really sure.”

After Serge Ibaka’s go-ahead 3 with 30.4 seconds left, Oladipo missed a 3 about 20 seconds later, retrieved his own miss and saw Malcolm Brogdon lose possession for Indiana’s 19th turnover as the clock expired.

Pacers fall apart in fourth quarter on the way to team’s third straight loss – Indy Cornrows

The Pacers started the game slow, falling behind 32-20 with 10:38 remaining in the second quarter.

The always reliable bench unit and Domantas Sabonis quickly turned that around.

The unit went on a 31-7 run in the second quarter to take a 12-point lead. The run was sparked by six three-pointers by Holiday and Doug McDermott.

Indiana led by a score of 63-48 at halftime.

The Pacers kept the momentum rolling at the beginning of the second-half and led by as much as 19 points.

But the Raptors came roaring back, cutting the lead to four points entering the fourth quarter before finally rattling off the 11-0 run to win it.

The Pacers were led by Malcolm Brogdon with 24 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists and Holiday and McDermott with a combined 41 points and 10 three-pointers.

The Raptors were led by Lowry with 32 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists and Ibaka with 30 points and 7 rebounds. Siam also finished with 25 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists.

A positive takeaway for the Pacers was the performance of Victor Oladipo. Making his first start of the season, while extending his minutes restriction to 28 minutes, he played his best game of his short season.

Recap: Late-game heroics seal 12th straight win for the Toronto Raptors, 119-118 over the Pacers – Raptors HQ

Like all great Raptors’ comebacks this season though, this one just sort of happened. The Pacers grew their lead to 19 points by the 9:30 mark of the third and it looked like Toronto was well and truly spent. During those opening minutes, Siakam missed another bunny at the rim, threw a hopeless pass to Ibaka on the move, and we all got to watch the Pacers drill a couple more threes. Then, out of nowhere, a 12-0 run — it really was that abrupt. The Raptors leaned on Lowry, who attacked the rim in lieu of Siakam, got some keen shooting from Davis, and a few free throws from Pascal. Coincidentally, Toronto’s defense also picked up a tick behind a smaller, faster lineup with Siakam and Anunoby in the frontcourt, and suddenly the lead shrunk as low as two. The Raptors would end the quarter down 86-82.

Nurse gave Toronto’s bench lineup another try, but that was folly. The Pacers just pushed their lead back up to an exhausting nine points. Cue the re-entry of Siakam and Lowry, who watched as Ibaka picked up his fifth foul around the 8-minute mark despite being the only player on the floor for Toronto who could score. That trio, with Davis (in place of OG) and VanVleet, made another push. This too was turned away — McDermott was working on a team-leading +21 by this point. All told, the Pacers, if you can believe this, held an 11-point lead with 3:50 left to go in this game. They had been the better team for most of the night, looked to have most of the key matchups covered, and were definitely shooting the ball better from deep. It should have been over.

But the Pacers don’t have Lowry and Siakam, who combined with Ibaka for all of Toronto’s points in the fourth — a big-time 37. It was a clinic. Lowry drove the lane, hit 3s, and quarterbacked the team’s fullcourt pressure. Siakam drew fouls, made steals, grabbed boards, and made life miserable for everyone on the Pacers. And Serge? After keeping the Raptors in it for those desperate opening fourth quarter minutes, he hit a spinning finger roll, made a wicked pass to Siakam for a lay-up, and then hit the dang game-winning three.

Toronto’s defense took over from there — Victor Oladipo got a look but missed, there was a mad scramble but no other shot — and that was it. The Raptors won number 12 in a row even though, quite frankly, they shouldn’t have. Well, that’s what some of the numbers say anyway. But as I said: there’s just something about this Toronto squad that remains impossible to define completely. How it will emerge in any given situation is not quite known either. But it is there. Hoo boy, it is there.

Comeback win highlights Raptors’ record-setting streak – TSN.ca

If you’re looking for a through line, a theme connecting these last 12 games, it’s that there hasn’t been a through line. They’ve had players in and out of the lineup, which has been the case for most of the season, so different guys have had to step up each night. On some nights they’ve won with their offence, on others they’ve gotten it done on the defensive end.

Regardless of the opponent or game script, they keep finding a way to win.

It should be noted that nine of those 12 wins have come against teams with losing records. In fact, prior to facing Indiana on Wednesday, their previous 11 opponents had a winning percentage of .370. The schedule has been kind.

However, you still have to play – and win – the games. It’s only natural to have an off night once in a while. Every team has them, even the great teams come out flat once or twice a month, at least. You have those games where it almost doesn’t matter who you’re playing, you’re just destined to lose.

That’s what it felt like on Wednesday, and they’ve had a few more of those nights over this streak. But they’re never out of a game. Once they flip that switch, especially on the defensive end, something clicks and they can turn the tables on you in a hurry. A team like that must be a nightmare to play against. That’s the identity and the reputation they’ve built.

“We play 48 minutes, that’s how we play,” said Lowry, who was brilliant in fuelling the comeback, scoring 32 points to go along with eight rebounds and 10 assists on the night. “We gave ourselves a chance, put the press on, made some shots, got aggressive and played better defence down the stretch, played a little faster.”

“I think it’s a little bit of everything,” Siakam said of the winning streak. “I think we play together. I think no matter what happens we always stay calm and weather the storm and just continue to play basketball. We don’t get down on ourselves. We miss shots, or we have turnovers, can be down 20 [points], whatever the case may be, it’s just about us staying together as a team, and I think we did a great job of that tonight. Even when it wasn’t going well, we didn’t really see anybody talking down on anybody, or anybody just like pointing fingers. It was just about us getting together, and once we turn it on, we know that we can always win any night.”

The Raptors have won 13 games in which they’ve trailed by 10 or more points this season, tied with Denver for the most in the NBA. The most impressive was a 30-point comeback victory over Dallas in December. It was the largest comeback in franchise history and the biggest in the league in a decade.

Raptors rally against the Pacers to set a franchise record with 12th straight win | The Star

Ibaka made his second three-pointer of the night with 30.4 seconds to play to secure a 119-118 victory for the Raptors, a bucket that sent Scotiabank Arena into a playoff-like frenzy. Fans celebrated a late three-point miss by the Pacers’ Victor Oladipo and a turnover that followed with a deafening volume reminiscent of the atmosphere last June. The Raptors’ current run has bested the previous 11-game win streaks the team put together in 2016 and 2018.

Some of Toronto’s road to 12 wins has been relatively straightforward. All but two of the teams the Raptors, now 37-14, played over the last three weeks went into Wednesday’s action with a win-loss percentages of .440 or below. The visit from the Pacers, 31-20, presented a bump in the road, particularly when Toronto was outscored by 25 points in the second quarter.

“Had ’em all the way,” Nick Nurse joked after the game.

Nurse gambled on sticking with Ibaka as he played with five fouls down the stretch.

“At that point in the game — it was kind of on the line anyway — I just figured you try that for a little bit and see what happens,” Nurse said. “He was playing really well. Save him for what? Fortunately he was able to last.”

Toronto Raptors sweep Best Male Athlete categories at Sports Oscars – Fansided

The nominees were announced last month and now, the winners have been announced and we can celebrate another epic run by the Toronto Raptors.

Kawhi Leonard took home a Sports Oscar in the Best Male Athlete in a leading role category. He had the incredible buzzer-beater to help the Raptors advance to the Eastern Conference Finals and he averaged 30.1 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game in the playoffs, shooting 49.0 percent from the field. The voters were clearly swayed by his postseason heroics as he bested regular-season MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo in this category.

Leonard’s teammate, Fred VanVleet, won a Sports Oscar in the Best Male Athlete in a supporting role category, edging out Howie Kendrick, Rob Gronkowski, Lamar Jackson and Virgil van Dijk. Again, postseason performance must have made a difference with the voters. VanVleet was solid if unspectacular in the regular season but took primary responsibility for defending Stephen Curry in the Finals and averaged 14 points per game in the series, including an enormous 22-point effort in the title-clinching Game 6.

Post-NBA trade deadline will bring sighs of relief for Raptors, league | Toronto Sun

Raptors head coach Nick Nurse was asked if he will feel a sense of relief once the deadline passes.

“I think it gives you a sense of where you’re going, where’s your vision and thoughts and all that stuff, they take you immediately,” Nurse said before the Raptors took on the Indiana Pacers.

“I mean, right now, I’m doing the best I can to coach these guys to a maximum place. And there’s some long-term vision in that. If that gets changed at all come three o’clock tomorrow, then you start planning that through and making those adjustments,” he said.

“And if it doesn’t, then I think you really start zeroing in a little bit on on the next 30, 28, 29 whatever games it is left, and how you’re going to plan that out with the guys you’ve got.”

Right now, Nurse is trying to make things work without Marc Gasol and Norman Powell, two of his key players. Neither is expected back any time soon.

Even though Toronto entered Wednesday second in the East in winning percentage, the head coach thinks this group can get even better.

“I think there’s certainly lots of room for improvement,” Nurse had said a day earlier. “I would still say that the ceiling, individually especially, is up there, yet we’ve got some ways to go. And then, collectively, you’re always looking for more consistent play. Even though we’ve won 11 in a row, there were quite a few games in there, I’m not sure we played all that great, but we found a way to win, which is a good characteristic that we have. We played a little better in the last few, but just always continuing to push for more.”
I

n paticular, Nurse pointed to better defence, rebounding and communication as areas he expects strides to be made in.

Revisiting the Toronto Raptors trade deadline moves over the years | NBA.com Canada | The official site of the NBA

2001

The 2001 trade deadline saw the Raptors make two multiplayer deals, acquiring a fan favourite in the process.

Toronto traded Tyrone Corbin, Cornel David, Corliss Williamson and a pick to Detroit for Eric Montross and Jerome “Junkyard Dog” Williams.

Williams, who earned the adoration of Raptors fans with his scrappy and energetic play, appeared in 180 regular season games with Toronto, earning 107 starts. He also appeared in 16 postseason games and played a key reserve role in the Raptors earning their first-ever postseason series win.

In a separate deal, the team sent Muggsy Bogues and Mark Jackson to the Knicks in exchange for Chris Childs and a draft pick. Childs appeared in 95 regular season games and started in 13 of the 17 postseason games in which he appeared.

NBA Trade Deadline: 6 trade ideas for the NBA’s title contenders – For The Win

It’s not a flashy move by any means. Dedmon isn’t a transcendent player, but he’d give the Raptors some much needed help in their front court behind Marc Gasol who has been injured this year.

They’d lose a bit of wing depth, but they wouldn’t be giving away players who were actually contributing big minutes. Their rotation would be pretty much the same.

The Knicks challenge is attractive, but Masai Ujiri leaving now would sting – The Athletic

“I know Masai. Masai is like my son,” Tanenbaum said. “There’s no chance he’s leaving Toronto. You can ask him that one, too. I know Masai. … I think if you asked Masai, he has everything he wants.

“We built a championship team together. What more could you want?”

Well, plenty. He would get an absurd amount of money to turn around the Knicks, and an absurd amount of credit should he actually accomplish it. The Knicks haven’t won a championship since 1973 and have been a punchline for the last two decades. In the span of six years, he turned a team with a core of a malcontent point guard, two divisive and overlapping wings and a distressed asset in the frontcourt into a championship team — in Toronto, seen as a league outpost by so many around the NBA.

There is still more to do in Toronto. He could actually help bring a marquee free agent to the city, finally obliterating that inferiority complex Raptors fans feel. He can win more, which he has frequently said is his basketball goal. However, winning with the Knicks would turn him from a likely Hall of Famer into an outright basketball deity. Beyond that, being in a financial and political hub like New York would likely be a boon to Giants of Africa, Ujiri’s roving basketball camps in Africa designed to further educate and enrich the lives of youth on the continent. Ujiri’s ultimate goals are inextricably linked with his work with Giants of Africa.

Yes, going to the Knicks means he would have to work with the notoriously difficult Dolan. What is the worst that can happen, though? The pair clashes, Dolan fires him, and Ujiri is a very rich unemployed basketball executive with a championship resumé. There are worse things.

That is not to say Ujiri is Big Apple bound. He has a genuine love for Toronto, has a supportive ownership group — both on and off the court — here  and it is, indeed, a home for his family. Short of a stake in MLSE, Ujiri has everything he could want as a basketball executive in Toronto. MLSE, surely, knows what it has in Ujiri, and will fight to keep him. In the words of Raptors colour commentator Jack Armstrong, sometimes it is best not to mess with happiness.

The thought of Raptors president Masai Ujiri leaving Toronto is very real this time | The Star

But if he wanted to sign an extension, the process could have started by now. Ujiri is signed through 2021, as are most essential parts of the franchise: head coach Nick Nurse, general manager Bobby Webster, scouting guru Dan Tolzman, medical superstar Dr. Alex McKechnie, and more. In 2017, MLSE demanded draft-pick compensation for Ujiri and unless Ujiri has the ability to break his contract after this season, MLSE would do so again. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Wednesday night that the hurdles of draft compensation, Toronto’s preference not to lose their star executive, and Ujiri’s desire to do this at all were, for rumpled Knicks owner James Dolan, a giant house step too high.

That runs counter to an awful lot of informed talk around the NBA, which indicated this week that the Knicks wanted Ujiri in the worst way. Either they’re trying to lower the temperature on something that wasn’t going to happen until this summer at the earliest, or James Dolan and the Knicks are the types to push on the pull door once, and then do it again, hoping that this time it might be different.

They could, of course, be doing both.

The point is this will keep happening until the Raptors president is re-signed or leaves, because clearly something has happened to make Ujiri wonder about the platform and opportunity New York might afford. It’s not like he needs the leverage, not with a ring. If the Knicks offered him blank-cheque autonomy, you’d bet Ujiri could fix the franchise; it’s not like the Raptors were championship material when he arrived. Winning in New York could make him a legend, and give his beloved Giants of Africa an incredible boost.

So if it cools down now, you wouldn’t be crazy to bet this resurfaces whenever Toronto’s wonderful season ends.

Which means you should really savour this. When this team came to camp, the determination to prove they could do this without Kawhi was palpable. It’s come true, so far.

Could Ujiri leave the defending champion Raptors for the Knicks? – Video – TSN

The New York Times reporter Marc Stein wrote that sources tell him Masai Ujiri is aiming to transition from the defending champion Raptors to the Knicks’ front office. Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon debate on PTI whether they buy the rumours Ujiri would want the job in New York.

Toronto Raptors President Masai Ujiri Concern-o-Meter: Is the NBA engineering his move to the Knicks? – Raptors HQ

Current Concern-o-Meter Rating: 6.5

Folks, it’s high. Not the highest it can go, but the highest it’s ever been! Here’s why:

Stein is well connected, of course. He works for the NYT, so he’s not reporting something without legit sources.

The league angle. While it would cause a riot in Raptors twitter, the league has stepped in with poorly run teams before, most recently when Bryan Colangelo went to Philadelphia.

Ujiri-Watcher Grange reporting on a potential out this summer. If Masai can leave this summer, surely MLSE isn’t going to just force him to stay until then.

All of the talk that Bobby Webster might go too!? One of the reasons my concern was low before was because I was confident the Raptors would be fine with Webster there to take over for Masai!

The only reason it’s not higher, honestly — other than the usual it’s the Knicks caveat — is because now that the bit about Adam Silver and the league actively pushing Ujiri to “save” the Knicks is out there, I think it would be a huge black mark on the league were Ujiri to go there. There is, obviously, a perception already that the league favours its big market New York and LA teams. If the league engineers the movement of its top exec from a small market team (I know Toronto is not “small” per se, but in terms of advertising dollars to the NBA — the only metric that matters — Toronto is a small market) to a big market team, then, the league’s reputation is ruined. It’s over, it’s done.

Maybe they don’t care, because all they want is the New York and LA money. But if that happens you can throw away any arguments about the NBA treating small market teams equally, and parity, and not caring where the title goes or the stars go because it’s over. The NBA will have loudly announced that it is a two-city league and that’s it.

I don’t know if the league is ready to go there right now. They may actually dissuade this move from happening to protect their rep. And as Grange points out in his piece, Larry Tannenbaum is chairman of the board of governors. Do we think the 20+ “small market” teams — all of whom are technically, collectively Adam Silver’s boss — will be happy about this?

I don’t think so.

At least that a what I’m telling myself this morning.

STINSON: Empire state of mind for Raptors president Ujiri? | Toronto Sun

If Ujiri does in fact consider the Knicks his last great challenge, then Dolan would be wise to wait and come calling in June.

But Dolan is as unpredictable as light-rail trains in Ottawa — sorry, transit nerd joke — and he has a long history of firing and hiring people at baffling moments. He fired a GM on the eve of training camp and a team president just after the draft. (The Mills dismissal, two days before the trade deadline, completes the rarely hit bad-timing trifecta.) It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Dolan barrel ahead and hire someone other than Ujiri, because barrelling ahead is kind of what James Dolan does. This is not a man known for careful pragmatism.

There is also the state of the Knicks themselves. They are deservedly a laughingstock, coming off back-to-back 50-loss seasons and working on a third, and their roster is like a living document on how not to build an NBA contender.

They twice told everyone that they were going after LeBron James, and he ignored them both times, then they traded potential franchise cornerstone Kristaps Porzingis to clear cap space for Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, who both ignored them. The constant in all of this, and in misadventures with Isiah Thomas and Phil Jackson, is Dolan, and his presence would have to at least give Ujiri pause.

But the Knicks would also provide the possibility of a blank canvas. The terrible roster could quickly be turned into a yawning chasm of cap space, plus rookie R.J. Barrett. Ujiri is known to be targeting the boffo 2021 free-agent class with the Raptors, and he could easily do the same in New York.

It has to at least be intriguing, and so far Ujiri isn’t saying anything publicly. Given that, the Raptors fan base could be forgiven their angst. They are very familiar with how this story usually ends.

Armstrong: Masai reports are a ‘compliment to the work he’s done’ – Video – TSN

With rumours swirling that the Knicks are attempting to poach Masai Ujiri, the Raptors panel shares its thoughts on the latest reports and discuss what it would mean for Toronto to set a franchise record with its 12th straight win tonight.

Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images

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