Rebounds key weakness for Raptors, Vasquez says

Greivis Vasquez has hit on another issue plaguing the Raptors defence, one that puts the team’s big men squarely in the crosshairs of criticism. It’s work on the backboards. “Everybody is talking about defence and we’ve got to stop the perimeter and dribble penetration and all that, the last two games, we got stops, we just didn’t get a rebound,” the team’s fill-in starting point guard said Tuesday.

“Obviously, if you let a team get17 or 12 or 14 offensive rebound that could be potentially 14 stops and if you get half of that, it’s seven or eight.

“We’ve got to do a better job rebounding.”

Left unsaid, of course, is the rebounding deficiencies often go handin-hand with lax perimeter defence. The Raptors surely could be better on the glass and have had a tendency not to finish otherwise success defensive plays, but the big men are often left scrambling because the team’s guards cannot keep opponents in front of them.

And once everyone gets moving and out of control, opportunities for opponents to get second-chance baskets increase exponentially.

That’s Basketball 101 and something the team is working on daily.

“We’ll see what shows up,” coach Dwane Casey said of the team’s next game, Wednesday night in Charlotte that follows two days of intense practice.

“We worked on rebounding, boxing out, guarding your man, rotations, everything; a mini-training camp.”

It would help tremendously if the Raptors could get two injured starters — point guard Kyle Lowry and power forward Amir Johnson — back to at least play a bit before the regular season ends in a week.

Lowry went through another portion of practice Tuesday and Casey said his back was better but it was unlikely he would play in Charlotte. Johnson hasn’t done anything on his injured ankle, although the coach did say he is moving better.

Having them back would return everyone to their regular roles and restore some semblance of order.

“I like the fact that we actually practised because it really helps our offence, defence, it really helps our chemistry and our rhythm,” said Vasquez.

“I think our disposition has to be better. I think individually we have to do a better job.”