I often think of halfcourt scoring, sideline out of bounds plays, baseline out of bounds plays, things of that nature… as exercises in problem solving. Sometimes it’s an expression of dominance, of sheer offensive talent and the like, but when a team is missing that over-the-top talent, the MVP x All NBA two man partnerships, it becomes about alignment and sequencing.
The Raptors came into the game against the Pacers as the NBA’s #2 halfcourt offense (per cleaning the glass, and their highest ranking in franchise history) and as the NBA Kings of BLOB & SLOB points per possession. They don’t have the dominating offensive talent to simplify everything, they have a mish mash of players that require a bit more mindfulness when it comes to their usage. The players, and Coach Darko always slyly and deftly navigating the waters ahead of them during their big winning streak. Copious contributors. Innovation irrespective of station. Egalitarian carryin’ on.
It was a major test then, to face the Pacers who employ Andrew Nembhard and TJ McConnell, both of whom can badger and prod at guards, forcing teams to initiate offense from different positions to save the trouble of that pestering. The Raptors had to go elsewhere for initiation and offense initially. Brandon Ingram & Scottie Barnes provided the bulk of the Raptors scoring in an offense starved first quarter. With Ingram in particular going through his least shot-make-y stretch of the season. No RJ Barrett as a go between for paint touches, they headed straight on in to bully drives and pinch post possessions for the forwards. It was laborious and rarely rewarding. The team shot 1/9 from downtown and 7/22 from the field for a paltry 21 points in the opening frame. Only 3 assists to boot. The verve and pace of the offense was missing.
The opening stretch of the second quarter had a different kind of shortcomings. The transition shortcomings. It’s true that the Raptors are the NBA’s best offense when it comes to getting into transition, but they’re also one of the worst at finishing in transition.
Nearly halfway through the second quarter, and they were spending about a quarter of their plays in transition, and only scoring .25 points per possession. For reference, they were scoring .74 ppp in the halfcourt which would place them last by a huge amount in the NBA. .25 points per possession in transition is almost hard to do. That’s a basket 1 out of 8 tries. Remember when everyone was making fun of Celtics media for getting slapped up by the Celtics coaching staff? Their transition points per possession were probably close to .25.
Problems to be solved. A lot of Jay Huff near the basket gumming things up. The Pacers like to play him in a 1-man zone near the paint. The Raptors guards, unable to skirt their matchups. Their forwards, at that point, cape-less. Meanwhile, Siakam and Nembhard were doing a decent job of pulling the Pacers through the slog, and they had a jolt of shot making from Jarace Walker to help. It was enough to go up double-digits.
The Raptors big run to climb back into things and take the lead before halftime was due to a few things:
- Shot making, always shot making.
- Getting Quickley the ball on the move and on a screen so that the Raptors could try to move Huff around a bit more and create a couple more looks in the paint.
- Converting on transition looks.
As per usual, the credit gets divided into a few pots. Yes, the Raptors coaches put their heads together on how to put Huff in a few more tough positions. But, there’s nothing quite like making the right read on transition and getting an easy bucket.
Of note: Gradey Dick took a pretty bad fall while pursuing an offensive rebound and left the game.
Full marks for Barnes, as he was quite resilient trying to carve out buckets on offense, and a real deterrent on the defensive side of the floor.
Toronto started the second half with Ja’Kobe Walter in place of Collin Murray-Boyles, who was largely ineffective in the first half. So, the Pacers opened with Nembhard on Ja’Kobe Walter so he can help off of him and disrupt the Raptors offense in the gaps. Of course, it’s fitting then, that Walter hit a wide-open corner triple 2 minutes into the third quarter after the Pacers as a collective collapsed into the paint. Then another one a possession later. Walter started the game 1 of 5. Nothing like hitting shots. Nice run for Walter, yes, but it was wrapped up in a mammoth 22-0 run for the Raptors that spanned nearly half of the second quarter and the opening of the third. They went from a double-digit hole, to a double-digit lead in very short order.
Walter wasn’t the only one who turned around a cold start either. After Ingram opened with 6 points on 7 shots, he scored 14 on his next 9. The Raptors were battling, trudging around in the muck, waiting for things to swing, and they all swung at once. The Raptors took their big run in stride, getting the shots from wherever they came, but Ingram’s slow, inevitable process coming around allowed the Raptors a weighted blanket’s worth of comfort. He also did this while warding off the very feisty Nembhard, who had taken him on as his check. The Raptors took a 6-point lead into the final frame.
Few good things in life come easy, and NBA wins are pretty good, so naturally the Pacers had a counterpunch in them. They opened the fourth quarter with a 5-0 run to set the table for a close finish. Buckets were traded like Pokémon cards. 3 minutes in and the Raptors were still up by just 1. A pull up triple from Bennedict Mathurin, who awoke from a basketball slumber in the fourth quarter, snatched the lead back for the Pacers. They would keep the lead for some time. Taking the Raptors spot, as the stiff-armer rather than the stiff-arm…eee. They held on for a good stretch of time.
It was a Barnes iso on Mathurin; shoulder in chest, too big, too strong, you have to foul me type of thing that put the Raptors ahead at the free throw line. A cross screen and a baby fader from Ingram over Mathurin was their next bucket.
The Raptors couldn’t expect Ingram to school Siakam in the post, and they couldn’t expect Quickley to loose himself of Nembhard, so they opted to still run through Ingram, but do so while putting Siakam through screens above the break. In general? Few advantages gained. More missed shots than made. They opted to go for a Barnes post up on Mathurin. The Pacers doubled, and Quickley missed the floater that came out of it.
The last two plays though? A Siakam catch-and-assess at the free throw line. He got by Quickley with a pump and a step through, but Poeltl came flying over to swat the shot, and the Raptors collected it before walking the ball up the court and setting the stage for Ingram.
No screens. No posts. An isolation for Ingram against Siakam where he stopped, popped, and hit the game winner.
The Raptors tried to sort their offense into a few different looks down the stretch to win the game. They tried to problem solve. In the end, it was nothing but Ingram.
Alignment… spacing… talent. Hmm.
Nine wins in a row for your Toronto Raptors.
Have a blessed day.
