TORONTO — For the banged-up, road-weary, grinding-through-a-particularly-unforgiving-slice-of-their-schedule Toronto Raptors, this one was a struggle. Lately, they’re all a struggle. But the Utah Jazz are a better team than they’re often given credit for and, despite some very untimely injuries, went on a mini-run coming out of the holidays and sure came to play Thursday night.
But the Raptors hung around. Despite a near-cripplingly sluggish start, and despite letting the unheralded Shelvin Mack score 17, and despite shooting 32 per cent midway through the fourth quarter, and despite getting bum rushed again by franchise nemesis Joe Johnson, and despite never once leading the game until there was less than four minutes to play, the Raptors hung around.
Toronto earned a tie seven separate times in this game yet never took a lead until DeMar DeRozan hit a contested mid-range jumper with 3:44 to play, as he does. It says the Raptors won by eight on the final box score, but there was nothing easy about it. And here’s three other storylines from a grind of a night.
The constant
It’s almost boring at this point, but Kyle Lowry yet again pulled his team through the end of this game, playing one of the best fourth quarters anyone’s seen since the one he put up last week. Or the one the week before that.
You may remember Lowry rolling the Jazz in Utah just before Christmas, putting together a 19-point fourth quarter as the Raptors began their six-game road trip with a dig-deep victory. Or, perhaps, you’ll recall the 20 points he dropped on the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. Thursday’s final 12 minutes weren’t quite as emphatic—he only scored 16 this time around—but Lowry was once again the sole reason his team won the basketball game.
“If there was a loose ball down there, he was like a little pit bull,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “That’s why he is who he is. He’s been that way since high school. And it’s not going to change. He just took over the game down the stretch.”
As always, it’s difficult to isolate any single play as Lowry’s best on the night, but mention is surely owed to the and-one he pulled off with a little more than four minutes remaining to put his team within a point of tying the game.
Coming off a pick-and-roll with Jonas Valanciunas, Lowry drove to the basket, drew a foul from Mack, took flight and threw the ball up as he flew practically horizontal with the floor. The ball fell in and Lowry fell himself, landing in the first row of spectators behind the basket before getting up, dusting himself off, and hitting his free throw.
Sure, DeMarre Carroll and Terrence Ross each had low-profile good games, and Valanciunas’ second half was crucial. But make no mistake—Lowry won this game.
“There’s going to be games when he just doesn’t have it in the tank or situations he may not overcome,” Casey said. “But my money would be on him if I were a betting man. And I don’t gamble. But if I did, I would bet on him.”
A new look frontcourt
The delightfully offbeat Lucas Nogueira drew his first start of the season—and second of a 63-game career—Thursday night, sliding into the opening lineup in place of Pascal Siakam, who’s struggled of late. You can never fault Siakam for his effort, but the 22-year-old has faded some here in the middle of his rookie season, posting a minus rating in each of his last five games. It’s probably not a good sign when his coach is publicly wondering: “I don’t know if Pascal hit the rookie wall.”
So, that’s why Siakam only played four minutes. But another reason for the swap, in this game specifically, was that the Jazz like to start with an uber-large frontcourt featuring Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert. It stands to reason that the Raptors were best prepared to defend that duo with Nogueira playing alongside Valanciunas, while at least surviving on the offensive end as well where the duo have been feeling out their spacing over the last few games.
“We’re searching. We’re trying to find matchups,” Casey said.” We’re just trying to find something to help us ease into the second unit and get the right match-ups to help JV in the low post.”
The results of the tactic? Let’s call them mixed. Gobert was held without a point in the first quarter but Favors proved more difficult to contain, scoring six on three-of-four shooting. Then, in the second, with both teams playing more traditional lineups, Gobert went off, scoring eight and pulling down four offensive boards in the second quarter alone.
To his credit, Valanciunas logged perhaps his finest offensive quarter of the season in the first, scoring eight points on four-of-six shooting while playing the entire 12 minutes. But he looked tired in his limited second quarter run and was beat to several rebounds by Gobert who also provided the ignominy of finishing a massive two-handed dunk directly in his face.
Valanciunas finished the game strong and Nogueira had as mercurial a second half as ever, missing an easy lob at one point, throwing down an emphatic jam in traffic at another, and straight up pulling his shorts down to his knees during a Utah free throw attempt.
Will we witness this starting frontcourt again going forward? We’ll see. The starting power forward position is essentially open to whichever Raptor wants to take it until Jared Sullinger is healthy enough to play. If the stubborn swelling in Patrick Patterson’s left knee relents, the job should be his. If it doesn’t, who knows? Maybe it could be yours.
“It’s not the answer,” Casey said of the Valanciunas-Nogueira experiment. “It’s a fluid situation. We could go back to Pascal the next game; it could be Norman [Powell.] We’re just going to make sure we mix and match until we get Patrick back and Sully back in the mix.”
A familiar refrain
A season-long staple of the Casey post-game scrum has been his pleas for better rebounding and paint protection, and Thursday night was no different.
To be fair, it’s not exactly a breeze playing down low against a monster like Gobert, and you could see the toil on Valanciunas’ face when he had to battle with the Utah behemoth for extended periods on long possessions. But still, the Raptors were out-rebounded 26-19 in the first 24 minutes as Gobert fought his way to five on the offensive glass.
The good news is things improved dramatically in the second half, as the Raptors tilted the rebound war in their favour, 26-20, and came away with a resounding 12 offensive boards. Much of that was thanks to Valanciunas who looked reenergized, especially in the third quarter. But Casey, as always, is looking for a more consistent effort.
“In the first half we had no resistance,” Casey said. “We’ve got to protect the paint and the rim better.”