One of the most famous quotes in Toronto Raptors history had to do with fighting for playoff wins on the road.
“F*** that, let’s go get ‘em both,” was Kawhi Leonard’s reply when Nick Nurse — after the Raptors lost Game 2 of the NBA Finals at home to the Golden State Warriors — suggested that all the Raptors needed to do to regain home-court advantage was to go to Oracle Arena and split Games 3 and 4 last June.
The Raptors followed Leonard’s lead, won both games at Oracle and an NBA title was the ultimate result, helped by Toronto going 7-4 on the road in the post-season, 3-0 away from home in the Finals.
This version of the Raptors got their first part of their ‘road’ sweep with a never-in-doubt 117-92 win over a depleted Brooklyn Nets team to improve to 3-0 in their best-of-seven first-round series.
The Raptors have homecourt advantage in the series but it’s more of an idea than something that comes with the benefits of playing in front of a manic mob while sleeping in your own bed, or having to get on a plane to walk through the fire at the other team’s joint.
The road is a nearly mythical place in sports, where teams come together as one in the face of enemy hordes or where they splinter under pressure and come home with their collective tails between their legs, seeking comfort.
At the Walt Disney World Resort there are no home games and no road games – even though the Brooklyn Nets were technically the home team for Game 3 of their first-round best-of-seven series against the theoretically visiting Raptors.
At the Walt Disney World Resort, every day is Wednesday as the Raptors are more than eight weeks into a road trip and yet barely halfway home if they last long enough to make the NBA Finals, schedule for October.
Home? Road? The Raptors barely know what time it is, other than when they need to show up at the gym and win.
Is playing a road game in name only better or worse than playing the real thing?
“It’s definitely different [than a normal road trip],” said Raptors guard Fred VanVleet, who continued his outstanding play with 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting. “[But] to be honest I can’t really tell because we’ve been here long enough that we’re adjusted to the situation we’re in, so comparing it to last year and the previous years I’ve been in the playoffs, it’s extremely different environment/situation. So I can’t say if it’s better or worse — we’re 3-0 right now so obviously it’s going well for us.”
And so they should be. The second-seeded Raptors have been the best team in the NBA since Jan. 15 while the already the thinly populated Nets were without Joe Harris, the team’s sharpshooter who had to leave the bubble to attend to a personal matter on Thursday and likely won’t be back. Harris joined a long list of Nets talent who aren’t with the team due to injury or illness or other circumstances.
If Brooklyn were longshots as a No. 7 seed before the series started, their odds took another hit. Interim Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn tried to put a positive spin on it before the game, but wasn’t all that convincing.
“We don’t have the luxury to have unlimited amount of players on the side,” said Vaughn as he explained why he was starting Tyler Johnson, his best bench player. “[Johnson will] start today but there’ll be an infusion of different lineups out there just because of sheer have-to.”
There were some differences in the environment between Games 1 and 2 and Game 3. Instead of Raptors red, The Field House was decked in the simple black theatre-style lighting with the subway-theme graphics meant to invoke an afternoon at Barclays Center at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn.
Nurse and several players made the point that the crowd noise had been turned up a couple of notches.
“There were a couple of times where I remember commenting to [assistant coach Nate Bjorkgren], ‘The crowd noise is super loud tonight’ and he said, ‘What?’” said Nurse.
And on the floor too.
In the category of welcome sights had to be the performance of Pascal Siakam, who has been struggling to score with his usual efficiency since the Raptors set up shop in Florida.
Nurse has defended Siakam, who came into the game shooting just 37.5 per cent against Brooklyn on the heels of 39-per-cent shooting in seven seeding games to end the regular season. He’s cited Siakam’s commitment on the defensive end and emphasized that playoffs are a season unto themselves and come with their own ups and downs.
Siakam has bought in and looked much more himself as he finished with 26 points, eight rebounds and five assists on 11-of-23 shooting. His 14-point burst in third quarter built on the Raptors’ halftime lead and allowed Toronto to coast home in the fourth after leading 84-68 after three quarters.
“I’m worried about winning, and I think every way that I can help my team win, that’s what I’m going to do,” he said. “I think for a lot of people, it’s always about makes and misses — for me it’s not about that. It’s about continuing to have the same focus and energy, continuing to get to my spots and taking the shots that I want to take, and live with the results. … So, I just gotta let the game come to me, continue to play, have fun out there, and enjoy playing with my teammates, play hard on defence, and the rest is just going to take care of itself.”
The Raptors can take some confidence that their game travelled well, even if they never went anywhere. They set a franchise playoffs record with 35 assists. In addition to Siakam, Serge Ibaka dominated off the bench with 20 points and 13 rebounds in 23 minutes, while Norm Powell joined Ibaka in providing some bench punch with 12.
That’s called taking care of business. On the road, at home or anywhere, it’s an approach the Raptors pride themselves on. As a result, they will get a chance to “win both” on the road trip that isn’t when they can complete their first sweep in franchise history with a win Sunday evening.
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