Lowry returns but Raptors lose first home game of season
Home win streak may be over, but team’s secret is taking things one game at a time
The regular season, in the winning cities and the lost ones, can feel like a chore. It’s one reason the NBA is trying to gussy the whole thing up with a mid-season tournament and play-in games and anything to break up the monotony, as it stretches from fall through winter to spring. Maybe it’s worth a shot.
And then there’s Toronto. Most nights, beyond the talent on this team, you get the residue of a champion. It’s been a big reason this Raptors season has been a sheer delight: expectations were lowered, even internally, and they have exceeded them with all the things you can admire. They’ve been a hoot.
And then Miami came to town, another try-hard program, and it was a rare somnambulant night in the arena. Some nights shots don’t drop, but even the Raptors defence was dull, and you got the feeling this was one of those nights that happens over 82. Kyle Lowry missed a pile of shots in his return from a broken thumb, and Marc Gasol shot all his shots early, and Pascal Siakam was hassled by the broad-shouldered Bam Adebayo, and eventually stopped working on his air balls. Some nights slide away from you over the winter, and that’s just how it goes.
“Early on, they were flying around at both ends, much, much more than we were,” said Raptors coach Nick Nurse. “We were maybe a half-step slow … we didn’t have the greatest energy, I don’t think, especially in the first half.”
“Our (defensive rotations) and the extra effort, we didn’t really have it,” said Siakam, on a tough night for him.
And they still dragged the damn thing from a seven-point deficit with two minutes left into overtime before it fell apart, but it was all a good reminder of what makes this team truly special. As John Schuhmann of NBA.com pointed out, Toronto is now 3-5 against the league’s plus-.500 teams. Houston is here Thursday, and there is a rematch in Philadelphia Sunday. This week is a test.
And the best thing about this team, the extra sauce, is that they really try to win every night. This sounds like a dumb observation, but in this load-managed, only-the-playoffs matter NBA, it’s trickier than it sounds.
Nurse talks about how the playoffs were a two-month Ph.D program for his team, in terms of learning competitive levels, day-in focus, and defensive coverages; that they learned how to defend the league’s best bigs and smalls, shooters and smashers, wings and everything. But it’s also the players. Most nights, they really play.
“Listen, I give, I give these guys a lot of credit,” says Nurse. “I think that there’s a group of guys here that, that when the ball goes up, they start really trying to figure out what it’s going to take to stop the team. And they make their adjustments along the way, and then try the same at the other end, they start trying to figure out: where are the openings and who can we go to, and things like that. And it’s just a competitiveness that’s within them: When we get into the midst of the game, they want to win. And I give them a lot of credit for that.”
Siakam was off Tuesday, and Lowry went 0-11 from three, and Fred VanVleet wasn’t on, and that defence and energy wasn’t there to save them. Which is a reminder: They’re talented, but not loaded. They’re deep, but not endlessly.
No, what has made this team special is the collaborative detail they play with, and the defensive ferocity that Heat coach Eric Spoelstra singled out before the game, and neither were at 100 per cent. Against good teams they will need to play their best. And some nights, not even playing Lowry 41 minutes and VanVleet 43 is enough. Some nights, it will be too much.
At some point, they will have to try to find a balance. Lowry and VanVleet have taken turns leading the league in minutes, but now that Lowry is back, and Terence Davis and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson are useful, how do you balance the longrange rest that is sweeping the league, and the attempt to gather up games in a competitive Eastern Conference?
“It’s a really good question,” says Nurse. “It’s a tough one to answer — I mean I think that my gut is, I like to go get the next game. Right? You worry about everything else later; just go really focus on the next game. I think last year we’re in such a different scenario with Kawhi (Leonard) … I mean, I don’t think any of us knew how it was going to go.
“But I think our goal is a month from now, to be a heck of a lot better than we are today. How we get there I’m not sure, but that’s what we want to do: We want to keep, you know, adding things to our defence, adding wrinkles to our offence ... continue to improve our special-teams play and, and just keep getting better.
“I think next game is going to be better and just in terms of … our energy and focus,” Siakam said. “You’re gonna make shots, you’re gonna miss them, but we need to keep our energy and focus up.”
They try. Thursday, they get to try again.
“I think next game is going to be better and just in terms of … our energy and focus.”
PASCAL SIAKAM