Welcome to the Weekly Rap, a resource for getting you caught up on what went down and what’s on the docket in Raptorland.
After kicking off their west coast road trip with back-to-back wins over the Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets, the Toronto Raptors dropped three straight and now find themselves in third place in the Eastern Conference.
Time to panic? Hardly.
As I wrote last week, Toronto had already accomplished the goal of two wins on a very tough trip out west—they came into this past week playing with house money. It’s obviously disappointing they were unable to get even one of the three games, but it shouldn’t be surprising given the depth of talent they were up against.
Instead of the losses themselves, what should be raising flags is the way the Raptors dropped those games. Most evident against the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns, the Raptors’ defence faltered—massively—allowing them next-to-no shot at victory.
Earlier this season, Toronto went through a similarly rocky stretch on the defensive end, but eventually righted the ship against inferior competition. The Raptors are home for the next six games with four of those contests coming against teams they are vastly superior to, so things should settle down and the Raptors should be able to get right back in the hunt for that No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Record
24-10 (1st in Atlantic Division, 3rd in Eastern Conference)
What happened?
What was learned?
DeRozan could return Thursday: After missing the last 18 games with a groin injury, the Raptors all-star shooting guard will reportedly make his return on Thursday at home against the Charlotte Hornets. With the Raptors floundering a bit right now DeRozan’s return could hardly come at a better a time.
Caboclo is back in the NBA: After a three-game stint that saw him average 4.3 points and 2.7 rebounds per game on 23.8 percent shooting in 13 minutes per game, Brazilian rookie Bruno Caboclo has been recalled by the Raptors.
The Fort Wayne Mad Ants had no real stake in Caboclo’s development since they aren’t officially affiliated with Toronto, so the move to pull him out of the D-League makes sense. Back with the big club he’ll at least be learning the concepts and skills Dwane Casey and his staff want to instill in him in practice.
Upcoming slate
- Thursday 7:30 p.m., TOR vs CHA
- Saturday 7:30 p.m., TOR vs BOS
Storylines to follow
Adjustments with DeRozan back in the lineup: Should DeRozan return on Thursday, there will be a bit of an adjustment period while bringing him back into the fold. After all, the Raptors have performed admirably without him (going 11-7) and Kyle Lowry, in particular, has elevated his game to new heights, averaging 22.5 points, 8.7 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game on 44.8 percent shooting and 37.9 percent from deep.
With DeRozan back in the lineup, Lowry’s numbers will drop and, presumably, so will his level of aggression. Lowry’s at his best when he’s on the attack, so you don’t want him to completely lose that edge, but at the same time, the Raptors will find the most success when DeRozan is playing at the level he was last season.
Can the Raptors get back to playing their own game? A major contributing factor to the three losses this past week was the way the Portland Trail Blazers, Warriors and Suns were able to get Toronto out if its comfort zone by playing up-tempo. Despite boasting the second-best offence in the league (putting up 111.1 points per 100 possessions), the Raptors are a below-average team where overall pace is concerned (95.85 possessions per 48 minutes, good for 17th in the league). By contrast, the Warriors average the most possessions per 48 minutes in the NBA (100.71), the Suns are fourth (98.81) and the Blazers 11th (96.65).
The Raptors were completely taken out of their game against the Warriors and Suns, and were sped up during the second half and overtime in Portland. Toronto may be a high-scoring club, but it isn’t a traditional high-octane offence, much preferring crisp set plays to helter-skelter transition ball. That is how they win and they will need to get back to that in order to snap this three-game slide.