Poeltl standing out for Raps
MIKE GANTER
SAN FRANCISCO — In a game where his team got absolutely demolished on both the offensive and defensive boards, centre Jakob Poeltl stood out far more for what he did right than anything he did wrong.
Poeltl, playing backup minutes to starter Lucas Nogueira, had 10 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks in 25 minutes. Nogueira got the start at centre in place of the injured Jonas Valanciunas as much on merit as he did Dwane Casey’s unwillingness to disrupt a second unit that has been extremely strong through the early going of the season. Early foul trouble for Nogueira meant more minutes for Poeltl.
Poeltl was a team-best plus-9 for the game when only two other Raptors — Norman Powell and rookie O.G. Anunoby were on the plus side of the ledger.
The 25 minutes Poeltl played were one shy of his career high, ironically set in this same arena last January when Poeltl was still a rookie.
As one would expect, the Raptors locker room after such a loss was rather quiet. This clearly was a game each Raptor knew was there for them to grab.
Eighteen offensive rebounds that the Spurs turned into 21 second-chance points didn’t help matters.
As the centre, who logged more minutes than any other in Toronto’s lineup, Poeltl obviously shares some of that blame but his plus-minus suggests a much more positive impact than negative.
The Spurs’ Dejounte Murray for instance, had 15 rebounds on the night, an unheard of number for a point guard with three of those on the offensive end, so it wasn’t as if Poeltl was getting beat to the ball by fellow bigs all night. There were breakdowns throughout the lineup.
On top of that, Poeltl was also the lone Raptor pull down and offensive rebound all night.
There’s no question practice Tuesday in San Francisco ahead of Wednesday’s game with the defending champion Golden State Warriors was going to lean heavily on finishing off defensive possessions with a rebound.
“Some of it (was),” Casey replied when asked if perhaps this was just a team getting used to playing without a rebounding big like Valanciunas. But Casey came across as very disappointed in the Raptors lack of aggression under their own basket.
“Anticipating the shot, carving out space, being physical,” Casey said of what was missing. “They (officials) let a lot of stuff go in that little box down there and there’s no use complaining about it, take care of business yourself and carve out space and go get it. Some of it is just going and getting the basketball, getting it under your chin, clearing out space, finding a body. When we look at the film, I’m 100% positive that’s what it’s going to be.”
With Nogueira dealing with an injury of his own, a turned ankle that has the team listing him as doubtful for Wednesday, Poeltl is potentially in line for an even bigger role. Casey opted for Nogueira with the starters because he didn’t want both units disrupted but that may no longer be possible.
Valanciunas could be back as early as Monday, meaning he would only miss the first three games of this six game road trip in any event.
Until that happens, this team needs to improve its team rebounding and that’s on everyone, Poeltl included.
But Poeltl is quickly establishing himself as a guy who can go into any situation of the game and more than hold his own.
Rebounding is not necessarily his strongest point but he’s no slouch in that department either. Valanciunas just happens to handle that facet of the game better.
But Poeltl probably has the best defensive instincts of any of the bigs on the Raptors’ roster. He held his own against the much more experienced Pau Gasol and Aldridge. Whatever experience he lacks in comparison to the others is diminishing by the day.
In short he is gaining on all the other bigs on the roster with each passing game.
Monday’s effort, as bad as it was in the rebounding department from a team standpoint, did nothing to diminish that.