Raptors 905 106, Erie Bayhawks 96 | Box Score
It’s an organization-wide phenomenon: Nobody can lose.
With the parent club Toronto Raptors tying a franchise record with their ninth win in a row on Tuesday, the D-League affiliate Raptors 905 turned around and extended their own franchise-best streak to five games on Wednesday morning. Tipping off at 11 a.m. in front of a raucous Hershey Centre crowd that was filled with literal bus-loads of energetic, screaming children, the 905 continued their recent upward trend, especially at the defensive end of the floor.
“I thought we played well from the jump,” head coach Jesse Mermuys said. “We were locked in. it was a good start.”
A good start it was. The Bayhawks matched energy early, with both sides looking far more eager than the tip-time would have predicted. Eric tried to get Minnesota Timberwolves assignee Adreian Payne going early on, testing the 905’s defensive will with a surging Sim Bhular at center. Like with all Erie shooters who weren’t Tyler Harvey, the 905 did a nice job on Payne, forcing him into 1-of-7 shooting primarily on long twos. Erie shot 8-of-20 as a team in the frame, got chased off the 3-point line, and coughed the ball up six times against an aggressive front.
Meanwhile,t he 905 looked for Bhullar early and often, helping build a 26-18 lead after one in large part because of his six points and the attention he drew in the paint. That point of strategy would continue with four more points for Bhullar in the second quarter. He’d finish with 10 points, two rebounds, and a plus-12 mark in 20 minutes, continuing his own individual upward trend that, perhaps not surprisingly, has coincided with the team’s.
“He’s had a string of really good performances and there hasn’t been any let up,” Mermuys said. “He’s been a force for us. When he’s playing like that, it’s nice to have him on the floor.”
While the offense didn’t change much in that second quarter, the defense did, with Raptors assignee Norman Powell working to lock down Harvey and deny him the ball. Powell had a quiet scoring night with five points on 2-of-4 shooting, but he played well as a secondary ball-handler, dishing six assists, and was a force on defense, grabbing eight boards, notching two steals, and making life difficult for Harvey, who would finish with just nine points in 27 minutes. Lucas Nogueira also made a big difference on defense, turning away five shots in 28 minutes to go along with nine points, four rebounds, and three assists.
Those contributions were paramount, and yet they weren’t at all the story.
The second quarter saw Axel Toupane take over with 14 points on perfect shooting, and he’d continue to roll for the remainder of the game. Like with Bhullar’s steady improvement, Toupane is building off of a very strong defensive base and becoming a serious difference-maker on offense for the 905. He finished with 30 points on 10-of-14 shooting, his second 30-point night in three games, and added six rebounds and four assists. Initially a versatile defense-first piece, he’s gained more and more ball-handling responsibility, proving a difficult check for D-League wing defenders.
“I think I needed a little time for adaptation,” Toupane said. “Coming from Europe, it’s different basketball. I had to get some experience in the D-League, and now that I’ve got it, it’s all good.”
That kind of internal growth has been palpable during the winning streak. Ronald Roberts (10 points, nine rebounds, two assists) continues to provide steady two-way production while he awaits the call from the NBA, but for some time he was the lone consistent piece. Bhullar has become more functional, Toupane has become a bonafide call-up candidate, and the team’s defense has eliminated enough mistakes that potential has become production.
“Being a young team, we had a lot of things to learn,” 26-year-old “veteran” Scott Suggs, the team’s other steady offensive producer through the earlier nine-game losing streak, said. “I think not just myself but all of us have done a better job communicating with each other, so our rotations have been better defensively. I think that has been the biggest thing for us.”
Considering the 10-18 Raptors, still last in their conference despite the streak, rank ninth in defensive rating, that’s accurate. Holding Erie, an admittedly bad team itself, to 38 points in a half is an encouraging feat. The final defensive line didn’t look all that great, as a hot second half and some relaxation with a large lead late conspired to see Erie shoot 50.6 percent, but they hit just five threes and were forced into 16 turnovers. Had the 905 not gifted them 24 points off of 21 turnovers themselves, a persistent issue that hasn’t been ironed out like some others, the Bayhawks would have been held to even fewer than 96 points on their 94 possessions.
The slight second-half bounce-back for Erie was somewhat expected. Teams are going to make runs, and even a lead as large as 25 can’t be considered safe just yet. The 905 have lost in a myriad of ways, including failing to answer when a team pushes back, and Wednesday was yet another chance to exorcise a demon that presented itself in an earlier loss. Erie pushed, the 905 responded to hold the fort, and only a sloppy last few minuteserroneously made the game seem within reach
Even with the tougher transition stands and late slippage, the 905 are growing happy with what they’re becoming at that end. Not that their happy, in general.
“We still have a ways to go. We haven’t done anything yet,” Mermuys said, sounding a lot like his NBA counterpart. “But at the same time, we envisioned defense first, just like the Raptors, trying to turn defense into offense, making defense a priority. We’ve had some good defensive performances. We have a ways to go but we’re playing pretty well.”
And just like the Raptors, the 905 seem unbeatable right now. With the post-Showcase tipping point that breaking the long losing streak represented, the 905 continue to improve, build off of the lessons they learned losing, and win games in the same ways they would have lost them just weeks ago.
Next, they’ll get a chance to avenge their most recent loss when they visit Delaware on Friday.
