Raptors: How will Toronto defend against the Brooklyn Nets?

The Toronto Raptors will have their mettle tested against the Brooklyn Nets, as a team that is still trying to claw back into the playoff picture will have to take on a squad that can put Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving on the floor at the same time. While OG Anunoby would clearly help slow down this potent attack, his injury problems will keep him out of this one.

Blake Murphy of The Athletic is reporting that Anunoby’s injury will prevent him from playing in Toronto’s first matchup against the Nets’ big three. Stopping these three was going to be difficult enough with Anunoby in the lineup, and that task borders on being impossible without him.

Points are going to come, as the Nets still have one of the worst defenses in the league. However, Nick Nurse and the coaching staff need to figure out something that will slow down at least one of Brooklyn’s three-headed offensive monster. Would a versatile defender like Stanley Johnson be up to the task?

Stanley Johnson and Yuta Watanabe will need to step up for the Raptors

Johnson and Watanabe might not be the best offensive performers at the moment, but both of them might end up being tasked with slowing Durant and Harden down. While Durant is going to get his 25 points with his eyes closes, the pair of them have enough length and lateral mobility to prevent him from starting his dribble and slicing Toronto up in the midrange.

Harden might be listed at 6-5 and play point guard, but his size and maneuverability mean that he will be in the paint more often than most ball-dominant guards. Putting one of those two on Harden could prevent him from driving to the lane, making the somewhat inefficient jump-shooter hang out around the arc rather than two feet from the rim.

While Durant and Harden have MVPs, Irving might be the most difficult player for Toronto to guard. While they have enough big bodies to throw at Durant and Harden to slow them down, the Raptors lack a player with the quickness to stand up to Kyrie’s mesmerizing handles. Unless Kyle Lowry is ready to scrap on the defensive end, he could make life difficult.

While Irving and Durant are having some of the best shooting seasons of their careers in terms of efficiency, the Raptors would be best served packing the paint and turning them into jump shooters, as doing so would negate their ability to zap right to the rim and help turn the game into a track meet by dominating in transition,

This is the definition of “picking your poison”, but this defensive strategy is the one Toronto is best equipped to execute. Going into this game with an inadequate plan of attack against these three can lose you the game before a ball is even tipped, even with Brooklyn’s defense underperforming.

The Raptors should use this game against Brooklyn as a measuring stick to see how far they’ve come since the slow start. If they either win or hang tough with the Nets, Nurse might be able to get the Raptors into the playoffs and make a deep run.

If they fail to stop those three, which will likely lead to Toronto being on the wrong end of a blowout, it could serve as an unfortunately grim reminder that the Raptors are still far away from being a contender in the East.