Who ended Raps’ home win streak? The Butler did it
Jimmy Butler wanted nothing to do with reliving his last appearance at the Scotiabank Arena, a fateful Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinal last May when he was still with the Philadelphia 76ers.
That game ended with one of the most memorable Raptors baskets in history, Kawhi Leonard’s four-bouncer at the buzzer that sent the Raptors on their way to the eventual NBA championship.
“You can’t hold on to it for too long, because you get stuck there,” Butler, now a member of the Miami Heat, said Tuesday morning.
“I think we’ve all moved on. I think Philly has, as a whole. I have; this (is the) organization I’m with now. I’m sure Toronto has as well. You let the past be the past.
“I’m worried about (Tuesday’s) game right now. I’m not going to talk about it. I’m on a different team.”
And the present is pretty darn good.
Butler hung a triple-double on the Raptors and also scored eight straight points to start the overtime period as the Heat snapped Toronto’s nine-game home winning streak with a 121-110 victory.
Butler had 22 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists as the Heat overcame a stirring Raptors rally in which they come back from seven points down to force their first overtime game of the season.
A Norm Powell three-pointer with 42.6 seconds left in the fourth gave Toronto a one-point lead before Butler split free throws to tie the game with 38.4 seconds remaining.
“I thought (the Heat) played with great energy, they were really flying around at both ends, much, much more than we were, so that was kind of the first thing,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said.
The Raptors shot just 38.5 per cent and let the Heat shoot 45.5 per cent.
Lowry returns: It was 24 days — a little more than three long, boring, rehab-filled weeks — since Kyle Lowry last shot a basketball at full speed in a real NBA game. There was going to be rust. And there was. Lowry missed his first 11 fieldgoal attempts, finished 2-for-18 from the floor and 0-for-11 from three-point range. He ended up with 12 points and 11 assists in 42 minutes.
“Obviously, it’s not a very good shooting night for him or Fred (VanVleet was 5-for-16) and I would think that if those guys are 7-for-34, we’re probably in trouble,” Nurse said.
“They’re too good of shooters for those kinds of numbers.”
Stuck on eight: Pascal Siakam finished with 15 points after going just 3-for-10 from the field in a first half that included as many air balls as made field goals for him.
That ends the first 20-game segment of the season with
Siakam having eight games of 30 or more points, still the second best scoring start in franchise history.
Only DeMar DeRozan, who had 10 games of 30 or more in the first 20 games of 2016-17, got off to a more blistering start than Siakam.
Managing time: It’s going to take a bit to figure out how, but Nurse wants to get the minutes load on Lowry and VanVleet to a manageable number. He said something like 32-34 per game for Lowry and maybe 37 or 38 for VanVleet would be about right.
His trust level in backups like Terence Davis II and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson should make that possible.
“I think to start the year ... I wasn’t ready to see those other guys. I think I was mad at them the first eight games of the year.
“We’re not as mad at them anymore.”
Up next: The NBA’s most prolific scorer, James Harden, makes his only trip to Toronto with the Houston Rockets, Thursday, 7:30 p.m.