His team had just ridden back-to-back 38-point second and third quarters to a stunning turnaround win over the Los Angeles Clippers. DeMar DeRozan had just finished leading his team in points, assists and rebounds for the first time in his career. Really. Yet Dwane Casey found time in his post-game chat with his players to talk about one play in particular.
A second-quarter foul on Patrick Patterson.
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This wasn’t an example of a head coach whining about officiating. Far from it. Rather, it was an acknowledgement of the type of effort that spurred the Toronto Raptors to a 123-107 win over the Clippers at the Air Canada Centre. Patterson had just drained a three to bring the Raptors to within 11 points with 9:14 remaining until half-time. Hustling back, he stared at Blake Griffin as the Clippers forward peeled away from everyone and drove the lane, reared back for one of those dunks. So Patterson jumped – straight up, it seemed, to everybody but the officials. There was no way Griffin was going to shove it in anyone’s face. No way, no how. Griffin made his two free-throws, but the point was very much taken. It was one of those “not in our house” moments that had been lacking in the first two games of this home-stand.
“I just made a point to (the) team about it,” Casey said, noting he had reviewed the tape and felt Patterson had provided a textbook, letter-of-the-law block. “We teach them all the time that’s how to do it. It was huge, him (Patterson) going up. It takes a lot of … kahunas … to go up and do that. It’s what we teach when we talk about what it takes to protect the rim. I love Patrick … he’s a warrior.”
This was one of those remarkable wins that seem destined to be featured when the final chapter is written on the 2014-2015 season. After losses to the Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets, a sell-out crowd grew restless as the Clippers rolled to a 20-point lead. There were boos as another slow start seemed to doom the Raptors, even against a team playing on consecutive nights after a 105-94 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. But the Raptors used 38-point second and third quarters to bury the Clippers, and improve to 34-17. The 20-point comeback was their largest of the season.
The Raptors finished with seven players in double digits, led by DeRozan’s 24 points. James Johnson, back after a four-game absence, had 16 points, going 7-for-7. Then he retreated to the Raptors practice court to continue shooting after the game, as the Raptors bench scored 46 points, 22 of them in the second quarter.
The Raptors didn’t seem destined to find much joy in the paint on this night. Any time they tried a pick and roll or diagonal pass, it seemed to end up with two Clippers on the ball. There wasn’t even a hint of post presence or any time of cut. One or two moves, and the Clippers were in the paint. Two or three moves, and the Raptors were still on the perimeter.
But when Patterson and Johnson were on the court, the Raptors started to get some movement towards the basket. Slowly, the Clippers became frustrated. Matt Barnes, DeAndre Jordan and especially Griffin – who had 19 of his team-high 26 points in the first half – started to work the officials. Griffin clashed again with Patterson; Johnson drove the lane with abandon; Amir Johnson found himself open and both DeRozan and – wait for it – Lou Williams started passing with aplomb.
Johnson was a beast out of the power forward spot. But as Casey noted, part of the credit for that also went to Patterson, who finished with 11 points and five boards in 28 minutes.
“He (Johnson) played the four and gave us a big lift,” Casey said. “That gave Patrick the opportunity to guard (DeAndre Jordan). It’s a matchup we were concerned about … but once we saw that Pat could hang with him and keep him off the boards, it allowed us to have James at the four, which was a huge advantage for us.”
Patterson had a wry smile after the game when he was asked about Casey’s contention that his momentum-stopping foul was actually legal. “Which one are you talking about? There were two of those plays – as you can see,” Patterson said, pointing to a reddish patch under his right eye. “The first one, I thought I went up straight in the air. I talked to the referee and he said my momentum carried me …
“I hope that play kind of turned things around. In order for us to beat elite teams, we need to be physical. That first quarter … they hit us. We retaliated, but we need to figure out what it’s going to take to be the aggressor from the jump.”
This much seems clear: Johnson deserves a starting spot, even though Terrence Ross remains the teams best three-point threat and Greivis Vasquez has some value in giving workhorse Kyle Lowry some time off the ball. “I don’t know what we have to do with the starting unit,” Casey acknowledged, “but we have to come out putting the pedal to the metal and find a group that is going to give us some spark.”
The Raptors next test is a big one: Sunday at the Air Canada Centre against the defending champions San Antonio Spurs, a team with a different psyche than the lippy Clippers.
“It was certainly satisfying,” Patterson said, when it was suggested that he and Johnson helped take the Clippers out of the game mentally. “You want to get under the skin of everybody. You want to make them uncomfortable as possible. You want to take the best player out of the game, out of his rhythm, and make other people make plays.”
And make some plays of your own, too.