Don’t sell this starting lineup short
It was last weekend, when it looked as if OG Anunoby might return from an injury to play on Sunday, that Fred VanVleet was being pestered with questions about a theoretical “small” Raptors lineup.
There had been issues with Aron Baynes as the starting centre some nights and Norm Powell had been tremendous most nights as a spot starter for Anunoby and the spectre of a small starting lineup was enticing.
VanVleet tried to deflect one question and then another and finally one more.
“To answer all your guys’ questions in one,” he finally said, “if it’s been 30 minutes (the small group had been on the floor this year), then we’ll have to see what the next 30 look like.”
It looked solid Tuesday. Deciding to pile his five best players into the starting lineup, Raptors coach Nick Nurse went with a small group of Fred VanVleet, Kyle Lowry, Powell, Anunoby and Pascal Siakam in what turned out to be a delightful 124-113 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
The group played with all kinds of aggression and energy on defence to make up for a size disadvantage and got a brilliant night from VanVleet for one of Toronto’s most impressive wins of the season.
VanVleet finished with 33 points in nearly 40 minutes while Pascal Siakam had 23 points and 13 rebounds.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led Milwaukee with 34 points.
But for as much good as there was, there was some bad, too. Lowry tweaked his left ankle just before halftime, tried to start the third quarter but limped to the locker room after less than four minutes, his night done with what the team said was a sore left ankle.
With the Raptors facing a stretch of three games in four nights starting Thursday night against the Bucks, a Lowry absence would be costly.
› Hanging in: The danger with a small lineup is the Raptors leave themselves vulnerable in rebounding, but they held their own against the much-bigger Bucks on Tuesday.
Despite the presence of a couple of seven-footers in Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez, the Raptors out-rebounded the Bucks 53-47.
“They’ll post Lopez, they’ll post Giannis, they’ll post (Khris) Middleton,” Nurse said before the game.
“So you’ve got to be ready. You’ve got to fight a little bit harder and keep them off their spots and then you’ve got to be ready with some schemes probably, too.”
› Someone always steps up: A couple of games ago, the Raptors were blitzed out of nowhere by Boston’s Semi Ojeleye, who drilled a career-high six three-pointers in a Celtics win.
Last night, Toronto lost track of one-time Baltimore Orioles prospect Pat Connaughton, who had four three-pointers in the first half and finished with a season-high 20 points, 18 before the break.
› Changing roles: The Raptors like Terence Davis for his athleticism and his ability, as Nurse has said, to “vault up and take a shot,” but the limitations in his game may cost him his minutes. After an awful run in the first half against the Bucks, Davis was nailed to the bench for the second and the spot he normally would have filled went to Matt Thomas.
It may not be permanent, but Davis needs to step up his defence and decision-making to stay at the end of the rotation.