RAPTORS DEFENCE SHOWS WHAT IT’S CAPABLE OF
Despite pre-season loss to Jazz, team hints at potent defensive skills in second quarter
It was a 10-minute glimpse into what the Toronto Raptors’ defence can be.
Forget that it came in a preseason loss. The results don’t count, nor do they matter. If they did, Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry wouldn’t be sitting out entire second halves as they have done in each of the first two games.
It’s preparation time and in just the second game of the pre-season the Raptors showed exactly what they will be capable of from a defensive standpoint.
Tuesday’s 105-90 loss in Salt Lake City to the Utah Jazz provided the first evidence of the defensive stoppers the Raptors can put on the floor. Indeed, they might be capable of living up to all the lofty expectations fans dreamt up when Leonard and Danny Green joined an already stalwart defensive group.
Granted Tuesday’s lesson didn’t last an entire game. In fact, take that 10-minute stretch away and the Raptors might be second-guessing their defensive chops today.
But, again, it’s pre-season, so never get too high, never get too low.
However, let’s dissect those 10 minutes in the second quarter because on paper (and those words often don’t mean a lot) this team has the potential to be a defensive juggernaut.
The frame started with Serge Ibaka, Danny Green, Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam and Delon Wright on the floor. Before the period was out Leonard and Lowry would get in on the act, as would CJ Miles and Jonas Valanciunas.
The Jazz didn’t have their full starting five on the floor during that stretch, but for more than eight minutes they did play a mix of starters Derek Favours, Joe Ingles, Ricky Rubio, Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell.
From the beginning of the quarter to the two minute mark of the frame, the Raptors outscored Utah by 21. They went from down six to up 15, allowing just eight points by the Jazz during those 10 minutes. Utah went more than four minutes without scoring a point.
After giving up 31 in the first quarter, it was as if a light switch went on and someone told the Raptors it was OK to play a little defence.
Were it not for Ingles going off in the final two minutes for 10 of his 13 points in the quarter, the Raptors might well have put this game away with a half yet to play.
Again, this wasn’t anywhere near a perfect defensive game. The Raptors gave up 31 points and 34 points in other quarters. But for 10 minutes, the Jazz were flat out stymied and that has to at least get the Raptors’ fan base a little excited.
Head coach Nick Nurse took note of that portion of the game, but he saw enough in the other quarters not to get overly excited.
“Well, I think we kind of showed some grit at both ends, and some intelligent play,” Nurse said. “I thought we started getting the ball to where it needed to go. And obviously, I don’t know what the stretch was, but like eight or nine stops in a row, and there was some pretty solid defence down there. We got more connected and more physical and that was a really good run there.”
Toronto had a good defence last season, although it cratered badly in the second half of the season. Still, the Raptors finished fifth in the league with a defensive rating of 103.4. Now with the personnel changes, particularly bringing in two-time all-defensive player Leonard, the expectations for Toronto have jumped again.
Utah head coach Quin Snyder described that stretch as one where “everything stalled out” for his club.
“They are an aggressive team and we turned the ball over, which obviously hurt our defence,” Snyder said. “We were also giving up offensive rebounds. We weren’t keeping the ball in front of us. Not quite a perfect storm, but pretty close. It’s going to be hard to score the ball when you turn it over. It’s hard to stop people if you can’t contain the ball. Guys were driving, getting to the middle of the floor and then it breaks us down and we don’t rebound. We didn’t do a good job.
“I think we gave up 10 offensive rebounds in the first half. All those things combined to Toronto making that run.”
It’s not in Snyder’s interest to pump up the opposition, but not even he can deny those 10 minutes were forced turnovers by a defence that had turned up the heat on the Jazz.
They didn’t sustain it past that quarter. But, then again, Lowry and Leonard never saw the floor after that, either.