At some point, excuses get old.
Not because they’re illegitimate, but because, well, they never end. There’s always something.
Last night was a game-time Kyle Lowry scratch. Easy copout. Losing any player last minute throws a game plan outta whack; losing your Sarge seconds before charging up the hill jeopardizes chaos amongst the ranks.
And so, walking out on the court Lowry-less, we all understood that the Raps were not expected to win this game. But we didn’t care.
Kyle or no Kyle, now, or for the next couple of years. It doesn’t matter. We all know and realize that the passing of the guard is upon us. All that speculative trade talk helped us come to terms with the reality of this new team.
This is the quote-unquote next generation of Toronto Raptors basketball. This is who we got. The Triumvirate core of our future. No more excuses. Time to show us your stuff.
And they did, for the first half of the game, anyway.
Right out of the gate, similar to the Denver game, the Raps were hot-to-trot.
As RR resident, Samson Folk says, Siakam is best when he is “grabbing n’ going”. Off a miss or make, give Siakam the ball and let him galavant down the court.
Why? The Raptors struggggle to get to the rim in half-court sets on good days. Letting Siakam attack in semi-transition early – he has to work on his creating for others – greases the Raptors’ wheels helping to find opportunities on drive and kicks or open threes or subsequent attacks.
That was exactly what was happening early on this game. Pascal was G ‘n G’ing a lot and he was doing it in a more intelligent – and successful – way.
Instead of stampeding his way down the lane running into bodies, yelping like a wounded animal, and blowing the layup, he was finding space horizontally and changing tempo vertically to get by.
He was not rushing with his penetration. Instead, he waited to find where he wanted to go and then utilized – rather than relied upon – his length and size to finish around the rim.
Pascal had, probably for the one and only time of the season, a defender skinnier than he in Derrick Jones Jr. You could tell he was enjoying the rare opportunity of being the Outmuscler instead of the Outmusclee.
On one early possession, he received a screen from Stanley J, double crossed DJJ in traffic, and burst past him, combining his skill and athleticism into the exact package we all want to see from him nightly. Choosing his moments to attack – and, eventually, to pass, but one step at a time – within the flow of the game has been something Pascal is slowly learning over the course of the last two years. For parts of this game, it looked like he was closer to mastering it.
When there was space, as a result of offensive flow or transition, he went at DJJ with an explosive cross or with a power dribble right at his shoulder turning DJJ’s coat-hanger frame outta the way. All that helps, of course, when you’re hitting threes – he was 2/2 in the first half – but it was his commanding aggression with the ball that got him to 15 first-half points.
OG, too, was successful with the ball in his hands. If I looked closely enough, I think I could see him aging with each tick of the NBA game clock. His varied methodologies of attack lead me to believe he’s becoming the Toronto Raptor Sun Tzu:
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
Each attack was dependent upon his enemy. OG’s first score of the game was an ‘ol-90s back-him-down against the helpless CJ McCollum. Next score, he gets Nurkic on a switch, pulls his dribble out to manufacture momentum and attacks (it wasn’t the prettiest, he stumbled into a teardrop, but it went in). Next bucket: an offensive rebound on the weakside, sensing the weakness of CJ underneath.
Of course he made mistakes. A young role-player thrust into the offence as a secondary/tertiary scorer will. He had a couple of bobbles in the lane and made the wrong decision on a drive or two. But in the first half, he chose his moments wisely and canned his open shots – 3/3 from three – when offered them.
The last of the Tri-Force, Freddy, was doing his thang as always. He was just a bit busy guarding the best point guard in the league and shouldering the majority of their half-court offence – OG and Siakam combined for only two assists – no big deal.
On D, it was hard to tell what Dame was thinking in his head. FVV is a darn good defender and maybe he, along with the aggressive traps and helpside, bothered Dame. Or maybe, he was just taking a page out of Lowry’s book, going full deferential for the first half. He only shot 2/8 – well done, Freddy – but he also had ten dimes.
On offence, FVV was zig-zagging around more than usual without Lowry and managed to quite often suck a help defender towards him and find the open Raptor. He was responsible for the Rodney Hood buzzer beater at the half.
That’s HOOD pic.twitter.com/7KY3rOQLiX
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) March 29, 2021
But the most memorable of his seven assists of the half is the one that I will NEVER. EVER. FORGET.
The greatest dunk of Aron Baynes career. #WeTheNorth #NBATwitterLive pic.twitter.com/Q1eq1lfrUq
— (@DocNaismith) March 28, 2021
It’s not often I yell out loud “What the F***!?” at 6 am. But the Aron Baynes one-dribble, tomahawk smash on Norman Powell and RoCo is one for the Raptors annals.
It was creative, violent, smooth, and authoritative. All things that Baynes has not been (well, he’s actually been fairly violent – including a good, old headlock on Nurkić) this entire season. Woo Boy! That dunk made my heart flutter.
The bench also came out strong in the first half. Hood and Chris Boucher had twenty-two points on a combined 8/12 with three threes. Stanimal played some respectable defence on one of my favourite players in the league, Enes Kanter. Kanter’s brute strength paired with his masterful footwork and Spiderman hands makes him an utter joy to watch. And a unique one at that. He typically devastates lesser-sized dudes. But Stan managed well considering.
If you’re a pound lighter than Enes Kanter you’re in trouble.
— The Gentle Watch (@TheGentleWatch) March 27, 2021
The only problem with the first half was that in all that offence came little defence. Toronto blasted screen and rolls with aggressive traps on Dame; he was totally unfazed. He gingerly waited for the lure and then found the exact perfect pass. The Blazers hit their shots inside and out staying within striking distance the entire time the Raptors were motoring. Including Normy – how could I forget about Normy!? – who, despite foul trouble scored nine points on 2/3 shooting.
Then the third quarter happened.
Our trusted Triumvirate hit a major rut – maybe a sinkhole. Our hopes of a new tomorrow dashed. Our trust transgressed. The Raptors scored ten – ya, that’s right – ten points all quarter. Our three Wonderkins, shot a combined 3/15 with zero assists and four turnovers. I felt the dejection through the TV screen.
This is where an All-Star or Superstar distinguishes themselves from being just a good NBA player. When nothing’s going, heads are hanging, desolation is sneaking in, that’s when you need the bucket-getter to turn the retreat into a counterattack. Kyle, on most nights, could do that for you. Without him, who was to step up? Well, apparently, nobody. Sometimes disenchantment amongst the ranks is too contagious.
Portland did not happen to fair that much better, except for that little wrinkle of having a Superstar and all. While the rest of the team went 6/19, Dame shot 50% with nine points to keep them afloat.
By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, the Raps did find their mojo again. Stanimal and Boucher hit two threes to start the quarter and, like a shining light in the distance, hope returned to the Raptors.
Freddy – who looked flat in the third – found a little pep in his step and started to explore space in the lane again. He hit a big pull-up three with two minutes to go and scored a quick lay-up with thirty seconds remaining to keep the game interesting.
But OG and Pascal were nowhere to be found on the offensive end. What had given them so much success early in the game was on a milk carton the entire fourth. OG did not attempt a shot; Pascal returned to forcing things futilely.
This is indeed what happens to young teams and players trying to find their way. The dense, thick morass of a half court offence in a tight game is difficult to traverse. CJ and Dame were wielding machetes in the jungle; they had no troubles.
They’ve been here before many, many times. Portland has the second best clutch win percentage in the league. Toronto the second worst. That’s veteran savvy versus inexperienced youth in a nut shell. A valiant effort to make it close, but the back and forth was not enough for Toronto to overcome the hole they had fallen back into.
Even despite the success of our Trojan Horse plan (down five with 30 seconds left, our plant, Normy, missed two critical free throws enabling the Raps to cut the lead to three off a Freddy lay-up) it was too late for the comeback. Powell turned double agent – the Trojan Horse in the Trojan Horse – and hit two free throws to ice the game.
There were no excuses this game. No Kyle Lowry. No problem, kind of.
OG, Pascal, and FVV showed – at times – that they, collectively, have what it takes to compete with the better teams of the NBA. With time and experience, they will find consistency or, at least, recognize what it takes to regain consistency to avoid moments like that dreary third quarter.
This was one of those losses, like the Phoenix one before it, that you cannot lament. There was no excuse other than the Raptors failing to step up when it mattered. We asked for our new guys to show us something. And for a significant part of the game they did. Part of growing up is learning from the disappointment of defeat.
That’s all we can ask of them, for now.
