Quick Reaction | Reaction Podcast | 5-Minute Analysis
The Toronto Raptors, even the champion Toronto Raptors, have always, oddly, been susceptible to the odd blowout here or there. Last year’s Raptors lost game two to the Milwaukee Bucks by 22 points, game three to the Philadelphia 76ers by 21. Losing in a blowout does not necessarily mean a team won’t come back, win the series, and eventually the championship.
But it’s weird, and it’s certainly not good that the Raptors continue to lose games in devastating, noncompetitive fashion. Take last night, for example, as the Raptors lost by 22, 111-89, to the rejuvenated Boston Celtics.
“It’s strange to me that we have these kind of games,” said Nick Nurse of the blowout after the game. “It really is, but historically we have. And then historically we usually bounce back in a big way.”
Nurse tried to do his bouncing back in the third quarter of game five. He tried, in no real order: full-court presses, receiving a technical foul, playing small, running in transition, playing zone defenses, having his players hurl as many triples at the rim as humanly possible. He gave minutes to energizer players off the bench, Chris Boucher and Matt Thomas. The Raptors tried everything in the playbook in the third quarter, and then they tried a few things more. Nurse let Pascal Siakam finally run some pick-and-roll, had his players attack the offensive glass, forced as many turnovers as possible. The Raptors tried, hard, after seeming in the first half as interested in playing as a baby in presents on its first birthday.
And when the dust settled, and the third quarter ended, the Raptors had cut the Boston Celtics’ massive lead of 27 to … 24.
At least Toronto won a quarter. The first half, though, was crying-alone-on-a-train, listening-to-Elliott-Smith-alone-in-bed, in-line-at-Costco-behind-someone-with-a-flat-of-water-bottles types of misery.
Perhaps Toronto’s low came when Marcus Smart hit an open triple to put the Boston Celtics ahead 53-27, and he turned around and seemed to yell in Nick Nurse’s face. Perhaps it came earlier when Jayson Tatum hit a triple, and Siakam gave the ball right back to Boston with a limp inbounds pass, playing with meek dejection instead of the needed instinct of desperation. Maybe the low point came in the first few minutes when Marc Gasol air-balled a layup after an impressive pass from Siakam.
It’s hard to know what the worst moment was for the Toronto Raptors.
No matter how Toronto approached the game, Boston had an answer. When the Raptors finally started scoring some points by attacking Robert Williams in the pick-and-roll and Grant Williams in the post. Toronto sprung leaks on defense and couldn’t stop the Celtics the other way. When Nick Nurse tried to jump-start Toronto by playing the bench, Kemba Walker used that time to annihilate Boucher in the pick-and-roll and create anything he wanted at the rim.
When Siakam opened the third quarter with a personal six-to-zero run, Walker continued scoring with ease to keep the lead fat and happy. And the Raptors couldn’t force their way back into the game. Despite recording eight steals in the game, Toronto did practically nothing in transition, unable to beat Boston down the floor, unable to find cracks in Boston’s wall. They finished with only seven points off of those steals, all coming from VanVleet.
But no, Toronto’s low came in the fourth quarter. As VanVleet and the bench dug a few points into the lead, Ibaka walked to the locker room. Nurse said after the game that he’s probably fine, and that he’ll have more details tomorrow. For what it’s worth, Ibaka was scheduled to speak to media after the game, and his availability was switched to VanVleet. Hopefully Ibaka is good to go; Toronto needs him. He has been Toronto’s most efficient scorer against Boston, averaging 11.8 points per game on 51.2/50/100 shooting splits. He has been Toronto’s only player to shoot at or above his regular season percentage from two-point range, and one of two players — the other being Anunoby — to shoot at or above his percentage from three-point range.
If Ibaka isn’t around to carry the load — and stop me if you’ve heard this story before — the Raptors will need to lean on its one star who has under-performed most against the Celtics: Pascal Siakam. Siakam finished the game with only 10 points. He attempted three shots in the first half.
“We gotta give him the ball more, earlier, get him in pick-and-rolls,” said Lowry of Siakam. “But, next game I’m sure he’s gonna be more aggressive, more assertive and play harder.”
As Nurse noted after the game, Siakam’s struggles have really been a constant since the NBA re-started in the bubble.
“He has already kind of been through a deep playoff run and had spectacular games,” said Nurse. “I am not sure why he has been so out of rhythm since the re-start in the bubble. He hasn’t had a lot of great games. And I think that is more of it other than here we are in the playoffs and he is supposed to be our leading guy. I’m not sure he’s been in great rhythm since the restart and it’s too bad because he was spectacular in last year’s playoffs and spectacular all season long. We still got some games to play. Hopefully he can get his rhythm.”
The Raptors are left with more questions that answers. Why has such a good team suffered so many blowouts in the playoffs? No one knows. Why has Siakam struggled so mightily to score in the playoffs? A riddle.
But it’s certain that the Raptors have no more margin for error. They stand one game away from playoff elimination, and the Celtics have thus far been the team with better top-end talent in the series. Toronto has beaten them twice in a row before, but any flatness or weirdness or inexplicable misses, and the Raptors are history. That wouldn’t be the end of the world. These Raptors have been a surprise since day one, and Siakam and company have over-performed all year, so some under-performance against a team as dominant as the Celtics is really not such a letdown. This year was always a transition year between the championship last season and the future, when Toronto’s cap space might allow some big additions to the squad. The Cinderella story could continue in the present. But for that to happen, the Raptors will need to stop mysteriously disappearing. There’s no more room for error.
