RAPTORS’ TOP 5 THIS SEASON
It’s only been a short while since the Toronto Raptors last played a game, a road victory over the Utah Jazz on March 9, but it feels like much longer. With no basketball on the immediate horizon and sports appetites needing to be fed, we bring you the five most memorable games the Raptors have played this season.
The picks are totally subjective, so without further ado — here they are, writes Mike Ganter. 1.
Raptors vs. Dallas, Dec. 22 RESULT: Raptors 110, Mavericks 107
SYNOPSIS: Nearing the Christmas break and on the start of a back-to-back without three key players, the Raptors were in need of a pick-me-up. Granted, the Mavs were without Luka Doncic for this one but the Raptors were missing their leading scorer in Pascal Siakam, their defensive backbone in Marc Gasol and Norm Powell, who had been the Raptors’ top bench player. Oh and Matt Thomas was also not dressed. Raptors coach Nick Nurse played just nine guys and with the injuries dressed just 10.
Toronto was down by as many as 30 with 2:32 to go in the third quarter and looked dead.
The Raptors were still down 18 with just 9:12 to go in the game but hope was still hard to find.
Then Kyle Lowry went to work. Lowry has made this kind of run more than a handful of times this season, but his 20 points over the final 8:12 of the game were something to behold.
The Mavs had no answer. He had four triples, he scored at the rim and he scored from the line. Inside, outside it didn’t matter. Lowry put the Raptors on his back and carried them to victory.
Dallas scored just 14 points in the final quarter. Lowry alone had 20.
The final four points of the night were scored by Chris Boucher, who dunked on an assist from Lowry with 25 seconds left and then went to the line with that one-point lead after a personal foul by Dorian Finney-Smith and made both free throws with a second left. A last-second heave by Kristaps Porzingis from 66 feet failed to find the mark and the Raptors had pulled off their biggest comeback of the season.
2.
Raptors @ Lakers Nov. 10 RESULT: Raptors 113, Lakers 104 SYNOPSIS: Still early days for the Raptors, who are once again undermanned with both Lowry and Serge Ibaka out of the lineup for what would amount to monthlong absences. Both had been lost two nights earlier in a win over New Orleans. Waiting for them in L.A. was the best two-man lineup in the NBA in LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Nurse started the only five returnees he had from a year ago (Malcolm Miller who did not play was the lone exception) and rode that quintet of Fred VanVleet, Powell, OG Anunoby, Siakam and Gasol to the win. But what made this game so important in this stunningly good run by the Raptors was the first real emergence of the bench. Boucher, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Terence Davis II would combine for 38 points between them. Boucher, standing in against a driving Anthony Davis and then a driving LeBron James, convinced a ton of people that night that he could play big despite the 50 and 60 pounds he gave up to most bigs he was up against. Hollis-Jefferson convinced his head coach that night that he could provide the defence necessary to play in this Raptors lineup. The game was further proof that Davis had no fear whatsoever. More than anything the defensive approach Nurse had been looking for since training camp arrived. The team held James to just 13 points.
3.
Raptors @ Utah March 9 RESULT: Raptors 101, Jazz 92 SYNOPSIS: This one might have made the list regardless just because it was the Raptors’ final game before the league shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic, but it’s here on merit as well. The Raptors had absolutely no reason to win this game. They were playing on the second night of a back-to-back at the end of a five-game road trip and looking at (what was going to be) a four-day break before they took the court again. They were without VanVleet and Gasol and playing a Jazz team that had won six in a row and was coming in both red hot and rested. This no-excuse team played a defensive gem of a game, holding Rudy Gobert to just six points and Donovan Mitchell to just 11. This may have been the finest game of a great season to date for Ibaka. Ibaka gives up three inches to Gobert, but held the French big man and NBA all-star to just four rebounds. Pat McCaw, with Powell going down in the first two minutes, put his own defensive stamp on this game, playing just under 43 minutes making things difficult all night for any wouldbe Jazz scorer. He would finish a plus-21 on the night behind only Ibaka’s plus-28. If it was the final game of this stellar season for the Raptors, it was a fitting night to go out on.
4.
Raptors @ Boston Dec. 28 RESULT: Raptors 113, Celtics 97 SYNOPSIS: This one was all about righting wrongs. The Raptors were coming off a demoralizing loss to these same Celtics, at home no less, in the first Christmas Day NBA game broadcast outside the U.S. Toronto was never in that Christmas Day game, falling 118-102. The team was still a solid 21-10 but had lost two in a row and was headed to Boston on the back-end of a home-and-home. The Christmas Day loss had taken something out of the fan base. Doubts were starting to creep in. The absences of Gasol and Siakam and Powell were being felt. The Raptors needed to right the ship. Again it was Lowry leading the charge with 30 points in the win. Again it was Toronto’s full-team defence, whether it was the starters behind Lowry, Ibaka and VanVleet or the bench behind Boucher, Davis, and on this night an unexpected boost from two-way player Oshae Brissett that proved to be the winning formula. The Raptors are well aware the majority of the NBA projects Boston to be the biggest threat to Milwaukee in the East. The Raptors reminded everyone on this night that they are at the very least as much of a threat in the East as any team.
5.
Raptors vs. Pacers, Feb. 23 RESULT: Raptors 127, Pacers 81 SYNOPSIS: Probably the most complete game the Raptors played all season. A very good opponent could neither score against nor stop the Raptors from scoring. It was a blowout from the early stages, with the Raptors holding Indy to just 12 points in the first quarter while scoring 34 of their own. Everyone took their turn in this one, including Thomas, who had his best shooting game as a Raptor, scoring 17 points in just over 15 minutes. The three-point specialist was on point, going 5-for-7 from beyond the arc. Indy somehow won the third quarter by a single point but it was the only period of success the Pacers would enjoy all night. This was a beatdown, pure and simple and while the Pacers didn’t have Victor Oladipo for this one, that has been their norm more often than not this year and they still came in with a 33-23 record.
That’s five wins out of 46.
Let’s just hope the Raptors get a chance to finish this off.