The Raptors had gotten used to better. Present in the Top 5 of the best defenses in the league from 2018 to 2020, the Toronto team has performed much less in this area since last season. Even today, it points to a modest 20th place with just over 109 points collected out of 100 possessions.
In November alone, this “Defensive Rating” even climbed to 114 points collected. The explanation? ” Youth, perhaps inexperience ”, guess Fred VanVleet, quoted by The Athletic. “It’s hard to defend every night, every action, every possession. Especially for young players who may not understand what the concept of winning in basketball really means. »
The leader is undoubtedly referring to his young teammates, and newcomers, Scottie Barnes and Precious Achiuwa, who are mobilized a lot and who have yet to get used to the defensive patterns of Nick Nurse.
A “long” list of problems
« It’s a long list (of problems) ”, continues Kyle Lowry’s successor to the lead and leadership of the team. “I don’t really need to share it with you. But we watch the videos. It’s not hard science. It’s not like a big equation that you have to solve like magic. It’s these little things, on every possession, that need to be worked out. It is something non-negotiable. »
The good news is that the Raptors are slowly starting to raise the bar. A week ago, they limited the Grizzlies to 98 points scored, then the Bucks to 93 and finally the Wizards last night to 90 points. Good defensive results to put into perspective all the same with the absences of Ja Morant and Giannis Antetokounmpo on the first two matches mentioned.
On their last meeting against the Wizards, their coach for example appreciated a situation of “switch” between Scottie Barnes and Precious Achiuwa precisely. “ There are certain rules that we try to follow on this kind of thing, why we change and why we don’t change and they did it well ”, note ainsi Nick Nurse. “It takes communication. Sometimes (they) do it wrong but as long as the two guys involved are talking about it they can cover the other side. »
His team still has three consecutive home games, facing opponents within reach (Thunder, Knicks and Kings) to confirm this regain of form defensively.
| Tirs | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Tirs | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | Until | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Fte | Pts |
| Ogugua Anunoby | 15 | 37.3 | 43.0 | 36.6 | 82.5 | 1.6 | 3.8 | 5.4 | 2.7 | 1.7 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 2.7 | 20.1 |
| Fred Vanvleet | 23 | 38.1 | 44.2 | 39.1 | 86.6 | 0.7 | 4.2 | 5.0 | 6.1 | 3.2 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 2.7 | 19.8 |
| Pascal Siakam | 13 | 33.4 | 46.7 | 33.3 | 76.2 | 1.9 | 5.2 | 7.1 | 3.7 | 2.2 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 3.5 | 19.1 |
| Gary Trent, Jr. | 22 | 34.2 | 41.5 | 36.3 | 92.9 | 0.5 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 16.4 |
| Scottie Barnes | 22 | 35.6 | 48.9 | 35.7 | 72.3 | 2.9 | 5.2 | 8.0 | 3.2 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 2.8 | 15.1 |
| Precious Achiuwa | 21 | 26.5 | 38.6 | 26.9 | 54.3 | 2.3 | 5.9 | 8.2 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 2.5 | 8.0 |
| 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 |
| All Mykhailiuk | 24 | 18.7 | 43.4 | 33.3 | 90.9 | 0.7 | 2.0 | 2.6 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 7.1 |
| Khem Birch | 15 | 23.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 72.7 | 3.2 | 2.5 | 5.7 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 6.9 |
| Chris Boucher | 22 | 13.7 | 39.7 | 18.5 | 68.6 | 1.4 | 2.6 | 4.0 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 6.3 |
| Yuta Watanabe | 5 | 16.8 | 38.5 | 41.2 | 50.0 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 2.8 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 6.0 |
| Dalano Banton | 24 | 13.1 | 47.7 | 33.3 | 75.0 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 2.4 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 4.5 |
| Malachi Flynn | 17 | 8.2 | 34.0 | 25.0 | 60.0 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 2.5 |
| Justin champagnie | 10 | 3.8 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 1.0 |
| Isaac bonga | 8 | 4.4 | 16.7 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
| 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 |
