Experiments uncover a rotation that works
After rocky start, Nurse finds balance of offence and defence
The Raptors have settled on a rotation, the players’ roles are being more clearly defined, they are defending like they want to most nights and, lo and behold, they are turning into a pretty good team.
A rocky start seems in the distant past after three consecutive victories and there are tangible reasons behind Toronto’s turnaround. The most significant is that coach Nick Nurse has found a rotation that works, a group that provides the versatility the team thrives on offensively and defensively.
Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Pascal Siakam and Aron Baynes start, with Chris Boucher, Norm Powell and Stanley Johnson as the three primary backups and someone from the group of Terence Davis, Malachi Flynn and Yuta Watanabe being used as an end-of-the rotation contributor, depending on the nightly matchups.
It took seven or eight games for that group to emerge — the first part of any season is about experimentation for most teams — but the formula has been struck.
“I think that we’re continuing to find out things about our team that are improving the team,” Nurse said Tuesday. “Guys are comfortable with the guys that we’re putting out there and I think those guys have chipped in pretty considerably.
“So we’re learning some things that I think are improvements but we should — that is what early time of the season is for, is to learn who you are and what you can become and keep trying to polish up that.”
The emergence of Johnson as a rotation regular cannot be understated. He’s a tough, strong defender — much tougher and stronger than, say, Matt Thomas — and he is knocking down enough shots to be an offensive threat. Most important, though, is that he gives the Raptors some bulk and size on the wing that mitigates the times they have to use small lineups.
“We’ve, again, got some versatility there,” Nurse said. “We’re obviously playing small for a lot of the game but, again, we can stay a little bit bigger at the wings, with a Stanley-OG-Pascal, two of the three out there, and Chris, three of the four out there.
“I think it gives us a better chance (at some versatility), so that has helped.”
That roster versatility, and continuity, has led to a marked improvement in the team’s defence, which has been the major upgrade in the last five games.
The Raptors are able to switch more, to fly around and closed out on shooters better. They seem more committed to defending as a group than as individuals. Teams are shooting a lower percentage from all over the court in the last five games, and that fuels Toronto’s transition offence.
The Raptors’ offensive numbers aren’t markedly different in the recent winning streak but they are creating more havoc and easy baskets with their defence.
“I think we are just getting better, getting more confident in ourselves and we are getting more comfortable with what we are trying to do both offensively and defensively,” Kyle Lowry said. “I think we still have lulls where we could be better, but I feel like we are just playing with a little bit more confidence and understanding that we are going to play hard. “We know how to play hard.” None of this is to suggest everything will be perfect for the 59 games that remain in the regular season.
There will be dips and crevices and losses because that’s the ebb and flow of a year and a 2-8 start is a significant hole to climb out of.
But, overall, there seems to be a sense of calm and structure and continuity.
“I mean, obviously, your moods going to swing a little bit with what side of the win-loss column you go on,” Nurse said. “But I think the biggest thing is we understand is there’s still a lot of basketball to be played.
“There’s going to be ups and downs as we go here too, but we had a really rough patch, a really unfortunate patch — we played some good basketball even (though we) ended up on the wrong side of the score — but fortunately we’ve stuck with it.
“I think the spirits been good and we’ve got on the right side of the score a few times here.”