Leonard saves Raptors in dying seconds
Star shows flair for drama with two steals in final 30 seconds to sneak past struggling Hawks
TORONTO — Playing with fire all night, the Raptors probably deserved to get burned on this night in the form of one of those unacceptable losses.
The Atlanta Hawks, down key players and playing shorthanded, not to mention the rebuilding mode they currently find themselves in, probably deserved better.
In the end the Raptors had just enough to win 104-101, but it required two of Kawhi Leonard’s seven steals in the final 30 seconds and some rather impressive ball-sharing on those final two possessions to get it done.
Down one with a half minute remaining, the Raptors failed to score on Leonard’s short three-ball only to have Leonard strip Trae Young at the other end and start a fast break that ended with a wide open Serge Ibaka lay-in to take the lead.
Leonard then stripped another member of the Hawks and got the ball moving in the other direction on the way to an OG Anunoby slam for the eventual three-point victory.
Give the Hawks credit, though, for making this one extremely tough despite plenty of sloppiness down the stretch that led to 27 turnovers and 34 points off turnovers for the Raptors.
Atlanta’s John Collins was solid with 21 points while Jeremy Lin was his usual pain in the backside for the Raps, finishing up with 20 points.
For Toronto, Leonard continued his torrid pace of late with 31 points, six assists, seven steals and four rebounds while Kyle Lowry got it going after a rather pensive first quarter to finish with 16 and four assists.
The Raps now have a couple of days off before hosting the Brooklyn Nets who have already bested Toronto once this season.
PUT A PIN IN IT FOR NOW
If this was goodbye, not even Vince knew it for sure.
Carter got a standing ovation from the sold-out crowd of 19,800 before the announcer could even say his name as he entered the game at the 6:47 mark of the first quarter. He drew further cheers nearly a minute later when he drained a threepointer that gave Atlanta a 19-15 lead.
Vince Carter, at one time known as Air Canada, more recently just Vinsanity or Half Man Half Amazing, or simply VC, can’t answer the question if this was his final trip to the first NBA arena he called home because he doesn’t know himself.
“My family and friends are like, ‘OK, you played this long, keep going until you can’t.’ Just weigh my options. I would like to come back and play, and next month, I’ll probably say this is it. It’s just one of those things, when you get close to the end, doing something you love for so long. For me it’s one of those final decisions that’s tough to make until the last minute.”
Carter has had life-changing decisions like this before. Where to go to college, when to put his name in for the draft and like on each of those occasions he expects the decision will come to him. But for now he’s uncertain.
The Hawks are Carter’s eighth stop in his career.
At the age of 41 (he turns 42 in three weeks) Carter’s plan is to play out the season, start getting ready for what would be his 22nd season and then make his decision.
Playing this late into his career, particularly with the game being as fast as ever and the players as athletic as ever, is no easy feat, but then Carter isn’t just your average athlete either. He’s been defying the parameters of what is humanly possible on a basketball court since he came into the league.
But even Carter will admit, there are times now that he feels his age.
He was asked the toughest part about playing this long and his answer was simple.
“The mornings,” he said. “No, seriously. Some mornings I wake up and they see me walking into shootaround or meetings and the young guys are all, ‘You all right?’ And I’m just, ‘Yeah, you guys don’t understand.’ I think that’s the hardest thing.”
BACK TOGETHER
It’s been more than three weeks since the Raptors have sent out a starting lineup that included both Leonard and Lowry. They have played as many games with both in the lineup as they have with just one of the two.
It’s not been the best for building chemistry between the two most important players on this team, but coach Nick Nurse is not panicking.
“I think we want to see just some more minutes together, just some more cohesion together,” Nurse said of his two all-stars. “Organizing late game, when there’s close late games, where we going, what we doing, how we getting the ball, where it goes. It’s pretty simple when one of them is on and one of them is off. It becomes a little harder, in a good way.
“It’s a good problem that you’ve got two choices to make, who’s bringing it, who isn’t bringing it,” Nurse said. “I think there’s some pace issues maybe we need to get through a little bit. I’d like our pace to be a little bit better when the two of them are on the floor. But that’s more on me, or on us, to just have a little bit more urgency to get it up the floor and play a little quicker.”
QUICK HITS
Bit of a change to the starting lineup with Leonard and Lowry back together. With the two big guns in action, the Raptors took the opportunity to rest starting shooting guard Danny Green. It was just the second game all season Green has missed. Starting in his place was Fred VanVleet alongside Lowry in the backcourt ... Also absent from Tuesday’s active roster was CJ Miles, who’s nursing a sore hip.