Kyle Lowry stood before his team in the drab, cramped visitors locker room at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Moments earlier, the Raptors had dropped a winnable contest to Kobe Bryant and the last-place Lakers in overtime, their first game after losing DeMar DeRozan to the first significant injury of his career.
“[Lowry] was extremely frustrated, dissapointed,” says Patrick Patterson. “Everybody was. Going into OT we all felt the game was ours. We were angry we let it slip away.”
The sweat had barely dried when the star point guard addressed Patterson and the rest of the Raptors with a simple message: Get over it.
“Kyle being the leader that he is,” Patterson says, “let us know that game wasn’t going to make or break our season. No matter what, we were going to win our next game.”
Wouldn’t you know it, that’s precisely how things turned out.
The Raptors hit the hardwood in Sacramento determined to avoid the slow starts that plagued them in Los Angeles and against Dallas on Friday in Toronto—their first consecutive losses of the season.
Lowry, for his part, was typically aggressive (“How do you defend a bowling ball?” the Kings’ TV announcer remarked at one point) in the 117-109 win. He looked like a guy who scored 29 on 28 shots in a losing effort in the previous game, determined to move the ball and get his teammates involved, recording eight assists before halftime. Terrence Ross, who posted back to back 20-plus point-games for the first time in his career, was the spark plug early on, dropping 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting (3-of-3 from three) before the five-minute mark of the opening frame.
And while the Kings—playing without their best player, DeMarcus Cousins—would eventually bring the game within two, the Raptors remained in control throughout, leaning on timely contributions from the supporting cast, highlighted by James Johnson’s season-best 19 points against his former team.
“That’s what a complete team does,” Lowry told Sportsnet’s Eric Smith after the game. Truth be told, though, on the court these Raptors are far from complete. With the exception of wins against Milwaukee and Washington, the Raps have had difficulty stringing together four quarters of quality basketball. In that respect, they’re still a work in progress (that they also happen to remain in first place speaks to this team’s potential, and the subsequent excitement from the fan base).
What they are is character-driven—and not in the way, say, the early 2000’s Jail Blazers, were. These Raptors are resilient, holding off late surges by the Kings, who eventually brought Tuesday’s game within four points with 1:30 to play. They’re finding ways to win, to bounce back and play as a team. As Lowry might put it: They’re finding ways to get over it.
About an hour after the closing buzzer sounded in Sacramento, the Raptors stepped off a coach bus and onto a charter plane ready to take off to Salt Lake City for Wednesday’s game against the Utah Jazz. As the plane sat on the tarmac, Patterson, who finished with double-digit points for the third consecutive game, explained this team’s current mindset.
“With DeMar out, we know it means other people are going to have to step up, to create opportunities for each other,” he said, laughter audible in the background (winning is just more fun, innit?). “Tonight was James [Johnson]’s night. He was overpowering his defender, getting to the line, driving to the hoop and attacking the boards. He was in the zone, and we recognized that and took advantage. We know we have options, and know to recognize when any of us are in that zone. Once we realized they couldn’t stop him, we tried to look for him as much as possible.”
There are few teams in the NBA that rely on contributions across the bench like the Raptors. That balance will continue to be a point of emphasis as their go-to scorer, DeRozan, heals from the first long-term injury of his career. If Lou Williams is in can’t-miss mode, they know to get him the ball. If Patterson is on a hot streak, they’ll look to find him. Same for Vasquez, Johnson, Valanciunas, Ross, etc.
That selflessness is going to be important as the season progresses. It’s something every NBA player has to deal with, sacrificing personal achievement for the greater good, but after last season’s success, this roster has truly embraced it.
For his part, Patterson has drawn on past experience. In high school, he was a teammate of Bucks’ guard O.J. Mayo (who was a bona fide superstar at that level, appearing on the cover of SLAM magazine as a teen) before heading off to Kentucky.
“In college, for the first two years I was the man,” Patterson says. “But then, in my third year, John Calipari came in, and so too did John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe. I went from averaging 18 and eight to 14 and seven. Looking back, that situation early in life prepared me for the future, to be able to adapt my role and game at the NBA level. But you learn that when you get in a situation like here [with the Raptors]—where you’re comfortable with those around you—it makes everything smoother in terms of sacrifices.”
Since the Raptors traded Rudy Gay to the Kings for Patterson, Vasquez, Chuck Hayes and John Salmons one year ago, they have yet to lose three games in a row, another example of the makeup and character of the team.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, you can imagine how teams like the Sixers become complacent with losing after enough experience. Raptors fans have certainly known that feeling intimately at times.
“It’s an unspoken thing,” Patterson says of avoiding a prolonged losing streak. “I’m thankful for that, but none of my teammates talk about it. We just hang our heads high knowing we play hard. Never die, never surrender. It’s all about how we come together. We’re building strong relationships with each other, trusting each other, and it shows in a stat like that.”
It remains to be seen how far that team-first attitude will take these Raptors. But for now they’re an egoless bunch (by NBA standards, at least) leaning on each other and banking on contributions, regardless of where a player sits on the depth chart.
Maybe that’s what Lowry meant when he said the Raptors were a complete team.
