Raptors Tonight | Dec 27 | Raptors @ Wizards

Raptors Tonight | Dec 27 | Raptors @ Wizards

The Raptors take this one handily over the Washington Wizards 13212 welcome to Raptors tonight I’m Randy Urban joined by Paul Jones Eric Smith and Javon Shepard Javon I’ll start with you Trent Jr inserted into the starting lineup shter to the bench what kind of an impact did that move have have on the

Raptor performance tonight well with this lineup here you obviously bigger with Scotty running the point and I think it just forces your your your opponent to stay on their toes be on their heels so to say you came up with a victory so everybody’s going to love it

But um you know seeing shoter come off of the bench and in his minutes that first sub I think the team went on a 19-1 19-1 run um which gave them a boost there and but you’re going to get two different looks with Scotty running the

Point um he’s bigger more of an open court guy and when shooter comes into the game you’re going to get more of a half court look and setting up offense a little bit more pick and roll actions there so I like it the team came up with

The Victory and I think this is what darkos going to have to do over the course of the Season just really rotating lineups getting different experimenting with different looks is going to be marginal but the most important thing it keeps your opponent on their heels I was kind of worried

Yeah I was kind of worried about that Randy because you know conventional wisdom says you change one guy and everybody says oh it’s it was Dennis well no it’s not Dennis because he still played starters minutes he played more minutes than Gary actually to be honest he still played starters minutes that’s

A role that he’s embraced and he’s been used to playing coming off the bench in his time in the league but the trickle down was you change the starting lineup that saw Malachi’s Flynn’s minutes disappear because Dennis now is running that second unit and we saw Jaden McDaniels insert inserted and jayen and

Getting those minutes and some of precious’s minutes dried up so there was a change to the starting lineup but the trickle down came through the entire team and you know we Eric and I noted on the broadcast and something that as Javon said I was kind of keeping track

Of in the middle of the second quarter during that run you had your old previous starting lineup on the floor against the Washington bench and that was a big part of that run they they when those guys hit the floor together you were up five by the time they were

Done you were up 13 so that that was a big part of it and it was nice to see that the offense was firing let’s hope that they can keep it going against the good teams not just Washington Eric what’s stood up to you I think Jonesy

Hit on it in terms of what I was really kind of looking at Randy Javon um the fact that it wasn’t just the starters it was beyond that I mean Jonesy talked about Jaylen mcdel getting into the ball game it was auto porter playing significant minutes as well so as much

As maybe we understandably focused on that one move with schruder and Trent it ended up becoming the rotation the substitution pattern even even Scotty Barn going with the second unit or being you know a sub a little bit later in that first quarter and I wonder how much

The early foul trouble of both Pascal cakam and yakob purle even changed things because we might not have seen precious aoua if not for the fact that yak got into the foul trouble and thus forced Darko rakovich to have to go a little bit deeper and to reach into the

Bench and to bring in uh presses and I thought he responded well and played some decent minutes so I think that’s the biggest thing and if it goes back to Shep’s point about maybe this is a kind of regular thing where you change if it’s not game to game maybe it’s kind of

Over a couple of games maybe it’s matchup driven based on who you’re playing and if you now can go with different combinations I don’t think this is a bad thing to be perhaps experimenting a little bit based on how inconsistent this team has been for a few weeks and maybe this now

Starts some consistency going forward as we get set to flip the calendar yeah Javon big story of the game too is the assist total 43 assists on 52 makes like have you ever seen games like that that’s a pretty crazy stat it’s it’s a crazy number um that said they they were

Also playing a g-league team which um you know Washington is not that great but no just to see a number number of those guys and to you guys to to both of your points you a number of guys on this team were in different roles tonight playing different minutes and the fact

That everybody accepted it and was professional about the minutes that they did play um I thought that’s that was a big part of why they were successful um as a team but also individually and you know I thought OG anobi had himself a really good night uh because you know

There was a couple shots early in the game where didn’t even really hit rim and you think you were thinking oh this is going to be a tough one for OG but for you know one of the first games this season we really seen him use his size

Use his strength his athleticism and how many times do we see you know opponent Defenders hanging off him and he was just playing through that contact but the ball moving the Pop the ball popping this is what coach Darko wants um and if everybody’s touching the basketball play

Scoring the ball you’re going to be that much more motivated on the defensive end and get a cohesive effort uh um and Paul what performance uh stood out to you I thought bascal sakam really really ran the four well tonight obviously he had a great game

Yeah he did and you know he we had both he and Scotty Barnes on triple double watch and I I take a look at the assist 11 assists 22 points 11 assists SE season High 11 season High 11 and and you know as as we talked about with the

Starting lineup changing Scotty becoming your primary ball handler that doesn’t preclude Pascal cakam from being a playmaker himself and you know he’s punching into the lane you know people will say maybe there’s better spacing there’s more shooting around him with Gary on the floor so you know Pascal’s

Been for the most part he’s been you know relatively consistent with his effort and and trying to be that lead guy or one of the lead guys on every night for the Raptors uh Eric let’s talk a little bit about the defense what impressed you on that side of the B

Basketball you know I I think it’s the way that they responded Randy early on that that really was the difference because I can’t talk a lot about the defense in the second half certainly not in the third quarter it was it was missing an action on both sides I mean

The Wizards gave up 70% to the Raptors in the third and the Raptors gave up 67% to the Wizards in the third so second half it was basically the defense was the offense just trying to outscore them but if we go back to the second quarter Raptors had taken that what seveno lead

I believe at the end of one or five seven points they were they had scored 30 plus seemed like they had the game in hand they went up double figures and in the blink of an eye Washington made the comeback cut it to two and I looked at

Jones at one point one of the timeouts and I said okay here we go again this is another you know another big lead all of a sudden blown by the Raptors but what did they do they took the punch and they were able to go right back at Washington

Build the lead back into double figures and if not for a late bucket by kissper at the end of the second quarter it would have been a double digit halftime lead so I thought they responded well and I think it’s everything we’ve been talking about I think it was a portion

Of that starting unit I think it was the hybrid second unit where we actually saw the now former starters playing together and also some key contributions from guys like Porter even Chris bue just changing shots and being active down around the rim and I think that there

Was a little bit more length and there just seemed to be a little bit more energy A Little More pep in the Raptors overall tonight and you hope that it’s just not a one night thing and that it can carry over into not just not just Boston but beyond that as well Javon

Let’s talk a little more about Scotty and and kind of the primary ball handler role is that key to his progress is that key to him making the you know another jump I think that’s that’s huge for his development right because he’s a natural wing he’s a natural forward that does a

Number of things on the floor but when you get to learn the game from a point guard’s lens you also have to learn the other four positions on the floor right so your IQ level has to go up you’re playing for everybody on the floor on

The court and we know he does in the open court I think it’s you know who is Scotty going to be as a lead guard in the half court he if he adds that to his game he’s already on triple double watch this green this early in his career you

Know nightly and I I think that’s going to add so much and this this sky is really the limit for him if he locks in on that and also having Dennis shuder um as a teammate somebody that’s willing to to just mentor and educate from that

Lens as well is going to pay dividends for Scotty but he does so much it’s hard to really like you know narrow him in or box him into one position but if he can learn this one it’s going to elevate his game to a completely another level here’s the thing that I’ve been

Impressed with in that regard Randy we know how difficult it is to be the main ball handler and yet contribute as a scorer you know there are a lot of guys that get the balls ball in their hand and they’re the main ball handler and sometimes other guys don’t touch the

Ball they don’t feel like they get involved and what that leads to is uh okay it’s my turn I got the ball I’m gonna shoot it I haven’t touched it in a while I’m gonna shoot it and you you and and Scotty’s always had that in perspective and something to be careful

Of because it it’s tough to do be the main ball handler distribute yet be a scoring threat and and keep your own scoring up it it’s really tough to do and he’s making it look easy right now and and uh you know it I think with Dennis coming off the bench with your

Second unit uh it might give them a boost because they have a more natural playmaker in the SE second unit so it’ll be interesting to see what happens there but uh you know Scotty’s doing something that’s very difficult and making it look easy Eric let’s talk a little bit about

Jordan p and and the Wizards obviously he’s a talented player when you watch him though he seems a little unserious about the game and it kind of surprises me because of you know the organization that he came up with uh does it surprise you it surprises me a little bit but I

Think it actually plays into and and I mean he can jump in and cut me off if he thinks I’m misrepresenting I think it speaks to what Jonesy was just saying about Scotty Barnes trying to be that guy that’s going to be the decision maker in terms of setting guys up but

Also knowing that you’re a score and when you’re picking and choosing your spots and from the games that we watched not just against the Raptors but I’m sure we’ve all watched other Washington games this year he seems like a guy that right now might be staring at the record

Saying I’m gonna get mine I’m gonna get mine I’m gonna do it I’m the score I’m the best player on this team and you know what whether I’m finding Kyle kosma whether I’m finding others yeah okay I’m still going to work the ball times but

At the end of the day this is my team and I’m the top dog and I’m gonna get mine and and I think it’s become a selfish style at times and I think it speaks to not just the inconsistency to the team to the record and to the

Offense but think about their defense I mean they’re regularly giving up 120 125 plus a game to whomever the opponent is and the crazy thing is we focus so much on Detroit going into tonight with a 27 game losing streak Washington’s only three wins better so they might have not

Lost 27 in a row this is not a good team Shep said earlier this a g-league team well they don’t necessarily have g-league talent they might not be the deepest team in the league but if they played as a more cohesive unit and not an un selfish team and played with a

Little more unselfishness they might be better they might not be 10 wins better but I think they’d be better yeah that starts with Jord po yeah real quick a little overtime I got about a minute and a half um Javon after Nicole yic made 18 free throws and Denver’s win over Golden

State on Christmas Day Steve Kerr said I have a problem on how we are legislating the defense out of the game we’re enabling players to BS their way to the foul line if I were a fan I wouldn’t have wanted to watch the second half of

That game it was disgusting it was just baiting ref and the calls do you agree with Kerr yeah absolutely and Jones and I have had a number of times it’s you know you’ve got to you look at the scores across the league you know 120 130 140 there’s there’s absolutely no

Defense right now and SPO had a a quote last year in you know where where’re the entire league is trying to learn how to coach defense right now um and to Steve Steve skur’s Point as well you know there’s there’s there’s no hand checking guys are just they’re blowing by and you

Know credit the players as well they’ve gotten smarter you know drawing the BS they know they’re going to get the call they’re getting to the line the numbers are just inflated and I think that is also taken away from the entertainment value of the game he’s right as well as well as the

Integrity of the game next game the Raptor Friday against the Celtics tip off at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Raptors tonight we’ll go live on YouTube shortly after the game thank you for watching we’ll see you next Time

Paul Jones, Eric Smith, Jevohn Shepherd, and host Randy Urban break down the Toronto Raptors’ 132-102 win over the Washington Wizards.

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