It wasn’t pretty, but Raptors have recorded another 50-win season
Oh, it was ugly early — with wide-open shots going awry, the energy level dwindling, the enthusiasm waning — and how did Nick Nurse handle it?
“I was doing a lot of cheerleading in the timeouts, I really was,” coach Nurse said after his Raptors overcame a sluggish start to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 108-99 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Sunday.
“You acknowledge the fact that, ‘Man, it’s just not going our way. I don’t know why.’ You’re getting good shots, you’re doing a lot of good things, you’re playing hard and you just gotta hang in there.
“Just tell ’em there’s a lot of ways to win games. Games take a lot of different flows to them, but hang in, hang in, hang in and hang in, and hopefully a spark will hit and things will turn your way.”
It sure did, as the Raptors hung 40 points on Memphis in the second quarter alone and won despite 25 turnovers — nine by Kyle Lowry himself.
“It wasn’t very pretty,” Nurse said. “It was hard work, but it was good defence and timely plays when he needed them, and it’s a W. It’s a 4-1 record in the bubble. It’s a 50-win season. It’s OK.
“I don’t expect Kyle to have nine turnovers very often in a game. It was a lot of turnovers. We’ll take a look at them, see what we can do to clean them up. I think it’s probably just a little bit of an anomaly.”
And there were these things to think about.
The Raptors were really struggling early to make a shot, and the offence really got unlocked thanks to the playmaking of Serge Ibaka.
And no, I’m not sure I’ve ever typed those words in that order.
But Ibaka was tremendous in making smart, decisive passes that led directly to baskets. A couple of times he saw second defenders creeping his way when he got the ball on the block, and on each one he made the right read. He got a basket for Pascal Siakam, and one for Powell when the Raptors couldn’t make a threepointer to save their souls.
It’s a small thing in the grand scheme of things, but if he’s making passes for buckets instead of turnovers, it just gives Toronto a whole different look.
The Raptors aren’t going to force-feed him the ball in the post or on the wing, but if he finds himself there and makes the correct reads, it gives Toronto’s half-court offence — which struggles at times — an added dimension.
“After a bad game, you have to sit down and ask yourself: Did you do all (the professional things) right?” Ibaka said. “Up your game. Did you sleep good, eat healthy, get a massage? You have a bad game, all you have to do is come back, believe in yourself and try to be better.”
Pascal Siakam hadn’t been great in the first four bubble games. He’d been good at times and below average at times. It wasn’t crippling for the Raptors, but it wasn’t great, either. So when he came out Sunday and dropped 26 points, including two monstrous threes to quell the final Memphis run, it was sighs of relieve all around.
“Obviously, it’s the same shots that I’ve been taking,” he said. “Some of them I missed; those happened to go in. I work on those, so it don’t really matter, the result. As long as I’m willing to take those, I’m fine with it.”
Matt Thomas made a somewhat surprise appearance to start the second quarter. A couple of reasons for that.
One, Terence Davis has simply not been getting the job done, and Nurse isn’t going to sit and wait too long for the rookie to figure it out. Plus, Thomas can shoot, and none of the other Raptors were able to early in the game.
If Davis continues to struggle, don’t be surprised if Thomas’s role increases in the final three seeding games.