The Toronto Raptors were short-staffed against the Atlanta Hawks. Coach Nick Nurse was forced to scramble his lineups, which for purposes of our takeaways was quite useful.
The Toronto Raptors survived a dreadful start to blow past the Atlanta Hawks last night. While we were missing a bunch of people, there were still lessons to be learned.
Kyle Lowry is the team MVP so far
No one could possibly argue with that statement, could they? Kyle Lowry continued his brilliant season with another luminous performance, chalking up a triple-double. His 21 point-17 assist-12 rebound masterpiece resulted in a plus_28 differential.
When Kyle plays like that, the Raptors can beat anyone.
We don’t have enough shooting
During Toronto’s remarkable 12-1 start to this season, the team shot a pedestrian 35.1% from beyond the arc. Since then, the Raptors have gone 3-3, and made 30.7%. After last night, the Raptors are 24th in percentage of 3-point makes. Those aren’t championship numbers.
In a way, there’s comfort in the data. The Raps weren’t enjoying an impossibly high degree of success from the perimeter to build their record; they were winning on merit. Yet when our team’s shooting dips, we start to look vulnerable.
Huge leads were allowed to slip away, against both Detroit and Orlando.
I doubt we’ll see any moves made by Masai Ujiri to rectify this problem until the entire roster (maybe excluding Norman Powell, whose return could take several more weeks) is healthy. Nick Nurse wants a chance to see if C.J. Miles can find his range, likewise the struggling Fred VanVleet.
Delon Wright isn’t scaring anyone from deep. His 33.3% success rate isn’t cause for alarm (Fred and C.J. are both under 30%), but the fact he doesn’t take enough deep shots is. His ability to create space for himself is in question.
The Raptors needed a 5 for 7 effort (Chris Boucher bombs away!) in Q4 to get to 37.9% against the defenseless Hawks. We are going to need some Instant Offense capability from someone, and soon. Here’s hoping he’s already on the roster.
There’s no substitute for rebounding
I don’t want to read or hear anything further about dumping Jonas Valanciunas. He and Serge Ibaka are forming an effective tag-team. With one of them on the floor virtually every second, the opposition never gets a break. They combined for 22 boards against Atlanta, which aided hugely the Raptors’ absurd 55-34 margin on the glass.
And here’s a couple of bonus takeaways:
I don’t know what the question is, but the answer isn’t Lorenzo Brown
Fred VanVleet must get his urge to shoot in tight quarters under control – Pass the ball, Freddie
Finally, I couldn’t resist using Vince Carter‘s slam as our featured image. The basket with .5 seconds left pushed him over the 25, 000 point mark for his career. Should the Raptors sign him to a one-day contract at season’s end, so he can retire on our roster?