We move ever closer to a series between these two teams, and the Raptors move ever closer to the role of ‘boogeyman’. When these two teams met on December 28th the Raptors were ravaged by COVID – Precious Achiuwa, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Khem Birch, and others were missing – and Pascal Siakam and Chris Boucher dropped twin 28-point games en route to a 5-point loss. Joel Embiid overwhelmed the Raptors frontline as he scored 36 on 16 shots. The loss dropped the Raptors to 14-17 on the season. Of course, we know now that the Raptors were mere days away from turning their whole season around, but at the time it was just another loss.
Are they that much better since then? Well, the Raptors are 33-17, top-6 in defensive rating, and in the top half of the league in offensive rating. They still rebound the hell out of the ball on the offensive end, but they’re near top-10 on the defensive end now. They still play slow as hell (3rd slowest in the league), but they don’t surrender their possessions, only the opponents. Last in assist-rate, shooting poorly from the floor, and currently treading water in a run of 15 games where Fred VanVleet and Gary Trent Jr. are taking roughly 17 threes a game and shooting 31% on them. Siakam has quietly stepped into realm of superstars, even if the reputation isn’t where it should be.
Such is the life of a team without a home, early on in the Tampa season I wondered aloud on reaction podcast after reaction podcast about the Raptors standing as a team; often citing the unique ways that they managed to lose games, and how they used to do the inverse. Winning games in a variety of ways has always been a by-product of employing Kyle Lowry, but how could someone like him not imprint upon those around him? As the Raptors have turned the corner this year, they’ve won some fantastical games in fantastical ways. Streaking back to defeat the 76ers from 15 down, bludgeoned by early 3-pointers, this game brought me back to the 2019-20 season.
Great scott! It was November 25th, 2019. Down by 6 with less than 5 minutes left, the Raptors reached into the depths of their person and found winning stuff. 2 threes from Norm Powell and VanVleet, and then the standout play: Siakam’s isolation on Al Horford, the ensuing spin, the helping Embiid, and the and-1 bucket to take the lead with a minute left on the dot. Siakam would close out the game with a buzzer-beating dunk. The game where ‘Spice the Redeemer’ was born.
“Be Phenomenal or be Forgotten” #doingitforyou🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/2U1KKG7TeP
— pascal siakam (@pskills43) November 26, 2019
Friends, rejoice. The Raptors have finally recaptured the winning essence that guided so many years north of the border. Many of the players have changed. Breakout stars are entrenched. Role players became All-Stars. And the team is young. Lowry’s loving but playfully aloof online persona replaced by Scottie Barnes posting pictures of he and Siakam after games with the caption: “bro he’s so good it’s insane”. And Scottie is right! Siakam is so good it’s insane.
Louis will have more on that in a couple hours.
“Didn’t feel like the game wasn’t that important out there tonight, did it?” Nick Nurse joked after the win. “It was a heck of a game. Great energy in the building. Guys that were out there did a good job, we got contributions from all over the place, and Pascal obviously was awesome.”
The way the Raptors succeed is also vastly different. Both teams play good defense, yes, but there is no Marc Gasol backstop. Lowry’s omnipresent, erm, presence is no longer there barking orders. The Lowry-led offense that always punched up at league best TS% and assist-percentage has been replaced by the mismatch hunting, Frankenstein’s monster that we see today. Although, Achiuwa’s remarkable pull-up 3 in transition – often shortened to PU3IT, by Raptors writers, because of how often Lowry would hit them – was a wonderful ode to Lowry, in its own way.
“I mean listen, as you see out there it’s difficult. And there’s a lot going on out there. And he still manages to get 30 somehow. We did a lot of stuff to try to stop him, and I thought we had a great stretch. I think what opened the game up, is that we did make him miss about 4 or 5 in a row. Right? And we didn’t foul him, right? So, that was probably the difference, that little stretch, but the rest of it was pretty difficult. If we see him again, there’ll be whole ‘nother, different game going on out there and who knows where the help and all that stuff’s gonna need to come from and what else will change? So, I’m sure – as you know in the playoffs it’s a lot of different stuff each night you plan. Each game kind of takes on it’s own form. I thought we did some good stuff. Probably could do some stuff better.” – Nick Nurse on the matchup with Embiid, and the prospect of a first round series against him
The Raptors game plan — and ability to execute it — for Joel Embiid remains one of the better ones league wide. The big man went under on every big box score stat (although not by much), and the 76ers got major contributions from the likes of Danny Green, Shake Milton, and Tyrese Maxey – although he’s a rising star himself – and it still wasn’t enough. The length made playmaking hard for Embiid, and then complicated every read James Harden had all night. It wasn’t a masterclass, but they’re missing two All-Defense level players (Anunoby, VanVleet) and they still made it work. Thaddeus Young and Chris Boucher were particularly good as rotational helpers on defense.
Winning this game says everything about the Raptors this season. They’re weathering multiple storms at once, and relying on Siakam + help to map a way out of it. Most nights they find it on the defensive end, some nights you get Achiuwa and Trent Jr. combining for 50. Whatever it is, they take it in stride. There is no right way to play, just play. And the Raptors have had to be amorphous this year to find success – they found it again last night.
Have a blessed day.
