VANVLEET, POWELL SEIZING THE REINS
Two Raptors have improved rapidly, with that improvement on display against 76ers
When The Shot was made, the moment of all Raptors moments, Norm Powell was dressed in a bright red “We The North” T-shirt, standing, staring in front of the Toronto bench.
He never got on the floor that afternoon for Game 7. Never once did he hear his name called in a game none of us will ever forget.
Fred Vanvleet was in game uniform, on the bench, but with both feet on the court, leaning, learning, watching, taking it all in. He had not made a single basket in Game 7 in the 15 minutes he played. He didn’t have an assist, either.
Just four free throws. That was it.
Four points from Vanvleet. None from Powell. That wasn’t so long ago.
Kawhi Leonard is in Los Angeles now and so is Danny Green. Vanvleet starts at guard for the Raptors. Powell is first off the bench if he isn’t starting. The men who basically looked lost in the second round of the playoffs against this giant Philadelphia 76ers team have grown into two of Toronto’s most important players.
Against the Sixers in the playoffs, Powell scored 21 points, Vanvleet scored 14 points — and those were their totals for the entire series. Just over three points per game for Powell in six appearances, right at two points a game for Vanvleet, and both players were blanked twice in the series. Four zeros between them. Vanvleet’s single-game high for the series: five points.
The doubt, then, was whether either man could compete in the NBA playoffs, whether either could be depended upon.
Then came the Eastern Conference final series against Milwaukee and the NBA Finals against Golden State and in reality neither player, whose games are so different and distinct, has looked back since.
Heading into Wednesday night against the 76ers, Powell had scored 27, 20, 28, 23 and 20 points in his past five games. He had eight games of 20-plus points over his last nine games.
Since coming back from injury, Vanvleet has scored 29 points, then 20 points. Before the injury, he had nightly totals of 29, 20, 27 and 21 in four of the six games before that. He led the Raptors again in scoring Wednesday night, scoring 22 points as the Raptors prevailed 107-95.
“Vanvleet has grown into a legitimate scoring threat,” said 76ers coach Brett Brown. “Kind of all over the place, he’s able to get into the paint, he’s tough enough, we recognize what he can do. And we know he can shoot.
“Look what Norman Powell has done the past four, five games. He’s one of their best scorers.
You have to give Toronto credit in relation to them growing their young guys. Those two for sure have improved and are playing a major role in Toronto’s most recent success.”
Vanvleet, undrafted, too small — the story gets better as time goes on. Powell was a second-round pick of the Milwaukee Bucks and was expected to disappear the way most second-round picks do. The Raptors gave up Greivis Vasquez to get Powell. That seems like a ridiculous trade now.
Powell appeared to be more athlete than basketball player. Now, he’s either indispensable or just about the best trade chip Masai Ujiri has for the upcoming deadline.
Powell has grown into one of the NBA’S better three-point shooters and he’s one of the best hard-charging, driving-to-the-basket, dunking small men.
The difference, Vanvleet will tell you, is opportunity. That’s the easy athlete answer. In order to play more, you need to play better. And in order to play better, you often need to play more.
The Raptors wanted Vanvleet to make a difference against Philadelphia last May. He couldn’t.
He says he wasn’t given the chance. The truth is, he probably would have got the opportunity had he produced more and had Ben Simmons not had 10 inches on him.
Powell was on the sidelines in the game that decided the Raptors’ playoff fortunes. That had to hurt. He didn’t fit into the Philly series. But that Powell and this year’s Powell aren’t the same player and the player Ujiri bet on by trading for and then signing to a contract of surprising size has again proven that Ujiri has both good fortune and good scouting on his side.
A lot of people around the NBA didn’t see much in Powell: Ujiri saw the future.
“I think Fred really grew into who he became, the player he is, the player he started out this season, in the back half of last year’s playoffs,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said. “His whole demeanour, game confidence, what he could deliver. all those things grew there.
“Norman, he’s kind of the same, although he has yet to have a breakout of a playoff series the way Fred or Pascal has yet. That would be the only difference. Norm’s playing incredibly well right now. I think he looks really good, really confident. He looks like Fred and Pascal, the way he’s moving around, body language, in command of things.”
In seven games against the Sixers in May, Vanvleet and Powell combined to scored 35 points. Last night, one game, one win, they combined for 40.
The men who couldn’t be trusted last spring made the difference on this cold January night for the Raptors.