Next Up: Portland Trail Blazers | Raptors Today – March 9th 2024

Next Up: Portland Trail Blazers | Raptors Today – March 9th 2024

This is Raptors today and the Toronto Raptors are taking on the Portland Trail Blazers a 17 win team this is Chelsea this is KS I’m Ashley we’re glad that you could join us now one of the things that the Toronto Raptors don’t get to say very often just because of the way

That their season has gone is scheduled win scheduled win and I think that they have the opportunity here to come out on top against the Portland Trailblazers and this game because you know what one of the things I like about Portland’s roster is that it does read like kind of

Like a deep cut cult favorite roster it’s likeo B and DeAndre and all these guys where you’re like oh I like him I like him but together they haven’t been able to find that continuity yet so I think the Raptors should be able to take

This one KS I don’t I don’t know about scheduled wins in this wins and lessons era that I guess both of these teams are in um but they will have the rest Advantage Portland be on second night of a back to back they’re pretty hurt sadly

I think Aon will probably be out um sharp is obviously out our can con favorite aon’s out Sharp’s out uh scoot might be coming back that night so that could be a win but I don’t know I don’t know about not buying not s you see

Please tell me you’re on my side you know what I do think I’m on your side mostly just because the players on this current Raptor Squad are so hungry to prove themselves I think and we’re seeing that through you know Quickly’s 18 assists in um their game against Suns

Um you know just all these players you know Gary Trent Jr scored 30 points in their last game stuff like that and I think they’re just so hungry to win that that will maybe overshadow some of the other stuff um that’s going on and I think that they’re just like you know

They want to win I mean these young guys they want to they’re always competing to win and so you know sometimes I’m not for the scheduled win schedul losses campaign just because like these players at the end of the day like when you talk

To them all they want to do is win so it’s it’s hard to lasers play pretty hard too so that’s the only only thing that I would say but offensively obviously they’re not they’re not good and they’ve struggled all year so that could be something that is helpful for

The Raptors especially to figure out some of their defensive schemes right with Scot being kind of out of the mix as well you lose such a versatile Defender somebody who can guard the point of attack somebody can be really impactful on help side but you said they’re not good offensively and you

Know what that might be an impart statement cuz the facts and the stats are the stats but offensively Anthony Simons he’s a bright spot for them yes he’s been on a tear since he got back like I think like 23 points or something 21 since he’s been back and that’s been

Really good um and especially with all of their injuries he’ll probably be the only one that’ll score which is nice though because then you can game plan around somebody that you can focus on yeah so 22.8 points per game on average the season 43% from the field um you

Think the Raptors defensively can handle this without Scotty Barnes I think so I mean you have RJ Barrett you have you know some of these other young guys who have been getting a bit more minutes now and so maybe they’re kind of finding their groove um and I mean then you know

You have like I said they’re full of energy maybe Chris Chris bue plays a little bit more again and so you know I think they have some of the components that they might need to to get a win over they won’t really have to worry

About the paint as much so I don’t think they’ll go back to their overh helping defensive schemes on this I guess against the Blazers yeah well what you you mentioned RJ Barett and I think that that’s a really good point to bring up because his three-point shooting in

Particular I think has stood out to everybody I’m sure KS has a stat for this but over the last eight games he’s hit at least two threes and when he’s put shots up because he not shooting threes every single game he’s shooting at least 50% from three which is not

Something that we seen from him certainly not in New York so what is it that’s allowing him to find the confidence or the time and the space and the range to kind of have performance like this I think over his last since Z the Raptors he’s averaging at least 20

Points on 50% shooting which he’s never had a stretch this efficient for this long before in his career even when he was with New York the longest he’s ever like averaged that is like 15 games so this is pretty the best he ever new and different it’s the best he’s ever been

It’s I guess the perks of a of a different offense and more I think it’s the perks of just you know a Canadian boy being here on Canadian soil we he can keep that streak up we got to get out of here but thank you so much for

Joining us we have Toronto Portland on TSN and sportset 590 the fan if you’re listening to on radio that’s on March 9th they’re on the west coast so of course it’s at 10: p.m. so take a nap and and Buckle in so before we get out

Of here we have to give a shout out to our producer Jasmine and our intern Anna thank you guys so much this was an all female cast for international women’s day we’d like to thank mlsc and Jakey Jake for making this happen for for KS myself Ashley and the girls in the

Background who really make everything happen uh thank you for joining us today on Raptors today thanks for watching the Toronto Raptor YouTube channel check out our latest videos and subscribe for More Trent answers back Gary Sid step great got it

Ashley Docking, Keerthika Uthayakumar, and Chelsea Leite look ahead to the next opponent the Portland Trail Blazers. How can Toronto take this win, and a familiar face the Raptors will see Friday night.

0:00 Introduction
0:20 The Matchup
1:16 Raptors Approach
2:20 Simons
3:00 Defensive Approach
3:38 RJ Barrett
4:30 Signing off
5:06 Thanks for watching!
—————————————————
WATCH more episodes of Raptors Today: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOfGdce15qw9iGIpjI5LKubiiCuiZxouw&si=YnT4t0BNnG_9YvSG

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​FOLLOW the Toronto Raptors on:

X – https://twitter.com/Raptors
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/TorontoRaptors/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/raptors/
TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@raptors

#Raptors #TorontoRaptors #NBA #RaptorsToday