The above-freezing temperatures aren’t the only thing making Toronto (or Mississauga, as it were) feel like it’s not December. On Sunday, Norman Powell made it feel like it was July, turning in a terrific performance for Raptors 905 that was reminiscent of his All-Tournament Team performances at summer league.
Powell scored a franchise-record 30 points in the 905’s 105-94 victory, taking over for long stretches and adding a rebound, three assists, and two steals in 34 minutes. He shot 12-of-18 from the floor, eschewing some of the difficult mid-range shots he was guilty of taking Saturday for aggressive attacks to the rim, forays on which Delaware found him to be unguardable. He was also tasked with helping lock down a pair of difficult 87ers wings in Sean Kilpatrick and Jordan McRae, players who have killed the 905 in their previous two meetings.
One of those losses came Saturday, when the 905 watched a 20-point lead disappear. Head coach Jesse Mermuys talked after that game about the team needing to learn how to win still, and it was nice to have an opportunity to try again against the same opponent just 24 hours later. Where Saturday’s lead gave way to frenetic offensive play and slippage on the defensive end, Sunday saw the 905 remain composed down the stretch. They bent, with their nine-point lead entering the fourth shrinking to two with 7:18 to play, but they responded out of a timeout and settled down for the win.
“We were the first ones to punch and we kept that up for 48 minutes,” Powell said after the game.
It’s a pretty remarkable turnaround for a team that’s really struggled to take care of the ball in close games. They still finished with 13 turnovers but only committed four in the second half, more or less the opposite of Saturday. That allowed their transition defense to stay coordinated and force the 87ers into looks later in the clock, which served to frustrate. Delaware shot 41 percent from the floor and went 8-of-30 from beyond the arc, getting few of the open looks that resulted from over-help on Saturday.
McRae and Kilpatrick combined for 36 points but needed 39 shots to get there, an outcome the 905 will gladly take. Christian Wood got his with a ridiculous 21-and-20 performance opposite a 16-and-16 from Ronald Roberts, who remains an absolute beast (he’s averaging 17.6 and 12.5 while shooting 65.6 percent). Really, the defensive glass is the only area that could have used some work Sunday, with the 87ers grabbing a quarter of their own misses as 905 wings occasionally failed to crack down in support of an out-of-position help defender. Otherwise, the 905 stayed tight on a string, and they doubled aggressively at the point of attack to force 17 turnovers, 14 of them of the live-ball variety.
The 905 know all too well how turnovers can lead to offense the other way, and they used that to great effect with the script flipped. Shannon Scott turned in an excellent performance running the offense in the absence of Delon Wright, dishing eight dimes to go with seven points, seven rebounds, and four steals. He pushed in transition and then steadied things if nothing easy presented itself, deferring to Powell or Scott Suggs (21 points off the bench) to create. Scott’s a defense-first player who plays within himself on offense, and when he has secondary ball-handlers on the floor with him, good things happen at both ends.
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Powell was the primary story on offense, though. He’s incredibly fast and tough to stay in front of when he attacks, even if defenders can be relatively certain he’s going to drive on a straight line, north-south to the rim. His passing off the bounce wasn’t as crisp as it could be and he had a couple of miscommunications with teammates, understandable on his second day with the team. That’s an area he’ll need to continue to develop given his less ball-dominant role at the NBA level, but the Raptors will surely be encouraged by his performance creating for himself and the aggression he showed in doing so.
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He also displayed more of an ability to cut through double-teams than he has in the past, impressive considering the amount of defensive attention he was facing. When seams didn’t present, he also flashed a ridiculous step-back move.
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Primarily a prospect for his defense – he played much better on that end than Saturday, save for one bad lapse on a McRae three that stood out – Powell doesn’t need to do a ton on offense to project as a rotation player. He can guard three positions, can cause havoc in transition, and just needs to be a non-negative in half-court sets to have value. It would be great, given the parent club’s roster construction, if he could shoot the three, but failing that, it’s still good to know he can score against near-NBA caliber opposition.
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It was less of a positive day for the other two assignees. Bruno Caboclo was 0-of-7 from long-range and 2-of-11 overall, struggling to a six-point night in 34 minutes. He was solid on the defensive end, using his length well on the ball and to disrupt as a helper, but he had a tough night helping on the glass, grabbing a lone defensive rebound.
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Anthony Bennett, assigned before the game, struggled despite scoring 13 points, shooting 5-of-16 in 24 minutes and standing as one of the few Raptors with a negative plus-minus on the night.
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At least he had this moment.
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Bennett struggling shouldn’t be all that surprising or disappointing. He’s played 48 minutes on the season and made two appearances totaling five minutes since Nov. 13. Powell struggled in some areas Saturday, and Wright and Caboclo have had good and bad nights. For all the work Bennett puts in, and it’s substantial, there’s no substitute for game action. That’s why Bennett asked to be sent down, and even the poor shooting night won’t detract from the benefits of getting appreciable run in a real game environment. From here, Bennett can continue to build and learn, with the speed of the game no longer looming as a shock if the Raptors have to call his number.
In the meantime, the rest of the 905 will keep building and learning, too. Sunday, they may finally have learned how to close out a tight game, a lesson that will serve them well moving forward.
