There’s always something that matters outside of the bounds of what is supposed to be the definitive features of significance. You can love a restaurant not for its food or drinks or location, but for some other inexplicable reason that keeps you going. People go for jogs for reasons other than fitness. There’s more to life than the meaning we assign. And there’s more to basketball than wins or losses.
Or so we tell ourselves. There has to be. Or else why would we keep tuning in to these Toronto Raptors games? Loss after loss, somehow each one more painful than the last. Though it will be hard to top Toronto’s overtime, buzzer-beating loss to the Boston Celtics going forward. (This has to be the bottom. Right?) The Raptors are now 2-12, the worst team in the National Basketball Association. This winning rate is lower than Toronto managed in any individual season in franchise history. It’s been slow going, right on the heels of a historically bad March last season. That doesn’t seem fun.
But ask anyone who’s watched every game, watch them all closely, and most would say — it’s been promising. Some — many! most? — would even say fun.
Of course, the Raptors have been mostly without Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, and Ja’Kobe Walter, and entirely without Bruce Brown and Kelly Olynyk. That may explain the losing, but it surely doesn’t explain the fun.
To see what’s fun, you have to watch the games. Not the box scores. Not the numbers. But what’s actually happening on the court. And nothing showed the enjoyment like Toronto’s loss to the Celtics.
Gradey Dick has been on a little bit of a cold streak with his jumper over the last few games, even missing a pair of clean triples against the Detroit Pistons the night before that could have given the Raptors the win. The cold shooting continued against Boston. Even though he did hit a rainbow pull-up from midrange with just over a minute remaining to tie the game. But outside of that stunner, he found other ways to contribute. His passing, especially, popped. He threw dimes to cutters in the halfcourt, lobs to runners in transition. Very early in the game, he drove against a closeout and went into his footwork for a spinning mid-range jumper. But then he saw Jakob Poeltl bury his man under the rim, and instead of shooting Dick pulled the plug on his plan and just threw a simple pass to Poeltl in the paint. That’s a significant step, not so much the pass or the vision (both were very simplistic), but the processing in the ability to change one’s mind on a predetermined action to find a better choice midway through.
That’s a process win. And, sure, Poeltl missed the layup after the Dick pass. But that’s all part of the package. It may make the play a little bit less enjoyable to watch, but not all the way. There’s still some fun to glean.
And even though he wasn’t scoring well (at all), Dick was still moving the defence. Toronto found good shots in the handoffs between Dick and Poeltl. He never stopped cutting, which was integral for Toronto’s sets even when he didn’t touch the ball. Do we watch basketball just to see an orange ball move through the middle of an orange hoop? Because, yeah, Toronto has been mostly missing that, despite scoring well against Boston. But the rest of the goods, the artful, graceful, outrageously athletic, scripted and improvised, incredible feats bumping up against the limitations of reality, of opponents … that was all there in its glory entire.
It wasn’t just Dick. Ochai Agbaji remained immaculate. He hit (some of) his jumpers (read: the important ones), drove through traffic for simple and effective layups, and altogether played mistake-free basketball. He even blocked Jayson Tatum after absorbing contact on a drive. He rotated early as a help defender to take away sure things at the rim. If and when Toronto does become good this season, Agbaji is shaping up to be a huge part of it. Teams simply need players like him. Such workers aren’t sufficient to drive winning, but they are necessary for it. Agbaji has been reliable in virtually every contest this season. That matters. That’s fun.
RJ Barrett continued his process of breaking out of his recent funk. In a big way. A huge way. A triple-double way. A pull-up triple to beat the clock with a few minutes remaining was the peak, but he was splendid throughout. On top of moving without the ball — he was the recipient of the Dick assists for a cutting dunk in the halfcourt and lob dunk in transition — he performed great with it in his hands. He committed to reaching the rim, rejecting screens to get to his left, playing patiently in traffic, and generally performing with much more control of the game than he did against Milwaukee or either team from Los Angeles. He drew countless fouls driving downhill. His passing, especially to bigs Poeltl and Jonathan Mogbo, was creative and effective, as he finished with a career-high 15 assists.
Davion Mitchell continued his violently impressive defence, often hounding Jaylen Brown. He even hit a triple. He’s holding down the fort. Jamal Shead’s floater worked out of pick and roll with Poeltl, and he even tossed in a hanging finish over a big to quiet a monstrous third-quarter flurry of triples for Boston. Mogbo’s defence remained real. Chris Boucher’s activity and finishing, as ever, popped. (Even if the buzzer-beating dunk to end the third didn’t count.) He hit back-to-back corner triples midway through the fourth to give Toronto a late lead. (From opposite corners, too, which is always more fun.)
And Poeltl, especially, was terrific. He followed up one of the best games of his career against the Detroit Pistons with another of the best of his career, scoring a career high 35 points. He grabbed every offensive rebound. He hit practically every floater he threw at the rim. He smashed the Celtics with screens and directed the offence like a maestro. His value as a pressure-release valve with cutters orbiting around him is vital.
How can everyone play well and the Raptors still lose? Because the team is so undermanned. There’s just not enough talent right now. (And the Celtics are overflowing on that account.) Being outgunned can make games fun in a certain way, if you’re something of a masochist and know what to look for. And besides, the cavalry is coming, every game creeping closer to the day the stars walk back through the door.
Winning would be more fun. No doubt. Especially after an overtime heartbreaker. But Toronto still found plenty of the good stuff regardless, even leading for most of the game. Sure, the Raptors are the worst team in the league. But we watch the games for more than that. The Raptors proved that against the Celtics.
