KAWHI DENIED
DeRozan delivers first career triple-double in blowout to spoil Leonard’s return to San Antonio ... Former Spurs superstar remains silent on reasons for wanting out ... Emotional game raises the stakes for players, coaches ... Poeltl thrills Mills
SAN ANTONIO — It wasn’t so much the nasty vocal reception the Raptors got that swayed this one as the stifling defence the San Antonio Spurs greeted them that ruled the night in a lopsided 125107 loss.
Kawhi Leonard, who orchestrated his own departure from a place few willingly leave heard about it all night from a sold out AT&T Center crowd.
It started in the warmups and it continued steadily all night, but far more effective were the five Spurs connected by a string making every trip down the floor a chore for the Raptors. Leonard’s drive game was held in check as the Spurs refused to let him get a head of steam, throwing multiple bodies at him early and forcing the ball out of his hands.
Leonard managed 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting on a night where it must have felt the entire world was against him. On the other end, DeMar
DeRozan, who promised to come back at his old team at the first opportunity, followed through on that the first tripledouble of his career.
DeRozan had 21 points, 11 assists and 14 rebounds in the game showing off his allaround game that seems to have hit a new level here in San Antonio.
DeRozan can still score with the best of them, but every other facet of his game — short of the three-point area, which remains very much a work in progress — has taken a jump here.
The other principals in the July trade that sent Leonard to Toronto and DeRozan south to San Antonio were rather quiet.
Danny Green in particular was a non-factor, putting up his first goose egg in the points column all season, although he was coming off a win over Utah in which he contributed just two.
The Raptors were never really in this one, getting down early and trailing by as many as 28 and not fewer than 20 for most of the evening.
It was a complete victory from start to finish for the Spurs.
The Raptors got a taste of a playoff-like hostile environment which they can learn from but little else on the night. The “overrated” chants the crowd fell into in the final couple of minutes might prove useful down the road too.
STILL NOT TALKING
Six months later, Leonard is still not ready to discuss exactly why he asked out of San Antonio.
The Raptors leading scorer and the former face of the Spurs franchise, arrived at the morning shootaround to a throng of reporters and cameras and while he took questions for five minutes, the only one he wouldn’t answer was why he left.
“I’m not going to discuss that here today,” Leonard said.
It seems unlikely that Leonard will ever explain that.
What we know and all we might ever know is a right quadriceps injury wound up limiting Leonad to just nine games in his final season as a member of the Spurs. At one point, Leonard and his representatives determined it was in Leonard’s best interests to conduct his own rehab away from the team and its medical staff. What led to that is the unknown.
There has been plenty of speculation from parties outside the disagreement, but neither the Spurs nor Leonard or his camp have addressed why things spiralled out of control so quickly.
What that uncertainty and the subsequent trade did accomplish was to take a normally run-of-the-mill regular-season game (last
night in San Antonio) and turn it into the type of event and grudge game usually reserved only for the playoffs.
Coaches and players alike on both sides have been talking up the potential gains and what they could mean for both teams over the past few days.
Even Leonard was talking about how a game like Thursday’s in an expected hostile environment with both teams desperate to claim victory, even if they downplayed that aspect, could help him.
Leonard seemed fully prepared for a rough ride from the San Antonio crowd.
“Yeah, I said this before. It can only make me a better player,” he said referring to the expected harsh reception. “We have a longer road than what we are going to see from this team so it can only make me and us better.”
Raptors head coach Nick
Nurse viewed the game as a bit of a gift in terms of the test it would offer his team.
“I’m kind of looking forward to it,” Nurse said prior to the morning shootaround. “I’m expecting this to be a playoff-type atmosphere in here, on the road, really loud, not very nice — the things that you will see in the playoffs. We have just got to kind of embrace it. We keep saying that all of these games are preparing us for later on down the road, so I hope it’s wild and noisy and a close game and all those things that can help us grow as a team. That’s what I’m looking forward to.”
WHAT ABOUT JAK?
Patty Mills was not about to let the opportunity pass. Asked about facing Leonard and Green and then about how his new teammate, DeRozan, was fitting in, Mills refused to let the scrum end.
“Isn’t someone going to ask me about Jak?” Mills asked.
When the question eventually did come, Mills was only too happy to pump the tires of his newest second-unit running mate
Jakob Poeltl, the former first-round pick of the Raptors and part of the trade that brought Leonard and Green to Toronto.
“He looks great,” Mills said, beaming like a proud big brother. “I think over the last two or three weeks, he has really fit into our system more because he is understanding what we expect from him and his role and he is turning into quite the player and fitting into the system quite well. I like his competitive fire too, especially on the glass, defensive and offensive rebounds, getting us second chance points. As shooters, we love that, getting a second chance at a three pointer.
“He has great hands and a good passer as well. He is able to pick up the ball off the roll in the pick and roll and even above his head his hands are well.”
Mills then provided Poeltl the ultimate Spurs’ compliment by comparing him to the incomparable Tim Duncan.
“But then being able to find him as he rolls to the basket,” Mills said. “For me the king of that was Timmy (Duncan). Just being able to get the ball in his area and not worry about him having to fumble it. He is definitely growing and developing. Another great guy that is getting along with everyone on the team. Very proud to have him on board and excited to watch him grow into quite the player as well.”
If that weren’t enough ego boosting, there were kind words from his new head coach as well.
“Every night, he brings it.” Spurs head coach Gregg
Popovich said. “He runs the floor, he plays defence, he rebounds. He cares a lot. He’s improving week by week. So he’s been a great role player.”