GAME CENTRE
Strong opening allows Nurse to play bench in fourth
The final 48 minutes of the Raptors pre-season might have fans adding a few more ticks in the win column as they try to predict what kind of year they’re in for.
Toronto dropped 74 first-half points on the Brooklyn Nets on the way to 123-107 win at the Barclays Center, the last tune up before action begins in earnest next week.
The Raptors look set to launch their championship defence from the get-go, thanks in part to the return of Kyle Lowry, who started at point guard alongside Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Pascal Siakam and Marc Gasol.
Almost all the strengths that factored into Toronto’s championship run, Kawhi Leonard excluded, were on display in New York. The Raptors played their hard-nosed defence while using an eight-man rotation for the bulk of the first three quarters. Their top seven guys, the five starters plus Norman Powell and Serge Ibaka, shot 45.7 per cent from the field and 50 per cent from three-point range while combining for 25 assists.
The strong three quarters allowed Nick Nurse to go to his bench in the fourth quarter, as expected.
The Raptors coach still has decisions to make when it comes to the final few spots in his rotation, and a leading candidate for one of those spots seemed to emerge on Friday as Nurse gave guard Terence Davis Jr. more than fifteen minutes of playing time. Davis put in a dogged shift on defence and went 4-for-6 from the field, including a pair of threes.
Stanley Johnson was the ninth man to come in late in the third and also showed some capabilities on defence, a needed performance for him after he was among the players called out by Nurse for not committing to defence earlier in the week. But it was Chris Boucher and Matt Thomas who starred when the role players took the court for the fourth quarter, each putting up nine points. Boucher was 2-for-3 from three-point range while Thomas was 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.
Toronto went 2-2 in pre-season action.
On the sidelines: The Nets’ Kevin Durant, who is out for the season after rupturing his Achilles tendon playing against the Raptors in the Finals in June, watched the game courtside and was all smiles as he greeted his former foes with hugs postgame. His partner in the Nets’ campaign to get back to glory, Kyrie Irving, led Brooklyn with 19 points and four rebounds in nearly 25 minutes on the court.
Injury report: Patrick McCaw, who left last Saturday’s game against the Chicago Bulls and hasn’t practised all week, was out with a sore left kneecap while Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who was one of the rotation candidates ripped by Nurse earlier this week, sat because of a sore left groin.
Up next: The home opener against New Orleans on Tuesday night. Tipoff is at 8 p.m., but fans attending the game are encouraged to be in their seats by 7:15 p.m. for the championship ring ceremony and banner raising.