Raptors coach Dwane Casey has been preaching the mantra, ‘Pound the Rock’, to his players all season and there’s no denying that the Raptors have improved a great deal on the defensive end over the course of this season (in spite of their 12-26 record).
But over the last five games specifically, the light really seems to have gone on for Toronto:
| Defensive rankings over the past five games | ||
| PPG | 88.2 | 4th |
| OPP. FG% | 40.8 | 6th |
| OPP 3PT FG% | 28.7 | 5th |
| Points in Paint Allowed | 34.0 | 1st |
Unfortunately for the Raptors, in spite of that lock-down ‘D’, the club only boasts a 2-3 record during this recent run.
In fact, if you go back to the beginning of February, Toronto’s defence (especially at home), effort and competitive fire has been superb.
February started with a terrible 100-64 loss in Boston. Since then, though the win-loss record sits at 5-10 and the Raps have not lost a game by more than 7 points. Granted, two of those 10 losses were disappointing efforts against Washington and Charlotte, (so you could question the ‘fire’ in those contests), but perhaps those performances are off-set by fabulous runs against the likes of the Lakers, Spurs, Knicks, Magic, Rockets and Celtics (not the Feb. 1 game).
Feb. 3 vs. Washington 106-89 win. (+17)
Feb. 5 at Miami 95-89 loss (-6)
Feb. 6 at Washington 111-108 loss (-3)
Feb. 8 vs. Milwaukee 105-99 loss (-6)
Feb. 10 vs. Boston 86-74 win (+12)
Feb. 12 vs. LA Lakers 94-92 loss (-2)
Feb. 14 vs. New York 90-87 loss (-3)
Feb. 15 vs. San Antonio 113-106 loss (-7)
Feb. 17 vs. Charlotte 98-91 loss (-7)
Feb. 22 vs. Detroit 103-93 win (+10)
Feb. 28 at Houston 88-85 loss (-3)
Feb. 29 at New Orleans 95-84 win (+11)
Mar. 2 vs. Memphis 102-99 loss (-3)
Mar. 4 vs. Golden State 83-75 win (+8)
Mar. 5 vs. Orlando 92-88 loss (-4)
Add it all up … and from Feb. 3 until Mar. 5 the Raptors (for all of those plus/minus stat geeks) are a surprising +14 in spite of their 5-10 record. And the average margin of defeat (point differential) in those 10 losses is only 4.4 points.
How much of Toronto’s lack of success can be attributed to the continued absence of Andrea Bargnani and how much is simply tied to a team that needs to improve its talent level overall remains to be seen. It’s probably a little of Column A and a little of Column B.
Bargnani’s 23.5 points per game (in 13 games this season) would help Casey and Co. a great deal but upgrades at certain positions (and depth overall) certainly wouldn’t hurt either.
So it will be interesting to see what Bryan Colangelo does to improve the Raptors roster as the trade deadline approaches next Thursday and/or when his 2012 draft pick joins Jonas Valanciunas (2011 selection), DeMar DeRozan and others (including a free agent or two – via the whack of cash T.O. will have to spend this summer?) next fall.