The Miami Heat and Toronto Raptors just became the ninth series in NBA history to go into overtime in the first two games of the series. Needless to say, because this is the Raptors, things were both far more difficult than they needed to be, and about as weird as fathomably possible. At least the Raptors won this one, evening the series 1-1 before it heads to Miami for Game 3 on Saturday.
Here are some post-game notes and quotes.
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For the second game in a row, Jonas Valanciunas was one of the Raptors’ most effective players, if not their best. He shot 7-of-9 for 17 points with 12 rebounds, and the Raptors were a robust plus-17 in his 38 minutes on the floor.
“I think he’s definitely the reason why we won this game tonight,” DeMar DeRozan said.
“He’s great, man. He’s a man-child down there,” DeMarre Carroll added. “I told Jonas, if I can just get him to play as hard as he do on offense on defense, we’ll win this whole series. But nah, he’s been great. Jonas has been playing really great for us, man. He’s dominating his matchup and that’s what we need for him to do.”
It’s definitely what they need him to do, especially as the star players continue to struggle from the floor. It naturally begs the question of why Valanciunas isn’t seeing even more touches.
“Yeah. That’s what we gotta do, man. We gotta try to get him the ball more ‘cause every time he gets it, he’s scoring,” Carroll said.
“We can always include him more,” Lowry agreed. “But tonight it was just one of those games where he was setting great screens. He didn’t try to ask for the ball, he just went and did it. And that’s just the growth in him. ”
Dwane Casey acknowledged that it would be ideal to get him more second-half touches, pointing out that Valanciunas has improved in a number of key areas. That includes getting his own looks without having plays called for him, and the Raptors’ strategy to get around Miami’s elite rim-protection sees their ball-handlers “midgeting,” which makes post-ups a little clunkier to call.
“We would. Whiteside has done an excellent job with just throwing it inside to him and his post defense,” Casey explained. “We can find more touches for him down there but I think he’s doing a heckuva job, screening, rolling, in-between game is probably what it’s going to be.”
In other words, everyone wants to leverage Valanciunas more, but it’s not immediately clear exactly how they go about that beyond reading and reacting better to his presence within the flow of the game. Valanciunas doesn’t sound too worried about it.
“You can’t just be taking all the shots,” he said. “One day you have three shots and then all of a sudden the ball just falls in your hands. You have to keep playing. We are playing a team sport, not an individual sport.”
The Heat, meanwhile, sound like they’re going to be throwing extra bodies the big man’s way if his play continues.
“His physical play, we have to match that, exceed it at home,” Erik Spoelstra said.
“He’s a load,” Dwyane Wade said. “He’s a very physical guy, loves to bang, he loves that game down there. We’ve gotta be able to do a better job on him rebounding the ball, we’ve gotta try to move him a little bit. When they get offensive rebounds, they’re a tough team to beat. We have to do a better job as a whole to get down there, when he has our bigs boxed in, to try to come to help them get the rebound.
“He was huge tonight, for them.”
That’s been a theme more often than not in the playoffs, and Valanciunas deserves a world of credit for helping keep the offense afloat with inexpensive offense while the stars figure things out.
Will the stars figure things out?
Lowry and DeRozan had another off shooting night, combining to shoot 16-of-48 with just a single three and five made free throws. Lowry looked a little more comfortable early and late but Whiteside’s presence and a wayward jumper remain issues, while DeRozan now has a right thumb issue making his already difficult assignment a little tougher.
“It’s just something I’ve gotta deal with,” DeRozan said, wearing some sort of oven-mitt like protection.
Lowry tried to be more aggressive, and he was in pretty good spirits thanks in part due to some big shots late.
“I felt great,” he said. “I got so many phone calls and texts from people that just care about me in general. Fellow NBA players and just friends of mine. Just supportive. And then knowing I have the support of my teammates, I just had to come out there and just have fun and be myself.”
He wasn’t himself shooting, but once again, the Raptors were much better off with him than without him – in the 6:07 he sat, the Raptors were outscored by six points. That’s been the trend all playoffs, and while a single game or two can skew things, it’s pretty clear Lowry is finding ways to impact the game outside of his shooting.
“I’m encouraged,” Casey said. “We’ve got to take it, we can harp on the negatives and beat that drum, beat it to death, but we’re finding ways to win and that’s very encouraging. They’re not going anywhere so we’ve got to continue to go with them, find ways to help them get easier shots that hopefully gets their rhythm. There are other ways to win other than shooting the basketball and I thought Kyle contributed to that, DeMar contributed to that.”
The shooting and scoring, well, that may come or it may not. Whiteside is a major factor in that regard, one that non-Valanciunas Raptors haven’t quite figured out yet.
“I think everybody’s hesitant when you go in against him,” Lowry said of Whiteside, laughing. “hat dude, he covers a lot of space. And you gotta respect it. It’s not hesitant of me, it’s like he’s a hell of a shot blocker and defender. So I just gotta be in the right spot and trying to figure out the right positions to even get the ball on the glass.”
Assorted
*Casey called Carroll “the savior tonight, offensively.” It was a really good showing at that end for Carroll, and while the defense was up and down (partially a function of the quality of competition), he was stellar down the stretch.
*Casey admitted the team needs to find a way to move the ball a little more, which, uhh, yeah. “We are not getting a lot of movement. That is one of the issues. Pick and rolls, everyone is standing.” He noted it’s been much worse in the second half of games, which is curious considering how well the Raptors started out. Why get away from that?
League’s lowest AST/FGM ratio in the regular season was 51% (TOR).
Raptors (42%) & Heat (33%) combined for 37% through 2 games.— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) May 6, 2016
*The Heat lamented their turnovers, with Wade saying he’s happy with the offense beyond those miscues and Spoelstra crediting the Raptors for being “a good, disruptive team.” “I feel like if we don’t turn the ball over 20-something times, we’ll be fine,” Wade said. He might be on to something, with the Raptors’ offense struggling in the half court as it has.
They’ve played 7 vs #3 D and 2 vs #7, but this is concerning. Half-court only rates even more troubling. https://t.co/8bxTljVEWx
— Raptors Republic (@raptorsrepublic) May 6, 2016
*Both teams seem pretty content with the 1-1 split considering neither has really been at their best yet. The goal for Toronto now has to be a 1-1 split in Miami.
*Asked about when they may play a normal game, DeRozan started saying “When we do” before Lowry interrupted with “IF we do.”
