Matt Tierney – Raptors.com
Time: (5:00PM ET – TSN4, FAN590)
Toronto (12-8) will get a second shot at ending Golden State’s (20-0) undefeated run tonight. The Raptors took the Warriors right to the end but fell just short in a 115-110 loss on November 17th in Oakland. Since that game, the Warriors have reeled off an additional eight-straight wins heading into tonight’s game at Air Canada Centre.
WHO’S HOT?
Stephen Curry – 32 points, five rebounds, six assists…per game. Similar to LeBron, enough said.
DeMar DeRozan – DeRozan’s season-high 34 points Thursday night was not enough for the Raptors to secure a win over the Nuggets. In another game where Toronto struggled offensively early on, DeRozan was steady throughout, shooting a solid 54% from the floor. The Raps guard/forward also chipped in with five assists and five rebounds while not turning the ball over once.
CONSISTENCY IS KEY
“We’ve got to get to a level of play that we decide we are going to play at from the start of the game to the end of the game. We can’t wait until we get our teeth kicked in before we start to play.”
This was Dwane Casey’s frank assessment after the Raptors lost on Thursday to the Nuggets. Toronto once again got off to a slow start, trailing by as many as 17 points in addition to shooting just 19% from the field in the first quarter.
DeMar DeRozan, one of the few Raptors who stayed hot offensively, agreed with his coach that the team needs to stop putting pressure on themselves late in games.
“We have to understand that we have to put our stamp on the game early and control it the way we need to control it instead of fighting back,” said DeRozan.
Despite Thursday’s loss, the Raptors have managed to rally four times this season from double-digit deficits to win – Dec. 2 at Atlanta (-17), Nov. 28 at Washington (-10), Nov. 4 at Oklahoma City (-12) and Oct. 28 vs. Indiana (-16).
However both Dwane Casey and the players are fully aware that this isn’t sustainable, especially against tonight’s opponent, the undefeated Golden State Warriors.
