Saturday NBA Roundup: Raptors' Defense Could Be Their Downfall in Playoffs
Despite narrowly escaping South Beach with a win, the Toronto Raptors could not hide their troubling defensive deficiencies.
On the surface, the Raptors took care of business with a 107-104 victory over the undermanned and fading-fast Miami Heat. Toronto did just enough to retain its current post as the third seed in the Eastern Conference standings and clinch home-court advantage in the first round, while Miami's playoff hopes suffered a potentially crippling blow.
| Atlanta* | 60-19 | - | Golden State* | 65-15 | - |
| Cleveland* | 51-28 | 9.0 | Memphis* | 54-26 | 11.0 |
| Toronto* | 48-32 | 12.5 | L.A. Clippers* | 54-26 | 11.0 |
| Chicago* | 48-32 | 12.5 | Portland* | 51-29 | 14.0 |
| Washington* | 45-34 | 15.0 | San Antonio* | 54-26 | 11.0 |
| Milwaukee | 39-40 | 21.0 | Houston* | 53-26 | 11.5 |
| Boston | 37-42 | 23.0 | Dallas* | 48-31 | 16.5 |
| Brooklyn | 37-42 | 23.0 | New Orleans | 43-36 | 21.5 |
| Indiana | 36-43 | 24.0 | Oklahoma City | 43-36 | 21.5 |
| Miami | 35-45 | 25.5 | Phoenix | 39-41 | 26.0 |
But if Raptors fans were looking for some inspiration in this contest, there wasn't a lot to be found.
Louis Williams had one of his hot nights (29 points on 9-of-18 shooting), but his volatile track record suggests he can go ice cold at any time. DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry managed a combined 36 points, but they needed 31 shots to reach that mark.
As uninspiring as those last two numbers are, things looked considerably worse at the opposite end.
The Heat reached triple digits for only the third time in their last 12 games. Dwyane Wade (30 points), Goran Dragic (22) and Hassan Whiteside (16) feasted on Toronto's interior, as Miami enjoyed a 54-36 advantage in paint points.
Jonas Valanciunas had no answer for what Miami threw his way and fouled out in fewer than 10 minutes. Lowry, who stands 12 inches shorter than Toronto's starting center, seemed to bother Whiteside more than Valanciunas could, as Bleacher Report's Christopher Walder observed:
The Heat, who average nearly 15 turnovers per game, committed just seven giveaways on the night. Their offense did enough to shred the Raptors defense; Miami just couldn't overcome some awful shooting efforts from three (6-of-20) and at the charity stripe (24-of-44).
"Played good enough to win," Wade told reporters. "Just didn't."
Toronto took advantage, and it isn't in the business of fretting over style points at this time of the year. But, as Bleacher Report's Ethan Skolnick pointed out, this game did nothing to suggest the one-way Raptors are anywhere close to legitimate championship contention:
And it's impossible to chalk up these defensive issues as simply being blindsided by a desperate team. As Raptors coach Dwane Casey said before the game, per TSN's Josh Lewenberg, his squad expected to see Miami's best:
The Raptors are running out of time to correct these issues. If they're able to push past their first-round series, their bottom-third defense could draw the Cleveland Cavaliers' fourth-ranked offense. Somehow survive that series, and Toronto might draw the Atlanta Hawks' sixth-rated attack.
Toronto's own offense might overwhelm some defenses, but it's built around volume shooters. The top three scorers on this team—DeRozan, Lowry and Williams—all shoot below 42 percent from the field. The Raptors can't pin their hopes of playoff survival on those shots falling with consistency when they haven't all year.
That old adage about defense winning titles isn't entirely true. Hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy requires two-way execution.
The Raptors have yet to find that balance. Without it, their playoff trip won't be a long one.
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Clippers Pounce on Wounded Grizzlies
It wasn't pretty, but the Los Angeles Clippers scored an important win on Saturday night.
Behind 16 points and 16 rebounds from DeAndre Jordan, L.A. clawed its way to a 94-86 win over the gritty-but-wounded Memphis Grizzlies and into the West's No. 3 seed.
Credit the Grizzlies for making it that close. They opened the game without Mike Conley and Tony Allen and ended the first quarter without Marc Gasol. Oh, and Memphis sweated out a one-point win in Salt Lake City on Friday before traveling to L.A. for this contest.
The odds weren't quite in the Grizzlies' favor, as CBS Sports noted:
Gasol was officially diagnosed with a sprained left ankle, per ESPN's Arash Markazi. Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger had no update on Gasol's status after the game, via ESPN's J.A. Adande.
Zach Randolph kept Memphis afloat with 21 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. The Clippers also helped keep things close by hitting just six of their 27 long-range looks.
But the numbers game that tilted so heavily in L.A.'s favor eventually became too much to overcome. The Clippers scored 12 of the game's last 17 points, nine of which came from Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.
Paul ended his night with 15 points and 14 assists, while Griffin added 18 points, eight boards and six dimes. Jamal Crawford was the only reserve on either side to hit double digits (11 points).
The Western Conference standings are officially as hard to predict as ever. In less than a week's time, no more guessing will be needed.
Bulls Survive Scare From Short-Handed Sixers
The Chicago Bulls made the United Center faithful sweat more than they should, but not to the point that it harmed the Windy City's chances of swiping the East's third seed.
At full strength, the Philadelphia 76ers don't exactly strike fear into their opponents. Their upset odds looked even slimmer when Rookie of the Year candidate Nerlens Noel and starting point guard Ish Smith were ruled out of the contest.
But Philly kept things close throughout, before eventually suffering a 114-107 defeat. Pau Gasol led the charge with 24 points and 13 rebounds, securing the league's double-double crown in the process, per K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune:
But the real star of the night was Derrick Rose. The former MVP suited up in front of his hometown fans for the first time in more than a month after undergoing his second meniscus surgery in as many years. Suffice it to say, they were glad to have him back, per CSN's Vincent Goodwill:
And he was glad to be there, via Johnson:
Nerves or rust (or a combination of the two) led to a rocky start for Rose, who missed five of his six shots during his first stint of the night. But he rebounded nicely and finished his evening with 22 points on 8-of-19 shooting, eight assists, six rebounds and zero turnovers.
It was Rose's first game with at least 20 points, five assists, five rebounds and no giveaways since 2011-12 and only the fourth such performance of his career, via ESPNChicago.com's Nick Friedell.
"Derrick is a superstar and that's what superstars do," Jason Richardson told reporters after the game. "He just went to work. He still has his quickness."
The Bulls needed everything their franchise face could give. Not only did the Sixers stick around longer than expected (Richardson, Robert Covington and JaKarr Sampson combined for 59 points), but Chicago also had to compensate for the combined struggles of Jimmy Butler (15 points, 3-of-11 shooting) and Joakim Noah (two points, 1-of-3 from the field).
It wasn't an impressive win by any stretch, but Rose's productive outing made it an encouraging one nonetheless.
Trevor Booker Buries Blazers' Home-Court Hopes
Things already weren't looking good for the Portland Trail Blazers' chances to host a postseason series. Utah Jazz spot-starter Trevor Booker officially pulled the plug on that dream.
Booker erupted for a career-high 36 points in Utah's 111-105 road win over Portland. The Blazers, who played without LaMarcus Aldridge, Arron Afflalo and Wesley Matthews, will now have to begin their playoff journey on the road, per ESPN Insider Kevin Pelton:
Portland had three starters clear the 20-point mark (led by All-Star Damian Lillard's 28), but its splintering defense struggled to contain a Utah squad that was missing several key pieces.
Six different Jazz players scored in double figures, including three D-League call-ups: Chris Johnson, Bryce Cotton and Elijah Millsap (11 points each). Rookie Rodney Hood continued his strong second half with his third 20-point outing in his last four games (21 on 7-of-13 shooting).
For Portland, this was more of the same since Matthews' season-ending injury.
In the month of April alone, the Blazers have surrendered a 41-point game to Chris Paul, a 45-point outburst by Stephen Curry and, now, an incredibly unlikely 36-point performance by Booker. (His season-high was 17 points, and he'd only had four double-digit games since the first of March.)
The Blazers still have enough fire power to scare teams—there aren't many more potent duos than Aldridge and Lillard—but they're facing a steep uphill climb in the Wild West.
Defense is a must to survive and advance in this conference. The Blazers must show they can play it at a serviceable level without Matthews.
A(nother) Golden Night for the Warriors
The Golden State Warriors, who've already clinched home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, are at the stat-padding portion of their season.
Thanks to Stephen Curry's latest round of MVP-caliber magic, they're still finding ways to make history. With their 110-101 win over the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves, Golden State had the league's first 14-game improvement following a 50-win season, per GSW Stats.
Curry, who poured in 45 points his last time out, paced his team with 34 points, seven assists and five triples. The performance was enough for the Wolves' Twitter feed to crown him with MVP honors:
Given the dirty deeds the sharpshooting point guard was pulling against them, the Wolves had reasons to wave the white flag.
Klay Thompson, a ridiculous shooter in his own right and a guy who sees Curry's miracles every day, couldn't even believe what he was watching, per Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle:
Minnesota fans got more than a good show from Curry.
The Timberpups hung around all night and trailed by only one with four minutes, 15 seconds remaining. Zach LaVine scored a game-high 37 points, and Andrew Wiggins filled his stat sheet with 17 points, nine assists, six rebounds, three steals and a block.
But the Warriors—who got 23 points from Thompson and 13 each out of Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes—simply had too much. That's been the story for most of Golden State's opponents this season.
Knicks, Magic Set NBA Record for Futility
Neither the New York Knicks nor the Orlando Magic will take part in this season's playoff party. For 12 horrendous minutes on Saturday, both squads reminded basketball fans why that's a very good thing.
After New York built a 30-24 advantage in the first quarter—behind 14 points and seven rebounds from Cole Aldrich (!)—both teams agreed to boycott the second period. They didn't actually leave the Amway Center, they just banned offensive competence for an excruciating stretch.
The Knicks scored all of eight points in the quarter...and won the period. The Magic managed a meager seven points, the first two of which didn't come until the 4:13 mark. The teams' 15 combined points were the fewest ever scored in an NBA quarter.
Fifteen points? That's a hard quarter for high-school hoop fans to stomach.
As ESPN Stats & Info pointed out, it's a common occurrence for an NBA player to break 15 points in a period on his own:
And that was before Trevor Booker of the Utah Jazz erupted for 19 points in the opening period against the Portland Trail Blazers.
In case there's any temptation to chalk this bad offense up to good defense, remember which two teams we're talking about. The Magic and Knicks entered the game ranked 26th and 28th in defensive efficiency, respectively.
Stone walls these are not. But it doesn't take an immovable object to slow down a very stoppable force.
Things (mildly) improved after intermission.
Neither team scored fewer than 19 points in either of the last two quarters. The Knicks escaped this unsightly contest with an 80-79 win. Aldrich finished with team highs in points (19) and rebounds (14), while Victor Oladipo led Orlando with 21 points (on 8-of-25 shooting).
"It was 8-7 in the second quarter so our defense did a great job of withstanding that quarter," Tim Hardaway Jr. told reporters. "Even though we didn't score, they didn't score as well so we just had an all-around great game."
I guess that's one way to look at it.
In this battle of bottom-feeders, the only winner to emerge were those who had the foresight to sit out whatever this was.
Advanced statistics are courtesy of NBA.com/Stats.
