Raptors at Mavericks game-day Dino-bytes

Our now traditional post-shootaround look at tonight’s Raptors game.

 

TORONTO at DALLAS

TIPOFF: 8:30 p.m.

TV: TSN; RADIO: FAN590

 

Probable starters

Toronto: Jose Calderon, DeMar DeRozan, Landry Fields, Andrea Bargnani, Jonas Valanciunas; Dallas: O.J. Mayo, Darren Collison, Jae Crowder, Troy Murphy, Brandan Wright.

 

Key backups tonight:

Toronto: John Lucas III, Amir Johnson; Dallas: Vince Carter, Chris Kaman.

 

What happened this morning

Raptors didn’t have an official shootaround off a back-to-back but as visiting reporters were finishing up a chat with Vince Carter just before noon, Jose Calderon wandered into the American Airlines Center to get up some shots.

 

A distinct lack of marquee names.

Kyle Lowry is listed as “doubtful” after spraining his right ankle Tuesday in Oklahoma City; Dirk Nowitzki has been out all season for Dallas, Shawn Marion’s on the shelf with a sprained ligament in his left knee and Elton Brand is gone to be with his wife as she gives birth to a child.

There will be some recognizable names, promise.

 

An unkind place

Toronto is just 3-13 all time at Dallas, but that includes time at the old Reunion Arena, too.

 

Terrence Ross might be the beneficiary of Kyle Lowry’s injury, especially if Lowry misses more than a couple of games.

Jose Calderon was the de facto backup shooting guard for the first couple of games because Ross simply wasn’t ready and we defy anyone who saw his deer-in-the-headlights Opening Night run to disagree.

But now that Calderon’s a starter – and Ross looked much more comfortable in Tuesday’s Oklahoma City debacle – there may be more consistent minutes for the rookie.

Dwane Casey alluded to Ross looking a bit tuckered out during his extended time in OKC but the kid is just going to have to play through it and get more comfortable on the court.

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One defensive stat Dwane Casey is often bringing up is field goal percentage allowed.

Well, chew on this:

The Mavs have shot better than 60 per cent from the floor in their last two games.

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Comments

[JT]

Doug, what happened to all the praise the Raptors brass had given Ross prior to the start of the season? It left me with the impression this kid was legitimately ready to play a role (not starting but it seemed he'd be a regular rotation player every night).
Any talk about the subpar performance of Fields thus far? Sure its only a few games but how much of a run do you think they give him until the make changes to the starting lineup?

Blogger's note: You over-estimated; solid potential, good shooter, skinny rookie not ready yet; Fields? Lots of talk, no reason to make a move for another 8 or 10 games, if even then

[Moshigh]

I had just had my next question answered, Yes its early for fields to be hooked from starting line up, but no matter how much I dog Bargnani at least he makes a shot once in a while. Fields is not locking down on defense and is shell shocked on the offensive side. Fine Casey done bench him, but the hook has to be shorter.

Wow the Small forward position has been a issue for this team for YEARS!!! holy moley!! Fields needs to do something tonight but I wont hold my breath. Demar will have his hands full with Mayo, he better take it to Mayo 1st.

One more thing what is Demar doing wrong, Im not court side but it seems he rarely gets calls when he goes strong to the net, hopefully he can at least start earning some phantom calls, wow....Lets go Raptors!!!

[alex]

more like a question than answear, but can any nba team win games with weak SF?
not sure, but what happened to kleiza???? dont tell me he is not capable getting at least15 minutes a game on current roster.... or he is injured and i missed it?
and i dont want to say anything bad about derozan's game.. but if fields doesnt put it together soon, derozan will have night mare 20 minutes a game, with fields on the court.
sad but true, i am loosing interest in watching raps if they dont pick up soon. i forgot how its to cheer for a winning home teams. not sure if i even gonna attend my usual 2 games a year... to expensive and no much show.

Blogger's note: You must have lost interest, Kleiza's been away from the team almost a week dealing with a family issue