Raptors Must Ride DeMar DeRozan Back to Respectability and Monday NBA Takeaways
After going more than a month without a win against a team over .500, the Toronto Raptors desperately needed to prove to themselves that they could still compete with the league's best.
DeMar DeRozan helped them do exactly that.
Toronto's shooting guard posted a career-high 42 points and 11 rebounds as the Raps knocked off the visiting Houston Rockets by a final score of 99-96 on Monday.
Going without Kyle Lowry and getting double-figure scoring from just two other players (Jonas Valanciunas and Louis Williams had 15 and 13 points, respectively), Toronto leaned heavily on DeRozan. In addition to taking 27 shots and getting to the foul line 17 times, he also had to tangle with scoring dynamo and MVP candidate James Harden.
The Beard got his 31 points, but DeRozan made him work for them.
Raptors head coach Dwane Casey was duly impressed, according to James Herbert of CBSSports.com:
The win was huge for the Raps, but any honest assessment of the result has to acknowledge that there were nearly as many caveats as DeRozan had points.
Houston was playing its second game in as many nights, and Dwight Howard spent the evening on the bench resting. Starting point guard Patrick Beverley didn't play either; he's out for the season with wrist surgery.
Neither Terrence Jones nor Donatas Motiejunas suited up, which meant rookie Clint Capela, who had never scored a single NBA point, logged 19 minutes as the Rockets' only backup big man. It's safe to say the Raptors didn't realize the scouting report on him was "he dunks a lot."
To repeat, though, Lowry didn't play, either. So it's not like the Raptors took advantage of a vulnerable opponent with their full arsenal. Realistically, Toronto isn't going to make playoff noise unless Lowry gets right.
And according to Casey, per Josh Lewenberg of TSN, the signs aren't encouraging on that front:
The Raps didn't solve the issues that have hampered them in recent months with this win, but they made the kind of symbolic progress that can galvanize a team going forward. That's no small thing, as Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun observed:
The most encouraging aspect of the Raptors' modest breakthrough is that the driving force behind it—DeRozan—has been building toward a performance like this for a while, per Lewenberg:
More good news: Toronto won't see another winning team until the postseason.
DeRozan doesn't make the Raps into world-beaters, but he can help them return to respectability. He proved that on Monday.
Around the Association
Andrew Wiggins Launches Airstrike against France
Rudy Gobert, brilliantly nicknamed the Stifle Tower for his unparalleled rim protection and French heritage, is not someone opponents typically seek out. In fact, he's kind of an avoid-at-all-costs guy.
Nobody protects the rim better, as evidenced by the league-leading 39.4 percent conversion rate he allows at the rim, per NBA.com.
Undaunted by the big man's reputation, Andrew Wiggins decided to get a closer look at Gobert in the Minnesota Timberwolves' 104-84 loss to the Utah Jazz.
Twice.
After poster No. 2, Gobert got revenge.
Franco-Canadian relations are strained right now, people.
Jordan Clarkson Ruined Everything
The Los Angeles Lakers slipped past the Philadelphia 76ers with a 113-111 overtime win, thanks to Jordan Clarkson's game-winning lay-in, which pleased an entire arena full of fans.
In Philly.
See, the Lakers owe their top-five protected pick to the Sixers, and wins like this make it incrementally more likely that selection will change hands this year.
That helps explain reactions like this from Silver Screen & Roll and Darius Soriano of Forum Blue and Gold:
Los Angeles currently has the fourth-worst record in the NBA, which makes securing the sixth pick (and then losing it) possible. A few more efforts like this from Clarkson, who's been one of the only bright spots for the Lakers all year, and his team may have little to show for a brutally painful season.
Boston Staves Off Charlotte, Temporarily Holds No. 8 Seed
Displaying their typical resiliency on the second night of a back-to-back, the Boston Celtics followed up Sunday’s 119-106 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers with a 116-104 triumph over the Charlotte Hornets.
Boston is now 9-1 on the back end of back-to-back sets since Jan. 23 (h/t Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com).
Avery Bradley poured in a game-high 30 points (12-of-23 shooting) and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, while Evan Turner (15 points) and Marcus Smart (14 points) each reached double figures behind tidy shooting displays. As a team, the Celtics shot 50.6 percent from the field.
With the win, Boston moved back into occupation of the Eastern Conference's No. 8 seed over the idle Brooklyn Nets.
According to the Celtics’ official Twitter account, head coach Brad Stevens is proud of the fortitude his team has displayed:
The same can’t be said for the Hornets, who continue to reside in the No. 11 spot—a game back of the 10th-seeded Indiana Pacers and 1.5 games behind the Celtics.
Charlotte’s lost four of its last five and officially closed out its March slate by posting the league’s sixth-worst offensive rating over the past 30 days, according to NBA.com.
Contributed by Alec Nathan
Kyle Korver Doesn't Care
Kyle Korver doesn't need to be open to destroy you from the perimeter, as this graphic from Synergy Sports Tech proves:
Cautionary note: You should still probably guard him because he can do things like score 11 points in 65 seconds, just as a hypothetical example.
Korver's Atlanta Hawks beat the Milwaukee Bucks by a final of 101-88, and though all of his points came in that brief span above, that's where the entire game swung.
The lesson: It actually doesn't matter if you guard Korver or not. He'll kill you either way.
Memphis Grabs the No. 2 Seed…for Now
It took a showdown with the Sacramento Kings to snap the Memphis Grizzlies’ three-game losing streak, but they’ll take what they can get.
Now an uninspiring 10-10 over their last 20 games following Monday’s 97-83 win, Memphis will be tasked with scrapping and clawing to avoid the San Antonio Spurs and maintain a grip on the No. 2 seed.
Matched up against the DeMarcus Cousins-less Kings, Mike Conley tallied 18 points and four assists, while center Marc Gasol recorded eight points, 11 rebounds and a game-high six assists to go with one jersey torn out of frustration, as CBSSports.com's Matt Moore points out:
"Marc Gasol wardrobe malfunction: pic.twitter.com/WSww3O1Cai
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) March 31, 2015"
However, don’t expect a single win to mask the pervasive woes that have permeated the team’s offense since the All-Star break.
In that span, Memphis has recorded the seventh-worst offensive rating in the league, per NBA.com.
Paired with a slow and deliberate pace, the Grizzlies have concocted a formula that could represent their undoing come playoff time.
Contributed by Alec Nathan
Blazers Punch Suns, Playoff Ticket
A 109-86 win over the fading Phoenix Suns clinched a playoff spot for the Portland Trail Blazers, which means the organization can now turn its attention to more pressing matters.
Like rounding up whatever rogue silk-screening outfit dreamed up this secret weapon, which the Trail Blazers' official Twitter account deemed "fan of the night":
It's entirely possible the Suns' uninspired play was a symptom of the team packing it in at the close of a disappointing season. But it's also worth asking whether that shirt simply frightened the fight out of them.
It's time to expand this operation.
I'd like to see the visiting team that could maintain its composure at the Moda Center on Chris Kaman T-Shirt Night.
If Portland prints enough of those things, it could swing a playoff series.
