TORONTO – When you hear outside discussions about the Toronto Raptors they’re regularly spoken with a general tone of confusion.
Oftentimes they sound like the following:
“The Raptors lost 2019 Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and key rotation piece Danny Green and yet are still winning just as much! How are they doing it?”
If anyone would actually bother to tune into the Raptors for more than just the two-minute highlight pack this season, the answer to this question would be as plain as day.
No, the Raptors no longer have a gravitational, top-five superstar-like player like Leonard on their roster, but they still have a large part of the championship core that won that title with Leonard last season, and — most importantly — that championship-level defence these guys played through all of last year’s title run not only translated to this season, it improved.
So, to anyone who wants to know how the Raptors have remained as dangerous a championship threat as ever, just take a look at what they do on the defensive end — with their latest contest against the Orlando Magic serving as a good example, in particular.
On a night when no one Toronto player, in particular, stood out offensively — although six Raptors players finished the evening in double-digit scoring and Fred VanVleet finished with a 21-point, 10-assist double-double — it was the Raptors’ defence that spoke loudest in their 109-99 victory Wednesday night.
In total, the Raptors held the Magic to only 40.2 per cent shooting, including an abysmal 11-of-41 from three-point range.
It was apparent nearly immediately that the Raptors were locked in defensively, with Toronto holding the Magic to only 11-first-quarter points on 25 per cent shooting from the field and 0-for-9 from deep.
The defensive clinic the Raptors put on in the opening period slipped a little in the second quarter, but Toronto still held Orlando to 30 per cent shooting from the floor and led 55-35 at the break.
At this point, given the apparent talent disparity between the two sides, the game should’ve been over. But a poor third quarter that saw the Raptors’ defence loosen up a bit allowed the Magic to cut Toronto’s lead to 10 thanks to a 33-point quarter from them.
Thankfully, for the Raptors, a similar defensive level and focus to what was seen in the first half returned and they were able to put the clamps on the Magic again, cruising to yet another victory in the bubble — bringing their record to a perfect 3-0 thus far in their restart seeding games.
Raptors Newsletter
The job the Raptors did defensively against the Magic Wednesday was most pertinently seen in the job they did on Nikola Vucevic — a continuation of the excellent job they did on Vucevic in the post-season last year that saw the Magic star only average 11.2 points on 36.2 per cent shooting. The combination of Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka have held Vucevic to just four points per game on 10 per cent shooting against the Raptors this season and on Wednesday he didn’t fair much better, only managing 12 points and going 4-for-10 from the field.
With the Raptors all but indentured into the No. 2 seed, knowing they can still lock up Vucevic is good information to have. There’s a chance they could see Orlando in the first round of the playoffs and, honestly, it would probably be a welcome sight.
Toronto has not lost to the Magic since D.J. Augustin exploded in the Game 1 of these two clubs’ first-round series last year.
Simply put, as is the case for most of the league, the Raptors’ defence is just too stifling for the Magic to do anything about it.
And if you can’t put a dent in this Raptors fortress you just aren’t going to win.
