Welcome to the Weekly Rap, a resource for getting you caught up on what went down and what’s on the docket in Raptorland.
In case you’ve happily ignored the Raptors for the last two weeks, Toronto is reeling right now having dropped eight of its last nine games.
To point out of the obvious, this is bad. Very, very bad.
However, as poor as the Raptors have looked on the court, what may be even worse is the conversation surrounding the team. It’s suddenly shifted away from looking at the team’s horrific stretch for what it is and instead searching for positives when there aren’t any.
Look, when the only team the Raptors have beaten in the last nine games is the Philadelphia 76ers and the team has played league-worst defence in that span (107.8 points allowed per 100 possessions), there really isn’t a whole lot of good to be found.
Sure, it’s natural to look for signs of the team emerging from its slump, and the fact of the matter this is a team that’s 13 games above .500 and leading its division by 12 games. But even though the playoffs are pretty much a sure-fire thing, the Raptors can’t afford moral victories anymore—with 19 games left on the schedule they need actual victories in order to build steam for the playoffs.
No more excuses. Just win.
Record
38-25 (1st in Atlantic Division, 4th in Eastern Conference)
What happened?
What was learned?
Valanciunas in the fourth quarter: The topic of Jonas Valanciunas not getting playing time in the fourth quarter gets brought up a lot, and Sunday we saw firsthand why he isn’t getting those minutes. Raptors coach Dwane Casey decided to roll with his big man and ended up getting rewarded with just two points, one rebound, a turnover and little rim protection. Valanciunas has great potential to become a really good player in the league, but it seems clear he isn’t at that stage yet, hence why Casey doesn’t go with him in crunch-time situations.
No resistance at point of attack: As mentioned before, the Raptors are playing some truly awful defence and it all begins at the point of attack. While pretty much no one can actually outright stop the likes of a LeBron James or Russell Westbrook from getting into the paint, there needs to be at least some level of resistance. Right now, none of the Raptors’ guards can stay in front of anyone for any length of time, allowing guys into the paint and destroying their rotation-focused defence.
Upcoming slate
- Tuesday 8:30 p.m., TOR at SA
- Friday 7:30 p.m., TOR vs MIA
- Sunday 7:00 p.m., TOR vs POR
Storylines to follow
It don’t get any easier: Unfortunately for the Raptors, life just doesn’t get much easier for them. This week they head to San Antonio to face the Spurs, then play host to the Miami Heat and Portland Trail Blazers. San Antonio is red hot right now, having racked up five straight wins, while the Heat and Blazers—despite suffering major injuries—will still present very stiff challenges for a Raptors team that seems unable to get out of its tailspin.
Can DeMar get to the line? DeMar DeRozan definitely appears to have recovered fully and is playing some good ball right now, averaging 28.5 points per game on 51.6 percent shooting in four March games. The problem with this is he’s only taking 4.3 free-throw attempts per game in that span, a number that’s actually inflated because of the 10 trips to the charity stripe he had last Monday against the 76ers.
The Raptors are 11-1 when DeRozan takes 10 or more free throws so there’s a direct correlation between his freebie attempts and team success. The Raptors need anything to get back on track right now, so why not put emphasis on getting DeRozan to the line?