The Raptors were tested in the second quarter in Hotlanta. The Atlanta Hawks were missing their star in Trae Young, which meant the Raptors had to worry less about his screen rejects and him getting open 3-point looks as a ghost screener for guys like Jalen Johnson.
Things started to look ugly in the second quarter, though, as the Hawks went on a 13-2 run, the Raptors were 1-12 (1-12!) to start the second frame and their 3-point shooting went cold. To add salt to the wound, Scottie Barnes & RJ Barrett really struggled to put points on the board.
They only had 18 points in the second frame, but their spirited effort set the tone of what would be a much different second half.
Towards the end of the first half, IQ, who had a 18-point game, got to the charity stripe after a transition lay-up attempt. The Raptors missed a defensive rebound (which they did throughout the game), but then BI got the the hoop, drawing a foul as his squad trailed by 13 points, 51-38.
Barnes may have only had 14 points on the night, but rose to the occasion when it mattered most. Before the first half ended, he had a nice jab step and hook over KP in the paint. The Raps were missing shots all quarter, but showed tons of effort on the offensive glass.
With less than a minute left in the first half, Barrett’s 3-pointer was blocked, but the Raps scrambled and he got another attempt, much closer to the rim. Miss. Poeltl grabbed the offensive board and dished it to Barrett for yet another 3-point attempt. Another miss! But they kept fighting and BI got to the line again.
After halftime, the Raps set the tone. IQ’s transition triple helped the Raps inch within three. There’s always a lot of talk about process – and there’s process within a game. Sometimes what’s done earlier in the game manifests later. CMB got really good corner 3 look in the first half and splashed his second attempt in the third quarter. He even played POA defence on NAW. For the Raps, the ball seemed to be hopping and moving around in its half-court offense.
They took that momentum going into the final frame. They were down four points. And we continued to see more experimentation in the pursuit of a dub.
Shead played football against KP to set the tone. It reminded me of the second quarter from the season opener when Shead came to help from the weakside to guard a Wallace-KP pick-and-roll and drew a charge from the unicorn. At times, the Raps played too unselfish, giving up good looks in an attempt to find greater ones, but this ended up in some grenades (there was corner 3 attempt by CMB, which barely grazed the rim, at the end of the shot clock, which could have been a good enough shot attempt by Mamu earlier in the clock).
Scottie intentionally played the role of distributor instead of hunting for shots himself. But he hit shots when it mattered most. Just as he had that hook shot over KP in the second quarter, his lay-up forced a Hawks timeout at a pivotal juncture in the fourth. Then again, with less than three minutes left, Barnes hit a clutch lay-up to make it a nine-point game.
IQ, who hit the transition triple to start the final 12 minutes, also hit the most exciting shot of the game – a triple after a couple of swings, with little more than seven minutes left in the game. That shot put the Raps up four, 85-81. The Raps never lost momentum in the fourth quarter and even a Battle 3-point attempt was exciting, which could have stretched the Raps’ lead to seven. Kudos to Darko for putting him in a closer role – perhaps, the ten days without practice inspired Darko to use Battle as our Roki Sasaki (as the other Japanese guy would be a bit of a stretch).
The best Canadian Raptor’s back-to-back paint twos pushed the lead to six and eight. Mamu’s free agency pick-up was an absolute steal. The Raps now with four straight and remain undefeated in the NBA Cup. Times are good, now onto Philly.
