Raptors In need of defensive reminder

 

by Jeremy James

The Toronto Raptors have been less than impressive in the beginning of their 2015-16 season.
Raptor fans held their heads down as they watched the Raptors lose to the Utah Jazz 93-89 on Wednesday night. The loss brought their record to 7-6 and knocked them out the top eight in the Eastern Conference, thus out of a playoff spot. This is the Raptor’s third straight loss on their five game road trip.

After starting off the season 5-0, the Raptors seem to have forgotten the defensive mindset endowed by head coach Dwane Casey and have instead allowed opponents to outplay them on both ends of the floor. Injuries that sidelined starting forward DeMarre Carroll and swingman Terrence Ross were what seemed to be the cause of the Raptors sudden downfall. But even with the return of DeMarre Carroll, the Raptors couldn’t seem to get the job done.

First quarters still seem to be an ongoing struggle for the Raptors as they average 21.4 points per game in their first quarters giving them last place in the NBA. Slow starts have the Raptors playing behind for a portion or throughout the game, thereby giving them the disadvantage from opening tip-off.

For the Raptors to get back to winning, they will have to redevelop the defensive philosophy they focused on in the summer. Raptors GM Masai Ujiri and Coach Casey have stressed the importance of defense for this team throughout the offseason and have brought in pieces such as backup point guard Cory Joseph and center Bismack Biyombo to complement their change of culture.

The Raptors also need to understand the urgency of getting off to a good start. They rank 24^th in first half points per game and third in second half points per game. If they were to get into the top 10 in first half points, the Raptors wouldn’t have the problem of catching up during games.

Coach Casey and his team need to understand the urgency of fixing these problems quickly if they want to have a good enough season for a post season run. The Raptors will be in Los Angles facing the Lakers on Friday November 20^th and the Clippers on Sunday November 22^nd.