Toronto Raptors Blog – Page 28 – NBA Blog

Norman Powell, Karl-Anthony Towns named NBA Rookies of Month for April 2016

The Toronto Raptors’ Norman Powell and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Karl-Anthony Towns today were named the NBA Eastern and Western Conference Rookies of the Month, respectively, for games played in April.

Powell helped the Raptors to a 6-2 record behind averages of 15.3 points (tops in the Eastern Conference), 4.4 rebounds (seventh), 2.5 assists (tied-fifth) and 1.4 steals (third). He scored in double figures in six of eight games and shot 54.8 percent from the field. In Toronto’s regular-season finale, Powell scored a career-high 30 points on 12-of-18 shooting (including 5-of-6 from three-point range) and added nine rebounds and five assists during the Raptors’ 103-96 win over the Brooklyn Nets.

Towns becomes the first player to sweep a season of Kia NBA Rookie of the Month awards since the Portland Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard in 2012-13. In April, Towns helped the Timberwolves to a 4-3 mark as he led all rookies in scoring (18.9 ppg), rebounding ( 11.7 rpg), blocks (1.7 bpg) and minutes (35.6 mpg). Towns capped his first NBA season with his 51st double-double (third most in the NBA) when he tallied 28 points and 14 rebounds during Minnesota’s 144-109 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on April 13.

Other nominees for the Kia NBA Eastern and Western Conference Rookies of the Month were Denver’s Emmanuel Mudiay, New York’s Jerian Grant, Phoenix’s Devin Booker and Utah’s Trey Lyles.

DeMarre Carroll feels he is ready for more minutes

Here’s the Toronto Sun reporting on Raptors small forward DeMarre Carroll, who missed much of this season due to injury but is back in action and feels he’s ready for an increased role on the playoff-bound squad:

He made his return in Atlanta last Thursday, was sat the next night at home against Indiana to avoid playing on back to back nights, will likely play Tuesday in the regular season home finale against Philadelphia and then likely sit again with another back-to-back to finish the season on Wednesday in Brooklyn.

Carroll likes where he is at having played 15 minutes in Atlanta and 17 in New York. He believes he is moving well and believes he is ready to ramp up the action even more, although that is not his call.

“It’s up to the medical staff and coach and Masai (Ujiri), so we’ll see,” Carroll said Monday following practice. “I’m just playing my role and whenever they give me the OK …”

As for his own review of his play, Carroll has been pretty happy.

Unclear if DeMarre Carroll will play again this season

Small forward DeMarre Carroll was supposed to be a big part of the Toronto Raptors this season, but he has played just 22 games, averaging 11.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.0 assists on 39% shooting. Developing chemistry on a new team can take time, so those numbers likely would have improved as the season went along. But it isn’t clear if the team will learn more about this until next season. Here’s the Toronto Sun reporting:

The elephant in the room, where the Raptors are concerned, is the status of DeMarre Carroll.

The prized free agent signing, who is also the team’s highest-paid player, appeared close to a return a few weeks ago when he was driving to the hoop against assistant coaches and launching three-pointers. The next step was clearance for contact. But then all went dark. Carroll’s been in Atlanta tending to some personal matters (he is due back this week), the team has kept tight-lipped, but every indication from talking to various people is there has been some sort of set-back and his return this season is very much in doubt. Quietly, the team has taken the belief that he will need more time, and only a deep playoff run would let him return this season.

One thing that appears to be clear is that the plantar fasciitis Carroll had earlier this year made him compensate a bit and that led to the knee trouble that required surgery.

Raptors going for win No. 50

After dropping consecutive games to the Celtics and Rockets, the Raptors got back in the win column on Saturday against the Pelicans. Toronto’s 49th victory tied the franchise record for wins in a season, set in 2014-15. The first crack at 50 comes tonight when the Raptors host the streaking Thunder, which has won seven straight, including Saturday’s 111-92 win over the Spurs. Toronto (49-23) trails Cleveland (52-21) by 2.5 games for the top spot in the East, and has a six-game lead over the Hawks (44-30) for third place. The Raptors are one road victory shy of matching the franchise record (22), set in 2013-14 and matched last season. They play five of their remaining 10 games on the road.

— NBA Broadcasters Bulletin

Raptors having excellent season

The Toronto Raptors (44-20) are closing in on the franchise’s first 50-win season and third consecutive trip to the playoffs. They are also within striking distance of the Cavaliers for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Toronto trails Cleveland (47-18) by 2.5 games but owns the head-to-head tiebreaker after winning the season series 2-1. The Raptors have won nine of 11 and wrap up a seven-game homestand tonight against Chicago (7:30 p.m. ET) before playing 10 of 17 on the road to close the season. The Cavaliers have eight home and nine road contests remaining among their 17 games, beginning tonight at Utah (10:30 p.m., ESPN) in the finale of a four-game road trip.

Raptors sign Jason Thompson, release Anthony Bennett

The Toronto Raptors have signed NBA veteran power forward Jason Thompson.

To make room on the roster the Raptors released forward Anthony Bennett. Bennett appeared in 19 games, totaling 28 points, 23 rebounds and 84 minutes.

Thompson, 6-foot-11, 250 pounds, is in his eighth season. He has appeared in 569 career regular season games, averaging 9.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 25.5 minutes.

“We are pleased to add a player like Jason who has logged quality minutes in more than 500 career games,” said Raptors President and General Manager Masai Ujiri.

A first-round selection (12th overall) by Sacramento in 2008, Thompson spent seven seasons with the Kings before joining Golden State this season. His best statistical campaign came in 2009-10 when he averaged 12.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 31.4 minutes.

“We thank Anthony for his professionalism and for his service to our team and community,” said Ujiri. “We know he’s on his way to becoming an excellent NBA player but as we approach the end of the season Jason will provide us with a veteran presence that we need.”

Kyle Lowry scores 43 points vs Cavs

Friday night in Toronto, the Raptors beat the Cavaliers 99-97. Awesome in the win was Raptors guard Kyle Lowry: 15-of-20 shooting for 43 points, five rebounds, nine assists and four steals, plus the game-winning shot. Here’s the Akron Beacon Journal reporting:

Lowry’s jumper with 3.8 seconds left over an outstretched Matthew Dellavedova gave the Raptors a 99-97 victory over the Cavaliers on Friday night, shaving the Cavs’ lead for the top seed in the conference to just two games and more importantly giving the Raptors the tiebreaker.

The Raptors won the season series 2-1.

The Cavs gave away leads of 12 and 14 points and lost for the second time in their last three games despite LeBron James playing the entire second half.
The Cavs had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but James’ 3-pointer missed everything.

Kevin Love’s initial inbounds pass was batted back toward him by Bismack Biyombo. Love narrowly got out of the way of the ball touching him, which would’ve given possession back to the Raptors. The Cavs were awarded the ball again after a lengthy review and Love quickly inbounded to James, who is shooting under 28 percent from 3-point range this season. James shot an airball from the top of the perimeter, which deftly summed up the Cavs’ evening.

No Vince Carter retirement announcement yet

Vince Carter isn’t ready to call it a career. Not today, at least.

Vince Carter sounds pretty confident this won’t be his last time on the court in Toronto.

Carter and a vastly different Memphis lineup than the one the league was seeing even three games ago, are in town to take on the Raptors Sunday and Carter is giving no indication that fans will be witnessing his Toronto swan song.

“Not now, not yet,” Carter said when asked if he goes into a game like Sunday’s thinking this might be his last time on this particular court.

“I just go year by year and listen to the body. Every now and then I’ll think about ‘When I do know (it’s time), how do I approach that?’ It’s just tough accepting it because I enjoy playing still. I think when I don’t enjoy playing I will definitely let it be known.”

— Toronto Sun

Raptors beat Magic in London

Thursday in London, the Toronto Raptors beat the Orlando Magic 106-103 in overtime. In the win, Kyle Lowry scored 24 (on just 5-20 shooting), and had eight rebounds and seven assists. Cory Joseph was great off the bench, shooting 9-of-11 for 19 points. In the loss, Victor Oladipo scored 27, and Evan Fournier had 21. Here’s the Toronto Sun reporting:

A visit to the O2 just wouldn’t be right without overtime.

For the second time in three games here, the Raps found themselves providing a deserving English fan base a little more than they were actually entitled.

The last time it took triple overtime and it resulted in a loss to the then New Jersey Nets.

But this is a different Raptors team, a “relevant” team as Masai Ujiri likes to call them, and they proved their GM right with a professional overtime period that included timely shooting, some patient offence and some determined defence to pull out a 106-103 win over the Magic on Thursday.

The Magic had a match for the Kyle Lowry/DeMar DeRozan backcourt but they didn’t have the bench support or the defence the Raptors brought with them across the Atlantic.

And by the slimmest of margins, the Raptors will head back across that ocean with a well-deserved win.

DeMarre Carroll undergoes knee surgery

The Toronto Raptors announced Wednesday forward DeMarre Carroll had arthroscopic surgery this morning on his right knee. The procedure was performed by Dr. David Altchek at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. Carroll’s status will be updated as appropriate.

Carroll sat out Monday’s game at Cleveland with a swollen right knee. He had played in the previous five contests after missing nine games (December 7-22) with a right knee contusion.

Carroll has averaged 11.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 31.9 minutes in 23 games. He had a season-high 21 points on two occasions: October 30 at Boston and November 22 at the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Raptors face the Brooklyn Nets tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Barclays Center.