October 29 - November 4:
ESPN (2) [-]:
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...s-ahead-week-4
NBA.com (4) [-3]:
http://www.nba.com/powerrankings/201...=powerrankings
CBS Sports (2) [-]:
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/powerrankings/
SI (2) [-1]:
https://www.si.com/nba/2018/11/05/nb...damian-lillard
ESPN (2) [-]:
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...s-ahead-week-4
Kawhi Leonard has yet to play in back-to-back games this season, as the Raptors are determined to exercise caution with their prized offseason acquisition. Toronto is now 2-1 without Leonard, including a shellacking of the Lakers at Staples Center on Sunday night ahead of Monday's matchup at Utah. If the dominant Raptors are looking for some self-improvement, they can start on the defensive glass, where they're currently a bottom-five team. -- Arnovitz
NBA.com (4) [-3]:
http://www.nba.com/powerrankings/201...=powerrankings
The Raptors lost the game between the league's last two unbeaten teams and then lost Kawhi Leonard to a foot injury. (Hopefully, team and player remain on the same page in regard to that.) But they handled the Sixers in their first meeting on Tuesday and are 2-0 on their four-game trip, having blasted the Lakers out of the gates (they led 41-10 with a little more than two minutes to go in the first quarter) on Sunday. Kyle Lowry leads the league in assists (11.6 per game) by a wide margin and he's had almost twice as many assists to Serge Ibaka (34) as he's to any other teammate (next is 18 to Pascal Siakam). Ibaka had a rough 2018 postseason, but appears much more comfortable as a full-time center (he's played less than a minute with Jonas Valanciunas), shooting 57 percent after a 15-for-17 performance in L.A. He has shot 78 percent in the restricted area, where 38 percent of his shots have come from. That latter rate isn't a career-high, but it's up from just 18 percent over the previous two seasons.
CBS Sports (2) [-]:
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/powerrankings/
The Raptors have been extra cautious with Kawhi Leonard. He sat out Sunday night against the Lakers with a sore left foot, meaning he has sat for three of his first 10 games as a Raptor. It didn't matter; the Raptors blew out the Lakers on the Lakers' home court. The Raptors' starting unit has been absolutely dynamite all season long.
SI (2) [-1]:
https://www.si.com/nba/2018/11/05/nb...damian-lillard
With or without Kawhi Leonard this team is good. With Kawhi they are the second-best team in the NBA right now. Without him, they can still go on the road and run the Lakers out of Staples Center through three quarters.
We got cheated out of seeing Kawhi vs. Giannis on Monday, but watching the two-time Defensive Player of the Year turn Ben Simmons into a walking turnover machine was a decent substitute. The more and more Leonard gets to leave his imprint on this unit, the scarier Toronto gets on that end. As teammates learn how to better work off the guy who can create steals with his back turned, forcing turnovers and closing possessions will be even easier.
On the other end of the court, Kyle Lowry has his hands on everything and is setting the tempo. His league-high 11.6 assists per game are about four more than his career-high, and with the way this offense is scoring and how effortless it is for them to jump into transition makes it seem possible he will finish with double-digit helpers.
Nick Nurse will likely need to lighten up Danny Green’s minutes as the season goes on, but the time being, his floor spacing and experience are major bonuses.
We got cheated out of seeing Kawhi vs. Giannis on Monday, but watching the two-time Defensive Player of the Year turn Ben Simmons into a walking turnover machine was a decent substitute. The more and more Leonard gets to leave his imprint on this unit, the scarier Toronto gets on that end. As teammates learn how to better work off the guy who can create steals with his back turned, forcing turnovers and closing possessions will be even easier.
On the other end of the court, Kyle Lowry has his hands on everything and is setting the tempo. His league-high 11.6 assists per game are about four more than his career-high, and with the way this offense is scoring and how effortless it is for them to jump into transition makes it seem possible he will finish with double-digit helpers.
Nick Nurse will likely need to lighten up Danny Green’s minutes as the season goes on, but the time being, his floor spacing and experience are major bonuses.
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