TORONTO – Eventually DeMar DeRozan is going to own all the records. Most games played by a Toronto Raptors player? He’ll get that one before Christmas.
All-time leading scorer? Based on his career average DeRozan will reel in Chris Bosh sometime around the all-star break. He’ll lead the franchise in free-throws made and attempted. If there’s a scoring category you can think of, he’ll be on top of it eventually. And he’ll be in the top five in just about everything else too.
But for most of his career those marks have had kind of inevitability to them, like a career achievement award. DeRozan would own all the records because he kept showing up.
So far this season, young as it is, DeRozan has shown up when his team has needed him most. There have been plenty of positives for the Raptors to rally around through three games but the fluidity and diversity of their offence hasn’t been one them.
He finished with 33 points in the Raptors’ 105-102 win over the Denver Nuggets, improving Toronto to 2-1 on the season and narrowly avoiding what would have been a crushing loss after Toronto led by as much as 19 in the second quarter.
It was Kyle Lowry who scored the decisive baskets down the stretch. It was DeRozan who kept the fire under control until help could arrive.
“I’m just trying to give him some help,” said Lowry, who finished with 29 in his strongest outing of the season. “This guy is playing unbelievable basketball, he’s averaging over 30 points … he’s playing the way he’s supposed to play, the way he knows how to play and no matter what anyone says he’s productive and he’s playing really good basketball. People say he doesn’t shoot threes [but] he’s averaging 30 without shooting threes, that’s pretty impressive, no matter what.”
It wasn’t pretty and it came down to the final couple of possessions as first the Nuggets’ Danilo Gallinari and then Emmanuel Mudiay missed three-point looks that could have sent the game into overtime. Just for good measure Gallinari rimmed out another three with the minimum 0.3 seconds on the clock that would have tied it. The Raptors changed some of their pick-and-roll coverages and were gang rebounders as they out-scored Denver 12-3 in the final six minutes, but they got lucky too.
In between Denver’s misses in the final seconds Lowry missed a game-clinching three after a grinding, go-nowhere possession that kind of summed up the Raptors’ early-season offensive woes.
But they found a way. Lowry hit a jumper that broke a 101-101 tie with 1:36 left then a lay-up with 45 seconds left that proved the difference.
However, it was DeRozan who carried the load. He’s scored 40, 32 and now 33 points in three games. No Raptor has scored that many points to start the season and none has ever scored 30 or more points in three straight games to start a season, either. He also became the first player since his idol, Kobe Bryant, to score 30 points in three straight games without making a three-pointer.
These are records that great players put on their resume and so far this season, DeRozan has been great, proving he’s well worth the $139-million contract he signed in the summer.
DeRozan’s example should be an inspiration for Nuggets rookie Jamal Murray – for any NBA rookie anywhere. The pride of Kitchener-Waterloo, Murray was making his first visit of his NBA career to Air Canada Centre. Like Murray, DeRozan came into the NBA at age 19 and struggled at times, although he was in the position of playing a steady dose of minutes from Day 1. Eight years later he’s the picture of consistency.
Murray has rookie worries, some of which he tried to alleviate by meditating. In the morning before the game he had ticket stress – trying to find enough seats for the 100 or so guests he was bringing to the game. In addition to securing tickets he was still trying to make his first NBA shot. Taken No. 7 overall in the draft out of the University of Kentucky, his former coach, John Calipari, predicted he might lead all rookies in scoring.
Well, that might take some doing, based on early returns. His head coach, Mike Malone, was making noises about Murray’s need to guard his position better, which carries added weight considering Murray is backing up both the point guard and shooting guard spots. The Nuggets are a young team but they have some depth, so Murray is going to have to earn his minutes. And after a lifetime of being a primary ball-handler and go-to scorer he’s figuring out how to prove himself in limited minutes off the bench.
He was 0-for-4 from the field in his 12 minutes, though he did grab a couple of rebounds, notched a couple of assists and drew a charge on Cory Joseph, his national team teammate. But it will be a while before he can take the ball and run with it like DeRozan does.
“It’s something you have to adjust to,” said Murray. “It’s not like you get to come in and know you’re going to have a rhythm after playing a lot of minutes. So you have to be ready to knock down shots coming off the bench, staying warm on the bench. When you go out there you’ve just got to make sure you limit your mistakes and just always be ready because you might not be out there for a long time. It’s all up in the air you just have to be ready for whatever happens.”
Unlike Canadians before him Murray has a welcoming committee waiting for him during his first tour through the NBA. He and Joseph were engaged in some through-the-media joshing before the game, with Murray saying he might try some trash talking if the Nuggets were leading and Joseph replying, “He won’t talk no trash. Trust me, he won’t.”
He didn’t.
In the end, a dream homecoming didn’t materialize thanks to Lowry and DeRozan’s 62 combined.
In the early going it was DeRozan who ran the show. He put up 20 in the first half as the Raptors looked like they were going to romp as they led by as much as 19 in the second quarter and 13 at the half. But Toronto took its foot off the gas and when DeRozan cooled down in the third quarter Denver was able to get back into the game as the Raptors struggled to score.
The Nuggets whittled that down to four with three minutes left in the third quarter. Luckily, DeRozan responded by reeling off nine quick points to keep the margin at four heading into the final quarter. It wasn’t a pretty game. At one point the Nuggets’ Jameer Nelson had as many points as the Raptors did in the first seven minutes of the final period – seven each – but the Raptors managed to hang onto the game. DeRozan hit a jumper and a lay-up and then made way for Lowry. The Raptors got home safely.
Which is how the 2016-17 version of DeRozan seems a little different than the one that was in place for so long before. The current run he’s on is the kind of sustained brilliance that superstars pull out of their arsenal every once in a while. All around the NBA some exceptional players are doing some exceptional things – Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant heading the list.
DeRozan’s three-game splurge is right there with them, even though he won’t have the comparisons.
“Hell no. No,” he said. “Did you see what they’ve been doing? That’s video game numbers. But it’s awesome to have your name in any type of conversation with any of the top players in the league. It’s awesome. “
Another night, another record for DeRozan. Before long he’ll have them all. That’s all part of becoming a Raptor-for-life. But what he’s doing this year is giving his team everything they need just when they need it most.
By the time he’s done he might be the Raptors’ leader in that category too.