The Raptors have had their current six-game road trip circled on the schedule for some time. The tough west coast swing includes contests against a number of the league's elite teams and should be a solid test. Although Toronto fell to Chicago 129-120 to kick off the trip, Kyle Lowry remains confident in his squad.
"I think we're very good,” Lowry said following the loss in Chicago. “I think we've very talented. I think we've got a chance to be very special."
That positive mindset -- and a renewed attention to defence -- will be critical as the team heads west. The Raptors will face three top-10 offences (the Los Angeles Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers and Golden State Warriors) over the next 11 days, and they will do it without All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan.
Lowry, Toronto's floor leader, has been brilliant in DeRozan’s absence, averaging 21.8 points and nine assists per game since his backcourt mate went down with a torn adductor tendon in his groin. Lowry poured in 34 points against the Bulls, with 18 coming in the fourth quarter. That wasn’t enough to get Toronto a victory, as Derrick Rose also came alive in the final frame. Rose scored 15 of his 29 points in the fourth and connected on all six of his field goal attempts. The 2011 MVP wasn't the only Bulls player to heat up down the stretch against a Raptors team playing their second game in as many nights. Leading 83-80 after three quarters in Chicago, Toronto allowed the Bulls to rack up 49 fourth-quarter points. That number marked a franchise-record for most points allowed in a quarter.
“We were due for a stinker,” head coach Dwane Casey said. “We had one tonight, offensively in stretches, and definitely defensively.”
The loss snapped the Raptors' six-game winning streak, but Toronto (22-7) still finds itself atop the Eastern Conference standings as it enters a four-day holiday break. The Raptors will get Christmas Eve and Christmas off before picking up on Dec. 27 against the Clippers.
“It’s going to be a great challenge for us,” Lowry said. “I think we look forward to [the road trip]. We started off on the wrong foot tonight for our road trip, but we’ve got a chance to come home and regroup, get a couple days off, come back, go to L.A, and play a tough Clippers team.”
After the Clippers comes a date with the Nuggets and the altitude in Denver, then the Blazers, the red-hot Warriors and finally, the Phoenix Suns before the team returns to the Air Canada Centre on January 8th. While they have survived their first real challenge of working around DeRozan being out — the team has posted a 9-4 record since his injury — the longest road trip of the season will be another test for the team that wants to hang on to its first-place standing in the East.
The Raptors are thankful that they will have a few days off to shake free from the sting of their second loss to the Bulls this season before the challenges continue.
“Just gotta prepare for it,” Amir Johnson said. “We’ve got a couple days off. [We need to] get our rest, come in with a different mindset and get ready for this road trip. That’s it.”
The group of guys in the locker room already know where improvements need to come for them to achieve their goals. Offence hasn’t been the problem with this group. Watching a Bulls team known more for its defence than its offence in recent years walk off the court with 129 points on the board was a harsh reality check for the Raptors.
“No matter [how] good bad or ugly teams [we play are], we’ve got to play defence,” Lowry said. “No matter what.”