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The Raptors need to find their defensive identity

Amit Mann and Asad Alvi discuss the Raptors' upcoming road trip and why locking in on defence can help them find their identity. Listen to the full episode on the 'Raptors Over Everything' podcast feed.

Video Transcript

ASAD ALVI: --had stretches of really good defense the last couple games, and it's just-- it's slowly coming together. And you can see it, and you can feel it. As Precious Achiuwa is playing more minutes, you're starting to get a little bit more consistency there.

AMIT MANN: Yeah.

ASAD ALVI: And that's really-- like, the thing is, like, the Raptors' season, like, it's been marred as we're-- got a Pascal Siakam injury. Suddenly, your shooters are all in a slump. Then they're playing good defense. They're not playing good enough offense. They're playing good offense. Now suddenly, they're not playing good enough defense. Right? And it's like, can they coalesce?

And again, there have been many Raptor seasons in the past where, hey, that long West Coast road trip has both saved the Raptors' season and ended the Raptors' season in the past. Notably, the Rudy Gay trade back in 2012 kicked off this whole series, and that was on the Western Conference road trip. So I'm looking forward to it.

Again, they're playing some really good teams up front. The Kings are, you know, the crowning jewel of the NBA right now. They're just every night, light the beam, right? So that's a good team. They're a really good offensive team.

They struggle defensively, though. So let's see what the Raptors can do against a team that is going to, you know, do a lot of-- have a lot of actions. And they have one of the best clutch players in the NBA in De'Aaron Fox. So as we know, the last matchup came down to the last possession.

AMIT MANN: Yeah.

ASAD ALVI: What can the Raptors do in Sacramento? The next game they play, I think, Golden State, which is another tight one.

AMIT MANN: Yes.

ASAD ALVI: So it's like two games in a row where you play teams that execute offense at a high level. So that'll really be the test of how serious can this team take it. You're at full health. OG Anunoby is back at 94%. So here's your chance. You have your core six healthy. You're going into this. Lock in, and see what you can put together.