Tag: Toronto Raptors

LeBron James, Darvin Ham on Lakers’ lack of energy versus the Pacers

After the Lakers lost to the Pacers on Friday, LeBron James and Darvin Ham admitted the team simply didn’t have its usual pop.

Over the last couple of seasons, every time it seemed the Los Angeles Lakers were building positive momentum, they found a way to stop it.

They took a five-game winning streak into the Midwest on Friday and took on the Indiana Pacers, a team they had defeated fairly easily in two previous meetings this season. But after scoring a season-high 150 points on Sunday, they could only muster a season-worst 90 points and lost by 19.

Los Angeles couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn from 3-point range, and it only scored 39 second-half points after trailing by just five at halftime.

There was nothing necessarily wrong with the team’s effort. But something was simply missing, and LeBron James said it simply didn’t have the same energy in its third game in four nights.

Head coach Darvin Ham seemed to agree while reiterating the importance of the Lakers playing up-tempo basketball, something they didn’t consistently do on Friday.

The Lakers’ next three games will be against sub-.500 opponents in the Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards, but none of them will be easy. The Nets defeated them easily in January, while the Raptors and Wizards gave them all they could handle before losing by a combined four points.

Nets’ Kevin Ollie gives update on Cam Thomas’ back issue

After Monday’s 96-88 win at the Toronto Raptors, Brooklyn Nets interim head coach Kevin Ollie gave an update on Cam Thomas’ back issue.

The Brooklyn Nets are fighting against the odds to get past the Atlanta Hawks for the 10th and final seed in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament. While it’s unlikely that Brooklyn will be able to get into the play-in tournament because of the gap between them and the Hawks, the Nets took care of business at the Toronto Raptors.

The Nets beat the Raptors on Monday 96-88, but it took some doing despite the fact that Toronto was missing a significant number of their better players. Brooklyn was dealing with some injuries of their own, including the late scratch of super-scoring guard Cam Thomas shortly before tip-off due to lower back tightness, per Brian Lewis of the New York Post.

What made Thomas’ absence surprising was because he was not on the injury report at any point leading up to the game so for him to be ruled out, something seemed to happen during the pregame warmups. Nets interim head coach Kevin Ollie addressed Thomas’ late scratch after the win and his update on Thomas was mostly encouraging.

Ollie said that Thomas suffered back spasms during the pregame warmups and that’s why he was ruled out for the contest. Ollie also said that he isn’t sure if Thomas will be able to go for Wednesday’s game at the Washington Wizards yet, but that the team will do what it can to make Thomas’ back more comfortable by “giving him a couple extra pillows” as he recovers.

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Nets’ Trendon Watford reacts to team’s fourth-quarter execution

After Monday’s 96-88 win at the Toronto Raptors, Brooklyn Nets forward Trendon Watford reacted to how the team played in the fourth quarter.

The Brooklyn Nets have struggled to perform in the fourth quarter of plenty of games that they have either lost the lead in the end or where a small deficit became a blowout in the blink of an eye. As Brooklyn finishes this season as strong as possible, it looks like they figured out a way to overcome their fourth-quarter demons.

The Nets beat the Toronto Raptors on Monday 96-88 and while the game was not pretty from a scoring standpoint. Brooklyn stayed within striking distance for the majority of the contest. Granted, the Raptors were missing plenty of their better players for a variety of reasons, but the Nets were in the same boat as well.

After going into halftime down 69-68, the Nets managed to have their best scoring quarter of the game along with holding Toronto to their lowest-scoring quarter of the game as they built their lead to 13 points within the period. In contrast to Brooklyn’s fourth-quarter meltdown in Saturday’s 105-93 loss at the New York Knicks, the Nets took care of business against an undermanned Raptors team.

One of the reasons for that was the play of Trendon Watford, who scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds in one of his best games as a Net this season. After the game, he gave his reaction to how the team got its act together in the fourth quarter:

“It was big. Like I said, KO (Nets interim head coach Kevin Ollie) called some good sets and got the guy involved in the action that we wanted to get and I think we made some good plays out of that. That’s when we were able to take off late in the fourth.”

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Could the Spurs steal the Raptors’ 2024 lottery pick?

The San Antonio Spurs could end up getting the Toronto Raptors’ lottery pick this summer.

The San Antonio Spurs have been one of the worst teams in the league this year. Obviously, that’s not where Victor Wembanyama and company wanted to be in his first year in the league, but they have plenty of room to grow. Wembanyama has been amazing this season, and they are still a very young team.

Most importantly, the Spurs will have a big chance to add more talent this summer. Not only will they have money to spend in free agency, but they will also be able to bring in some new young talent through the draft. They could end up having two lottery picks.

The Spurs could end up getting the Toronto Raptors’ lottery pick, as they landed it in the Jakob Poeltl trade last season. The selection is top-six protected, so if the Raptors end up outside of the top-six, the Spurs will get to steal the pick. The CLAN the SPURS fan recently spoke about this chance.

Getting the Raptors’ pick would allow the Spurs to add two premier young talents to their squad.

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Nets full injury report for Monday’s matchup at Raptors

Here is the full injury report for the Brooklyn Nets heading in their matchup on Monday at the Toronto Raptors.

The Brooklyn Nets (26-45, 11th in the Eastern Conference) have just 11 games left to win as many games as they can if they want to pass the Atlanta Hawks for the 10th and final seed in the play-in tournament. As Brooklyn moves forward, they have some key injuries to their normal rotation.

In the Nets’ injury report released prior to Monday’s game at the Toronto Raptors, there were a few new additions to the report after a tough loss at the New York Knicks on Saturday. Forward Cam Johnson is out for the matchup due to a left big toe sprain, an injury that he picked up during Saturday’s loss at New York.

After the game, Johnson told Brian Lewis of the New York Post that he would be “good to go” for Monday’s game at the Raptors, so it’s possible that the injury became worse since that conversation. Forward Dorian Finney-Smith should see himself inserted into the starting lineup in Johnson’s place.

Guard Dennis Smith Jr. is also out for the game due to right hip synovitis, something that could be more of a wear-and-tear injury as opposed to something that he picked up during Saturday’s game at the Knicks.

Synovitis, described as Transient Synovitis by the National Library of Medicine, is “an acute, non-specific, inflammatory process affecting the joint synovium. TS is a common cause of hip pain in the pediatric patient population” so it seems like something that Smith may need to let rest.

Lastly, forward Keita Bates-Diop, acquired in the trade deadline deal that sent Royce O’Neale to the Phoenix Suns, is out due to a right shin stress reaction. This is no indication of how severe the stress reaction is so that will be something to monitor as time goes on.

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Full injury report for Friday’s Thunder vs. Raptors matchup

Full injury report for Friday’s Thunder vs. Raptors matchup.

The Oklahoma City Thunder begin a three-game road trip when they face the Toronto Raptors on Friday. It’ll be the final matchup between the squads as Toronto has lost eight in a row.

The Thunder remain fully healthy — an impressive feat considering how late in the season it is. Ousmane Dieng (G League assignment), Keyontae Johnson (G League two-way), Adam Flagler (G League two-way) and Olivier Sarr (G League two-way) are all out.

Meanwhile, the Raptors will be short-handed as several of their top players will be out of action. They hope to rack up losses for high lottery odds.

Scottie Barnes (hand fracture) is out. RJ Barrett (personal reasons) is out. Immanuel Quickley (personal reasons) is out. Jakob Poeltl (torn finger ligament) is out. Chris Boucher (partiel torn MCL) is out. D.J. Carton (ankle sprain) is out.

In their last outing, Chet Holmgren’s 35 points led the Thunder to a double-digit win over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday. The Raptors lost in a blowout to the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday thanks to Domantas Sabonis’ triple-double.

This will be the season’s second matchup between the Thunder and Raptors. OKC survived a thriller and won in double overtime against Toronto on Feb. 4.

Tip off from Toronto is set for 6 p.m. CT.

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NBA Rookie of the Month: Victor Wembanyama, Brandon Miller win for February

Victor Wembanyama and Brandon Miller for the second straight time were named the NBA Western and Eastern Conference Rookies of the Month.

San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama and Charlotte Hornets forward Brandon Miller for the second straight time have been named the NBA Western and Eastern Conference rookies of the month for February, respectively.

Wembanyama became the first Spurs rookie to win in consecutive months since Tim Duncan in March and April 1998. Wembanyama averaged 21.3 points, 10.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 3.9 blocks and two steals in 12 games. He led all rookies in scoring, rebounding, blocks and steals in the month.

Miller averaged 20.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.8 steals in 13 games. He became the sixth player in franchise history to win the award multiple times, and he was the first rookie this season to have back-to-back 30-point games in the month.

Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George, Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren and Houston Rockets guard Amen Thompson were also nominated for the award in the West. Toronto Raptors guard Gradey Dick, Miami Heat guard Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Detroit Pistons guard Ausar Thompson were nominated in the East.

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Report: Raptors sign OKC Blue’s Jahmi’us Ramsey to 10-day deal

Report: Raptors sign OKC Blue’s Jahmi’us Ramsey to 10-day deal.

The Toronto Raptors have signed OKC Blue guard Jahmi’us Ramsey to a 10-day deal, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania. The 22-year-old has averaged 20.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists in the G League this season.

Ramsey was drafted with the No. 43 pick of the second round in the 2020 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings, with whom he totaled 32 appearances in two seasons before being waived in February 2022. He’s spent the better part of the last three seasons with the Blue.

This season, he has thrived in a reserve role for the Blue. Head coach Kameron Woods has raved about him since his tenure started last season.

The Raptors (23-38) have been one of the worst teams in the league this season and officially began a rebuild following the departures of Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby.

Considering their situation, Ramsey will get a chance to play in the NBA again while earning additional money. It’s a massive opportunity for the slashing guard who’s put in the work to improve with OKC since his arrival.

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Rookie Wire Power Rankings: Victor Wembanyama remains No. 1 post-All-Star break

Rookie Wire took a look at the top first-year players over the last two weeks of the 2023-24 season.

The NBA enters the last two months of the regular-season schedule with teams positioning themselves for the playoffs entering .

The rookie class continues to impress nightly with players contributing at a high level on playoff contenders and other teams in the hunt. The group has been one of the most memorable in recent memory, headlined by Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren.

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They have established themselves as the top rookies and are the front-runners for Rookie of the Year as a result. The two 7-footers have dazzled seemingly every time they step onto the court and have had some strong performances.

To make sense of it all, we looked at the best recent performances of these first-year players and ranked them in the Rookie Wire Power Rankings. The rankings are not for Rookie of the Year purposes but to illustrate the best players week to week.

Raptors’ Darko Rajakovic on Gradey Dick: ‘He is getting more comfortable’

Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic believes rookie Gradey Dick continues to show on-court improvement on both ends of the court this season.

Toronto Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic believes rookie Gradey Dick continues to show on-court improvement on both ends of the court this season.

Dick spent much of his time over the first half of the season with the Raptors 905 in the G League. The team felt it was best that Dick continued to see consistent playing time with the 905 in an effort to get him up to speed to contribute nightly in the NBA.

The 13th pick has remained with the Raptors over the past month, resulting in consistent rotation minutes. Rajakovic sees him adjusting to the competition well of late.

Overall, he is getting more comfortable playing NBA minutes, going against NBA personnel. He is finding his spots on the court where he can score. Obviously, when he is on the court together with Kelly (Olynyk) in the second unit, the ball just finds him, so he is able to do a good job offensively there.

Defensively, it’s still a work in progress. There are good moments, there is good stuff there, but there is also recognition of the personnel and who’s on the court and how he needs to guard those (players), and there is no other way to learn those things but to go through experience and to get to know.

Dick is averaging 8.5 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists on 43.5% shooting from 3-point range in 17 games since returning to the rotation on Jan. 12. He has scored in double figures six times in that span, including a career-high 22 points on Feb. 5.

The organization was encouraged by how Dick performed in the G League. The staff also worked extensively with him in the weight room and on his conditioning to further prepare him for the increased workload at the next level.

Dick had the opportunity to further learn the Raptors’ system and adjust to different looks on both ends of the court with the 905. They like how he has handled himself and believe he has a bright future.

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