Kawhi Leonard and Norman Powell returned. Toronto’s defence and rebounding did not and Tuesday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers wasn’t particularly close.
The rested Raptors couldn’t build on some improved recent play, especially once Fred VanVleet went down.
VanVleet’s had a brutal time trying to stay healthy the last 1.5 seasons. Ever since his all-star breakout. The Raptors can’t afford him to be hobbled again. He’s too important to just about everything they do.
With just over 40% of the season now complete the Raptors have the ninth-fewest wins in the NBA, sit middle of the pack in net rating and defensive rating, slightly higher in offensive rating (13th) and have excelled at not turning the ball over and on the offensive glass, but struggled mightily with shooting (bottom 3 in true shooting and effective field goal percentage).
Centres have largely feasted on the undersized team (the sooner Precious Achiuwa can find his form from a year ago upon his return, the better) and teams have cleaned up from three-point range ( ) and inside ( ) against the Raptors (really from everywhere, only San Antonio allows a higher field goal percentage than Toronto).
In other words, there are a lot of areas that can be improved in the final 60% of the season.
Some more thoughts:
- Kawhi mentioned that he made sure to sit out the game in Detroit so that he could play in front of Raptors fans. That was good to hear for more than just the fact that he remains a conquering hero to many Toronto fans. It feels even more consequential this season, since so many of the greats of the Western Conference have been unable to play here. Devin Booker is the latest superstar the fans won’t get a chance to see in person yet again. They’ve already missed LeBron James and Anthony Davis and Steph Curry. That’s unfortunate.
- Was also nice to see Norman Powell get a warm welcome and to finally return to Toronto after so long (Feb. 2020). Powell and Kyle Lowry had been the longest-serving Raptors when the team won the title and he’s one of the best developmental stories in franchise history and was a memorable Raptor.
- I also always enjoyed dealing with Norm, even if he seldom dropped a truly great quote, that was largely by design as he never wanted to rock the boat or get something blown out of proportion by accident. But he was great to talk about the game with and always treated me very professionally. Glad to see him thriving.
- If they stay healthy, the Clippers will be tough for anybody to beat. Kawhi is starting to look at least close to his old self. Paul George is a heck of a sidekick. They have depth just about any team would envy and Zubac is a monster in the middle.
- Chris Boucher barely played again and Nick Nurse told reporters Wednesday that the big man, who had been so good for the early part of the season, simply needs to play better.
- If he does, he’ll get out of the doghouse, if that’s what you want to call it. Just look at Malachi Flynn as an example of that. Flynn continues to shoot the ball extremely well for a team that needs all the shooting it can get.
THREE STARS:
1 Pascal Siakam
2 Norman Powell
3 Ivica Zubac
H.M.: O.G. Anunoby, Reggie Jackson
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