Game notes:
- The only positive from this game for the Raptors was the play of Jonas Valanciunas. He absolutely dominated Pau Gasol to start the game, running circles around the 35-year-old Spaniard on the block while hounding the offensive glass. I love that the Raptors’ guards recognized this advantage and reposted him on resets to pressure that matchup.
- Chicago eventually found the counter to that, which was just simple pick-and-roll with Gasol at the elbow. Valanciunas kept biting to take away the midrange shot, and eventually all it took was one pump fake, then drive, before Gasol would dump off to the other big after the help came. That pretty much chained Valanciunas to the bench the rest of the way.
- Who the hell is Cristiano Felicio and why did he become 2013 Roy Hibbert on defense? No Raptors guards could drive on this guy. Soft hands on the roll, too.
- A horrible throwback (not in a good way) game for DeMar DeRozan. This was last season’s DeRozan that didn’t drive, settled for way too many awkward long-twos, was questionable on defense, and hardly ever looked to create.
- Luis Scola and James Johnson hurt my soul. An upgrade on the margins at the deadline could have helped.
- The Bulls guarded Cory Joseph with Doug McDermott and got away with it. McDermott played off him like he was Rajon Rondo, Joseph was hesitant to shoot (missed both his jumpers), and it completely bogged down most of the Raptors’ sets, especially those quick reversals on the perimeter where Joseph moves the defense before swinging to Lowry to drive against a scrambling defense.
- What the hell TJ Ross? Where were you? He was absolutely miserable. Throwback game for him too. When he’s not on, the Raptors have very, very little outside shooting,
- Credit to the Bulls for fighting through some understandable early malaise to not only launch a comeback, but to completely blow the Raptors out of the water in the second half. They had half a team on the second night of a back-to-back against a good team and they never threw in the towel.
- McDermott kept backcutting the Raptors no matter who they put on him. Lowry, Joseph, DeRozan, Ross. Everyone got burned. Giving up 30 to him is inexcusable.
- Chicago shot 46% from midrange, 58% from non-RA paint area. They average 39.4% and 38.5% on the season.
Getting Benched 
Big fan will always a pleasure reading your articles. I truly believe getting keef was the right move…only reason he played like crap was because he was sabotaging the team after it happened and so they won’t get back much for him out of spite…trust me you would do the same if you were in his shoes and they did that to your blood and best friend. The media also over embellishes and fabricate all kinds of bs to make keef look and sound bad…as long as they say allegedly fans will believe anything. Watch how fast now keef goes back to his old ways and starts kicking ass….I predict wizards make it to 8th spot and Chicago at 7th Detroit and Charlotte will be in there and now I’m starting to think a first round exit might be likely again. ….Patterson might play D but honestly screw him he’s a 1 trick pony that can’t even do his trick consistently….ever see pat go for 30? Me neither lol keef was a big upgrade and for cheap….oh well looks like this is gonna be Caseys final year hopefully we can get some talent in the off season…sorry for the run on sentences cheers.
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