At first glance, all seems good in Raptorland. Toronto’s magic number to clinch the Atlantic Division title is down to one and the team, with a victory tonight over New York, could go 15 games over .500 for the first time in franchise history. Add to the mix that the Raptors have won seven of the last eight games—with a handful of those coming without Kyle Lowry and Amir Johnson—and there’s a lot to like about the current state of affairs.
But at the risk of rallying the ‘Chicken Little’ skeptics out there, there is at least one glaring weakness that has plagued Dwane Casey’s crew for the better part of the last couple of weeks: Defence.
No, the sky isn’t falling. If you look at the league-wide numbers, the Raptors are still ranked among the best in the NBA:
Total points allowed – 6TH
Opponent points per game – 7TH
Opponent field goal percentage – 9TH
Opponent free throw percentage – 4TH
And even those who like to dig a little deeper into the analytics have to be happy with the Raps giving up just 102.0 points per 100 possessions, the eight-best mark in the Association.
However, a look back at the last 14 games (just shy of one month) paints a less attractive picture of Toronto’s defensive numbers. Though the team has gone 9-5 over that span, the Raptors have allowed opponents to shoot 50-plus percent seven times, coughed up 100 or more points eight times, and given up at least one quarter of 30 or more points to their opponents nine times.
March 16 vs PHX (L) – 50.7% Opp. FG & 121 points allowed (two qtrs. of 30+ points allowed)
March 18 @ ATL (L) – 118 points allowed (OT) (two qtrs. of 30+ points allowed)
March 19 @ NOLA (W) – 53.7% Opp. FG & 100 points allowed (one qtr. of 30+ points allowed)
March 21 vs OKC (L) – 119 points allowed (2OT) (one qtr. of 30+ points allowed)
March 23 vs ATL (W)
March 25 @ CLE (L) – 51.4% Opp. FG & 102 points allowed (one qtr. of 30+ points allowed)
March 26 @ BOS (W)
March 28 vs BOS (W) – 52.6% Opp. FG & 103 points allowed (one qtr. of 30+ points allowed)
March 30 @ ORL (W) – 55.1% Opp. FG
March 31 @ MIA (L) – 51.5% Opp. FG (one qtr. of 30+ points allowed)
April 2 vs HOU (W) – 103 points allowed (one qtr. of 30+ points allowed)
April 4 vs IND (W)
April 5 @ MIL (W)
April 9 vs PHI (W) – 51.8% Opp. FG & 121 points allowed (one qtr. of 30+ points allowed)
“These are the dog days,” said Casey after Wednesday’s win over Philadelphia. “We’ve got to pick our defence up and not have the mental letdowns. It’s just one-on-one defence; blow-by’s [with] our feet in the sand. There [has been] a slippage.”
Slippage indeed. As the season has worn on, Toronto’s defensive numbers have steadily worsened.
January – 93.8 Pts. Allowed/G; 43.3% Opp. FG
February – 99.3 Pts. Allowed/G; 44.2% Opp. FG
March – 99.3 Pts. Allowed/G; 46.0% Opp. FG
April – 102.5 Pts. Allowed/G; 45.9% Opp. FG
“My whole goal now is to get better defensively over the next [week],” said Casey. “If we don’t, it’s going to be a short ride [in the playoffs] if we continue to play defence like we’re playing now.”
Some will say that the ‘best defence is a good offence’ – and there is merit in that statement. In fact, in spite of April’s lofty numbers for the opposition, the Raptors are a perfect 4-0 this month and they’re averaging 109.0 points per game. But over the course of the entire season, it’s Toronto’s defence that has been their staple and the main reason why the organization is headed back to the playoffs for the first time since 2007-08. The Raps’ offence ranks 22nd in FG% (44.5) and 13th in points per game (101.1) overall.
“We’ve just got to get back on track,” said DeMar DeRozan after Wednesday’s game against the Sixers. “Understand we’ve got to get out of what we’re not doing on the defensive end before the playoffs start—just clean that up and use the next four games for that… get back to the basics of what we were doing earlier [and] what got us to this point.”