Dinos & Digits: DeMarre Carroll’s Best Game as a Raptor

Welcome back to Dinos & Digits, a column where we dive into the box scores and find five interesting or strange Raptors statistics and put them on front street for discussion.

We like to explore a mix of both individual player and team statistics, ranging from raw box score numbers to some interesting and funky advanced metrics. The goal is to present the numbers without too much opinion attached, leaving those debates for the comment section.

OK, let's get down to it. Here are this week's interesting digits:

DeMarre Carroll had a Game Score (GmSc) of 20.6 in Wednesday’s contest against the Houston Rockets, his highest in any game played as a member of the Toronto Raptors.

Game Score was created by John Hollinger to give a rough measure of a player's productivity for a single game. It takes into account points, field goal percentage, free throw percentage, offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds, steals, assists, blocks, personal fouls, and turnovers.

Against the Rockets, Carroll scored 20 points on 9-for-14 shooting (2-for-5 from long range), with three rebounds, two assists, four steals, three blocks, two turnovers, and only one foul.

The 20.6 score was not only his best as a Raptor, but it also ranks as the seventh-best of his entire career (with the top six all coming in his two seasons as a member of the Atlanta Hawks).

Jonas Valanciunas’ career 60.7% true shooting percentage is currently in the lead as the best in franchise history.

True shooting percentage is a measure of shooting efficiency that takes into account two-point field goals, three-pointers, and free throws. Valanciunas recently overtook Amir Johnson (60.3% in six seasons with the team) for the franchise lead.

In his now five seasons with the Raptors, JV has shot 55.6% from the field and 77.6% from the line. He has ranked in the top ten in the entire NBA in true shooting percentage in each of the last two seasons and is currently 14th this year with a career-best mark of 62.8% for his 57.1% field goal percentage and 81.5% mark from the charity stripe.

DeMar DeRozan leads the NBA in points per game on drives with 9.5.

DeMar drives to the hoop 11.5 times per game (fourth). 5.9 of his field goal attempts per game come from drives (third) and 3.9 of his free throws (first).

He also led the league in points per game on drives in 2015-16 with 8.7 per contest.

The Toronto Raptors lead the NBA in loose balls recovered with 5.2 per contest.

Kyle Lowry leads the team with 1.2, which ranks him second in the entire NBA behind his former teammate, Mike Conley (1.6).

The Raptors have had a strength of schedule rating of 2.18 so far this season, the highest mark in the NBA.

Basketball-Reference.com‘s strength of schedule rating is denominated in points above/below average, where zero is average.

If you are at all disappointed by the Raptors’ 9-6 start, try to take solace in the fact that it has come while facing the NBA’s toughest schedule to date.

The next hardest schedule faced by any team in the NBA has belonged to the San Antonio Spurs, who have had a strength of schedule rating of 1.51 (less than 70% as high as Toronto’s mark).

All stats courtesy of basketball-reference.com and NBA.com/stats.