Next up for Raptors: A trip to Philadelphia
Posted January 7, 2012 1:12 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
We will find out quickly whether or not the Toronto Raptors learned a lesson from their 97-85 loss to the New Jersey Nets on Friday, as they are set to pay a visit to the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night.
After the loss, which was actually uglier than the final score indicated, Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan hinted that the team may have taken the Nets too lightly.
When asked what the team learned from the loss, he said the Raptors shoudn’t “underestimate anyone” and that they can’t listen to what the media was saying to them after they got off to surprising 3-3 start and had put a scare into a couple of quality teams.
DeRozan actually got yanked early in the fourth quarter for Gary Forbes who has spent most of the season buried on the Raptors bench.
“DeMar had a rough night,” said Raptors Coach Dwane Casey. “I was looking for some juice, searching for some offensive points.”
The Raptors will be looking for DeRozan to bounce back tonight after having his worst scoring effort of the season, by far, as he finished with just three points. He wasn’t the only Raptor who saw his average dip as Andrea Bargnani, who had been scoring at a clip of 24 points per game, finished the game with 17 points against the Nets.
Two things hurt the Raptors against New Jersey:
Rebounding and Deron Williams.
“That’s what killed us. Second-chance points,” DeRozan said.
Former Raptor Kris Humphries had 16 rebounds on Friday, nine of which were at the offensive end.
Tonight they will have to be better at getting a body on Sixers centre Spencer Hawes. He has posted double-doubles in five of Philadelphia’s last six games. They also have another solid post player in power forward Elton Brand who is also snagging 7.7 rebounds a game.
While Williams did not have a great shooting effort (6-18) against Toronto, he was able to drive to the tin at will and scored 11 points on 13 trips to the charity stripe. D-Will also collected nine assists.
The Raptors will have to deal with another quick point guard on Saturday night when they face Jrue Holiday, who is not quite at Williams’ level, but can still score in bunches.
Casey said that New Jersey played like a team that was desperate against Toronto, (which they were as they were a one-win team going into the contest), and that the Raptors needed to play with more of an air of urgency.
“We’ve got to approach it like we’re the desperate team each and every night,” Casey said. “This is a great lesson for us. I thought we were feeling good and happy on the farm. I thought New Jersey did a great job of playing like a desperate team, and we did not.”
We will find out quickly just how “desperate” the Raptors are against a Sixers team that is expected to finish higher up in the standings.
On Friday night, Philadelphia, in the midst of a three-game win streak, opened their home slate with a 96-73 win over the Detroit Pistons to lift their record to 4-2 on the season.
Fast facts:
Raptors: Andrea Bargnani is currently sitting seventh in the league in minutes played per game (36.1).
Sixers: The Sixers are averaging an NBA-best 30.2 points in the fourth quarter.
Probable starters
Raptors: Jose Calderon (Point guard), DeMar DeRozan (Shooting guard), Rasual Butler (Small forward), Amir Johnson (Power forward), Andrea Bargnani (Center)
Sixers: Jrue Holiday (Point guard), Jodie Meeks (Shooting guard), Andre Iguodala (Small forward), Elton Brand (Power forward), Spencer Hawes (Center)’
Raptors injuries:
Linas Kleiza: Will be a game-time decision tonight. He hasn’t played since having knee surgery last February.
Jerryd Bayless: Can put weight on ankle but not ready to return yet. Still day-to-day.
Aaron Gray: Remains sidelined by heart issue.
Sixer injuries:
None to report
