What more is there to say about this Toronto Raptors team that hasn’t already been said?
How about this: The Raptors stepped onto the home court of a lethal Western conference team and flat-out embarrassed them.
This current left coast trip – which kicked off Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles and will run for five games in nine days – has been circled on the calendar for quite some time now for pundits and fans alike. After all, it’s one thing to run roughshod over some of the weaker teams in the East (as the Raptors have over their last six wins), but it’s against the best teams in the superior West where we would learn just how good this Raptors team really is.
And if Saturday’s convincing 110-98 win over the Clippers is any indication, the Raptors are going to fare just fine, thanks for asking.
While it’s true that the NBA’s balance of power leans heavily in favour of the West, the Raptors didn’t play like an inferior opponent from an inferior conference, they played like a first-place team against a sixth-place team (which is where these teams are in their respective standings).
Fresh off of a Christmas Day win over the first-place Golden State Warriors, the Clippers seemed like they were finally getting it together after a relatively disappointing start to the season for a team with realistic Finals aspirations back in November.
The Raptors, meanwhile, had a long layoff after Monday’s loss in Chicago in which they allowed an unheard-of 49 points in the fourth quarter en route to just their 7th loss of the season.
Having dropped consecutive games only once this season (and frankly it was an aberration – that whacky OT loss in L.A. to the Lakers a month ago), the Raptors needed to come out of the gate strong in a matchup of two of the league’s highest-scoring offences.
Yet both teams started off slow, a combined 5-for-20 early in the first quarter before finding their rhythm.
“I told them ‘We’re not going to win a pretty game’,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said as he addressed reporters soon after the final buzzer sounded- and he was right.
It was certainly the case as the first half waned, when the Raptors erased a nine-point deficit thanks to a series of forced turnovers and lumbering trips to the free-throw line.
But by the fourth quarter, when the Raptors put their foot on the pedal, they displayed some beautiful stretches of offence, moving the ball selflessly and with purpose, extending the lead to as many as 15 points.
The Raptors never looked intimidated, which shouldn’t be surprising given that this team feeds heartily off of its leader, Kyle Lowry, who’s ascension on the NBA’s point guard ladder continues. He finished with 25 points and seven assists, and is averaging more than 21 points and nine dimes in the fourteen games the Raptors have played without DeMar DeRozan, going 10-4 in that span.
Lowry currently sits a little more than 100,000 votes behind John Wall in All-Star voting, and the Wizards star might be the only player in the league playing the position better right now. On Saturday, Lowry outplayed Chris Paul, long considered the best at the position. And frankly it wasn’t even close.
In the frontcourt, Jonas Valanciunas followed up his strong showing in Chicago with 22 points and 11 rebounds against another of the league’s premier front lines. He was assertive from the start, deliberate and decisive in his post-ups and converting tasty dishes from his teammates into easy baskets at the rim.
Per usual, depth was key for the Raptors, and with the Clippers playing relatively small in stretches with both Jamal Crawford and J.J Redick on the floor, Casey was able to utilize his versatile roster and play the matchups accordingly.
Greivis Vasquez, who has been playing while his father battles illness, overcame a frenetic start to lead all reserves with 16 points (along with six assists and four boards in 22 minutes). Amir Johnson, meanwhile, had a season-best 12 rebounds in front of his hometown crowd.
“We did what we were supposed to do,” Casey said.”Compete and play hard. Guys stepped up.”
From Lowry on down, this roster is proving itself to be eminently reliable. And while the second night of a back-to-back in Denver tomorrow night, followed by games against Portland and Golden State, will provide significant challenges, we learned on Saturday that the Raptors aren’t laying down for anybody or any conference. They’re a first-place team who plays like it.
So how did Toronto fare in its first test on the road against the big, bad, West? Let’s put it this way: a couple more wins like that before they head home, and they might just make the Dean’s List.