TORONTO – By nearly all accounts, the Toronto Raptors played as good of a first-round series as they possibly could have against the Orlando Magic.
Their stars performed up to the task, they got enough contributions from their role players and their defence looked as rock solid as it’s been all season long.
As such, coming into their second-round series with the Philadelphia 76ers, the Raptors have very little that they’ll need to work on outside of preparation for a different and much and more talented team.
But if Toronto head coach Nick Nurse and his staff were to narrow in on one aspect of their team’s game that could see a boost from Round 1 to 2, then they might want to take a look at the club’s three-point shooting against Orlando.
On the surface, Toronto’s outside attack looked just as threatening as it has been all season long, with the team shooting 36.8 per cent from deep on 32.6 attempts per game in their five games with Orlando — a very similar figure to the 36.6 per cent on 33.8 attempts the Raptors shot during the regular season.
The general team three-point shooting numbers aren’t a good indication of what could potentially be a troubling trend for Toronto from three-point range against Philadelphia.
Raptors three-point shooting comparison
The table above is a look at the eight individual Raptors who emerged as the team’s key rotation pieces in the first round and a comparison between what they did against Orlando from outside and how they fared in the regular season.
There’s a lot to be encouraged about here if you’re a Raptors fan, most notably the astronomically great percentage from deep both Marc Gasol and Kawhi Leonard are shooting and the seemingly rediscovered three-point stroke of Serge Ibaka.
For Gasol, especially, the strong series he had against Orlando shooting the triple felt like it was coming given how great he’s been from outside since he first joined the Raptors at the trade deadline.
“I’m open, and I’m there a lot more than I’d normally be,” Gasol said of his success shooting the three since joining Toronto after the Raptors practiced Thursday at OVO Athletic Centre. “You practice it and understand that’s what the team needs from you and you get ready to do that.
“To me it’s pretty simple. It’s you’re open, you prepare yourself in practice and shootaround and when you’re at home mentally to take those shots, because that’s what the team needs you to do.”
Gasol’s ability to draw opposing big men outside of the paint because of his reliable three-point stroke was just as advertised against Orlando and there’s no reason to think it won’t be the same against Philadelphia.
Unfortunately, while Toronto’s regular-season three-point shooting studs such as Gasol and Leonard impved in that area against the Magic, the Raptors’ other reliable marksmen saw their aim go a little crooked.
Danny Green was among the most accurate regular-season three-point shooters in the league, making 45.5 per cent of his attempts. Against Orlando, however, he saw his percentage slump to 35.7 per cent.
Obviously, this drop didn’t affect Toronto’s ability to win in the first round and there’s a lot more to Green’s game than just his three-point stroke but it’s not as though his perimeter shooting is a small part of his game either.
For what it’s worth, Green isn’t concerned about this drop in accuracy.
“I didn’t really notice. Didn’t really care. We won. We were winning,” Green said. “Obviously they were not letting me shoot as many shots as I normally shoot. We did a great job of moving the ball, and I don’t think my shot is off or something. I take the ones that are open and hopefully make them. Sometimes you make them sometimes you don’t. It’s behind me. You think about the next shot, the next one’s going in. I could care less about percentages at this point. I just wanna win basketball games. I don’t care as much about offence.”
Fair comment from Green, especially when you factor in that 35.7 per cent is pretty much right at league-average for three-point accuracy this season, but what about the accuracy drops seen from key bench players Norman Powell and Fred VanVleet?
This is where things get a little dicey for the Raptors against the Sixers.
Though it isn’t getting as much attention, one of the key battlegrounds between Toronto and Philly will be the two squads’ respective bench units. The starters on each side could very well play to a draw against each other meaning it’ll be up to the secondary players to ultimately tilt the balance.
The three-point strokes of Powell and VanVleet are the kinds of heavy weapons the Raptors could use to tip the scales, but based off the evidence against Orlando, these two players have appeared to have forgotten their heavy mauls in the regular season.
This isn’t as problematic for Powell who can still contribute mightily on the defensive end against the 76ers because of his athleticism, size and strength. The same probably can’t be said of VanVleet, however.
VanVleet is a smart, strong player with a great handle and a quick shot. He’s, unfortunately, also listed at six feet, a size that could be easily taken advantage of by the multitude of tall, long wing players the 76ers have at their disposal.
Defensively, VanVleet could end up as a liability for the Raptors against the Sixers, especially if he’s unable to make them pay on the other end with his three-point shooting.
Granted, a five-game sample size is nothing much as opposed to work from the regular season and chances are things will normalize back to regular-season levels for the likes of VanVleet, Powell and Green.
On the flip side, you’d also have to think that the scorching run that Gasol and Leonard are on will take a dip as well, something that could have more disastrous effects for the Raptors should their usual three-point gunners not return to form.
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