Toronto makes it three straight wins in Sin City with a 102 to 89 thrashing of the New York Knicks...
Can we start the real games yet?
Toronto made quick work of its third straight Summer League opponent here in Vegas beating up on the New York Knicks 102 to 89.
While New York made it close up until mid-way through the third quarter, the Raptors combination of speed, athleticism and size down low were too much for the Gotham group and in the end, this one was another laugher.
In fact it was such a laugher that doing any sort of post-game press proved incredibly difficult as the boys from HoopsWorld found out:
Never a dull moment when the Young Gunz are in the house.
I was hoping to grab Bobby Brown for a quick chat but unfortunately he was one of the first to take off so I'll have to try and catch him tomorrow if he's around. (Toronto doesn't play.)
So can Toronto be beat over its final two games?
Unfortunately I'm flying back to Toronto late tomorrow night so won't get to see them, but there's not question in my mind this club can win its final two matches. Having watched a good deal of Summer League in my time, the best teams tend to be ones that have an excellent mix of leadership, athleticism and speed, rebounding and toughness, and veteran experience. Toronto has all of these traits, even getting some solid gunning yesterday from Michael Roll and Ronald Dupree to really complement the squad's formidable inside-outside attack.
They also are getting great point guard play from the aforementioned Brown.
He doesn't wow you in any one area, but he's extremely steady, hits his outside shots to keep the defense honest, stays with his man on D, and doesn't try to do too much, perfect for a third stringer in the NBA.
A number of people were asking me via Twitter and on the site yesterday if I thought he'd stick with the team and I think it depends on what goes down with Jose and Marcus Banks. I'd much rather give a min-contract to Brown than keep paying top dollar for someone like Banks, and if Brown helps propel this team to a 5 and 0 finish, tough to see why Bryan Colangelo would let him walk unless the logjam at the 1-2 can't be cleaned up a bit.
Getting back to the team itself, as I mentioned yesterday though, a successful summer league doesn't necessarily mean anything, and can be a blessing and a curse. A good summer league team may simply mean that your best regular season players are young and inexperienced and while they dominate in this type of environment, struggle at the next.
I love what guys like DeMar DeRozan, Sonny Weems and Joey Dorsey are doing here in Vegas against the likes of Eric Boateng and Marcus Landry, but can they do the same against Tayshaun Prince and Paul Pierce etc?
We shall see.