Facing a potential 0-2 hole against the Orlando Magic, the Toronto Raptors responded loudly Tuesday with a dominant 111-82 win — the largest margin of victory in the playoffs in franchise history.
Of all the positives to take from Toronto’s bounceback win — Kyle Lowry‘s return to form, Marc Gasol’s defence (four steals on the night) and some impressive team defence that held Orlando to 37 per cent shooting (just 26.5 per cent from deep) — the biggest takeaway from those covering the Raps-Magic series south of the border is clear: Playoff Kawhi has arrived and is a basketball star worth marvelling at following his unreal 37-point performance.
NBA on TNT — Kawhi and Kyle Lowry Deliver as Toronto Ties Series
TNT’s Inside The NBA crew break down Toronto’s win and — you won’t believe this — marvel at what they saw from Leonard on Tuesday night.
“Behold the greatness that is Kawhi,” host Ernie Johnson requests as the highlights of Leonard’s dominant performance are shown. “He’s become a great shooter — not a good shooter, a great shooter,” Charles Barkley proclaims.
Orlando Sentinel — Magic face well rested, dangerous Kawhi Leonard after Raptors managed his minutes
The Sentinel’s Roy Parry takes a look at the effectiveness of the Raptors’ “load management” strategy with Leonard, and why it’s helped to unleash a monster on the Magic:
Throughout the regular season, the Toronto Raptors closely monitored the minutes of forward Kawhi Leonard.
And now they have him right where they need him to be for their first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic.
…
Nurse feels they have Leonard in a good place health-wise.
“So we got ahead of the game. We kind of originally made a plan [of] no back-to-backs. I think that made common sense early, and we just kind of stayed ahead most of the time,” Nurse said. “The team played probably well enough to be able to have a little bit more luxury of keep going no back-to-backs and no quick turnarounds as the season wore on. In saying all that, I think we felt for the last couple of months we were ahead of the game and there was no sense jeopardizing that and that’s where we find ourselves today.”
Leonard, who average 34 minutes a game during the regular season, played 33 minutes and finished with 25 points in Game 1.
Expect those minutes to climb as the series progresses.
Jalen Rose on Kawhi’s future in Toronto
On ESPN’s Get Up, former Raptor Jalen Rose takes a step back, looks at the big picture of Toronto’s lopsided win and examines the significance of dominant performances like that hold in determining Leonard’s future with the Raptors — including how important it is for Lowry to step up like he did.
“When Kyle Lowry plays like crap, and he’s under contract for three years [Editor’s note: it’s two years], you’re leaving! This is a point guard-driven league, and that’s your point guard.”
Pinstripe Post — Orlando routed as Toronto evens series
The Orlando Pinstripe Post details how the Raptors decimated the Magic and responded in a “must-win” scenario:
Following the Magic’s Game 1 win, we knew the Raptors would come out in must-win mode. Did they ever.
The Raptors never trailed, and utterly dominated the Magic at both ends of the court in Game 2, winning 111-82 for their largest postseason margin of victory in franchise history.
Right from the jump, the Toronto defense was swarming, leaving Orlando completely out of sync offensively as the Magic collected four turnovers before scoring a point.
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It was much of the same in the fourth as the lead reached as many as 34.
The Raptors shot 48.8 percent from the field, made 11 threes, and also improved their percentage at the line after their 9-for-13 Game 1 performance, making 18 of 19 attempts.
Leonard finished with 37 points on 15-for-22 shooting, including 4 of 8 from three. Lowry had a strong bounce-back game with 22 points on 8-for-13 shooting and seven assists Siakam added 19 points and 10 rebounds. Gasol had nine rebounds, five assists and three rebounds, but his biggest impact was on the defensive end where he helped shutdown Vucevic and also made the simple act of passing the basketball a challenge as he tallied four steals.
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