TORONTO – Despite being forced to temporarily move to Tampa, Fla., for the season, Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse hasn’t seen much beach time, nor much of any downtime to speak of to enjoy the amenities that you would think being in Florida might provide.
“The sunshine is really good,” said Nurse before his Raptors played the Cleveland Cavaliers Monday night. “[But] I wouldn’t know too much about the beaches. I don’t think I’ve got out there for a while. But maybe I’ll try to sneak some in. The season’s going by quick. I’ve only gone on the golf course, I think, twice and zero beach time.”
Perhaps if the Raptors were to play the Cavaliers more frequently this season then Nurse would’ve been afforded a little more time to work on his tan than he’s been able to sneak in thus far.
Though there were times when it was tighter than it should’ve been, the Raptors took care of business against Cleveland on Monday with a 112-96 victory.
Toronto was rolling in the first quarter, carrying a 33-23 lead after the first 12 minutes with Kyle Lowry leading the way, dropping five dimes in the quarter alone. However, in the second quarter, the Raptors’ offence dried up as they only managed to score 16 points in the period to carry just a 49-48 advantage at the half.
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After the break, the Raptors appeared to find the form they showed in the first quarter, holding Cleveland to just 22 points in the period and closing the frame on a 7-2 run to take an 81-70 lead into the fourth quarter. Pascal Siakam was strong in the frame, scoring 10 points, and rookie Malachi Flynn helped spark that period-ending run by scoring five-straight himself, going in for a layup, then knocking down a quick triple after a Stanley Johnson steal.
From there, in the fourth quarter, Toronto’s much-maligned bench helped put the game away with players like Flynn, Johnson and Yuta Watanabe making clutch plays to help Toronto cruise to victory.
“We need some energy, and we need some scoring too and you know, we got, what, 18 for Malachi, nine for Yuta. In the first half they didn’t give us anything, we had six points in the second quarter for the longest time, but they came to life in the second half,” said Nurse after the game. “They gotta score, they got to score some, and that was good to see tonight. I thought the whole group actually from Malachi, Yuta, Freddie [Gillespie], Stanley all brought energy and a little scoring with them, too. So it was good.”
The question was asked before the game if the Raptors’ bench – without Chris Boucher and Gary Trent Jr., who were both unavailable Monday and possibly for longer – would be able to compete. They delivered a resounding answer – especially Flynn, who scored 16 of his 18 points at the end of the third quarter and the fourth and appeared to have a sense of the moment when the Raptors needed it to keep the Cavaliers at bay.
“I think, just the time and score and opportunity. The flow of the game. You’ve just got to find the flow of the game and navigate that,” said Lowry of Flynn’s sense. “The game will tell you what to do. You can’t force the game upon itself. You’ve just got to kind of figure it out, sometimes, the game is for you to score and be aggressive at that moment. Sometimes the game is for you to make plays and be pass-first. I think he’s kind of slowly – I think the G League really helped him. He had an opportunity to figure it out a little bit more and be the guy and go and score, and find his way around a little bit.”
Added Nurse: “We tried to get him to be aggressive, right? And I think he created some of his own opportunities there and when they opened up he went ahead and finished them off and took them.”
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For as well as it looked like they played, though, the Raptors were nearly undone by a truly dreadful display of three-point shooting as they went 8-for-29 from deep, with the majority of those looks being of the “wide-open” variety.
Fortunately for the Raptors, they did a great job of sharing the ball, making 32 assists on 43 made field goals. Lowry led the way with 10, half of which came from made Khem Birch baskets as it looks like Lowry’s found a new favourite target of late.
“I’m trying to get him paid,” said Lowry of him actively looking for Birch. “That’s what I try to do, I try to get my teammates paid and help us win games and make sure everyone around me is successful. I think he is a talented kid and he has this opportunity where he can be successful so why not try to make him be successful.”
Added Birch of his generous teammate: “He told me that now that I’m playing more and getting the ball more, just doing the little things, that I’m going to start getting paid. He told me that last game. I appreciate that from him. That’s the goal for this team. There’s a culture here and that’s to help each other out and I appreciate it.”
The high assist total from the Raptors was a prime example of the offence manufacturing scoring opportunities for the team, and it also helped that Toronto was able to get out in transition, something that appeared to benefit Siakam greatly, who scored a game-high 25 points on ultra-efficient 11-of-19 shooting, including a good clip from deep of 2-for-5.
The victory was a welcome one for the Raptors for a number of reasons.
First of all, this was a game the Raptors had to get. The Cavaliers are a team whose season is all but done, they were missing key players like Colin Sexton, Larry Nance Jr. and Matthew Dellavedova, and they were playing on the second night of a back-to-back.
So this was a win ripe for picking and the Raptors didn’t disappoint in that regard.
More importantly, however, this was a win the Raptors had to get to build some needed momentum for a murderer’s row week-and-a bit ahead of them.
Here’s who the Raptors have ahead of them over their next five games: the Brooklyn Nets, Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz, Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Making matters even more troublesome for the Raptors, their game against the Nets Tuesday is on the second half of their own back-to-back, and the four Western Conference games they’ll play in their next five are all on the road — with a weekend back-to-back against the Jazz and Lakers.
Oh, and in case that wasn’t all terrible, the game after this storm against some of the NBA’s elite will see them face the Washington Wizards, who Toronto is chasing for the No. 10 spot in the Eastern Conference, now just one game back after Washington’s eight-game win streak was snapped by former Raptor DeMar DeRozan and the San Antonio Spurs Monday night.
For those still holding out for the Raptors to tank and play for a better draft position in their final 11 games, this is your week.
If you’d like to see Toronto make the play-in tournament and possibly reach the post-season proper, however, then these next five or six games the Raptors play could very well be their whole season.
