Fred VanVleet and OG Anunoby were out. Pascal Siakam had just gotten his sixth foul on a fairly light call. They had just gone a +12 run over an almost 7-minute stretch to take the lead, and they needed a lineup of Gary Trent Jr. – Scottie Barnes – Thad Young – Precious Achiuwa – Malachi Flynn to hold it down for a win. They lost the final 2 minutes and 40 seconds by 3 points, but it was good enough to close it out. A deep sigh of relief was had by all. 18,903 people attended the first game with lots of fans since before Christmas, and thank god they went home happy.
The first thing I want to dig in on was the strange decision by Nick Nurse to play a lineup that didn’t feature any of Barnes, Siakam, or Trent Jr. to close out the third quarter. They lost a 3-minute stretch by 10 points in what was, for most people, an extremely predictable outcome. Much can be said about trying to give bench players more reps, or giving end of rotation players the opportunity to show their stuff, but as has been said by many writers, coaches, and players this year: the East is tough, win as much as you can.
Flynn has played well and deserves love, but most of his offensive punch has come from attacking in transition, off the catch, or with Siakam as his screening partner (gravity is important, Siakam has lots). He can’t shoulder a bench unit as the sole creator, and the same rules apply to Young and Dalano Banton. It was doomed to fail. A bit of shooting variance + fast breaks on the other side of things? You’ve got yourself a meaningful run.
They got themselves back into it with defense, though. The Raptors have now won 6 games this season after trailing into the 4th quarter, and in the 8 and a half minutes of that frame before Siakam fouled out they limited the Nets to 7 points. It had everything. Young forced a Seth Curry turnover in drop defense, Trent Jr. popped out from behind Blake Griffin to swipe the ball away from Cam Thomas, and Siakam changed a handful of shots at the rim, cleaned up the misses, and stepped out on the Nets guards, funneling them into dead dribbles and resets. The team defense was in a really strong place, but the offense still struggled. The Nets accessed the zone early and often, and without either of Anunoby or VanVleet the Raptors were really light on shooting.
“That was a tough fought game.” Nick Nurse said after the contest. “I told the team: ‘They got a lot of guys out there who’ve played a lot of ball games.’ You know? Some experienced guys out there. So, I thought our guys did a good job of hanging in there. Didn’t really seem to be going our way. I don’t know how many layups we had roll around the rim and out, but you know some of those nights happen. We used a lot of ’em up last night, I think. We didn’t have too many of those last night. Really proud that we just hung in there and stayed with it when it was kinda tough.”
The honeymoon of the bench shooting lights out from 3 in the first match of the back-to-back was not recreated. The Raptors as a whole went 7-23 from deep. So, how did they score at the end of the game without Siakam? Well, a bit of luck, gritty attitude, and Scottie Barnes’ proclivity to never look at someone he’s passing to. The Nets got called for two separate 3-second violations. One is a rarity, two is a remarkable feat. Trent Jr. also shot 8 free throws in the final 5 minutes. Some of that is late fouls, but he was impressive driving to the rim – another rarity. Three different paint touches in clutch time for Trent Jr. saw a bucket drop in, and a trip to the free throw line. Without him stretching outside his comfort zone the Raptors likely don’t wrap this one up.
Mixed up in all of this was the Goran Dragic, but you’ll get more of that in *checks watch* two hours. Stay tuned.
“That’s something about me, I’m always gonna get through it. I’m always gonna continue to fight, and I’m sure things will go back to the way they’re supposed to be at. And that’s part of life in general.” – Pascal Siakam, shortly before he started yelling at someone to be quiet in the hallway
Good teams are the ones that find out how to win in less than ideal situations. The Raptors are fighting through numerous different things right now, but this was an important one. Siakam and his team have found common maxims to move them through difficult times.
Have a blessed day.
