10 things I saw from Raptors-Rockets (Nov. 14)
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3 min readNov 15, 2017
- Bounce back: This is what the Raptors do — they never let bad performances linger. The Raptors followed up the Celtics stinker by piecing together their best game of the year. The offense was clicking on all cylinders and the ball movement was excellent.
- No flow: The officials called a few weak fouls early and maintained that standard throughout. There were 83 fucking free throws attempted which killed any semblance of flow. This helped the Raptors since the Rockets lost their cool (Mike D’Antoni should have been ejected, P.J. Tucker actually was ejected, James Harden was in foul trouble) and it killed their lethal transition game.
- Nigerian Kawhi: OG Anunoby started in place of Norman Powell and made his case for why he should keep that spot. OG put the clamps on James Harden (8–25 FG, 9 TO) while also scoring 16 points with 3 triples and a massive dunk at the end of the game over Chinese Kristaps. Anunoby kept Harden in check by defending with his feet and his length, staying in front, and always forcing Harden to shoot over him. His confidence in shooting the three is very encouraging.
- Managing the game: Dwane Casey found the right matchups to close the game. He put Anunoby on Harden, used Delon Wright’s length and quickness to thwart Eric Gordon (3–12 FG, 3 TO) and had Serge Ibaka be the mobile anchor in the middle instead of Jonas Valanciunas. They could have been more organized on offense, but that unit stopped the Rockets dead in their tracks.
- Balanced offense: Houston came with a specific game plan to trap DeMar DeRozan, and he did the right thing by making clever passes to the unguarded roll man. One of the first plays of the game saw DeRozan get doubled, thread a pass to Valanciunas in the middle of the floor which drew help, then a kickout pass to Kyle Lowry for an open look in the corner. Strong ball movement kept the Rockets on their heels and DeRozan’s five first quarter assists forced the Rockets to rethink things.
- Floor general: Casey shuffled his rotations to have Lowry run with the bench in a 3PG lineup and it led to a franchise record 45 points scored in the second quarter. Lowry pushed the pace for easy baskets, while setting up others for easy scores. 19 points and 10 assists makes it five good games out of the last six for Lowry.
- Needs to do better: Ibaka played good positional defense and showed some nimble footwork on the perimeter, but the Raptors need more on the glass. He had just five boards as he was bullied by Clint “Not Bruno Caboclo” Capela. Ibaka is our best bet at center but he needs to clean up the glass.
- Nasty footwork: Delon Wright is so fucking smooth. He used his patented Eurostep twice to finish at the rim, while also losing Ryan Anderson on an up and under move in the fourth quarter. Wright was the unsung hero in this game as he was a perfect 5–5 from the field and a plus-18 in 26 minutes. He deserved to close the game.
- Bench dad: CJ Miles turns into Klay Thompson once every 10 games and I love it. Just like in the Celtics game, Miles made some key threes in the third to give the Raptors life. Those treys maintained the lead before the starters closed it out.
- HDMH: Lowry doing random shit on closeouts against taller players is always hilarious to me. Sometimes he claps, sometimes he waves, one time earlier this year he just kinda dove across someone. It’s surprisingly effective.
