Bench buys time for VanVleet, Siakam to find groove
A sleepy game on a Wednesday night in November craved an injection of energy — and the Raptors bench delivered it on the way to their 10th victory of the season, 113-97 over the Orlando Magic at Scotiabank Arena.
The Raptors were trailing by four when Terence Davis II and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson took the floor, followed soon after by Chris Boucher. Davis put up a quick eight points — 2-for-2 from beyond the arc, plus a driving layup — and the game was tied 32-32 after the first quarter.
The trio brought similar energy at the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth, helping the Raptors improve their home record to 6-0.
Davis (who recorded a career high with 19 points) and Boucher both finished the night at plus-22, with Hollis-Jefferson plus-21. Their contributions bought Fred VanVleet (who finished with a game-high 24 points) and Pascal Siakam (who added 18) time to find their groove.
“I thought we didn’t execute a bunch of our schemes early, defensively,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “We just had a bunch of breakdowns and there were some clear-lane layups in the half-court — which we don’t like to see that often, if ever. Those guys provided a nice punch, and then the starters came back in and started playing. It wasn’t the prettiest game, I don’t think, but I thought we played awfully hard and played really hard in stretches, so that was good to see.”
Davis went 28 minutes without missing a shot, while Davis and Boucher reached double figures in scoring for the fourth time in the last six games. It’s clear they’re getting the hang of playing together.
“We’ve been playing together for a few games now and it’s really just bringing energy and taking what the defence gives up,” Davis said.
Magic lost: Orlando’s Nikola Vucevic, Eastern Conference player of the week, played just over 10 minutes before rolling an ankle in the second quarter. The Magic centre couldn’t put weight on his right foot as he was helped off the court and down the tunnel. Guarded mostly by Marc Gasol, Vucevic went just 1-for-8 from the field before suffering the injury, but added six rebounds and five assists.
Bye bye Babs: Nurse said it was tough to see his hockey counterpart, Mike Babcock, fired by the Maple Leafs hours before tipoff. Nurse has worked for Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment since 2103, while Babcock had been in the fold since 2015, and the two had some good conversations over that time. “I thought from my takeaways from him, he liked to really work hard and practise hard and coach hard,” Nurse said. “There’s still — believe it or not in this day, there’s still a place for that.”
Ibaka update: Raptor Serge Ibaka (right ankle sprain) has a shot at being ready for Saturday’s game against the Hawks in Atlanta, according to Nurse. Ibaka has been sidelined since Nov. 8.
G(OG)gles off: Raptor OG Anunoby’s experiment with goggles, after getting hit in the face during games twice in a week, lasted about six minutes of the first quarter.
Double-doubles: Oshae Brissett, Malcolm Miller and Dewan Hernandez played with the G League Raptors 905 in an afternoon loss to the Maine Red Claws, then briefly in Wednesday night’s game against the Magic.
Up next: Saturday in Atlanta against Vince Carter and the Hawks, 7:30 p.m.