Valanciunas seems to have Drummond’s number; Raptors know about “winning time” More on the pick owed to Raptors from Bargnani trade

One thing that impresses about this Raptors group is that they have a good sense of the moment.
They know when they need to turn things up, when the game has entered “winning time.”
That can hurt them because they ease into games and don’t tend to play well right off the bat, because they have the confidence that they’ll get it together and come through when they need to. If that continues in the playoffs, it could be problematic.
However, it’s working right now.
Case in point: With Detroit threatening after Andre Drummond’s miracle shot to end the third quarter brought the home team within reach of the visitors, Kyle Lowry, the king of shifting into another gear when needed, immediately went hard to the basket for a layup and a foul.
Cory Joseph, perhaps learning something from Lowry, did the same.
The Lowry-Joseph pairing to open fourth quarters has been a key to Toronto’s success. Few opponents have found an answer for the combo.
RISING TO THE CHALLENGE
I can’t be the only one that has noticed how well Jonas Valanciunas tends to play against Drummond.
You’d think that Drummond’s massive athleticism advantage would spell some problems for the big Lithuanian, but Valanciunas tends to thrive against the Pistons. He hit 7-of-9 shots, played well defensively and even dished out three assists, his first after seven straight without an assist. Valanciunas also had a block and three steals in one of his best all-around performances of the season.
Last year, Valanciunas went for 31 points and 12 rebounds against Drummond, who shot just 3-for-12 and he had 20 and 11 with three blocks in another clinic against Drummond.
It’s just a matchup that works for the Raptors.
Perhaps Drummond lacks confidence against Toronto because of what James Johnson did to him?
A WORRY
This streak has been something to see, but there are still some worries in Raptor-land. One of them is stopping stretch big men like Ersan Ilyasova, who did what he wanted for most of the night.
The Raptors really struggle to make life tough for players of this ilk. You can’t guard everywhere well, and this has still been an excellent defensive group overall, but I’m sure Dwane Casey would like to see his team guard the three-point line better.
Toronto ranks 26th in the NBA in three-point defence. To get an idea of what’s working, though, the team ranks 10th overall in field goal defence, meaning two-pointers are being defended very well.
PICK STATUS
More people than I thought aren’t fully aware of Toronto’s draft pick situation.
In addition to what is shaping up to be a pick near the end of the first round, the Raptors also have either New York or Denver’s first round selection.
As of Monday morning, Denver had the eighth-best odds of winning the lottery, New York the 10th-best. The Knicks also just fired head coach Derek Fisher and Carmelo Anthony’s injury issues seem to be flaring up again.
Denver gets the better of the two picks, following the drawing of the lottery balls, Toronto the worse of the two ie. If Denver or New York move into the top three, Denver gets the pick and Toronto gets the other one.
AROUND THE RIM
Four straight double-digit scoring games for Terrence Ross … Toronto is now 24-10 with Valanciunas in the lineup. Odd Valanciunas stat: He’s averaged 11.2 rebounds per game at the ACC, just 8.2 on the road and he’s +72 at home in 14 games, +34 in 20 road appearances … Detroit shot just 2-for-6 at the rim against Valanciunas, 2-for-7 against Bismack Biyombo and just 1-for-4 against Norman Powell, who has looked good defensively. The four times Powell had a shot at a rebound, he hauled it in, per nba.com/stats.