A new Jurassic world
John Wall, left, and the Washington Wizards seemed a step off early Tuesday night and never recovered, falling two games down to OG Anunoby and the Raptors. Raptors roll as favourites, go up 2-0 in a series for first time in franchise history
It’s never easy for the Toronto Raptors, right? It should be the franchise motto; they could put it on a T-shirt. Even in the best era in franchise history, nothing has ever been easy for the Raptors, except for losing.
There are always rocks in the water, somewhere.
Unless, of course, you learn to sail. The Raptors played a Game 2 without the weight of a Game 1 loss on their shoul- ders Tuesday night, and they were mercilessly, joyfully good. A 44-point first quarter, an 18-point lead at the half. The Washington Wizards were bickering. The Raptors looked free.
And when the inevitable run came, it was … fine. Wizards point guard John Wall led a charge, and the lead was down to 108-103 with 7:52 to go. This is where previous Toronto teams might buckle; this is where previous teams might fall.
But these Raptors are something new. They got a little lucky, sure. C.J. Miles salvaged a brutal possession with a crazy long three; Delon Wright blocked
TORONTO LEADS SERIES 2-0
a Wall floater right before it started to come down. They were just on the side of right.
Next thing you know, Toronto stomped on the accelerator, scoring 17 of the next 21 points, and putting the Wizards in an 0-2 hole with a 130-119 win. This is what good teams do, when challenged. The last time the Raptors won Game 1 of a best-of-seven had been 2001. The last time the Raptors went up 2-0 in a playoff series was never.
“We strong as a team, we not strong as individual players,” said Jonas Valanciunas, who had 19 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks in just 23 minutes. “We did it as a team. We were great defending, helping each other, more than our own strengths. I think this is team sport and when you play it together, support each other, help each other, it’s fun. It gives you extra confidence to enjoy the game.”
“They’re a number one seed for a reason,” said Wizards coach Scott Brooks, who just might be hopeless. “They play extremely well at home, and they did what they’re supposed to do.”
The Wizards could go home and tie the series. The Raptors have won two games, that’s it. But you have never been able to apply that very basic bar to the Raptors, and now you can.
The best part, in some ways, is that it was far from their best.
Toronto’s bench, a seasonlong strength, failed to impose itself as a unit, Wright and Miles aside. Backup point guard and on-floor assistant coach Fred VanVleet returned from his shoulder injury suffered in Game 82, and badly missed a three and fumbled a pass before sitting back down for good, disconsolate; Casey said “he wasn’t ready.” The three-pointers dried up in the second half, and Kyle Lowry is 2-for-12 from three in the first two games.
But the great joy of this team is its collectivity. DeMar DeRozan played one of his finest games, with 37 points on just 23 shots. As Lowry said, “He sucks as a friend, but as a basketball player, he’s really good.” But the real sauce is that the Raptors have so many good players that eventually some of them click. Valanciunas was a force in his 23 minutes. OG Anunoby was effective in his 19. Wright and Miles were great. The starters, as a unit, dominated. If you listen to DeRozan and Lowry explain it in their practised Statler and Waldorf cadence, it all makes sense.
“These days it’s not like I have a mindset that I have to go out there and score 30 or 40 points,” began DeMar, next to Kyle on the podium.
“You just had 37!” said Lowry. “What you mean?”
“I didn’t go out there saying, ‘Let me score 30 tonight,’ ” said DeRozan.
“Dang, you got 37,” said Lowry. “You can’t say that when you get 37.” They bickered playfully. Lowry let him finish.
“Like I said, I didn’t go out there planning to score 37 points, I went out there trying to be aggressive, and with my aggressiveness came 37 points.” DeRozan added, “I’m pretty sure everybody will have their night. Tonight it was me, and that was that.”
They’re loose, because this is fresh ground. Even last year’s six-game win over Milwaukee ended with the Bucks mounting a furious, end-of-the-world comeback that Toronto narrowly escaped, leaving Raptors employees a little ashen-faced.
Now? Well, an email was sent, about 12 hours after the Cleveland Cavaliers got spanked by the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, to ESPN’s whole basketball operation. Housekeeping, logistics, that sort of thing.
“(It said), ’Make sure your passports haven’t expired, just in case Toronto makes the finals,’ ” recounted ESPN.com’s Zach Lowe on his highly respected podcast. “Man, we never got that email before. We didn’t get that email last year. We didn’t get that email two years ago. People are starting to believe in the Raptors.”
Lowe didn’t remember that happening before. Maybe these are the Raptors, free of the ghosts. Get enough good players, and good things can happen. And these Raptors, they have more good players than you.