Mar 8, 2015
Desperation continues to elude Raptors
Something seems different about the Raptors this season, the team rarely rising to the occasion. A team that often played with desperation in 2013-14 has lost its ability to pull off comebacks, falling for the eighth time in nine games in their Sunday night tilt against Oklahoma City.
OKLAHOMA CITY - A year ago the Raptors racked up 11 comeback victories, one of the most thrilling coming in their last visit to Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Riding high a couple weeks after the trade of Rudy Gay sparked their turnaround, they trailed the Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook-led Thunder by nine going into the fourth quarter of a game just before Christmas 2013.
They were down but what we would come to learn about that Raptors team is that they never seemed out of it. Outscoring the home team 29-14 in the final quarter, holding them without a point in the last 85 seconds, Toronto won that game.
Something seems different about them this season, the team rarely rising to the occasion.
"I think that was difference," Dwane Casey admitted after his team's most recent visit to Oklahoma City and their latest loss, 108-104 on Sunday. "I thought they came out and they attacked us. It’s not like we didn’t play hard, but they took it to another level and we didn’t meet it."
Dropping to fourth in the Eastern Conference, having lost eight of their last nine games, Casey often emphasizes the importance of playing with a sense of desperation, something that has eluded the Raptors as they have gone from fiery underdog to known commodity.
"You see it from time to time," said Patrick Patterson. "You see the desperation, you see the aggressiveness. You see the will to want to win. But we've just got to tie that together each and every game."
"Fortunately we haven't had to as much as we did last year," Casey added. "But we need more desperation mode defensively than offensively. You don't want to play frenetic offensively, you want to play frenetic defensively as much as anything else. And that's [what I mean] when I talk about playing in desperation mode. We've got to play like we're pissed off on defence."
Indeed, they've had fewer opportunities to storm back from big deficits, particularly early in the year when they were among the league's top teams in point differential. They have a record of 3-17 in games they've trailed after three quarters after going 11-24 in those contests last season.
Of greater concern, the Raptors seem to have lost their edge in the fourth quarter, a time of the game they dominated in 2013-14. Outscoring opponents by 195 points in the fourth last year, the best mark in the Association, they've dropped to 13th in that category this season, besting teams by just 11 points overall. They've been outscored by 55 in the final frame since Jan. 1, ranking 27th over that span.
On Sunday they flashed some of that rare late-game magic. Trailing by seven after three quarters and by as many as 12 early in the fourth, DeMar DeRozan and the Raptors made a push, cutting the deficit to two with 15 seconds remaining.
Appropriately, Westbrook sunk the game-sealing free throws. He had hit the dagger moments earlier.
DeRozan was asked how tough it is to slow down Westbrook, a legitimate MVP candidate, after the game.
"If you find somebody who has slowed him down, let me know," the Raptors' guard responded.
Few have of late. With Durant sidelined, the point guard has taken his game to another level. His critics are still out there. 'He's inefficient, he's not clutch', some say. He was both of those things and then some against Toronto, recording 30 points, 11 rebounds and 17 assists for his fifth triple-double in the last six games.
Oklahoma City is fighting for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West, sitting a game ahead of New Orleans. If they seem desperate, it's likely because they are. With 19 games left on the Raptors schedule they'll face Miami, Charlotte and Boston twice apiece, as well as Indiana, Brooklyn and Detroit - all teams battling for playoff sports in the East. Hungry teams. Desperate teams.
Among other things, the Raptors have lost their edge and are running out of time to rediscover it.
RETURN OF BRUNO
Although he was careful not to bad-mouth his second and slightly longer stay in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the big smile on Bruno Caboclo's face said it all.
He was thrilled to be back with his Raptors teammates ahead of Sunday's game in Oklahoma City.
The Raptors' rookie forward was recalled from the Mad Ants of the NBA Development League earlier in the day after being sent down on Feb. 18. Since then, Toronto has played a whopping eight of its 10 games on the road, many of them on back-to-backs and practice time has been at a minimum, hence the demotion.
Rather than learning from the bench, in a suit, the coaching staff thought it best to send him down for this road-heavy stretch. Unfortunately, without a single affiliated team in the D-League, the Raptors gave up their control over the young Brazilians development and the result was not favourable.
Caboclo was with Fort Wayne for seven contests, appearing in only four and averaging just under six minutes in the games he played. Overall, including his brief stint as a member of the Mad Ants in December, the 19-year-old is averaging 3.4 points and nine minutes in seven games in the D-League.
Catching up with good friend and countryman Lucas Nogueira just before tip-off, Caboclo admitted that it was tough not playing but said it was helpful getting some work in with the Mad Ants coaches during practice.
The Raptors are one of 13 NBA teams that share Fort Wayne as a D-League affiliate. Owning their own affiliate would allow them to control the minute distribution for their own young players, among other benefits that include running Casey's system.