VanVleet, Anunoby lead charge as Raptors win in Indy
It’s a unique combination of skills that Fred VanVleet possesses, all of which are important individually and lethal collectively.
He is as strong as he is smart, a wondrous mix for an NBA player, each equally on display and equally significant in an important win by the Raptors on Sunday afternoon.
VanVleet knew when to slow things down and when to speed them up, when it was appropriate to pass and when it was better to shoot, and he knew when to use his sneaky strength and toughness to make game-saving plays.
He had company in as thorough a Raptors performance as there’s been this year. But make no mistake, VanVleet was central to a strong fourth quarter that led to a 107-102 win over the Indiana Pacers.
He stripped the ball from Indiana’s Malcolm Brogdon on a crucial last-minute possession and made a couple of pivotal three-pointers as Toronto won for the fifth time in six outings despite missing Pascal Siakam and Kyle Lowry with injuries.
That sense of the moment, that twinning of timing and bigplay making, sets VanVleet apart.
“I’ve been lucky to play for a lot of good coaches growing up. And one thing I always was taught was just to be in the right place at the right time, and then you’ll be able to make a play,” he said of the play on Brogdon with Toronto nursing a onepoint lead. “So just try and be in the right spot, and you let your instincts and your talent and your skill take over and just try to make a play on the ball.
“That’s all I was doing there, just reading the situation and trying to make a play to help us win.”
Former Raptors coach Dwane Casey used to call it “old-man strength” and the 26-year-old VanVleet’s got it.
“Do you have to be old to have old-man strength?” said the sixfoot-one guard. “I hope not. If you don’t have to be old, I’ll take it. But I’ve got a low centre of gravity, obviously, compared to the rest of the league — usually one of the smaller guys on the floor — so I just try to use what I can. That’s my dad strength.”
It was fitting that the Raptors were rewarded with a big road win because of the work they put in. Despite missing two key pieces in Lowry (foot) and Siakam (knee), and despite a series of runs by the Pacers that might have led the Raptors to fold, Toronto finished the game with three straight defensive stops and held Indiana scoreless for the last minute.
“Got to really compliment the whole group there for putting in the effort,” coach Nick Nurse said. “It’s good to be rewarded for that effort. Took all 48 minutes of work.”
One of the best traits the Raptors have shown over the past few years is not getting flustered when key players miss games. “Next man up” is a cliche, but there has always been an enhanced collective awareness when they’ve had to make up for key absences.
“It’s just a funny dynamic where some of your best players are out and there’s just more opportunity for other guys,” VanVleet said. “Like an OG (Anunoby). The ball was finding him. He was in positions he probably wouldn’t be in if we had our full team. So it’s just a weird dynamic sometimes.” á Bembry time: VanVleet, Anunoby (30 points) and Powell (20) were expected to lead the Raptors with two starters missing, but the supporting cast was tremendous. That includes DeAndre’ Bembry, who hadn’t played a significant minute of a close game all season but gave the Raptors 20 key minutes off the bench.
“DeAndre’ hasn’t played in a long, long time and I thought his minutes were awesome,” Nurse said. “It was only going to be a quick one, I just wanted to kind of get Terence (Davis) settled down a little bit after backto-back turnovers, and I told him I was going to put him right back in.”