RAPTORS TAKE DOWN THE CHAMPS
James Johnson leads way as Toronto grinds one out over San Antonio,
The corner three that basically won the game? The gravy. The accoutrement. The bonus. For all the things James Johnson gave the Raptors on Sunday night — defence, toughness, physical presence — it was the most unlikely of contributions that will be talked about the most.
A 19 per cent shooter from beyond the arc this season, Johnson made an astonishing corner three with 50 seconds left, part of a breakout night from the surprise starter, as the Raptors stunned the defending champion San Antonio Spurs before a pumped-up sellout audience announced at 19,800 at the Air Canada Centre.
“Just took it with confidence,” Johnson, now 7-for-32 from three-point range, said of the key shot. “Kyle (Lowry), he’s a great guard, he’s going to set guys up, and I thought he set that up.
“He wouldn’t just throw that pass if he wasn’t all the way confident in me taking it. That’s what the work’s paying off for.”
Johnson, who had a season-high 20 points in just his eighth start of the season, went on to grab a vital offensive rebound and further sealed the win by making one of two foul shots with 4.4 seconds left.
That did leave the Spurs, one of the best three-point shooting teams in the league, enough time for a chance to tie. But Toronto, with a foul to give, fouled immediately on the first Spurs inbounds play with four seconds on the clock.
Tim Duncan proceeded to the throw the next inbounds pass across the court and into his team’s bench for the most costly turnover of the night.
“Just a bad read on my part,” said Duncan. “It’s my responsibility to make sure that they’re open and the ball goes where it needs to go. I just read it wrong.”
Wrong or right, the Raptors were full measure for the win in the kind of gritty, grimy game coach Dwane Casey loves so much. They held the Spurs to a season-low 33 per cent shooting from the field, helped force 21 missed three-pointers in 28 attempts and played with force all night. And that was precisely why Johnson supplanted Greivis Vasquez in the starting lineup.
“It wasn’t for the three,” Casey joked. “It was for defensive purposes, to match up with Kawhi Leonard, give us a physical presence with him. I was worried about his minutes, but he was OK. His hammy was okay. We were watching him, but he came through with flying colours.
“I thought he did an admirable job defensively, rebounding. He got that big rebound at the end. Those are the things we have to have at that position, to make those gritty plays.”
While the victory was one to savour — and denied San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich the 1,000th victory of his storied career — it can’t be seen as any defining moment. The Raptors were two missed open threepointers from having to go to overtime and it proved the notion that the NBA is basically a make-or-miss league.
“You don’t want to live with some of those looks,” said Casey. “I tell you what, (Marco) Belinelli had some great looks. (Manu) Ginobili had some great looks. Kawhi Leonard had some great looks. (Tony) Parker, who’s been shooting 50-plus per cent, had some great looks.
“We did not do a great job in our scrambling mode. You have to keep scrambling . . . you have to play the entire 24-second clock to defend them and there were a few possessions we didn’t do a good job. But, again, we did something right. They shot 33 per cent.”
And that should be enough to at least prove the Raptors are continuing on the right path, even if it is a long one.
“At the end of the day, we’re trying to get to where they are and where they’ve been,” Lowry said of measuring up against the Spurs. “It was a great test for us. They know every single night they’re getting every team’s best shot because of who they are. So for us, it was a stepping stone for our growth.”