No miracles for wolves : still without Karl-Anthony Towns and for the first time of the season without Anthony Edwards, touched the day before in the right ankle against the Bulls, the men of Chris Finch did not manage to bring down the Raptorsin good momentum recently with a third convincing success in a row against a Western Conference club (122-107), after Denver and Oklahoma City.
Unsurprisingly limited offensively due to the absences of their two best attackers, the teammates of a Rudy Gobert solid (14 points, 12 rebounds and 3 assists) played more or less eye to eye with their opponents and showed resilience for three quarters, before logically taking on water in the last act, when their lack of resources on offense made life easier for the Raptors defense, which also shone on offense (53% on shots, six players at 10+ points, including five at 50% on shots or more).
With this third consecutive victory, the Canadian troupe blows more than ever in the neck of the Hawks in the Eastern Conference standings, since the two teams now have the same total of victories (35). While for the Wolves, it is a third defeat in a row which reduces their room for maneuver a little more on the Thunder and the Lakers, in particular.
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– THE five major of the Raptors takes care of everything. Two possible readings: the five holders were very good, or the bench was particularly bad. The reality lies between the two assumptions, which are in fact linked: faced with the inability of the substitutes whose name was not Gary Trent Jr. to make a constant impact off the bench, the five starters redoubled their effort and thus notably compiled 94 of the team’s 122 points, all five finishing the match with 10 points or more and with a positive +/-. The most significant performance? A double achievement! Those of Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam, authors with a combined 55 points and 13 assists. As always in Toronto: when these two go, a win often follows. Both players seem to be getting back to their best at the best possible time in the season, as the Raptors are on an uphill streak in the play-in race.
– Wolves no longer bite at the worst time. Contrary to the ideal dynamic of the Raptors, the Wolves are indeed in a painful position at the worst time, ten games from the end of the season: three defeats in a row while a place in the “play-in” is still far from over, still without the services of Karl-Anthony Towns and possibly without those of Anthony Edwards for a few games over the next few days… The Minnesota pack is going through a turbulent period and must stick together while the storm passes. No choice.
TOPS & FLOPS
✅ Gary Trent Jr. We’ve been repeating it over and over since the start of the season: fortunately for the Raptors, the back is there off the bench to ensure scoring. With 19 of the 28 points from the bench of the Toronto club, absent subscribers as far as the other protagonists are concerned, but also 3 assists and 5 interceptions, “GTJ” actually brought a very good volume of play and a dose of certainly appreciable serenity for Nick Nurse.
✅ Naz Reid. Very good performance from Rudy Gobert’s understudy, who in just 20 minutes brought 22 points (8/10 on shots) and 4 rebounds, in a more offshore register and therefore obviously different from that of the French pivot.
⛔️ Taurean Prince. Placed in position 2 in place of an injured Anthony Edwards, the veteran did not weigh in attack, with only 4 points at 1/7 on shots and even 3 bullet losses. Without the full-back in the major five, Mike Conley alone has to handle playmaking responsibilities, and it’s role-players like Prince who suffer the most, with Wolves’ attack showing up. logically less fluid and more predictable, without “Ant-Man”.
THE FOLLOWING
– Raptors (35-36): back-to-back in Toronto (01:00).
– Wolves (35-37): trip to New York, Monday to Tuesday night (12:30 a.m.).
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
