The Toronto Raptors won the battle but how it will impact their bigger goals is suddenly front and centre.
The Raptors squeezed out a 114-113 win in overtime against a very game, very determined Brooklyn Nets club. Going to the wire and then overtime to begin with was less than ideal because it was the first night of a back-to-back for Toronto. A laugher would have been preferred.
But of a greater immediate concern is the health of the Raptors’ all-star point guard Kyle Lowry, who went up high for an offensive rebound in the overtime period and was hammered by the Nets’ Joe Harris at the peak of his jump. Lowry landed directly on the left side of his lower back with no means to protect himself. It was awkward and it was ugly and Lowry was in serious discomfort afterwards. He couldn’t put any weight on his left leg and had to be carried off the floor by Jonas Valanciunas and Lucas Nogueira.
He left the Barclays Centre in a wheelchair, headed for X-rays. In the end DeMar DeRozan won it by converting a three-point play on the Raptors’ final possession and they followed up with a stop. While the win improved their record to 28-10, what comes next for Lowry far outweighs any short-term result. Here are some takeaways from the victory.
It didn’t have to be like this
The Lowry injury puts an exclamation point on it but this was a game the Raptors had in some version of their control throughout the fourth quarter but couldn’t nail it down. They were leading by nine with 3:27 left, but the Nets kept coming as did the Raptors’ defensive breakdowns. In short order: A wide-open corner three by Quincy Acy, a blown pick-and-roll coverage that allowed a Spencer Dinwiddie layup; some good ball movement by the Nets to set up a three by Dinwiddie, who finished with 31 points and eight assists; and finally the Raptors losing Joe Harris for an open three in transition. In the space of 1:35 the Raptors lead was down to two.
Meanwhile, the Raptors were becoming overly reliant on DeRozan isolations. He scored on four of them, but missed on his last two in regulation, including a low-percentage look at the buzzer. There was more of the same in overtime with the ball movement a thing of the past and DeRozan trying to stuff it down the throat of the defence. He was 1-of-5 in overtime before converting the winning three-point play and the last of his 35 points on 14-of-30 shooting. The effort tied Vince Carter’s club record for most 30-point games in Raptors history with 91.
The hang-around
The Raptors held the Nets to 19 first-quarter points and limited them to 34 per cent shooting through halftime, which would normally be a pretty good formula for a solid first-half lead but the Raptors weren’t up to the task. Their second quarter was the kind of ugly that happens when the underdog home team goes full try-hard on every possession.
These aren’t last year’s Nets. The loss dropped them to 15-25, but they pushed Boston to the wire on Saturday and have emerged as a tough test for any club that doesn’t come to compete. The Nets out-rebounded Toronto 17-9 in the second quarter while holding the Raptors to 7-of-21 shooting. The result was a 45-44 halftime lead for the Raptors in a game wherein anything approaching normal production should have led to a comfortable lead. To their credit, the Raptors, coming off two days of rest, were energized defensively – they finished with 12 blocks, a season-high six by Serge Ibaka. It made for ugly basketball, but allowed for Toronto to keep the game within range, if never really in control.
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Young gunners
The Raptors have got a lot of mileage out of their young players but you wonder if or when some of them might hit a wall. OG Anunoby certainly seems like he might be there already. The Raptors rookie shot 58 per cent from the floor and a surprising 47 per cent from three in November, almost all on spot-up threes and opportunistic paint scores.
In December he began to show signs of coming back to earth although he still shot 43 per cent from deep. But his shooting has fallen off a cliff since just before Christmas, coming into the game shooting just 5-of-30. One suggestion? Find a way to create shots that aren’t threes. Get out in transition. Get to a loose ball or an offensive rebound. He was 0-of-2 in the first half, both on threes. When you’re only taking five shots a game and three of them – on average – are triples, it’s hard get into a rhythm, I would imagine. His hard move to the basket early in the third for the foul was a good example.
Pascal Siakam offers an interesting case in point. He works on his three-point shooting and his ability to become a passable deep threat will determine how elite a role player he can become. He’s struggling mightily (he’s shooting just 14.5 per cent) but he’ll keep taking open ones. But he earns them with all the rest of his activity – a run-out, tip-in, anything. Anunoby should follow his lead where he can.
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Almost getting it done
The Raptors were finally able to establish some momentum early in the fourth quarter and even on a night when the bench had its struggles it was fitting that it was an all-bench unit was leading the way. With Lowry, DeRozan and Valanciunas resting to start the fourth quarter, the Raptors’ second unit took a 78-71 lead and was able to nudge its advantage forward. Fred VanVleet got a steal and scored in transition and then knocked down a triple to push the lead to nine with 9:31 to play.
A perfect scenario would have been for the bench to keep the spread growing but Casey still felt the need to bring back Lowry and DeRozan midway through the fourth quarter. It seemed like it was working – Lowry and DeRozan combined for 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting – but they couldn’t hang onto the lead and then paid the price in OT.
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It only gets tougher from here
The Raptors’ roll – they have won five straight — could very easily come to a halt Tuesday night against the Miami Heat. The Raptors will be on the wrong end of the rest equation as they will be on the second night of a back-to-back and the first game home after a three-game, seven-day road trip.
The Heat? They won against Utah on Sunday and were resting at their Toronto hotel Monday night as the Raptors were in Brooklyn. The Heat are 10-4 since early December and have won four in a row. They are 12th in offensive rating over that span, 11th in defensive rating and eighth in net rating at 3.1. The Heat are no pushovers and are showing signs of picking up where they left of from last season when they shook off an 11-30 start to storm through the second half with a 30-11 mark, ultimately falling just short of the playoffs. They are currently holding down the fifth seed in the East, a half-game game back of the Washington Wizards.
The Heat matchup is the first of seven straight games Toronto plays against teams that are over .500, including Cleveland and Golden State later this week. It would help to have a healthy Lowry on hand, but it’s probably best not to get anyone’s hopes up for that.
