Veteran Raps use poise, experience to shut down promising young Magic
It started out a track meet. It ended up a slugfest.
But the Raptors found a way to prevail despite some foul trouble and despite an Orlando Magic team that hasn’t found its way yet, but is quickly getting there.
Up by as many as 14 in the early going, the Raptors held the lead until Terrence Ross — remember him? — drained his first three of the game with just over four minutes remaining to put Orlando up by two.
Toronto’s starting five, which is actually their finishing five so far this season, then knuckled down and brought that defensive intensity that marked their playoff run a year ago and earned them the win Monday night.
The 104-95 final was a testament to the Raptors’ experience and poise in the face of adversity.
Rather than crumble when the Magic finally took a lead, the Raptors responded with textbook execution offensively and plenty of that stifling defence that was the team’s trademark last spring.
Kyle Lowry had another solid game leading the Raptors with 26 points along with five boards and six assists as the point guard re-establishes himself as a force at both ends of the court after taking a back seat offensively a year ago with Kawhi Leonard in the fold.
Lowry struggled from the three-point line, where he was just 3-of-11, but he more than made up for that with his allaround game. He got to the line 10 times and converted nine of those.
Pascal Siakam, the member of the Raptors pegged to pick up most of the offensive slack with Leonard now in Los Angeles, had 22 points and 10 rebounds, but once again struggled with foul trouble, picking up his fifth of the night with just over five minutes remaining. Raptors head coach Nick Nurse expanded his bench to 10 players in the fourth game of the season, but got by for the most part with just eight as rookie Terence Davis II played just a minute and Chris Boucher had just four minutes in the game.
Jonathan Isaac was a one-man wrecking crew for the Magic with 24 points and seven boards.
IT’S THE YEAR OF OG
OK, perhaps a little premature given we’re only four games into the season, but OG Anunoby is doing something special every night it seems. Monday night he was showing off the kind of footwork that six-year vets would envy and getting to the basket. When he wasn’t doing that, he was picking Orlando’s pockets and going the other way for easy transition buckets.
About the only thing he did wrong was take his time on one such breakout, only to have Ross track him down and block him at the rim. Moments like those have been few and far between for Anunoby this season.
GASOL GETTING THERE
Marc Gasol’s rough start to the 2019-20 season is slowly turning around. Gasol had 10 points and eight boards in a foul-shortened 19 minutes Monday night in what was his best game to date.
Gasol is going to be very important for this team and the early struggles will soon be forgotten.
MCCAW’S ROLE WILL GROW
Nurse has been talking up Patrick McCaw since training camp in Quebec City. McCaw, who has been out with a knee injury since the pre-season, played 17 minutes and while he had just three points, he showed some of the defensive intensity and high basketball IQ that has made Nurse such a fan.
TURNING IT BACK
Monday’s game was the first of six games the Raptors are packaging as the Rewind 95, a celebration of the 25 years of their existence.
The court is more purple than normal, the uniforms are much more purple and, for at least the first game in a really nice touch, the Raptors brought back the Barenaked Ladies for the anthems, more or less the same group that handled anthem duties on opening night 25 years ago.
The group has changed a little in 25 years with Steven Page no longer with them, but there’s still Ed Robertson and Kevin Hearn, Tyler Stewart and Jim Creeggan.
MAGIC NOT QUITE THERE
A short and injury-plagued pre-season has coach Steve Clifford still searching for the best combination of Magic players in his rotation.
Clifford knows he has a good team and an above average defending team with the kind of size he can throw out there, but he’s clearly not happy with the offence in the early going.
“We didn’t have the training camp we wanted to have,” Clifford said before the game.
“Not terrible, but not great. ... Everybody talks about continuity and continuity is what you make of it. There are certain things that are out of your control. We weren’t healthy and so we are going to get there. We have a good team.
“We have a terrific defensive roster but we haven’t played that well.”