TRIPLE TROUBLE
Defences will focus on DeMar DeRozan until other Raptors start to score,
There is price to pay for success and the Toronto Raptors are finding out what it is.
With DeMar DeRozan off to one of the best starts to a season in NBA history, teams are finding creative ways to limit his effectiveness, sending the Raptors scurrying to find counters to the different looks.
“Teams are adjusting their game plans the last couple of games,” Kyle Lowry said after the Sacramento Kings swarmed DeRozan in an eventual 96-91 win Sunday night.
“He’s averaged 37 points a night, he’s going to get blitzed.”
DeRozan ended up with 23 points against the Kings (the first time he was held to fewer than 30 this season) and still leads the NBA with 33.7 points per game heading into Mon- day night.
That DeRozan would attract a second defender isn’t too unusual — it’s happened often in the past because of his role in the offence — but a third opponent paying special attention is happening because DeRozan has been on such an incredible scoring binge.
The Kings mauled him with two big men as well as his primary defender Sunday, the Miami Heat did much the same Friday, and the Washington Wizards gave him that kind of attention last week.
“There’s a lot to learn from with the way (the Kings) were guarding me and Kyle, what to expect in the screen-and-rolls, what the bigs are supposed to do, what to do on the weak side, small things like that,” DeRozan said. “It’s a great learning tool for us.”
The simple answer is for DeRozan to find the open teammates and have them knock down shots or get to the rim and make teams pay for double- teaming. It works every now and then but the Raptors are shooting so atrociously from three-point range that teams are willing to give up those shots.
Until the likes of Patrick Patterson (3-for-20 on the season from threepoint range, a miserable 15 per cent) and DeMarre Carroll (7-for-26, for 27 per cent) get back to even mediocrity, Toronto will struggle.
“We’re getting some shots that are good looks and some shots that are kind of rushed but we’ve got to take the shots that are there and we’ve got to make them,” Lowry said.
Taking the shots will at least keep defences a bit more honest and perhaps give DeRozan a bit more room to operate.
Even shots that may not seem wise are necessary.
“For me, and for everybody, you’ve got to keep the defence honest,” Lowry said.
“There are some shots that are tough shots that you don’t want to shoot but you have to shoot because it’s part of the game.”
The absence of veteran centre Jonas Valanciunas, who missed the game with knee swelling, added to the problem Sunday. Valanciunas is becoming more adept at quick rolls to the basket where he presents a first option for DeRozan. Rookies Jakob Poeltl and Pascal Siakam and little-used Lucas Nogueira aren’t nearly the big, defence-shifting bigs that Valanciunas is.
Only six games into the season, there’s lots of time to learn.
“(I have to) help our young guys understand what to do when they double-team me or Kyle in that position, be able to short-roll (to the basket), expect the ball, be able to swing and make a play,” DeRozan said. When the Raptors become more comfortable with the looks they’re seeing, and when Valanciunas gets back, it should allow DeRozan enough freedom to continue his torrid scoring pace.