Bench boss as Toronto makes it eight in row
Most nights it’s one guy or maybe two who have produced while others have struggled and the inconsistency of the Toronto Raptors’ bench has been a thing every now and then, even though the team has survived well enough.
But on a night when four guys have it going at the same time, it’s all fun and good times and easy baskets and stops. Smiles all around. Getting 51 points off the bench — the highest production by substitutes this season — the Raptors rolled to an easy 112-94 victory Sunday over the Los Angeles Clippers.
It is Toronto’s eighth win in a row and an impressive thumping of a quality opponent.
The Raptors can equal an all-time franchise high on Tuesday against Washington with a ninth straight win.
And if the team’s four backups — Cory Joseph, Terrence Ross, Patrick Patterson and Bismack Biyombo — play then as they played Sunday, Toronto will be hard to beat.
“I think (Sunday night) was probably one of our best games collectively as a second unit,” Patterson said.
Now settled into a consistent rotation after dealing with a series of injuries that muddled things, a successful routine is developing.
“There’s no uncertainty,” Patterson said. “So you know when you’re coming in, you know when you’re coming out and you know how much effort you can give, you know where your shots are going to come, you know the focus you have to have.
“If there’s uncertainty there’s a lack of energy, a lack of confidence, you tend to get frustrated so now that you know when you’re coming in, when you’re coming out, who you’re going to be in the game with, everyone’s just more comfortable out there.”
Toronto’s bench dominance was thorough, they out-scored the Clipper backups 51-29 and turned the game around late in the first quarter and early in the second.
Ross had 18 points, Joseph 12 and Patterson and Biyombo 10 apiece while Kyle Lowry had 21 and DeMar DeRozan 20.
The four subs and Lowry went on a sweet little 17-1 run to wipe out a big, early-game Clippers lead.
“They (the Clippers) had 34 in the first quarter and I thought it was going to be a long night but the second unit . . . came in and changed the game, started getting into bodies, getting into players, being physical and I thought that changed the mentality,” coach Dwane Casey said.
It should be pointed out the Raptors were operating mainly against a Clippers bench group that could charitably be described as “suspect.” It is one of the major failings of a Los Angeles team that had won 12 of 14 going into Sunday and the one weakness that will likely doom them when the playoffs roll around.
“This whole week-and-a-half the bench has been great for us,” DeRozan said. “We’ve been taking advantage of it and it’s been great having that balance that we’ve been able to sustain these last few games.”
The Raptors effectively shut down the Clippers in the final 36 minutes by taking away their lethal pick-androll game. DeAndre Jordan had seven points in the first quarter but only eight in the next three, Chris Paul had nine and then just 14 in the same split.
“It’s a scheme we worked on and talked about and we executed it,” Casey said. “JV (Jonas Valanciunas) was disciplined, the guards were disciplined with what they were supposed to do, and it worked.
“We missed it a few times in the first quarter and didn’t execute it.”