Raptors' Regular Season Recap
The best thing about the final regular season game for the Raptors today wasn't that we destroyed the T'Wolves 120-100. It's that 1) no one got hurt and 2) Kyle and Serge didn't play and we didn't really need them in this one and 3) the game was out of reach early enough that even the guys who did play got their rest as well.
Was this Kawhi's final regular season game as a Raptor? Who knows? And frankly, who cares at this point? We're going into the playoffs once again, and expectations, thanks to a combination of a number of factors (LeBron no longer in the East, Kawhi, Green and Gasol in the mix, Siakam's improvement, etc), have never been higher. Anything short of an NBA Finals appearance will be considered a disappointment.
But that can wait a couple of days. For today, I'll give my recap of the regular season.
New Faces
This was a vastly different Raptors team compared to last season. For one, we had a new head coach in Nick Nurse. Kawhi and Danny G moved into the starting lineup. Pascal was going to get starter's minutes, and Serge was the new starting 5. Basically, Kyle was the only carryover in the starting five from last season.
We got off to a blazing start and opened the season on a 12-1 run. We lost 3 straight and then reeled off 8 consecutive wins.
I did a couple of "Best Toronto Teams" posts earlier with the Jays and the Leafs. I realize I haven't done one for the Raptors. This year's team is right up there, but I am going to have to factor in playoff success. Last year's team had one more regular season win with 59 but getting swept in the second round really put a damper on everything else.
At least in the regular season, I think this team was better than the one a year ago, win totals be damned. And we were a Jeremy Lamb half-court buzzer-beater from tying the 59-win mark!
One, there were a lot of variables and moving parts this season, with the new coach and new pieces. Nurse navigated 22 different starting lineups, with Kawhi and Kyle missing almost 40 games combined. With Siakam moving into the starting lineup and OG not taking the next step in the development, the second unit was depleted. Trading away JV and Delon for Gasol also hurt the bench, though I tend to think we don't really need a deep bench to be successful in the playoffs (just a good eight- or nine-man rotation will do. No need for a 12-deep team).
Anyway, among Eastern teams, we had the best record vs. the West. Also set a franchise record for road wins. IF we get to the NBA Finals, we'll have the home court advantage.
I liked the way we weathered the storm midway through the season, with lots of traveling to face tough opponents, and the way our perimeter shooting improved down the stretch. Even with our playoff spot long sealed, the Raptors remained professional in their approach on both ends of the floor.
With apologies to DeMar, Kawhi is a major upgrade in our lineup. And with no apologies to Jakob Poeltl, Danny G has been as good as advertised, even better. Shoots lights out from deep, can play D and fight for rebounds, and just oozes professionalism. He's going to be a huge part of our playoff run.
Memorable Moments
Like with the Leafs, I've probably watched anywhere between 75 and 80 games for the Raptors this season. Don't ask.
It's hard to pick just one memorable moment in a season with so many. Two stick out for me.
One was our 113-93 victory over the Warriors at Oracle in December. A month earlier, we beat 'em in OT on home court without Kawhi, but they also didn't have KD.
In the second meeting, we were once again missing Kawhi. The other guys were at full strength, with KD, Draymond, Curry and Klay, etc. We put up 31 points in the first quarter and never looked back. Held Steph to 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting and had a miserable night on defense as Danny G killed him posting up. Klay made zero three-pointer in this one.
In recent years, the Warriors were my choice of the West Coast team to follow in the late morning or early afternoon hours. Kinda like the LA Angels in baseball with Mike Trout: I would tune into watch Steph and KD in action just for the heck of it. They're great players and GSW are a fun team to watch. And they haven't lost too many games in these recent years, and I don't think I'd seen them look this bad.
The other one was Pascal's game-winning layup against the Suns at the buzzer.
Of course, against a team like the Suns, we shouldn't even have been tied that late in the game. But hey, a win is a win. And you'll see Kawhi smiling about 50 seconds into this clip. That's the best part of this highlight!
Seriously, though, Siakam had a breakout season that few outside Toronto saw coming. Even moi, I expected him to have a solid year, but not to this degree. Be it his perimeter shooting, handle, defense, free-throw shooting, passing, etc, etc, Siakam has improved in every aspect of his game. If he doesn't win the Most Improved Player award, there's something horribly wrong about the definition of the prize.
Other memorable moments... Kawhi stripping DeMar of the ball in the last moments to beat the Spurs in DeMar's return to Toronto... the double OT win over the Wizards with Kawhi going off for 41... Destroying the Celtics 118-95 at home and setting off "Nobody is together" finger pointing in the Boston locker room...
Stars
We were such a deep team that we had different leaders for these categories. Points (Kawhi), rebounds (Serge), assists (Kyle), total minutes (Siakam). In fact, we're the only NBA team with different leaders in this cats. Impressive.
I've already touched upon excellence of Kawhi, Green and Siakam. But I think Serge had an underrated great season on many levels.
He had to play a new position at center to begin the season, and he was outstanding early on. Then after Gasol's arrival, Serge gradually moved back to the bench. He struggled a bit from the field but seems to have settled in nicely with the second unit.
He improved his scoring and rebounding averages from last season even though he played slightly fewer minutes per game. He shot over 50 percent from the field for the first time since 2013-2014. He's money from just inside the arc when he plays that pick-and-pop game with Kyle or FVV. His three-point stroke disappeared in the last quarter of the season but we don't really expect him to be making treys consistently anyway. He's out there to make some mid-range jumpers and play defense.
Before he got traded, JV was having a wonderful season himself, averaging almost the same number of points and rebounds while playing nearly 4 fewer minutes per game at about 19. Then the hand injury happened, and he was traded the day he was supposed to return. Was nice to see him average almost 20-11 with Memphis before his season ended prematurely with an ankle injury. He was part of our early season surge. Good luck to JV.
Scrubs
It seems cruel to label anyone scrub in such a successful season but... as I've mentioned in this space a few times already, I would have liked for OG to take a bigger step forward in his development. He had some personal situation that kept him out of action early, and I think he never was able to get into proper rhythm the rest of the way. He has shown flashes, but just hasn't broken through offensively.
CJ and Delon would have been candidates here, though I suspect that's precisely why they got traded.
Speaking of trades... Jeremy Lin has been a huge disappointment since joining the Raptors. He hasn't played with much conviction or confidence. He will most likely be at the far end of the bench during the playoffs.
Raptors' MVP: Pascal Siakam
<Kyle and Kawhi may be more important players to the team, but Siakam has been there day in and day out, keeping the offense going in the absence of one of these two veterans, or both.>
Raptors' LVP: C.J. Miles
<Can't find one from the current group, so I am cheating and picking someone who's no longer on the team. Miles was shooting just 34 percent from the field and 31 percent from downtown while with the Raptors. It was so painful to watch at times. He was here to do one thing and he couldn't do it.>
There's one more day of regular season left in the NBA. I'll have my picks ready when I do my Raptors playoff preview.
Was this Kawhi's final regular season game as a Raptor? Who knows? And frankly, who cares at this point? We're going into the playoffs once again, and expectations, thanks to a combination of a number of factors (LeBron no longer in the East, Kawhi, Green and Gasol in the mix, Siakam's improvement, etc), have never been higher. Anything short of an NBA Finals appearance will be considered a disappointment.
But that can wait a couple of days. For today, I'll give my recap of the regular season.
New Faces
This was a vastly different Raptors team compared to last season. For one, we had a new head coach in Nick Nurse. Kawhi and Danny G moved into the starting lineup. Pascal was going to get starter's minutes, and Serge was the new starting 5. Basically, Kyle was the only carryover in the starting five from last season.
We got off to a blazing start and opened the season on a 12-1 run. We lost 3 straight and then reeled off 8 consecutive wins.
I did a couple of "Best Toronto Teams" posts earlier with the Jays and the Leafs. I realize I haven't done one for the Raptors. This year's team is right up there, but I am going to have to factor in playoff success. Last year's team had one more regular season win with 59 but getting swept in the second round really put a damper on everything else.
At least in the regular season, I think this team was better than the one a year ago, win totals be damned. And we were a Jeremy Lamb half-court buzzer-beater from tying the 59-win mark!
One, there were a lot of variables and moving parts this season, with the new coach and new pieces. Nurse navigated 22 different starting lineups, with Kawhi and Kyle missing almost 40 games combined. With Siakam moving into the starting lineup and OG not taking the next step in the development, the second unit was depleted. Trading away JV and Delon for Gasol also hurt the bench, though I tend to think we don't really need a deep bench to be successful in the playoffs (just a good eight- or nine-man rotation will do. No need for a 12-deep team).
Anyway, among Eastern teams, we had the best record vs. the West. Also set a franchise record for road wins. IF we get to the NBA Finals, we'll have the home court advantage.
I liked the way we weathered the storm midway through the season, with lots of traveling to face tough opponents, and the way our perimeter shooting improved down the stretch. Even with our playoff spot long sealed, the Raptors remained professional in their approach on both ends of the floor.
With apologies to DeMar, Kawhi is a major upgrade in our lineup. And with no apologies to Jakob Poeltl, Danny G has been as good as advertised, even better. Shoots lights out from deep, can play D and fight for rebounds, and just oozes professionalism. He's going to be a huge part of our playoff run.
Memorable Moments
Like with the Leafs, I've probably watched anywhere between 75 and 80 games for the Raptors this season. Don't ask.
It's hard to pick just one memorable moment in a season with so many. Two stick out for me.
One was our 113-93 victory over the Warriors at Oracle in December. A month earlier, we beat 'em in OT on home court without Kawhi, but they also didn't have KD.
In the second meeting, we were once again missing Kawhi. The other guys were at full strength, with KD, Draymond, Curry and Klay, etc. We put up 31 points in the first quarter and never looked back. Held Steph to 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting and had a miserable night on defense as Danny G killed him posting up. Klay made zero three-pointer in this one.
In recent years, the Warriors were my choice of the West Coast team to follow in the late morning or early afternoon hours. Kinda like the LA Angels in baseball with Mike Trout: I would tune into watch Steph and KD in action just for the heck of it. They're great players and GSW are a fun team to watch. And they haven't lost too many games in these recent years, and I don't think I'd seen them look this bad.
The other one was Pascal's game-winning layup against the Suns at the buzzer.
Of course, against a team like the Suns, we shouldn't even have been tied that late in the game. But hey, a win is a win. And you'll see Kawhi smiling about 50 seconds into this clip. That's the best part of this highlight!
Seriously, though, Siakam had a breakout season that few outside Toronto saw coming. Even moi, I expected him to have a solid year, but not to this degree. Be it his perimeter shooting, handle, defense, free-throw shooting, passing, etc, etc, Siakam has improved in every aspect of his game. If he doesn't win the Most Improved Player award, there's something horribly wrong about the definition of the prize.
Other memorable moments... Kawhi stripping DeMar of the ball in the last moments to beat the Spurs in DeMar's return to Toronto... the double OT win over the Wizards with Kawhi going off for 41... Destroying the Celtics 118-95 at home and setting off "Nobody is together" finger pointing in the Boston locker room...
Stars
We were such a deep team that we had different leaders for these categories. Points (Kawhi), rebounds (Serge), assists (Kyle), total minutes (Siakam). In fact, we're the only NBA team with different leaders in this cats. Impressive.
I've already touched upon excellence of Kawhi, Green and Siakam. But I think Serge had an underrated great season on many levels.
He had to play a new position at center to begin the season, and he was outstanding early on. Then after Gasol's arrival, Serge gradually moved back to the bench. He struggled a bit from the field but seems to have settled in nicely with the second unit.
He improved his scoring and rebounding averages from last season even though he played slightly fewer minutes per game. He shot over 50 percent from the field for the first time since 2013-2014. He's money from just inside the arc when he plays that pick-and-pop game with Kyle or FVV. His three-point stroke disappeared in the last quarter of the season but we don't really expect him to be making treys consistently anyway. He's out there to make some mid-range jumpers and play defense.
Before he got traded, JV was having a wonderful season himself, averaging almost the same number of points and rebounds while playing nearly 4 fewer minutes per game at about 19. Then the hand injury happened, and he was traded the day he was supposed to return. Was nice to see him average almost 20-11 with Memphis before his season ended prematurely with an ankle injury. He was part of our early season surge. Good luck to JV.
Scrubs
It seems cruel to label anyone scrub in such a successful season but... as I've mentioned in this space a few times already, I would have liked for OG to take a bigger step forward in his development. He had some personal situation that kept him out of action early, and I think he never was able to get into proper rhythm the rest of the way. He has shown flashes, but just hasn't broken through offensively.
CJ and Delon would have been candidates here, though I suspect that's precisely why they got traded.
Speaking of trades... Jeremy Lin has been a huge disappointment since joining the Raptors. He hasn't played with much conviction or confidence. He will most likely be at the far end of the bench during the playoffs.
Raptors' MVP: Pascal Siakam
<Kyle and Kawhi may be more important players to the team, but Siakam has been there day in and day out, keeping the offense going in the absence of one of these two veterans, or both.>
Raptors' LVP: C.J. Miles
<Can't find one from the current group, so I am cheating and picking someone who's no longer on the team. Miles was shooting just 34 percent from the field and 31 percent from downtown while with the Raptors. It was so painful to watch at times. He was here to do one thing and he couldn't do it.>
There's one more day of regular season left in the NBA. I'll have my picks ready when I do my Raptors playoff preview.
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