Toronto Raptors: 6 Revelations from Game 3 loss to Wizards
By Demar Grant
5. John Wall Lives By the Mid Range, Dies by the Midrange
Wall lives in the paint and shot 30 percent from mid range this season, which is perfect because the Raptors’ defense allows tons of mid range jumpers. Jonas Valanciunas is too slow to step and contest shooters and the Raptors guards are having a bit of trouble getting over screens, so there’s been an abundance of opportunity this series.
The only risk the Raptors ran was Wall getting hot from within the arc. That happened in Game 3. On eight attempts Wall made 50 percent of his mid rangers; it was free money.
There isn’t much the Raptors can do about this shot as long as JV is the centre. A season long of evidence has shown that Wall is very poor at making these shots, but switching Ibaka to centre almost entirely eliminates this shot for him.
The playoffs are all about adjustments; Casey needs to figure out whether this is an issue worth solving, or an anomaly observed. My money is on the latter, but I’m not the coach.