Terrence Davis gets yelled at then steps up | Ibaka filling in the gaps with injuries | Raptors losing a lot of man games to injury | This and that about injuries
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCzoh1nXdm8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taqi4bZ1cqE
10 things: Terence Davis and Serge Ibaka lead Raptors to scrappy overtime win – Yahoo!
Two — Redemption: Nick Nurse took his frustrations out on Terence Davis after losing to Portland. Not only did the undrafted rookie only play eight minutes, but Nurse went the extra mile to say that it was five minutes too many. Nurse then traded tough love with trust as he gave Davis his first career start. So how does Davis respond? He delivers a career-high 23 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, while making huge plays in overtime. He nailed back-to-back threes to give the Raptors the lead, then found Serge Ibaka streaking ahead for the game-winning free throws. Was it an ill-advised pass that could have cost Toronto the game? Sure. But one of Davis’ best traits is his youthful exuberance. He’s never afraid of the moment and he’s certainly not backing down from a bit of finger-wagging from Terry Rozier.
To say Davis responded to the challenge would be an understatement. Nurse not only challenged Davis but also thrust him into a position in which he’d have no choice but to perform immediately. Davis got the nod for his first NBA start, operating in a three-guard lineup in which the Raptors would need to depend on him plenty as an attacker and scorer.
Davis scored 13 points in the first quarter alone, hitting a pair of 3s, tipping home a putback and driving for an emphatic dunk and-one. He was a little quieter in the middle quarters before stepping up once again late, working with OG Anunoby and Patrick McCaw to completely lock down the Hornets on the perimeter and opening overtime with consecutive 3s. He finished the game with career highs of 23 points and 11 rebounds and nearly matched other career bests with five assists and a plus-20 mark. (McCaw joined him in the career-high binge with 11 assists; Davis, McCaw and Ibaka all registered double-doubles.)
Plus-minus can be a fickle single-game statistic, but Davis has consistently helped drive positive runs for the Raptors, particularly since the most recent spate of injuries. He’s second only to Malcolm Miller in net rating (plus-12.8 points per 100 possessions), and most advanced metrics that try to control for elements of variance and regress outlier performances are very fond of his play. He’s also outperforming the bulk of his rookie class, ranking sixth in true-shooting percentage (60.9) and second among qualified shooters in 3-point percentage (39.8, which still ranks fifth with a loosened volume cutoff). In other words, he’s a likely bet for the Rising Stars Game at All-Star weekend.
It begs the question of why Davis hasn’t consistently run with big minutes, averaging 22.1 over the first seven games of this (and it’s so weird that we have to specify which) injury period and playing 13, 16 and eight the three games prior to this one. Nurse has built up more than enough benefit of the doubt at this point, turning in a half-season worthy of strong coach of the year consideration — to the extent that you can look past the occasional decision that seems disagreeable at first blush. Davis’ role was harder to look past than, say, not making offence-defence subs late, but Nurse has begun to establish a balance he likes between carrot and stick as a motivator.
“With me, as you’ve seen already a few times this year, I’m gonna rattle your cage if you deserve to have it rattled,” Nurse said. “But I’m gonna put my arm around ya the next day and get on with it because I believe in the kid. It was only in his and our team’s best interest to do that, so we did that.”
Considering Davis’ path to this point, it was probably a safe bet he’d respond so well.
Takeaways: Raptors’ Terence Davis comes up big with career night – Sportsnet.ca
After Toronto’s defeat against Portland on Tuesday, Raptors coach Nick Nurse called out Davis’ performance from that evening and his previous two.
“He’s not playing very well, it was probably five [minutes] too many,” Nurse said when asked about Davis’ eight minutes of action on Tuesday.
Nurse had a point as Davis had only scored 12 points on 4-of-13 shooting over his past three contests coming into Wednesday night, including his particularly putrid zero-point effort Tuesday.
As such, there were questions coming into Wednesday regarding what Nurse might do with Davis and how the undrafted rookie might respond.
The answers: Nurse gave Davis his first start in place of the injured VanVleet; and a career night followed for Davis, who scored 13 in the first quarter and got the Raptors uncorked in overtime, scoring their first six points – back-to-back triples, no less – and collecting a pair of key defensive rebounds in the period.
After the game, Sportsnet’s Eric Smith caught up with Davis and asked him about Nurse’s comments from the night before and the way he responded to them.
“Obviously, my play was terrible the last few games,” Davis said. “I take that as a challenge. What he said there, I loved it. All of my coaches throughout my career have been like that, straightforward, no sugar-coating. And that’s the way you want when you’re a player. And the great thing about it is in this league you have games after games. So we had another game the next day which was a blessing in my eyes.
“So I just wanted to come out and show Nick Nurse and the Raptors I can play a little bit.”
Added Nurse, speaking to reporters after Wednesday’s game, about Davis: “He was really good. And he knows that this isn’t easy to figure out who to play with all of these guys out constantly … With me, as you’ve seen a few times already this year, I’m gonna rattle your cage if you deserve to have it rattled, but I’m gonna put my arm around you the next day and get on with it because I believe in the kid. It was only in his best interests and the team’s best interests to do that and we did it.”
Game Recap: Toronto Raptors gut out win over Charlotte Hornets in overtime, 112-110 – Raptors HQ
Davis’ scoring was so necessary given how starved the Raptors were for shooting. Anytime the starters weren’t on the floor (tonight’s unit was Davis, Lowry, Anunoby, Ibaka, and Patrick McCaw), Toronto’s production on offence went off a cliff. Chris Boucher was a -13, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson was a -16, and Matt Thomas was a -15 in the ballgame — that’s not an indictment of how they played on the whole, but shows just how critical Davis was to holding up the offence.
It was also an excellent showing for Serge Ibaka. You can argue he was the reason this game went to overtime in the first place — on Charlotte’s last possession, he grabbed the jersey of P.J. Washington before the ball had been inbounded, giving the Hornets a free throw to tie it and another chance to win it. Still, his line doesn’t lie: 23 points, 11 rebounds, two assists, and two blocks. Ibaka was part of the run to wake the Raptors up at the end of the fourth and a key part of overtime, scoring six of Toronto’s 12 points in extra time and burying the game-winning free throws with 5.1 seconds left.
The rest of the Raptors’ starters got into double digits in scoring as well. Lowry had 15 and nine assists, Anunoby had 19 on 8-of-13 shooting, and McCaw had 13 on 6-of-10 shooting. The three-time champ even had a little resilient moment of his own. One night after his bounce pass ended in a brutal turnover late in the game, he rolled this one through traffic to put Toronto up in OT.
Looking beyond the Raptors, this game was surprisingly entertaining from the get-go. It had its harried moments, but the Hornets were able foils for Toronto — much more energetic and fun to watch than the Blazers last night. (Part of this is the awesome audio setup in Charlotte, with all the crosstalk and squeaks coming through loud and clear on the broadcast.)
Miles Bridges couldn’t miss a three in the first half, as he put in 6-for-9 overall and scored 26 points. Terry Rozier, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen early on but made several back-breaking shots late to get to 27 points. Efficiency for their stars ended up being Charlotte’s downfall in this one — Rozier and Devonte’ Graham combined to shot 12-for-39 from the field and 8-for-23 from three.
In the end, the Raptors get to feel good heading into three days of rest. Their next game is in Toronto against the Spurs on Sunday afternoon, after which they get another two days before a road outing against OKC.
Hornets fall short in overtime to Raptors, 112-110 – At The Hive
Terry Rozier dominated the overtime period. Devonte’ Graham turned the ball over on the Hornets first possession of overtime, but Rozier tracked down the breaking McCaw and stole the back before finding Graham for a 3-pointer. He scored all seven of the other Hornets points in overtime. The problem was the Hornets inability to get stops. Terence Davis hit back to back 3-pointers to flip a three point Hornets lead into a three point Raptors lead. Serge Ibaka put the Raptors up two with a dunk with exactly one minute to play. Rozier answered by taking Ibaka to the rack to re-tie the game.
87% free throw shooter Kyle Lowry missed a pair of free throws that would’ve given the Raptors the lead. But the Hornets couldn’t capitalize, as Rozier’s 3-point attempt when begging. The Raptors were able to run out off the miss, and the Hornets fouled Ibaka in a scramble. He hit both free throws to put the Raptors up two with five seconds left. Rozier got a decent look at a potential game winner, but it was just a bit wide.
The Hornets played wonderful offensive basketball from start to finish. The ball never stopped moving and every possession was full of extra passes. They finished with 30 assists on 38 made shots.
PJ Washington stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and two blocks. Malik Monk came off the bench to drop a team high seven dimes. Cody Zeller scored 14 off the bench. Dwayne Bacon played well within the team concept despite his relatively quiet stat line.
After going 0-for-2 on their brief home stand, the Hornets are off on a Western Conference road trip. That start in Utah on Friday.
Charlotte Hornets vs. Toronto Raptors game report | Charlotte Observer
Beyond the numbers
Wednesday was as short a rotation as Borrego will use and pretty rare for any NBA team. Dwayne Bacon, Malik Monk and Cody Zeller were the only reserves. With Marvin Williams out (recovering from a procedure following a nasal fracture) Borrego chose not to use Cody Martin or Nic Batum.
Rick Bonnell is a sportswriter/columnist for the Charlotte Observer. He has been in Charlotte since 1988, when the NBA arrived, and has covered the Hornets continuously. A former president of the Pro Basketball Writers Association, Bonnell also writes occasionally on the NFL and college sports.
Nurse’s willingness to show players tough love pays off in big OT win | Toronto Sun
“Being a rookie and hearing that, that’s what you like. You’ve got to be important to them (for them to say that). I’m all for that,” Davis said.
“All my coaches have been this way,” Davis continued. “If you want to see a different Terence Davis, this is what it takes right there. Calling me out on the spot, you’re going to see determination for sure.”
That we did. Davis was right into the fray throughout, including when Ibaka hit two late overtime free throws after missing his previous three attempts (and right after Lowry had uncommonly missed a pair). Davis pumped his fist after Ibaka nailed the first.
Teammates were thrilled to see Davis come through.
“I think it’s huge for him as a rookie. I think everybody kind of takes constructive criticism well and he responded well,” McCaw said.
“I’m proud of him, happy for him and he has to continue to build off of this game.”
Both Lowry and Ibaka had gotten off to poor starts, going 1-for-5 each, but Davis stepped up and McCaw did a nice job running the offence until they started hitting.
Toronto also struggled to defend for much of the night, but ratcheted things up several notches down the stretch and throughout overtime. The Hornets kept punching back, but Toronto had answers.
Nurse called Davis out Tuesday night, saying the 22-year-old undrafted rookie — heralded earlier in the season as another diamond-in-the-rough find by the Raptors — was not playing very well. In his three games before Wednesday, Davis shot 30.8 per cent from the field, 12.5 per cent from three and totalled just 12 points.
Davis took the back-to-back games as a blessing and went into Wednesday night with an aggressive mindset that translated into 13 points in the first 10 minutes.
“Coach told me I had the start before the game,” Davis said. “I just took that as motivation. Just wanted to come out and do the best I can.”
He finished with 23 points, a career high, and added 11 rebounds for his first career double-double
Raptors coach Nick Nurse has been at his creative best through all the team’s injuries | The Star
The load management of Kawhi Leonard from a season ago presented challenges, but nothing like the ones Nurse has faced this year. Creativity is no longer a luxury, it’s a requirement to get through the day. It’s the second week of January, the season is almost half over, and there have been two games when Toronto’s core was at full health. Despite it all, the Raptors sit fourth in the Eastern Conference after a 112-110 overtime win in Charlotte on Wednesday.
Of the projected eight-man rotation at the start of camp, only OG Anunoby has missed fewer than six games. The rest — Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, Norm Powell, Patrick McCaw, Serge Ibaka, Pascal Siakam and Marc Gasol — have been cycling in and out. Every time one player returns, it seems like another goes down.
“It gets frustrating at the beginning of it, but it’s life, right now,” Nurse conceded this week. “I don’t like to live frustrated. I don’t get out of bed saying, ‘oh, darn, Fred’s not playing tonight.’ I just got to accept what you got. And try to start get your wheels turning on how the rotations are going to look, and who can guard who, and what defences you can play.”
Nurse is quick to point out one man’s injury is another man’s chance and there have been seemingly endless opportunities to hand out of late. Toronto has used 17 players this season and only two — Shamorie Ponds and Dewan Hernandez — haven’t been called upon for a significant role in at least a couple of games.
When Nurse took over as head coach he was billed as someone who would think outside the box. Traditional game plans remained present but were often used as the starting point for something more unique. During last year’s championship run, each series saw different lineups and approaches based on the required style of play. Toronto had the talent, Nurse helped it gain enough versatility.
Ibaka has stepped up for Raptors with Gasol and Siakam sidelined | Toronto Sun
If the Raptors handed out an award for best teammate, Serge Ibaka would be high on the list. He’s a proud, established veteran who has willingly accepted a move to the bench ever since Marc Gasol was acquired. His buy-in was a big part of the success of last year’s team.
Ibaka was off to another good start as a reserve, but has taken his game up several notches since Gasol went down and he was re-inserted into the starting lineup.
Entering Wednesday’s game against the Hornets, Ibaka had reeled off six straight double-doubles and he’d averaged 17.3 points and 10.7 rebounds over his last 10 games overall.
“He’s been good,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said earlier Wednesday.
“The increased minutes are certainly helping him, driving those numbers up. He’s probably our number two choice at the offensive end at this time, which moves him up a few slots (from when the team is at full strength. “He’s done a few more things: We see a lot of the pick and pop or the short jump shots or whatever, but he’s offensive rebounded a little better he’s gotten to the rim a little better (than before),” Nurse said.
On practice days Ibaka can often be found working after teammates have finished on his outside shooting and low post moves with assistant coaches.
“He’s shown the left hand a few times driving down the lane so it’s been good he works. Nobody works harder than Serge on his game each and every day. And some of the things he’s working on are (on display lately) and that’s good to see.”
In Toronto, the defending-champion Raptors shed light on the future of NBA defense – CBSSports.com
No team switches its defensive coverages more frequently than Toronto. Nurse used a box-and-one and a triangle-and-two in last year’s Finals, and while the Raptors had never tried those schemes before, they had spent the regular season cultivating flexibility. As defending champions they have been much more adventurous, mixing in various zones and changing their coverages not just game to game, but minute to minute. If you are not close enough to hear their calls, it can be tough to tell what they’re doing.
“We’re constantly trying different things,” Miller said.
In November, coach-turned analyst Stan Van Gundy broke it down on NBA TV with admiration:
Stan Van Gundy breaks down Nick Nurse’s innovative defenses. Raptors, by the way, are the No. 1 team in the league in opponent field goal percentage. pic.twitter.com/ZI6Fd088LE
— William Lou (@william_lou) November 26, 2019The results have been spectacular: Toronto is second in defensive rating, allowing 103.6 points per 100 possessions, succeeding despite not only the departures of Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green in July but injuries to virtually all of its significant players this season. At 24-12, the Raptors are fourth in the East and will be aiming higher when burgeoning superstar Pascal Siakam, defensive mastermind Marc Gasol and spark plug Norman Powell return.
Nurse said his adjustments are personnel-based. Different opponents demand different styles, and Toronto can play all sorts of different lineups, with different strengths to accentuate and weaknesses to camouflage.
“I just don’t think one size fits all,” Nurse said.
On offense, Nurse wants his team to play basketball like jazz. He plays piano in his office, and he brought up Thelonious Monk in his first presentation to the team. On the other end, he has “very strong pillars,” Gasol said. Regardless of what scheme they are in, Nurse wants the players to be organized.
For fun guy Serge Ibaka, physical touch is never out of fashion | The Star
He’s got the Mafuzzy Chef thing going on and a YouTube cooking show that serves up everything from worms to brains to pizza with a bull penis topping, and he hosted a rollicking dinner party with a trio of other high-profile athletes that was one of the centrepieces of the Christmas Day game broadcast.
He’s got his budding fashion empire going on — always turned out in some spiffy duds entering or leaving the arena.
He’s quick with a smile and well thought of by his teammates, because he seems to be just a good guy to be around.
But his worth to the team really manifests itself when he steps out of that nice-guy, wide-ranging character and becomes this ornery, physical, intimidating presence all over the court.
“I think always with Serge it’s: Is he moving and active at the rim? Is he providing some rim protection? Because ultimately that’s his greatest strength for our team. That’s his greatest role he can play for us,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said of the veteran centre this week.
“When he’s doing that — I always say this — when there’s an active Serge out there protecting the rim, he becomes an intimidating thing and our defence becomes intimidating, and I think those are our highest-level games as a team.”
There is no doubt that Ibaka is the toughest big man on the Raptors roster. Marc Gasol is more cerebral, Pascal Siakam far more athletic, and Chris Boucher is many things but physically intimidating is not one of them.
Armstrong: This a tough stretch for shorthanded Raptors – TSN.ca
TSN Basketball analyst Jack Armstrong chats with Kyle Melo and Sean Woodley about the Toronto Raptors and their continuing injury problems. Jack touches on the rotation, this team’s ceiling when healthy and cause for concern in Philadelphia.
Ellis: Ujiri will always go for it if the right deal is out there – TSN.ca
Leigh Ellis, co-host of The Athletic’s ‘No Dunks’ Podcast, joined Jim Tatti on Game Day. The guys discussed Nick Nurse’s ability to get the most out of his players, the Raptors’ role in the upcoming NBA Trade Deadline and which individual players could be on the move come deadline day.
The Raptors have emphasized getting their NBA players out to 905 games, but that’s something they’ve wanted to do anyway, citing the brotherhood that’s been created among those who took the G League path.
VanVleet, Powell and Siakam, now NBA Champions, are perhaps the league’s finest examples of that route. There have been times when they questioned why short minor-league stints were such large parts of their narratives, but time has offered them the benefit of perspective. Their collective success has served as a blueprint for a large part of the basketball population.
“It does mean something. I don’t know how to quantify that, exactly what it means, but I think the biggest thing is now it’s transcended just us,” VanVleet said. “It’s around the league. I start to get that from other players and new guys coming into the league and they’re following it, organizations are following it. I had a writer from Cleveland telling me about how (Collin) Sexton and those guys are looking at us. Some of the guys for the Heat, I got to speak to them, they watched us do it. I would have never thought twice about it. So to see that, and to see other guys taking the G League route, whether that’s an envious thing, or, ‘OK, those guys aren’t that good, I can do it,’ or, ‘They are good, let’s see how to do it,’ it means something that we’ve done it and now people are following suit.’”
And they are not alone. As of Friday, 56 percent of players on NBA rosters had G League experience, including 16 of the 30 players in last year’s NBA Finals.
The Raptors bumped that number a little higher Monday by using it for a Matt Thomas rehab assignment, pushing the number of Raptors with G League reps to 11, plus three coaches and one other coach who spent time there as a player. Stanley Johnson, who played a single G League game with Grand Rapids in 2016-17, requested to join Thomas. As a fifth-year player, Johnson had to give his permission and get union approval for the assignment. But when the schedule lined up, he jumped at the chance to shake off some of the rust he was still carrying after weeks on the shelf with a stress reaction in his groin.
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