As I proved to my mother during my high school career, it helps your reputation when you’re compared to your peers who are in the midst of constant existential crises. And for those who didn’t have the wherewithal to achieve that comparative feat in high school, all they had to do to learn that lesson was watch the Toronto Raptors dismantle the woeful Sacramento Kings.
It’s hard to judge your team too positively when it’s facing the Kings. But at the same time it’s also hard not to get too excited when the Raptors play their best basketball of the season. So first some optimism. (Then some realism.)
Toronto was dominant. It hit the same number of threes as Sacramento, and half as many free throws, yet was by 23 points. That’s disembowelment — not winning by shooting variance. Scottie Barnes and Pascal Siakam continued their run of shared dominance. They combined for 32 points (the team leader was Chris Boucher, with 17 — no one individual scored a whole bunch for Toronto) on 14-of-29 shooting. Barnes sprinted through actions, using his pace and intentionality to create openings all over the court even when he didn’t touch the ball. Siakam diced the Kings, driving to the rim, scoring in the post, attacking the offensive glass, and always hitting the open man when he created space. Both were sublime, and more importantly, both were sublime playing off of the other.
Even on the defensive end, where Barnes has recently transformed from shaky to a world-ender, they coordinated a shared plan of annihilation. Both were able to wall off entire halves of the court on the defensive end, recovering, staying with the ball, forcing miscues, and then when forced to switch, trading with one another and watching the other force the whole thing over again. Siakam has been doing the same with OG Anunoby for eons, so it’s logical that he and Barnes would start sharing the same defensive mindmeld. Barnes finished with five blocks and Siakam a block and a steal.
“That’s what we’re hoping: Scottie, Pascal, OG can be all three very similar type players, play both ends, guard, switch, work together and be all decent scorers, too,” said Nick Nurse after the game.
Toronto’s bench plastered the Kings when given the opportunity. Dalano Banton actually competed with Barnes for the coveted Rookie-Of-The-Game performance. Banton has been in a small funk for a few games now, failing to push the pace and at times getting lost on the defensive end. But against the Kings he hit the paint almost every time he touched the ball, run pick and rolls, circled the baseline, threw dimes to the corners. He led the team with six assists despite not playing in the second half, ceding his minutes to Malachi Flynn. (Banton left the game with what the team termed “a non-COVID illness,” and out of “an abundance of caution.” He won’t travel with the team to Brooklyn.)
It wasn’t just Banton who dominated on the bench. Boucher dominated around the rim, rolling, cutting, and feasting like a housecat on mice. Yuta Watanabe shot well, pushed in transition, mangled his opponents on the defensive end. He finished with the first double double of his career, of which he admitted to being “very proud” after the game.
“I really loved [Yuta’s] offensive confidence, there,” said Nurse. “We had a little talk this morning. Think he was one for six the other night and I just said, ‘man, those were all great shots, you gotta keep taking them.'”
Barnes spent plenty of time playing alongside the bench, and it worked well. (Just like everything else.) The decisive factor was pace. At one point in the second quarter, Barnes sprinted into a pindown set by Watanabe. Banton dished the ball with speed to Watanabe, who drove the rim, Barnes beside him — a makeshift empty-side pick and roll at speed. The play ended up in a monster Barnes dunk.
“I tell you what, when they play with that much pace and energy, they were just everywhere. They were cutting really hard on offence, they were jarring the ball away, running hard,” said Nurse. “All five of ‘em were just bringing tremendous energy and that’s kinda what they have to do.”
Even Flynn got in the act, as he paddled the Kings up and down in the fourth quarter. He hit pull-up jumpers, threw a bundle of would-be dimes that only timely Kings fouls prevented from showing up on the stat sheet, and drove the lane for smooth pick and rolls.
Okay, now the temperance: At 11-17, the Kings aren’t worst-in-the-league bad. And they haven’t been humiliated like they were against the Raptors since late November, when the Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies wombo comboed them in consecutive games. But they have fired a coach, experienced an embarrassing fan-vomits-on-the-court moment, and have generally sleep-walked through another season. To score 124 against one of the bottom-five defenses in the league that was honestly even underperforming their own modest standards is not a call for mass celebration. Plenty of Toronto’s drives to the rim were relatively unfettered by defenders, and players like Watanabe, Svi Mykhailiuk, and Flynn probably found easier layups than they have since joining the NBA.
But Toronto’s players made the right decisions. It’s easy to let go of the rope, and Toronto didn’t. The starters didn’t play down to their opponents, and they didn’t settle. The bench didn’t get lazy with a big lead. There are still potential pitfalls against an underperforming team, and the Raptors ably veered around them. They played to their strengths and ran away with the game despite not shooting all that well from deep. That’s what good teams do to bad teams.
The Raptors aren’t necessarily a good team yet. But they’re getting close. They’re 2-0 since a poor performance against the Oklahoma City Thunder. After starting the year with a good defense that plummeted, they have since recovered (and then some) their defensive form. And that’s been without three of their best defenders in OG Anunoby, Khem Birch, and Precious Achiuwa.
The Raptors have found their identity once again, and they’ve done it without some identity-setting players. That’s more important — and more indicative — than beating up on reeling teams.
