Terence Davis shines like a rising star.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zscn6ay3ebs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqjMzp6MCVE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL1sH3hfVEs
“We ended up putting him on (Pacers’ play-making big man Domantas) Sabonis in the fourth, and he did a great job on him in single coverage,” Nurse said. “Sabonis made a couple, but he made him work. He was giving everything he had to get those in the basket.”
To his point: Sabonis made every shot he took in the second half, but he managed just four of them, despite playing 22 of 24 minutes. With Marc Gasol still out of the lineup and Ibaka unable to play every minute — although he nearly matched Sabonis in the second half — someone has to take that role. The ease with which Anunoby and his teammates, and Siakam in particular, were able to switch assignments was almost balletic.
They cannot do that, though, if Anunoby cannot go from guarding brutes to speed demons and back again. However, Anunoby cannot do that, at least in the most competitive and meaningful games, if he is not at least competent and decisive on the other end. One possession after the earlier travel, Anunoby again got a kick-out pass from VanVleet. This time, Holiday was not so quick to get back, and Anunoby did not hesitate with a 3-pointer.
It came in bunches after that. He got to the free-throw line courtesy of an end-to-end fast break off his own rebound. He added 11 of his 16 points in the third quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers — one without a pause, one after he sidestepped a closeout — and a dunk off a smart off-ball cut. That one came seconds after he took the ball from Malcolm Brogdon, one of five steals he had in the game.
10 things: Terence Davis steps up after Kyle Lowry suffers whiplash
Three — Rally: The Raptors staggered in Lowry’s presence, as the offense went scoreless in the remaining three minutes of the third. That created a perfect opportunity for the Pacers to avenge their humiliating defeat on Wednesday where they choked a 10-point lead in two minutes, but Lowry’s teammates rallied in the fourth quarter. Toronto dialed up their defensive pressure in the fourth and held Indiana scoreless for three-and-a-half minutes, while the Pacers struggled to contain Toronto’s multi-dimensional attack.
Four — Surprising: Terence Davis stole the show in the fourth quarter, where he scored 11 of his 17 points on the night. Davis drained a three, drove inside for a layup over two defenders, slipped behind the defense for a cutting and-one finish, crashed in on the weak side for a putback dunk, followed up a drive from Fred VanVleet for another baseline jam, and capped it off with a hit-ahead layup to VanVleet that stretched the lead to a dozen with 87 seconds left. The best part of Davis is that he just isn’t afraid, and his confidence keeps rising by the game. He can shoot it, he’s athletic enough to finish above the rim, and he can hold his own on defense. Davis is the best surprise of the season.
Five — Mentality: Davis was asked about injuries after the win, to which he answered: “Perseverance. This team has always been next man up … it’s in our DNA, man.” That’s the story of the season right there.
Two days after rallying from a 19-point deficit to extend their franchise-record winning streak, the short-handed Raptors used another late charge to pull away from Indiana 115-106 on Friday night for their 13th consecutive victory.
“I thought we were into it the whole 48 minutes,” Nurse said. “I thought we were playing well enough to maybe get away. You know how those games come down to somebody hits a couple at one end, somebody misses a couple at the other and all of a sudden the game’s over.”
Lately, the Raptors seem to have had all the answers.
They’ve won without Marc Gasol and Norman Powell, two key players who are injured. They won Wednesday when it looked as though they didn’t have a chance. And this time, they delivered the decisive final flurry without six-time All-Star Kyle Lowry.
Lowry missed the final 14 1/2 minutes with what Nurse described as a whiplash injury.
And yet, the Raptors still managed to beat the Pacers for the second time in three days, win their first game in Indianapolis in 13 months and head home with their 10th consecutive road victory.
“We just won the previous game when they were up, just like this,” Terence Davis II said after scoring 17. “We didn’t want to make the same mistake.”
Instead, Serge Ibaka scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to help the Raptors keep their perfect mark intact for at least one more day. Fred VanVleet added 20 points and seven assists for Toronto, which hasn’t lost since Jan. 15.
For the Pacers, it was another excruciating loss.
Domantas Sabonis finished with 19 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Pacers, and Victor Oladipo added 15 points and four assists in his first home start since returning from an injured right knee.
Indiana has lost a season-high four in a row, three of those coming on their home court.
“Once again, they just killed us in transition with 27 fast-break points,” coach Nate McMillan said. “We’ve just got to do a better job taking care of the ball, a better job executing our offence and really playing both sides of the basketball.”
Pacers final score: Pacers can’t keep up with Raptors, lose 115-106 – Indy Cornrows
The Indiana Pacers had their losing streak extended to four games as the Toronto Raptors completed the home-and-home sweep with a purpose. The Raptors outscored Indiana 51-43 in the second half, stifling Indiana’s offense late to close out the game. The Pacers led only briefly in this one, spending much of the night battling back and surrendering shot after shot when they managed to cut the game to a single possession.
Indiana’s lone second half lead; opening the half with a Jeremy Lamb bucket that put them on top 65-64, was immediately erased by an OG Anunoby three pointer. The Pacers would tie the game three more times in the quarter, but fell behind for good when four turnovers in their next six possessions, allowing the Raptors to go up by nine on a 9-0 run.
The Pacers finally strung together some stops to end the quarter, but could only muster up five in the final 2:51 to cut the lead to four. Domantas Sabonis cut the deficit to two early in the fourth then proceeded to allow Toronto to score on their next five possessions, holding Indiana at arm’s length with a 101-97 lead.
After watching Toronto torch Indiana’s defense, Myles Turner was put in the game, summarily blocking Terence Davis at the rim. That block eventually set up Doug McDermott for a layup that put Indiana down just two with 6:47 remaining. However, just as Toronto had done all night, they made all the right decisions, finding a wide open Serge Ibaka behind the arc to…well, hit a wide open three.
Terence Davis continues to impress
Terence Davis contributes in a variety of ways every time he takes the floor for the Raptors. He scores when they need him to, defends at a high level, stays ready off the bench and always brings a ton of energy to the court.
He had two highlight plays in the matter of minutes in the fourth quarter, giving Toronto a late spark. First, he blocked this 3-pointer, something you don’t see every day from a guard.
Fears for Kyle Lowry after Raptors stretch record win streak to 13 against Pacers | The Star
Kyle Lowry lying on the Bankers Life Fieldhouse court, writhing in pain and clutching his shoulder, was the worst nightmare imaginable for Toronto Raptors fans.
The heart and soul of the franchise left Friday night’s 115-106 victory over the Indiana Pacers late in the third quarter with what team officials termed whiplash. He will be evaluated further on Saturday before the team faces the Brooklyn Nets at Scotiabank Arena.
Lowry’s injury took some of the joy away from yet another outstanding Raptors performance as they pulled away in the final six minutes to extend their franchise-record winning streak to 13 games.
Terence Davis II, who finished with 17 points, and Serge Ibaka, who had 22, took over in the final few minutes. The undrafted rookie Davis had 11 of his points in the fourth and played the entire quarter.
Lowry finished the night with 16 points and 11 assists, and also moved up to third place on the franchise’s all-time scoring list before departing. He was injured with 2:42 left in the third quarter when he was fouled and fell hard into the leg or hip of Ibaka.
There was another scare earlier in the game for the Raptors, who have suffered a litany of injuries this season. Pascal Siakam was poked in the eye by teammate Rondae Hollis-Jefferson late in the second quarter and spent time in the locker room being examined. He returned to start the second half, but had only two of his 15 points in the final two quarters.
The Raptors haven’t exactly gone through a gauntlet of teams, with nine of their opponents having losing records.
Winning on the road is never a given against any team, however, and the Raptors have done just that against eight teams.
Moreover, a few of their opponents are destined for the playoffs, including the Oklahoma City Thunder and Philadelphia 76ers.
The road win over the Pacers is the most impressive victory of the streak yet, though, and it gives hope that the Raps could very well win the Eastern Conference once again despite a formidable Milwaukee Bucks team sitting in first.
Toronto led for all of the final 18 minutes despite Lowry leaving with 2:42 in the third. Furthermore, the Raps didn’t go into panic mode when the Pacers cut the deficit to two points in the fourth on multiple occasions.
Instead, the Raptors slammed the door shut with a 14-3 run buoyed by two Davis dunks and a three-pointer.
Toronto should be favored in its next five games, four of which are at home and all but one against losing teams.
The league-best Bucks await after that run of matchups, though. That being said, this Raps team looks ready to take on anyone, even when they’re shorthanded.
The untold story of Sarah Chan, the Toronto Raptors’ dynamic new talent seeker – The Globe and Mail
When Chan, from South Sudan, volunteered to help out at a basketball camp in Kenya in 2017, she had no idea she was about to meet an NBA team executive named Masai Ujiri, and that it would lead to her dream job. Ujiri took quick notice of this well-spoken 6-foot-3 woman with obvious high-level basketball training, as she coached and related so authentically with the teens at his Giants of Africa camp.
The Nigerian-raised Raptors president eventually asked Chan about her background. Her life story involved leaving war-stricken Sudan for Kenya, finding basketball, and playing it in the United States and around the world. It included a tryout with a WNBA team and a master’s degree in international relations.
After their 2017 conversation, Ujiri was so impressed, he hired Chan to help organize, coach and scout talent for the growing series of Giants of Africa camps he holds each summer across the continent as part of the foundation he started in 2003. This past fall, Ujiri promoted her to a newly created position. Now she also co-ordinates the Raptors’ three other scouts in Africa to scour the continent to find talent.
“It’s so exciting for me, because if I go to Guinea, Botswana, Senegal or Angola – the least-likely places that people expect – and I find a kid that needs that opportunity, there’s nothing more gratifying than that,” Chan, 33, said recently in an interview at the Raptors Toronto practice facility, where she was meeting with front-office staff. “The trajectory of that player’s life will change, and in turn that player’s community, country and Africa all rise.”
The Raptors pride themselves on having a league-leading presence in Africa.
“There are many Pascals out there, they just need the opportunity,” said Chan, referring to Toronto’s Cameroon-born all-star. “That’s why it’s a huge responsibility to set the stage right for them. Using basketball as a tool to change lives can be an incredible thing.”
Masai Ujiri’s cloudy future casts a pall over a charmed Raptors season – The Globe and Mail
Another rumour sprouted this week after the New York Knicks fired their president. All these off-the-record tidbits have the same basic parameters – that Knicks owner James Dolan has been after Ujiri for years and will do anything to have him.
Two issues – Ujiri is under contract until the end of the 2020-21 season; and Dolan is a troublemaking-verging-on-demented fussbudget with no off switch. Neither man is capable of giving the other what he wants.
There have now been at least four distinct iterations of this story over a couple of years. That Dolan is totally crushing on Ujiri and Ujiri should know that because Dolan won’t stop giggling and flipping his hair whenever they run into each other in the NBA cafeteria.
Commissioner Adam Silver is carrying notes between the two of them and Ujiri keeps saying, “You’re a totally nice guy James but I’m with Larry right now.”
Dolan goes off and has a little pout and eventually screws up the courage to humiliate himself all over again.
You can’t stop the rumours, but you can stop the story. It’s easy. You go out in public, acknowledge the rumour in specific rather than vague terms, scoff at rather than just deny it, and then – here’s the important part – sign a new contract.
Why is Ujiri unsigned?
That is the Raptors’ existential question. No one has ever done a better job. There is no shortage of money. Ujiri already has absolute and final word on every single thing the Raptors do. They can’t swap out a garbage can in the training room without figuring out whether Masai prefers black or red.
Raptors team president joins Trudeau on African search for UN Security Council votes | CBC News
He was a key force behind the Toronto Raptors’ NBA championship win. Now, team president Masai Ujiri has been enlisted to help Canada win a very different prize, one Prime Minister Justin Trudeau most certainly covets: a seat on the United Nations Security Council.
Along with political staff, an ambassador and a cabinet minister, Ujiri was part of Trudeau’s first meeting during the trip — a sit-down with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
Trudeau will be trying to meet with a host of leaders at the African Union meeting in Ethiopia to convince as many of the 54 member countries as possible to vote for Canada at the UN.
A smiling Ujiri told reporters today that Trudeau asked him to come on the trip. Ujiri said that even if he’s not especially political, he’s happy to lend a hand to Canada’s campaign for the Security Council seat.
“I support Canada and I support the prime minister in what he wants to do here,” Ujiri said. “Obviously, I have relationships with leaders here. Any way we can help, any way I can help — it’s a big part of making the world better.”
Ujiri grew up in Nigeria and has ties across the African continent through the work he does with his not-for-profit Giants of Africa, which focuses on empowering kids through basketball. He’s already been to the continent twice on his own this year.
“We live in a place that, I think, is an example around the world when I think of peace and when I think of diversity and opportunity for people around the world, and I think about how I can spread that to other countries here,” he said.
Raptors’ Bobby Webster on Ujiri rumours: These things ‘don’t bother us’ – Sportsnet.ca
Team president Masai Ujiri and GM Bobby Webster elected to run with the group they’ve got this time around, rather than shake things up and risk upending the club’s current momentum.
But there was a much bigger potential dashing of momentum that was rumoured to be on the horizon just recently, with plenty of chatter churning through the rumour mill regarding the New York Knicks’ potential courting of Raptors president Ujiri.
It’s not the first time such rumours have been volleyed around the Association. Count Bobby Webster as, once again, unfazed by them.
“Honestly, it’s not much different than the other typical noise,” Webster told Sportsnet 590’s Lead Off on Friday. “Whether it’s around the trade deadline or during the playoffs, a lot of people have opinions on what we should or shouldn’t do. Obviously it’s a little bit more personal. But it’s not — I mean, we go into the office and we do our job and we laugh and we talk.
“In no way is it a cloud hanging over us or even something that’s the elephant in the room — it’s definitely not that. It’s, more than anything, business as usual. I think that’s probably more a testament to how long we’ve been together, and these types of things don’t bother us.”
Mailbag: Can the Leafs be more like the Raptors? | The Star
Funny, but the Toronto Raptors appear to be the team the Toronto Maple Leafs want to be.
The Raptors play a tougher version of basketball than the Leafs do hockey. They’ve dealt with serious injury problems to key players and just keep winning. And other teams, apparently, are clamouring for their executives.
They’re doing something right down the hall at Scotiabank Arena. They won a championship by taking risks. They lost a key player or two to free agency and just keep going.
If that doesn’t earn a team respect, what else can?
They are the most “hockey”-like basketball team I’ve ever seen (admittedly a small sample size).
They work hard every game, never seem to give up no matter what the score. They don’t have a repertoire of excuses. Losses aren’t pinned on one guy. I hope the Maple Leafs are paying attention. So let me raise the question: When will the Leafs be more like the Raptors?
