Welcome to the Weekly Rap, a resource for getting you caught up on what went down and what’s on the docket in Raptorland.
Last Thursday, Kyle Lowry was named a starter for the 2015 NBA All-Star Game and we can all be thankful for two reasons.
First and foremost, because he deserved it. Lowry and the Washington Wizards’ John Wall have unquestionably been the two best guards in the East this season, so it was nice to see this fact recognized.
With that said, had Lowry failed to garner enough votes, given the aggressiveness of the campaign to get him named a starter, it’s quite possible the city of Toronto could’ve blown up.
From Twitter to the team’s television broadcasts, “Kyle Lowry, hashtag NBA ballot” was inescapable for almost the entire month of January. So we should also be thankful that the campaign is over. Because while so much energy and attention were given to the all-star balloting, it seemed as if a very concerning Raptors’ rough spell was buried a bit by it.
Coming into Thursday’s all-star announcement, the Raptors were sporting a 3-8 record in their last 11 games and playing some of their worst basketball of the entire season. Yet it felt as if the focus wasn’t on the performance of the club.
So, now that Lowry is the all-star starter he very much deserves to be, can we get back to focusing on winning ball games?
Record
29-15 (1st in Atlantic Division, 3rd in Eastern Conference)
What happened?
What was learned?
Ross off the bench is killing JJ’s minutes: Two weeks ago, Terrence Ross was benched in the second half of a game against the New Orleans Pelicans. The decision led to Dwane Casey bringing the third-year man off the bench all last week, with the results paralleling what you saw from Ross as a starter: one good game, followed by a string of frustrating performances.
To make matters worse, the Ross-off-the-pine situation is cutting into James Johnson’s minutes. As a starter, Ross was spelled by Johnson, but now coming off the bench, Ross replaces DeMar DeRozan, who has slid to small forward with Greivis Vasquez taking to the two.
In the four games that Ross has come off the bench, Johnson is only averaging 6.7 minutes per, despite being the Raptors’ best defender off the pine and perhaps even the team’s best second-unit option period.
While it’s true that Ross needs a confidence boost in time for the playoffs (the Raptors will need his ability to stretch the floor), there’s got to be a way to make that happen without all but removing Johnson from the rotation.
Raptors defence turning around? After getting torched for the majority of their rough patch, the Raptors have shown a renewed commitment to the defensive end of late. Toronto has now won three of its last five games, and only given up 99.7 points per 100 possessions over that span—a far cry from the 104.4 points per 100 they’re allowing on the season.
Upcoming slate
- Tuesday 7:00 p.m., TOR at IND
- Wednesday 7:30 p.m., TOR vs SAC
- Friday 7:30 p.m., TOR at BKN
- Saturday 7:00 p.m., TOR at WAS
Storylines to follow
DeMar’s form: As expected, DeRozan has gone through some up-and-downs as he fights to regain his old all-star form. After averaging 22.3 points per game on 54 percent shooting in his first three games back from injury, DeRozan only scored 14 points total on a horrific 17.6 percent shooting in his next three. He then bounced back on Sunday with a 25-point effort on 8-for-14 shooting. So, does this mean that he’s officially back? It’s tough to say right now, but it’s something that should definitely be monitored over the next few games.
Back-to-backs this week: The Raptors are in for a pretty tough week. Not because of the quality of competition (the Wizards are the only above-.500 team they face), but because they’re scheduled to play two separate back-to-backs. On the season, Toronto has fared well in the second game of a back-to-back, amassing a 5-3 record, but the challenge remains, particularly with only one game in the stretch in the friendly confines of Air Canada Centre.