The only way one might’ve conjured up that Raptors-Spurs ending is if a Raptors fan and Spurs fan got together and complained about their former stars. Both taking the worst version of each and creating a small pocket of the game; Kawhi Leonard’s 2-12 first half, and DeMar DeRozan’s sobering finish. It would seem the basketball Gods can be exceptionally cruel, and DeRozan’s separation from the weirwood’s up North did him in.
DeMar extended breaking up with ex metaphor, saying Raps – the ex – “still look fine as hell.”
— (((Eric Koreen))) (@ekoreen) February 23, 2019
The Raptors opened the game up with one of their most potent first quarters from downtown this season, hitting 6-14 from beyond-the-arc and accounting for over 65-percent of their overall made shots in the quarter. The Spurs trended in the other direction, scoring half their buckets in the paint. DeRozan opened the game up for the Spurs, attacking Serge Ibaka out of the pick n’ roll for an and-one. Pascal Siakam found room to show off his flair and sprawling athleticism in the open court, as he’s wont to do. LaMarcus Aldridge made his only two shots early on, as Ibaka played incredibly good defense on him for the length of the game – more on that later.
Lowry drove the offense in the first half; Nash-ing the pick n’ roll, driving into the teeth of the defense (for the first time in awhile), and finding the open man. The Raptors displayed some particularly good secondary passing, finding open looks with aplomb. OG Anunoby kept up his recent hot streak from downtown, knocking in a triple after some crisp side-top-side action.
Leonard was stymied in the first half, with Patty Mills taking on a unique Lowry-esque role in guarding him. Mills was really getting into Leonard with the rest of the Spurs plenty engaged and ready to help. The outcome was a pretty ugly first half of shooting from Leonard, and a heap of frustration. It’s at times like this in the game that you really shake your head at the reluctancy to use the pick n’ roll. One of Nick Nurse or Leonard are suppressing this play-type, and honestly, limiting the offense. Leonard flashed a bit of his proclivity toward taking difficult mid-range jumpers, often times after he had meandered into double-teams. Great game-plan from the Spurs and a delayed reaction from Leonard/Nurse.
Ibaka had a tough time with his shot in the first half, but he never relented on the glass. He ate up 5 offensive rebounds (10 total), creating a heap of extra possessions for the Raptors. Possessions that the Raptors turned into 3-point attempts, which buoyed their offense in the first half. They hit a sterling 12-22 from downtown in the first half, four of the makes coming from 3-point contest participant, Danny Green.
Oh yeah, DeRozan also hit one of the craziest shots of the season:
All in all, the Spurs actually crept out of half-time with a 1-point lead (56-55) over the Raptors. The Spurs shooters injected a bit of punch into the game as DeRozan probed in and out of the Raptors defense before finding them. Jeremy Lin flashed some chemistry with Ibaka, and Gasol with Powell. There was pretty clear frustration on the Raptors part, even though this looked to be one of Lowry’s most active games of the New Year.
Leonard and Siakam went to work in the third quarter. For Siakam, it was an extension of the rest of the game, and for Leonard it was a fresh start. Both of them headed towards the rim, Leonard with relentless effort, bowling through the lane and contact. Siakam, picking mismatches and abusing them, even seeking out DeRozan – who is a famously bad post defender – and bullying him under the rim for an and-one. They combined for 11 free throw attempts, and poured in 20-points between the two of them. Siakam even busted out a Giannis-esque euro-step that some were calling the “Antarctica step” for the unusually large amount of space it created.
Siakam created nearly 10-feet of separation on this move, that’s mind-numbing. He almost spanned half the world-record long jump while decelerating, and jumping sideways.
We also got to witness a Davis Bertans miss from downtown, which is incredibly rare. He was instilling fear into the hearts of Raptors defenders, causing wild close-outs and general disarray. The threat of his lights-out shooting from downtown (48-percent) provided existential dread to the Raptors perimeter defense. After the Spurs turned up the heat from downtown in the second quarter, the Raptors would be remiss to allow a second explosion from downtown. The Spurs had a good time driving against a constantly shifting Raptors defense and returned back to the warm confines of the paint, DeRozan included.
DeRozan said he was seeking out Lowry on switches… “but Kyle’s fat ass know how to guard me obviously.”
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) February 23, 2019
Even with the Spurs spending more of their time in closer proximity to the basket, Ibaka still hamstrung Aldridge. Even though DeRozan had a sterling line of 23 and 8 on nearly 60-percent shooting, Aldridge was the All-Star selected from the Spurs, and Ibaka pushed him out of the paint, denied him post-position, and kept him off the glass all night. Many lamented the fact that Ibaka got the start prior to this one, clearly favouring Gasol in this matchup, but Ibaka made his case tonight. He owned his matchup and greatly affected the outcome of this game.
The fourth quarter is where most of the intrigue of this game will come from. It featured heartbreak, controversy, triumph, and at it’s ending, closure.
Jeremy Lin showed some serious chops, managing the first 6-minutes of the final frame and shouldering the bulk of the offensive load. He created most of his looks out of the pick n’ roll, well within the framework of the Raptors offense, holding down the fort until Leonard would check back in and close the game out.
Watch Lin leverage the threat of the pick n’ roll into a straight line drive to the bucket. He uses Gasol’s gravity perfectly, making it so that White playing him to his left-hand is actually worthless, if he can beat Poeltl to the glass, he can finish with whichever hand he prefers.
On the other side, the Spurs had a very influential bench player of their own, Jakob Poeltl. Meeting Lin’s clinical operation on the offensive end was Poeltl’s high-IQ defense and overall floor presence. His rapid quick feet helped him keep up with the very active line-up of Powell-Lin-McCaw-OG-Gasol. Overall, the former Raptor put up 8-points and 9 boards in 17 minutes. He was great.
However, this game did come down to DeRozan vs. Leonard, in a sense. After DeRozan patiently probed all game, dissected double teams, sprayed the ball to shooters, and found himself winning against a team that looks to be far better than his own, Leonard got the better of him. Leonard, who started the game 2-14, closed the game out shooting 6-9. The defense got a little bit grimier, Nurse got ejected, and Leonard dug his heels in and got buckets. DeRozan got Leonard with a pump-fake under the hoop with roughly 5 minutes to go, but that was the last bucket he’d get on the night.
Even when Leonard struggles, there’s a sense of inevitability about his game. He generally seems to get his due, and for a supremely gifted competitor like Leonard, his due is usually pretty good. We got to hear “The Raptors past against Raptors-present” blare through the broadcast as Leonard spun off DeRozan’s shoulder for a gorgeous post-fade. Siakam – fittingly – got a put-back in the final minute to put the Raptors up, as he continues to show his incredible ability to be THE guy and to defer to whoever is THE guy at the moment, while also being a terrific complimentary player.
DeRozan worked the baseline before finding Marco Belinelli for a three-pointer that might’ve won the game, save for all the drama. All the stars had aligned, it was a dance between a host of great players. Instead, we got mayhem.
Sad Things and Controversy
Most everyone has seen it. The Spurs were up 117-116, there was 20 seconds left. DeRozan was dribbling up the floor, scanning, but paying a great deal of attention to his primary defender, Leonard. DeRozan’s best friend in the world, Lowry comes over to double, when these two lock eyes, Leonard pokes the ball loose. In all that mayhem, DeRozan falls to the ground and the combination of Lowry and Leonard strip DeRozan, and Leonard takes off the other way for the game winning dunk. To see DeRozan fail in that way was gut-wrenching, and felt like we were robbed of the potential of big-shot making between Leonard and DeRozan.
Kawhi was asked if he & Lowry talked through the trap on DeRozan beforehand: “No, just chemistry. Just us playing with each other. He told me he saw me go to poke at the ball, end up getting a hand on it, and he said he was coming right away. We ended up getting the steal”
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) February 23, 2019
There’s likely a tiny smudge on the L2M (Last 2-minutes) report for this game, as it really did seem like Leonard committed a back-court violation on the inbounds pass. Would the Spurs have hit a game-winning shot? Who knows, teams don’t generally hit game-winners at a high clip, and the team with the lead usually wins. With that being said, it was a pretty clear call to miss, and I understand a bit of frustration on that end for Spurs fans.
On a night where DeRozan received 6 combined minutes of standing ovations while putting up good and meaningful numbers, he still didn’t close the deal. No one has ever closed the deal for the Raptors, there’s never been a championship here. DeRozan isn’t alone in that, but you can’t help but feel that this was a fitting bookend to most things DeRozan and the Raptors.
DeRozan: “I think tonight was just that last little piece of closure for me – to be able to come back here, see familiar faces and get that burden off my shoulders. So it was cool.”
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) February 23, 2019
If you missed the tribute that the Toronto Raptors organizations cooked up for DeRozan, here it is:
If you’re a new Raptors fan by way of Jeremy Lin, here are his specific highlights:
If you liked anything I said, or hated it, you can follow me on twitter to read more or to yell at me.
Have a blessed day.
