Would anyone have circled Raptors-Wizards as an early Eastern Conference test before the season began?
Would anyone have pegged Khem Birch as the Toronto Raptors‘ fulcrum? Or Fred VanVleet as the player who would carry the Raptors’ offence?
Um, no, on the first two and the last? How about a maybe.
But the East is a lot more interesting than it has been in years past and the thoroughly renovated Washington Wizards and the ahead-of-projections Raptors are indicative.
And Birch? Turns out he might be the big man the Raptors didn’t know they needed so badly. More on him in a minute, but his role in the Raptors’ gutty 109-100 win vs. the Wizards was essential.
Even more essential was VanVleet’s season-high 33 and all the other typically heads-up play that went along with it.
As for the East, there were 11 teams in the Conference at .500 or better before game time, including the Wizards and Raptors, both firmly in the playoff mix.
“We haven’t seen everybody yet,” said Raptors head coach Nick Nurse. “But yeah … the answer to your question is, is the East good? Yes. Is it deep? Yes.”
The Raptors are deep too. Toronto showed it again as they found a way to extend their winning streak to five games – their longest in two seasons – and even their season series against the improved Wizards. Toronto jumped Washington in the Eastern Conference standings as they are now 6-3 and a franchise-best 4-0 in their first four road starts, while the Wizards fell to 5-3.
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But no one could have seen the Raptors winning five straight at this stage. Not after starting 1-3; not after their miserable fall down the standings in Tampa last season.
However long this Raptors roll lasts and wherever it comes to rest, the moment must be enjoyed:
“I’m not taking it for granted,” said VanVleet. “Did you watch us last year? Yeah, I’m not taking none of this for granted.”
OG Anunoby added 21 for Toronto while making three steals, while Gary Trent and Svi Mykhailiuk each had 15.
But Birch’s play is the latest example of how the Raptors are getting help from unexpected sources as they try to keep their head above water until leading scorer Pascal Siakam returns from his shoulder surgery and rookie sensation Scottie Barnes gets back from a sprained thumb.
Birch lost his chance to start when he contracted COVID before training camp. But as Precious Achiuwa has continued to struggle offensively – and in nearly every facet of the game, honestly – it’s been Birch who has bailed them out.
Once again, the stat line was modest – nine points, five rebounds and two assists – but he was +10 in 22 minutes after being +20 against the New York Nicks on Monday.
Still, the player of the game was VanVleet, who shot 13-of-22 from the floor and 3-of-6 from deep, none more vital than the defensive rebound and one-man fastbreak he led that put the Toronto up eight with 2:28 to play after the Raptors had been scoreless for more than two minutes as the Wizards were surging back.
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But Birch was key too. Toronto saw their 16-point second half lead trimmed to eight when Birch was subbed back in with 8:17 to play. Fred VanVleet found Birch on a couple of short rolls in the paint for quick buckets and a moment later Birch took passed out of the roll and found Anunoby for wide-open triple and the lead was quickly back to 15. The Raptors were able to hang on from there.
“He’s smart, he knows how to play,” said VanVleet of Birch. “He’s very unselfish. He screens. We just have a good chemistry. He knows where to be when I need him, he’s got great touch at the short roll where I found him late. They went to some blitzes and were trapping [me] and I was able to find him and he found his tough there a couple of times and he can pass from the short roll too.”
Based on the first meeting between these two teams, how the Raptors fit in the East’s new hierarchy wasn’t clear – unless it was a club looking for a soft landing in the lottery again. The Wizards spoiled the Raptors homecoming as Toronto shot just 29 per cent from the floor, one of the worst offensive performances in franchise history.
But Wednesday night you might have thought the Raptors were pre-season favourites to run the table in the East, certainly in the early going.
The Wizards are better than the team that finished four games below .500 last season because they traded Russell Westbrook to the Los Angeles Lakers for three quality rotation pieces in Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell.
The Raptors aren’t improved over last season, they’re improved over last week.
VanVleet has been a huge part of that. Nurse is hesitant to take him off the floor – he played 43 minutes against the Wizards and leads the NBA in minutes played with 38.8, but for good reason.
“Early in the season, if we didn’t have transition, our half-court offence needed some work,” said Nurse. “We put in considerable work but it always helps when you’ve got a guy like Fred that can kinda control the tempo, he’s making some good play calls, he’s obviously scoring but he’s finding some people, too. He found some short rolls to Khem, he found some slot cutters, he found a kick-out three here and there, I think he kinda did a good job of calling OG’s number here and there when OG thought he could get something, he did a good job executing stuff out of timeouts, he was really good tonight.”
He was at his best in fourth quarter as he scored or assisted on 10 of the Raptors’ last 15 points in the guts of the game.
Before that the Raptors looked like they were going to make quick work of the Wizards in the first half, and VanVleet was a big part of that, too. Toronto turned the Wizards over six times in the second quarter while coughing it up just twice themselves and they had a 5-3 edge on the offensive glass. The result was 26 shots to just 17 by Washington and at one point during the quarter Toronto was up 14 points.
As has been the case during their run of strong play, it’s been a committee approach. Mykhailiuk has stepped in and been excellent. It was his triple in transition that put the Raptors up by 14 with 3:05 to play in the half, but he was making things happen well before that with his smart cuts, his patience with the ball and some active defence. He had seven points in the quarter. Anunoby shook off a slow start to put up nine in the period, fuelled by a pair of steals, while VanVleet put up nine of his own.
A typical sequence?
A lay-up by VanVleet followed by a steal by Dalano Banton on the inbounds pass leading to a wide-open VanVleet triple. Banton was already walking back to half with his arms raised before VanVleet got the ball in the air. He knew.
The Raptors took a 59-48 lead into the half and were up 16 early in the third but the critical moment came when Birch picked up his fourth. It shouldn’t be that big a deal – Birch is hardly Anthony Davis. It’s just that Achiuwa has struggled so badly. His lone highlight of late was a massive third-quarter dunk, but it was one of the few looks in the paint he’s been able to finish lately.
Sure enough, with Birch out the Wizards cut the Raptors’ lead over the next four minutes.
But VanVleet was up to the task. He answered the Wizards’ run with a triple and added another jumper as the Raptors started the fourth quarter up 86-77. VanVleet had 25 at that point. He had enough left to get the Raptors home, albeit with help from Birch and others.
The season isn’t 10 games old yet, but the Raptors look like they belong in a tough Eastern Conference. VanVleet approves. “You definitely don’t win championships in October and November,” he said. “But it’s not a bad place to be to be playing good and growing as young team early.”
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