BENCH KEEPS GETTING WARMER
Toronto’s supposed relief squad enjoys a star turn for the fourth consecutive game
You know things are going well for the Toronto Raptors’ second unit when its members refer to the starters as the bench mob.
According to Kyle Lowry, that is exactly what Fred VanVleet did during Sunday’s 123-103 win over the Charlotte Hornets, a team just back from a West Coast swing.
A player like VanVleet can get away with that because the second unit continues to play at a level no one can question.
“Ah, I’m tired of them,” Lowry joked after the game when the bench play was brought up again. “Freddy came to us and told us ‘Way to go, bench mob,’ talking about us. We the bench mob right now.”
Lowry, though, has no issues sharing the spotlight with that second unit because the better they are, the further the Raptors are likely to go.
“They are phenomenal,” Lowry said of the bench, which played the entire fourth quarter for the fourth game in a row.
“We are going to need them and we love to see them continue to grow. It makes me smile. It makes DeMar (DeRozan) smile. It makes all of us happy.”
C.J. Miles, looking as healthy and fit as he has all season, poured in 24 points on six-of-nine from three-point land to lead a 55-point contribution from the bench.
Their style of play, based on continuous movement from the four young guys and constant passing, is similar to the offence the Mavericks ran in Dallas when Raptors head coach Dwane Casey was an assistant.
“It’s nothing new under the sun,” Casey said. “We call it flow and the young guys started working on it this summer. Moving the ball and their activity (on the court) is just as important as anything else.
“And C.J. shooting the ball the way he’s shooting it now really helps tremendously,” Casey said. “Delon (Wright), Fred, Pascal (Siakam), Yak (Jakob Poeltl) — all those guys are in constant motion and C.J.’s smart enough to understand where his shots are coming from within what we’re doing. He opens everything up and allows some of the penetration drives. My hat’s off to those young guys.”
The starters weren’t exactly chopped liver. After putting themselves in an early 10-0 hole, Casey called a time out and got the attention of his starters with some choice words. They had a 30-26 lead by the end of the first quarter and never looked back.
DeRozan had a team-high 25 points, and he and Lowry combined for 15 assists. It was the team’s fifth consecutive win and eighth in the past 10.
Coaches hate excuses. It’s like a free pass to lie down or take it easy.
But every once in a while, outside their office you will hear the words “schedule loss” whispered. The Hornets were doing a little of that Sunday. This may have been a triple whammy of schedule losses.
On Thursday night, the Hornets played in Portland, beating the Trail Blazers in overtime. They flew to Salt Lake City overnight, a mechanical failure ensuring they didn’t get to Utah until 4 a.m., and played the Jazz that night at altitude.
The team spent most of Saturday in the air getting home and woke up early Sunday for a 1 p.m. local time start against the Raptors.
Different nights, different guys are going to have big nights because we exploit whatever it is we are getting.
The first game back after a West Coast swing is always tough — recall the Raptors’ loss to Washington without John Wall after Toronto’s last trip. Combine that with an early game, having just played at altitude, and the whispers weren’t that surprising.
The Raptors’ second unit is getting plenty of props. Miles is a big part of what they do and he doesn’t see it slowing down soon.
“The biggest thing is I am out there with three ball handlers, counting Pascal,” Miles said.
“That’s two point guards and Pascal being a point forward and pushing and running with the ball. The spacing we make off of each other, the space I might give them and the space that they give me, it makes it hard to defend. That’s what I was saying earlier — different nights, different guys are going to have big nights because we exploit whatever it is we are getting.
“Some nights Freddy is going to have 20 (points) because the pick-and-roll game isn’t being guarded well and they are staying home on shooters. Some nights I might have eight attempts from three(-point range). Some nights he is going to get the same just because of the way they are guarding dribble hand-offs, whatever it may be. Yak is getting dunks and layups because they are jumping out. It’s a bunch of different stuff.”
The bottom line is they can never take everything away. There is always a way the second unit can hurt the opposition.
“That’s the biggest thing,” Miles said. “That’s what we preach to each other and that’s why we have so much fun and that’s why it’s hard to guard. We play at a pace, we guard on the other end and we get the open shot.”
Sunday’s win was Casey’s 300th at the helm of the Raptors ... Forward OG Anunoby left the game just before the end of the first half with what the team is calling a sprained ankle. Anunoby walked out of the team locker-room showing no sign of a limp after the game … The Raptors went 18 for 37 from three in the game and had 35 assists on 49 made baskets. So yes, the new offensive approach is taking root.