In their first game with fans at Scotiabank Arena in over a month the Toronto Raptors provided good entertainment for the people.
There were only 500 of them mind you, chosen from a draw held for season ticket holders.
One of them was also Drake.
And whatever noise they did make was drowned out by the steady thrum of the piped-in music and crowd noise that has made Scotiabank Arena the loudest empty building ever, arguably.
But the Raptors were in need of any lift available, as they hosted the Miami Heat on the second night of a back-to-back and their third game in four nights.
The circumstances were the same for Miami, but the Heat play more than five players, so presumably they were fresher.
It seems inevitable that the Raptors’ heavily-used starters and short bench will hit a wall at some point, but it wasn’t Tuesday against the Heat, who arrived with the second-best record in the East but just 1-1 in two recent hard-fought games against Toronto.
The two teams scrapped and clawed and wouldn’t leave each other alone – although for only 48 minutes instead of the 63 it took to decide things in triple-overtime on Saturday. The result was the same though: For the second time in as many meetings the Raptors came out ahead, this time with a 110-106 win that improved their record to 26-23 and extended their winning streak to three. The Heat lost their third straight to fall to 32-20.
Once again it was Gary Trent Jr. who provided the jet fuel, leading all scorers with 33 points as he knocked down 6-of-10 triples, including a pair of crucial ones in the fourth quarter that helped give the Raptors just the separation they needed.
The fashion-forward shooting guard arrived for his post-game press conference wearing a bulky wool and cashmere zip-up by Prada that he accessorized with a matching red Prada basketball.
Lots of big moments for Gary Trent Jr. He ties DeMar DeRozan with five straight games of 30+ points. He also came to media room with a Prada woolen hoodie and — sadly not pictured — a red Prada basketball. The ultimate accessory when you’re on fire. pic.twitter.com/cf09n7TsaR
— Michael Grange (@michaelgrange) February 2, 2022
And even then, Trent Jr.’s game was doing all the talking.
“He’s a rock star, man. He’s a rock star in every sense of the word,” said Fred VanVleet, who sparked the Raptors comeback from down 12 at halftime when he scored 14 of his 21 points in the third quarter. “And I just really have appreciated his passion for the game this year and his compete level. He started this whole year off with defence and now you’re saying what he really is which is a gunner and he’s in an incredible zone.”
Is his offence coming within the flow?
“No, he’s not in the flow. He is the flow. He is his own flow,” said VanVleet, who added six assists on the night. “And once he gets it going you obviously try to find him in his spots [and] once he hits a couple, you just give it to him.”
As has become their habit, the two clubs played each possession with something near playoff intensity. The game was within two possessions from the final minute of the third quarter until Trent Jr. happened again. The Raptors’ molten shooting guard cracked things open briefly midway through the fourth quarter when he hit a pair of threes over PJ Tucker, told him about it and then got Adebayo to foul him on a step-back three. It added up to a 7-0 run that gave Toronto a seven-point lead with 4:35 to play.
The rapid flurry put Trent Jr. over the 30-point mark for the fifth-straight game, joining DeMar DeRozan as the only Raptors to ever do that. One of the 500 fans in the building was Gary Trent Sr. who played briefly for the Raptors, an added touch.
As has become the norm, all five starters clocked in with 35 to 42 minutes and all ended up in double figures scoring. Pascal Siakam had 16 points and four rebounds while OG Anunoby had 13 points on 10 shots including a crucial three-point play that put the Raptors up eight with 2:53 left. Later, after the Heat had cut the Raptors lead to two, it was Anunoby who finished an alley-oop from Scottie Barnes on a sideline out-of-bounds play following a Raptors timeout with 6.7 seconds left. It put Toronto up four and sealed another tense win against a quality opponent.
The Raptors shot 48 per cent from the floor and 12-of-26 from deep. The Heat got 32 points from Bam Adebayo but connected on just eight of their 30 three-point attempts.
More importantly the win provided more proof to a growing pile of evidence that when healthy the Raptors can be a significant problem for even very good teams.
The steady stream of games and heavy minutes the past month have afforded Nurse and the Raptors a good look at what level their top players can play at when healthy and available.
After waiting for most of the season to see them together, the Raptors starting unit – VanVleet, Barnes, Siakam, Anunoby and Trent Jr. – is suddenly Nurse’s most heavily played lineup, having logged 198 minutes. Lineups featuring four starters and one of either Chris Boucher or Precious Achiuwa are the next three most frequently used lineups. Three of them have significantly positive net ratings and one is neutral and trending up.
So a picture is emerging, if an incomplete one.
“I think we’ve probably learned that it can go to a pretty high level, right?” said Nurse.
“They’re getting some connectivity on defence. They’re getting some real understanding of where to go and what to do on offence and everybody’s chipping in. There’s some threats all over the place in different ways. Our wing size is paying off for us. … they’re finding a chemistry and obviously they’re playing very well.”
Tuesday night’s game was the Raptors’ 10th in their past 12 against teams that are in the play-in tournament at worst, but also against some of the league’s best teams: Miami three times; Phoenix, Milwaukee, Dallas and a fast-rising Atlanta Hawks club.
After Tuesday’s win, Toronto is 6-6, a mark that would have looked a lot better had the Raptors squeezed out wins against lottery-bound Detroit and the in-limbo Portland Trail Blazers.
“I think that should give our guys some belief that we can play [and] we can play against anybody in the league,” said Nurse. “… We’ve got to play really hard and we’ve got to have a great effort and we’ve got to have guys perform, but we can play. That’s for sure.”
Any size crowd – from 500 to 20,000 – can appreciate that.
Three-point Grange:
• Tuesday marked the ninth straight game that the Heat were without Kyle Lowry, who has been out due to family matter dating back to Jan. 17, the Raptors’ first game against the Heat in this stretch.
“We understand all things we’re missing [from a basketball] standpoint,” said Heat coach Eric Spoelstra. “But this is bigger than that. We stay connected. I communicate with him every day and everybody else as well. He’s part of our family. And I just want to be there for him. The basketball stuff we can work all that out.”
• The Raptors are optimistic Khem Birch will be available within the week. He’s been out since Jan. 15 after undergoing surgery for a fractured nose he suffered early in the Raptors loss to the Detroit Pistons. He’s missed 26 of the Raptors’ 49 games this season with a knee problem, COVID protocols and now his nose. He’s been participating in workouts and is ramping back into shape.
“I just had a pretty long talk with him, and he seems to be OK,” said Nurse. “He wants to get out there and play. I think he’s pushing hard to come back and play as soon as possible. It’s not like he’s leaning back when they say, ‘Hey, maybe another week. He’s like, ‘No, maybe (it will be) shorter than that.’ He wants to play.”
• The Raptors will have two participants at All-Star Weekend for sure. Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam will find out Thursday if they get named to the Eastern Conference reserves by the coaches. In the meantime, Scottie Barnes and Precious Achiuwa will be among the 12 rookies and 12 second-year players playing in the Rising Stars event. The new format features four teams of six NBA players bolstered by four G-League Ignite players facing off in a three-game mini-tournament format.
With some fans back in building, Trent Jr. provides jet fuel for fatigued Raptors
Source: Pinas Ko Mahal
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