Defensive Slide?

[BallaBalla]

From the point that Rudy Gay was shipped to Sacramento, the Toronto Raptors have made their mark on the NBA winning over 66% of their games. Over that stretch, they were one of only a few teams to have a top 10 offense and defense. It appeared that Casey's tough minded approach to defense was finally paying dividends.

Recently, much has been made about the Raptors having a significant decline on the defensive side of the ball. The last few weeks it has been evident as Toronto has failed to get key stops and allow their opponent to get back into the game.

John Schuhmann posted the below stats on Twitter today:

Games played between playoff teams since the All-Star break: pic.twitter.com/TpfAPXZgwg

— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) April 15, 2014

It seems as if the Raptors are merely playing to the level of their competition. Despite having just a 6-6 record since the all-star break against other playoff teams, the Raptors still rank 3rd in Defensive Rating over the same sample size.

Meaning that since the All-Star break, against other playoff teams the Raptors defense has still been a significant strength. 3rd in defensive rating, 6th in offensive rating, and 4th in overall net rating against other playoff teams since the all-star break. This was accomplished while missing key players (DeMar, Lowry, Patterson, Amir, etc.) for varying stretches of time.

Hopefully, these numbers are legitimate and not just an aberration when compared to what we have seen in games against teams like Detroit and Milwaukee.

Awesome post

For anyone whose worried about the raps in the playoffs, just remember that there's more evidence that the this team will rise to the occasion than the opposite

[Shantz]

From the point that Rudy Gay was shipped to Sacramento, the Toronto Raptors have made their mark on the NBA winning over 66% of their games. Over that stretch, they were one of only a few teams to have a top 10 offense and defense. It appeared that Casey's tough minded approach to defense was finally paying dividends.

Recently, much has been made about the Raptors having a significant decline on the defensive side of the ball. The last few weeks it has been evident as Toronto has failed to get key stops and allow their opponent to get back into the game.

John Schuhmann posted the below stats on Twitter today:

Games played between playoff teams since the All-Star break: pic.twitter.com/TpfAPXZgwg

— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) April 15, 2014

It seems as if the Raptors are merely playing to the level of their competition. Despite having just a 6-6 record since the all-star break against other playoff teams, the Raptors still rank 3rd in Defensive Rating over the same sample size.

Meaning that since the All-Star break, against other playoff teams the Raptors defense has still been a significant strength. 3rd in defensive rating, 6th in offensive rating, and 4th in overall net rating against other playoff teams since the all-star break. This was accomplished while missing key players (DeMar, Lowry, Patterson, Amir, etc.) for varying stretches of time.

Hopefully, these numbers are legitimate and not just an aberration when compared to what we have seen in games against teams like Detroit and Milwaukee.