Finally, at long last, the Toronto Raptors have basketball to play again. With eight days off under their belts, the Raptors will look to turn their season around and close out with a strong final trimester, after their first was lights-out and their second was disastrous. Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan have received rest, Patrick Patterson is ready to return, and the front office went out and fortified the roster, adding Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker.
From here, it’s on the players and head coach Dwane Casey. The Raptors will be light on excuses with no injuries, a decent schedule the rest of the way, and a deeper, better roster than two weeks ago. It falls on them, then, to turn things around, prove Masai Ujiri and company correct for having spent to add pieces, and show the Eastern Conference that they’re still the biggest threat to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
That starts Friday when the Boston Celtics visit. The Raptors are up 2-1 in the season series, but their own collapse and Boston’s surge sees the Celtics likely to end Toronto’s streak of Atlantic Division banners. The Celtics are four games ahead for the No. 2 seed in the East, and while it seems unlikely Toronto can make up that ground in a third of a season, coming out of the gates with a victory over Boston is a good start, sends a strong message, and secures the tiebreaker in the event it’s necessary for playoff seeding. It should also just be a ton of fun, as this series has grown progressively saltier and chippier, and it promises to be a loud night at the Air Canada Centre given the lay-off, the opponent, the debut (s), and the fact that the game is nationally televised south of the border.
The game tips off at 8 on Sportsnet One, Sportsnet 590, and ESPN in the U.S. And you can get Toronto Raptors tickets here.
—
To help set the stage, we reached out to Michael Pina of Bleacher Report, and he was kind enough to help us out.
Blake Murphy: This is the fourth meeting between the two sides in a short amount of time. Here’s the biggest question: Are you sick of me yet? Or are you still going to be game to spend oh so much time going back-and-forth in the second round of the playoffs?
Michael Pina: I love you and live for these e-mail requests, so to answer your question: of course not.
Blake Murphy: That long-assumed second-round matchup might be in some danger because of both teams. The Celtics are *only* three games back of Cleveland for the No. 1 seed, and Toronto could reasonably finish anywhere from third to fifth. To me, the odds of Boston catching even a banged-up Cavaliers team seem long, but I’m wondering if you feel differently?
Michael Pina: A lot of this obviously depends on what happens (happened) at the trade deadline, but as I write this on Wednesday morning it’s unlikely Boston can take down a healthy Cavaliers squad. If Cleveland is without Kevin Love and J.R. Smith (they won’t be) and Boston is 100 percent healthy, then the situation is a bit different. In that scenario we’ll assume Boston has the top seed, and that LeBron’s minutes and usage didn’t stop being ridiculous. The Celtics can really score and the Cavaliers aren’t very good at stopping teams from scoring, so it’d be interesting.
Blake Murphy: Man, RIP Avery Bradley. He’s been sidelined forever with Achilles soreness, but it sounds like he’ll finally return Friday. What can he offer a Celtics rotation that’s thrived despite his absence? Does his role figure to be the same, or has he lost some of his minutes given how well others have played in his stead?
Michael Pina: Bradley’s future in Boston was a question before this Achilles injury, and since he went down they’ve reinvented themselves on the fly with larger units that have had real success. Jaylen Brown is already a productive two-way player more nights than not. But relying on a 20-year-old rookie and Gerald Green isn’t the smartest option down the stretch. Bradley is one of Boston’s best three-point shooters and the team put the ball in his hands a little bit in second units before this injury.
His return to the starting lineup will still be welcomed, though it’s unclear how his role will interfere with Marcus Smart becoming the team’s backup point guard.
Blake Murphy: Did you like the Serge Ibaka acquisition for the Raptors? He seems like a really nice weapon for a potential Celtics series. Is he a worry from the Celtics side?
Michael Pina: It’s impossible not to like this trade, but the level to which it raises Toronto’s ceiling is up for debate. Ibaka won’t solve Toronto’s defensive issues but he’s an undeniable upgrade over the flotsam they previously had starting at power forward. I can’t wait to see how Dwane Casey uses Ibaka, and how often he pairs him with Patrick Patterson in the frontcourt. How this all affects Jonas Valanciunas is a big-picture question for another day, though.
Blake Murphy: The Celtics once again stood pat at the deadline, maintaining their warchest of substantial assets. But those assets, you know, players eventually get older and hit the market, there’s a diminishing return to a ton of picks and youth, and Al Horford isn’t really getting younger. Is Danny Ainge at risk of missing the window to strike with all of these tools at his disposal? There’s surely still time. But when does this all materialize in contention?
Michael Pina: The clock is ticking, but they still aren’t desperate to overpay for anyone. However, the upcoming lottery, draft, and free agency are pivotal events for this franchise, and if those don’t go according to plan then it’ll be interesting to see which direction the front office takes things.
—
Raptors updates
Would you look at this depth chart below? Where’s the hole? The Raptors suddenly run much deeper than we’re accustomed, with two or more legitimate pieces at every position. Casey has a veritable buffet of options at his disposal now. The Raptors are well-equipped to stay big, go small, so guper-small, go tough, go spacy, get multiple ball-handlers on the floor, get switchy, and so on. More than anything, the Ibaka and Tucker acquisitions have given the Raptors a ton of flexibility, in lineup and in style, and Ibaka has replaced an enormous hole that’s existed on the depth chart for years.
This is fun. Expectations do need to be tempered a little, though, as there’s going to be an adjustment period. Casey only has 25 games to figure out the best way to use his new toys and what his best lineups are now. The rotation will probably see some upheaval and experimentation. Ibaka has had just two practices with the team, neither of them with Lowry or DeRozan, who had extended All-Star breaks (Lowry also had a travel issue and DeRozan a funeral, precluding them from attending Thursday’s session). Tucker, meanwhile, may not even play – he was boarding a flight to Toronto around midnight last night, and given that he has six or seven hours of physicals today, he’d be tight on time to get acclimated in time to play in this one. It’s possible, but given that the Raptors sat Ibaka out in similar circumstances, it’s probably best to consider Tucker doubtful and a bonus if he suits up.
The specifics here are going to be a lot of fun to track over the next few games.
PG: Kyle Lowry, Cory Joseph, Delon Wright
SG: DeMar DeRozan, Norman Powell
SF: DeMarre Carrol, (P.J. Tucker)
PF: Serge Ibaka, Patrick Patterson
C: Jonas Valanciunas, Lucas Nogueira, Jakob Poeltl
TBD: P.J. Tucker
ASSIGNED: Fred VanVleet, Bruno Caboclo, Pascal Siakam
OUT: None
Celtics updates
While the Raptors work in two new players, the Celtics get to enjoy some continuity. Draft Picks is still in the lineup and playing regularly. Future Potential is healthy and firing on all cylinders. Overseas Assets is playing the best ball of his career. Maybe We’ll Strike Next Year is in a groove. And they have the head coach who benched Jonas Valanciunas in the fourth quarter of the All-Star Game while calling multiple late plays for DeRozan at the helm. It’s only really The Ability To Grab A Single Rebound that’s still banged up.
Salt aside, the Celtics are fine but still not back where they’d like to be. Avery Bradley is particularly concerning, as the sore Achilles that’s kept him out for over a month now continues to linger. He only did a partial session Thursday, and Brad Stevens wasn’t clear if he’d even travel with the team for the game. Meanwhile, Gerald Green sat with a sore heel and Jaylen Brown is dealing with a hip injury, though Brown is expected to play in this one.
It would almost be nice if everyone played, because the teams have yet to play a single game where at least one starter wasn’t missing on one of the teams. Things work out like that sometimes, I suppose.
PG: Isaiah Thomas, Terry Rozier, Demetrius Jackson
SG: Marcus Smart, (Avery Bradley), (Gerald Green)
SF: Jae Crowder, (Jaylen Brown), James Young
PF: Amir Johnson, Jonas Jerebko, Jordan Mickey
C: Al Horford, Kelly Olynyk, Tyler Zeller
Assigned: None
TBD: Avery Bradley, Gerald Green, Jaylen Brown
Out: None
The line
The Raptors have opened 3-point favorites with a 215.5 over-under. Given the names up in the air, the break, and the new pieces, that seems about fair. It suggests the teams are roughly even around the uncertainty, if the game were on neutral ground, and while I think the Raptors are better, they haven’t shown it in some time, so the market is right to be a bit skeptical until it sees it. Check back for a prediction in the pre-game news and notes when we know about the four names up in the air.
