Raptors vs Magic 11/6

[Ibn Battuta 127]

stats llc

The Toronto Raptors are off to the best start in franchise history, but coach Dwane Casey isn't letting them get complacent following two early playoff exits.

 

The Raptors will try to keep the big picture in mind Friday night when they open the Florida portion of their four-game road swing seeking a 12th straight win over the Orlando Magic.

 

Despite moving to 5-0 for the first time with Wednesday's 103-98 win at Oklahoma City, Casey is trying to keep Toronto even keel after back-to-back Atlantic Division titles led to first-round playoff defeats.

 

"It's a marathon; it's not a sprint," he said. "We've got to maintain this. I told the guys, get off their feet. No running around shopping in Orlando or enjoying the sun."

 

The Raptors will try to continue their success at both ends, averaging an Eastern Conference-best 106.0 points while allowing 95.6. They've also held their last three opponents to a combined 25.9 percent shooting in the fourth quarter.

 

DeMar DeRozan finished with a season-high 28 points -- hitting 14 of 15 from the free-throw line -- Wednesday when Toronto overcame an eight-point deficit in the final six minutes. Kyle Lowry and Jonas Valanciunas contributed 17 apiece.

 

DeRozan (22.2 points per game) and Lowry (19.2) are leading the way for Toronto, which will conclude its trip against Miami on Sunday. Stopper DeMarre Carroll was brought in from Atlanta after the Raptors ranked 19th with 100.9 points allowed per game in 2014-15.

 

"I don't know how many games we're going to win, but I do know that we're going to scrap," Casey said. "We're going to compete, play hard, get after people."

 

The Raptors have done that in recent years against the Magic, allowing 91.0 points per game during their longest active winning streak versus an opponent. They won 16 straight over Chicago from 1999-2002 and 12 in a row over Minnesota from 2004-10.

 

Former Raptor Lou Williams drilled a 3-pointer with 9.9 seconds left for a 101-99 win April 10 in the most recent meeting at Orlando (1-4). DeRozan scored 29 in that contest and has averaged 24.8 over his last four in this series.

 

Toronto will certainly have to keep an eye on Evan Fournier in this meeting. A night after putting up a career-high 30 points in a 103-94 win at New Orleans, he had 29 and helped limit James Harden to 6-of-22 shooting in Wednesday's 119-114 overtime loss at Houston.

 

"Evan had a great game," said coach Scott Skiles, whose club's losses have all come by five points or less, including a pair in overtime. "He carried us offensively and guarded Harden most of the game and that is really tough double duty."

 

Fournier, who averaged a career-high 12.0 points last season, is scoring a team-high 20.6. He's made 55.4 percent from the field and 9 of 21 from 3-point range in his last three. Fournier has played well in his past five games against the Raptors, averaging 17.8 points.

 

The Magic, however, won't have Nikola Vucevic as they try to avoid losing their first three home games for the first time since 2005-06. The center, averaging 15.8 points and 8.0 rebounds, is out with a bone bruise in his right knee.

 

Second-year forward Aaron Gordon hopes to build on his career-high 19-point effort against the Rockets.

 

 

ESPN Link

 

Lol @ Dwayne Casey. I wonder what he'll say when the Raptors lose. Go Magic.

[CTMagicUK 1,481]

Can't believe they've beaten us the last 12 times. That's far too long a streak for it to last any longer.

 

Start AG please... or at least give him 25-30 mins off the bench guarding Derozan.

[Mauro Pedrosa 1,031]

Can't believe they've beaten us the last 12 times. That's far too long a streak for it to last any longer.

 

Start AG please... or at least give him 25-30 mins off the bench guarding Derozan.

It goes back to the Dwight and Hedo days when they actually beat us at home regularly.

 

The Wizards also have a huge streak against us and it's one of the reasons I was really pissed with that opening day loss

[Franchero MVP 391]

I wonder how we will fare without Vuc. Gonna be interesting.

[~O~ 565]

It shouldn't be a surprise that Toronto has beaten us that amount of consecutive times. Even before we were good with Hedo Shard and Dwight, they had our number. We could not beat Jalen Rose, Mo Peterson, etc. They always had great games against us.

[FloridaHoosierGirl 1]

Can't go tonight so I fully expect a win. Go Magic!

[~O~ 565]

Josh Cohen created a quick analysis video on the Toronto Raptors success. They rank number one in second chance points. The Magic have not been a force on the defensive boards this season thus far which could lead to a bit of some major exposure tonight. Its simply discernible what the coaches must address.

 

The Magic rank

 

2nd in blocks per game

1st in field goals attempted

3rd in field goals made

6th in assists

 

 

2nd in blocked attempts

28th in personal fouls drawn.......

 

 

Everything else is middle of the pack or irrelevant on traditional.

 

All our advance stats are fairly average or slightly below. Our defense rebounding percentage is the only...real issue. Bottom five.

 

The four factors revealed we have the worst free throw rate in the league. We also have the worst opponent offensive rebound rate.

 

The Magic lead the league in points in the paint....which will go down considering vucevic's injury. However, the Magic are average or slightly below in miscellaneous stats.

 

Some stats are interchangeable. Our opponent stats in rebounding, blocks, and free throw rate glares out. The major fact is the gap between opponents freethrow rate to ours. We lead the league in points in the paint. How can NOT have a higher free throw rate. What the ***** gives?

 

 

Our advantage tonight is that the Toronto Raptors are not a running team. They have the third highest turnover rate. They are dead last in fast break points.

 

However, they do get steals.....2nd in average. Toronto leads the league in personal fouls drawn...................which exploits our free throw rate and averages.

 

 

 

Honestly, I don't see how we win this game if we don't pick it up our play by two tiers. Toronto is undefeated for reasons that are stated..and can be inferred by common sense. We need a team effort which is why I posted some team stats today. Individual efforts have been wasted this season such as Vucevic/Gordon's performance against OKC and Fournier/Gordon/Tobias' against Houston.

 

We need team win's. We need a winning streak. We need success.

 

I'm looking forward to the game tonight. Here's to hoping for a blowout and box outs!

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

Josh Cohen created a quick analysis video on the Toronto Raptors success. They rank number one in second chance points. The Magic have not been a force on the defensive boards this season thus far which could lead to a bit of some major exposure tonight. Its simply discernible what the coaches must address.

 

The Magic rank

 

2nd in blocks per game

1st in field goals attempted

3rd in field goals made

6th in assists

 

 

2nd in blocked attempts

28th in personal fouls drawn.......

 

 

Everything else is middle of the pack or irrelevant on traditional.

 

All our advance stats are fairly average or slightly below. Our defense rebounding percentage is the only...real issue. Bottom five.

 

The four factors revealed we have the worst free throw rate in the league. We also have the worst opponent offensive rebound rate.

 

The Magic lead the league in points in the paint....which will go down considering vucevic's injury. However, the Magic are average or slightly below in miscellaneous stats.

 

Some stats are interchangeable. Our opponent stats in rebounding, blocks, and free throw rate glares out. The major fact is the gap between opponents freethrow rate to ours. We lead the league in points in the paint. How can NOT have a higher free throw rate. What the ***** gives?

 

 

Our advantage tonight is that the Toronto Raptors are not a running team. They have the third highest turnover rate. They are dead last in fast break points.

 

However, they do get steals.....2nd in average. Toronto leads the league in personal fouls drawn...................which exploits our free throw rate and averages.

 

 

 

Honestly, I don't see how we win this game if we don't pick it up our play by two tiers. Toronto is undefeated for reasons that are stated..and can be inferred by common sense. We need a team effort which is why I posted some team stats today. Individual efforts have been wasted this season such as Vucevic/Gordon's performance against OKC and Fournier/Gordon/Tobias' against Houston.

 

We need team win's. We need a winning streak. We need success.

 

I'm looking forward to the game tonight. Here's to hoping for a blowout and box outs!

 

Nah, i think we can play the same we've been playing and win. 3 out of the 5 teams we've played already are better than toronto.

[Mauro Pedrosa 1,031]

We can't lose to a team that's starting Luis Scola in 2015 right?

[ILoveOrlandoMagic 12]

I am feeling good about this game for some reason! I have confident that our Magic will give Craptors their first loss!

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

We match up pretty well against them.

 

lowry-payton

derozan-oladipo

carroll-fournier

scola-harris

Jonas-dedmon

 

The interesting matchup is going to be Valenciunas vs dedmon. So far this year, Jonas' average shot distance is 9.4 feet away from the basket compared to 4.5 last year. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

 

Harris should be able to exploit scola enough that I'd be shocked if they didn't run a lot of Carroll at 4.

 

Carroll is a good enough defender to probably shut down Fournier other than jumpers caused by ball movement. but then again so was Ariza, so who knows.

 

need a good game from oladipo and harris to win. cant count on fournier tonight.

[CTMagicUK 1,481]

That replay of the Vuc injury just now looked like Dwight smacked him in the knee.