https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xKcXJicIAg
NBA: Raptors playing for draft lottery after loss to Clippers – Yahoo!
Two — Unproductive: The toughest part of these games is that there’s so little developmental value to be gained. With the exception of the centers, every single Raptors player was playing above their usual position, and they looked predictably overwhelmed. Offensively, the Raptors struggled to generate anything other than blind drives to the basket, and defensively, the Raptors were often a step slow or just flat-out blowing their coverages. You could say that all experience is valuable, but these players won’t be in this position again any time soon unless something has seriously gone wrong, again.
Raptors better off looking forward, not back, after playoff streak ends
Falling 115-96 to the Clippers served both purposes well. The loss further entrenched the Raptors (27-42) chances of finishing with the seventh-worst record which brings with it a 7.5 per cent chance at the first overall pick and 31.9 per cent chance of picking in the top four.
But in a game where regulars Kyle Lowry (rest); Fred VanVleet (hip); OG Anunoby (calf) and Pascal Siakam (shoulder) were all held out — they may well be done for the season – there were plenty of opportunities to evaluate talent that may or may not be part of the Raptors immediate future.
So even in a blowout loss there were things to like. Freddie Gillespie made his mark with a couple of highlight-worthy blocks — first on DeMarcus Cousins and then on Clippers big man Ivica Zubac — and with 10 points and seven rebounds as well continued to make his case that he deserves to be part of the Raptors rotation next season. Joining him there should be Khem Birch who has shown he can find a way to contribute no matter who he’s on the floor with as he finished with 13 points and three assists in 31 minutes. Rookie wing Jalen Harris is getting a chance to make up for lost time in an injury-plagued season with his share of opportunistic scoring, chipping in 10 points on six shots in 25 minutes to go along with some encouraging defensive activity. Chris Boucher, back after missing nine games with a sprained knee, took advantage of extended reps as a power-forward or even a wing — positions he’ll have to prove he can play now that it’s been determined he can’t defend as a centre consistently enough to stay on the floor.
“There’s probably a lot more learning and teaching that needs to go on with younger players, maybe that’s what you’re seeing a little bit,” Nurse, who was active during timeouts with his younger players, said after the game. “Usually the vets are, you know, you tell them one time and they’re gonna make the shift or whatever or they’re gonna make it on their own or whatever and younger guys just need, again, they don’t see it, they don’t feel it so you’ve got to maybe tell them again or tell them in a different way or draw it out for ‘em or whatever it is you just keep looking for the way that they can let it sink in and then take it to the floor and execute it.”
They didn’t execute well enough to win against Kawhi Leonard (20 points, seven rebounds and five assists in 30 minutes) and a Clippers team gearing up for a run at a championship and they may not win again this season. The reality is the Raptors’ days of winning enough to be in the playoffs and compete for a title are over for now.
It’s sad, but it was more than fun while it lasted. It was an era that cemented the profile of the Raptors in Toronto and Canada.
The bar has been forever set.
But now it’s time to look ahead.
LA Clippers handle shorthanded Toronto Raptors with 115-96 win – Clips Nation
LA got out to a good start, running out to a 7-2 lead by the first timeout, Morris getting in a rhythm early for the Clippers. They finished the 1st quarter with a 27-19 lead, Leonard leading the way with nine points.
The Raptors made things interesting early in the 2nd quarter, pulling within six points, but the Clippers unleashed a barrage of 3-pointers and built up a commanding lead as the quarter wore on. Still, Toronto came back and the Clippers led 60-52 at halftime. Paul George was in foul trouble and didn’t get going, but Rajon Rondo came off the bench and was 3-for-3 from 3-point range in the 1st half to help lift the Clips.
The 3rd quarter was more of the same, with the Clippers vacillating between being on the verge of blowing the game open once and for all and the Raptors coming close enough to keep the game interesting. In the end, it was a bit of both, as LA led by 14, 85-71, heading into the 4th quarter.
Terance Mann provided a lift in the final frame, with back-to-back highlight plays, including a towering, thunderous dunk off a feed from Nicolas Batum on the fast break.
Mann had a monster 2nd half, with 20 points on 100 percent shooting on the night, leaving him joint-top scorer for the Clippers with Leonard.
Rookie Jay Scrubb made his NBA debut late in the 4th quarter, the guard getting some run after missing almost the entire season with a foot injury. It was nice to see him get some playing time after what had to have been a tough campaign with uncertainty if he could play this season.
I think on paper the Clippers should have beaten this Raptors team by 30 points or more, and they didn’t manage that, although they mostly stayed ahead by more than 10 points. Is that reason to panic? Absolutely not, but there are probably a few things to work on in the final days of the regular season, particularly in terms of taking care of the ball.
Recap: The Toronto Raptors drop another game to the LA Clippers, 115-96 – Raptors HQ
With a lineup featuring Yuta Watanabe, Freddie Gillespie, and Jalen Harris, Toronto was able to keep things competitive in the first. Toronto also saw some more settled play from Flynn (who finished with 11 points and four assists), who did find a bit of a groove with Khem Birch, putting both himself and the big man into positions to succeed. Flynn’s ability to run an effective pick-and-roll with Birch or any other Toronto big man will serve him well. Elsewhere, Gillespie blocked both DeMarcus Cousins and Ivica Zubac (after which he talked his talk a little bit). Harris was also able to catch the Clippers napping at least once for a few points as well (finishing with ten). And Gary Trent Jr. came alive late in the second a bit too, completing a cool four-point play — though that was a lone bright spot for him, as he’d go on to shoot a tough 3-of-16 from the field.
The Raptors still had to deal with the machine-like proficiency of Kawhi, a player who often makes any level of defensive effort and coordination look foolish. The Clippers star had 14 points at the half while shooting 5-of-7 from the field. Coupled with an onslaught of threes from Rajon Rondo (who was clearly enjoying himself picking apart Toronto’s inexperienced backcourt), the Clippers were able to maintain a comfortable lead — which got as large as 17 — for the entire first half, going into the break up 60-52. In all, Toronto’s intense egalitarian approach was either going to work in the second half or not, because it was clear there would be no real answer straight-up to Kawhi.
The answer came quickly: the Raptors didn’t score for almost the first three minutes of the quarter until a Birch dunk. Then managed just ten points for almost three-quarters of the frame. And even the casualness of the Clippers — like George throwing it away on a nothing play — could not get the Raptors back into it. If not for DeAndre’ Bembry’s sudden efforts for seven points, the third quarter could have looked much worse. There was a clear path foul called, a wonky sequence in which Birch picked up a pair of questionable fouls against George, and later Marcus Morris Sr. attempted an alley-oop pass by bouncing the ball off the floor. Thanks to a buzzer-beater (with some bounces of its own) from Watanabe, the Raptors went into the fourth down 14.
The Raptors came undone from there. While Boucher did get a chance to add 11 points in the frame, the Clippers lead stayed in the double-digits and they were never really challenged. In the process, Terance Mann got to show his stuff for 20 points, Kawhi finished with 20 of his own on an easy ten shots (and zero fourth-quarter minutes), and the Raptors just did not have the juice to battle back. It was nice to see Gillespie put up 10-and-7 with three blocks, and Flynn and Harris are showing signs of some usefulness, but that’s the extent of what’s to be taken away here. Talent tends to win out in the NBA.
What this week has been, really, is the end of an era, one that has given generations of Toronto sports fans a look at a franchise operating in the upper strata of its sport.
The Raptors’ record in seven regular seasons — 401-231 before Tuesday, a .576 winning clip that would be the envy of most any another team — is better than anyone has ever seen around here in too long to remember.
The Leafs? Haven’t won a playoff series since 2004, a decade and a half of post-season futility.
The Blue Jays? Two best-of-five series wins and one wild-card victory since 1993, a stretch that included two decades when they didn’t sniff the playoffs.
Toronto FC? They are the closest to the Raptors in recent times, having played for three MLS Cups in a four-year span, but that came after years and years of ineptitude.
The success has been unheard of in these parts. This season, with its disruptions and “brick walls” as Nurse calls them, has been the outlier.
“I think it’s a difficult thing to have a seven-year run, so I think first of all the organization, and all of us, should be proud of that,” Nurse said. “And then on the other hand, it’s disappointing. I thought we played about as well as we could last year, and with a break or two could have kept on rolling who knows how far a year ago.”
But it’s more than that even for the Raptors — more than the consistent success on the court, the wonderful runs that galvanized fans from every walk of life.
The franchise has accepted and met a greater responsibility. It has employed men and women of great moral values and preached them as a group. It has advanced the cause of women in positions of influence and decision-making more than any other team. It has fought for greater awareness of significant social issues. It has been made of people who comport themselves well. And that should be a source of pride for fans.
What the Raptors have accomplished off the court, as much as what they’ve done in games, has not been lost.
“I can’t put it into words, even to play for a championship organization, what they stand for, who they are — whether it’s bringing in an NBA championship or being one of the first teams to speak on social justice issues that’s going on,” Gary Trent Jr. said immediately after joining the Raptors in a trade in March. “Whether it’s putting a Black Lives Matter sticker on their bus (travelling to the 2020 NBA playoff bubble in Florida), being in the front of that, pushing that, being one of the first teams.
Raptors lose to Clippers, Nurse reflects on team’s magnificent seven | Toronto Sun
A remarkable era in Raptors history came to an end Monday night when the Indiana Pacers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, officially eliminating the Raptors from the post-season.
And what an era it was, capped off by the 2019 championship run, a team featuring a true superstar in Leonard.
The seven-year span featured five straight 50-win seasons, a period that saw Dwane Casey and Nick Nurse win coach of the year honours, Lou Williams cop sixth man, Pascal Siakam acknowledged as the league’s most improved player and Leonard earning NBA finals MVP, forever etched in team lore with The Shot.
“It’s not easy to get on a seven-year run,’’ said Nurse during his pre-game Zoom call. “It’s difficult. As an organization, we should all be proud of that.
“It’s also disappointing (that it ends). I think we played as well as we could (last year). A break or two and we could have kept rolling. How far, who knows. It’s very disappointing, a little sad to be honest.
“It was a helluva run. It’ll sting a little bit when we get into summer to feel what we used to be.”
Seven years of memorable playoff basketball against some of the best high-end competition and talent.
It began with an epic seven-game opening round when the young and athletic Raptors were pitted against the experienced and veteran Brooklyn Nets featuring Paul Pierce, Toronto’s first post-season foil who played on a Washington team the following spring when the Wizards swept Toronto.
LeBron James and the Cavs were next, a matchup that would play out over three successive playoffs, three successive Cleveland wins.
Nurse succeeded Casey, then DeMar DeRozan was replaced by Leonard as the face of a franchise that would win it all, the Game 7 buzzer-beater against Philly, the 0-2 series comeback against Milwaukee in the Eastern final, and the six-game NBA finals win over Golden State.
Last year’s playoffs were held in the Orlando bubble, the Raptors sweeping an undermanned Nets team and then losing in seven games to the Boston Celtics when Toronto could have easily won.
The Clippers’ season has been overshadowed by any number of other narratives: Nikola Jokic’s likely coronation as league MVP, the Knicks being good, the Utah Jazz’s ongoing struggle to earn respect despite the league’s best record, Steph Curry’s magnificence, the Lakers’ rocky title defence. And yet, as the Raptors play host to Leonard et al on Tuesday, the Clippers look, to some eyes, like a formidable threat to right the wrongs of last season and finally contend for a title.
Certainly they’re expected to beat the tanking Raptors, who — before they were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention Monday night — announced that 80 per cent of their starting lineup will miss the game for reasons ranging from rest (Kyle Lowry) to “injury management” (Fred VanVleet and OG Anunoby) to a plain old sore shoulder (Pascal Siakam).
“We’ll put a game plan out there that we think is as good as it can be (Tuesday) night … put the best lineup we can out there,” Nick Nurse, the Raptors coach, told reporters on Monday. “There’s a couple of guys we’ll probably give some runs to that we want to see still a little bit more. But … I’m extremely optimistic. I dunno, I think we’ve played some of the best teams maybe better than a lot of teams have, to be honest, and we’ve been missing a lot of pieces along here.”
Speaking of potentially missing pieces, certainly there are injury-related question marks surrounding L.A.’s long-languishing second franchise. Ex-Raptor Serge Ibaka, for one, has missed the past 28 games with a back problem but is expected to return in time for the playoffs. Leonard, for another, has been battling both a foot and a left-hand issue of late. The Fun Guy acknowledged the latter tweak after he needed 26 shots to score 29 points in a loss to the Knicks on Sunday.
“It’s frustrating,” Leonard said of stacking the hand injury atop the foot injury. “But other than that I’m good, I’m good. I’ve been through worse situations.”
Speaking of worse, there’s the matter of the big-game worthiness of George, who took plenty of heat following the Clippers’ Game 7 loss to Denver after he shot a dismal 4-for-16 from the field — including 2-for-11 from three-point range — en route to scoring 10 points. George, as if to suggest he wasn’t to blame for the epic fold-up, publicly criticized the coaching job of Doc Rivers, who was promptly fired only to land shortly thereafter in Philadelphia. So if there’s a hesitation in backing the Clippers — who’ve improved themselves by bringing aboard Rajon Rondo, he of the defending champion Lakers — maybe George’s mental block in big moments, not to mention his shirking of post-season culpability, resides somewhere near the top of the list of reasons.
Just make it stop: The 2020-21 end-of-season Raptors awards – The Athletic
Most pleasant surprise: Chris Boucher
Boucher showed some serious room for defensive improvement this year, particularly when he was asked to play centre. (The Raptors would like to keep him away from that spot in the future.) With that said, Boucher had a wonderful season, cementing the idea that he can be a productive member of a regular rotation. Boucher will finish with the highest net rating of any regular on the team, and the Raptors were 6.7 points per 100 possessions better when he was on the floor than off of it heading into Tuesday night’s game, behind only VanVleet and Siakam for players that spent the entire season with the Raptors. Thanks to a 38.9 percent success rate from deep, he picked up his scoring on a per-minute basis this year, and he had the best true shooting percentage of his career, despite the uptick in role. His total of 6.1 win shares is the best mark on the team by far. Unless the Raptors know they will need the extra cap space, they would be silly not to guarantee his $7-million salary for next year.Runners-up: Yuta Watanabe’s emergence as a playable reserve, OG Anunoby’s offensive improvement, Khem Birch’s quick fit
Offseason Outlook: What’s next for the Toronto Raptors? | NBA.com Canada
According to Tankathon , the Raptors have a 31.9 percent chance to land a top-four pick. You can see their odds to land each lottery pick below.
Although a 7.5 percent chance to win the lottery may not seem like much, it’s worth noting that when the New Orleans Pelicans won the 2019 NBA Draft Lottery and were presented with the opportunity to select a franchise-altering talent in Zion Williamson, they only had a six percent chance to get the No. 1 overall pick.
The 2021 NBA Draft class is expected to be a deep with talent, but landing a top-five pick would be ideal given how the top five available players separate themselves from the remainder of the class.
With that being said, the Raptors are currently favoured to select No. 8 overall, so who would be a possible prospect at that pick?
According to my 2021 NBA Draft Big Board , I had Florida State freshman Scottie Barnes ranked as the eighth-best prospect in this class. Barnes is a 6-foot-9 forward who essentially played point guard for the Seminoles in his one collegiate season. He’s a versatile and capable defender with a 7-foot-2 wingspan that would give head coach Nick Nurse a number of options in how to use the 19-year-old prospect, whether it be to initiate offence off the bench or play in a switchy small-ball lineup.
As far as fit goes, the Raptors would be beneficial to land either Texas freshman centre Kai Jones (No. 10-ranked prospect) to help add some frontcourt depth or Baylor guard Davion Mitchell (No. 7-ranked prospect) to provide a safety net depending on Lowry’s free agency situation.
According to our other draft expert Eric Fawcett’s Big Board , he had Tennessee freshman guard Keon Johnson as the No. 7-ranked prospect, which, in my opinion, would be the best possible fit for Toronto if he were available at this pick. Explosive on the wing with a lighting quick first step, he would add a different element to the Raptors’ offence that they don’t yet possess. Defensively, he’s quick, smart, aggressive and physical, right on par with what Nurse looks for in a player on that end of the floor.
