Photo by MattAzevedo.com
Raptors 905 114, Texas Legends 108 | Box Score
Assignees: Delon Wright, Bruno Caboclo (905), None (Legends)
With a one-point lead late in the fourth quarter, Raptors 905 head coach Jerry Stackhouse called for a familiar play, looking to Axel Toupane to create in a loop play. The Texas Legends defended well, and Toupane continued the swing of the ball around the perimeter. It found its way into the hands of Delon Wright, and the Toronto Raptors sophomore darted toward the left side of the key. As the Legends’ defense collapsed, Wright fired a terrific pass to Brady Heslip in the weak-side corner, and as Heslip is wont to do when left unattended, the Canadian knocked down the three.
The triple not only put the 905 ahead by four with 26 seconds to go, effectively sealing their seventh victory in a row, it also perfectly summed up the 905’s approach to this one entirely: Ball movement above all else, passing up looks for cleaner ones, and a subtly terrific performance from Wright in his first live game action since he dislocated his shoulder and tore his labrum at Las Vegas Summer League on July 16.
Wright’s performance probably deserves first billing here, even if the stat-line was muted. Facing a minutes restriction, Wright played 22 minutes, shooting 3-of-7 from the floor on his way to a 10-point, four-assist morning. After missing his first layup attempt – an airball he caught and was whistled for a travel on – Wright found a quick groove and looked every bit the player that was making a case for NBA minutes at the end of the last season. It’s going to take him some time to get back to where he wants and ultimately needs to be, of course, but this was as strong a debut as he could have hoped for. Not only were Wright’s vision and passing in full form, he was physical defensively and used his anticipation well to block a pair of shots and come up with a key on-ball steal. His amoebic drives to the rim, changing tempo and direction unpredictably, helped open up the floor, and his teammates responded by making use of the space and keeping the ball moving in kind.
“I think it’s our theme,” Stackhouse said. “It’s kind of the mantra of who we want to be. Drive, kick, swing it, and turn down a good shot for a great shot.”
The 905 finished with 24 assists on their 42 field-goal attempts, something that’s become a staple of their attack, and eight different players recorded at least one assist. With the ball zipping around, a game Legends defense was left to chase in hectic fashion, and being even a beat slow on occasion allowed the 905 to either knock down threes – Heslip was 6-of-12 but everyone else was 2-of-14 – or attack a seam to get to the free-throw line. Heslips’s hooting led to 24 points, and Toupane continued to exploit every tiny gap given to him, shooting 8-of-12 for 19 points.
“I just think it’s speed and angles. The way he’s able to navigate little slivers of space. And just his quickness and balance,” Stackhouse said of Toupane’s effectiveness. “He has really good balance. If he was a little more, I dunno, athletic, maybe he’d catch more eyes with more dunks, but I think he finishes at such an efficient and high clip, that has to be noticed as well. But you know how it is, Sportscenter, they want the big highlights. I told him, he’s gotta run up there and dunk a couple and then maybe get that 10-day we’re looking for.”
That the 905 were able to continue this style of play was impressive given the nearly wholesale changes to the lineup. The presence of Wright and Bruno Caboclo – the latter had a very strong defensive showing and added nine rebounds and four assists despite a wayward jumper – saw Stackhouse change four pieces in his starting lineup. The unit that’s had so much success of late became the bench unit (save for the center position, where Edy Tavares started and once again used his size for an efficient 15 points, nine rebounds, and three assists), and it operated similar to the Raptors’ vaunted bench mob. Heslip’s shooting was paired with secondary attacking from Will Sheehey, who took over a stretch in the third quarter, and Yanick Moreira had one of his better offensive nights.
“It’s different when we have assignment guys, because I try to keep that first unit that we’ve started with and had some success with, try to keep that group together,” Stackhosue said. “I think it’s a good way for us to find a rhythm and keep a little bit of continuity with what we’ve been doing.”
Playing that style in the D-League requires a certain level of selflessness and buy-in, and it’s those traits that have defined the 905 season so far. They’re now 19-7, all but assuring Stackhouse and company will coach the Eastern Conference All-Stars next month, and there’s little sign they’re slowing down.
With that said, things aren’t perfect yet, and a six-point home win against a .500-team is sure to provide film fodder for the flight to New York later in the day. The 905 missed several opportunities to pull away in the second quarter, for example, with a handful of careless turnovers and a few missed looks from outside. Their defense also struggled with Manny Harris at times, and the former Cavalier and Laker finished with 35 points despite strong defensive efforts from Toupane and Negus Webster-Chan, who drew the start after multiple games inactive. Even within the game, they showed improvement, and their team defense on a late Harris attempt to win the game was pristine.
“We’ve had some moments where we’ve really been tied in, and I think we’re getting more consistent with that,” Stackhouse said. “That’s a hell of a team, man. They’ve got three pros, and I talk about it a lot, professional scorers. Manny Harris is a professional scorer.”
The 905 answered the call, holding the Legends to 43 percent shooting and hammering them on the glass. That’s something they continue to do, and even if it’s not always seamless, it’s leading to wins a lot more often than not, even on mornings when the rotation is thrown for a loop. It certainly helps when the player mucking up the rotation plays as well as Wright, and he could be a major factor in pushing the winning streak to nine in a Friday-Saturday back-to-back.
Notes
- Edy Tavares shot a technical free throw. It was weird, even if he is shooting nearly 75 percent from the line.
- The attendance was announced as 5,174, and I’m confident that 5,000 of those were children, 4,900 of whom spent the entire game screaming, and 4,800 of whom are firmly in the soprano range. It was loud. It made for a fun atmosphere, as these school-day games always tend to.
- Delon Wright told me he’ll be staying with the 905 through Saturday’s home game, giving him at least two more tune-ups on top of this. It would stand to reason that Bruno Caboclo will likewise stay down, given that the parent club can probably make due without both when they return home Friday. Wright could probably contribute now, but with Toronto’s guard depth (even with DeMar DeRozan out) and Fred VanVleet playing well, they have the luxury of letting Wright get completely up to speed here.
- I mentioned Caboclo earlier, and his stat line is sure to draw eye rolls, but he’s really coming along defensively. He made a number of smart reads in help defense and recovered on a string, and his on-ball defense is improving. There’s still a long way to go, and I understand that some would like to see him dominating on offense, but he’s at least still making progress, which is important.
- I’ll have something more substantial on Wright for The Athletic tomorrow, but man, he is good. I’ve long maintained he could already be playing NBA minutes, and even in his first game in over six months, he looked the part. His path to minutes is really tough, but Raptors fans should be excited about Wright’s potential.
- If you wanted to go to Saturday’s game – or any game – you can go to this link and use the promo code REPUBLIC905 all season long, as the 905 are hooking RR readers up with discounted tickets (including for the Air Canada Centre game in March).
- On a personal note, it was #BellLetsTalk day at Hershey Centre. I shared some things in a thread here (you’ll have to open it to see the full thing, based on the way the tweets embed):
Bumping this #BellLetsTalk thread, because tweet-storming at 6am probably missed some. The more we all talk, the more support we’ll all have
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) January 25, 2017
