About halfway through the second quarter of Monday night’s win over the Phoenix Suns, when Jonas Valanciunas had a tidy 17 points and six rebounds with nearly 30 minutes of basketball still left to play, you didn’t have to be John Wooden to realize the Toronto Raptors centre was poised for a career night.
On the Raptors’ first possession, Kyle Lowry found Valanciunas flashing on the left block, where the big man was fouled attempting a hook shot. Two possessions later, it was a similar play, but this time on the right, and the third-year Lithuanian swished it. And so on.
Dwane Casey’s Raptors have proven they’re willing to help establish Valanciunas early in games, to make concerted efforts to get him the ball in his comfort spots deep near the low post. But throughout this young season, Valanciunas hasn’t consistently converted, giving his team’s primary ball-handlers — Lowry and DeMar DeRozan — reason to pause before putting the ball back in his hands.
That’s not to say Casey keeps Valanciunas’ leash particularly short — his size and toughness are always going to earn him court time — but there is enough offensive firepower on this team that they can look elsewhere to find points if he’s struggling. It’s a nice problem to have, although we’ve seen how, like most young bigs, a slow start can affect JV’s confidence and performance down the stretch.
Needless to say, that wasn’t an issue Monday night, as Valanciunas scored eight of first 10 Raptor baskets and never looked back.
Against an exploitable Suns front court, the 23-year-old pivot did just that, finishing with a personal-best 27 points, to go along with 11 boards and a block. The best part? He shot 10/11 from the floor and 7/8 from the free throw line. Read that again.
“It shows the hard work he’s put in with [assistant coach Bill] Bayno and Jamal [Magloire],” veteran teammate Chuck Hayes said after the game, as Valanciunas packed up his locker just a few feet away, pretending not to eavesdrop. “Hey, that’s what we need from the big fella.”
When it was his turn, Valanciunas greeted the crowd of reporters and began to explain his performance in typical scrum talk:
“I tell you guys the same thing every time, I just try to do my job,” he said. “Always rebound, trying to get open, setting screens — that’s my game.”
Sure, but something must’ve been different tonight, one reporter proposed.
“Yeah,” Valanciunas admitted, “I got a lot of touches — from Kyle, DeMar, every teammate. I felt trust in them so it was easier for me.”
There’s that word: touches.
Touches are like currency for big men. In the wake of Monday night’s career night: JV, you’re a rich man.
[Cue the dream sequence]
The opening notes of “Baby, you’re a rich man” play as a frenzied media horde surround Valanciunas in front of his locker, like British tabloid journalists rushing the Beatles on a Heathrow tarmac.
“JV! JV!” the press yells at him, bulbs flashing while the red light of video cameras stare the Raptors’ centre right in the eyes.
“How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people?!”
“What do you want to be!?”
“And have you travelled very far!?”
A measured Valanciunas responds, oozing confidence from his monster performance, “Far as the eye can see.”
“JV! JV!” How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people!?”
“How often have you been there?!?”
“Often enough to know.”
“What did you see when you were there!?!?”
“Nothing that doesn’t show.”
[And now back to Earth]
Two weeks ago, when the Chicago Bulls were in town, Pau Gasol sat a few hundred yards from the Raptors locker room and explained that, offensively, post players need to feel the ball in their hands as often as possible to keep them fully engaged and involved. He pointed to Valanciunas’ successes playing for Lithuania as evidence.
“[Playing for his international team] the ball goes through his hands on nearly every possession,” Gasol explained. “And for players like us that’s how you get into rhythm and can be more effective in games.”
It also comes back to Valanciunas’ point about feeling the trust from his teammates, and in particular Lowry, who seems motivated to find his centre whenever possible. The two have established a really nice chemistry, and watching Lowry driving and dishing behind him to a trailing Valanciunas, as we’ve seen numerous times already and again Monday night, has become one of the more exciting sequences in the Raptors’ playbook.
The Raptors need to keep looking to establish Valanciunas early. But it’s up to him to make them want to do it again and again as the game progresses, to force their hand. And Lowry, DeRozan, et al recognized it. That’s basketball: know your teammates and work together to create the best opportunities for each other.
“Everybody is in good position,” Hayes said to this point. “Nobody is forcing shots, every shot that we shoot is going to be a shot that we want. Ain’t nobody out there fetching to get attempts. It’s all coming in pace, in rhythm.”
The Raptors will have to continue to lean on each other Wednesday night in Atlanta against a drastically better front court than what we saw Monday.
But we’ll talk about that some other time. Here, on the day after, forgive us for wanting to shine a light on Jonas Valanciunas and his career night.
