Toronto fans—Basketball is in and the Leafs are out! The Toronto Raptors picked up right where they left off at the end of last season, with a phenomenal 10-2 record out of the gate. They have been the most exciting Toronto team to watch of late, what with the Leafs, as usual, struggling to find consistency.
Tonight they will have their work cut out for them against the King (LeBron James) and the Cleveland Cavaliers, which should turn out to be a fantastic matchup. Unfortunately my deadline (apologies to the editors for this!) was last night so I’m only going to be able to report on what I’ve seen recently… but don’t worry—I’ve seen a lot!
The starters are last year’s familiar faces: Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan in the backcourt, with developing Big Jonas Valanciunas at centre with Amir Johnson at power forward and Terrence Ross at small forward. The group has been fairly good down the stretch, particularly in the fourth quarter (“We the North” is now “We the Fourth”) but they will need to come out a little stronger after tip-off. DeRozan has been a huge presence, averaging 20 points per game, good enough for 18th in the league. Lowry has brought his game on all ends of the court, including defense and rebounds in addition to pitching in a 35-point night against the Boston Celtics a few games back. Exhibit A: A free agent that chose to re-sign in Toronto and is still playing well…. in Toronto. Jonas Valanciunas has shown some improvement last season defensively and is starting to pick things up on the offensive rebounds. He’s also been a force on second-chance points. Amir has been solid as usual, despite a minor injury early on. Terrence Ross remains somewhat of a work-in-progress, but he has come alive in the Raptors’ last couple of games against Memphis and Milwaukee. On Wednesday against Memphis, Ross appeared to be asleep for most of the first three quarters. Keeping with the theme “We the Fourth”, he suddenly lit up the floor with a staggering 14 points in the final frame including several 3-pointers from downtown.
Though the starters have unquestionably been good, the bench has been huge for the Raptors. Off-season acquisition Lou Williams has found his game again in Toronto. Arguably one of the best sixth-men in the league, Williams distinct shot and dizzying offensive moves have revived the Raptors on several occasions. Whenever the Raptors were down, this man came on and sunk some insanely difficult shots (probably for 3) and made everyone go, “Man, who is this guy?!” followed by cheers of “Louuuuuu”. Got to give Ujiri some credit here for this find; Williams has been a great addition to an already strong second unit featuring newly re-signed point guard and Toronto-lover Greivus Vasquez along with 3-point ace Patrick Patterson, worker centre Tyler Hansborough and newcomer-forward James Johnson (though he’s recently suffered a severe right ankle sprain with no timetable for his return). Overall, the bench has been fantastic, keeping the ball rolling while the starters take a rest. The bench is chipping in 37 points a game (source hoopstats.com), eighth in the NBA. What’s more, coach Dwayne Casey has never had to worry about them falling behind, as they’ve stuck right with opponents until the starters were ready to come back in.
This team has been sensational so far. However, the true test will come around Christmas time, when the Raptors hit the road for a long road trip against some of the top Western Conference teams. If they can stay healthy and keep up this level of play into that road trip, look for this group to finish near the top of the East, with home-court advantage heading into the playoffs.
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