Big man Biyombo big hit with Raptor fans
Playing with toughness, passion endears first-year centre to local hoop faithful
It wasn’t an instantly defining moment Friday night, with Raptors big man Bismack Biyombo getting in the face of former Raptor big and current Charlotte Hornet Tyler Hansbrough.
But Biyombo is fast-tracking his way into the heart of his team’s fanbase.
Within the first minute of the fourth quarter of Friday’s game against the Hornets, the night-long battle under the basket reached a tipping point. The two were fighting for a rebound when Biyombo went airborne, got tangled up with Hansbrough and went sideways before hitting the court hard. Hansbrough was called for the foul and play resumed.
Biyombo took a pass from Patrick Patterson and was fouled by Hornets rookie Frank Kaminsky. Hansbrough was behind Biyombo and his weight fell onto Biyombo. The Raptors centre promptly shoved Hansbrough’s body away from him, turned and got in his face to voice his displeasure.
“We weren’t getting calls and obviously we have to play through all that,” Biyombo said on Saturday, after the Raptors had finished up practice at the Air Canada Centre. “At the same time this is our building, we’ve got to protect our home court.
“I was just trying to do what was right and make a presence. This is our home, we have to come home and play hard and stand (up) for our crowd.”
It wasn’t Matt Bonner getting ejected flagrant fouling Kevin Garnett in a 2004 game against the Timberwolves. It wasn’t Charles Oakley doing any one of the myriad of things that made him Charles Oakley. But game by game, piece by piece, Biyombo — who’s had double-digit rebounds in eight of his last nine games — is endearing himself to Toronto fans.
It’s not as sudden and emphatic as Bonner or Oakley, but Biyombo is journeying down the same road many figured Hansbrough would have gone down in his time as a Raptor, where solid defence, hard work and flat-out toughness make you a blue-collar hero in the eyes of your fans.
These boil-over moments are the ones Hansbrough has built his career on. Biyombo’s game is more complete, but he has no problem stepping into that world when need be. On Friday, he got the best of the former Raptor. Three of his four blocked shots were on Hansbrough, and the two traded physical plays in the battle for rebounds and position all night.
Biyombo got his point across to Hansbrough and knew enough to walk away from the situation. He yelled and played to the crowd afterward, and it provided a turning point.
“It’s fine, it wasn’t anything,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said of the brief altercation. “It’s two brahma bulls in a china shop . . . it’s good.
“I thought Bis’s intensity, his offensive rebounding and his defensive rebounding got us going and he and (Patterson) both . . . picked it up in the second half of the third quarter and the fourth quarter and defensively . . . set the tone.”
Biyombo often talks about the season being a learning process. With the Chicago Bulls visiting on Sunday and posing similar problems the Hornets have (Charlotte had won 10 of their last 15 against Toronto going into Friday’s game), he and Casey are hoping the Raptors learn quickly and can pick up their third win in a row.
“We can’t wait until we get our head hit in before we start playing like that,” Casey said. “Our first unit has to play like that, J.V. (Valanciunas) has to go out there and . . . rebound and defend in the first quarter and set that tone and not wait until the third quarter to do that.”
Blue-collar adoration aside, Biyombo just wants to win.
“We go through all of that without winning, it would probably mean nothing,” he said.