During the Toronto Raptors’ exceptional 13-2 start to the season, the club was a top-10 defensive group. Combined with its second-ranked offence, that tenacity meant Toronto was capable of destroying teams.
Since that stunning start, however, the Raptors have dropped three of their last five games and are now just the 17th-ranked defence in the league, giving up 104 points per 100 possessions on the year and an abysmal 115 per 100 over that five-game span.
In short, the defence has been awful of late.
So while the team is still the second-most potent offence in the NBA, nights where shots aren’t falling—Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers for example—are going to happen on occasion, and the Raptors will need to rely on stops to pull out victories. That isn’t happening right now, and Dwane Casey knows it.
“To win in this league and go where we want to go, we’ve got to get a better defensive effort,” Casey told reporters Sunday.
The Raptors head coach held a defence-only practice on Sunday, putting special emphasis on stopping the pick-and-roll.
Sunday’s practice was also the first full one since DeMar DeRozan was sidelined with a groin injury, so it was badly needed.
“It felt good, not only to get practice but to get some competition in against our guys again,” James Johnson told reporters. “I think that was the downfall a little bit. We didn’t get to go at each other as much as we used to when the season first started. So it’s good to go against the [starters] and get our trust back in each other.”
Whether it’s a matter of trust or tightening up their coverages, the Raptors need to find some way to improve defensively. They’re offence is good enough to get them through, but if they want to reach their maximum potential, getting stops is the key.
Record
15-5 (1st in Atlantic Division, 1st in Eastern Conference)
What happened?
Kyle Lowry scored a career-high 39 points
What was learned?
Kyle Lowry is an early season MVP candidate: While his season averages can’t stack up aginst the likes of Anthony Davis, Steph Curry or James Harden, given the Raptors’ record and the way he inspires his team and wills them to victories, Lowry is in the MVP conversation through 20 games.
His true value cannot be measured by simple statistics. He gets to every loose ball, takes charges, grabs key rebounds and hits timely shots. Lowry simply makes winning plays, and being the unquestioned leader of the Eastern Conference leaders should count for something.
However, if you really want numbers, just look at what he’s done since DeRozan got hurt: 29.3 points per game on 44.9 percent shooting (38.1 percent from deep), 3.8 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game.
DeMar DeRozan won’t need surgery: DeRozan’s absence may bolster Lowry’s MVP candidacy, but it was fortunate news to hear on Friday that the Raptors’ all-star guard won’t require surgery, meaning the injury isn’t as bad as it first looked (or as the team officially labelling his absence “indefinite” made it seem).
Upcoming slate
- Monday 7:30 pm – TOR vs DEN
- Tuesday 7:00 pm – TOR at CLE
- Friday 7:30 pm – TOR vs IND
- Sunday 7:30 pm – TOR at NY
Storylines to follow
Will JV break out of his funk? Coinciding with the five-game bump in the road the Raptors have hit has been the poor play of Jonas Valanciunas. The third-year centre has been enjoying a decent season so far, but hasn’t been himself of late.
Over his last five games, he’s only shooting 43.2 percent from the field. He showed glimpses of his normal self in Sacramento against a DeMarcus Cousins-less Kings—posting 15 points and eight rebounds—but against the Utah Jazz and particularly Anderson Varejao and the Cavaliers, JV appeared to find no groove whatsoever.
Hopefully, the explanation is simple fatigue and the extra days off will get him back to his old self. The Raptors are going to need him with a couple of back-to-backs coming up and matchups against teams with talented bigs this week.
Will improved starts continue? Against the Kings and Jazz, the Raptors were able to get off to hot starts, but they reverted back to their old, sluggish selves against the Cavaliers. Getting out of the gate poorly has been an area of concern all season long, and hopefully those two games where they came out with real purpose are more indicative of where the Raptors are currently trending.