Gameday: Raptors @ Suns, Jan. 6th

Raptors get another chance at a quality win against the Phoenix Suns. I got a good feeling about this one.

Image: TheRinger.com

The Raptors can’t right too many wrongs with one win but a victory can change outlook. I know this because I was once on a soccer team which had lost 17 straight games and when we finally won our first game on the 18th try (the third game of the second season), I swear we thought we’d go undefeated. Of course, we lost all the remaining games convincingly but boy did we ever remember that one win. There are pictures of it everywhere on Friendster, LiveJournal and Hi5. Dig deep enough and there might be a few on Desi Planet.

Point is the Raptors need a win and the Suns represent a quality opponent (5-2 coming off a loss against the Clippers) with a worthy scalp. The Raptors need to get their confidence up because after that second half against the Celtics where they looked hapless and helpless. That memory needs to be erased immediately. The Suns are riding Chris Paul’s quarterbacking (nice The Ringer article about that) and he has fit in nicely with what was already going on in Phoenix – you may recall them going undefeated in the bubble.

Devin Booker (21.1 ppg) is going to ask questions of Fred VanVleet’s ability to negotiate screens, and the latter has to do a much better job dealing with them than he did against the Celtics. VanVleet tends to trail his guy after a screen is set on him which puts the defense in vulnerable positions. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:

Kyle Lowry has to stay in front of Chris Paul and…actually, that’s it. Just stay in front of Chris Paul. The Raptors don’t have the wall of Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka anymore, so the guards aren’t getting bailed out like they used to. As James Holas noted in my conversation with him, a defensive big adds shape to the defense which the Raptors currently lack.  Not having protection increases the onus on guards to hold their man in check which the Raptors have struggled with. Easier said than done but that’s where we stand. Here’s an example form the Celtics game where Lowry has to simply do better:

You could very well see Jae Crowder guarding Pascal Siakam here and we know how Siakam responds to physical guys muscling him. Maybe a good scoring game in a win against a good defender is just what’s needed to get that elusive confidence back up to 2019 levels. For starters Siakam could help himself by just practicing 1000 layups a day. I’m serious – if he just finishes the clean looks he gets from five feet he’d find himself out of his funk in no time.

Third year man Mikal Bridges is one to watch – he’s the Suns second leading scorer and is killing it from deep. The Suns don’t necessarily put a lot of pressure on your defense by attacking the rim (dead last in FTA in the league) but they do play team ball with Paul running a tight ship. If the Raptors plan is to over-help then they’ll find themselves in trouble very, very quickly because if there’s one thing the Suns do well it’s pass the ball without wasting time.

The 6’11” 250lb DeAndre Ayton is coming off two straight big games (22/11 and 24/8) so the Raptors have to watch for him on the glass. I expect Alex Len to get some playing time but it would be interesting to see Chris Boucher take him outside. My guess is Nick Nurse will be cognizant of the rebounding problems the Raptors have (last in the league in rebounding differential at -8.3) and will opt for a bigger body.

One thing to keep an eye on is how Nurse deals with the bench. We saw Malachi Flynn come in pretty early against the Celtics. Earlier in the year it was Matt Thomas off the bench first and we’ve also seen Terence Davis and Stanley Jackson sprinkled around. Nurse is clearly searching for a rotation that works but nobody has yet to make their mark and claim a spot. Norman Powell is getting minutes based on his reputation and tenure rather than his actual play, so his minutes are up for grabs if anyone wants them.  So far nobody has seemed capable of that and Powell continues to get time that he probably doesn’t even deserve.

You need about 1/3rd of the season to see exactly what you got so let’s reserve lasting judgement on this roster until then. There’s really not much else to be said here – let’s just get a win so the air smells better. The game’s at 9PM on Sportsnet. The Suns are a 3.5 point favorite.

Enjoy:

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