there is so much beauty in this world pic.twitter.com/K0Y0IDnMt5
— Raptors Republic (@raptorsrepublic) December 6, 2021
Raptors threatening to become the defensive team they imagined – The Athletic
Before the season, if an all-knowing entity told you that after 23 games, the Toronto Raptors would rank 13th in the league in defence and 23rd in offence, you probably would have been disappointed. With all of the Raptors’ length, athleticism and versatility, why were they outside the top-10 in defence? As for the lack of scoring, well, that would have seemed about right.
Instead, the Raptors were 13th in offence and 23rd on defence before Sunday. Given the assembled talent, even when taking into account OG Anunoby’s ongoing absence from the lineup, it’s baffling.
“Youth — maybe inexperience,” Fred VanVleet said last week when presented with the surprising rankings. “Defence is hard to do every night, every play, every possession. Especially for young players who may not understand what the concept of winning basketball actually means. You know what I mean?
“It’s a long list (of problems). I don’t really need to share with you all what that list is. But we watch film. It’s not rocket science. It’s not like some grand idea that we have to magically fix. It’s these little details, every possession, that just have to get done. It’s non-negotiable.”
Four games into a seven-game homestand, there is hope that the Raptors might eventually resemble the team they set out to be. After a 102-90 win over the Washington Wizards, the Raptors’ defence is undeniably trending in the right direction. For the third straight game, they held their opponent to fewer than 100 points. They aren’t doing it in the chaotic, turnover-causing manner that was predicted. Instead, they are playing solid, technically sound defence and making good decisions on the fly.
For certain, there are moments when the Raptors swarm, such as when the endless limbs of Chris Boucher and Dalano Banton coerced Montrezl Harrell into a turnover. However, this mostly seems to be young players taking moderate steps forward.
“That’s all we do in practice,” Boucher said of the Raptors’ recent off days.
There was a possession in the third quarter in which Scottie Barnes’ reps, spread out over his first 747 minutes in 21 games, nearly 36 minutes per game, seemed to pay off. Barnes has defended all over the positional spectrum this year but has generally been better against bigger players versus quicker players. On this occasion, Barnes could not stick on Bradley Beal after a screen, but instead of chasing 3-point Davis Bertans through the paint, he stuck around blocking Beal’s lane. When Beal dished it off to Raul Neto, Barnes was there to defend Neto and contest a jumper well.
It’s not as if there has been the emergence of a few lockdown defenders. It really is a collection of little things.
Raptors defence getting back on track as Siakam sets the tone on offence – Sportsnet
The box score told the story as Toronto held Brad Beal and the Wizards – one of the East’s pleasant surprises thanks to an off-season makeover and a 14-9 record that had them in 4th place in the conference when the ball went up – to just 41.7 per cent shooting from the field. Beal – one of the NBA’s true 30-point-a-game threats – managed just 14 on 4-of-12 shooting.
“We were really connected,” said Nurse. “Just not a whole lot of mistakes and most of the shots had somebody in front of them, one way or another and it’s good to see. I thought that group that started setting the tone, but I also thought every single guy that came in off the bench brought the same kind of energy and maybe even a little more, that’s kind of what we’re hoping for it to look like, but it was a good all-around team effort defensively.
The Raptors jumped out to a quick early lead largely because Washington started off shooting just 2-of-15. That wasn’t going to last but the Raptors never really came close to squandering their early fortune.
Even as the Raptors stalled out at points offensively, their defence never went missing.
Offensively Toronto was sparked by Siakam who had his best moments during a red-hot stretch in the second quarter but still had enough left in the tank to hit a key jumper in the lane with 3:37 left that kept at bay any hopes the Wizards had to steal a road game they had no business winning.
He’s still not quite at his peak: after his jumper in the lane Siakam missed two more mid-ranged attempts and turned the ball over on a drive, but the Raptors defence was able to hold the fort.
NBA recap: Wizards lose to Raptors 102-90 on Sunday night – Bullets Forever
The Wizards had no answer for Pascal Siam, who had 24 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists in the first two quarters.
Toronto was 23-for-48 from the field and made 6-out-of-14 shots from downtown in the first half.
The Wizards, who were outscored the first two quarters, came out a bit stronger in the second half. They put up more points in the third and fourth quarters than the Raptors but it wasn’t enough to help them get ahead.
Gafford, who started the second half with 3 fouls, put up his first two points of the game at the start of the third quarter. Kentavious continued to lead the Wizards’ offense with 15 second-half points. He went 8-9 from the field (88.9%) and went 4-for-4 from the three-point line.
Siakam scored Toronto’s first points of the second half and he didn’t slow down. He finished the night with 31 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Chris Boucher has 14 points off of the bench. Scottie Barnes had 11 points and 6 rebounds while Precious Achiuwa had a double-double with 10 points and a team-high 14 rebounds.
Gafford picked up his 5th foul with just under 5 minutes left in regulation and about a minute later, Coach Unseld pulled his starters out of the game. The Raptors outplayed the Wizards on both ends of the floor and the Wizards lacked fight this evening. The Wizards were out-rebounded yet again and the Raptors turned their 11 offensive rebounds into 13 second-chance-points.
Caldwell-Pope led the Wizards with a season-high 26 points and Bradley Beal added 14 points.
Toronto Raptors vs Washington Wizards recap: Pascal Siakam drops 31 in victory – Raptors HQ
Post-game, Nick Nurse said he was really pleased with the way Siakam was “dictating” tonight; Nurse said Siakam played with a good tempo, under control, and that he really liked how he was turning to see everything “below” him. That in turn gives him a good feel for where everyone is. he said they’ve been working on that more — facing the hoop more, running fewer actions with his back to the hoop. Clearly it worked tonight!
The other story tonight was the resurgence of Toronto’s aggressive, smothering defense — especially in the first quarter. They were flying all over the floor, contesting shots and packing the paint — you know, the Nick Nurse blueprint, actually fully realized. They held the Wizards to a mere 12 first quarter points — a season low for an opponent — and held their own on the boards too, outrebounding Washington 16-15 in the frame.
Nurse said the defense was really “connected” tonight, and didn’t make a lot of mistakes. Most of the Wizards’ shots were contested, he said, and it started with the starting five but every guy that came in off the bench brought the same energy. Nurse reiterated that defesne is almost always about energy and effort; one of the ways that energy shows up is in what Nurse called “rounding” — even when you get beat off the dribble, an aggressive pursuit on the offensive player’s hip can force his drive into a wider arc — and towards the help.
Nurse also praised the second unit, and Dalano Banton specifically, for their play tonight. Banton was “awesome,” he said, good defensively but also good running the team, getting guys shots and getting some of his own too. And a nice side benefit of the bench playing well was that it allowed Fred VanVleet extra rest time — VanVleet played a mere 33 minutes tonight.
The defence rarely rests in the Raptors’ win over the Wizards | The Star
It was just one game out of 82, and the Raptors have proven they can be as bad at times as they were good on Sunday, but a solid victory over a quality opponent is something Toronto may ultimately build on.
There were the expected stretches where the Raptors were less than great but holding Washington to an opponent’s season-low 12 points in the first quarter set a tone for the entire night.
For Nurse, one of the more impressive aspects of Sunday’s game was how the Raptors handled the rebounding issue that has dogged them most of the season.
Against a bigger Wizards team, albeit one that had to sit staring centre Daniel Gafford with fouls after about four minutes of the first quarter, Toronto only gave up five offensive rebounds for four second-chance points.
That’s mostly because they were flying around defensively all night and tracking down the 50-50 balls they had been losing.
“It’s just more of not quite finishing off a possession,” Nurse said before the game. “You’ve got to make one more effort. You think you’re out of the play, kind of standing in the corner or whatever, and all of a sudden if you had raced to the elbow, you might have had that one.
“If we can shore up the defensive rebounding, we can shore up our defence. It’s a good-news, bad-news thing. If you give up a lot of offensive rebounds, it means you’re doing something right, you’re making them miss. We’ve got to put those two things together.”
Pascal Siakam, avoiding the foul trouble that has messed him up for a handful of games, led the Raptors with 31 points on 10-for-21 shooting from the field and 12 trips to the free throw line.
It was his most dominant game at home this season and was most welcome because neither Fred VanVleet nor Scottie Barnes were particularly effective offensively.
Raps turn back the clock in win over Wizards | Toronto Sun
As impressive as Siakam was through that first half when he scored 24 of his game-high 31 points, it was the stifling defence that really stood out.
The starting five set the tone and the bench followed suit smothering would-be shooters as soon as they even looked at the basket.
Bradley Beal, averaging just over 22 points a night was held to just 14 as the Raptors kept him on the perimeter for most of the night where Beal is struggling with his long-range shooting.
But equally bottled up were the likes of Spencer Dinwiddie and Kyle Kuzma, two other double digit scorers who were limited to a combined 18.
The only members of the Wizard to have any kind of night at all offensive was Kentavious Caldewell-Pope who more than doubled his season average with 26.
“The improvement for me was that we’re doing a much much better job of keeping the ball in front or what we like to call rounding drives, so even if a guy starts going and beating you, you’re moving your body across and yeah, that kind of sends it closer to help, makes the help have to travel less distance, and then if they have to travel less distance then they can usually get back to their own because again, it’s a shorter distance to go back. So I think keeping the ball in front and rounding out the drives have been a big factor in the last few games.”
Through the first quarter the Raptors limited the Wizards to just 12 points, a season-low for an opponent in any quarter this year breaking the old mark set two nights earlier they held Milwaukee to just 17 points in a frame.
And don’t confuse these Wizards with the more challenged Wizards units of years past. These Wizards arrived in Toronto tied for fifth in the East with 14 wins. These Wizards aren’t the pushovers of years past.
With the win the Raptors improved to 11-13 and will enjoy a couple of days break before taking on the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.
Raptors Pascal Siakam Peed on By Niece – Sports Illustrated
Pascal Siakam appears to have found a sophisticated new pre-game ritual.
What spurred his breakout 31-point performance Sunday night against the Washington Wizards? Well, a little bit of urine.
“My brother, he has a kid, my niece, and usually I don’t like carrying newborns. I don’t know. They’re just so fragile,” Siakam said. “She’s like two months old, and I’ve been like putting off just picking her up because I’m like, I don’t know. And then yeah, yesterday, I picked her up, and yeah! And she peed on me. I don’t know. Maybe it was that.”
Giants of Africa celebration hits home for Raptor Precious Achiuwa | The Star
Giants of Africa is one of the great legacies created by Raptors president and vice-chairman Masai Ujiri, and this weekend’s celebration of it and the memory of social justice champion Nelson Mandela, the former South African president, is one of its foundational events each year.
It will be the ninth time the Raptors have played a home game on Dec. 5, the anniversary of Mandela’s passing in 2013, and marks a special weekend for the franchise. There will be a gala fundraising luncheon before the Raptors play the Washington Wizards at 6 p.m. and moments of recognition of the foundation and Mandela during Sunday’s game, followed by school visits and social justice initiatives on Monday.
“Mandela’s like the Martin Luther King of Africa,” Achiuwa said. “He fought for civil rights, fought against oppression, fought for people to express themselves, just be who they are. He stood up for all the right things.”
When Ujiri re-signed with the Raptors this past summer, it was in part because of the platform the franchise and the city provide him and his charitable works. This weekend is one of the most public.
“Off the court, the work continues,” Ujiri said in a team-produced video announcing his return in early August. “(The) fight for equality in the justice system work; to prevent children from becoming child soldiers, to grow the game in Africa and build the infrastructure there so kids can have a place to play, to dream their dreams; to make sure young women and young girls are valued and included. These are global goals. Toronto is a global city. You give me the strength and inspiration to reach for that.”
Raptor Precious Achiuwa, left, credits Masai Ujiri for his influence on Nigerian basketball.
And for Achiuwa, there is a direct link from past to present.
After that original camp, he played at two prep schools in the United States before attending the University of Memphis, where he performed well enough in one season to be selected 20th by the Miami Heat in the 2020 NBA draft.
His raw abilities were definitely refined once he got to the U.S. as a teenager, but the Giants of Africa camp and NBA Basketball Without Borders program — another initiative Ujiri is heavily involved with — gave him his start.
“Man, Masai’s done a lot for the culture of Nigeria and the continent of Africa when it comes to basketball, developing the game, giving people a lot of opportunity to get introduced to the game,” Achiuwa said after practice this week.
