Big effort too much for Spurs to handle
Guard-light Raps set season high for rebounds in win over San Antonio
Raptors 117 Spurs 112
NEXT: TOMORROW VS. MAGIC
There was a time, back when the NBA season held great promise for the Raptors, that the only flaw with the team’s roster was that it was too guard heavy. Of the 17 players under contract, nine of them would be considered primarily point guards or shooting guards, a heavily unbalanced group.
“Yes, I do,” Nick Nurse joked when asked if he remembered. “It wasn’t that long ago. I’m not that old. My memory isn’t that bad.”
It is a different reality now. The Raptors that took to the Tampa floor on Wednesday night had no one who would be considered a two-guard: Norm Powell, Terence Davis and Matt Thomas had been traded, Patrick McCaw had been released, Gary Trent Jr. was injured, Fred VanVleet was suspended, Kyle Lowry was resting and Nurse was faced with a quandary he never expected.
“We’ll probably play big a lot,” the coach said. “You’ll see us as big as ever, at times.”
It worked.
With an outstanding contribution from two big true centres and another solid outing by emerging rookie Malachi Flynn, the Raptors were rewarded for an all-around solid performance with a 117-112 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night.
Winning the second game of a back-to-back for just the second time in 13 attempts, the oddly constructed Toronto roster played with poise and pace all night. They survived their typical offensive lulls with solid defence and a season-best 54rebound effort.
OG Anunoby had 23 points for the Raptors, who had six players score in double figures.
“If we didn’t have something, we’d just go right to the next thing, and (if ) that wasn’t there we go right to the next thing,” Nurse said.
“We just kind of kept playing and had a good night.”
The night gave a handful of Raptors a chance to show versatility. Anunoby was the nominal starting shooting guard, Pascal Siakam was the de facto backup point guard and Nurse split centre minutes between starter Khem Birch and Freddie Gillespie, neither of whom was with the team a week ago.
Birch and Gillespie combined for 23 points and 14 rebounds while keeping the Raptors from being battered on the glass. They also allowed Chris Boucher to move primarily to a forward role.
“It was a good showing by them,” Nurse said. “I think we’re limiting some of the offensive rebounding that’s been hurting us, and we’re getting some offensive rebounds that we haven’t been getting … A couple those each way and you’re talking about a six-, eight-, 10-point swing.” á A second opinion: VanVleet could return to play Friday against Orlando after sitting out his one-game NBA suspension Wednesday.
VanVleet was suspended for leaving the bench area during a scuffle between Anunoby and Montrezl Harrell of the Lakers on April 6. VanVleet was injured and out of that game and could not serve his suspension until he was medically cleared for a game. The hip injury he suffered is finally good enough to allow him to play. á Same old guy: DeMar DeRozan’s first basket was a play Raptors fans saw hundreds of times in his Toronto days and fooled someone who never saw it in practice all those years. DeRozan got in the middle of the lane, pump faked to get Khem Birch in the air, drew the contact, made the shot, got fouled and made the ensuing free throw. á Still hobbled: Kyle Lowry sat out for the ninth time in Toronto’s past 11 games because of the foot infection that’s been nagging him for most of the season.