Gameday: Raptors @ Pacers: Jan. 24
*Spider-Man meme intensifies*.
A true ‘battle of the buddies’ as Nick Nurse and Nate Bjorkgren get ready for this one. I would call it a ‘meeting of the minds’ but these minds have been meeting for what? 14 years. So much so, that some of the Pacers best writers have been uncovering the Raptors sets in every game that the Pacers play. Defensive principles have migrated, pet plays have been run through Domantas Sabonis that were previously run through Siakam, and the ‘Indiana Raptors’ have found success doing it.
The good news? The Raptors have been trending upward for sometime now, and while we don’t know how high that goes (certainly lower than recent seasons) they’ve been significantly better. The Raptors have crept up to 11th in net rating, and a couple games of stout defense against short-handed teams has moved them into the top-10 defensively. A mixed bag, yes, but a mixed bag is better than a flaming bag of poop when you’re about to face off against an extremely impressive Pacers squad.
I’m interested to see how the free-throw battle shakes out in this one. The Pacers are one of the few teams in the NBA with a worse free-throw-rate than the Raptors, but the Raptors happen to send teams to the line a lot. Kind of like last years version of ‘teams are gonna shoot way more threes than they usually do’ only this year they’re being paraded to the free throw line. We’ll see.
Also, the Raptors have a chance to grab a win against a team that is objectively good, and isn’t ravaged by injuries like the Mavericks or Heat were. I know, I know, TJ Warren and Caris LeVert are still out, but it’s not quite at the level that the Heat or Mavericks were enduring. Still crazy to think that being traded might have saved LeVert’s life.
If you’re pretty good at recognizing play-type’s, a fun drinking game would be to knock one back every time you see any overlap between these two teams. Although, you could get absolutely smacked out of your mind doing it… so, maybe not. I don’t want anyone sent to the Hospital while yelling: “I wanna talk to Samson!”
Regardless, this is shaping up to be a super fun matchup. Kyle Lowry is still questionable to play (foot injury), but if he does we’ll get to see a matchup between two of the smartest guards in the league – Malcolm Brogdon is brilliant on and off the court. If Siakam or Sabonis draw the other as a cover they should be able to sniff out some of the minutiae of the other players actions and blow it up. The Holiday brothers play very fun basketball, and Myles Turner and Chris Boucher are two of the NBA’s best shot-blockers so far this year. OG Anunoby has also been extremely good of late. There’s just so much going on! And, it’s a matinee game!
The Raptors are going to have to beat a couple good teams for these swings in net rating to mean anything.
Game Info
Tipoff: 1pm EST | TV: Sportsnet | Radio: TheFan590
Raptors Lineups
Kyle Lowry (foot injury) is questionable, Patrick McCaw (knee) is out.
PG: Kyle Lowry, Malachi Flynn
SG: Fred VanVleet, Norman Powell, Terence Davis, Matt Thomas, Jalen Harris
SF: OG Anunoby, Stanley Johnson, DeAndre Bembry, Paul Watson
PF: Pascal Siakam, Yuta Watanabe
C: Aron Baynes, Chris Boucher
Pacers Lineups
TJ Warren (foot) and Caris LeVert (kidney) are out. JaKarr Sampson (illness, not COVID related) is questionable.
PG: Malcolm Brogdon, TJ McConnell, Aaron Holiday, Jalen Lecque
SG: Justin Holiday, Jeremy Lamb, Edmond Sumner, Cassius Stanley
SF: Doug McDermott, Edmond Sumner, Brian Bowen II, Kelan Martin
PF: Domantas Sabonis
C: Myles Turner, Goga Bitadze
Have a blessed day.
Gameday: Raptors @ Pacers: Jan. 24 originated on Raptors Republic.