Any season, good or bad, has a multitude of positive and negative trends. Obviously, you want to amass a whole bunch of positive ones and some teams do, but there’s ups and downs for everyone. Last night, the Raptors were matched up with a New Orleans team that possesses one of the only players in the league, Zion Williamson, who can outmatch O.G. Anunoby in the strength x speed department. They also boast a ton of length at the point of attack defensively to dissuade drives from the likes of Anunoby, Scottie Barnes and Fred VanVleet, and that length also stretches into passing lanes and shot contests – the whole thing.
“I don’t know, I can’t really explain it.” Pascal Siakam said of the performance. “I think we really gotta keep our focus, we all understand how good we can be on defense and all those different things. But, we gotta do it (laughs).”
On the offensive side of the floor, Williamson continued to collapse the defense and find shooters. If the Raptors stepped up into space, laydowns to lovable big man Jonas Valanciunas were available. They attempted a few different things to stop Zion, but none of them lasted, as he’s inevitable. Breakdown after breakdown came, and the Raptors didn’t have the compete level to bridge the gap to the execution of the Pelicans. There are bridges, for all kinds of gaps. A lot can happen on an NBA floor, and the Raptors have bridged many a gap before with defensive intensity, turnovers, and offensive rebounding; they built none last night. Hell, they didn’t even have a bridge to sell us.
In the midst of all of this bridge-less basketball (it’s wearing thin now, the bridge stuff, I’m sure), Gary Trent Jr. was working tirelessly to halt the momentum of his season so far, and send it the other way. Since he came off the bench for the second game in a row, he was put in a unique position to chase history with a voluminous scoring night. His 35 points were third all time for a Raptors bench scorer, behind Donyell Marshall (38 points, Mar. 13 2005) and Lou Williams (36 points, Nov. 22 2014). They came fast and furious in the second half where he scored 25 on 9-13 shooting.
“Whenever opportunity is given to me, I’m going to do everything I can to showcase the work I put in. Continue to keep building, continue to keep going and grow from there.”
Gary Trent Jr. after the loss
Some of these are catch-and-shoot looks, some of them are after a couple dribbles and a stop-and-pop, one was a burst-y, strong, bully drive to the bucket against Dyson Daniels and another against Jose Alvarado; all of them were quick, decisive decisions. He’s been streaky, but there’s no doubting Trent Jr.’s talent for shot making. He abandoned all the hang-ups and just let the ball fly – to great effect. Maybe the decision making process is simpler off the bench with less demand for the ball elsewhere on the court, maybe Siakam’s arrival back with the team helps shift the floor in his favour, but none of that can account for all 35. He was cooking.
“Anything coach draws up is a good thing.” Trent Jr. said of coming off the bench. “Win, lose, or draw, we’re gonna go with it, no matter what the situation is… that’s what it is.”
Siakam was asked about Trent Jr.’s performance as well: “He played well. I think Gary’s always ready. I’m really not focused on makes and misses, to be honest. For me, I just want him to enjoy the game. Play basketball, go out there and be himself, have deflections, play with joy and be happy. It’s tough, you know, he’s trying to find his spot. There’s a lot of things going around, but I just want him to play basketball and today he just did that. Like, simple. Shoot open shots, play defense – he had a great intensity on defense – and just continue to do that. Like, I think Gary’s gonna be fine. And tonight, like again, he shot the ball really well and we know Gary can do that. I think sometimes it’s easy to overreact to certain kinds of things. Gary’s a scorer, he can do that. You just have to continue to focus on the other things and have that joy for the game.”
It’s sage advice, really. Siakam has been preaching about the process of things rather than the results for some time now. Even when he heard MVP chants for himself, even when he hears critiques for others, he asks for the holistic approach. Everyone in basketball deserves it, because there’s always ups and downs. Trent Jr. was thrust into a role he didn’t have the skillset for when all the injuries struck the Raptors. Prior to Siakam going down, Trent Jr. was brilliant offensively as he scaled down some of his more adventurous possessions to pursue more catch & shoot opportunities hovering around Siakam. Something he no doubt prepared for in the offseason, and the rug was pulled 9 games in. Now, as things return to a level of normalcy, he can input himself in a similar fashion.
Surely, that won’t result in an average of 35 points per game going forward, but what Trent Jr. did was show everyone exactly how easy it is for him to come in and score the basketball – whether it’s off the bench or with the starters. Let the ball travel is a tremendous tagline to promote passing, but it’s also pretty good to motivate Trent Jr. to let it fly upon receiving it.
Have a blessed day.
