The Portland Trail Blazers take on the Toronto Raptors on the road to kick off a five-game long road trip. With losses in back-to-back games against the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder, the Blazers are looking to bounce back with a win.
However, the Raptors have been one of the surprise teams in the NBA this season. Despite being on a two-game losing streak against the Charlotte Hornets and New York Knicks, Toronto sits fourth in the Eastern Conference after losing fourth on the season. This success largely comes from the duo of Brandon Ingram and Scottie Barnes. The two have averaged 21.5 and 19.9 points per game, respectively, so far this season and have led a well-balanced Raptors team.
Portland Trail Blazers (8-12) vs. Toronto Raptors (14-7) – Tuesday. December 2 – 4:30 p.m. Pacific
How to watch via antenna or cable: Check out your options on the Rip City TV Network.
How to stream: BlazerVision in Oregon and Washington; League Pass everywhere else
How to listen: Rip City Radio 620AM
Trail Blazers Injuries: Scoot Henderson, Damian Lillard, Matisse Thybulle, Blake Wesley, Jrue Holiday (outgoing); Donovan Clingan (questionable).
Raptor injuries: RJ Barrett (outgoing).
Misfortunes in three points. At some point, Portland has to start making threes, right? Statistically, there should be some regression toward the mean. A bad three-point shooting team can be expected to get hot for a while and raise its average closer to the league average. However, this law of statistics has not held true for the Blazers so far this season. They sit 28th in three-point percentage at just 32.3 percent from deep.
The difference between Portland and their mediocre-shooting peers, the Dallas Mavericks and Indiana Pacers — who are second and worst, respectively — is volume. The Mavericks and Pacers are in the bottom half of the league with three point attempts per game. Conversely, the Blazers are 4th with 42.4 deep shots per game.
As the saying goes, live in threes, die in threes. And so far this season, Portland is shooting themselves out of games far more often than they are winning games with their three.
Guard game. With a plethora of injuries in the backcourt, the Blazers found themselves heavily reliant on Deni Avdija to help fill that gap. Avdija has played incredibly well in this role so far, including two triple-doubles in the last six games. If he can continue to excel in the de facto point guard role, Portland could have enough firepower to take down a strong Raptors team.
Alongside Avdija is Shaedon Sharpe, who has struggled in his last two outings while returning from a calf injury. He’s only averaged 9.0 points and 21.0 minutes in the last two games against the Spurs and Thunder. His return to form alongside Avdija would make Portland’s offense look much more dynamic and relieve Deni of the pressure on him to carry the weight of the scoring load.
Fanside’s Julian Fadullon talked about the unique way Toronto is finding success despite not having a true star.
And their success also appears to be lasting. Toronto not only has the third-most wins in the NBA, but also the fourth-best point differential and assists per game average in the league. Their effectiveness as a team continues, as the Raptors also boast a top-10 offensive rating while taking the fourth-most threes in the NBA. They are in the top 10 in terms of offense and defense. Only the Celtics took better care of the ball relative to assists. The statistics speak for themselves.
And yet, not a single Toronto player has become a centerpiece, at least on offense.
Brandon Ingram is the team’s leading scorer (21.8 PPG), but he is one of the team’s top 10 leaders in points per game averaging less than 22 per game. He is also the only scorer must average less than 25 points per game for any top-five seed.
On the other side of the coin, Frank Zicarelli of the Toronto Sun explains how the absence of a true star can hurt the Raptors, as their losses to the Knicks and Hornets showed.
Barnes has shown flashes, but he needs to demand the ball and impose his will in games even more than he has this season.
Ingram is a bucket-getter, plain and simple. When his shot doesn’t fall, as it did in the fourth quarter and overtime in Charlotte and New York where he missed his first five attempts, his impact on games is minimal due to his questionable defense.
