Toronto Raptors: Three keys to series win vs Brooklyn Nets

The Toronto Raptors begin their title defense on Monday, August 17th, 2020 against the Brooklyn Nets.  It should be a relatively smooth start to a hopefully deep playoff run and here are the three key factors to winning vs the Nets.

Finally, the 2020 NBA playoffs have arrived and the Toronto Raptors will face the Brooklyn Nets. Like last season, the Toronto Raptors begin the NBA’s Eastern Conference playoff bracket in a 2 vs 7 series, this time with the Brooklyn Nets and there are three keys to the Raptors winning this series.

Historically this is a dangerous series that should bring back nightmarish thoughts for the Toronto Raptors organization and their fanbase. However, this is not the Toronto Raptors of 2007 when they lost to the New Jersey Nets in a six-game first-round series or the Raptors of 2014 who lost to the Brooklyn Nets in seven games.

All-time, according to landofbasketball.com, the Toronto Raptors lead this regular-season series 56-41. In the last eight regular-season meetings between these two teams (dating back to last season), the Toronto Raptors are 6-2 with six of those games being decided by 10 points or less. This season, all four meetings between the two teams occurred before the bubble in Orlando.

The last two games were notable in that the Raptors pulled off a late one-point victory winning 119-118 Saturday, February 8th, 2020 over Brooklyn to extend a 13 game winning streak to 14 games. Then, the Raptors lost their franchise best15 game winning streak in a 101-91 loss five nights later to these same Brooklyn Nets.

While the previous two first-round playoff meetings between the Raptors and Nets conjure up bad memories for the Toronto side of things, the Raptors are now seven years into a run of consistent playoff contention having made it to two Eastern Conference Finals and winning the Larry O’Brien trophy last season.

The Raptors are the decided favorites in this series with or without the myriad number of roster deletions for the Nets (except Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant who were not expected to play anyway).  Here is a look at three keys to the Raptors winning the series vs the Nets:

Offensive Consistency

The Toronto Raptors, with one game left to play against the Denver Nuggets in the bubble, are the 13th best team in producing points this season. With no true superstar as Kawhi Leonard now plays for the Los Angeles Clippers, the team has relied upon Kyle Lowry (19.4 points per game) re-emerging as an offensive threat and Pascal Siakam (22.9 points per game) ascending to the all-star class of player. This season has also seen Norman Powell re-emerge as a key member of the team averaging 16 points per game.

This edition of the Toronto Raptors also connects on 37.2% of their three-point attempts and get scoring production from a variety of players. The problem is that the Raptors score in streaks and can go stretches of play without scoring.

A recent example is the 114-106 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks Monday night. With about 8:00 minutes left in the final quarter, the Raptors led this game 103-83. The Raptors were outscored 23-11 down the stretch.

In the first game in the Orlando bubble against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Raptors had three double-digit leads starting the game on a 10-0 burst before securing the win 107-92. In their only loss in the 8 game bubble schedule against the Boston Celtics, the Raptors gave up 122 and scored just 100 points on 42.7 percent shooting from the field and 26.3 percent from three-point range.

Pascal Siakam, Toronto’s top scorer this season, is just 41/104 for 39.4 percent shooting in his first seven games in Orlando.  Siakam, in an interview, stated that during the Covid-19 break  that he went “around three months without actually playing or shooting the basketball.”

The rust in his game has been evident. Also, except for his 23 point outburst against the Lakers, OG Anunoby has not taken a bigger role offensively only averaging 9.6 points per game since the restart of the season.

Thankfully, it appears that Siakam will be matched up against Nets power forward Rodion Kurucs who will require help guarding Siakam. Any double-teaming by the Nets in this individual match up provides Siakam with open teammates to pass to and the Raptors are great when they move the ball on the offensive end.

Maintain their defensive intensity

Any deficiencies in the Raptors offensive game are mitigated by the fact that they defend their basket with immense intensity. It’s their identity and even after a three and a half month delay in the season, it’s clear the Raptors take pride in preventing the opposition scoring.

In their first seven games since the season restart, the Raptors have held three opponents under the 100 point mark including the Lakers and allowed only the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics more than 110 points going 1-1 in those two games. A major tenet of team sports is defense wins championships and the Raptors live that message.

After losing a superstar and two starters in the off-season, in Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, the Raptors are a stronger team defensively than in their championship season. The Raptors own a 104.9 defensive rating which is 2nd best in the NBA.  Their opponents’ three-point field goal percentage  is only 33.6 percent

In the August 1st, 2020 match against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Raptors held LeBron James to just 20 points and Anthony Davis was contained with just 14 points.

In their 125-121 victory Wednesday over Philadelphia, without OG Anunoby or Serge Ibaka, the Raptors held Joel Embiid to 5 points albeit in just 14 minutes.  Against Miami in a 107-103 victory last week Monday, Kendrick Nunn, Jimmy Butler, and Tyler Herro were held to 30 points total.

This has been a season-long theme including early in the season.  Joel Embiid was held to zero points in a loss to Toronto.

Kawhi Leonard shot 2/11 with 12 points and nine turnovers in a Clippers victory over Toronto 98-88 in November. In both of these games, the Raptors had injury troubles, and yet the defensive intensity, philosophy trickles down to all of their reserve players win or lose. Even after the COVID-19 layoff, the Raptors brought the same defensive energy to their games.

If the Toronto Raptors maintain their defensive intensity, which is certainly the most important key to winning the series against the Nets, it will not be a long series at all.  Even worse for the Nets is the Raptors are virtually 100 percent healthy.

Roster Depth

The roster depth or bench mob of the Toronto Raptors will be another key factor in winning this series. Unfortunately, the Brooklyn Nets are a depleted roster with off-season star signings in Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant combining to play just 20 games-all by Kyrie Irving.

Brooklyn Nets players excluded from the season restart due to COVID-19 also include DeAndre Jordan, Taurean Waller-Prince, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Michael Beasley. There are currently 13 players listed as either day to day or out for the season in total for the Nets.

At the moment, both OG Anunoby and Serge Ibaka are day-to-day for the Toronto Raptors with knee issues.  Patrick McCaw is the only Raptors’ player out indefinitely. The 2019-20 season has been trying if not revealing for the Toronto Raptors in that head coach Nick Nurse has had to go deep into his bench all season long thanks to injury problems to Serge Ibaka, Marc Gasol, Norman Powell, and Kyle Lowry.

In one instance, 6 foot 8-inch small forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson was forced to play center against DeAndre Ayton in a 118-101 victory scoring 10 points back on February 21st, 2020 against the Phoenix Suns.  In addition to Hollis-Jefferson’s efforts, an undrafted rookie Terence Davis has had a positive impact on Toronto’s success this season. Davis scored a season and career-high of 31 points in 28 minutes on 12/15 shooting against the Chicago Bulls in a 129-102 victory on February 2nd, 2020.

Davis has played in every game for the Raptors this season averaging 16.5 minutes per game. It’s also hard to overlook Matt Thomas’ 46.9 percent shooting on three-pointers and Chris Boucher’s energy and hustle plays. Norman Powell’s re-emergence as a consistent rotational player in the lineup averaging 16 points a game has also been impressive.

Head coach Nick Nurse is going to want to tighten his rotation against the Nets. If the Raptors play up to their elite level, this series against the Nets will provide opportunities to give minutes to the bench keeping the reserve players sharp and the starters rested. As the Raptors look for a return to championship basketball in 2020, their roster depth will help lighten the burden.