Toronto’s temperatures will dip into the 30s next week, but the Toronto Raptors will gladly welcome a cold snap as long as they get to enjoy it at home.
By any measure, it’s been a long trip for the Raptors, who faced the Jazz on the end of a six-game West Coast road trip. It started Oct. 23 in San Antonio — then Toronto rattled off games against the Warriors, the Lakers, the Trail Blazers and the Nuggets, going 2-3 in that stretch.
The most recent game before facing the Jazz, a 129-111 loss in Denver, was a low point, coach Dwane Casey admitted. But the Raptors aren’t crying foul.
“It’s called the NBA — that’s what the league’s about,” Casey said. “We just happen to go in [on a road trip] the first part of the season, come into a few tough places.”
That includes Vivint Smart Home Arena, where the Jazz sprinted out to a 5-0 home record to start the season. Casey said the atmosphere, which he remembered as “the loudest place in the league,” hadn’t changed since he coached for the Seattle SuperSonics in the ’90s.
Jazz coach Quin Snyder played down any home-court advantage, saying not only would the odds favor Utah finally taking a loss, but Toronto would potentially have caught up to any altitude advantage after playing in Denver on Wednesday.
But he hoped the Jazz would play like a team that has been at home for a week — and that the Raptors would play like a team that’s spent nearly two weeks living out of suitcases.
“Certainly the road can get weary,” Snyder said. “We want to take advantage. If we are the fresher team, let’s be the fresher team. That’s always a little bit of your game play as far as trying to play hard and with energy.”
Sefalosha taking defense under his wing
Considering the Jazz just mounted two comebacks spurred by defense, it seems that the team has something figured out.
A big part of that, Snyder cited during Friday’s shootaround, is Thabo Sefolosha. The veteran wing has emerged as a leader in helping frame Utah’s defense, playing in the fourth quarter and overtime against the Trail Blazers. He also helps others on the team in breaks, offering notes to Utah’s younger players.
Sefolosha made the all-NBA second defensive team in 2010, but Snyder said it’s easy to see why he’s held on to his reputation as an elite defender since then.
“If you watch him on the bench, he’s always got something for somebody,” Snyder said. “You watch how many times in a game that he’s put his arm around Donovan [Mitchell] or things like that. Communication, you see it in physical and also subtle ways. I think it comes from experience and intelligence.”
Briefly
Former Jazzman C.J. Miles was inactive on Friday night with flu-like symptoms. Miles played for seven seasons in Utah, and has since had stints in Indiana and Cleveland.