Morning coffee – Thursday, November 29

18-4 soon 18-5

It's a good time to be Kyle Lowry: the Raptor star when he plays with Kawhi, raises high expectations and explains why he's no longer crazy about the DeRozan – The Athletic [subscription]

Four months after a transaction that has changed the direction of the Raptors – the managing director Masai Ujiri raising the ceiling of the organization with legitimacy, he plans to rent for a year the former finals player Kawhi Leonard – Finry attacked this season as if he determined to show that Toronto has also acquired a better version of itself. The motivation is not revenge, who is gone or who has arrived, but the desire to be better. He is older but smarter. Far from being satisfied.

"I'm hungry more than my first year," Lowry said. "Because it's about wanting more for yourself. I never want to be content to be mediocre or not to give every ounce of blood, sweat and tears to my job. We will not play this game for a long time at a high level. I think that's where we are. We only get this thing for a short time after that, so you can be lazy. For me, this is the best basketball player you can be. Why install?

Any bitterness or sadness that Lowry might feel about sending his "dog" or how the situation was handled – DeRozan says that he was misled; Ujiri apologized for any miscommunication – he was mostly kept inside, which is only reflected in the continuation of his handshake ritual with an imaginary DeRozan. Lowry did not talk to Ujiri about this move, nor does he intend to discuss it.

"It's not worth it now," Lowry said. "He did it, he made his decision, it's his choice, all I can do is go to the hoop, take it as you want."

Lowry moved on, mainly because he said DeRozan had "made peace with her". Even though he wanted to keep a grudge, Lowry could not stand long with the organization of the Raptors because Ujiri was still the one who had challenged him to abandon the sour attitude to avoid becoming a journeyman. dissatisfied, always the one who offered him his first big contract in 2014 and the one who distributed another for nearly 100 million dollars three years later, despite the absence of another serious challenger as as a free agent for Lowry's services.

"It was a dry summer. Dried quickly, Lowry said with a smirk. "But they got engaged and got more money than I would have ever thought of winning. And yes, I proved it on the basketball court and I keep getting better and I'm worth the money I earned. The city has been great for me. The organization, I made them let me be me.

"I do not say that in an arrogant way. But they gave me a chance. They did not have to pay me. I did everything you wanted me to do. I improved the team and they put me in a position where I asked them to decide whether they wanted to keep me or not. They chose to keep me and I appreciate it.

More than six seasons in Toronto were good for Lowry, giving him the opportunity to become the eternal star-caliber player he had always envisioned at previous stages in Memphis and Houston. His demanding style can make it difficult to play with sometimes but never hard to rally behind. And he pushed his leadership to an even higher level after a summer that was the most upsetting of his time with the Raptors, with Dwane Casey – the coach with whom he put the head down to win his trust – and also referred for his former badistant. Nick Nurse

Raptors Blog: Kawhi's pbading game takes off as Toronto becomes deadly from three points | Toronto Sun

Until recently, Toronto was one of the worst three-point shootings in the NBA, but with Danny Green catching fire, along with Fred VanVleet and others, the team has now climbed to 35.1%, which puts it in 16th place. Only seven teams score more than three points per night.

In the past four games, Toronto has scored 41.9% of its three-point attempts, leading the NBA. The least likely contributor to this turnaround was Delon Wright, who reached 5 out of 7. VanVleet is 8-in-13. Lowry and Green were the volume guys, with 27 and 26 trios, respectively, and clips at 44.4% and 35%.

Memphis have been excellent defensively this season, but Toronto set a record for goal and goal percentage with three points.

Lowry was excellent, cutting out the Grizzlies, while hitting big points at three points.

Kawhi Leonard has made smart decisions.

Since the beginning of the season, Leonard has been extremely aggressive in looking for his shot. Perhaps he saw this as the simplest initial way to readjust to the speed and rhythms of the NBA games. Let's not forget that the league has accelerated since its last state of health, although in this case, Memphis plays a very slow and deliberate style unlike most other teams.

It now seems that Leonard is developing in other areas. His opponents are doubling him and he makes nice pbades to throw the ball in the air. He did a great job creating for others.

Or maybe he is just tired of being abused without appeal and pbades. Nah, Kawhi said that he was just doing the right games.

Overall, Toronto is balancing the ball very well.

Toronto Raptors Temperature: Raptors set the tone with style – QG Raptors

Pessimistic attitudes
To be honest, I am as guilty as anyone here. The Raptors, as I have followed them for the last 20 years of my life, have hardly ever been what you call a confident team. They have never been more inevitable than Michael Jordan, Shaq, LeBron or the Warrior Dynasty. In a word, they are suspicious.

This is why it becomes so easy to immediately fall into depressive states when the Raptors show signs of struggle. In the days leading up to last night's Grizzlies game, and after their series of three-game losing defeats, we had begun to worry that the Raptors were not all they thought they were. Is it possible that the team is about to be exposed to tougher competition? Were they consolidating their record by crushing the teams they were supposed to beat? Were we prepared for another fall, another fall, another fall into the abyss?

It was quite possible.

Last night, Tuesday, the Raptors were completely executed. They lost 12 points in half against a Memphis team ready to defend themselves, crush the game and play smart and autonomous basketball. It was not my case. Except that the Raptors have begun to strengthen their defense (even throwing a discombobulation zone during a stretch), then have started shooting that we believe – we know – that they can do. The end result: a satisfying victory on the road and a renewed confidence.

Maybe we should not have been so worried at first. Maybe the past is really the past. Maybe this time – yes, this time, the Raptors are real.

We dare to dream … again.

Podcast: Locked on Raptors # 426 – Raptors Survive Grizzlies, Nurses Staggers and Kawhi – QG Raptors

In Locked on Raptors' episode 426, Sean Woodley launches alone in the 122 to 124 victory of the Raptors on the Memphis Grizzlies, in which Nick Nurse staggered his stars, Kawhi Leonard played the lead of game, Fred VanVleet The raptors made a comeback of 17 points. The new Memphis court and jerseys are also the object of great love.

The Raptors return to the Grizzlies, full of positive progressions at both ends of the field – The Athletic [subscription]

The credit begins with Nick Nurse, who started the recovery by deploying a zone defense in the third quarter. Zone defenses are not particularly durable in an NBA, so very comfortable in shooting and play games, and although the Grizzlies are a very accurate three-point shooting team, they make up the best of both worlds. 39, one of the least willing firing groups in the league. In the first period, the Memphis guards had cut out the pick-and-roll with pulls and floats while Marc Gasol was engaging in violence inside a smaller opponent. The zone look seemed to take them out of the rhythm. Perhaps more importantly, the deeper reach of the defensive notebook seemed to be a determining factor for the team's defensive effort.

"I was tired of not keeping them, so I thought I'd try a small area," Nurse said. "That's why you use it, the nights you try to disrupt them a little. Fortunately, it worked. We put it and put it a little apart, and this allowed us to get good results in the third. "

This was further accentuated in the fourth, where Memphis scored 17 points on 21 possessions, settling for a number of last-minute trios. The Grizzlies like to reduce their games to an unparalleled slow pace, and after forcing the pace in their favor in the first half, the Raptors were comfortable reversing the "grit and grind" mentality against Memphis: That's not to say Toronto did not make the transition – Kawhi Leonard's ability to pause and get his teammates involved was a key part of the comeback – but they met with Memphis's preference in defense and left them with serious difficulties at the end of the game.the last moments, a few seconds chances.

Fred VanVleet played a leading role in this turnaround, probably achieving his best two-way match of the season. Yes, he managed a total of 6 against 6 of the ground to reach 18 points and three times in the third quarter in the fourth quarter, but it is his defense that really changed the situation. it's the right choice to close on Mike Conley on Danny Green or Delon Wright. After struggling against a myriad of minor injuries this year, including a scary moment with a camera in the first quarter of it, VanVleet was back in his stubborn defense against the ball, fighting hard to get into the ball, beef up his screens without being hit. his man and convalescing to avoid the type of survey and floats that had affected the team earlier.

Really, though, the defensive turn was team-wide, with the kind of extended stretching that the Raptors have only talked about owning so far and that has focused only on occasional possessions. The last quarter-half of this match was perhaps the most systematically blocked in this defense, with pieces moving on a string and helpers receiving help, etc. Memphis made eight pick – and – rolls in the fourth quarter and scored four points by Synergy Sports, none of them among the ball manipulators (they had produced only seven points on nine pick – and – roll since the 17th from the third quarter also).

Siakam and Green respond to comments from Klay Thompson – Yahoo

This is a date that Toronto raptors have surely put on their calendar for some time. Every time you play against the largest basketball team on the planet, there will be additional hype during the preparatory phase.

Klay Thompson, one of Golden State's "Splash Brothers," tossed coal into this fashionable train when he said the game could be a "preview of June" and "they have something really special in Canada right now. "

The Toronto Raptors, Pascal Siakam and Danny Green, are fully aware of this, but do not want to look too far.

"With our team and the way we play, it's a challenge," Siakam said in a recent episode of Inside the Green Room with Danny Green. "Playing good teams is always a challenge and as a competitor, you always want to go out and try to win."

Now in his third season with the team, the 24-year-old has had an impact so far in 2018-19. In 22 games, his average of 14.3 points per game is almost double the average of 7.3 that he had recorded last season. His performance will be crucial if Toronto hopes to win its first win against Golden State in four years.

The Raptors' last victory against the Warriors came back on March 4, 2014 when DeMar DeRozen scored 32 points to lead Toronto to a 104-98 victory at the Air Canada Center. Steph Curry scored the highest point of the match with 34 points. Golden State will however be deprived of Curry's services this time.

Since that fight, the Raptors have lost eight consecutive games with the Warriors. Meanwhile, Golden State has won three NBA championships and big changes have taken place north of the border. Of the players who eliminated the Warriors in 2014, only Kyle Lowry and Jonas Valanciunas remain in Toronto.

"I am very confident in this team," Green said. "It's a group that has a very similar playing style … I like the compositional changes we can inflict on it and that they can impose on us."

The clash between raptors and the Warriors will test the team's determination – Sportsnet.ca

So, with everyone watching, what are the Raptors going to do?

It's a remarkable turnaround. The last time the Raptors got the attention of the NBA, they were at the forefront of the Eastern Conference favorites and were folded in four parts by James and his very unstoppable Cleveland Cavaliers. After a five-year spell that saved Toronto from the edge of the league, the spotlight was not enough. The president of the Raptors team, Masai Ujiri, had worked hard to make the game relevant and important. Something serious was therefore transformed into a line of force – LeBronto – in the space of four discouraging parts.

The rise of the Raptors has far exceeded the limits with the emergence of the Warriors as an NBA team for ages, but when the Warriors have accumulated three titles and records of absolute dominance, all Raptors have to prove that was monstrous existential fighting. : "If a team is not really worthy of a championship, does it even exist? Is existence worth it without aspirations to the championship? '

For Ujiri, the answer was no, no.

That's how we got here. The sadness against Cleveland prompted Ujiri to fire former head coach Dwane Casey to hire his badistant, Nick Nurse, and then press the Raptors' biggest deal: send DeMar DeRozan (and Jakob Poeltl) to San Antonio for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green.

The returns were instantaneous. On the floor, the Raptors were the star of the off season. probably the biggest story of the NBA outside James signing with the Lakers. On the ground, the new raptors have exceeded the most reasonable expectations and are convinced that they have not yet reached their goal.

"It's a lot of things, do you know what I mean? I just do not want to touch them all yet, "Leonard told the Raptors practice center on Wednesday. "But I just feel we can still improve. I think we play as a team and everything else, but I feel we still have room for improvement … it's not even the record. It's our way of playing and wanting to play consistently. We have 15 points and the teams are coming back and we are 15 points behind. Just things like that, you just have to be able to play consistently. The recording does not show that, but once you're part of a team, you can get an idea. "

Raptors better equipped to face warriors – TSN.ca

Can the Raptors finally overcome the bump?

The two teams will meet several times over the next two weeks. The first meeting will be held Thursday at Scotiabank Arena (live on TSN4 at 8pm). -November.

At 18-4, the Raptors enter Thursday's competition with the best record in the NBA. Despite injuries and troubles early in the season, the Warriors are still the gold standard in basketball. The match will be televised in the United States on TNT in the United States and, as if more were needed, people talk about it as a possible confrontation for the finals, including one of the players presented.

"Now [the Raptors] are the best [team in the East] and I think they'll be there all season, "Warrior guard Klay Thompson told reporters following his team's victory over Orlando on Monday. "They have a lot of length. They have so many two-way players. Obviously kawhi [Leonard] is back and playing at a MVP level. Kyle Lowry is a great leader and a bulldog. So, it's going to be a good test for us. Who knows, this could be a preview of June. They have something really special in Canada right now. "

As hunters, you can understand why the Raptors would take a different approach before this week's showdown. They took care not to fan the fire, but they do not throw water on it either. They adhere to the hype, even if they are not quite willing to follow their example and subscribe to Thompson's claim that they are the favorites to get out of the East.

"It's nice of him to say that," said Fred VanVleet, Raptor goalkeeper, following his team's optional practice on Wednesday afternoon. "Obviously, I have a lot of respect for the group they formed and Klay is probably one of the most lethal players in the league. So it's funny that bloody guys in the field make nice comments. But who knows? We have a lot of work to do. They are established as champions and it is our job to eliminate them, but we still have a lot of work to do by then. "

"We go there to measure ourselves. Obviously, this is one of the best teams in the NBA. We feel like a high level team. They are obviously a high level team for several years. We will see how the game is going. "

Their humility is not without cause, but their self-confidence is not without foundation. Record and early season success aside, the Raptors have never been so well equipped to compete and maybe even beat Golden State.

Raptors thank Klay for his respect, but do not prepare for eventual NBA Finals meeting with Warriors | Toronto Sun

"I mean, it's still too early, as I said, it's just another game to build on and improve on, go out and challenge those guys, score, and defend, as we do every night. The road is long, "said Raptors superstar Kawhi Leonard after an optional training on Wednesday.
Thompson also said Toronto, who currently runs the NBA at 18-4, is doing "special" things, which could lead to a meeting on the line with much more at stake.

"I think Klay is very kind, and we thank him for that," said head coach Nick Nurse, quoted by Fred VanVleet.
"It's obvious that a lot of respect for the group that they have there, and Klay is probably one of the deadliest guys in the league, so it's funny when guys too. Bloody fieldwork makes good comments, "VanVleet said.

"But who knows, we have a lot of work to do, they are established as champions and it is our job to eliminate them, but we still have a lot of work to do by then. to measure us, "he said.

"It's obviously one of the best teams in the NBA. We feel like a high level team. They are obviously a high level team for several years. And we will see how the game is going. But as for the future, we have a lot of work to do. "

Among Golden State's many gold players to the city: a series of eight straight victories against Toronto, including zany returns; A combined record of 0.798 in the regular season and playoffs over the past four seasons, the best four-year race in the history of the league.
Even with the city's largest and most successful NBA show, Toronto still focuses on what it should be: looking inside.

"I do not really care about who we play at, what our record is or what their record is, I want us to keep improving," Nurse said.
"Fight in adversity, keep looking for more connections, look for more options, more rotations, growing. I think that this team still has a lot of growth to achieve and that we win or lose tomorrow night, we will develop a little. "

Armstrong gives an overview of the Raps Barometer test match against the Warriors – Video – TSN

OverDrive hosts Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan are joined by TSN Basketball badyst Jack Armstrong to get his opinion on what to expect from tomorrow's Raptors-Warriors game. the hype surrounding the performance of the Raps.

Raptors fans dream of NBA finals in Thursday's game against the Warriors | L & # 39; star [subscription]

A preview of June? For a Toronto-based franchise that has never played beyond May and whose dreams of the NBA finals were up until then, thanks to the residence in the east of LeBron nemesis, it's great. With LeBron in La-La Land, supporters of the Raptors do not seem to be on the left field.

Which does not mean that the Raptors buy the incoming praise. Nick Nurse, the Raptors' rookie coach, played him out.

"I think Klay is very kind, and we thank him for that," Nurse said. "He is doing his best to give us no ammunition."

The guard of the Raptors, Fred VanVleet.

"It's funny when so cool guys on the pitch make good comments," VanVleet said. "They are established as champions and it is our job to overthrow them. But we still have a lot of work to do by then.

And if you expected Kawhi Leonard to be the hype for Thursday's game, given its thorny Warrior background – um, no. The new star of the Raptors is undoubtedly the main reason for the change of perception of the Canadian team by the United States. But it is not because he is the main reason for this hype that he feeds it verbally.

"It's only a regular season game," said Leonard. "Just another chance for us to improve and build on what we do. I can not wait to play any game I play. "

It's good to hear that Raptors still possess their outsider spirit. Staying humble is the key. But despite all respect for Leonard's prospects, Thursday's game is more than another. It's time to dream. Not on Leonard's long-term future as an impending free agent; it will be a July affair. This is the time to dream why, if this team is important to you, you must refrain from planning your summer vacation that begins before June 16th. This is, according to the NBA, the last possible date for a match final 7 of the NBA.

The Raptors are gearing up for the slaughter of the season until now – The Globe and Mail

"It's obvious that a lot of respect for the group that they have there, and Klay is probably one of the deadliest guys in the league, so it's funny when guys too. Bloody fieldwork makes good comments, "VanVleet said. "They are established as champions and it is our job to overthrow them. But we have a lot of work to do here. "

The Warriors beat the Raptors in eight consecutive games dating back to 2014, including four in Toronto and 18 out of 23. Five of the last six defeats against Golden State have however been decided by two possessions.

TNT's broadcasters will naturally be on the court in Toronto, showing the big match between the two clubs with the most wins in the league.

The warriors, who have appeared invincible in recent seasons, look human at the moment. Stephen Curry, a two-time MVP, and Draymond Green, a club star, were injured. There were fights between Green and Kevin Durant. They have lost their last four games on the road, which they have not done since February 26, 2013.

Still, Golden State is still in second place at the top of the Western Conference, behind the 13-6 L.A. Clippers. Raptors do not expect a vulnerable opponent.

"People are trying to do what they do, but no one is doing them like them," said Raptors head coach Nick Nurse, about Golden State's ability to hit a wave three deep shots to bury his opponents in a hole impossible to overcome.

"That spirit takes you away, the discouragement of playing so loudly and so well, and you turn around and throw another 30 feet. You can see all the teams shaking their heads as if they had just been punched and they were trying to stay in the fight, "said Nurse. "Let's hope mentally, we'll be strong enough to deal with this because it's coming. You're just going to have to take that little set of three or four trios they do, and keep playing. "

The Toronto Raptors coach asked Kyle Lowry to work on the shooting range | CTV News Toronto

The star goalie scored five goals in three in Toronto's Memphis victory, a long-distance play that did not surprise coach Nick Nurse.

"So that's one of the things I said to (Lowry) for the summer," Nurse said. "I said," Work on your cook, because I want you to go down and start shooting deeper because that will not be the case: "What a horrible shot! Undisciplined basketball! 'You know? Best team in the world, that's how they play. "

It would be the Golden State Warriors, who will be heading to Toronto Thursday as part of a much-anticipated game at Scotiabank Arena. The Warriors revolutionized the game of the NBA, boasting of shooting threats on all positions. Thanks to Steph Curry & Co., the ability to take long-distance shots is no longer frowned upon, Nurse said.

"Oh, you can not shoot those!" "Oh, you can not play 30 times per game." "Oh, you can not shoot 40 times per game." Oh, you can not shoot at about thirty feet. "These things are being broken and (Lowry's) has the ability to do it, "said Nurse.