Basketball fans—and non-basketball fans! Welcome to the home stretch. But what comes after the home stretch?… playoff time! With only 13 games remaining in the regular season, the Raptors have a comfortable grasp on second place in the Eastern Conference. Third place Atlanta sits 7.5 games back.
With a win-loss record of 47-21, these Raptors are set to make franchise history in what will be the organization’s first ever 50-win season. They trail the LeBron Cavs by a mere 2 games, and could even catch them before the season’s end. Having won 8 of their last 10 games, this is the kind of momentum they need to keep up as we approach playoff time.
This is a much better team than the one that flopped in four games to John Wall and the Washington Wizards in the first round one year ago. Sloppy defense ultimately led to the sad end of that series. With that memory fresh in their heads, the returning Raptors appear to have tuned in to head coach Dwane Casey’s defense-first mantra. New faces Bismack Biyombo, Cory Joseph, and Luis Scola have also been instrumental in this year’s improved defense. Case in point: Biyombo snagged a franchise-record 25 rebounds in last week’s game against the Indiana Pacers, a potential first-round opponent.
The addition of Biyombo has also pushed starting centre Jonas Valančiūnas to new heights while giving the Lithuanian big man a break when he needs it. Jonas had been productive with 17 double-doubles so far. For those who may not be familiar with basketball jargon, a double-double means scoring double digits in points and in rebounds (typical for centres and forwards) or assists (typical for guards). For Jonas, the rebounding has come a long way as he appears to have taken a page or two out of Biyombo’s book.
Nevertheless, one cannot overlook the source of the defensive improvement. The players are more serious about buying what head coach Dwane Casey is selling and it shows; this past week, Casey (by far the best coach in Raptors history) became the first head coach to reach 200+ victories during his tenure in Toronto. Coach Casey is also the only Raptors head coach to sport a winning record (201-179, .529).
While it’s great to see the Raptors winning so many games and taking defense more seriously then they ever have before, there are still some nagging problems. Anyone who watches the majority of their games will tell you it’s a similar pattern night in, night out, especially in the second half.
The Raptors can be pretty lousy to start the third quarter, particularly when they have more than a 5-point lead at the half. Instead of squashing their opponent and putting them to bed, they let them make a game of it by the time the fourth quarter rolls around. Suddenly (due to sloppy defense) the lead they had has evaporated and they are scrambling.
Though they have been successful in these fourth-quarter scrambles of late, they have demanded huge performances from their all-star guard duo DeRozan and Lowry. It is a long season and the big guns will need a break. If there’s one thing they should have learned from last season’s upset, it’s that the entire team must play 48 minutes of defense. This is particularly important on the road, where baskets might not fall as easily (Toronto home record is 27-8 vs. 20-13 on the road). To let a playoff team, even the seventh seed, back into the game in such a way will make for a much more difficult series. It could even cost them a trip to the second round.
Realistically, there is no reason why the Raptors shouldn’t get past the first round… unless they end up playing the Bulls and don’t smarten up (Toronto has lost all four games against Chicago thus far). For the sake of argument, suppose that they do make it to the second round or even the conference final. The road to playoff glory goes through Cleveland, and you can bet LeBron isn’t going to fall asleep in the third quarter. Between him and point guard Kyrie Irving, the Raptors will have their hands full trying to control a potent Cavs offense. Not to mention that the Cavs are also sound defensively, so offense will likely not come all that easily either.
At the end of the day, the Raptors need to keep up their winning ways over these last 13 games with renewed focus on defense. They need to treat each game like a playoff game, regardless of their opponent. Hopefully Casey will be able to rest Lowry, DeRozan and the other major players as the season comes to a close—because it’s going to be one hell of a playoff series!
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