TORONTO — As far as demoralizing results go, this one’s up there. Leading for practically the entire game and entering the fourth quarter with a 16-point cushion, the Toronto Raptors proceeded to fall face-first down a steep flight of stairs that led directly to a crushing one-point loss, the team’s 15th in its last 25 games.
Give the Detroit Pistons credit for a shock-and-awe fourth quarter and especially for capitalizing on some frantic—Toronto head coach Dwane Casey called it “discombobulated”—Raptors transition defence late in the fourth, especially on the Kentavious Caldwell-Pope three-pointer that won the game. Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy allowed just six of his players to see the floor in the fourth, and it speaks to how well that half-dozen was working together that none of them scored double digits in a 36-point quarter.
But make no mistake—the Raptors lost this game more than the Pistons won it. Casey’s play-calling grew extremely unimaginative down the stretch and his players abandoned the spirited defence they had played for three quarters, as the Pistons shot 62 per cent in the frame. The Raptors couldn’t buy a bucket—they shot 37 per cent in the fourth—and when you combine that with getting outrebounded 14-4 in the quarter, you’re bound to give up some points.
With three days off between the Raptors’ last game and this one, Casey drilled his team extensively on defence. And after Sunday’s loss he readily admitted it may have been to their detriment.
“We’ve got to learn how to play with a lead. That’s our biggest issue right now,” Casey said. “I’ll take the blame on that. We’ve concentrated so much on defence. But, offensively, we’ve got to make sure we execute and get the shot we want to take.”
So, about that final play
With just 16 seconds remaining in the game, Caldwell-Pope hit that three in transition and the Pistons took a one-point lead, their first since the opening quarter. That was bad. But it at least gave the Raptors enough time to run a play. Casey called a full timeout to organize his team, but the play the Raptors ran out of that timeout failed to produce anything more than a non-shooting foul on Kyle Lowry.
So, back to the drawing board. Casey called another timeout and drew up an isolation play for his best scorer, DeMar DeRozan. He was to take the inbounds pass well above the arc and let his teammates disappear to the fringes, giving him ample room to work on his defender, Marcus Morris. It’s a play the Raptors draw up often and one that’s been successful in the past.
DeRozan took the ball, drove to his right, then drove to his left, finding little room with each attempt. He doubled back, planted his feet, pump faked once to draw Morris in, and then took an awkward shot while leaning forward to try and draw a foul. Morris stood his ground, arms stretched above him, never leaving his feet as the shot bounced off the rim.
Incensed, DeRozan unloaded on the closest referee he could find, arguing he’d been fouled and pulling his tucked-in jersey out of his shorts in disgust.
“I thought he jumped,” DeRozan said of Morris. “I got [the foul call] the previous two times on the same type of pump fake.”
Watch the play for yourself and form your own conclusion. If there was precedent earlier in the game, maybe DeRozan’s got a case. But it’s also very difficult to imagine a referee awarding a foul on that attempt at that point in the game—no matter who’s taking the shot.
“I’ve got to look at it on film and see if he had contact or not,” Casey said. “Usually he vaults up and makes that shot. But the defender did a good job of staying down and not leaving his feet.”
Morris did play terrific defence on DeRozan, who did do about as well as he could with the space that was provided to him. There were a couple wrinkles to the play that could have seen DeRozan feeding Lowry off a backside pin-down screen for a three or sneaking in for a drive. But neither of those opportunities presented themselves.
You can criticize Casey for the play call, which certainly lacked creativity. Of course, he’d probably argue that after a more complex play failed seconds earlier he simply put the ball in the hands of his best scorer and gave him room to create.
That debate could go either way. But what was especially egregious about the shot was the fact that not a single Raptor got to the net looking for a last-second put-back. Andre Drummond did a terrific job boxing out Jonas Valanciunas under the rim, but the three other Raptors on the floor—Lowry, DeMarre Carrol and Terrence Ross—kept their distance and watched the ball bounce off the rim before walking back to their locker room.
Look, this is nitpicky. But if there was ever a time to get involved, crash the rim, and look for something, anything, that was it. And the Raptors lack of activity and energy on that play likely speaks to the greater problems that have hung over the team for the last six weeks or so.
“It’s not one player, it’s all of us,” Casey said. “We put ourselves in this situation. And we’ve got to dig ourselves out.”
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A Strong Third
What has to be especially demoralizing about this loss is the fact the Raptors played very, very well for 36 minutes. It’s easy to forget, but many were debating when garbage time would begin after the Raptors put up a tremendous third quarter, one that stands as perhaps the best 12-minute stretch of basketball the team has played in weeks.
In the third, the Raptors held the Pistons to 39 per cent shooting and outrebounded them 13-5. They played tight, active defence but committed only three fouls while Detroit racked up eight. And after six turnovers in the first half, Toronto didn’t cough the ball up a single time, while shooting 59 per cent in the quarter and outscoring Detroit by ten.
“We were contesting shots, getting in position, closing out down the stretch—we put ourselves in a position to win,” Casey said. “I thought we did a good job defensively. We shored up a lot of things we’ve worked on the last few days.”
So, take from this one what you will. Are the Raptors more like the team that was rolling to victory after the third? Or are they more like the team that got starched in the fourth? With less than 30 games left in the season—and only ten days until the trade deadline—we’ll find out one way or the other before long.
