OG sets the pace
Anunoby delivers as depleted Raps outlast Indiana
Down their two all-stars and on the road, the Raptors did what they have done time and time again — they went to the next guy.
But in this case it was a series of guys as no Kyle Lowry and no Pascal Siakam meant more OG Anunoby, more Fred VanVleet and yes, more Yuta Watanabe, DeAndre Bembry and Aron Baynes.
Anunoby, who been doing what he did yesterday but in more of a supporting role, took centre stage Sunday afternoon as the Raptors and head coach Nick Nurse bested the Indiana Pacers and former Nurse protege Nate Bjorkgren107-102 in the first of back-to-back meetings between the two clubs.
Nurse's Raptors have been coming into their own lately, but it's Bjorkgren's Pacers who have been the more consistent of the two clubs lately.
Anunoby's game has been steadily climbing after a bit of a slow start, but on Sunday without Lowry, who was still nursing that infected toe and without Siakam who was listed with a swelled right knee, the team turned to Anunoby and he didn't disappoint.
To say this was a breakout game, even though it was a career high scoring night, would be incorrect because
Anunoby has been racking up the steals and shooting from distance at a ridiculous clip for a few weeks now.
Over the five games coming into the Pacers' miniseries, Anunoby was shooting the three-ball at 58% and was among the top five in the NBA in steals.
In a 1 p.m. start against the Pacers, he hit his first three attempts from beyond the arc and had five steals before the game was even half over.
He finished up with a fine afternoon's work with 30 points, eight rebounds, those five steals and a key role in a team defensive effort that limited both Malcolm Brogdon and Domantas Sabonis from doing anything close to what they normally manage offensively.
The team's defensive effort was carried over from the win over Miami on Friday night,
only this time the primary defenders turned out to be different guys.
Stanley Johnson, who a week ago did a monster tagteam job with Anunoby on Mavericks MVP candidate Luka Doncic, this time worked his magic from the opening tip as he got the start in place of Siakam.
With Anunoby carrying the scoring load, Johnson took primary defensive duties on Sabonis, though Anunoby did his share there too, and frustrated the Lithuanian big man holding him to just 10 points for the afternoon.
But the game might still not have gone Toronto's way without Fred VanVleet's defence on Brogdon, particularly on a potential go-ahead possession with 20 seconds left in the game.
VanVleet didn't just blanket Brogdon, he very
nearly picked his pocket eventually settling for hounding him into a shot clock violation.
The Pacers had no choice but to foul Anunoby on the inbound and the man of the game drained both to basically salt the game away.
Nurse knew exactly the mountain his team had climbed to win this type of game and he was fully appreciative.
“Yeah, they played hard, that's for sure,” Nurse said. “Gotta really compliment the whole group there for putting in the effort. It's good to be rewarded for that effort. Took all 48 minutes of work.”
Without Lowry and Siakam, the onus wasn't just on Anunoby but the other young vets on the team such as VanVleet and Norm Powell.
Powell again responded to a promotion to the starting
five with a 20-point night, highlighted by a number of aggressive drives to the hoop. VanVleet meanwhile was the steady hand on the tiller, finishing with 21 points, five assists and that lockdown defence on Brogdon with the game in the balance.
VanVleet was very complimentary of the job Johnson and Anunoby did on the Indiana bigs.
“We know what OG brings to the table but having Stanley as another guy who can do some of the things that OG does, it has taken our defence to another level,” he said. “He has just been really engaged and keyed in on our game plans. He's a really smart player. So those two guys have been great for us. And then you add in, (Aron) Baynes has been blocking shots the last two games, Chris (Boucher) is blocking shots like he usually does. That type of defence we've played is going to give us a chance most nights, and that's all we need.”
The key is going to be replicating that effort a little more than 24 hours later against the same team, no easy feat when both sides know exactly what the other team is doing based on the familiarity both head coaches have with the other.
There was no indication post-game whether either one or both of Lowry and Siakam would be back in the lineup for Monday night's tilt, but it's a fair assessment that it's going to take an even bigger effort to get a second win on Indiana's home court. It would be tough to count on the Raptors limiting Sabonis and Brogdon as severely as they did on back to back nights.