The Toronto Raptors will face the Charlotte Bobcats for the second time in less than a week Wednesday on Sportsnet, beginning at 7 p.m. ET/ 10 p.m. PT.
In their previous meeting on Friday, the Bobcats held the lead early in the fourth quarter but were soundly thrashed over the final 10 minutes as the score ended up 92-78.
That game took place in Toronto, but this evening the scene shifts to Charlotte, where the Raptors have lost six of their last seven contests.
Here are a few things to consider ahead of tonight’s game:
The numbers game
Having been at the Sloan Analytics Conference in Boston in the past, I can tell you that pro sports teams guard their data like fiends these days in hopes of gaining an edge on the competition.
That’s why it was so surprising to read Zach Lowe’s piece on Grantland, for which he was given inside access to some of the team’s analytical workings.
Many are wondering why the Raptors would pull back the curtain, including the Toronto Star’s Cathal Kelly and even coach Dwane Casey.
“What?” Casey told Kelly. “Not the actual thing?”
The JV factor
Eric Koreen of the National Post also writes about the Grantland piece, which points out the Raptors’ dream defensive strategy.
Koreen also discusses how much better the Raptors are on defence when rookie centre Jonas Valanciunas is on the floor.
Koreen writes, “The numbers do not lie, though: Since Valanciunas returned from an injury on Feb. 1, the Raptors have allowed just 96.1 points per 100 possessions when he has been on the floor. Overall, the Raptors are at 102.4 points allowed per 100 possessions over the same time span. Valanciunas has been a definite defensive positive, yet he is playing fewer than 21 minutes per game. The reality is that Valanciunas might not be executing Casey’s system well, but he is helping the team’s defensive results.”
Better bears?
Many believed the Grizzlies may have been sacrificing the season when they dealt Rudy Gay to Toronto, but it appears as though the new management team installed by the new owners may have known what they were doing.
Memphis is 16-5 (.761) since they made the deal which brought in Tayshaun Prince, Ed Davis and Austin Daye.
Grizzlies centre Marc Gasol thinks the team may have had to many options with Gay in the lineup.
“(Swapping Gay for Prince) took a little pressure off,” Gasol told USA TODAY Sports. “Sometimes when you have so many options offensively, you try to keep everybody happy – ‘now it’s your turn, now it’s my turn,’ and it’s your-turn-my-turn type of basketball. Teams kind of load up (defensively) on that and do that. It was hard to get in a flow as a team.
“(Adding Prince) changed the dynamics. We have a different team, and I think we did a great job of coming together. We could’ve laid down, but that’s not who we are. That’s not what we do.”
