“Just win. Go out every game, play our hardest, win, and for me to just be the best AJ Lawson I can be every day … show that I’m an NBA talent and NBA level player.”
That’s what the Brampton, Ont. native said following Game 1 of the G League season when I asked him what he was hoping to accomplish after re-joining his hometown Raptors 905 shortly after being waived by the big club.
Fast forward one week, and so far, consider those boxes checked.
Lawson made sure of it with his game-winner on Friday night, lifting the 905 to a 113-110 victory over the Westchester Knicks as they moved to 4-0 — the best start in franchise history.
Facing the prospect of blowing what was once a 14-point fourth-quarter lead, the 25-year-old proved once again why he’s been the G League squad’s most dependable scorer for over a season now.
The game was knotted 110-110 with less than 15 seconds remaining, and the 905 inbounded the ball to Alijah Martin, who drove into the paint and lost his footing before throwing up an off-balance and heavily contested jumper. And just as the 1,957 in attendance and everyone watching at home were getting ready for overtime, Jonathan Mogbo corralled the air-ball and whipped a touch pass to Lawson in the corner, who casually buried his fourth triple of the game.
None more satisfying than that last one, as he held his follow-through just a bit longer than usual. Admiring his work as if he were a slugger watching the baseball they just crushed clear the left-field wall.
Lawson finished with a team-high 22 points — modest production for the 905’s leading scorer, considering he put up 35 points the game prior — to go with four assists and four steals in the 905’s first road win of the season. The G League all-star is top 10 in scoring this season, averaging 25 points on 50.0 / 43.3 / 73.3 per cent shooting splits to go with 3.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.8 steals.
Meanwhile, the 905 got multiple contributions on the night with six double-digit scorers in total. Olivier Sarr finished with a season-high 18 points and four made triples, while Alijah Martin added 15 points, albeit on 3-of-12 shooting, to go with five rebounds and three steals. Chucky Hepburn chipped in 12 points, nine rebounds and two steals, and the bench duo of Tyreke Key and David Roddy scored 11 apiece. As for Jonathan Mogbo, the sophomore put up eight points to go with a team-high nine rebounds and six assists in his third assignment game of the season.
Not all wins are created equal, and the 905’s latest victory was a shining example of that. Up until Friday night, the recipe was straightforward: Constantly pressure ball-handlers the length of the court, create turnovers and misses, then mad-dash the other way to generate easy offence.
Simple? Yes. But it’s been good eats.
The 905 won each of their first three games by double digits, holding every team under 100 points, while leading the league in point differential (plus-34.7), opponent field-goal percentage (36.3) and turnovers (23.3).
Defensive dominance through and through.
And for much of Friday’s game, it appeared as though the junior dinos had cooked up yet another impressive win in the same way. They forced 25 turnovers for 37 points, held the Knicks to 45.5 per cent from the field and 32.4 per cent from deep and, after responding to the game’s opening basket with an 8-0 run, led the rest of the way.
So how did Westchester hang around long enough to turn what was a 92-78 deficit with less than nine minutes into very nearly their win (now 0-3) and the 905’s first loss?
When the Knicks weren’t giving the ball away, they did a solid job controlling the glass, closing possessions and forcing the 905 to operate in a half-court setting. Westchester finished plus-eight on the defensive glass and with a 44-37 rebounding edge overall.
Forced to operate with less pace and space, the 905’s offence — which led the G League in field goal (52.2) and three-point (41.6) percentage heading into the night — looked far less dynamic and productive.
The junior dinos shot 42.0 per cent from the field, salvaged what was a 4-of-13 start from downtown to finish 15-of-38 (39.5 per cent), and committed 20 turnovers, six of which came in the final frame. Possessions took longer to develop, paint touches weren’t coming as easily and a general sense of malaise hovered over the offence.
It didn’t help that four of Westchester’s 11 triples on the night went down during its fourth-quarter comeback — two from Bryson Warren and a pair of longballs from Dink Pate, as the pair each scored 19 points off the pine.
Still, the 905 were getting just enough production offensively to keep the Knicks at arm’s length. They were also getting pretty lucky, like when Lawson curled off a screen on a baseline out-of-bounds play and shot the ball from the right corner, which bounced off the side of the rim and hit the top of the backboard before dropping through the net as if the basketball gods themselves had willed it. Or maybe the Kawhi Leonard-esque basket was just an indication of what was to come for Lawson.
But even with fate seemingly on their side, the 905 nearly couldn’t help themselves.
A backcourt violation with less than two minutes to go, and then a Jekyll-and-Hyde sequence for the ages from Sarr, almost had 905 fans commiserating rather than celebrating.
The big man had an opportunity to ice the game in far less dramatic fashion, at the free-throw line with less than 30 seconds to go and a one-point lead. He missed both, but quickly got a second chance as the Knicks fumbled the rebound and Sarr collected the ball only to get fouled once more. He’d hit both on the re-do, seemingly redeeming himself. Not for long, however, as the French forward inexplicably left his feet to contest a one-legged heave from beyond the arc by Warren with plenty of time left on the game clock.
After review, Sarr was indeed called for his fifth foul, and the Knicks guard knocked down all three free throws to tie the ball game, all of which ultimately set up Lawson to save the day.
Sometimes being good is just a matter of being lucky, and the 905 were both this night. It’s true that how a team triumphs matters in the G League, and Friday’s performance won’t get filed in the “signature wins” cabinet. It’ll show up in the standings — one of just two 4-0 teams currently — all the same, however, and making corrections feel much easier after a victory than a loss.
Up next
The 905 return to action on Wednesday (Nov. 19), visiting the Greensboro Swarm for the first leg of a back-to-back as they continue a five-game road trip.
