- At the risk of repeating ourselves, the Raptors can’t guard the perimeter. Especially not when Kyle Lowry isn’t playing. While Lowry has slipped in that department this season, his track record shows he can be one of the better defensive guards in the league. Nobody else on the roster can say the same and as we said a day ago, Greivis Vasquez is among the worst defensive guards in the league. That was evident again against Boston. Sure, the Raptors got some bad luck in losing this zany, overtime contest, but they authored a lot of their own misfortune by defending so poorly. They couldn’t guard the initial point of attack (again), so other players had to come over and help, which leaves others wide open and allows bad things to happen. Rinse and repeat, this same issue has plagued the Raptors all season. Did John Salmons mean that much? Without the veteran defender, this group has gone from above average to the bottom of the NBA defensively. It’s baffling.
- Give the Raptors credit for fighting back. They have heart, but heart only gets you so far. When fully healthy, they have talent as well, but what they lack is defensive smarts and ability. Without those things, winning a round in the playoffs looks highly unlikely, though a matchup with Milwaukee could produce a win regardless, since 80% of the Bucks can’t shoot.
- Sure looked like DeMar DeRozan also got fouled on the tying bucket in regulation … DeRozan shot a ridiculously good 10-for-20 on contested field goal attempts and 4-for-5 on uncontested. He and Tyler Hansbrough were the reasons the Raptors were able to fight back.
- Besides not being able to get stops, this team has had a maddening tendency all year to fail to haul in crucial defensive rebounds. Maybe that shouldn’t be surprising since statistically, this is one of the worst rebounding teams in the entire league and has been all season, but that flaw seems to shine like a beacon in tight games, when rebound after rebound goes unclaimed, giving opponents the second or third shots they need to win games.
- Patrick Patterson had a rough day. If he had made one shot the Raptors would have won the game (he shot an uncharacteristic 0-for-7) and then Kentucky lost. At least he was one of the few Raptors doing a strong job on the boards.
- Even if Amir Johnson returns before the end of the regular season, there is no chance he is 100% for the playoffs. That’s a huge problem. The games being spaced out will help the Raptors, who will have an older roster than whoever they play (for the most part, this doesn’t apply to Paul Pierce), but no amount of rest will prevent Johnson from rolling his troublesome ankle again if he lands the wrong way.
- Hansbrough played a fantastic game and has had an extremely underrated season. There have been times when he has fallen out of the rotation, times when he has been a big contributor, but throughout it all, the North Carolina product has posted excellent advanced stats and made an impact. With Johnson unable to stay healthy, it seems like Hansbrough’s role will only increase from here until the end of the season, when he will be an unrestricted free agent.
- Brad Stevens is widely regarded as the best young coach in the game and top 10 in his own right, despite still being rather new to the league. He calls great plays, consistently gets his teams to overachieve and made the unorthodox move to call a second timeout when he feared Jared Sullinger was going to screw up the initial play. Of course the Celtics would score after the adjustment – lucky or not. In 2010 and 2011, I covered Stevens falling agonizingly short at two Final Fours. Now, he’s an elite NBA coach. Remarkable.