Photo by MattAzevedo.com
Raptors 905 94, Reno Bighorns 81 | Box Score
Assignees: Bruno Caboclo (905), George Papagiannis (Bighorns)
At Thursday’s D-League trade deadline, Raptors 905 general manager Dan Tolzman opted to stand pat. Despite the loss of Axel Toupane to the Milwaukee Bucks on a 10-day contract, the specter of other potential call-ups hanging over the team, and a likely dearth of assignees from the Toronto Raptors over the next few weeks, Tolzman’s message was clear: This is the roster that’s gotten them to 29-9 (now 30-9), tops in the entire D-League, and this is the roster that can push for a championship, with the depth to withstand any additional promotions.
On Friday, the 905 went about proving Tolzman justified in the faith he showed.
Facing a Reno Bighorns team that’s much more dangerous than their 13-25 record because of their experience, ball-handling, and the presence of intriguing Sacramento Kings prospect Georgios Papagiannis, the 905 stumbled out of the gate, finding themselves in an early hole. Perhaps channeling the parent club Raptors from a few hours earlier, they took off in the second as head coach Jerry Stackhouse mixed units, bringing Antwaine Wiggins and a highly effective Yanick Moreira in to play with E.J. Singler and the red-hot Brady Heslip.
In a flash, the 905 had built a 17-point lead, with Heslip’s napalm from beyond the arc providing a major spark. That lead held at 15 entering halftime, and the Canadian had already poured in 19 points on five triples, thanks in part to some slick kick-outs from Moreira and steady ball movement around the perimeter. As he’s wont to do, Stackhouse had already gotten points out of all nine players who had entered the game, and it looked as if the 905 were well on their way to another drama-free victory.
The Bighorns’ experience reared its head in the third quarter, though, and Kendall Marshall dished five third-quarter assists to goose the Reno offense. A 12-1 run put Reno firmly back into the game, forcing Stackhouse away from his starting group once again. Heslip kept up his hot shooting, though, and Wiggins and John Jordan brought a timely spark to help settle things and push the lead back to nine entering the fourth.
That’s a comfortable margin, especially against a Reno team that no longer plays at the breakneck pace it became known for a few seasons ago. In fact, the Bighorns hit fewer threes than all but one other team in the D-League, which made it surprising when Reggie Hearn just kept firing to try to shoot the team back into the game. With Marshall setting teammates up for quality looks, Reno embraced the high-variance game, but a final shooting mark of 8-of-27 on threes and 36 percent overall left them short, as did an aversion to the free-throw line. The 905 defense had little issue staying in front of attackers and limiting Reno to the outside, and it was really only Papagiannis (17 points) and David Stockton (20) who made use of Marshall’s creating (13 points, 13 assists).
At the other end, the 905 went back to Moreira some early in the fourth quarter, looking for sources of offense inside that also let them slow the pace of the game down as Heslip came back down to earth. They scored just nine points over the first nine minutes of the fourth as a result before Christian Watford – who hadn’t played until the fourth – hit a bit of a dagger three at the end of the shot clock to put the team up 10 with two minutes to play. Two possessions later, Heslip knocked down his eighth three of the night to finish with 33 points on 10-of-21 from the field and effectively end the game.
It wasn’t the normal flow to the game for the 905, with Heslip carrying such a heavy scoring load, but it’s impressive that they’re finding different ways to win this late in the year. Here, it was their defense doing the bulk of the work, with a major rebounding advantage proving important. The usual ball movement was still present despite only 18 assists – six different players had at least two – but you feed the hot hand when Heslip’s shooting like that. Will Sheehey struggled from the floor but still made a positive impact on the defensive end, Singler continued to prove an important piece at both ends, and Watford added a nice, unexpected spark down the stretch.
Stackhouse has long preached depth and contributions from up and down the roster, and despite the heavy reliance on Singler and Heslip here, it continues to be the mission. Tolzman bet on that same depth to carry the team if their ranks are trimmed further by the Pyrrhic victory of call-ups, and if Friday was any indication, that bet seems to be a safe one. The 905 are at the top of the D-League, and it’s going to take more than one promotion or an extended road trip to shake them from their groove now.
Notes
- Bruno Caboclo had a quiet night at the offensive end, scoring nine points on 3-of-6 shooting and chipping in six rebounds. Tee 905 were a minus-4 in his 25 minutes and a plus-_ in the 23 minutes he sat, with Caboclo shifting back to power forward for the better part of the night opposite a smaller Bighorns team that starts three natural point guards. The quickness proved a bit of a problem for him, while Papgiannis was a bit too strong. It wasn’t a terrible night for Caboclo, to be clear, just a quiet one, and one in which he didn’t factor into the rotation during the stretch run.
- It was a similarly quiet night for All-Star Edy Tavares, at least by his standards. He finished with five points, 12 rebounds, three assists, and three blocks in 27 minutes, and it was clear the Reno guards were deterred from attacking the paint when he roamed near the rim.
- Renaldo Major plays for the Bighorns, which is fun since he’s the D-League’s all-time leading scorer. That is perhaps the weirdest distinction one could own short of the Crash Davis minor league home run record. Shout out to Renaldo Major.
- The Bighorns’ mascot is named Bruno. Between the first and second quarter, he was shot in a slingshot, and if his journey succeeded, he would win a young fan a signed picture of Scot Pollard. As much as this all sounds like a D-League mad lib, I promise you it is true. I love this league.
- The 905 are short on home games once they’re back off of this trip, but if you wanted to attend March 13 at the Air Canada Centre, or March 18 and 30 at Hershey Centre, you can go to this link and use the promo code REPUBLIC905 for a discount. And yes, that’s it for home games. They’ve already played 22. Not that the road-heavy end to the season should scare them given their 15-2 record away from home so far.
