Welcome to the Weekly Rap, a resource for getting you caught up on what went down and what’s on the docket in Raptorland.
How do you end a four-game losing skid? As Dave Zarum wrote this weekend, an encounter with the Boston Celtics is a pretty good bet.
Now that the nightmare appears to be over, the Toronto Raptors can shift their attention to chasing down the Atlanta Hawks and regaining the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
Looking at the Raptors’ schedule this week, it appears that they have a good opportunity to make up that ground, hosting the Hawks on Friday and facing two teams that are below .500—the Detroit Pistons and Philadelphia 76ers—prior to the big game with Atlanta.
Despite the records of the Pistons and 76ers, however, the Raptors cannot take either lightly. The Pistons are one of the hottest teams in basketball right now—winning eight of their last nine games since getting rid of Josh Smith—and the 76ers have played much better of late, winning three of their last four contests including a big victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers last Monday.
Chasing the Hawks, then, the Raptors must maintain focus, lest Atlanta’s 3.5-game lead balloon to a point where it becomes impossible to make up.
Record
25-11 (1st in Atlantic Division, 2nd in Eastern Conference)
What happened?
This James Johnson dunk:
What was learned?
James Johnson starting makes more sense: A major contributing factor to the Raptors’ victory over the Celtics was Dwane Casey’s decision to insert James Johnson into the starting lineup. The three games prior to this adjustment saw Landry Fields start, a look that brought the Raptors some success before Fields was forced out with a concussion.
An increase in minutes for Johnson just makes more sense from both a talent and matchup perspective. He can do more things on the floor than Fields and his versatility enables Casey to run cross-matchups at times.
“Kyle Lowry hashtag NBA ballot” is annoying some people: The campaign to make Kyle Lowry an all-star starter may seem harmless at first, but to some it’s become a tad bit annoying and shameless, particularly with Matt Devlin reminding folks about it every time Lowry does anything in a game. Here’s Sports Illustrated with an entire feature on how they find the campaigning highly irritating.
Upcoming slate
- Monday 7:30 p.m., TOR vs DET
- Wednesday 7:30 p.m., TOR vs PHI
- Friday 7:30 p.m., TOR vs ATL
- Sunday 3:30 p.m., TOR vs NO
Storylines to follow
DeRozan’s return: DeMar DeRozan is expected back at some point this week and even though there will be an adjustment period to get him back on track, this is a very good thing for the team.
Defensive intensity: Perhaps it was as simple as James Johnson starting, but the Raptors played with a level of defensive intensity on Saturday not seen since their six-game mid-December winning streak. In the seven-game span leading up to their game with the Celtics, Toronto was playing the worst defence in the league, giving up an atrocious 113 points per 100 possessions.
It’s been said before, but as good as the Raptors are offensively, they aren’t going to win very often if they can’t get stops. The game against Boston was encouraging in that regard. Now let’s see whether that commitment to defence was just a one-off.