Gasol shows shutdown skills again
The jokes going around on social media after Marc Gasol’s latest demoralizing shutdown of Orlando Magic all-star centre Nikola Vucevic was that Gasol should file adoption papers because he’d “sonned” the big man once again.
Gasol is one of the best centre defenders of the past couple of decades and he proves it again and again against the likes of Vucevic, who is an extremely skilled player, and Joel Embiid, who is merely an MVP candidate (Embiid dropped 36 points and 13 rebounds on Atlanta on Monday).
Vucevic just has no answers against Gasol and had to be subbed off the floor with the game on the line. Remarkable. Credit to Orlando coach Steve Clifford for making that bold call, but Gasol really gave him no choice.
Anybody still worried about Gasol after his second straight strong two-way game? Raptors coach Nick Nurse wasn’t worried about his rough start and now you know why.
Kyle Lowry told us in Boston that he wasn’t happy about his conditioning or his play. He will be much better he said, despite putting up big-time numbers. That’s a scary warning for the rest of the NBA, since Lowry is putting up all-star stats (22 points per game, which would be his second-most as a Raptor, 6.8 assists, a career-best 3.8 three-point makes a game). Lowry’s been awesome at both ends of the floor.
Whenever the Raptors looked to be in a bit of trouble against Orlando, Lowry seemed to have an answer.
He just willed them to that win. He closed the first half with some aggressive takes when the rest of the team appeared to be completely out of gas.
The minutes load will be interesting to watch.
Playing Lowry 39.3 minutes a night and Fred Vanvleet
38.8 is simply not sustainable. Lowry’s too old for that kind of a workload, while Vanvleet hits the deck and gets hit too much for that to hold up.
The Raptors will need to get that under control or it will surely bite them down the line.
OG Anunoby is doing absurd things on defence. He showed signs of this in the past when he locked down James Harden and others, but the added flash and the ferocity is new. He’s also hit double figures in scoring in three of four games (the other one was nine points) after doing it 16 times last year and 10 as a rookie.
Smart work by the Raptors keeping Alex Mckechnie in town long-term with an extension and a promotion. The Raptors previously promoted Bobby Webster and Dan Tolzman to avoid them getting poached. Toronto’s medical and player development have boosted the perception of the franchise significantly in the past half-decade or so. Keeping everyone happy is smart.