Photo by KarynStepien.com
Raptors 905 98, Windy City Bulls 95 | Box Score
Assignees: Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, Bruno Caboclo (905), None (Bulls)
It would have been understandable if Raptors 905 came out a little flat on Thursday. Even on Fan Appreciation Night, the team’s last regular season home game of the season had little at stake. The 905 have locked up the league’s best record and home court throughout the playoffs, and their collective focus is as much on heading into next week’s postseason healthy as it is maximizing their final win total.
But coming out flat hasn’t really been in the makeup of this team, and head coach Jerry Stackhouse, while willing to concede a lighter practice week ahead of the season-ending back-to-back, surely wouldn’t suffer it lightly. Plus, team-level stakes aside, there were reasons for individuals to put their best foot forward: Negus Webster-Chan, thrust into more duty as the minutes of rotation players were trimmed, needed to make the most of that opportunity; C.J. Leslie and Yanick Moreira are potentially fighting for their playoff roles; and a trio of Toronto Raptors assignees were looking to shake off rust from some recent inactivity.
“Guys are kinda on showcase right now, these last few games, to show who’s gonna play the way you need ‘em to play,” Stackhouse said before tip-off. “Nobody’s penciled in except maybe Edy, Brady, and EJ. Everybody else, you gotta come out and perform and work for your minutes.”
Perhaps it shouldn’t have been surprising, then, that it was the assignment players who came out a little flat relative to their 905 counterparts. Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam didn’t quite have their usual energy out of the gate, and Bruno Caboclo was rusty early after missing four of the last six games with a shoulder injury. Were it not for Brady Heslip opening the game hot – he hit a pair of floaters in the paint and a pair of threes to keep the offense humming – the 905 may have wanted for scoring. As the bench players filtered in, the offense came around moderately, with Moreira hitting the glass and Leslie unleashing a few nice moves in attack mode.
Even a slightly lethargic start only infected the offense, though. The 905 – assignees and otherwise – looked themselves on defense, employing their suffocating style to frustrate the Windy City Bulls early. Short on experienced offensive players, the Bulls tried to push the tempo in order to get a groove at that end, and the 905, the D-League’s slowest-paced team, didn’t have much trouble locking down in step. Windy City shot 42.9 percent for the first half, and while the teams entered halftime tied at 44, those totals came on 45 possessions.
Had the 905 not coughed up a few possessions, the Bulls would have found scoring to be even tougher. Short of Alec Brown, there really wasn’t a ton Windy City was creating, and their attempts to push the pace occasionally backfired, with Siakam once leaking out for a dunk and on another occasion spurring a Heslip pull-up in transition with a block at the rim.
The second half opened a bit more lively on the Bulls’ side, and their offense finally began to get some traction. The 905 were put on the ropes a little bit until VanVleet flipped a switch, ultimately scoring 13 of his team-high 24 points with four of his nine assists in the third quarter, the bulk of them over a five-minute stretch in which he completely took over the game. That kept the proceedings close enough for Christian Watford to preserve a tie entering the fourth with a huge three as the shot-clock expired late in the frame.
VanVleet handed the reigns off to Heslip for the fourth, and the D-League’s most prolific 3-point shooter answered with a pair of quick triples (he finished with four, for 18 points), but it was another assignee who took over the game after that.. Most of the starters filtered back in midway through the quarter, and Siakam’s energy proved an effective burst – a rim-run resulted in a foul, he busted out a spin move in transition, and then he converged with Leslie for a stop underneath the basket. Even when Siakam made a mistake, turning the ball over on a simple reset up top, he sprinted the length of the floor and destroyed the ensuing layup attempt (it was filthy), then followed it up with another block. Then he made an on-ball steal and took it coast-to-coast for a dunk, grabbed a huge defensive rebound, and finished a lob from E.J. Singler the other way.
He was everywhere late. It feels silly to just write a play-by-play, but he was involved in almost every single play, and it was impressive. He finished with 22 points, seven rebounds, and four blocks in 32 minutes, scoring 11 of those points in the fourth. That he essentially sealed the game by grabbing a huge offensive rebound and drawing a foul in the final minute was a fitting night-cap.
Not that the endgame was a certainty – the 905 led by just three with the shot clock off late, and a replay review overturned an out-of-bounds call and gave the Bulls the ball with a chance to tie. Caboclo and Singler navigated a pick-and-roll to force a scramble, and Brown missed a pair of heaves from three in the closing seconds.
It wasn’t perfect, but while Stackhouse conceded that you want to blow every team out, nobody seemed too disappointed with the effort.. The 905 held the Bulls to 95 points on 92 possessions and 43.1-percent shooting, which isn’t too bad, and they matched energy in a punch-for-punch game that really didn’t matter all that much. If nothing else, no bad habits appeared to be creeping in, they got through the game healthy, and they’re one step closer to turning their focus to much more important games.
“We’re excited,” Stackhouse said. “Excited to finish up strong tonight, tomorrow in Delaware, then it’s for real.”
Notes
- Bruno Caboclo didn’t look entirely comfortable in his first game back, but he was entrusted to close the game out at power forward, and he responded well defensively. He finished with eight points, five rebounds, and two steals in 25 minutes.
- Pascal Siakam had some really nice defensive possessions throughout here. The Bulls were clearly aware of him in transition, and he really gears up to play helper near the rim (part of the reason I think he’s best off as a small center long-term). He high-walled effectively on a few side pick-and-rolls, and while he’s probably still helping off of his man too much when stationed on the perimeter, his length and quickness make that palatable at this level. He owned the fourth quarter defensively, primarily at the five.
- Encouraging quote from speaking with Siakam on Wednesday: “It’s not a secret what I need to work on, and I know that. I know what I need to work on.” He’s a worker, and even in limited 905 time, it’s showing. Remain patient.
- Fred VanVleeet has a really keen sense of when to take control of an offense and when to sit back pinging passes around and letting others get involved. It’s a very Kyle Lowry-ish instinct, and it’s one of the big reasons he’s been able to be dropped into these 905 lineups without the team losing a step. (Getting to play Brady Heslip off-ball is a pretty nice luxury, too.) It’s unclear if VanVleet will see playoff time with the 905, but they shouldn’t be concerned about a disrupted chemistry or flow if he does (especially with Will Sheehey hurt, which makes the idea of playing
- DeMar DeRozan was in attendance with his daughter to support the assignees. DeMarre Carroll was there, too.
- Stackhouse took the mic before the game and thanked the fans, staff, and John Wiggins and Shelby Weaver in particular. Those two deserve a world of credit for the success of the entire 905 operation, from the D-League Showcase to the day-to-day to the on-court product. Stackhouse was also wearing these:
Asked Stack about these shoes. “Women can’t have all the fun…but it’s shoeicide, I can’t wait to get ’em off.” https://t.co/fYG4daB1F7
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) March 31, 2017
- With the playoffs on the horizon and this game being entirely meaningless from a 905 perspective (like, seriously, not a thing about it mattered), Antwaine Wiggins and Axel Toupane sat out for rest. Will Sheehey was also inactive, as he’s out for the season with a dislocated elbow.
- Brady Heslip will rest tomorrow (he won’t even travel to Delaware). Stackhouse joked that he wanted to get Edy Tavares a day off but Tavares wouldn’t take it, and that Toupane wanted a day off but he won’t give it to him (obviously, he did).
- The 905 put a Central Division Champions banner up at Hershey Centre:
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) March 30, 2017
- For those looking ahead to the first round of the playoffs, the 905 schedule is as follows:
- Game 1: April 4 if @ Fort Wayne, April 5 if @ Canton
- Game 2: April 8, 7:30 at Hershey Centre
- Game 3: April 11, 7:30 at Hershey Centre (if necessary)
