"You Gotta Knock Them Out"- Raps-Bulls 4

BULLS 94, RAPTORS 92

"It's like beating the Champ; you gotta knock them out"- Jack Armstrong

Guys, I've got to tell you, I'm all-in on the Raptors needing to "establish a defensive identity". It's a really good deal. You know why? Apparently, being known as a tough defensive team means you get to hack your opponents constantly, and somehow avoid being called on any of them. If tackling is your thing, you're in luck, because when a 'tough defensive team' tackles one of the opposition players, it's a simple loose-ball foul. If the player who was tackled has the audacity to be upset by this occurring, they'll be hit with a tech.

Seriously people, what is going on here? NO, the Raptors did not lose the game because of the officiating. But, in my opinion, they did totally ruin the game. Watching games where a team simply cannot get one whistle to go their way is just unbearable. And the way Jack Armstrong constantly justified the officiating due to Chicago's reputation drove me up the wall. Officiating due to reputation is such a ridiculous concept. Look at the way the entire Chicago team carried on when Taj Gibson was called for a foul when he hit Demar DeRozan across the face on a lay-up attempt; this is clearly a team that is entirely used to having calls go consistently go their way. Credit is due to Chicago, then, for establishing this reputation. What a fantastic deal to have with the referees. As an opposition supporter, however, it is completely frustrating. Please, by all means tell me that I'm wrong.

Check the above quote from Jack Armstrong on the TSN broadcast. What sport are we playing here? You don't get an advantage from referees depending on circumstances, and the fact that I'm probably viewed as naive for writing this truly annoys me.

Now that this whinge is out of the way, I'll say this; the Raptors were awful, and not themselves against the Bulls. In a game that was a direct battle for the 3rd seed, the Raptors dug themselves an early hole, and were never able to climb out of the hole and take the lead. The Bulls, whose big men absolutely destroyed their Raptor counter-parts, looked like the playoff-toughened team they are, withstanding run after run from the Raptors. Joakim Noah, while only scoring 8 points, had a significant influence on the Bulls' victory with his incredible passing. Noah's ability to find the open man garnered him 13 assists, and was probably the difference between the two sides. The fact that on a back-to-back, the Raptors again fought hard to keep the game close, and even had a couple of plays to win the game late, speaks to the ever-growing character of this team.

Do not panic though, Raptor fans. Not only do we have the easiest remaining schedule of any team in the league, this is exactly the sort of game the team needs to play to learn about playoff intensity, and to build that 'winning culture'. Look at the way Tyler Hansbrough excelled tonight, with 8 points and 7 rebounds in just 24 minutes; Tyler is a product of the Indiana Pacers system that has developed into a title contender, and that has competed in tough, scrappy playoff series' such as the 7-game epic against the Heat last season. Toronto players who have not yet had the opportunity to play playoff ball need to get a feel of what it is like. While the Raptors move to 29-25, and just 0.5 games above the 4th placed Bulls, the Raptors remain in the box-seat to win the Atlantic Division as well as the number 3 seed.

Check those eyes..

In funnier news, Kyle Lowry gave us another hilarious reaction to a referee's call tonight. After being hit with his fifth personal foul, Kyle just sprinted away and chilled on the bench. Clearly fearful of picking up a second technical, he sat back and let every other Raptors player and coach argue on his behalf.  It was fantastic. Kyle continues to prove himself as one of the best NBA players at reacting to bad calls. If you throw in his sprint to the locker room in the Sacramento game, we're halfway to a Mount Rushmore of Kyle Lowry reactions. If you've got any nominations, by all means.


PLAYER VOTES

3 votes- DEMAR DEROZAN (32pts, 11/25FGs, 5rebs). The performance of a leader, and of an all-star. I fear what this game would have looked like without DeRozan. Made his own offense, made play after play. One criticism, however; Demar needs to get smarter in clutch situations. Demar's got to use your mobility when isolated on a big like Carlos Boozer, although it's much harder to criticize the final play where Jimmy Butler's defense was exceptional.

2 votes- TYLER HANSBROUGH (8pts, 4/7FGs, 7rebs). Loved what Tyler gave us tonight. That's his kind of game; a 'street-fight', a scrap. Tyler scrapped better than anyone out there.

1 vote- KYLE LOWRY (16pts, 4/13FGs, 7asts, 5rebs). I feel like Lowry's contribution was slightly more than Amir Johnson's, but this wasn't a great game from Kyle by any means.

NEXT- FEBRUARY 21 vs CLEVELAND. Cleveland, Orlando, Cleveland, Washington reads as a lovely run to move well above .500, and potentially clear at the number 3 seed.

Follow me on Twitter @mitchymitchy4

Raps Scrap, Cruise Past Atlanta

RAPTORS 104, HAWKS 83

In a classic 'tale of two halves' kind of game, the Atlanta Hawks brought the worst out of the Toronto Raptors for 24 minutes, before collapsing miserably in the second half. The victory shakes up the Eastern Conference playoff picture, with the Raptors moving to 28-24, with a 1.5 game lead over the new number 4 seeded Chicago Bulls. The Hawks fall to 25-26, and the 5-seed. 

- Demar DeRozan is a legitimate star in this league now. The word 'classy' springs to mind in relation to this game against the Hawks; after a scrappy first half, the game was begging to be taken over, and Demar stepped right up. He literally bashed Kyle Korver in the second half, scoring at will with Korver no chance of stopping him. Demar also got to the free-throw line 7 times, which reminded us that, in terms of guards, Demar is second in the league at getting to the stripe. The guy in front of him? James Harden. Elite company. Remember, Korver was picked for the USA Basketball player pool, and DeRozan was not. Did Demar send a message tonight? Definitely. 

-While this was a key Eastern-Conference matchup in terms of the race for the 3rd seed, the Raptors showed, again, that they are a cut above the chasing pack. The first half was an ugly scrap, with the Raptor defense unable to keep the Hawks out of the paint, whilst struggling for any flow offensively. The second half, however, was a vast improvement; as highlighted above, DeRozan took the game over, the Raps only turned the ball over once, and dropped 7 three-balls. Way to handle business with only one half of quality play. 

- Go with me on this one; our big-men are so mediocre, yet so good at the same time. Jonas; 1/9 shooting but 14 boards. Tyler; no offensive game, but scraps for 7 hustling rebounds and gets to the line 7 times. Patterson; he's potentially over-utilising the three, but is money from mid-range. Novak; can only shoot the open three, but he's quite good at that. Amir missed the game tonight, for the record.  The point I'd like to try and make is this; if our big men click, and have their best possible games, they're going to be very effective and can compete with most teams, but at their worst, will lose us games. It's the biggest variable about the Toronto Raptors right now; you know what you're going to get from Lowry and DeRozan, but the bigs are much more unpredictable.

-Looking forward to All-Star weekend. We don't get a lot of recognition around the league, so it will be cool to see Jonas Valanciunas, Terrence Ross and Demar DeRozan represent Toronto this weekend. I bet Terrence will get robbed and Demar won't get the ball, but still, good luck to the boys and I hope they makes us proud. 


PLAYER VOTES

3 votes- DEMAR DEROZAN (31pts, 11/19FGs, 5rebs, 3asts, 2stls). Great way to head to the All-Star game, in reminding everyone that he truly deserves to be there. 

2 votes- PATRICK PATTERSON (14pts, 6/15FGs, 6rebs). Quickly becoming one of my favourite Raptors. Plays with top energy on both ends of the floor. Stretches opposing defenses out with his mid-range game, then gets on the glass and competes. If he's coming off the bench behind an energised and healthy Amir Johnson, the Raptors become an even tougher prospect to handle. 

1 vote- KYLE LOWRY (16pts, 5/14FGs, 13asts, 6rebs, 2stls). I was really excited to see that the Raptors appear likely to hold Kyle Lowry post trade deadline. It's the right call; make your playoff run with him, let him get a taste of what this team will be capable in 2-3 seasons, pay him $10mil-ish come the off-season and make him a key piece in a championship run. Played well tonight, too.


NEXT- FEBRUARY 18 @ WASHINGTON.

@mitchymitchy4

RAPS-KINGS: DMC, RUDY HALT RAPTORS

KINGS 109, RAPTORS 101

In the team's most frustrating performance since January 20 at Charlotte, the Raptors essentially forgot to play defense for three quarters, and fell short of another remarkable comeback against the Sacramento Kings. In his first game against Toronto since 'The Trade', Rudy Gay had a relatively uninfluential 24 points and 10 rebounds, but, largely thanks to his dominant big-man DeMarcus Cousins, was able to have the last laugh.

-For three quarters of play, the Kings did whatever they wanted on offense. The non-existent Raptor D was a little embarrassing, and really not what we have come to expect from this team. The Kings were able to drive to the basket with ease and either score, or shoot free throws (51 free-throw attempts for the game...).  Also, with Cousins and Thompson patrolling the offensive glass, the Kings could get their mid-range game going easily, with the confidence that any misses would be cleaned up and turned into points.  With such little defensive pressure, and while allowing second/third/fourth chance points, the hopes of a Raptor comeback were minimal. 

-Look at the Sac-Town shot chart- they shot horribly from pretty much everywhere, and still manhandled us. Learn from this game, please; allowing offensive rebounds is a killer, and getting to the free-throw line is absolutely crucial. 

-I'm hoping this was another game we can put down as an 'off-night', but the Raptors again seemed content to settle for jump-shots rather than attacking the rim. While the Kings did the opposite, and racked up free throws, the Raptors continued to shoot their comeback chances down with countless inefficient possessions. 

- I love that this Raptor team will never quit on a game and always fight to the end, but let's not get carried away with this one. You can't give up 92 points in three quarters, and then be disappointed that you've lost. What changed in the last quarter? Defensively, the boys were switched on, limiting the Kings to only 3 field goals for the quarter. The main change, though, was that Steve Novak hit a number of shots from distance. When we're relying on a guy who only plays when we need a miracle, and does literally nothing but chuck up bombs, I'm not going to pretend like this loss was particularly hard to take. That being said, however, that offensive foul call on Lowry was an absolute disgrace.

-I'm not blaming him for the loss, because singling out individuals after the whole team has played pretty poorly is unfair. But, what is up with Amir Johnson lately? There seem to be a lot of games where he will go absolutely unnoticed. 3 of the 4 games on this road-trip, Coach Casey has given Amir limited minutes throughout games, and then not even bothered bringing him back in crunch-time. And you know what? I really can't complain with that decision. As has been widely said, particularly on various Rapcasts, Amir Johnson without his heart, hustle and energy is an extremely mediocre player. I haven't been seeing these important characteristics recently.

-We're putting this down to a combination of the Kings being a terrible matchup for the Raptors (Jonas and Amir are no match for an in-form Cousins) and the Raptors just having a bad night, so, the Raptors move to 26-23, and there is absolutely no reasons to panic. After this road-trip concludes with a Clippers rematch, the Raptors next 8 games are very winnable. The goal for this season is now, surely, to finish with the 3-seed in the Eastern Conference, and this stretch of upcoming games will be crucial in building distance away from the chasing pack of teams.

PLAYER VOTES

3 votes- KYLE LOWRY (21pts, 7/16FGs, 8asts, 7rebs, 2blks). Had a real crack, like he always does. Lead the team back into the game late with quality play-making. 

2 votes- PATRICK PATTERSON (14pts, 4rebs, 3asts). When our offense was totally misfiring in the first-half, Patterson was the only guy keeping us even vaguely close. Mid-range game is money.

1 vote- STEVE NOVAK (12pts, 4/7FGs, 2rebs).  I'm just not a Steve Novak believer, but we honestly had no chance in this game without his fourth-quarter shooting. 

NEXT- FEBRUARY 7 @ LA CLIPPERS.

All-Star Demar Continues To Roll

RAPTORS 94, JAZZ 79

Demar DeRozan lead the Toronto Raptors to a comfortable, yet at times tricky, victory over the Utah Jazz. After trailing at the end of the first quarter, the Raptors allowed the Jazz just 52 points for the rest of the game, and in the end ran away with a 15-point win.

-I was mightily impressed with Dwane Casey's early gameplan; feed Jonas Valanciunas in the post in order to build an early lead. Jonas was far too skilful posting up on Enes Kanter, and dropped 8 first-quarter points. Jonas would go on to have a strong influence on the victory, getting involved defensively by blocking and altering shots, and by grabbing 9 rebounds, an area in which the Jazz were able to have some success. Great showing by Valanciunas, but credit needs to go to Casey for running the offense through him early, allowing the big man to get his confidence up for the remainder of the game. 

-When Utah made their fourth-quarter run, and cut the Raptor lead to just 5, Demar DeRozan continued to show his class and pure skill, pulling the Raptors out of danger with big plays. DeRozan, who early in the game showed his continuing evolution as a player with great court-vision leading to assists, turned on the scoring in the final quarter, dropping 9 points. With Kyle Lowry remaining out of the game with knee soreness, the Raptors needed a clutch performance from Demar, and he duly delivered. This was an All-Star calibre game for DeRozan, who is on a pretty great tear since he missed a couple of games last week. Again, +/- is not a defining statistic, but Demar was a +30 tonight.

-The 'Toronto Kings' had another really good showing, out-scoring the Jazz bench by 10 points, and by being the catalyst behind the defensive improvement. Patterson, Salmons, Hayes and, to some extent, Vasquez always seem motivated when called upon to re-focus the Raptor defense. Offensively, Salmons continued to provide a solid scoring option, draining 3 three-pointers on his way to 13 points. The idea of having an entire bench of players from another team seems to be working, as the chemistry they display on both ends of the floor is terrific. 

-Statistics that I liked: the Raptors threw 21 assists on the night, while only turning the ball over 6 times.  The Jazz shot just 3/17 from three-point range, showing effective close-out defense from the Raptors. Johnson and Valanciunas combined for 20 rebounds, 9 of which were offensive. Also in terms of rebounds, the Raptors, who trailed the Jazz 22-19 after the first half, ended up winning the rebounding 44-39. The lack of rebounding was the key reason the Jazz could build a lead in the first place, but fixing this up was what sealed the win for the Raps. 


PLAYER VOTES

3 votes- DEMAR DEROZAN (23pts, 7/13FGs, 4asts, 4rebs).

2 votes- JONAS VALANCIUNAS (18pts, 8/14FGs, 9rebs).

1 vote- JOHN SALMONS (13pts, 5/9FGs, 3/5 3pts, 4asts).


NEXT- FEBRUARY 5 @SACRAMENTO. So we finally get a chance to play the Kings, whose lineup of course now features former Raptors Aaron Gray, Quincy Acy, and Rudy Gay. This should be a fun game; I'm particularly hoping that Demar and Rudy get a chance to go head-to-head. DeMarcus Cousins will be a very big test for Jonas Valanciunas, too.

Handling Business in Denver

RAPTORS 100, NUGGETS 90

The Toronto Raptors extended their current winning streak to three games with a comfortable performance against a depleted Denver Nuggets side. Missing Ty Lawson and Nate Robinson, the Nuggets were able to hang with the Raptors for the first half, before the Raptor defense switched on for the second half and sealed the victory. 

- If you haven't seen Terrence Ross' ridiculously brutal dunk over Kenneth Faried, then watch it. Right now. Your life will not be complete until you have seen it. Seriously though, this was probably the biggest talking point of this match, which says a lot about what a routine victory this was. I don't know whether this was dunk of the year, but I'll say this; Terrence's jam was FAR superior to Paul George's candidate. Sure, George's was extremely flashy, but it was a fast-break, open-court jam with nobody even attempting to stop him. Terrence smashed over a 6'8 beast, and, at least in my opinion, this pure brutality was the far more difficult, and in turn, more impressive jam.
Also, as I noted on Twitter, the boys' reaction to that dunk was really quite special, and maybe even a little bit heart-warming. Watching them all jump up and collectively lose their minds, then chase after Terrence as they went to the rooms at halftime, all smiles and shouting praise at him, to me illustrated how much this roster loves playing with each other, and how they all take pride in each other's success. 

-Ridiculous dunks aside, this was a nice game from the Raps, and a particularly tidy second half. After the Nuggets had scored in the paint with ease throughout the first half, and found shooters like Evan Fournier in loads of space, the Raps picked up the defensive energy in a big way. Forcing 9 turnovers in the third quarter, the Raptors can particularly thank Tyler Hansbrough and Amir Johnson for the lift, as well as John Salmons and Patrick Patterson who always bring the energy off the bench. The Raptors are making a habit of stringing together multiple stops and building leads off the back of this.

- Maybe I say this too much, but this was another important win for the Raptors. This game tipped off a tough five-game road-trip (Denver, Portland, Utah, Sacramento, LA Clippers), and when considering the Nuggets injuries, this became a relatively straightforward game. While this win rewrote history a little, in that this was the first Toronto win in Denver since 2003, Randy Foye was pretty much their best offensive option. This was not a game we should have been losing, so it was nice to see the boys handle business without much of a hassle. 

-Injury notes: Demar DeRozan started, played 33 minutes, and looked solid. The ankle seemed not to trouble him, so look for Demar to keep playing and coming up big on the rest of the road-trip. Tyler Hansbrough chimed in with 13 minutes (up from the 6 he played against Orlando) and looked terrific. He did classic Tyler Hansbrough things, scrapping for rebounds and drawing insane amounts of contact  when putting the ball back up. I'm hoping Tyler can keep making an impact off the bench, because he can be the leader of this bench unit.

PLAYER VOTES

3 votes- TERRENCE ROSS (18pts, 7/10FGs, 3asts, 3blks). Smart play, efficient scoring, dunk of the year candidate. I rave about Jonas' potential all the time, but I've got to say that this kid's potential is just as large. Has the ability to become an all-round player through lockdown defense, too.

2 votes- JOHN SALMONS (11pts, 4/9FGs, 9asts, 2stls). Might be reaching a little bit here, but I really liked Salmons sharing the ball on offense. Sure, he played some Rudy Gay-ball at times, but he provided a nice spark off the bench, fed Jonas late when he recognized the big-man's great positions, and was very involved on the defensive end as well. 

1 vote- JONAS VALANCIUNAS (13pts, 4/10FGs, 8rebs). Much better than what the numbers suggest. Appreciated guys like Lowry and Salmons recognising Jonas in good spots, and this meant that Jonas got to show-off his ever-evolving offensive game, particularly with his back to the basket. He made his free-throws, too, a skill that a lot of bigs in this league seem not to possess. 


NEXT- FEBRUARY 1 @ PORTLAND. Tough one, especially on a back-to-back. Look for the boys to continue to show their fighting spirit, and keep the game competitive, but other than that, this isn't one we should count on winning. Utah and Sacramento both look winnable, and I do wonder whether T-Ross will still be on the LA Clippers scouting report as 'just a dunker'. 

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