Despite a truly valiant effort throughout the game, the Toronto Raptors fell to the Sacramento Kings in the Summer League playoff semifinals. With both teams coming into this game undefeated, it was going to take all they had to avoid their first loss of the tournament and the resulting elimination. While the outcome was not the one Toronto desired, there are still plenty of positives to take away from this game. Toronto’s stellar defense helped them climb back into the game when all seemed lost, and they also saw encouraging signs from Jamal Shead on offense yesterday.
Right out of the gate the Kings had an 18-4 lead on Toronto as they were scoring in bunches when Toronto could not get into an offensive rhythm. Sacramento frequently benefitted from Toronto misses, as they would immediately get out on the break and not allow Toronto to set their defense and pressure them. With their defense facing an initial setback like this, it seemed that Toronto had finally run into a team that they could not contain. When things slowed down and Toronto was able to get back into pressuring the ball they would climb back into the game, no matter the deficit. It also helped that Sacramento shot very poorly from three as a team, shooting 29.6 percent.
9th overall selection Collin Murray-Boyles showed more signs that he is going to be an extremely impactful defender yesterday. He uses his length to protect the rim and his timing on some of these plays is nothing short of spectacular, he clearly has true instincts when it pertains to defending. His biggest issue thus far is that the fouling can get a bit out of hand, but with the way Toronto has been guarding during summer league he is not the only player who has found himself in foul trouble.
Shead’s floater touch yesterday was extremely sharp and was his go-to method of scoring, and more often than not it worked. The second-year guard answered the call offensively as he dropped 24 points and 12 assists. Shead’s driving was very poor to begin the game, as he would just wander aimlessly into the paint, leave his feet and throw up either a poor shot or a poor pass. As the game progressed though, Shead slowed down, really got to work with the floater, and moved the ball around quite well. It was one of his stronger games offensively, despite the loss.
The biggest headache for Toronto was Kings power forward Issac Jones who dropped a staggering 36 points against them. Jones seemed to always be in the right place on the offensive end, whether he was rolling in the pick n’ roll, sprinting to the rim for lobs on the fast break, or getting an offensive rebound, it just felt like he could do no wrong. He also made most of his trips to the free throw line count, shooting 9/11 from the charity stripe.
In the fourth quarter was where Toronto made their most furious comeback attempt. Headed into the 4th they were down big, but after forcing a boatload of turnovers through their trademarked pressure defense, they found themselves within striking distance as the game was winding down. Ultimately they fell short in the end, and their summer league journey ended earlier than they would have liked, but a 4-1 record in Vegas, with many of the young guys showing promising things is a good sign for the future.
