https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2RbGf_tfi4&ab_channel=NBCSportsEDGE
Raptors teammates ‘proud’ of Malachi Flynn’s resurgent play | The Star
It really shouldn’t come as a big surprise that Flynn bided his time without being a disruption or giving up. Less than a month into the season, when Banton emerged as the primary backup to VanVleet, Flynn said he was never going to cause a problem and would work at whatever he needed to work on.
Toronto Raptors guard Malachi Flynn got past Brooklyn Nets centre LaMarcus Aldridge in a highlight reel play in the first half of their game Tuesday night.
In a chat with the Star in Portland in November, he said: “Complaining over and over and trying to point the finger, it’s not going to do anything. I’m not pointing the finger at anybody. I’m taking it upon myself, what can I do to help myself, that’s the only thing I can control.”
Flynn has a couple of veterans who have been through similar struggles that he can lean on. Siakam started the first 40 games of his rookie season but lost his job and ended the season with the Raptors 905.
“Sometimes I text him,” Siakam said. “I’m probably sure he’s surprised, like, ‘Why is Pascal texting me?’ This is the NBA and it’s tough, we all go through tough times and I’m just happy that he’s been given an opportunity and he’s taking advantage of it.
“I think only the strong survive. There’s a lot of people that go through that and, and (if) you’re strong enough mentally to keep it going and continue to work and wait for an opportunity, I think that everyone is going to get their chance and I’m glad that Malachi is getting his right now.”
Flynn’s resurgent play might mean the heavy load VanVleet has been carrying might be lessened in the final 20 games of the regular season. If Flynn can continue having an impact on a game in 18 minutes instead of 38, Nurse’s confidence in him will remain.
“He just needs to play solidly,” the coach said. “When the shots go in, he’s going to play great, and when they don’t, he can still play really good and that’s probably what I’m after.”
Raptors Malachi Flynn Showing He Deserves Rotation Minutes – Sports Illustrated
What happened to Malachi Flynn?
It’s been quite possibly the strangest part of this season for the Toronto Raptors. Coming out of last year, Flynn seemed like a shoo-in for a rotation spot this year. He won Rookie of the Month honors from April and nothing he did in Summer League nor preseason seemed to warrant a benching, at least not to me.
And yet, when the ball was thrown up for Game 1 of the season back on October 20, the 23-year-old sophomore was nowhere to be found. On the heels of a pair of 15-point and 22-point preseason performances, Flynn was suddenly vanquished to the end of the bench when the regular season began, replaced by Dalano Banton, Toronto’s incoming 2021 second-round pick. It seemed as though within a matter of months Toronto’s organizational philosophy had completely flipped. There was no more need for crafty undersized point guards, save for Fred VanVleet, and instead, the Raptors were all in on 6-foot-9 versatile wings. The fit seemed awkward.
Flynn played nearly eight total minutes in Toronto’s first six games. Save for a few extended looks here or there, especially when COVID hit the team or VanVleet was sidelined, Flynn had fallen out of the Raptors’ rotation.
“Listen, we gave him some shots early in the season. We gave him some chances and he didn’t really look like he was ready to go,” Nurse said Tuesday. “He just wasn’t impacting, wasn’t making shots, wasn’t playing what I thought we needed.”
In a small sample, Nurse was right. Flynn was shooting 36.5% from the floor and 28% from behind the arc as recently as February 10. In the G-League, things were even worse. He was benched in crunch time of one game and shot 8-for-26 from the floor and 2-for-11 from deep in his two Raptors 905 games.
But, behind the scenes, the developmental process was still unfolding. Flynn hadn’t given up, hadn’t accepted the fact that maybe it was just time for a change.
“He did a really, really good job of just staying in everything. DNP, DNP, DNP, seeing Dalano play, but he was into every practice, into every workout, into shootaround, into every film session, always asking questions, always bright and energetic on the bench. He just stayed in everything,” Nurse said. “For whatever reason, I didn’t play him early. When I gave him chances, I thought I gave him some extended chances, I didn’t see enough to extend that to other places. But then when I started playing him here recently, I did.”
Raptors’ rookie sensation Scottie Barnes faces a measuring stick | Toronto Sun
Thursday night against visiting Detroit, it will be Cade Cunningham providing the measuring stick — the NBA’s first-overall pick who has endure ankle and hip woes, while forced to miss games when he entered the league’s health and safety protocols.
The kid can play, but so too can Barnes, whom the Raptors selected fourth overall.
Friday night in a rare back-to-back home slate, Orlando comes to town with rookies Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner. Suggs was taken one pick after Barnes.
Sunday night in Cleveland, the Raptors begin a stretch of six games on the road. The Cavs feature the presumptive rookie of the year in big man Evan Mobley, the third pick in the draft.
Suggs has had a hard-luck season, but he has shown signs of finding his rhythm having posted two double-doubles in his past five games following a win over Indiana on Monday.
The best rookie for the Magic has been Wagner, the eighth selection of a draft class that has proven to be deep and quite good.
Wagner’s teammates have noticed his play. Following a 26-point effort against the Nuggets recently, Wendell Carter Jr. spoke highly of Wagner’s game.
“I told Franz: ‘Man, you are one of the best players on this team. If not the best,’” Carter Jr. said. “I want him to believe that.
“I want him to go out there and understand that. He’s got the respect from a lot of the great players in this league already. He’s gold.”
Dial 905: Toronto Raptors 905 make light work of Maine Celtics, win 128-92 – Raptors HQ
The Celtics took advantage of the Raptors 905’s sloppy start, getting up to a quick 6-2 lead two minutes into the game. Little did the Celtics know that that was the last time they would hold the lead for this game. Aaron Best and Isaac Bonga warmed up, led a 13-4 run, and took control of the game from this point forward. Newly minted Celtics two-way contract player Matt Ryan (Not the Falcons QB!) came off the bench and promptly did what he does best – hit a three-pointer, cutting the Raptors 905’s lead to 15-13.
That was the last time the Celtics threatened the Raptors 905 as Ashton Hagans controlled the latter part of the quarter. Hagans’ playmaking, shot creation and getting on Chris Clemons’ mug defensively helped the Raptors put up a 34-24 first-quarter lead.
The Raptors 905’s bench brought their “A game” for this matchup, as birthday boy Justin Smith quickly racked up 8 points off the bench. Chris Clemons looked like he was starting to heat up, scoring five quick points early in the second quarter, cutting the lead to 40-34. Hagans got back into Clemons’ grill and had a nasty sequence. He forced Clemons into committing a pick-six and followed it up with a nicely sold flop as the Celtics tried to inbound the ball, forcing the refs to call an offensive foul on Clemons.
Hagans sparked a 9-2 run to build their then biggest lead, 49-36. However, Celtics’ Juwan Morgan got deep a few times, helping them go on an 8-2 run to keep them within striking distance. Sadly for the Celtics, David Johnson made a deep three-pointer that sparked their own run, this time, a 12-2 run, behind Best and Breein Tyree’s exploits, closing the half at 64-46.
The Celtics came out for the second half looking flat, and the Raptors 905 jumped on them right away, going on an 8-0 run to push the lead to 72-46. Obadiah Noel came off the bench early in the third period as Johnson picked up his fourth foul, but it was bad news for the Celtics. Noel racked up eight points easily in the third period. With a 98-63 lead entering the fourth, the game was clearly heading into garbage time. If anything, we got blessed with an Alex Antetokounmpo sighting!
