TORONTO – The last time the Toronto Raptors saw the Minnesota Timberwolves – exactly five days ago in case you forgot – Toronto probably played its worst game of the season.
In that contest, the Raptors appeared to only become interested in the game in the fourth quarter and while they nearly managed to steal it, they got their just desserts as they fell 116-112 to the worst team in the NBA.
Since then, however, Toronto has managed to rack off a couple of big, encouraging wins against the Milwaukee Bucks and looked like a completely different team than the one that essentially laid an egg against Minnesota.
A big part of this turnaround was the return of OG Anunoby to the lineup in Milwaukee. Anunoby missed 10 games with a strained calf but looked like he didn’t miss a beat upon his return, playing his usual All-NBA level of defence.
However, with the Raptors playing the second night of a back-to-back on Friday, the team was forced to once again play without Anunoby, who was active but didn’t play for what appears to be a form of load/injury management.
And so without Anunoby, as well as Kyle Lowry who missed his second straight game with a thumb injury, things seemed a little foreboding for Toronto to repeat their relative no-show from last Sunday.
And while it was shaky at times, the Raptors finally managed to creep back to .500 on the season with an 86-81 victory on Friday.
Norman Powell’s scorching February continued as he finished with a game-high 31 points on 10-of-19 shooting, including 22 alone in the first half. Coming into the contest, Powell was averaging 21.7 points on 54.8 per cent shooting from the floor and 48 per cent from three-point range.
“He’s been a prime time player, he really has," said Raptors head coach Nick Nurse of Powell after the game. "He’s been at his very best since he’s been here and that means as a two-way player. He’s playing great, shooting’s great, he’s exploding to the rim but he’s also been put on some tough matchups as well as he’s handled those. He’s been a good team defender as well, a solid rebounder, at least in his blocking out and things like that.
“His entire game, his all-around game has been good. Obviously the scoring shows up because he has been super explosive there too. He’s been as good as he’s ever been for us.”
Added Powell of his hot month: “Honestly, I don’t think about it. I just go out every game, flush whatever happened in the game – whether it was a good game or bad game, whatever it is – and just focus on what I need to do in the moment, what the game is asking me to do. Just continue to play. I put in the work daily, I get extra work in and stay confident within myself and what the team is doing and let the game work for me. I really don’t think about anything when I’m out there. I’m just playing basketball.”
Starting in place of Lowry and Anunoby for the Raptors on Friday night was DeAndre' Bembry once again and Chris Boucher, who was making his first career start.
And in a bout of some good news on the Raptors injury front, Patrick McCaw saw his first game action since March 9, 2020, finally having recovered from left knee surgery.
Holding the Timberwolves to just 15 points and 22.7 per cent shooting in the first quarter, Toronto’s defence set the tone early for the team and they managed to sustain it for the most part. The Raptors held the Timberwolves to 38.6 per cent shooting from the floor and a 23.7 per cent mark from three-point range.
“We knew that we had a chance," Fred VanVleet said. "I think a 15-point first quarter, 20-point second quarter. So we felt good about ourselves, they came out and made a big run in the third, which is understandable, but our offence has been carrying us most nights but it's harder to win that way.
“If that score would've been 120-125, I don't know which way it goes, but I like the fact that we were able to clamp down. "
“Yeah, 15, 20, 29, 17. I mean, that's pretty damn good defence and that'll probably get it done on most nights," VanVleet added. "So really encouraging to see that. That we stuck with it even given how the offence was playing out.”
There were offensive struggles for the Raptors on Friday as playing the previous night looked to sap some energy out of their legs. In particular, the Raptors went eight minutes and 25 seconds without a field goal and saw Minnesota go on a 24-1 run to take a 64-58 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
This setup a tightly-contested fourth quarter that again saw Toronto’s offence struggle, but with 1:22 left to play Pascal Siakam dunked the ball to tie the game at 81-81. Then, with 30.1 seconds to play, Terence Davis drilled a three-pointer on a nice little feed from Siakam to put the Raptors up 84-81 and put the game away for good.
Siakam, in general, was brilliant in the fourth quarter. He blocked three shots in that period alone and helped to keep the Raptors in the game thanks to his defence, while the team struggled to make shots.
“He was really, really digging in there late,” said Nurse of Siakam’s fourth-quarter defence. “And I think we got seven out of eight stops in the last portion of the game, and obviously we had a really good first-quarter defence and a really good fourth for the defence. Pascal was moving and keeping his man in front of them and switching being aggressive and challenging. I think he got a piece of two three-pointers tonight.”
And even if it was against the worst team in the NBA, the Raptors’ defensive performance on Friday was still very encouraging. It not only continued the trend that they started in their two-game set with Milwaukee, it also hearkened back to one of the team's trademarks from last season.
As you may remember, the Raptors finished with the second-best record in the entire league last season. They were able to do so on the back of their No. 2-ranked defence and given how banged up they were for most of the season, they were able to lock up teams regardless of who was on the court.
The team fully bought into Nurse’s defensive system and all the guys looked connected, like they were playing on a string with everyone helping and recovering for one another.
On Friday, we saw that same kind of Raptors defence from last season in the same plug-and-play fashion.
From regulars like VanVleet, Powell and Siakam to some of the lesser-used players like McCaw, Bembry and even Yuta Watanabe – who will likely be remembered only for getting crowned with a dunk-of-the-year candidate by Minnesota rookie Anthony Edwards – the Raptors held strong on defence and won the game on that end of the floor.
So, sure, outside of Powell, the Raptors’ offensive performance was ugly, but it ultimately didn’t matter because they had their defensive backbone to rely upon, even on the second night of a back-to-back without Lowry and Anunoby.
Defence is a far more surefire way to rack up wins and finally climbing back to .500 on the strength of their D can only mean better things in Toronto’s future.
“I think we’re getting there,” Nurse said of his team’s defence. “I’m not sure we’re quite there yet but we’re showing signs of getting there. It’s totally important, it gives us a chance any night out.”
