VICTORY JUST OUT OF REACH
Raptors storm back to force overtime in playoff opener against Wizards, but shooters go cold in extra frame.
The playoff decorations were dazzling, again. There was NBA commissioner Adam Silver! There was Kentucky coach and friend of Drake John Calipari! (“You guys are doing great,” he gushed to Masai Ujiri before the game.) There was the premier, which was less exciting! There were thousands of fans in the Square, with a lineup halfway around the stadium three hours before the game. There were flags and T-shirts and hope, despite everything.
And there was Ujiri out in the Square, getting excited. Last year the Raptors general manager said “F--Brooklyn.” This year it was, “People want me to say something about Paul Pierce but, we don’t give a s--about ‘it’.” Pierce, of course, had recently said the Raptors didn’t have “it,” which you have to admit, is a pretty cutting insult for something that amorphous.
But Paul Pierce has been around, man. He knows. Based on Washington’s Game 1 93-86 overtime win over Toronto, neither of these teams has It. These are playoff teams, and one of them is going to win this series, and it will probably get better. It has to get better, right?
This game may have rhymed with it, but that’s all.
“Both teams played really well,” said Wizards forward Nene, who was apparently attending his first basketball contest. “Both teams deserved to win.”
“We played well,” said Raptors forward Terrence Ross, who was orbiting Mercury at the time. “The only thing we didn’t do is get rebounds.”
“We shot 39 per cent, but overall I think we still played well,” said Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan, who shot 6of-20. “We played great defence.”
There was defence played, but often it came due to one team tripping over its own feet. Like on the last possession of regulation, after Toronto had erased a Wizards lead that peaked at 15 with 8:45 to go, after the Raptors had spent most of two quarters being their worst selves, all doomed hero ball and playing small. Greivis Vasquez had drilled a game-tying three-pointer with 25.9 seconds left, and he did his Maryland shimmy all the way back down the court. It was worth noting that he’d only had the room because Bradley Beal flopped 30 feet from the basket.
So Washington set up John Wall, their all-star lightning fast point guard, who had beaten Lou Williams so badly three possessions earlier that he didn’t need a screen. Wall should be able to go by the Raptors perimeter defence like it’s a series of desk chairs.
But instead of driving against the Raptors defence — the Raptors defence! — Wall settle for a missed jump shot, because seven feet of existential Polish centre was blocking off the lane. Wall angrily threw a fist into the air in Marcin Gortat’s direction after the miss, and the two were still talking about it a minute later.
“We kind of screwed up our timing coming out of the timeout,” said Wizards coach Randy Wittman, who was seen turning a clipboard over and over, like a grandparent given an iPad for the first time, with 30 seconds left in overtime. “There was a little over 24 seconds, and we obviously wanted to run it down, and we got going a little too quick and then got stopped. The timing was all screwed up there.”
Much of the game was like this, and no wonder. Washington roared down the stretch with a 17-23 record in the last 40 games, and the Raptors were 12-16 after their 37-17 start, and Saturday they went long stretches trading mistakes and limitations. Washington was up 15 on the road in a great playoff environment — Pierce, again, called it one of the best atmospheres he’s ever experienced — while shooting 40 per cent. That’s not easy.
So who seizes it? When Nene said “You know, both could win. The series gonna be close like that,” he wasn’t wrong. This series is gonna be close like that. Both teams could win.
And that’s what matters. Look, nobody here is winning a title this year. But this series is about actually doing something, for a change. Ujiri’s work as a public figure is terrific fun, and the fandom that has sprung up around this team is still organic even as it gets marketed to death. This is so much better than the bad years.
But you have to do it. You have to actually make the shots and execute your playbook and play calmer, more confident basketball than a team just as screwed up as you are. The Raptors spent long stretches being their worst selves, and their worst selves will be what causes Ujiri to remodel the furniture, eventually. Toronto could easily have won if their players had made some of the contested shots that they sometimes make, when things are good. Just be a little better than your worst, and you can get there.
Otherwise, this team is just cheap heat. Paul Pierce mispronounced Ujiri’s name as Uri after delivering a 20-point game, and he grinned and bathed in the hostility, and that’s showbiz.
Pierce was able to play the villain, though, because the Raptors let him, for a second consecutive year. This is all fun compared to the old days, but at some point the Raptors have to be something other than the sucker at the table. This series, against this team, should be the year.