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Toronto Raptors: It’s Over

By Joshua Howe

Apr 21, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan (10) reacts to an officials decision in the third quarter in game two of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at Air Canada Centre. Wizards beat raptors 117 - 106. Mandatory Credit: Peter Llewellyn-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 21, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan (10) reacts to an officials decision in the third quarter in game two of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at Air Canada Centre. Wizards beat raptors 117 - 106. Mandatory Credit: Peter Llewellyn-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Toronto Raptors are down 2-0 in their series with the Washington Wizards. More striking is the fact that their two losses came on their own home floor.

It’s true, in the two games that have been played so far, the Raptors have looked lifeless and pathetic all-around. Their level of effort has been a joke, their best player has performed below par and gotten into foul trouble at a profuse rate, and their rebounding has been made a mockery of by the Wizards’ bigs.

Yes, this series is over. I’m calling it. I’m waving the white flag. This has been an embarrassment for Toronto, and it doesn’t look like it’s anywhere close to changing.

John Wall has thoroughly outplayed Kyle Lowry, proving that the battle of the point guards, which was supposed to be an equal tussle in this series, is far from fair. He broke a playoff franchise record in Game 2 with 17 assists, just tearing apart the Raptors through pick-and-rolls with Marcin Gortat.

Look at his playoff numbers compared to Lowry’s:

  • Wall: 41.5 MPG, 18.0 PPG, 12.5 APG, 3.5 RPG, 1.0 BPG, 38.3 FG%, 33.3 3P%
  • Lowry: 30.5 MPG, 6.5 PPG, 4.0 APG, 5.0 RPG, 25.0 FG%, 0.0 3P%

Lowry hasn’t even hit a single three-pointer yet. He’s 0-for-6 from deep. Wall has torched him in both games, and that probably isn’t stopping with a trip to Washington, especially with Lowry’s health in question.

So what about the other options?

Well, Dwane Casey has done a poor job of coaching overall in this series. He’s being out-coached by Randy Wittman. Just think about that for a moment. Ugh.

He’s done a notably dismal job of in-game adjustments, with the most salient example being James Johnson, who didn’t get any run in Game 1. That partly cost Toronto that game. Then, in Game 2, Casey played Johnson, but only for seven minutes and it seemed that he brought his small forward off the bench only so people would stop asking him questions about why he wasn’t playing him.

Then there’s the likes of DeMar DeRozan, who is the second best option on the team to carry things when Lowry isn’t producing. Unfortunately, he’s been pretty quiet. His numbers look decent from the outside looking in: 42.0 MPG, 17.5 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 6.5 APG, 1.0 SPG, 39.5 FG%.

But the most important part of DeRozan’s game is attacking the basket. He’s a career 81.8 percent free throw shooter and shot a career-high 83.2 percent from the stripe this season. Yet he’s only attempting four free throws a game in this series.

Last postseason, he attempted 11.3 free throws per game.

This means he’s getting his points in other ways, like midrange shooting. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been spot-on so far. He takes his second-most amount of shots from 10-16 feet from the hoop, but he’s shooting just 10.0 percent from there.

Meanwhile his matchup, Bradley Beal, is doing what DeRozan’s doing, only better. He hasn’t been shooting particularly well either, but still better than the Toronto guard. Beal dropped a playoff career-high 28 points in Game 2 and made DeRozan look silly.

And, of course, there was this moment from Game 1:

As for the rest of the Raptors, Terrence Ross has been better than last postseason but that’s not saying much. He’s still not giving the Raptors enough of what they need. With Lowry hurting and DeRozan faltering, he’s supposed to be the next man up. But just like he’s done all season, he sort of floats in and out of the game.

Jonas Valanciunas has been outplayed by the Washington bigs, and he can’t keep them from doing what they want inside. Nene is shooting 50.0 percent so far and Marcin Gortat is shooting 66.7 percent.

On the other end, Valanciunas can’t seem to shake them on offense. His over-use of the pump-fake gets old after a while and in a seven-game series, opponents are bound to stop falling for it. Yet he continues to try the same old tricks, hoping they’ll magically work.

He’s shooting just 44.4 percent in this series despite having shot a career-high 57.2 percent during the regular season.

The last ingredient to this bubbling pot of Raptors failure is none other than The Truth himself. He’s giving Toronto the business every single game and providing leadership and experience for the Wiz that the Raps severely lack.

Pierce’s numbers:

  • 32.0 MPG, 15.0 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 1.0 APG, 1.0 SPG, 1.0 BPG, 52.9 FG%, 54.5 3P%

Washington brought him in for the big moments and so far he’s produced. He’s killing the Raptors with the three ball especially, feeding off of the noise and hate of fans and media. He’s the driver behind the Washington bus, and as he leads, they go.

So the Raptors have given up two games at home. They may not return to the Air Canada Centre again. The sense of urgency isn’t there, and the young Wizards are licking their lips at the opportunity to finish the series in a sweep at home.

Yes indeed, this series is over. But the pain will last far into the summer.

Next: NBA Awards Watch: Final MVP Pick For 2014-15

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