Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving, left, tries to drive past Toronto Raptors forward Jonas Valanciunas, centre, and Amir Johnson, right, during first half NBA basketball action in Toronto on Friday, December 5, 2014.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
In the team's first practice since being soundly defeated by the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Toronto Raptors spent the entire session focused on one thing: fixing their defence.
The players didn't spend a minute practising on the offensive side of the ball Sunday when they returned to the hardwood after a day off following Friday night's 105-91 loss to the Cavs. Despite having a 15-5 record and sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference, along with one of the highest-scoring offences in the NBA, the Raptors know they aren't playing the kind of defence needed to beat the NBA's finest.
Head coach Dwane Casey preaches defence above all else, but his team currently sits 17th in the league in defensive efficiency, allowing opponents 104 points per 100 possessions on the season. In the past five games – three of them losses – they have allowed 115 points per 100 possessions.
"It's not about effort, it's about attention to detail, guys in a defensive scheme knowing what they're supposed to do," Casey said. "Trapping, we need five guys engaged, locked into doing their job on that scheme. If one guy isn't doing his job, the whole scheme breaks down. Those are the things we're not doing now that we were doing in the first 10 games."
With the heavy travel of last week's West Coast road swing, Sunday's practice was the first full session the team has had together at home since DeMar DeRozan suffered a severe tear in his groin versus the Dallas Mavericks on Nov. 28, sidelining him for an undetermined amount of time. The star guard was there with the team Sunday, rehabbing under the watchful eye of director of sports science Alex McKechnie.
"It felt good to get practice and some competition against our own guys again; since that was a downfall a bit, we didn't get to go at each other as much as we used to when the season first started," said James Johnson. "It was very intense, getting back to our competition, getting back to trusting each other on the help side and where we're supposed to be, talking a lot more – really getting back to the basics."
A couple of weeks ago, the team had been focused on improving its rebounding, and while they have shored up there – particularly with Jonas Valanciunas stepping up on the defensive boards – a leak sprung elsewhere. The team's pick-and-roll defence regressed.
On Friday night, as the team tried to find an answer to Cleveland superstar LeBron James, they kept throwing different pick-and-roll looks at the Cavs, and admittedly, were not happy with the execution of their defensive schemes. James rolled for 24 points, while Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love both had for double-doubles.
"We didn't execute it well enough before we moved to the next one," Casey said. "We have to execute the scheme properly so we know whether it's working."
The Raptors meet the Denver Nuggets at the Air Canada Centre on Monday. The Raps also face the Cavs, Pacers and Knicks this week.
Rachel Brady