Kyle Lowry’s sheer force of will is bordering on Chuck Norris joke level status. Would you take Kyle Lowry down the stretch over a hurricane? Yes. Would you take Kyle Lowry over a city-sized asteroid hurling towards Earth and promising certain doom? Of course. Kyle Lowry over everything. At this point, if Kyle Lowry was cast as the lead in a shot-for-shot remake of Adam Sandler’s unwatchable ‘Jack and Jill,’ playing all of the main parts himself, I would not only pay to see the movie, but fully expect to enjoy it. Kyle Lowry would not allow that movie to lose (though he would undoubtedly be unfairly snubbed of a nomination by the Academy despite critical support). All of this is to say that Ramon Sessions, Darren Collison and the Boogie-less Sacramento Kings didn’t stand much of a shot against such a supernatural power last night.
The Raptors win against Sacramento was fitting, as they broke up their 2-game losing skid and continued their streak of having never lost 3 straight games since the Rudy Gay trade with the aforementioned Kings of Sac-town. Lowry lead the way with 27 points, 13 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. The game saw the Raptors offence continue to steamroll, their defense continue to slip, someone from the bench continue to step up and play a major role and gave us a bit of a better idea of what this team is going to look like in DeMar’s absence.
It’s hard to believe that this Raptors team is winning so consistently with offence, but at a certain point the sample size is going to be too big and too convincing to question. Let’s hope it continues, because Amir’s mobility is vacillating between 60-80% on a nightly basis with his ankles. The Raptors often rely on his ability to hold the defence together inside. Sacramento kept bringing him out to the perimeter banking that his traditionally reliable inside help might not make it. They were right. Valanciunas is still figuring out the verticality rim protection concept. He challenged some key shots down the stretch of last night’s win, but he also gave up some layups in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. The wings in the starting rotation are getting caught helping or trapping for open 3s, which the Raps are lucky the Kings didn’t take more of. Interior defense outside of Jonas-Amir continued to be an issue in each of the myriad lineups that Casey rolled through. Leaving defense behind though, as the Raptors have done this season, let’s look back on that offence.
The Dino’s shot 50-43-90 from the floor last night. While you don’t get the benefit of playing Sacramento every night, the Raptors unconventional offence has truly figured itself out. As I talked about on the most recent Raptors Weekly podcast, the Raptors offence, hampered in past seasons under Coach Casey by a lack of movement and systematic approach, is perhaps ideally designed to survive the loss of a major contributor and high-usage scorer like DeMar DeRozan. Instead of operating around a flurry of side-to-side pick and rolls, zipper screens, horns sets or drive and kicks, the Raptors run a variety of pet plays around simple screens, pin-downs, hand offs and post-ups designed to get individuals open looks or isolation shots from the specific areas on the floor where they’re most comfortable. Those plays look a little different for each person because each player has a different spot and different type of shot that they’re most practiced at. Add to that how they’re getting to the line more than anyone in the league except for Sacramento (which was true last night too, as Sacramento took 37 free throws compared to Toronto’s 21), Jonas and Amir’s ability to stay near the league lead in putbacks and how effective the bench has been in transition. It’s unconventional in its individual approach, and it’s tailor made for the specific skill sets on this team. It’s not reliant on one player’s ability to create plays for himself or others. DeMar’s looks have gotten redistributed between Vasquez, Lowry, Ross, Valanciunas, Williams and James Johnson. Ross feels like he disappears for entire stretches, but like we’ve seen in his consecutive 20-point games, he can suddenly hit two quick threes and then dribble off the line for a jumper for a burst of offence. If Lou Williams isn’t hitting, and with the great games from a heat-check scorer like Lou come the brick-laying deep cold games like last night where he gives action exclusively to the ignored, embarrassing far corners of the backboard, then you look instead for James Johnson to exploit his physical advantage, as he did for 19 points last night.
Last night saw the offence rely heavily on Lowry for stretches. While equally fierce and determined as he was in the loss to the Lakers, he was more settled and considered. Lowry looked like he was trying to shoulder too much in LA, making up for DeMar’s loss. Against Sacramento he shouldered just as much of a load, but did it as part of a team incorporated plan. Kyle Lowry forced Sacramento to take Darren Collison out of the game, continuing to punish the slighter point guards of the league while consuming them defensively. Lowry’s weight in the offence was most pronounced to close out the game.
A once comfortable 4th quarter lead had been chewed down to one or two possessions thanks to Derrick Williams annual 10 minutes where he actually looks like the #2 overall pick. It came at the help of Patrick Patterson who, while playing a brilliant stretch of minutes offensively, steadfastly refused to box Williams out at first and eventually stepped that up to refusing to stand within 10 feet of his man. Somewhere between 5 and infinity Derrick Williams dunks ensued. But I digress.
The game was on the line, and the team did one thing for every possession in the final 4 minutes. Flatten out at the baseline while Kyle did his thing up top. I loved it. I wouldn’t want to see this in every close game, but I don’t think anyone on either team doubted it was going to be the case last night. Casey drew up two plays out of timeouts where either Valanciunas or Amir would sprint out to set a high screen. The first, with Valanciunas, freed Lowry up to drive to the hoop. The second, with Amir and run on the Raptors last two possessions, allowed the Raptors to get a favorable switch with Derrick Williams onto Lowry. Lowry beat him the first time with a step-back when Williams hung back, and went around him when he countered to play up on the next set. That dude is sheer force of will. Many of those possessions would have normally gone to DeMar. While it visibly exhausted Lowry to take on such a big burden, and that’s one reason why you wouldn’t want one person doing it every night, it’s an example of how Toronto’s offensive design is able to adjust to the loss of one piece.
On to the next one.
