Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green and Marc Gasol have been particularly effective shutting down the Magic in the third quarters of Games 1 and 2. Here's a breakdown of their performances in GIFs. (loung_s)
Gasol has had the most apparent defensive impact because of the job he’s done on Magic all-star centreComing into the series, Vucevic was averaging 20.8 points and 12.0 rebounds on 51.8 per cent shooting while in four regular season games against the Raptors, he averaged 20.0 points and 15.5 rebounds on 55 per cent shooting.
According to NBA.com’s stats site, Vucevic has seen the Toronto centre on 88 defensive possessions so far – more than any other Raptors player combined – and is only 6-for-17 from the field against him, turning the ball over five times in that span. Gasol also had four steals in Game 2. Priority No. 1 for the big Spaniard is to lock up Vucevic, but the other duty Nurse has tasked Gasol with has been to be the de facto back-line, in-the-paint stopper. Like a middle linebacker in football, Gasol commands the Raptors’ defence from that spot and has managed to stop potentially dangerous Magic drives to the hoop in their tracks such as seen with these following examples:
Green’s dominance over Augustin shouldn’t be much of a surprise because of the physical differences between the two.
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