Toronto Raptors HQ Podcast — That’s A Rap #158: Scary Gary + Halloween – Raptors HQ
Dalano & Barnes — the Toronto Raptors rookies, not the lawyers — have kicked off their inaugural campaigns in excellent fashion. They each bring an excitement to the floor that fans like us, who’re returning to Scotiabank Arena for the first time in almost two years, can really enjoy!
Gary Trent Jr. may be in his fourth season, but GTJ has been a scary proposition for every opposing guard so far.
Last week’s discussion about the NBA’s 75 Greatest pales in comparison to this week’s hot debate: Are Mike & Ike and Aero the worst Halloween candies?
Jason and I had a ghoulishly fun time recording on Halloween. Let us know your favourite (and least favourite) Halloween treats!
Hey, OG Anunoby, the Raptors ask, can you get a few more points a game, take a few more shots, dish out more assists, get buckets in a variety of ways and be a go-to guy on offence?
Oh yeah, they add, can you also keep defending the best wing on the other team every night, play up a position or two when we need it, and down one when we need that?
That’s not too much to ask, is it?
Anunoby probably gave them a look, stoic as ever, considered it for about a second, and said “Sure.”
The six-foot-seven wing, who had a career-high 36 points in Toronto’s 113-104 win in New York on Monday, is taking all the demands the team is placing on him and satisfying them.
He struggled in the first couple of regular-season games but, in the four-game winning streak the Raptors take into Washington on Wednesday, he’s averaging 23 points a game, shooting 61 per cent from the field (49-for-80) and 35 per cent from three-point range.
“I was rushing things, I wasn’t reading the defence,” he said. “I was predetermining some stuff. So I’ve just been trying to adjust and learn. I think I’m going to keep learning as the year goes on and get better and better.”
He’s also defending as well as ever. The Raptors and Anunoby were scorched by New York’s Julius Randle for 18 first-quarter points but then locked him down. Randle had four points in the final three quarters.
It was a typical Anunoby defensive performance made all the more impressive by the offence he combined with it.
Just like the team needs.
3 themes from the first 2 weeks of the Raptors season – Raptors Cage
OG Anunoby Is Ready For More
Coming into this season, OG was pegged as a favourite by many to win Most Improved Player of The Year. After a rough first two games – where he admits that he was feeling pressure to be more of a force offensively – OG has settled into his new role. Rather than being a ball-stopper and taking contested shots in isolation because he feels the need to, OG is finding ways to put himself in a position to finish plays. He has also become much more aggressive shooting the ball from deep, which is illustrated by his 8.5 long-range attempts per game – trailing only Stephen Curry in that category.To see the new OG, one would not need to look any further than his career-high performance in Madison Square Garden on Monday night, where he enflamed the New York Knickerbockers for 36 points on 13-27 shooting. Without Barnes to play off of, Anunoby knew that if he didn’t have an outburst on the stat sheet, the Raptors were likely going to fall to the Eastern Conference’s top seed. After a slow first quarter, Anunoby flicked an internal switch and put the Raptors offense on his shoulders. From stepback threes, to turn-around jumpers, to crashing the glass and kicking the ball out to open shooters, Anunoby brought a superstar presence that the Raptors needed. After the game, he told NBA TV’s Dennis Scott that the key to the Raptors breaking the game open was, “Movement. Moving the ball. Knowing we can get whatever shot we want if we attack and stay patient. Don’t rush. Take good shots… That’s what we do in practice.”
As long as OG stays true to that mindset, he’ll find himself in in the mix of a tight race to win the M.I.P. award indeed.
How impressive was the Raptors’ win over the Knicks? – Video – TSN
Bryan Hayes, and Andi Petrillo are joined by TSN Basketball Insider Jack Armstrong and they break down the Raptors’ win over the Knicks and discuss if it was the most impressive win by the team in the last few seasons.
Raptors’ Achiuwa struggles just part of the process of becoming an NBA player | Toronto Sun
For every exhilarating end-to-end single-player fastbreak ending in an easy bucket there are three or four failures around the rim to covert even the easiest of layups. The defensive indifference though has been obvious.
It has been cringe worthy and resulted in the expected response from head coach Nick Nurse who turned to Khem Birch and was rewarded with much improved play from the position.
Achiuwa may only be starting because Birch missed almost all of training camp due to COVID.
Now that Birch is ramping back up to speed, as was obvious in his play when he replaced Achiuwa for the bulk of that impressive win over the Knicks at MSG, a change in the pecking order is almost expected with Achiuwa going back to a secondary role and Birch moving into the starting five.
Even that may be temporary with Pascal Siakam on his way back and Nurse needing to find a spot in that top 5 for his go-to scorer, but that’s not the point here.
The point here is, as tough as Achiuwa has had it of late, nobody within the organization is giving up on him and neither should the fanbase.
Nurse has been exceedingly positive throughout Achiuwa’s struggles. He doesn’t discount them, but he plainly understands the damage he could do by piling on a young man with more and more criticism at a time when that is all that social media and society in general is dumping on him at this point.
Nurse remains a huge proponent of Achiuwa and what he brings to the Raptors’ roster.
Players with the combination of his size and speed and athleticism aren’t as common as the every-day NBA fan believes.
“He’s just a little out of character these last couple games, just doesn’t quite have it going on either end,” Nurse said after the win in New York. “He’ll be all right. I talked to him yesterday, this is a long season and these guys are young, you can’t expect the same thing every night. Each game’s different and for me and him, I believe in him. He’s got talent all over the place and just gotta wash those two games away, get him back playing, get his confidence back up.”
Nurse has shown time and again he is not afraid to publicly call out a player if he believes it’s warranted. He did it earlier last week with Chris Boucher and in previous seasons with Pascal Siakam, Norm Powell, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and others.
