Fan Duel Toronto Raptors

Raptors earn new All-Star, defeat old one in OT

A former Raptor taught us how to understand the grind, which is exactly what this team is doing right now.

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Courtesy: Mark Blinch/Getty Images

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A former Raptor taught us how to understand the grind, which is exactly what this team is doing right now.

Toronto wins its fourth straight game, this time at the Chicago Bulls expense. All four have come down to the wire which has it’s pros and cons. The obvious drawback is continued high minutes for the starters, but gaining experience closing out games is invaluable. Before I break this game down, let me dive into a celebratory section about the Raptors newest all-star.

1. Freddy All-Star, it’s official now

About 20 minutes before tip-off, Fred VanVleet became the eighth Raptor to receive the honour. He said after the game that he first caught the vibes from the few hundred fans in the stands. Voices travel in an empty arena, and they were pretty loud. Pascal Siakam then led the on-court celebration, which is fitting because they’ve shared their entire careers together. Fred wished that both of them were named so that they could share the moment together but it wasn’t meant to be. A former teammate also gave his props shortly after.

Fred credited Kyle Lowry for showing him the blueprint. Lowry returned to action on Thursday night with a win in San Antonio. Of course K-Low was going to show some love too.

VanVleet becomes the fourth undrafted player to be named an NBA all-star, joining John Starks, Brad Miller and Ben Wallace. He went down memory lane a bit.

If you have the time to look back, Open Gym did an amazing job as they always do covering Fred’s journey. This is a compilation of his story that was released during the pause of the 2019-2020 season.

Fred was quick to remind reporters that he’s STILL just getting started.

“I don’t plan on going anywhere. I know that being undrafted and being an older guy and all those things you get that stigma that there is not as much potential or room for growth but I gotta get better because being an all-star means 21 and nine is a bad night. With two turnovers late and a couple of bad plays. So just continue to grow and I put high expectations on myself,” VanVleet said.

2. Pascal Notes

Onto the game now. Siakam continues to be the team’s swiss army knife. He did a great job finding teammates on cutters in the first half. The two plays I’m highlighting both came in transition. Great read up ahead to Scottie Barnes, showing point guard skills with the touch. Then later being the recipient and euro stepping around Nikola Vucevic. Spicy stuffed the stat sheet again with 25 points, 13 boards (five offensive) and seven assists.

He still has a chance to go to Cleveland because Adam Silver will be naming a replacement for Kevin Durant, who plays the same position.

3. Chris BOUCHER!

I capitalized his last name because wow, what a game off the bench. The Raptors reserves in general catch a lot of legit flak for not providing much but Boucher and Precious Achiuwa both had five offensive rebounds, Dalano Banton added three and Khem Birch returned wearing a mask from his broken nose injury to get one more. Toronto as a whole tied a season-high with 22 offensive rebounds, something only the Grizzlies do better (13.6 vs 13.3 per game)

I also liked this lob from Dalano to Chris.

Back to the energy though. Boucher looked like a rookie Pascal, routinely flying down court to provide offensive opportunities as seen here in the third quarter. Then moments later, he chased down yet another offensive board and set up his all-star for three once Fred re-found his balance.

4. Winning Time

More pressure moments, we’re vets at this now so lets get started!

I mentioned lots of off-ball action worked in this game. Here’s a great wrap around pass from OG Anunoby to Barnes who cuts backdoor perfectly in sync with Nikola Vucevic itching to double.

More from Scottie with the Raptors down two in the dying seconds, and it featured a little bit of deja vu. Last Saturday in Miami, Barnes split P.J. Tucker and Tyler Herro ball watching for a tip-in attempt that he got fouled on, making game-tying free throws to send the game to overtime. This time, Vucevic was looking to help on the ball handler once again which freed Scottie to send the Raptors to another overtime. TOUGH tip with the left, which in real time I thought was going to roll off the rim.

Also shoutout to the rook for trying to calm Nick Nurse the hell down. Nurse was livid that Fred didn’t get a call.

Switching back to OG in overtime. He has a flair for making massive threes lately. Here’s a two for one special with DeMar guarding.

Nurse praised Anunoby after the game.

“He’s really played great down the stretch for us, both making shots and making decisions. He did that again. The most important thing is that it’s not like he’s used to it yet. He’s getting the ball a lot, he’s getting double teamed a lot. There’s all kinds of things going on that he needs this live action. He improved throughout the game and that’s kind of the point of those many reps as he can get, so that he can see what to do with it,” Nurse explained.

Meanwhile Scottie was limping around a bit as OT was winding down, but that didn’t stop him from converting what Nurse described as his toughest finish of the season. Grown man move on Vucevic, who had 30 points and 18 rebounds so I’m not trying to pick on him. That’s just who was being taken advantage of late.

“He starts doing that a little more often and I can see another eight to 10 points in his game because he really took that down there with an assertiveness and used his strength and height. Made a really tough basket,” Nurse said.

Barnes did check out afterwards for Chris Boucher who provided one more shining moment in a splendid 16 point, 10 rebound game off the bench. Boucher cut off rookie Ayo Dosunmu trying to drive baseline, then deflected his pass forcing a turnover. That killed a Bulls possession where they were down two with under a minute left.

Ayo is having a great first year for a second round pick, but he threw it away again after the Raptors turned it over. That set up the game defining play, with a little help by Nurse.

There was a mix up between Zach LaVine, Ayo and Vooch. Maybe LaVine should have stayed with Trent, but also it looked like there was supposed to be a switch involved. Whatever it was, everybody in the gym knew the game was over when Gary Trent Jr caught the ball WIDE open. He only had 16 points, failing to break DeMar DeRozan’s franchise record of five straight with at least 30, but who cares? The headband still reigns supreme.

What’s Next?

A fourth game in five nights on Friday. The Hawks are back, and I’m guessing that Trae Young will be coming along for the ride this time.

Cover Photo by Vaughn Ridley/NBAE via Getty Images

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