The Portland Trail Blazers face the Toronto Raptors to begin a long five-game road trip. Coming off two consecutive game losses to 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 losing two consecutive games to the Charlotte Hornets and New York Knicks, Toronto is in fourth place in the Eastern Conference heading into the season. This success has largely come from the pairing of Brandon Ingram and Scotty Barnes. The duo have averaged 21.5 and 19.9 points per game so far this season and lead a well-rounded Raptors team.
Portland Trail Blazers (8-12) at Toronto Raptors (14-7) – Tuesday. December 2nd – 4:30pm Pacific
How to watch via antenna or cable: Check out your options at Rip City Television Network.
How to watch via streaming: BlazerVision in Oregon and Washington; League Pass everywhere else
How to listen: Rip City Radio 620AM
Trail Blazers Injuries: Scooter Henderson, Damian Lillard, Matisse Thybulle, Blake Wesley, Jrue Holiday (out); Donovan Klingon (doubtful).
Raptor Injuries: RJ Barrett (out).
Three-point crisis. At some point, Portland is going to have to start making threes, right? Statistically, there should be some regression to the mean. A poor three-point shooting team can be expected to continue to improve and get its average closer to the league average. However, that rule of statistics has not held true for the Blazers so far this season. They rank 28th in three-point percentage at just 32.3% from deep.
The difference between Portland and their poor shooting peers, the Dallas Mavericks and Indiana Pacers — who are second-worst and worst, respectively — is volume. The Mavericks and Pacers both rank near the bottom of the league in three-point attempts per game. Conversely, the Blazers rank fourth with 42.4 shots from deep per game.
As the saying goes, live by three, die by three. And so far this season, Portland is finding itself out of games with three of its players more often than it is winning games.
Guard play. With a plethora of injuries in the backcourt, the Blazers have found themselves relying heavily on Deni Avdija to help fill that gap. So far, Avdija has performed incredibly well in that role, including posting a pair of triple-doubles over the last six games. If he can continue to excel in the true point guard role, Portland may have enough firepower to overcome a strong Raptors squad.
Next to Avdija is Sheddon Sharp, who has struggled in his last two contests as he returns from a calf injury. He averaged just 9.0 points and 21.0 minutes in the last two games against the Spurs and Thunder. His return to form next to Avdija would provide a more dynamic look to Portland’s attack and take some of the pressure off Deeney to bear the brunt of the scoring load.
FanSided’s Julian Fadulan talked about the unique way Toronto is finding success despite not having a true star.
And their success has also appeared to be durable. Toronto not only owns the third-most wins in the NBA, but also has the league’s fourth-best point differential and average assists per game. Their sheer efficiency as a team continues, as the Raptors also boast a top 10 scoring attack while making the fourth fewest threes in the NBA. They are in the top 10 in both offensive and defensive rating. Only the Celtics have taken better care of the ball relative to assists. The statistics speak for themselves.
And yet, not a single player has emerged as a focal point in Toronto, at least on offense.
Brandon Ingram is the team’s leading scorer (21.8 ppg), but is one of only 10 team points-per-game leaders averaging less than 22 per game. he is also Only Any top-five seed must have a scorer averaging less than 25 points per game.
On the other side of the coin, Frank Ziccarelli of the Toronto Sun talks about how the lack of a true star could hurt the Raptors, as was shown in their losses against the Knicks and Hornets.
Barnes has shown flashes, but he will have to demand the ball and impose his will on games even more than he has this season.
Ingram is a bucket-getter, plain and simple. When his shot isn’t falling, as was the case in the fourth quarter and in OT in Charlotte and in New York where he missed his first five attempts, his impact on games is minimal due to his questionable defense.
<a href=