Mock 2021 NBA Draft Lottery Simulator – Tankathon
NBA: Trent Jr. delivers dagger in Raptors’ win vs. Wizards – Yahoo!
One — Wow: This was hardly a pretty game, which is what you would expect from the 11th and 13th seeds in the East, but the ending was worth enduring through the first three quarters. The Raptors were without a true point guard so the offense stagnated at times, and they were only 4-of-25 from three through three quarters which left them trailing by 19 points, but the Raptors stormed back and won it at the buzzer thanks to a running three from Gary Trent Jr. There was a questionable no-call involved as Raul Neto shot backwards as if Trent clubbed him with a baseball bat on his push-off, but that came on the heels of an even more questionable charge call that went against the Raptors, so it all evens out.
Malachi Flynn’s rookie season is officially off the ground for Raptors – The Athletic
A reminder: The Raptors and Wizards are legally obligated to play weird, dramatic games. Before all that, Nurse decided not to start the Raptors’ only available point guard by trade, keeping rookie Malachi Flynn on the bench despite VanVleet and Lowry sitting. Nurse said the Raptors were preparing as if Bradley Beal would return from his hip injury, and the coach thought it would be unfair to give Flynn his first start across from either him or Westbrook. It turns out Beal did not play.
The more Flynn plays, however, the more difficult it is to imagine Flynn looking terribly out of place on defence against anybody. (Granted, with the way that Beal moves without the ball, that would have been a test.) Flynn was named defensive player of the year in the Mountain West Conference last year, and in case you were worried that his impact was inflated by playing against so-so collegiate talent, he is making it clear his ability translates. He has been mostly working behind the scenes because of the presence of VanVleet and Lowry, not to mention going into COVID-19 health and related protocols at the same time as VanVleet. Even before the other point guards went out of the lineup, he appeared to be taking a rotation spot, though.
He still isn’t big or strong enough to be a difference-maker in the post like Lowry is, but his instincts clearly put him in the lineage of Lowry and, more obviously, VanVleet.
“We’ve asked him to get, I call it, dirtier, get on the floor some, get your hands in some, knock the ball away some, make some plays at both ends,” Nurse said.
“I watched (VanVleet) before I was even here, but coming here, he’s a better defender than (I thought) just seeing it in person,” Flynn said. “He’s a lot better defender than I thought just watching on TV, so just trying to pick up different things that he does, he’s a smart defender. (But) you can only learn so much by watching. Going out there … you just got (to) find a way to do it yourself.”
For the second consecutive game, Flynn raced inside from the perimeter, knocking the ball away from a bigger player and starting the Raptors’ transition game. That is clearly reminiscent of VanVleet. However, Flynn’s sense clearly goes beyond this year. After turning the ball over in the second quarter, he sprinted back the other way to get a hand on Raul Neto’s shot attempt, preventing a transition bucket. He started another break in the fourth quarter when he didn’t give up on a loose ball.
More than that, he is solid positionally, which is so unusual for a rookie point guard. He did not spend much time on Westbrook, but in the third quarter, he guided him toward the help, forcing a kickout pass that led to a missed long 2 from Ish Smith. It is to the point that when he did get turned around in one second-half possession, it was genuinely surprising.
Flynn conceded Friday that his defence was ahead of his offence right now, but that he would have been surprised had he been told that before the season. Flynn was a pick-and-roll maestro last season but has been tentative in his few opportunities with the Raptors.
Flynn had 16 points, six rebounds and four assists against the Wizards, who, to be fair, have been making a lot of players look good offensively over the past few years. His offensive package was evident, though, as he finished through contact from Wizards big man Alex Len or drew attention from multiple defenders and then made the next play, even if it wasn’t simple.
NBA Recap: Wizards lose 103-101 to Raptors at the buzzer – Bullets Forever
The Raptors have moved on from their 2015 playoff series loss (and Jake’s taunts). They made a furious comeback in the fourth quarter to take a six point lead at one point after Washington got cold. Bertans and Mathews in particular weren’t shooting at all in the fourth quarter when things were getting tough.
And while Russell Westbrook was able to make a late shot to get the Wizards ahead 101-99 with seconds left, Trent’s last shot made me act like Steve Buckhantz when a buzzer-beater goes the wrong way.
Westbrook had another triple double with 23 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists for the Wizards while Davis Bertans added 17 more points. Deni Avdija had 12 points and 10 rebounds and was a brighter spot despite Washington’s coaching staff mis-utiliizing him all season long.
As for the Raptors, Kyle Lowry wasn’t there and neither was Fred VanVleet, something which makes Trent’s buzzer beater and 16 point performance that much more notable and #SoWizards. Pascal Siakam led their scorers with 22 points.
Recap: Toronto Raptors beat Washington Wizards on Trent Jr. buzzer beater, 103-101 – Raptors HQ
The Raptors played their worst ball of the game to start the third. Returning to a struggling starting lineup, with Bembry and Gary Trent Jr. in the backcourt and Boucher at centre, the Wizards capitalized on more missed rotations — Bertans would hit two more threes and help stretch Washington’s lead to 17.
Returning to the bench, Toronto cut down the lead to a respectable 11 points by the end of the third. Then, a ridiculous stretch from Flynn and Anunoby — who had 14 points in the game — brought the game right into range. OG hit a three, Flynn snagged one of his four steals to set up a transition OG dunk, and a mid-ranger from OG cut the lead all the way to four.
Still, in the closing moments, it looked like it would be another heartbreaker for the Raptors. After missing eight hideous shots to start the final frame, Westbrook (23 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists) nailed two contested jumpers to give the Wizards a lead. After a missed shot on one end, it barely looked like the Raptors would have enough time to get a decent look away.
Then, they did; and all of a sudden, the Raptors are on a two-game win streak. It’s funny how the basketball gods can turn things around like that.
Toronto Raptors’ kids spark comeback win over Washington Wizards – TSN.ca
While Flynn is further along than you would expect a rookie point guard to be on the defensive end, Nurse has wanted to see him be more aggressive on offence – looking for opportunities to get into the paint and attack the rim to score or make plays for his teammates. His progress on that side of the floor over these past two games – particularly against Washington – has been encouraging.
He’s done a better job of keeping his dribble alive, changing speeds and beating his defender off the dribble. Both of his fourth-quarter field goals came on the drive – blowing by the speedy Ish Smith early in the frame and then turning the corner on Len with six minutes to go.
The Raptors’ final five points – and their two-biggest buckets of the night – came from Trent Jr., though. With about 100 seconds left, he drilled a pull-up mid-range jumper. Then, the dagger.
In just six contests with Toronto, Trent Jr. has already recorded two of the 10 highest-scoring games of his career, including a personal-best 31 points against Oklahoma City. He’s posted the best plus-minus in franchise history (plus-54 in the win over Golden State), knocked down six threes in consecutive outings, and now he’s got a game-winner on his resume – all of it while adjusting to a new team and trying to learn on the fly.
“I don’t think it’s ever easy to all of a sudden wake up on a new team when you’ve been traded, but you can see he’s got a real scorer’s mentality in there,” Nurse said. “He’s got some game in there that travels, obviously, that’s pretty valuable, it really is, to be able to just be a bucket-getter like that.”
Granted, the degree of difficulty has been fairly low of late – Golden State was missing Steph Curry and Draymond Green, while Washington was without Beal – but after going 1-13 in March, and dropping some very winnable games, the Raptors have won their first two contests in April. They’re just one game behind Chicago – who they’ll face on Thursday after hosting the LeBron James and Anthony Davis-less Lakers in Tampa on Tuesday – for the 10th seed and final spot in the play-in tournament.
With only nine players available on Monday, their hope is to get VanVleet and Lowry back at some point this week – a busy one for Toronto, with five games in seven nights. Regardless of who’s in or out of the lineup, or the results of these upcoming 22 games to close out the season, it’s hard to see Nurse and the Raptors veering away from the youth movement.
Not only have Trent Jr. and Flynn given the team some life during a listless stretch in an uninspiring campaign, but they’re both important pieces of the franchise’s future. And on Monday, that future sure looked bright.
If there’s an encore, it’s hard to imagine what it’d be like.
Trent, who had limped off the court at the end of the first quarter, gobbled up a rebound with less than six seconds left and went about two-thirds of the way down the floor before drilling the game-winner.
Nurse’s decision not to call a timeout let Trent get a head of steam to attack the Washington defence in transition.
“Gary caught that thing, the rebound, facing the open floor,” Nurse said. “I almost called (timeout) because … you’re making a split-second decision there, but I thought he got the rebound facing the right direction and I looked up and it was 5.3 (seconds) or something and I figured: Well, there we go. We’ve got plenty of time to get it up there and get a shot.
“Listen, that was fortunate that that happened that way, but we’re due. We were due for one of those to go in, I’ve been saying that for a while.”
It gave Toronto consecutive wins for the first time since a four-game streak ended Feb. 21.
It also made a winner out of an unlikely group reduced to nine available players as Fred VanVleet (hip), Kyle Lowry (foot), Paul Watson (health and safety protocols), Patrick McCaw (knee), Rodney Hood (hip) and Jalen Harris (hip) were all on the shelf.
With the Raptors beginning a week that includes five games, it’s going to be a grind.
“Well, hopefully we’ll get a guy or two back here during the week — it’s all day-to-day stuff,” Nurse said. “I mean, if we can spread these nine guys out here a little bit. A lot of them have been looking for more minutes and playing time, and here it is. So I think we should be OK.”
The Raptors got a huge game from rookie Malachi Flynn, who had 16 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals in nearly 34 minutes coming off the bench.
“He played virtually starter’s minutes tonight — and that’s what I was planning anyway, that he would play virtually starter’s minutes — but he’s really, really, packing in the boxscore there … I mean really, really good game by him.”
Trent Jr. has great night as Raptors pull out buzzer-beater win over Wizards | Toronto Sun
Trailing by one with just seconds left on the clock and having gained possession off a Raul Neto miss, Trent Jr. checked the time on the clock and then made a sprint towards the Washington Wizards’ basket.
A move just as he got to the three-point line opened up some space, allowing Trent to calmly rise up and stroke the winning three-pointer just before the buzzer sounded.
Trent Jr. has had bigger scoring nights for his new team since coming over in the Norm Powell trade, but it’s tough to argue with a buzzer-beater winner as the Raptors pulled out the 103-101 win.
Trent Jr. finished with 16 points on the night and the kind of hero’s send off a young guy still making his first impressions on a new team doesn’t soon forget.
But if there was a Raptor in this one until Trent Jr. stole the game for them who really stood out, his name was Malachi Flynn.
Flynn didn’t get the start many thought was heading his way with both Fred VanVleet and Kyle Lowry out with injury, but he wound up getting a week’s worth of experience in one game anyway and earned plenty of accolades along the way.
The Raptors first-round pick from the last year’s draft watched as DeAndre Bembry, a more experienced hand, took the reins of the Raptors offence to start the game, but down the stretch with the game on the line, Flynn was right in the mix of things.
Fittingly it was his efforts attacking the Wizards basket that set this particular night apart from his previous games.
“We’ve asked him to really start attacking the rim, right, and he’s just got to be more aggressive, like right up the floor, when he sees an opening, he’s got to shoot in there and he doesn’t have to shoot, he can (just) keep his dribble alive,” head coach Nick Nurse said. “But he’s got to be aggressive that way and that is huge. If he can blast through there and get a few layups here and there that goes a long way to helping our offence.”
NBA Power Rankings – Where all 30 teams check in ahead of Week 16 – ESPN
This Week: 23
Last Week: 24With their rout of the Warriors Friday night, it took the Raptors two days to equal their win total for the entire month of March. That pretty much sums up the disaster that Toronto’s season has been since getting to 17-17 after a 2-8 start — only to be devastated by COVID-19 issues. On the bright side: Despite their immense struggles, the Raptors are still just 1.5 games behind Chicago for 10th place in the East and a spot in the play-in tournament. — Bontemps
Power Rankings: What to Watch for in the Stretch Run – The Ringer
This Week: 15
Last Week: 16
Toronto tanking in Tampa Bay?Raptors head coach Nick Nurse was recently asked about tanking. “I don’t like it. I don’t like talking about it, I don’t like thinking about it, I don’t like that it goes on,” Nurse responded. “We’re still playing to win. We’re still playing to make the playoffs and we’re still playing to get better.”
Toronto has a chance to finish with the worst record of any team with a positive point differential in league history, but the losses are mounting. The Raptors have won three of their last 18 games, dealt Norman Powell for Gary Trent Jr., and traded away Matt Thomas and Terence Davis for future picks. No center was added. Yes, Kyle Lowry is still on the roster. But this season’s team got worse on March 25, and keeping Lowry was more about maintaining a centerpiece for next season, when the Raptors hope to reload for another run. A higher draft pick could certainly help in that pursuit.
For now, the rest of this season is about development. It’s about Pascal Siakam moving past his plateau, OG Anunoby becoming even more skilled and confident offensively, and finding out what they have in Trent.
So far, Trent has performed similarly with Toronto as he did with Portland—hot one game, cold the next. But at only 22 years old, he might be nowhere near reaching his potential, and he’s already shown the ability to be a dynamic scorer. The Raptors have proved able to maximize development. A roster full of in-house talent is evidence. Trent could be the next success story.
Jazz, Nuggets and Suns top our NBA Power Rankings: What’s with the blowouts? – The Athletic
This Week: 23
Last Week: 21
19-30, +0.5 net rating
Weekly slate: Loss at Pistons, Loss at Thunder, Win over WarriorsOG Anunoby as a piece moving forward is something the Toronto Raptors and their fans are understandably excited about. Anunoby has always been intriguing. Many people felt if he hadn’t hurt his knee in college, he would’ve been a lottery pick. Instead, he fell into the Raptors’ hands, and they’re able to see what he can make of himself. He’s missed plenty of time this season, but we’re seeing the type of progression that excites so many people. He’s turned himself into a reliable 3-point shooter. He’s a dynamite defender. His finishing around the rim has become elite too. I’d like to see some more on-ball skills offensively, but Anunoby is right on schedule as the Raptors retool this coming offseason.
Why are they ranked here? Yes, they demolished the Warriors, and that had to feel really good for Raptors fans. But in the same week, they lost to Detroit and OKC. Moving up one spot says more about Chicago and Sacramento than Toronto this week.
Power Rankings, Week 16: Play-In races heating up in East, West | NBA.com
This Week: 26
Last Week: 26
Record: 19-30
Pace: 99.8 (14) OffRtg: 112.5 (13) DefRtg: 112.0 (19) NetRtg: +0.5 (14)The Raptors have now lost their last 10 games that were within five points in the last five minutes. They were within four with less than five minutes left in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, only to score just once on their final nine possessions. Pascal Siakam had another big shot go halfway down before popping back out. And with their 53-point win over the Warriors on Friday, the Raptors have a positive point differential (+25 for the season) with a 19-30 record. They’re 13-12 in games determined by double-digits and 6-18 in games decided by nine points or fewer.
The struggles of the Pacers and Bulls have kept the Play-In club door open. But the Raptors just lost to the Pistons and Thunder, allowing two bottom-10 offenses to score almost 117 points per possessions, with fouls (Detroit and OKC combined for 72 free throw attempts) still a problem. Kyle Lowry is out with a foot infection and, with a make-up game against the Bulls squeezed into the schedule this week, the Raptors are set to play eight games over the next 12 days.
This Week: 25
Last Week: 24The Raptors lost to two of the worst teams in the league, the Pistons and Thunder, then obliterated a Warriors squad without Steph Curry or Draymond Green. That’s now 16 losses in Toronto’s last 19 games, as it just hasn’t been able to get any rhythm in the second half of the season. Gary Trent Jr. has made a big impression since coming over in the Norm Powell deal, averaging 23.3 points on 15-for-27 3-pointers in three games this week.
Send me any Raptors related content that I missed: rapsfan@raptorsrepublic.com
