FIVE THINGS WE LEARNED

Mike Ganter’s takeaways from last night’s game at San Antonio

1 Ball is sticky

The ball movement that is the constant when this team is going well tends to go AWOL when things get tough and the Spurs made things very tough last night. When the Raptors made passes in their halfcourt offence, they were telegraphed and slow. When they are on, the ball is moving with speed and unpredictability. There was none of that last night.

2 Active hands

Every time the Raptors put the ball on the floor anywhere near the paint, they were met with swatting and swiping hands from the Spurs who just seemed to want this one more last night. The Raptors had a little success of that themselves, but still lost the turnover battle handily.

3 Spurs trending upward

This has been coming for about three weeks now as the Spurs seem to have located that defensive intensity, thanks in large part to Derrick White, that allows them to take full advantage of the DeMar DeRozan-led offence. The Spurs may not have enough to contend in the deep west come playoff time but that defence will give them a chance if they can keep it up.

4 Confidence back

Norm Powell prides himself on being always ready. Health denied him the opportunity to get in the lineup earlier this year but now healthy again he is playing with the kind of confidence he had two seasons ago. It has been a trying time for Powell but he hasn’t complained or hung his head. He is reaping the rewards for that now.

5 DeRozan deserving, but ...

DeMar DeRozan is having a season worthy of a fifth all-star nomination, but fact of the matter is he’s in very tough to get it. DeRozan the Spur is a much more all-around player than DeRozan the Raptor was, partly out of necessity and partly just his continued maturation in the game. His numbers are all-star-like, but with so many outstanding guards in the Western Conference good all-around numbers probably won’t be good enough.