On a day basketball history was remembered, the Toronto Raptors made some of their own in this modest corner of the hoops universe.
They did it in a manner that Dean Smith, the iconic University of North Carolina coach who passed away on Saturday night, could only approve.
"My basketball philosophy boils down to six words," Smith wrote once. "Play hard, play together, play smart."
The Raptors seem to have rediscovered their own version of that proven formula, doing plenty of all three as they knocked off the visiting defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs 87-82 Sunday night. In the process, they denied another coaching icon, Gregg Popovich, his 1000th win.
The presence of the Spurs, the pending milestone by Popovich, and the passing of Smith put one on the lookout for basketball played the right way, and under the microscope the Raptors looked closer to the standard than they have in some time.
"We’re trying to get where they are and where they’ve been," Kyle Lowry said. "It was a great test for us. They know every single night they’re getting other team’s best shot because of who they are. For us it’s a stepping stone, for our group."
It wasn’t aesthetically pleasing; the Spurs were held to just 33.3 percent from the floor while the Raptors shot 43.2 percent, but coughed up 18 turnovers. Toronto survived the Spurs grabbing 20 offensive rebounds.
So there were a few moments that would be worthy of a coaching clinic. But everyone pulling on the same rope and competing hard are the essence of a well-coached team. There was plenty that suggested the Raptors have come out of the wee funk that saw them drop two in a row at the Air Canada Centre.
The win improved Toronto to 34-17, good for second place in the Eastern Conference by three games with one left to play before the all-star break.
Jonas Valancuinas was just 3-of-7 from the field but scratched and clawed for 16 rebounds while doing his best to hold the fort against Hall of Fame-bound Spurs big man Tim Duncan, who was held to 12 points on 3-of-14 shooting and paid his grudging regards to the young Lithuanian.
"He was decent. I thought he was very good on the boards, big body; but all in all I missed a bunch of chip shots and got some blocked. I don’t know if he affected my game overall, but he was solid. He clogged up that middle, great on the boards."
James Johnson seems to have fought his way back from Dwane Casey-inspired purgatory of some sort, following up on 16 points and five rebounds in 19 minutes on Friday. After missing four games with a hamstring injury and playing just 39 minutes in the previous seven games before that, the versatile power forward got the start and delivered in a big way.
No offence designed by Casey, Popovich or Smith would have called for Johnson — a career 26 percent three-point shooter who is just 19 percent from distance this season — to be in the corner waiting for a pass with the game on the line. But he was and Lowry found him and he nailed it.
Johnson’s three gave the Raptors an 84-82 lead with 50 seconds to play. He had already scored on a layup with 1:33 left and then grabbed an offensive rebound, scoring a free throw with 4.4 seconds left to put the Raptors up 86-82.
It wasn’t pretty, but it was a team effort against a squad that is the gold standard for team play in the NBA. With Duncan leading on the floor and Popovich from the sidelines, the Spurs have created a culture every coach in the NBA would like to emulate, but is nearly impossible to duplicate.
"That program right there is where everyone is trying to get to," Casey said. "You know what kind of game you’re going to get against the San Antonio Spurs and that’s what we’re trying to build our program to."
It is perhaps no coincidence that Popovich counts Smith as a mentor. The UNC legend died at 83 and had been retired from coaching since 1997, but he left a rich legacy not only in terms of his basketball contributions but by proving himself as a persuasive supporter of the Civil Rights movement in the South in the 1960s and 70s, and as a mentor to countless coaches looking to him for guidance.
When Popovich was a struggling Division III coach, he spent a sabbatical studying basketball with Smith at UNC in the mid-1980s. He’s never forgotten the man’s graciousness, and Smith’s values are embodied in the Spurs approach, where an unselfish commitment to team play is the defining attribute.
“He really shared his basketball with a lot of people around the world," Popovich said before the game. " … His passing is a loss for a lot of people. But he did a lot of things off the court that are even more important than what he did on the basketball court, that probably nobody will know about. He was an iconic figure in the game but he was a wonderful human being to a lot of people.”
The “Spurs Way” has touched Canadian basketball, too. National team point guard Cory Joseph is in his fourth season with San Antonio and has enjoyed an expanded role this year, earning Popovich’s respect for his work ethic.
Joseph understands how fortunate he’s been to begin his career in such rare air and hopes the lessons he’s learned will carry over this summer as he tries to lead Canada to its first Olympic berth in 16 years.
"In order for us [Canada] to succeed we have to realize we haven’t done anything yet," Joseph said. "We’re a young, talented group. We don’t have much experience together so we have to soak up as much time together as we can to build chemistry. That’s what this team [the Spurs] has a great deal of — great chemistry — that’s why we look so good on the court sometimes."
Joseph made his contribution during the first half Sunday night. In his 11 minutes of playing time, he held Raptors gunner Lou Williams scoreless, converted a couple of baskets himself, and was on the floor when the Spurs turned the Raptors’ 20-11 first-quarter lead to a 42-33 deficit midway through the second quarter.
The Raptors battled back and put their stamp on the game by holding San Antonio to just 5-of-23 shooting in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter heroics allowed the Raptors to make their own little mark on what was a big day for basketball history, as they won for the first time at home over San Antonio in five years and the first time anywhere in eight tries.
The way they did it would have pleased Dean Smith, and it certainly pleased Casey.
"It shows how we have to play and grind it out," Casey said. "Guys came in and played, made tough plays, physical plays, plays with force, on both ends of the floor and that’s where you have to play to beat a championship team like that."