Last-Minute News, Rumours, Reports before Toronto Raptors LA Clipperrs Game

Tonight was supposed to be one of the most anticipated games of the season. After the Raptors and Clippers conducted a blockbuster trade this summer, we were supposed to see the return game of Kawhi Leonard back in LA against his former team after all the drama, after all of the nonsense that has gone on over the past year. But as we've covered for days now at this point, Kawhi Leonard will not be playing in tonight's outing against the Los Angeles Clippers. And the guy, the main piece that he was traded for in Brandon Ingram, who had a very solid season for the Toronto Raptors last year, an all-star performance, and then struggled in the playoffs and ended up turning out he had an injury. So it was a weird ending to Brandon Ingram's career as a Toronto Raptor. He will not be suiting up for the LA Clippers either. So two of the biggest names out there in this blockbuster trade will be in street clothes for this one. But nonetheless, this is still an extremely important game, specifically for the Toronto Raptors who need to tread water, need to stay afloat with Kawhi Leonard out of the lineup. I rarely say must-win games for you know moments out there in early November, but this one feels like a must-win for the Toronto Raptors. They have a difficult schedule coming up, and they've lost two straight, and you do not want downward momentum while one of your top players is out. So we'll dive into all of that in this video, but I want to start off with obviously the storyline that everyone's going to be talking about heading into this game, and that's of course the off-season trade. Over the summer, the Raptors sent out Brandon Ingram, Grady Dick, and multiple picks to the LA Clippers in return for Kawhi Leonard. It was agreed upon in late June and then sat for two and a half months while the NBA investigated the Clippers for the aspiration scandal and giving money off the books to Kawhi. And this wasn't a spur-of-the-moment trade. The Toronto Raptors were eager. They were really aggressive in pursuing Kawhi Leonard for a very long time. Bobby Webster said it himself. He said, Kawhi was someone we always had on our list of names that they were checking in across the NBA. And this summer was finally the summer where the Clippers had reason to negotiate with the Toronto Raptors for a Kawhi Leonard trade. They ended up picking up the number five in this year's NBA draft. A lot of their stars were aging. It felt like there was a little bit of a ceiling out there on that group. And then, of course, there was the impending fine punishment and stripping of draft picks I'm sure they knew was on the way before they made this move. And when this deal went through, it was very, very positive. The fan base is still very excited about Kawhi. The score graded an A trade for Toronto and a B plus for the Los Angeles Clippers. But of course, the biggest risk, the biggest issue that you have to look at is in the fourth season since he torn his ACL, Kawhi Leonard's only averaged 55 games a year. And what's been the narrative so far regarding Kawhi Leonard, at least from the national media, is, oh, he's snakebitten, it's karma, it's all this, as he's only played two games so far to start off this season. His numbers are also down solely from the box score in his two games, averaging 19.5 points a night and shooting 12 of 37 from the field. And Darko came out and said there's no exact timeline for when he's going to be back. They'll look at it again in seven days. He said that last week, so we should get an update in the coming days. We're also getting conflicting reports from different people. Chris Haynes says it's going to be at least three to four weeks for Kawhi. We're just waiting for more information. It's speculative, but it's unknown when Kawhi Leonard will be back. But on the other side, on top of all the punishments, the stripping of draft picks, everything that came out in the offseason, the Clippers, they got it Brandon Ingram, who hasn't played a single game for them just yet, and he had surgery in his right Achilles over the course of the summer, and Saturday, they sent him down to the G League team in San Diego to keep working back. The other piece in that trade, Grady Dick, He has played in every game for the Los Angeles Clippers, but his minutes are dwindling a little bit and he's averaging 14 minutes a night in total and just 5.3 points. So it's tough to really grade this trade. It's tough to really have a feeling or a thing to look at on it because you're basically gotten two games of Kawhi Leonard, none of Brandon Ingram, Grady Dick, who's... You know, a role player at best right now for the Los Angeles Clippers, so we'll see how things end up shaking out in the long run. Of course, the draft picks are the big thing to look at in the future. And the Raptors have committed long-term to Kawhi Leonard. He signed a multi-year extension, and they're bought into this core and this group, but they understand that Kawhi Leonard is going to miss games at times. And Josh Lundberg reported that the Toronto Raptors believe they could survive, if not thrive, in the games that Kawhi Leonard misses. That's the bet that they've made. And tonight is one of these important games. Which means this game isn't about Kawhi, Brandon Ingram, the battle, this, that, that everyone's been yapping about. It's about the guys that are still standing on this Toronto Raptors roster and need to regroup, come together, and get a desperately needed victory. So let's take a look at the full tilt injury report on both sides. For Toronto, obviously Kawhi Leonard's out, Nate Biddle's out with his fractured right foot. They're going to be on the injury report for the next little while. And the new one that was added right before the game against the Lakers yesterday is Jakob. Pertl, as this morning he showed up as day-to-day with inflammation in his right shoulder. I know people love to trash on Jakob Pertl, but his presence was definitely missed against the Lakers and Walker Kessler. He was dominating the glass and the paint in yesterday's game against the Los Angeles Lakers, and it's going to be important tonight as the Clippers have Brook Lopez, who of course is a bit older now, but is still averaging 13 points a game, and then Isaiah Jackson as well, who comes off the bench and gets 6.2 rebounds a night. And even through all the noise, all the hate on Jakob Pertl right now, Darko Rajaković has been giving him some significant credit, saying that after four games, we are number one defense out there in the league, and Jakob Pertl has a lot to do with that. So obviously the Raptors have their injuries, but the Clippers list is a lot longer. As we discussed, Brandon Ingram's out, Bradley Beal is out with a right knee issue, Max Strus with his foot, and then Needenhauser is also out for LA as well. Also, Derrick Jones Jr. is day-to-day, so we'll see if he ends up playing tonight with his right knee. He's one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA and a sneaky good player for the Clippers so far this year. He's shooting 13 for 25 from 3. Obviously, he's known for his dunking, the dunk contest, the posters and stuff, but has been a sneaky good shooter this season as well. It also should be noted both teams played last night, so they're on the second night of a back-to-back. Obviously the Toronto Raptors we streamed it we covered it they lost the LA Lakers 131 to 125 Luka Doncic scored 45 that game you know they had a little run late to make it a lot closer Jameson Batts exploded out there for this team but nonetheless that was a blowout most of the way and the Clippers are coming off a loss as well they lost to the Golden State Warriors 124 to 112 so it's two tired teams but not two teams that should be playing at the same level. On paper, the Toronto Raptors are coming into this game 3-3, so it sounds like a fairly mid and average team. But even in these outings, the Toronto Raptors have outscored their opponents by 47 points in 6 games. That's almost 8 points a night. Their 3 wins were up by 43, 10, and 30, and their 3 losses were by 23, 7, and 6. Now if you look at the Los Angeles Clippers, they are 1-5 right now, they've lost 5 in a row, and they've been outscored by 44 in all their outings. It should be noted, four of their losses have come on the road, and tonight they're playing at home, of course, and they are undefeated at home at 1-1. Two of their games were also losses to the Los Angeles Lakers, who the Raptors just lost to last night, where they lost by 8 as well as 16 points. So the Raptors' worst nights this season have looked like the average night for the Los Angeles Clippers. The one win for the Los Angeles Clippers was against Sacramento as well, who are an even more desperate team right now in the NBA. The biggest issue with the Los Angeles Clippers is their defense. Teams are shooting 49.4% from the field against the Clippers. And this is a whole new team from what they've had in previous years. Darius Garland came over in the James Harden trade with Cleveland midway through last season, and he's been fine having a relatively healthy year to start off. 20.8 points per game and 6.3 assists a night. They also have the number five pick in the NBA draft in Keaton Wagler, and he's playing like a rookie, 13 points a game on 28% shooting. Lots of talent, but it's going to take some time. So the Clippers right now are undergoing a rebuild, but without any of their draft picks, and it certainly looks like one. But there is one thing that does scare me heading into this game, and that one thing is the three-point line. The Clippers are shooting 38.6% from the three-point line this season, and the Raptors are at 32%. And a lot of that comes down to Scottie Barnes, who is shooting three for 21 from three this season. The good news is that Jacoby Walter is 17 for 41, and he's turned into a guy that's taking those shots and taking a lot of them. Emmanuel Quigley is 18 for 51. James Abel made four of 10 last night, a lot of them coming late for where he's en route to 20 points. But the other point that will be crucial for the Raptors tonight is the turnover battle. The Clippers are turning the ball over 20.5 times a game and the Raptors are forcing 20.8. That's a team that loves to turn over the ball in the LA Clippers and the Toronto Raptors are a team that loves to take it away from the opposing squad. Toronto's own number is 13.7 turnovers a game, and that's almost seven fewer giveaways a night than the Los Angeles Clippers. And coming into this one, the most important guy to stop is Darius Garland, who has taken 44 threes in six games, and I put Jamal Shedd on him, you know, because people criticize Jamal Shedd being undersized. He did a pretty solid job on Luka, at least for a four-minute stretch there in this last game. But Garland is a guy that he sizes up much better against. Another important point to look at is the rebounding battle. Of course, the Raptors, without Yakka Pirtle, Toronto has 94 offensive rebounds through six games, and the LA Clippers have 67. So the Raptors have gotten an extra 27 chances compared to the LA Clippers so far this season, but of course, without Big Yak and his shoulder issue, if he's not playing tonight, then you're going to need other players to step up in that area of the court. So my take heading into this one is that the Clippers are hitting their threes and there's a good chance that this game is going to be a lot more close than a lot of Raptors fans are hoping. But if they don't, the Raptors are winning the turnover battle, securing the boards. They will be in very, very good shape. And until Kawhi Leonard's back, this is Scottie Barnes' team. He's averaging 24.8 points per game, he scored 41 against Orlando on Friday on 34 shots, and then 29 last night on 11 of 20 shooting, which is a lot more efficient. An interesting stat through Scottie Barnes' good season as we touched on, he shot 33 for 21 from the three-point line, and he's three threes away from passing Chris Boucher on the 15th all-time in Raptors history. But one thing to note is the Clippers have had his number in previous years. The Clippers beat the Raptors twice last season and in March, In that 25-point loss, Scottie only had nine points on four of 11 shooting. Of course, a very different Clippers team, but it's still the same jersey and the same arena and all this stuff. But he'll also need help, as RJ Barrett had 22 points and 10 rebounds last night, and he's currently at 19.8 points a game. Finally, the last player that really has to step up is Emmanuel Quickly, as he went three for 13 last night. And Quickley matters more than just his own numbers. With him on the floor, Scottie Barnes has a true shooting percentage of 58.7. Without him, it's just 42.1. RJ has a similar impact. You know, right now he's shooting 36.7% from three with Immanuel Quickley and just 22%, when IQ is not on the court. So they have some legitimate chemistry that, you know, should be shed some light on. Obviously, these two teams did face off this season back in Vancouver over the course of preseason, and RJ had 20 points on 7-11 shooting, and Toronto Raptors won in that game. But if you're enjoying this content, make sure you guys hit that subscribe button. We just passed the 45,000 subscriber mark, and we're en route for those micro goals again. So if we can get to 45,200 subscribers, we didn't get there on the stream last night, but I mean, you know, who knows? Maybe we'll get there today. Make sure you hit that sub button completely free down below. So after all that analysis, after diving into everything, Here's where I'm kind of looking out for this game. The Toronto Raptors are four and a half point favorites right now on the road versus the Clippers, which makes sense given the Clippers record. But of course, these are the types of games that tend to bite you. You know, you're on the road, you're facing the Clippers, the team that you might be able to overlook, you know, a team that's shooting 38% from three, they can get hot on any given night. And it feels like a game that they're going to wake up and be motivated for. I'm still taking the Raptors, not because of Kawhi, not because of, you know, the trade or anything drama like that. But I just believe the Toronto Raptors. want to bounce back from their last two losses, and it might be a trap game, sure, but I believe in the squad to bounce back and hopefully get a big, big win. I want your guys' predictions down below. Comment who you think is going to win, how the Raptors got to stop Darius Garland, and who do you think scores more points, Darius Garland or Scottie Barnes tonight? Comment down below, and if you want all the latest Raptors news, check out this video right here.