Why the Toronto Raptors are paying DeMarre Carroll all that money

The Toronto rapper – and Raptors’ global ambassador – sat courtside with his mom, and the Raptors wore their alternate black and gold Drake jerseys. Without him, the team relies on, yes, one-on-one play and timely three point shooting to make things work. Carroll’s four fellow starters were all named all-stars, while Carroll got the weekend off. The Hawks were injured, and had lost some of their mid-season form.

Kyle Lowry found Bismack Biyombo for easy dunks on the next two Toronto possessions and the Raptors walked off the floor with a 103-99 victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

One of many Canadians to dominate the Billboard charts recently – his latest single “Hotline Bling” is now No. 3 on the Top 100 behind Adele’s “Hello” and Stratford, Ont., native Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” – Drake said he was thrilled to be able to watch a number of Canadians thriving in the National Basketball Association as well. On Sunday night, the Raptors defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 91-80 after a first half beat down.

“Like I said before, you try to be that gnat on that summer day, when you’re eating that barbecue, you know what I’m talking about?” said DeMarre Carroll, who was tasked with the tough job of guarding James for a good chunk of the night. “He wants to play all the ball he can play until he retires. He just showed tonight why he’s Kyle Lowry”.

“That’s what he was brought here for, right?”

“I think we did a good job defensively”. They are going to get some open shots.

By the tone in his voice, the answer needed no further explanation.

“He’s been a leader for us just through his experience”, says Casey, who credited Scola for speaking up at halftime against the Clippers, loudly warning his teammates to guard against a second-half letdown after Toronto built up a 29-point halftime lead.

“We have a heck of a defender in DeMarre Carroll”.

While he did answer questions about the now-infamous video and who the best dancer may be on the Raptors (hint: he’s Argentinian), Drake did take the time to make sure that although his name is in the title, the night was about his hometown of Toronto and the fans.

To hear Carroll tell it, there is little benefit to scouting James to the very last detail.

It’s the new-look Raptors’ first chance to test themselves against the reigning Eastern Conference champs.

The Raptors scored the first 10 points of the second quarter, but the Cavs J.R. Smith, LeBron James and Tristan Thompson returned to the game at the same time and the Cavs responded by scoring 19 of the game’s next 21 to take the lead.