Raps face Hornets for their final matchup of the season, and their first without Scottie
The Toronto Raptors are in the midst of a home stand, hosting the Charlotte Hornets tonight. Both teams are 5-5 in their last ten games, having better records in February than to start the year. Charlotte currently holds a three game losing streak, and will have to sit out a number of players tonight due to injury. Mainstays Cody Martin and Mark Williams have been struggling to stay healthy for most of the season and their absence doesn’t help an already weak team. Toronto has dropped their last two games, both against visiting western conference teams, and now will have to adjust to the absence of Scottie Barnes from the lineup as he sustained a broken bone in his left hand on Friday.
In the last matchup, Toronto came away with a 6-point victory, relying on sharing the ball and group effort on offence. They had 7 players in double figures, an over 50% field goal percentage, and 30 assists. Charlotte relied heavily on contributions from Cody Martin (who won’t play tonight), Brandon Miller (may or may not play, depending on injury), and Miles Bridges, who had 45 points the last time out.
For this game, the ball is largely in the Raptors’ court, who have a deeper, more balanced team. Of course, there’s a few things the Raptors will have to focus on in order to be successful: Adjusting to the absence of Scottie, being aggressive on defence, and not playing down to their opponent.
This will be the start of an unusual period for the Raptors who aren’t used to playing without Scottie. He’s been healthy most of his career thus far, missing only a combined 13 games over his first three seasons. Of course, Toronto has the benefit of having a number of willing and effective passers, namely RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, so tonight will have the focus shifted onto them to see how they run the offence. They’ve been effective since joining the Raptors, both averaging career highs in assists, so hopefully they can get everyone else going tonight as well. Last time RJ had 23 points and IQ had 18, so we should expect similar contributions from them as far as finding their own shot tonight as well.
Toronto will also have to make sure they are engaged and aggressive on defence. Last time, Bridges was able to rack up 45 points, so they will have to ensure whoever matches up on him tonight is able to prevent a repeat performance. It’s likely that RJ will at least in part draw this matchup, and with his improved defence over the season, it will be nice to see what he’s able to do in terms of shutting Bridges down. At times, it’s also just easy baskets they’re giving up, or turning the ball over (9 in the last game). Hustling back on every play and contesting everything will be imperative to ensure the Hornets don’t come away with this one.
Of course, in the past, Toronto has a bad habit of playing down to their opponent. They have had significant victories against much more difficult teams this season, but whenever they play weaker teams, like the 15-45 Hornets, they play far worse, and have, on a number of occasions, given up an easy win. They’ll need to play their own brand of basketball tonight, with fluid ball movement on offence, and an engaged defence if they want to win.
How to Watch:
Sportsnet, at 6:00 pm ET
Likely Lineups:
Toronto: RJ Barrett, Gary Trent Jr., Jakob Poeltl, Bruce Brown, Immanuel Quickley
Charlotte: Tre Mann, Nick Richards, Miles Bridges, Grant Williams, Brandon Miller
Injuries:
Toronto: Scottie Barnes (Out; Left hand fracture), Markquis Nowell (Out; G-League Two Way)
Charlotte: LaMelo Ball (Out; Right ankle tendinopathy), Seth Curry (Out; Right ankle sprain), Cody Martin (Out; Left ankle sprain), Brandon Miller (Probable; Lower back contusion), Nick Smith Jr. (Out; G-League on-assignment), Mark Williams (Out; Lower back injury recovery)