WELL, THAT WAS UGLY
Two have been practising shooting, and it’s paying dividends for their teams
The Cavs’ Collin Sexton takes one on the chin from Raptor Danny Green on a testy night in Cleveland. The Raptors crashed to a 126-101 defeat, and might lose Serge Ibaka to a suspension for fighting.
After Sunday afternoon’s 125104 thrashing of the Miami Heat, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse told reporters that reserve guard Patrick McCaw is already following a summertime shooting protocol, hoisting hundreds of jumpers daily to boost his conversion rate from long range.
Nurse stressed that McCaw’s shooting routine values quality as much as volume, and focuses on his form. Meanwhile in Cleveland, rookie point guard Collin Sexton has embarked on a similar quest to improve his threepoint shooting and currently holds the unofficial team lead in post-practice jump shots.
Here you could insert a number of coaching clichés rooted in truth.
Perfect practice makes perfect. Don’t get ready, stay ready.
Entering Monday night’s lateseason Raptors-Cavs showdown, McCaw and Sexton had provided case studies in the value of staying ready.
Last week, Sexton set a franchise record for three-pointers by a rookie, while on Sunday afternoon McCaw parachuted into the Raptors’ starting lineup for the first time this season and delivered 10 points, while going 3-for-3 from three-point range. McCaw treated Sunday’s game as a chance to demonstrate he should stay in the rotation when the playoffs arrive and benches tend to shorten, as coaches depend more heavily on proven performers.
“I just go all out, no matter what,” McCaw told reporters after Sunday’s game in Miami. “If I make a mistake … I’ll learn from it. But if I’m not going 100 per cent every time I step on the floor, then I’m cheating myself and I’m cheating my teammates.” The two men share an approach to mid-season skill work, but travelled different paths to Monday’s matchup. McCaw was the Milwaukee Bucks’ second-round pick in 2016 and was promptly traded to the Golden State Warriors, where he won two NBA titles but served four different stints in the developmental G League. In late December, he signed with the Cavs, who waived him nine days later.
Sexton, meanwhile, was a Cavs lottery pick last June and has averaged 30.6 minutes and 15.2 points per game as a rookie. But three-point shooting wasn’t considered one of Sexton’s strengths when he en- tered the league, so he’s had to work overtime to turn himself into a reliable three-point shooter. Entering Monday, Sexton had connected on 38.8 per cent of his three-point attempts this season.
“It’s pretty cool because people been saying I can’t shoot,” Sexton told the Cleveland Plain Dealer last week. “I just got to keep proving them wrong.”
But where Sexton enters every game knowing he’ll have a chance to show off his hardwon three-point stroke, McCaw can only capitalize on the opportunities that open up for him.
On Sunday, he took advantage of a load-management day for star small forward Kawhi Leonard, logging a season-high 26 minutes with Leonard sidelined to limit his long-term workload. Leonard started Monday night in Cleveland, the second night of a back-to-back. But a week from now the Raptors will face a similar setup, with a Sunday road game in Detroit followed by a Monday home date with the Knicks. With Leonard likely to sit out one of those nights, McCaw could find another opportunity to remind teammates, coaches and fans of his pedigree.
“He’s got rings. He’s a champion,” said Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry to reporters after Sunday’s game. “People forget that, but that kid’s got talent, and he’s going to continue to get better.”
In Toronto, McCaw finds himself on another team with championship aspirations, and has worked his way into the lineup by treating the late season like the off-season, and shooting extra jump shots after practice.
“It’s good to see the hard work for him pay off,” Nurse told reporters Sunday.