Raptors 905 100, Iowa Energy 110 | Box Score
It would have been tough for things to start out much worse for Raptors 905 on Tuesday. Coming off of a pair of shaky showings against a strong Canton Charge team, the 905 seemed primed to lay down against a beatable Iowa Energy squad struggling on the offensive end. What’s more, while the 905 are out their top star and rebounder in Ronald Roberts due to injury, the Energy were without their counter, Alex Stephenson, who’s with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Instead of coming out afire to shake off the recent slide, the 905 looked ready to call it a three-game losing skid and move on to Delaware early. Before you could say “Pierre Henderson-Niles,” the 905 were stuck 17-4, incapable of hitting a shot or stopping much of what Iowa had to offer. It looked much different than the last time these two teams met, when the 905 turned in one of their more complete performances in a 98-94 win.
To their credit, the 905 showed better once down than they did Sunday, slowly clawing their way back into the game. By the end of the first quarter, they had trimmed the early lead down to seven, a gap they maintained into halftime. A steady third quarter built to a 9-0 run as a crescendo late in the frame, and the 905 took their first lead of the game on the deepest of Bruno Caboclo threes. They entered the fourth up 75-74, with momentum, for however much you believe in it, firmly on their side.
At this point, it should be noted, the game had already run over two hours due to a ridiculous number of foul calls, the primary source of the 905’s offense. Having budgeted time poorly, I had to duck out for a few hours to give my brother a lift somewhere, and I managed to avoid “spoilers” before settling back down to watch the fourth. Someone should have warned me.
It’s not that the 905 played poorly down the stretch, as they managed to add 25 more points against the league’s fourth-ranked defense. Those points almost came in spite of themselves, though, as six turnovers – the usual suspect in 905 losses – allowed Iowa to dictate a frenetic pace. The 905 shot 8-of-19 in the quarter and 3-of-10 from outside as they fell behind and then tried to shoot their way back in, and not even three offensive rebounds could help make up for some of the careless miscues.
An opponent nabbing five steals for seven points in the final frame is a bad look, and the league’s most turnover-prone squad finished the game with 21 miscues, 13 of them live, for 24 points. That erases a lot of the good of 42 free-throw attempts, especially when 14 of those go awry and it’s the only spot on the floor a team can hit from.
At the other end, part of Iowa’s outburst was simply hot shooting. The 905 are fine with surrendering threes so long as they come later in the clock and are the result of the rim being sealed off, but that’s a strategy that’s susceptible to high variance. On a night when the team’s closeouts are a little slow and their stunts ineffective, it can result in a 14-of-28 night for an opponent, like Tuesday. Add to that the Energy getting to the line nearly as much, and not even a phenomenal night on the defensive glass (39 of 41 rebounds) and forcing turnovers (15) can lift a defensive performance.
The Energy opened the fourth on a 9-1 run and really didn’t slow from there, a decidedly disappointing end after two-and-a-half good quarters of pulling back into it. Some nights, Andrew Harrison just goes off for a 31-6-6. Some nights, your entire bench can’t buy a bucket (3-of-12). And some nights, your top young prospect commits five turnovers and exhibits some poor shot selection that under mines his 18-point night (this is Bruno Caboclo, if that’s not clear).
Scott Suggs was able to provide some steady scoring, and Shannon Scott had a rare strong shooting night to go along with the usual stout defense and trouble initiating the offense. Meanwhile, Sim Bhullar (16-and-16) kept up his double-double streak without making much of an actual impact, beyond the one he had on this net.
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Again, the 905 didn’t play egregiously bad save for the game’s opening five minutes, but that puts you in a position where perfect basketball is needed the rest of the way, and the 905 aren’t at a point where they can reliably play perfect basketball for long stretches yet. The game wasn’t without it’s encouraging signs, the foremost of which were the passing from Caboclo and Bhullar, and all D-League games have to be viewed through the lens of, well, development.
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I’d be willing to bet there’s a sense of frustration growing at the recent backslide after such a strong, sustained stretch of play. Hopefully that’s not the case, or not for long. Bumps in the road were going to resurface, and learning how to respond to new adversity is the next test for a fledgling team that spent the first half of their season simply learning how to win.
They’ll get another chance to bounce back on Friday against Delaware, and they’ll get two more shots at Iowa on March 11 and 12.
