It doesn’t take long for babies to become toddlers. Well, it takes a long time overall. But once they start taking those first few hesitant steps, reaching out to hold on to anything in sight, it’s moments before they’re running confidently. Sometimes baby steps become a giant leap for mankind in a matter of moments.
The Toronto Raptors took baby steps recently in returning Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett to the basketball court. It didn’t result in a win, or, really, anything very close to it. But it resulted in structure. Offensive possessions that operated as they should in the NBA. That’s a requirement for improvement — even beyond giving young players extra minutes. And in Quickley’s shooting and Barrett’s driving, the Raptors at least added some NBA skills to the court.
Of course, the Raptors lost the next game by a franchise-record 48 points as they rested most of their NBA-caliber players. One step forward, two steps back. But the Raptors keep marching forward. Against the Milwaukee Bucks, the Raptors were resilient, revamped, rejuvenated, recalcitrant, redeemed.
All of a sudden, their baby steps have become NBA-sized strides back to relevance.
Toronto was fun against Milwaukee. Quickley, perhaps most of all. He was busy just trying stuff out there, and it was working more often than not. He Nash’d a drive, taking the baseline but keeping his dribble, twisting around the other side of the rim and spinning into a push shot over an unsuspecting Brook Lopez. He drilled triples. He even tried a fake pass in the middle of a stepback triple out of the pick and roll. (He missed it, but woah man was it fun.) Quick isn’t the best shooter in the league, but when he’s hot, he can trade jumper for jumper with anyone out there. He was one assist away from a triple double, and his speed was a vital weapon in Toronto winning game. He gives the offense juice in a way few guards in franchise history have.
RJ Barrett continued his immaculate, angular forays through the paint. He simply doesn’t stop unless a defense forces him to. He does that with incredible leg and ankle strength, pushing through bodies that seem to be in his way (but really aren’t). He does it with a surprisingly capable handle for his size. He does it with court awareness and understanding of what’s going on around him. He chipped in in other ways, grabbing offensive rebounds, lurking around the dunker spot. He fits the Raptors, no matter what they ask of him, and no matter who else is on the court.
This is burying the lede, but Gary Trent jr. was a flamethrower. A 31-point flamethrower. A goddamn lunatic. He shot 15 triples! He drilled his his catch-and-shoot jumpers and pick-six’ed the opposing offense for an uncontested layup. (He almost got a second but just tipped it out of bounds while he was diving to save it.) In the third quarter when he was gunning at Ludicrous Speed, he was drawing insane closeouts, and a simple up fake created more space than ever. (Yeah, the Bucks did not play well.)
Gradey Dick tossed in an uber-athletic, spinning reverse layup. He answered a Lillard triple with chutzpah to end the third quarter. Even Darko Rajakovic got in on the fun, with sharp playcalling for his newly return NBA-caliber lineup. He pounded Spain pick and rolls. He mentioned before Toronto’s loss to the Los Angeles Lakers that he’d have to dig up some old plays that had fallen out of favour with Quickley out of the lineup. Well, consider the Quickley plays reintegrated. One of my favourites was a one-two punch of ghost screens for Quickley that saw first Jordan Nwora then Trent sprint into and out of an on-ball screen for Quickely. (It, ahh, resulted in nothing, but still a fun thing.)
But even if that single play didn’t do anything, one hallmark of it — with the Raptors flat-out sprinting this way and then that — ended up defining the game. Toronto played with pace and energy throughout. The Bucks want the mud, and the Raptors proved to be clear-flowing water. They cut and ran and passed and ran and dashed into every action like madmen. The pace on everything was terrific (which, after a half decade of not much running, this is a very fun development), and the Bucks couldn’t keep up. Especially in the middle quarters as Toronto started raining open triples.
Defensively, the Raptors gave an effort and focus that has been missing during much of the losing streak. Kelly Olynyk, despite not offering too much resistance at the rim due to a lack of relative length at the center spot, showed and recovered and returned to the paint with admirable aplomb. The defense at that point of attack was terrific. Ochai Agbaji fought through everything to stay attached to Damian Lillard, not falling for cuts and fakes, and frequently denying Lillard the return of the ball after it left his hands. If he can become the consistent lockdown wing defender the Raptors so desperately need on the roster, there’s an easy 30 minutes a game out there for him in the future. He was that against Milwaukee.
Sure, there were some weaknesses that the Raptors couldn’t overcome at points. With the Bucks a huge roster and Toronto tiny, defensive rebounding was an issue. Because of Toronto’s defensive aggression, trying to make up for its lack of size, Lillard got to the free throw line at will when he got into the middle of the lane (or just shot from deep while curling around a screen, sometimes). The Raptors didn’t have the size on the wing (with Agbaji defending Lillard) for anyone to match up with Khris Middleton.
But none of that ended up mattering. The Raptors won. The Raptors won. The Raptors won. More importantly, it was fun. It was a reason to watch. 1-0 now. Fifteen is back to being a meaningless number. One-game winning streak.
