In seventh position in the Eastern Conference, at 32 wins for 25 losses, the Raptors have regained their rank after their season in exile, and very difficult, in Florida.
But if the first part of the season is definitely in the archives, the second will arrive at full speed for the Toronto dinosaurs, exposed to six games in eight days for the recovery!
This week has therefore been used to chain training, and apart from Fred VanVleet, the only All-Star in the group, all the Raptors players were indeed on deck Thursday to prepare for a schedule of the most cotton. For his part, Nick Nurse believes that his team is ready to withstand the shock, knowing that their style of play is already more or less adapted to what awaits them in these games with increased stakes.
“I was going to say that we played a lot of playoff-type matches,” advance the coach in The Athletic. “I think we defend pretty hard. We have game plans that are quite in-depth about our opponents. I think our offense is playing at our playoff pace. We don’t play super fast and we’re pretty good at playing half-court and putting the ball where it’s needed. One thing that bothers me more is that our pass rate is quite low, especially for us. But I’m not worried, as long as there is no big drop after the playoffs. This is the real key. Will our passing rate drop in the playoffs? I can see us playing on the half court in a lot of games. I like the style of play we produce. “
Five baroque but effective
Around VanVleet and Siakam, the two former G-Leaguers who have become All-Stars, the Raptors are indeed not playing very fast, with the 26th pace (96.5 possessions per game) in the entire NBA.
As Nick Nurse said, what is surprising is that Toronto is in the very last place in the passing rate with 54.5% of their baskets registered on an assist. The fault of these five sometimes baroque coaches, but which could well pose major concerns for certain competitors at the end of the season.
“Our rotations could be a little weird at times but I like the direction we’re going. I don’t see much inconsistency when Pascal plays point guard or Scottie plays point guard. I just see the players moving and it’s pretty well organized. But we always wonder who will be able to shoot outside? But the guys manage to find enough space and get enough outside shots… And then you get results because you’re good at rebounding and you get the results you want defensively with those weird rotations. It might not be pretty to look at or what people are used to, but it seems to be effective. “
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Fred Vanvleet | 44 | 38.6 | 41.6 | 39.1 | 86.6 | 0.8 | 3.9 | 4.7 | 7.0 | 2.6 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 2.5 | 21.5 |
| Pascal Siakam | 36 | 37.5 | 47.4 | 33.6 | 73.4 | 2.1 | 6.4 | 8.5 | 5.1 | 2.7 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 3.5 | 21.0 |
| Ogugua Anunoby | 34 | 37.1 | 44.3 | 34.7 | 75.2 | 1.6 | 4.0 | 5.6 | 2.6 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 3.0 | 18.7 |
| Gary Trent, Jr. | 40 | 34.7 | 42.9 | 39.7 | 80.5 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 2.8 | 1.9 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 18.2 |
| Scottie Barnes | 41 | 36.2 | 46.9 | 30.6 | 72.5 | 2.7 | 5.1 | 7.8 | 3.4 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 2.9 | 14.6 |
| chris butcher | 47 | 20.2 | 44.8 | 27.9 | 75.2 | 2.0 | 3.8 | 5.8 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 2.1 | 8.9 |
| Goran Dragic | 5 | 17.9 | 38.2 | 28.6 | 100.0 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 2.8 | 1.8 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 8.0 |
| Dj Wilson | 3 | 15.9 | 72.7 | 0.0 | 80.0 | 0.3 | 4.3 | 4.7 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 8.0 |
| Precious Achiuwa | 40 | 24.4 | 42.7 | 28.0 | 53.8 | 2.3 | 5.0 | 7.2 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 2.1 | 7.8 |
| Svi Mykhailiuk | 39 | 16.5 | 40.4 | 31.0 | 84.4 | 0.5 | 1.7 | 2.2 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 5.8 |
| Khem Birsh | 23 | 21.0 | 49.5 | 0.0 | 73.8 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 5.2 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.7 | 5.8 |
| Yuta Watanabe | 21 | 16.7 | 38.6 | 35.1 | 53.8 | 0.7 | 2.7 | 3.3 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 5.3 |
| Juwan Morgan | 1 | 27.4 | 66.7 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 5.0 |
| Tremont Waters | 2 | 20.9 | 25.0 | 22.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.5 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 |
| Dalano Banton | 39 | 11.8 | 41.1 | 31.4 | 69.2 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 3.7 |
| Malachi Flynn | 29 | 9.1 | 37.2 | 29.2 | 66.7 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 3.1 |
| Daniel Oturu | 3 | 9.1 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 60.0 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 3.0 |
| Justin Champagnie | 30 | 8.4 | 48.3 | 40.9 | 100.0 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 2.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 2.5 |
| isaac bonga | 13 | 5.1 | 23.1 | 25.0 | 66.7 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| Sam Dekker | 1 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| David Johnson | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
