Toronto – There are all kinds of ways to win a basketball game and it seems that in the extended science experiment entitled ‘what would happen if you took Kyle Lowry out of the lineup for nearly a quarter of the season’ the Toronto Raptors have toyed with just about all of them.
They’ve been rescued by DeMar DeRozan’s more-than-passable peak Kobe Bryant impersonations multiple times. They’ve defended like the second-coming of the 1990s-era New York Knicks for stretches. But recently they’ve tried this crazy thing known as ‘passing’.
Their 113-105 win over the visiting Philadelphia 76ers Sunday night at the Air Canada Centre was Toronto’s eighth win in their past nine games but the fifth straight game with at least 22 assists — in this case they finished with 25. Their season high is 28.
It may not sound like a huge deal; The Golden State Warriors lead the NBA with 30 assists a game and sometimes deal out 22 helpers by halftime. But for the Raptors, who have had a huge dollop of success allowing many of their possessions to end up with DeRozan or Lowry taking their man one-on-one, cracking 22 assists matters.
They average just 18 a game, last in the NBA, but when they count 22 or more they are 13-5 on the season.
Leading the way Sunday? DeRozan, who found his teammates for a season high-tying nine assists to go along with his 17 points, a tidy bit of work in just 31 minutes as Raptors head coach Dwane Casey was able to rest his starters in the fourth quarter against the undermanned 76ers.
"It’s big time, you know?" Serge Ibaka said of DeRozan’s impact as a playmaker. "He told me earlier, one time I passed him the ball and told him to finish it and he passed it back to me and asked me ‘Why I didn’t finish it? You’re hot, keep shooting.’ When you hear something like that from the best player on your team it gives you a lot of confidence."
DeRozan has averaged 4.5 assists since the all-star break, a modest uptick on the 3.8 he was recording before the break, but when you factor in the additional scoring load he’s had to carry at times, it’s not to be scoffed at.
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Without Lowry, the Raptors don’t have a lot of players who can create their own shot. That the likes of DeMarre Carroll (10 points on seven shots), Ibaka (24 points on 17 shots after missing his first five of the game) and Jonas Valanciunas (14 points on nine shots) can all thrive reflects offence being created on their behalf, to a certain extent.
You would never wish for the Raptors to miss Lowry for so many games, but now that Toronto has clearly weathered the storm, you can see some benefits. One is some growth in DeRozan’s game.
"They were sending two bodies at him. He did a great job of finding people, finding the seams in the pick and roll, skip passes against the press," said Casey. "I thought he did an excellent job, especially in the first half. That’s the type of game he’s going to see and if teams are going to do that, that’s an excellent sign if he’s able to do that."
The win improved Toronto’s record to 47-30, with five games left to win 50 for only the second time in franchise history. Remarkably, they are now 15-6 without Lowry in the lineup, something no one would have predicted.
The Raptors took a 59-49 lead into the half over the not-quite-as-lowly-as-they-used-to-be 76ers. Even at 28 wins, Philadelphia has recorded an 18-win improvement over a year ago. The Raptors held the lead at 10 through a desultory third quarter before Casey trusted his bench to finish it. Toronto held Philadelphia to 45 per cent shooting, while completing 54 per cent of their own field goals.
The game represented a bit of a trap. Too often this season Toronto has faltered against sub-.500 teams, especially at home, where they’ve dropped games to lottery-bound Sacramento, Phoenix and Orlando.
Even DeRozan acknowledged that seeing the 76ers on the calendar meant he knew he might not have to carry as heavy a scoring load as he has typically.
Did it allow him to take the foot of the gas and think the game a little more broadly?
"Yeah. In a sense, more so understanding — not to take something away from them guys over there — but me just understanding this opportunity where teams are really going to have to come after me. I can get my guys going," said DeRozan. "It’s great when they see the balls go through the hole."
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Helping that regard were some positive signs from Carroll, who needs the ball to move in order to thrive. It’s been a less-than-ideal couple of seasons for the 2015 free agent. It seems like every time he shows some signs of falling into a consistent groove, Carroll will fall victim to some kind of injury, be it a broken finger, sprained ankle, strained neck or — most recently — a stiff back triggered by a hard fall against the Miami Heat.
Carroll generates more than his share of groans from Raptors fans at the Air Canada Centre when he clangs a wide-open triple or one of his attempts to create off the dribble ends up going sideways. But when he’s playing well, Carroll contributes to the Raptors’ success. Toronto is 21-9 when he scores 10 points or more and 14-5 when he attempts at least six three-pointers a game.
He came out determined in the first quarter by getting five shots up — three of them triples, making one — but even his seven first-quarter points couldn’t lift the Raptors, who trailed by one after 12 minutes.
The more willing shooters there are around DeRozan the better. It’s hard not to be excited at the possibilities when Lowry — out for more than a month following surgery on his shooting wrist — finally returns to the lineup. There’s still no timeline currently, but Casey did say Sunday that he’d be comfortable putting Lowry back into a game without practice if he had to. The Raptors have five games left in the regular season, but even less days available to practice, so that’s worth noting.
When he does return? The ball-moving Raptors should benefit and DeRozan more than most.
"You’ve got another shooter, another three-point shooter there and it’s going to be really good to have him back, another potent shooter that teams have to respect with spacing," said Casey. "It’ll give DeMar a little bit more room to operate or to kick out to some productivity on the weak side."
DeRozan says he’s ready for Lowry to return, any time. "I told him he needs to hurry back. Playing point guard is exhausting," he joked. "It’s fun, just trying to get my teammates involved and everything. I’m pretty sure he’s going to try to make sure I still do the same thing but it’ll be great just to get him back."
Toronto began to separate itself in the second quarter as the Raps held Philadelphia to just 5-of-19 shooting and was able to open a 10-point halftime lead. Ibaka led all scorers with 18 points in the first 24 minutes, but Carroll chipped in with 10, taking advantage of a longer leash with P.J. Tucker taking the night off to rest a sore left knee.
Tucker had diagnostic testing done Sunday morning but everything came back clean, Casey said. The rest was mostly precautionary.
Of course, the 76ers should be easy pickings. Under the guidance of former Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo, Philadelphia was showing some signs benefitting from the most ambitious tank job in NBA history. The last time these two teams met, Philadelphia handled a then-struggling Raptors club. It was their seventh win nine games, part of a 10-5 month of January.
The Sixers have since lost Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor and Robert Covington for the season and traded Nerlens Noel. On Sunday night they had one remaining starter from the last time they played the Raptors.
"That seems like a very long time ago," said Sixers head coach Brett Brown.
A lot has happened to the Raptors, too. But they’re still standing — thriving even — finding different ways to win.
