Gameday: Nuggets vs Raptors, February 12

I know some of you are surprised. Others disappointed. Most both.

There was nothing sexy about the addition of Thaddeus Young. I get it. Really, though, despite the myriad of rumours, you shouldn’t be all that surprised:

Concur 100% with everything Oren writes here. The addition isn't sexy or desired by most, but it doubles down on the innovation of this team. I said from the get-go, it makes NO SENSE to get a big when this 6'9" implementation was the goal all along. https://t.co/Dj1U8jivsn

— The Gentle Watch (@AdonMoss) February 11, 2022

In case you hadn’t noticed, this whole no big thing is intentional. That’s why Myles Turner isn’t here, nor Richaun Holmes, nor, especially, Danillo Gallinari. There were rumours of Toronto trying to grab Kristaps Porziņģis. He’s still not really a big, so, technically, I’m still right.

Thad, on the other hand, is a double-down on what Toronto’s grand strategy has been all along. I know he feeeels like Toronto scraped the bottom of the barrel (no offence, Thad, I’m just projecting what, perhaps, some people felt).

In some literal sense of that idiom, you’re right. Thad wasn’t playing for the Spurs. (There were, actually now that I think about, several guys traded this deadline who didn’t really play for their respective teams – two of whom were/are Raptors. Classic 2022 NBA.)

That wasn’t Thad’s fault. He played 22 of the first 27 games for the Spurs. Then Pop stamped him “DNP” after going 10-17 in that span. It was clear San Antonio wasn’t ready to win; back to the development; out with the Thad.

Probably, why you forgot he existed. I kinda did. I was pretty big on grabbing him from Chicago last trade deadline. I forgot to clamber for him this time, around. Sneaky, Bobby and Masai. Always so sneaky.

Anyway, it’s a great, low-risk addition.

Lou explains why conceptually.

Oren and I (#1) explain why holistically.

Samson explains why x’s-and-o’sally.

After all that reading, you’ll be convinced too.

The Skinny

8 games straight, baby. Done the right way.

Clutch w’s against top-tier. Beatdowns of the mid-tier and crud. That’s legitimacy in all its triumphant glory.

An earlier win-streak saw Toronto eke by debilitated teams (at the height of Omicron and the 10-days). The success felt somewhat false.

These, though, are real. Pascal Siakam’s a top-10 NBA player right now. Gary’s on the kind of heater where you’re at the craps table for like 59 hours straight, bleary-eyed, rolling 7s hot with an array of fur-adorned, cowboy-hatted, college regaliaed, wasted participants cheering you on and getting in on the sweet, sweet action Another round of rye and ginger, for my friend here!

He hot, hot. OG looks tired, but continues to play absolutely smothering defence in the clutch and hit shots when needed. Freddy’s reaching Steph Curry range. And Boucher’s a 6th-man of the year candidate.

Houston is a bad team, but Toronto was playing their 4th game in 7 nights and on the second night of a back-to-back on the road. Freddy was out. There were ample excuses to let this game slip. Another reason why this team is legitimate: both against Houston and Oklahoma, Toronto looked half-engaged, but they could turn it on when they wanted to, deploying stifling half-court defence and full-court traps and getting buckets in whatever mismatch they preferred to exploit. Props to these guys for digging in at the right moments and, as Jack says, bending not breaking.

Denver is not exactly the type of team you can come out lackadaisical against. In their last 16, they’re 10-6, including a beatdown of a healthy Milwaukee Bucks. The rest of the wins were, meh. Doesn’t really matter though. They have, who I consider, the MVP of the league in Nikola Jokić who can single-handedly separate a team atom by atom like a Hadron Collider. It does not matter what kind of defence you deploy or how many infantrymen you charge at him, he’ll make the perfect, exact play. All you can hope for is that everyone else around him flubs.

His raw stats are absurd: 26 points | 14 rebounds | 8 assists | 1.4 steals | 66% true shooting.

And yet, his advanced stats are even more astronomically preposterous. He leads the league with a 15.3 Overall RAPTOR. Rudy Gobert is 2nd at 7.9 (Freddy is at 7). The difference between Nikola and Rudy is the same difference between Rudy and Reggie Bullock who is 105th in RAPTOR. WHATTTTTTTT??

If ever you’re going to use the Centre of the Universe to describe someone’s game, Nikola is it. Everything, on the court, offenders and defenders alike, gravitates towards him. Any assertion of force by him warps the orbits of 9 other dudes all at once. That’s true stardom. And also the absolutely, most enjoyable way to watch basketball. Denver fans are very lucky people.

Unfortunately, Denver’s ravaged by injury. Their next two best players are out long-term, Jamal Murray (knee) possibly till March or for the season, and Michael Porter Jr. (back) donezo. Sucks to see another prime year of a historical talent unoptimized. Such is life…

Toronto’s geared for this kind of a team. Laying a blanket of active arms and legs over Jokić and his compadres is one of the better ways to interfere with his diabolism. Jokić is going to score. He’s utterly dominant down low; we don’t do super well with those kind of dextrous, dominant big bodies. But if Toronto can crowd the passing lanes and force the other Nuggets into somewhat difficult shots, we’re getting somewhere.

No surprise, Denver dominates the paint, thanks to Jokić and those he finds cutting rimward. They also take many a 3 – again, as a result of Jokić luring helpside into no person’s land – and hit them at a decent clip. On defence, Denver is vulnerable at the rim and the mid-range. Forecasting past success, Toronto should be able to exploit that elbow, high post area – cue Thaddeus Young. Or, drag Jokić out in dribble-hand-offs and pick&rolls – cue Thaddeus Young – and spread this team the shit out. An interesting matchup will be Aaron Gordon and Pascal Siakam, AG is a perfect Pascal counter.

This is gonna be cerebral warfare.

Game Info

Tip-off: 8:00pm EST | TV: TSN4, TSN5, BSSUN, TSN | Radio: SN 590