National Post (National Edition)
Raptors work on retaining focus
If there’s a recurring theme with the Toronto Raptors, it’s a penchant for turning potentially easy wins into tough ones.
The victory in Washington, a double-ot thriller, was just the latest example.
The good news is the Raptors found a way, but a 23-point lead early should never turn into double overtime and the players know this all too well.
“It’s just focus,” point guard Kyle Lowry said. “We shouldn’t lose focus. We have to stayed focused on every possession. We lost a little focus and our offence starts to dictate our defence. We can’ t do that. we have to let our defence dictate our offence.”
Danny Green saw it too but the veteran shooting guard still counted this one as a positive experience despite the anxiety experienced when it felt like the Wizards’ Bradley Beal was just going to win the game all by himself.
Green was almost sure of it after Beal sent the game into the first overtime with a wide-open three.
“I kind of laughed when Beal got that three (to put it into overtime),” Green said. “The ball rolled right to him, damn near the top of the key for a wide-open three. It was almost storybook. We get the stop, it ricochets off four people and he ends up with the ball. Right at the wing that he just hit one from.”
Beal wasn’t done there but that did pretty much put a cap on his banner afternoon that included 14 points of regulation in the final 5:27 to force OT.
Green though was more interested in the Raptors’ response and while it came late it did come.
“We just have to be more mature,” Green said. “Learn how to keep leads. Keep our foot on the gas. Keep teams at bay. Obviously they got hot. They made shots. That’s what they do, but we have to put ourselves in a better position and not let them do that.
“It was an experience that we kind of realize we are getting there but we’re not fully there yet,” he said. “Obviously some tough matches coming up so we still have some work to do.”
Lowry gave huge props to both Kawhi Leonard and Pascal Siakam for helping the Raptors pull this one out. He also sacrificed his body in a big way on the final play of the game throwing himself in the way of Beal as he attempted to haul in a desperate last second heave on a pass from under his own basket in hopes of getting off a tying shot. With Lowry playing free safety though, it was not about to happen.
“We had to make sure we won that game,” Lowry said summing up his feelings on a hugely entertaining, though potentially harmful afternoon.
TOUGHING IT OUT
Danny Green has been hit plenty of times in a basketball game, but Sunday’s bellringer was rather unique. A missed Otto Porter three was tipped back toward a lunging Green who secured the ball in a prone position just as Tomas Satoransky arrived and took him out like a linebacker blitzing the quarterback.
“I knew the first free throw was going to be a little tough. My neck was a little out of place,” Green said after Satoransky got him with a hard shot to his had. “He said sorry. He was making sure I was OK. I’m not made of glass but at the same time the equilibrium was a little off for a while. Having said that it was a good foul. He did what he was supposed to do. Hard foul.”
Green missed the first free throw but made he second to give Toronto a two-point lead with 2.8 seconds left. Lowry took care of the rest tipping the inbound Hail Mary out of bounds to secure the win.
WRIGHT STUFF
Lost in all the back and fourth of a 140-138 doubleovertime win in Washington was Delon Wright’s season high 17-point effort. Wright, slowly but surely is getting back to being a differencemaker in that second unit. His scoring average for the month of January is up almost three points a game from December and November and that includes two games in which he scored a total of four points.
Wright’s re-emergence along with Fred Vanvleet getting healthy again (although he missed Sunday’s game with a bruised thigh) are key to getting the Raptors’ bench producing again like they have in the past.
“I feel like I’m just finding little rhythms in the game and just keep getting better,” Wright said after Sunday’s game.
Wright will always be a pass-first point guard. It’s in his nature but he’s making strides in other areas of his game as well. On Sunday he had four offensive rebounds getting his team extra possessions they would not have had.
The four boards off the offensive glass weren’t just a season high, that was a career high for Wright.