TORONTO — Ah yes, basketball. It’s fun right?
The NBA might be the greatest reality show in sports regardless of what happens on the floor and this is one of the weeks you’re reminded why.
Normally the prospect of the NBA trade deadline on Thursday at 3 p.m. ET is enough distraction, but this week we were treated to the ‘where there is smoke there must be fire’ drama of Raptors president Masai Ujiri being connected to an opening to run the New York Knicks that popped up Tuesday.
Just another week in February.
Overlooked was the opportunity for the team that Ujiri built to set a franchise record with its 12th consecutive win, breaking the previous record set during the Toronto Raptors‘ franchise-best 59-win season in 2017-18.
It’s a shame, because those paying attention have been rewarded by one of the most pleasing sports stories imaginable – a defending champion playing the part of plucky, overlooked underdog. Having lost Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green to free agency and then ranking fourth in the NBA in man games lost to injury, it’s a minor basketball miracle that they own the NBA’s third-best record – ahead of Leonard’s Clippers, it’s worth mentioning.
The Raptors were trying to pull off another such miracle against the visiting Indiana Pacers as they tried to keep their streak alive after spotting their visitors a 19-point third-quarter lead.
That was nothing, turns out. How about coming back from down 10 with 2:27 to play?
Sure, why not. The Raptors always work the game better than any team in the NBA.
“We play 48 minutes,” said Raptors guard Kyle Lowry. “That’s how we play. We give ourselves a chance.”
Using a hustling, trapping defence yet somehow remaining calm and deliberate on offence, Toronto chipped away – forcing three Pacers turnovers in the final 94 seconds helped — and was rewarded when Serge Ibaka nailed a three from the right wing with 30.4 to play to give the Raptors their first lead of the second half. They then got one more scrambly stop to send the crowd at Scotiabank Arena home delirious, having witnessed a piece of franchise history.
“Had ‘em all the way,” joked Raptors head coach Nick Nurse.
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It was spectacularly entertaining. The Raptors looked ready to blow the Pacers out early, then tried to give the game away in the second quarter. They seized it back with a 24-8 spurt in the third quarter that helped cut Indiana’s lead to four, 86-82, to set the table for the back-and-forth final frame and the frantic finish as the Raptors completed their NBA-leading 13th double-digit comeback win.
The win showed the Raptors at their best as they proved again there is no situation that seems to overwhelm them.
“We’ve said this before during this win streak: we haven’t played great all the time but we keep finding a way and that’s a heck of a characteristic to have,” said Nurse. “Tonight we weren’t very good and they were very good, I give them credit. They were awesome, they were cutting and flying and moving and hustling and guarding and all the things you can be and they were trying to knock us out and we wouldn’t quite go away and luckily we hung in there and pulled one off.”
But if we’re being fair, their early showing against the Pacers emphasized a nagging concern about the Raptors’ performance this season: record aside, can they beat good teams?
It’s relevant given the Raptors have ambitions of defending their 2019 NBA title.
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The Raptors are 29-2 against teams below .500, second only the Milwaukee Bucks’ 32-1 mark and reflective of a smart, veteran team taking care of business on its way to a 37-14 record – one better than this time a year ago.
But the Raptors aren’t exactly dominating. Yes the Raptors were missing Marc Gasol (hamstring) and hot-shooting Norm Powell (finger) from the top-seven of their rotation but they’ve been dealing with issues like that all year. Against the Pacers it looked like they needed all hands on deck.
After getting within three points with 5:05 to play on a Pascal Siakam back cut and dunk, Indiana appeared to put the game to bed with a 10-2 run sparked by a pair of triples, as it finished the night 19-of-39 from deep compared to the Raptors’ 12-of-32 mark.
So while it’s hard to imagine one game being the reason the Raptors brass uses the final hours before the deadline to try and improve what has proven to be a very good roster over the first 51 games of the season, you can understand the temptation given Toronto is 8-12 against teams with winning records and 4-6 against the other five teams in the top-six of the Eastern Conference.
But there is the nagging question of how, exactly, the Raptors would be able to make a move that would have a high likelihood of making them better. They don’t have any bulky contracts they can package with draft picks to snare even the kind of rotation depth that might make a difference – such as the move the Miami Heat made to acquire three-time NBA champion Andre Iguodala and his $17 million from Memphis. Bigger ticket items are even more problematic, particularly given that adding talent would also require subtracting some too.
Short of cloning Lowry, who was brilliant in finishing with 32 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists, options to improve what is a very good team are limited.
It’s the main reason most expect the trade deadline will pass quietly.
By Thursday afternoon, whatever uncertainty might exist will be behind them, and that will pay dividends too.
“I think it gives you a sense of where you’re going,” said Nurse. “Where’s your vision and thoughts and all that stuff… I mean, right now, I’m doing the best I can to coach these guys to a maximum place. And there’s some long-term vision in that.
“If that gets changed at all come three o’clock [Thursday] then you start planning that through and making those adjustments. And if it doesn’t, then I think you really start zeroing in a little bit on the next 30, 28, 29 whatever games it is left, and how you’re going to plan that out with the guys you got.”
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After a sluggish start the Raptors led by as much as 12 early in the second before the Pacers went on a 12-0 run to restore order. The Pacers were just getting rolling. A Justin Holiday triple at the 5:15 mark of the second quarter prompted Nurse’s second timeout of the period as he tried to put a stop to a run that was 24-5 at that point, giving the Pacers a seven-point lead. They led 63-48 at the half and pushed the lead to 19 in the early moments of the third quarter.
The Raptors defence eventually showed up and the offence did too. It made for a fun night in a fun season, whatever lies ahead on or off the floor.
“We do what we gotta do to win the basketball game, no matter what it takes,” said Lowry. “That’s what we’ve always continued to try to do and try and build on and try to get better as a team. Every game is a learning lesson and you continue to get better throughout the season and just enjoying this journey.”