Raps might have what it takes
There’s not going to be an awful lot of time for the Raptors or any NBA team to prepare to play games of the utmost importance under the strange circumstances they face.
And perhaps that plays right into the wheelhouse of the defending champions.
Of all the things the Raptors showed in building the league’s third-best record over their first 64 games was the ability to quickly adapt to injuries that took key players out of games.
Every significant player has missed at least one game due to injury and four of the team’s regular starting five — Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam and Marc Gasol — have missed 80 games between them.
That forced coach Nick Nurse to trot out 15 different starting lineups for a team that somehow amassed a 46-18 record.
A little thing like almost four months of forced inactivity shouldn’t bother them; they’ve been figuring out things as they’ve gone along almost all season.
“I think this team loves to play, we love to compete, we love to try to figure things out and, at the end of the day, everything else that’s going on when you finally get there and the ball goes up, can you laser focus in and get the job at hand done?” Nurse said.
Given a lot of idle time to dissect video and plot his next moves, Nurse said he is looking at one of his least-used combinations to play a role when the season resumes late next month at the Disney/ESPN sports complex outside of Orlando, Fla.
“I can envision us playing very big (with what) we like to call our jumbo lineup with OG (Anunoby) at the two and Pascal (Siakam) three and Serge (Ibaka) at the four and Marc (Gasol) at the five,” the coach said. “I can envision that coming in handy here in this year’s playoffs.”
Gasol, Ibaka and Siakam started two games this season — the Raptors won both — and, while breaking up an excellent starting backcourt of Lowry and VanVleet would be a huge gamble and counterintuitive, being able to use the “jumbo” lineup for stretches of games could create matchup advantages.
And, given Toronto’s roster adaptability, it shouldn’t be too disruptive.
The key will be Gasol’s health. The veteran centre, who looked in prime shape in a social media photo that caught the attention of fans, has been in and out of the lineup all season dealing with a hamstring issue. The 35year-old has played only one game since Jan. 28. His ability to make quick, effective decisions at full speed in games makes him invaluable.
“I think he’s a huge pillar on both ends,” Nurse said last week. “He’s back there on defence directing traffic, protected the rim, talking, getting guys through screens. He just does everything back there defensively and most of it’s with his experience and his IQ.
“And I’ve said this 1,000 times but I don’t get tired of saying it:
Our offence, whenever we’re in trouble, I say throw the ball to Marc and everybody start cutting. And usually good things happen and that is a tremendous luxury to have that settling force.”
There isn’t going to be much time to get ready for a playoff season of up to four sevengame series for any team and that might suit the Raptors well since they have experience with so many different looks that might be necessary depending on their opponents.
Once plans are finalized and contracts signed, the Raptors will begin arriving in Florida next week to what will be their home base for preliminary testing and the individual workouts that have been going on already.
Then there’s a mini-camp that can’t include full five-on-five scrimmages before the team heads to Orlando on July 7, 8 or 9. Camp there will include up to three exhibition scrimmages with other teams before an eight-game end to the regular season precedes the Aug. 14 start of the playoffs.