Quote:
Originally Posted by octothorp
One of the most successful 5-man units the Raptors have had in recent weeks is the smallball lineup of Lowry/Ross/DeRozan/Anderson/Johnson. 82games.com shows this lineup as having an offensive rating of 1.34 pts scored per possession, and .89 points allowed per possession. On paper, simply swapping in Gay for Anderson should make an even better smallball lineup. I know people are all over the fact that Gay isn't a particularly great passer and is too much a chucker, but when you swap him in for Anderson (which is where the bulk of his minutes will come from, it'll probably create more ball movement. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see that being Casey's crunch-time lineup for the time being.
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So I'm going to own up to this, the Lowry/Ross/DeRozan/Gay/Johnson unit was on the floor for the last five minutes tonight, and got totally destroyed. I'm still optimistic that it can be an effective lineup, but of course they're playing an excellent team who know how to close out games well.
I also think it's critical to run some plays to give Ross open looks at 3-pointers early in the game. That way, the other team has to respect his shot. When he doesn't attempt a 3 until late in the fourth (and airballs it), then he's useless for floor-spacing.