Gameday: Warriors @ Raptors, Dec. 18

This one is going to look a little weird.

Two teams on opposite sides of the “understanding our identity” spectrum. The Warriors, world beaters under the warm glow of Steph Curry’s stardom. The Raptors, a hair out of the playoffs and doing their best to cobble together healthy lineups. Only, tonight the Warriors are attempting to steal a win north of the border with 6 rotation players out of their lineup.

Steph Curry, Andre Iguodala, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, Otto Porter, and Jordan Poole have all skirted entry into Canada. Instead reverting course back to the Bay Area for rest and an earnest attempt to avoid all the hubbub that the logistics of entering/leaving Canada presents them with. So, they’re razor thin virtually everywhere. The warm glow of Curry’s stardom won’t be there. Neither will the stern guidance of Green’s defense, or Wiggins tertiary scoring pop.

There will no doubt be jokes made about the Raptors playing a team that might be a closer representation to the Santa Cruz Warriors (the G-League affiliate). The looming disparity in NBA talent sets up a game where the Raptors, quite frankly, have to win. Kevon Looney, Damion Lee, and Chris Chiozza can’t come into your building and beat your squad. Well, of course they can, but they shouldn’t.

For their part, the Raptors have been treading water. 5-5 over their last 10, while trying to ride their starters to as many wins as possible. The trio of Scottie Barnes, Pascal Siakam, and Fred VanVleet have started to carve out more synergy on both sides of the floor. The smaller parts of everyone’s games are being attended to, whether it’s slight changes in set actions or spur of the moment interpretations of the floor. And perhaps most importantly, Barnes has seemed to have turned a corner defensively, and with some authority.

Over their last 10, the Raptors are 7th in DRTG, and 17th in ORTG. And with more consistent output from their bench, there’s a reasonable chance that they could occupy a top-10 spot in both. Does that mean that’s their destiny if the team is healthy for the rest of the season? Not necessarily, but it’s a ringing endorsement of the starting lineup’s run of form. A starting lineup that should welcome the return of OG Anunoby within the next week.

Simply put, the Raptors starting lineup should be too good in too many minutes for the Warriors to steal a win at the Big Bank Arena. And if we’re lucky? Maybe the bench steps up and VanVleet and co. don’t have to clear 35 minutes.

Not so hot take

The depleted Warriors are immediately one of the teams whose defenders occupy the horribly awkward problem of trying to guard Siakam. Players like Gary Payton II and Juan Toscano-Anderson both have the pedigree and grit to guard Siakam, but not the size. Nemanja Bjelica and Kevon Looney lack the foot speed. My expectations? The Warriors try and get funky and guard him small, expecting GP2 to apply pressure through a lower center of gravity. In that case, expect a big scoring night as Siakam puts the screws on. Wild card could be a lot of Jonathan Kuminga minutes on Siakam.