"The Raptors did their homework. They were redirecting the Magic away from their pet actions. Rebuffing each attempt at piercing the lane. Intention, intelligence, intensity. Controllable things. Things they often control. It's fuelled their run to a top 8 defense, despite many people observing that they probably don't grade out that high in terms of defensive talent. If a guy loses the thread at the point of attack? A teammate will plug the hole. If the ball moves on after that? Another hole to plug."
"(At this point in the season the Raptors are 9th in how often they stunt on defense, 2nd in trap frequency, and 4th in loading up.) So, the Raptors held well against the Magic early on. Despite helping the Magic offense a fair bit with some clunky turnovers, when the Raptors got to set their halfcourt defense? Sublime results. They do this as a vastly undersized defense, but a hyper mobile one. Led, largely by Scottie Barnes' DPOY level performances."
"The problem the Raptors had to solve on the other end was the Magic trying to do the same to them, but as a rather large team. About 16 minutes into the game, the Raptors and Wendell Carter Jr. had the same amount of made triples. Despite what I thought was one of the better halves of driving the basketball Brandon Ingram has had as a Raptor, the team struggled to navigate the paint as a whole in addition to a serious drought from downtown."
Raptors redirected the Magic away from preferred actions, rebuffing lane penetration with intention, intelligence, and intensity. That discipline has fueled a run to a top-eight defense despite limited defensive size and perceived lack of elite individual defenders. Team help defense, stunting, traps, and loading up secure stops when an initial defender is beaten. Mobility and connection allow teammates to plug successive gaps. Offensively, the Magic's size created paint-navigation problems and a deep shooting drought. The Raptors lack a reliable spot-up shooting identity, so they generate scoring through aggressive ball pressure, cuts, offensive rebounding, and transition opportunities.
Read at Raptors Republic
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