Carroll, Raptors trying ‘to figure out the rhythm’
Before Toronto’s offence looked great in a big win over the Thunder Wednesday, DeMarre Carroll had been musing about his own — and his team’s — sputtering attack.
The worst three-point shooting team in the NBA had looked completely out of sorts for most of the season, even as the wins piled up and Carroll, Patrick Patterson and Kyle Lowry, had especially cratered from deep and were looking for answers.
For Carroll, that meant reaching back to the past, seeking out things that got him to this point as a starter on an elite team — “Just going back to being the first one (in every gym or arena)” putting up tons of jumpers. Carroll knew when he signed a lucrative contract to play with the Raptors that it wasn’t going to be the basketball nirvana that his two years in Atlanta were. There, everyone touched the ball as it was zipped around constantly in search of the best look.
In Toronto, league scoring leader DeMar DeRozan and all-NBA point guard Kyle Lowry dominate the ball, often turning three of their teammates into spectators (with the other usually being involved in some sort of pick-and-roll action).
That’s fine with Carroll, Patterson and the others, but it just means adjustments need to be made.
“It’s hard. We are in a different dynamic right now. We are winning and DeMar is scoring 40, so it’s kind of, I don’t think anybody really has a rhythm on this team, besides DeMar and T-Ross. Nobody really has a rhythm. I feel like as a team we got to figure out the rhythm,” Carroll had told Postmedia.
“When you get limited shots, you’ve got to prepare yourself every day. That’s what I feel like I haven’t been doing. I have to get back to being the first person here, doing the little things because if I’m getting six shots, I’ve got to at least make those shots.”
And he just about did that, knocking down 2-of-3 three-pointers against the Thunder. Patterson, embroiled in a rough 2-for-13 shooting skid since Halloween, made 3-of-8 and Lowry, who began the year below 30 per cent from deep, went off for five treys on 11 attempts as the team hit 11, shooting 42.3 per cent, even without injured sharpshooter Terrence Ross.
It was welcome relief, perhaps a product of better ball movement, more help from the hoop gods, that extra work, or all of the above.
The offence bogged down at first when OKC ignored rookies Pascal Siakam and Jakob Poeltl and loaded up on DeRozan and Lowry, but Lucas Nogueira and Patterson arrived to fix that and the result was a season-best 25 assists.
“DeMar probably right now averages like 30 or more points a game, so, automatically they will doubleteam him,” Nogueira said. “I think that is the reason we moved the ball … and honestly, I think in the next couple of games, the same thing is going to happen, because every game, (they) are keying on him.
“They are going to be on him like a blitz situation so we have to step up, see who is open and help those guys when the blitzes come. … When the double team is going to come, you’ve got to punish them,” he said later in his scrum. DeRozan agreed. “As the season goes on, we’re going to continue to get better,” he said, “especially with the young guys as they understand how we like to get spacing. And a couple of guys started knocking down shots, once that happens it’s going to open things up.” Head coach Dwane Casey also agreed, going back to Carroll’s earlier point and saying the rest of the team will find its rhythm as time passes.
Friday will bring a big test when the Raptors face a stingy Charlotte Hornets team.
Only the Los Angeles Clippers have been better defensively and Steve Clifford’s defence isn’t easily broken down.
But with the rest of the Raptors now rolling the way DeRozan has been all season, something has to give.