The reason the doubts have begun to creep in – and why they have some credence – is Raptor’s significant drop on defense this season. Last season, Toronto was one of only two teams in the NBA to finish among the top 10 in offensive and defensive efficiency, ranking ninth in both categories. This season, the offense has improved, shooting up to fourth in the league by averaging 109 points per 100 possessions, according to NBA.com – trailing only the Clippers, Warriors and Mavericks. But the defense has fallen sharply, ranking 21st by giving up 104.6 points per 100 possessions. For Casey, a coach who prides himself on success at the defensive end of the court, it’s a frustrating development. “We’ve kind of flipped the pendulum,” Casey said. “We wanted to get better offensively, and I think we took it to playing fast. And when you have that philosophy, or that emphasis, and I think our defense has given in a little bit. “We’re trying to get a balance.”
The Raptors outscore opponents by 8.3 points per 100 possessions when Williams is on the floor, and he has proven integral to their success. Following Friday’s game, the Raptors are 17-6 when Williams scores above his season average of 15.2 points, and an ordinary 17-11 when he does not. When Williams is good, the Raptors are very good. When he is bad, though, it is ugly. In losses against Milwaukee and Brooklyn earlier in the week, Williams a combined 2 for 23, 16 of those attempts coming from three-point range. Yet, he played 50 total minutes, and kept shooting and shooting and shooting. And, well, missing and missing and missing, with no second thoughts. “You have to live with some of his shots,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “That’s who he is. He was that way in Philly. He was that way in Atlanta. Again, he just has to be smart in those situations, which he is, and make good decisions when teams are trying to take the ball out of his hands.”
Raptors head coach Dwane Casey gave the lion’s share of the credit to his bench as a whole. Williams and Johnson carried the scoring load, but all five off the bench played a role taking back momentum with stops and good, old-fashioned hard play defensively. “We need that spark from the bench,” Casey said. “We have to start getting quicker starts (from the starting five) … but I loved the way we bounced back. I loved the fight and the tenacity we had defensively against one of the top scoring teams in the league. I loved the way the guys responded.” Patrick Patterson, who would finish with 11 points, made his biggest contributions on the defensive end. Between himself and James Johnson and Amir Johnson, that trio set the tone defensively the remainder of the night. Casey singled out Patterson’s willingness to stand in the lane and take a crushing blow from a driving Blake Griffin as perhaps the turning point in the game. The fact that Patterson was called for a foul on the play (he actually did it twice and was whistled for a foul both times much to his own disbelief) didn’t matter in the least to Casey.
This wasn’t an example of a head coach whining about officiating. Far from it. Rather, it was an acknowledgement of the type of effort that spurred the Toronto Raptors to a 123-107 win over the Clippers at the Air Canada Centre. Patterson had just drained a three to bring the Raptors to within 11 points with 9:14 remaining until half-time. Hustling back, he stared at Blake Griffin as the Clippers forward peeled away from everyone and drove the lane, reared back for one of those dunks. So Patterson jumped – straight up, it seemed, to everybody but the officials. There was no way Griffin was going to shove it in anyone’s face. No way, no how. Griffin made his two free-throws, but the point was very much taken. It was one of those “not in our house” moments that had been lacking in the first two games of this home-stand. “I just made a point to (the) team about it,” Casey said, noting he had reviewed the tape and felt Patterson had provided a textbook, letter-of-the-law block. “We teach them all the time that’s how to do it. It was huge, him (Patterson) going up. It takes a lot of … kahunas … to go up and do that. It’s what we teach when we talk about what it takes to protect the rim. I love Patrick … he’s a warrior.”
Raptors’ Patrick Patterson plays role to max: Griffin | Toronto Star
Patterson likes the way he and starter Amir Johnson complement each other. When they’re in a game together, there’s chemistry. Amir averages 26.6 minutes, 9.9 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Patterson’s comparable numbers are 26.5 minutes, 8.7 points and 5.5 rebounds. Patterson feels he learns from his teammate’s strengths. “Me and Amir are almost the same as far as on the defensive end, as far as talking and communicating, trying to protect the rim (with height and strength) and an occasional block here or there,” Patterson said. “As far as energy on the defensive end, (it’s about) communication, talking amongst ourselves and teammates and just trying to be a vocal leader and an energetic leader out there.”
Raptors find spark in remarkable comeback win | TSN
Then, last but not least, there’s James Johnson, who returned from a four-game absence with a hamstring injury after spending most of the last month at the back end of Casey’s rotation. The versatile forward made an immediate impact, mostly playing out of position (if you can call it that, given his size) at the four and guarding Griffin. “He showed it,” DeRozan said of Johnson, who scored 16 points in 19 minutes, hitting all seven of his attempts, all from inside two-feet. “He came out and he played amazing. Guarding Blake, being real efficiency, cutting, being in the right places at the right time on the court.”
Raptors Play Three Good Quarters out of Four, Beat Clippers Anyway 123-107 | Raptors HQ
Lead by twelve points (on perfect 5-for-5 shooting) from James Johnson, the Raptors outscored the Clippers 38-25 in the second quarter on the way to a suddenly close 59-57 game. Read that sentence again to let it sink in. Johnson, the lost legend of Toronto, surrounded by injury talk and possible conspiracy, returned from exile played just shy of 19 minutes in the game, shot a perfect 7-for-7 (all his plays were at the rim) for 16 points, tucked in five rebounds and three assists, and frustrated everyone from Blake Griffin to Chris Paul on defense. It was the story of the game – but not the only story of the game. Lost in Johnson’s folk lore building appearance (and disappearance; JJ went to put some shots up immediately post-game and was not available for questions afterwards), was the giddy explosion of Raptors offense and defense that hasn’t been seen against a quality opponent for some time. In the second half, the lead only grew.
Raptors claw back to shred Clippers, 123-107 | Clips Nation
The other thing to talk about before we get into the real meat and potatoes portion is that you have to give credit to the other team in this game. Toronto didn’t panic after a dismal first quarter. They started running their sets, got back into the game against the horrific bench defense, and then kept it going the rest of the way as the Clippers couldn’t figure out how to stop them. They got great contributions out of nearly everyone. Kyle Lowry’s third quarter propelled them, DeMar DeRozan’s march to the free throw line sustained them, and James Johnson’s minutes were invaluable as ever. Even Patrick Patterson and Greivis Vasquez showed up, knocking down a combined seven threes. Their defense picked up but mainly their offense did the work. They stopped turning the ball over, moved more, and the Clippers couldn’t get the mismatches in transition and secondary breaks like they did in the first quarter. Their final three quarters were some of the best basketball you’ll ever see.
Last Call: Toronto Raptors 123, Los Angeles Clippers 107 | Clipper Blog
As a native of the East coast, I love it when good Eastern Conference teams beat good Western Conference teams (I’m on the lonely island that doesn’t want the playoff format to change, but that’s another story). I’m not saying it was great to see the Clippers get stomped on for the second straight night. But the Raptors swept the Clippers this year, and in convincing fashion. That’s a good basketball team, and it’s the second time this year they cleaned out the Clippers after getting outscored in the first quarter.
Toronto Raptors fight through slow start, defeat Clippers | Raptors Cage
You’ll quickly realize that the theme of tonight’s post-game report card is the night and day performance of the Raptors before and after the opening frame. Something clicked with Toronto after the first intermission. The switches were much better, the communication improved, and most importantly, the intensity level was cranked up a few notches. Amir Johnson, James Johnson, and Patrick Patterson all did their part in ensuring that the Clippers bigs wouldn’t come away with the easy looks they were able to generate early on. Blake Griffin still had a huge night statistically, but in the grand scheme of things, the emphasis on protecting the paint ultimately changed the direction of the game. The perimeter defense of the Raptors (after the first quarter) wasn’t half bad either. After getting anything they wanted in the first 12 minutes, the Clippers offense slowed down drastically, and the team simply couldn’t get enough to keep up with the Raptors after the momentum shift.
Toronto Raptors Interested in David West | 8 Points 9 Seconds
It’s hard to see much in there that would get the Pacers’ front office frothy with anticipation, especially knowing how much they value David West. But Amir Johnson is a good player and every team needs more future draft picks.
4-point play: Clippers offense carrying team | ESPN
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Canadian Press, Nathan Denette
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