Raptors-Spurs Preview

By JEFF BARTL
Posted Dec 25 2012 12:52PM

The Toronto Raptors were mostly healthy when they nearly knocked off the San Antonio Spurs last month.

They've been even better lately while playing short-handed.

With Andrea Bargnani and Kyle Lowry already on the shelf, Toronto will be without starting center Jonas Valanciunas on Wednesday night when it looks to win a sixth straight game and hand the Spurs their first home loss of December.

Amid their awful start to the season, the Raptors gave the Spurs all they could handle in a 111-106 double-overtime loss Nov. 25 with Bargnani, Lowry and Valanciunas all in the lineup.

While Bargnani (elbow) and Lowry (triceps) have missed the past six games and are unlikely to return Wednesday, Valanciunas is expected to miss some time after breaking his right finger in Friday's 93-90 win over Orlando. He's started every game at center despite being a 20-year-old rookie, averaging 7.8 points and 5.3 rebounds.

"Very unfortunate," coach Dwane Casey said. "He's growing every time he walks on the floor."

Valanciunas scored a career-high 22 points versus the Spurs, including 11 after the third quarter.

Bargnani's awful performance that day played a role in Toronto losing, scoring four points on 2-of-19 shooting. He appeared to be causing problems off the court Dec. 14 when he told an Italian newspaper the Raptors were "pretty much the worst team in the NBA."

However, that very night, Toronto (9-19) began its current five-game winning streak with a 21-point win over Dallas.

Rookie Terrence Ross had 18 points in that game and scored 13 off the bench Friday, including a couple of highlight-reel dunks.

"He's playing well," Casey said of Ross, drafted No. 8 overall. "He's earning every second he's on the floor, mainly on the defensive end."

Jose Calderon added 13 points and nine assists Friday as he continues to play well in place of Lowry. He's averaged 14.2 points and 10.7 assists over the past six games.

While Calderon is starting for Lowry and Ed Davis for Bargnani, Aaron Gray will likely make his first start of the season to replace Valanciunas.

The Raptors are looking to win six in a row for the first time since March 22-April 4, 2009.

They've dropped four straight in this series and nine of 10 in San Antonio, which is coming off one of its best performances of the season.

The Spurs (21-8) led by as many as 46 points and hit a franchise-record 20 3-pointers in Sunday's 129-91 win over Dallas.

Danny Green went 7 of 8 from long range and scored a career-high 25 points. He totaled 17 points over his previous three games while going 3 for 17 on 3-point attempts.

"Some nights you have it and some nights you don't," Green said. "Good thing we had it (Sunday) - not just myself, but everybody else on the team.

The Spurs also were solid defensively, forcing 20 turnovers and finishing with a season-best 17 steals.

"We don't create that many turnovers normally," coach Gregg Popovich said. "So that's a heck of a night for us as far as steals are concerned. That's not going to happen very often."

Toronto has committed an average of just 9.2 turnovers during its win streak.

Tony Parker added 18 points Sunday and is averaging 22.3 at home this month as the Spurs have gone 6-0. They lost two of their final three home games in November.

Parker is averaging 24.0 points in his last seven versus the Raptors, including 32 last month.

Toronto leading scorer DeMar DeRozan had 29 points in that meeting and has averaged 27.8 in his last four games versus San Antonio.

Spurs snap Raptors' 5-game winning streak

Posted Dec 27 2012 12:37AM

SAN ANTONIO (AP) The Toronto Raptors could only nod their heads in admiration as their five-game winning streak came to an abrupt end Wednesday night against the San Antonio Spurs.

Tim Duncan scored 15 points and San Antonio rolled to a 100-80 victory over Toronto, snapping the Raptors' longest winning streak in three years.

Manu Ginobili added 14 points, Tony Parker had 13, and Tiago Splitter and Stephen Jackson each had 10 for San Antonio, which has won three straight. Kawhi Leonard had nine points and 10 rebounds.

"I've been on that other side; I know what the composure is - experience," Toronto coach Dwane Casey said. "This team has been together forever. You got Hall of Famer(s) in Ginobili, and Duncan and Parker and it's a huge difference. We're trying to learn to keep that composure through those stretches and do the right things; make the right plays offensively and defensively."

The Raptors had difficulty accomplishing those tasks from the start.

San Antonio's starters averaged just 24 minutes, but still managed to outscore their counterparts 54-25.

None of Toronto's starters scored in double figures. Starting guards DeMar DeRozan and Jose Calderon were each 3 for 9 from the field in scoring eight and seven points, respectively.

Alan Anderson and Amir Johnson each had 12 points for Toronto.

Duncan had six rebounds and was 6 for 11 from the field in only 27 minutes as San Antonio's balanced attack wore down Toronto.

Every active Spur scored and eight had at least eight points.

"It took us a while to get going," Duncan said. "We're going to have times like that, have nights like that. You can attribute it to whatever you want to attribute it to. Bottom line is we got it turned around and going the way we wanted it to go in the second half."

San Antonio closed the third quarter on a 13-4 run to wrest control of the game after Johnson's 17-foot jumper pulled the Raptors within 57-54 with 4:24 left in the period.

San Antonio outworked Toronto during the run, including two offensive rebounds on the same play that led to a double-digit lead.

Parker missed a floater and Leonard followed his own 3-point miss with a one-handed dunk to give San Antonio a 63-53 lead with 2:38 left in the third quarter.

"They got a couple of offensive rebounds, we made a couple of turnovers and they made a couple of 3s," Calderon said. "They took it to 10 or 11 points and we couldn't get back in (the game). They played a little bit better down the stretch and that was it."

Leonard matched his season-high in rebounds and had two assists and three steals.

"Huge, huge for us," Ginobili said of Leonard. "With his length and ability to read situations, he can get a lot of deflections and steals that give you a good lift in some parts of the game."

The Raptors kept the game close early despite some poor shooting.

San Antonio shot 58 percent in the first quarter compared to 38 percent for Toronto, but the Raptors trailed only 20-18 by taking nine more field goal attempts.

Terrence Ross' 19-foot jumper gave Toronto its first lead of the game at 29-27 with 7 minutes left in the first half.

NOTES: Raptors F Andrea Bargnani (elbow), G Kyle Lowry (triceps) and C Jonas Valanciunas (finger) all missed the game with injuries. ... Every Spur has missed at least two games this season with the exception of Splitter and Boris Diaw, who have played in every game, and Duncan, who has missed one. ... Toronto traded Matt Bonner to San Antonio for Rasho Nesterovic on June 21, 2006, in a move that has clearly ended in the Spurs' favor. Nesterovic averaged 6.3 points and 4.1 rebounds in 193 games over three seasons with the Raptors. Bonner is in his seventh season with the Spurs, averaging 6.4 points and 3.4 rebounds during his time with the team. ... Members of the Texas and Oregon State football teams were in attendance. The teams will play Saturday in the Valero Alamo Bowl at the Alamodome, the former home of the Spurs.

Notebook: Spurs 100, Raptors 80

Tim Price, For NBA.com
Posted Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:14 AM - Updated Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:14 AM

THE FACTS: Tim Duncan scored 15 points in 27 minutes and Manu Ginobili came off the bench for 14 points as the Spurs defeated Toronto 100-80 and snapped the Raptors' five-game winning streak Wednesday night at AT&T Center.

The story for San Antonio (22-8) was defense. The Spurs recorded their best defensive half this season when they were ahead 44-37 over the Raptors at halftime after limiting Dallas to 39 points in the second half of their previous game on Sunday.

The Raptors (9-20) were playing without starters Andrea Bargnani (right elbow and wrist ligament tears), Kyle Lowry (right triceps partial tear) and Jonas Valanciunas (right ring finger fracture). Valanciunas was injured Friday and is expected to miss at least four weeks.

None of the Toronto starters hit double figures. Alan Anderson and Amir Johnson both came off the bench to score 12 points apiece.

QUOTABLE: "I don't think there's a secret or something that [coach Gregg Popovich] talked about. We just came out more aggressive [in the second half] and realized we didn't play well the first half. We were a little flat and we needed to pick it up, play a little faster."

-- Manu Ginobili

THE STAT: The teams were almost deadlocked in shooting from the floor (San Antonio hit 34 shots to Toronto's 33 and led Toronto 8-7 in 3-pointers made), but San Antonio outscored Toronto 24-7 from the free-throw line. The previous season low in foul shots for the Raptors was a 9-for-12 night in late November at Houston.

TURNING POINT: The Raptors trailed by only four with four minutes left in the third quarter after Johnson hit a mid-range jumper. But the Raptors weren't able to get anyone other than Johnson involved in the offense, as they took only two more shots the next three and a half minutes -- both from Johnson -- and the Spurs went on a 13-2 run to go up by 15.

QUOTABLE II: "[DeMar DeRozan] didn't score much. You never know. Maybe he just had one of those nights where he wasn't feeling it, but it's better than the 25 he usually scores on us. We're thrilled with that."

-- Greg Popovich

HOT: Johnson came into the game hitting 15-for-23 from the floor in his last four games for Toronto. He started 6-for-6 tonight before missing his final two.

NOT: The Toronto starting backcourt of Jose Calderon and DeRozan went 6-for-18 compared to 7-for-14 for San Antonio's Tony Parker and Danny Green.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Kawhi Leonard missed a double-double for San Antonio by scoring nine and grabbing 10 rebounds (11 is his career high). He's scored in double figures in two of his three games since returning from an 18-game absence due to a tendonitis injury.

INSIDE THE ARENA: Members of both the Oregon State and Texas football teams had upper-deck seats as both squads are in town for the Alamo Bowl, which will be played Saturday night at the Alamodome.

GOOD MOVE: DeRozan almost helped defeat the Spurs in the first game between the two teams this season by scoring 29 points. Leonard, who missed that game, saw a lot of DeRozan in this one and limited him to eight points off 3-for-9 shooting.

BAD MOVE: Raptors coach Dwane Casey thought about starting Johnson in Valanciunas' place but went with Aaron Gray instead. The Raptors lacked any offensive punch from the start with Johnson sitting, and the Spurs started heading to the free-throw line right off the bat when Gray picked up three fouls in the first seven and a half minutes.

ROOKIE WATCH: Terrence Ross hit three of his first four shots for Toronto and finished 5-for-10 with 11 points in 26 minutes.

NOTABLE: Landry Fields (two points, two rebounds and two turnovers in 18 ½ minutes) saw his first action for Toronto since surgery on the ulnar nerve in his right hand and wrist sidelined him from the active list for 20 games starting Nov. 10. ... With Valanciunas out, Gray got his first start of the season and saw his first action after sitting the past five games.

UP NEXT: For the Raptors, Friday @ New Orleans, Saturday @ Orlando, Wednesday vs. Portland. For the Spurs, Friday vs. Houston, Sunday @ Dallas, Monday vs. Brooklyn.

• Raptors: Bargnani, Lowry, Valanciunas
• Spurs: Joseph

• Raptors: Kleiza
• Spurs: --

• Lead Changes: 4
• Times Tied: 4

• Arena: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
• Officials: #10 Ron Garretson, #11 Derrick Collins, #63 Derek Richardson
• Attendance: 18581
• Duration: 2:04