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The difference between the Raptors facing some tough refereeing in Denver and again in Los Angeles was Toronto deserved a better fate against the Nuggets, but not against the Clippers. The Raptors were the better team for most of the Denver game and could have come away with a win. Against the Clippers, the visitors were quite clearly the second-best team on the court.
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And the final score probably even flattered the Raptors. The Clippers hit only six three-pointers, the team’s third-worst performance from deep this season and tied for a season-low for an opponent for makes against the Raptors this year. And the Raptors shot 41% from deep, fourth-highest percentage-wise since January 1. Flip those around and this would have been a blowout.
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Kawhi Leonard appeared to be on a mission. Leonard appears to be recovered from his various injuries and the Clippers, even after the strange signing of Russell Westbrook and even with a mediocre record, will be a team nobody will want to face in the playoffs.
That’s likely not the case for the Raptors. Even though they looked great when Jakob Poeltl first arrived and have been happy to get O.G. Anunoby back in the lineup, the offence doesn’t look anywhere close to good enough to win a series. I’d definitely back them in a play-in against Washington, Chicago, or Indiana and probably against Atlanta or Miami, but would they win more than a game against either Milwaukee, Boston, Philadelphia or Cleveland?
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It’s too bad there’s no real path to a series against either New York or Brooklyn, either would be pick ‘ems to me and I’d probably lean Toronto over Brooklyn.
AROUND THE RIM
- Leonard is now 6-0 against the Raptors since leaving for Los Angeles. He’s only averaged 17.8 points in those games, but has also averaged 6.2 assists and 1.8 steals and shot 91% from the free throw line and 47.1% from the field in those games (even though he shot 2-for-11 for 12 points in his first game as a Clipper against Toronto). Leonard is a remarkable 13-2 all-time against the Raptors and hasn’t dropped a game against them since December 2015.
- If that got you wondering, LeBron James is 42-16 against the Raptors (in the regular season), Kevin Durant is 20-8, Stephen Curry is 18-3, Chris Bosh went 12-2 against his former team, and Kobe Bryant went 24-9 against them.
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- VanVleet refreshingly tells it like he sees it and isn’t afraid to speak his mind thoughtfully. With so much nonsense in the world, even in sports media, VanVleet is a throwback. We need more people like him.
- Congratulations to VanVleet for passing DeMar DeRozan, another all-time great truth teller who happens to be one of VanVleet’s mentors, in career assists by a Raptor. VanVleet now trails only Kyle Lowry and Jose Calderon. He’s also going to pass Vince Carter in the next week or two in career steals as a Raptor (trailing only Lowry, Doug Christie, DeRozan and Morris Peterson). In an interesting quirk, VanVleet has now played 403 games as a Raptor, the same as Vince Carter.
- Still to come this season: VanVleet should move into Top 10 in games played as a Raptor, passing now commentator Alvin Williams and Pascal Siakam should move into sixth, passing Jonas Valanciunas.
THREE STARS VS. CLIPPERS
1 Kawhi Leonard
2 Pascal Siakam
3 Paul George
Honourable mention: O.G. Anunoby, Ivaca Zubac, Terrence Mann
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