TORONTO – "Not sure on the starters tonight. We’re thinking of mixing it up."
That was Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse before the start of Wednesday’s decade-ending 117-97 demolishment of the Cleveland Cavaliers Tuesday night.
And in a decade that saw this franchise go from a league-wide afterthought to NBA champions, why wouldn’t there be one more surprise from these Raptors?
Approximately 30 minutes before tip-off, Nurse revealed that Rondae Hollis-Jefferson would be making his first start of the season for the Raptors in place of OG Anunoby.
An odd choice at first glance, but consider this for just a moment: Coming into Tuesday’s contest, Anunoby had quietly struggled over his previous five games, averaging only 7.8 points per game on poor 39.5 per cent shooting and an abysmal mark of 10.5 per cent from deep.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, those figures drop to a horrendous 6.0 points per game on 36.7 per cent shooting from the floor and 1-of-13 from three-point range if his relative outburst in Indiana last week is not included, when he went for 15 points on 6-for-13 shooting.
Pretty good reasons to boot Anunoby out of the starting lineup, if looking at it purely from a statistical standpoint.
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But when you consider the fact Anunoby is only 22 years old and viewed as one of the cornerstones of this franchise, would it not do better for the young man’s confidence to let him work his way through a shooting slump rather than reprimand him for his spotty performance of late?
So then, what was the justification for relegating Anunoby to the bench and going with Hollis-Jefferson on the final night of 2019?
"You guys know, I like to mix it up a little bit, haven’t been doing it all that much this year," said Nurse after the game. "I thought maybe get both of them going, both Rondae and OG. [Cavaliers forward Kevin] Love with the big matchup, maybe a little bit more of a banging type guy for Rondae to start on."
OK, so this was purely matchup-based and in no way an attempt to send a message to Anunoby over his recent shooting struggles?
"No, not at all."
And how did Nurse think the decision turn out?
"Seemed like it worked out OK, they both played really well tonight I liked the energy from both of them," said Nurse.
Given the results from both men, it’s hard to argue with that assessment.
Anunoby finished the game with 12 points and seven rebounds and four assists on 5-for-8 shooting, and Hollis-Jefferson had 14 points and five rebounds while shooting 5-for-9 from the field.
This success, facing a lowly team like the Cavaliers notwithstanding, appeared to stem from the fact Nurse played both Anunoby and Hollis-Jefferson in their natural positions of the three and four, respectively. Ever since Pascal Siakam, Marc Gasol and Norman Powell all went down in Detroit two weeks ago, Nurse has been starting Anunoby at power forward, something he’s capable of, but maybe not entirely at ease with.
"Out of position sometimes is out of position and getting him back there, getting him more comfortable," said Nurse. "Again, I thought both of them were more focused, way more energetic, they were down and guarding, they were rebounding. When you’re like that, other good things, like your shooting and making strong moves seems to follow."
This was especially the case for Anunoby, who first entered the game with 4:42 left in the first quarter and only took another two minutes and 12 seconds for him to get his first bucket of the game, a layup coming off a post-up designed for him.
Then, with 1.8 seconds left in the frame, Anunoby took an inbounds pass from teammate Kyle Lowry and let fly from near the top of the key on another play that looked to be made for him. Splash! Anunoby hit his first three-pointer since the start of the second half in Toronto’s emotional win over the Boston Celtics last Saturday and appeared to finally put to rest a dreadful 2-for-19 run from three-point range over his dismal last five games.
And from there, Anunoby’s offensive game appeared to fall into place as he hit one more three-pointer near the beginning of the second quarter and finished 2-for-3 from outside, and looked strong cutting and driving to the basket for finishes at the rim, while also making good reads and finds as a playmaker.
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It’s hard to say for certain that Anunoby’s shooting slump has officially been busted, but Tuesday’s performance can be seen as a step in the right direction.
The same can be said for Hollis-Jefferson – also given the honourable distinction of wishing the Scotiabank Arena crowd a "Happy New Year" just before tip-off – who enjoyed his best performance since the Raptors’ epic 30-point comeback against the Dallas Mavericks.
"I haven’t started in a while. So it just felt good to be out there," Hollis-Jefferson said.
In fact, he hasn’t started since Feb. 13, 2019, when he was still a member of the Brooklyn Nets.
Hollis-Jefferson said he likes to meditate before games and his routine got a little disrupted when he heard he was going to start, but other than that there’s not much difference between starting and coming off the bench.
"You never know. Anything can happen. Things change and you’ve just got to be ready, man," he said.
This applied to Anunoby as well, who had to adjust to coming off the bench for the first time since last season, and he handled it without any difficulty.
"You expect a guy to play no matter what position he’s in," said Fred VanVleet of Anunoby coming off the bench. "He did a good job of coming in ready to go, he played pretty much identical to the way he’s been playing, he just made shots."
"Being ready" is one of the oldest clichés in sports but that doesn’t discredit its importance. For his final act in a very memorable 2019, Nurse decided to throw one last curveball, and both the direct actors involved and team responded well. A good omen for 2020, as there is likely even more experimentation to come within the starting lineup.
"Mixing up the starting lineup here for a little bit is something you’re probably going to see," said Nurse. "I’m just going to see what it looks like and feels like depending on who we’re playing a little bit and go from there."
