Toronto – For a few tenuous moments, it seemed that 24 minutes of solid defensive play Monday evening by the Raptors of Toronto would be completely canceled by 12 bad.
After limiting the Pélicans de la Nouvelle-Orléans at 40 points in the first half, the Raptors granted 35 in the third quarter and saw their advantage at half-time of 16 points turn into a deficit in a point entering in the fourth.
“I thought that the turnover and the selection of shooting led to problems that we had with the defense of transition and that they were marked a little,” said Raptors head coach Darkakovic.
“And that was exactly the message I transmitted to our guys, that we were able to return to the defense at a high level, and that we have to move the ball and play for each other.”
Rajakovic’s words apparently did wonders.
The Raptors responded with a sequence of 17-6 to start the fourth quarter which was punctuated by the ejection of the coach of the Pelicans Willie Green for having made a call. Scottie Barnes struck the following pair of technical throws to put the Raptors Backup 10 on the way to a victory of 113-104.
Toronto (14-32) has now won four consecutive games and six of its last seven games, while New Orleans (12-35) abandoned its third consequence.
It was the last victory for what has become a surprising turnaround for a team of Raptors who remains 13th from the Eastern Conference and five games of the game tournament.
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The common theme throughout the winning section was the defense – the Raptors granted more than the 104 points they conceded twice during their current race.
Toronto limited the Pelicans to strike only 21.4% of their three points when they drew 43.9% in total on the ground.
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And the game turned when the Raptors kept the Pélicans four points in the first four minutes and more from the final frame.
Rajakovic said the defensive increase is the result of improving efforts.
“I am a coach for 28, 29 years, and I have still not found defensive projects where four players play defense and one does not make great efforts, and this defense works.
“It happened to us a little earlier in the season, than three guys, four guys doing what they are supposed to do, and a player could be at the end of a second or does not follow the game plan, and that creates Lots of breakdowns. Right now, we have all the guys locked up. »»
One of these guys is Scottie Barnes, who followed the honors of the Eastern Conference Week’s Player earlier in the day with a double-double of 21 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists to start.
The Jakob Poeltl departure center also had a 21-point double-double while transporting 14 rebounds.
Rajakovic called the Raptors’ connector.
“You have a match plan, but sometimes this thing comes out through the window and you have to invent something on the fly. And in these situations, it is important to have good communication, to make everyone on the same wavelength, ”said Poeltl.
The Pelicans also did not install the most difficult opponents – they rank in the lower third of the NBA offensively and were without top scorer Brandon Ingram, who is still recovering from an ankle injury suffered on December 7.
However, Chris Boucher – who scored 14 points on the bench and declared after the match that he heard the opponents qualify him as a “hot pulling” in the middle of a torrid shooting section – said that the defender’s progress begins With Will.
“I think anyone is in front of us, I think everyone is proud to keep them and that we play together too. … If there is a switch and someone is smaller, you have to hit them. We are going to a channel, ”said Boucher.
The recent winning form of Raptors can always be a blip. After all, the team recently underwent a sequence of 16 defeats in 17 games, while consecutive victories against the Hawks of Atlanta last week tripled the total of the team’s victory.
But for a young team like Toronto, a Blip could be important because proof of concept in the future.
“We are trying to do something that, I believe, will bring us long -term results, but I also know that it will not happen overnight and it will really require a lot of work,” said Rajakovic before the match .
“I think we have excellent membership of our players. They really owner him, they play really hard. “”
Football fee
Christine Sinclair in Canada, the biggest international scorer of all time in football, SAT short in a sweatshirt bearing the Toronto Tempo logo, the city’s WNBA extension team. The crowd of Scotiabank Arena welcomed it with a standing ovation.
Rosario’s Dwayne football star was also at home to mark 500 days until the 2026 World Cup arrives in Canada.
And to make a good measure, the Canadian Olympic Gymnast decorated Ellie Black was also seated in the court.
This Canadian press report was published for the first time on January 27, 2025.
& Copy 2025 the Canadian press