Raptors fire too many blanks in opener
Raps lose Game 1 in overtime as their usually dependable shooting comes up short
The Raptors’ rebounding woes should come as no surprise, the deficiencies have been consistent and well-documented and it’s not like they will become a group of Dennis Rodmans just because the NBA playoffs have arrived.
But shooting and scoring have been their trademark — it’s how they play, what they do, who they are — and if that doesn’t get fixed, the first-round series with the Washington Wizards will be short and not so sweet.
“Easy shots,” DeMar DeRozan muttered in a quiet moment after the Raptors dropped a 93-86 overtime decision to the Wizards before a typically raucous sellout crowd at the Air Canada Centre.
“We missed so many easy shots.”
And far more than fixing the rebounding issues — this team will never be great on the boards and it’s an issue to be addressed in the summer — the Raptors have to find a way to make shots between now and the start of Tuesday’s Game 2.
“They’re shots we’ve got to take we have to continue to take them because that’s who we are, we’ve just got to make them,” said coach Dwane Casey.
While some credit has to go to Washington’s pack-the-paint defence and aggressive double teams on both DeRozan and Lou Williams, Toronto needs to take some responsibility for missing more than their share of open looks.
Williams had two wide open threepointers in overtime, Kyle Lowry was 2for-10 from the field before fouling out with three minutes left in the fourth quarter and everyone who thought Terrence Ross had turned some corner with a solid start can now look at his 3-for-11, 0-for-6 from three-point range and reverse those early thoughts.
Williams missed 12 of the 16 shots he took and six of his eight three-pointers, Toronto shot 38 per cent overall and just 6-for-29 from distance.
It doesn’t take any knowledge of fancy advanced metrics to know that stinks and, if it’s repeated Tuesday, the Raptors will be halfway to elimination.
“We had great looks, I believe in our shooters and they believe in themselves,” said Casey. “That part I’m not concerned about, they’re not going to miss that many shots again but what we have to be concerned about is our rebounding.”
Yes, the rebounding and if it sounds like a broken record, it is. It has been a problem forever, it will be a problem until general manager Masai Ujiri addresses it in the summer and all coach Casey can do know is appeal to his players’ pride and competitive nature. You cannot game-plan intelligence. “We start watching once the shot goes up and we’ve got to get in and clean up the boards,” he said. “We know that, it’s been an issue. We do a good job, we don’t do a good job, we’ve got to be consistent with it and until we make it a priority, it’s going to be hard.”
As if waving a magic wand, Jonas Valanciunas has an answer.
“Be tougher than them,” he said. “Show that we can battle.”
It’s not like the Wizards were appreciably better anywhere other than on the glass, where they parlayed 19 offensive rebounds into 20 points. They shot 39 per cent as a team, shot just 6-for-21 from threepoint range and were equally unimpressive for long stretches.
“You have to play to your strengths and we think one of our strengths is our defence,” said Washington coach Randy Wittman said. “It wasn’t the most masterful offensive display by either team . . . but our defence was very good, our overtime defence was really good.”
DeRozan, who was just 6-for-20 from the field, had 15 points while Amir Johnson led the team with 18. Johnson once again came off the bench as Tyler Hansbrough started but he was the target for passes just about every time Washington double-teamed DeRozan or Williams and he made eight of 12 shots.
Paul Pierce, roundly booed all game, led Washington with 20 points and Bradley Beal had 16.