AGAINST GOLDEN STATE, RAPS LOST LIKE CHAMPS
Moral victories might mean little, but now Toronto knows where it stands in the NBA
In the heat of the moment — just after a massive comeback against the benchmark for excellence in the NBA comes up just short — it’s difficult to find a silver lining.
Mention the words “moral victory” and you’re as likely to have a player walk away from you as correct you. Players and coaches hate moral victories — mostly because they come in losses.
Players and most coaches won’t tell you this, but there was plenty to be gained from the Toronto Raptors entertaining, yet ultimately disappointing, 127-125 loss to the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors on Saturday.
On the floor in the final five minutes of a game that had the Warriors, the best team in the NBA today, the Toronto Raptors had Jakob Poeltl, Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, C.J. Miles and DeMar DeRozan. Norm Powell subbed in as well.
Outside of DeRozan and Miles, every other member of the Raptors playing those clutch minutes is a better player today for having been through that.
Rarely are the Warriors pushed to their limits, but they were by the Raptors — specifically this group in particular — during those final minutes.
Poeltl was a defensive wall and should have been rewarded for his block on Steph Curry in the dying moments rather than hit with another foul.
But just as DeRozan himself had to endure years of progressing to the point where he got calls, Poeltl has to earn his stripes in the league before he earns the respect of officials.
There’s every chance he will go his whole career with a star like Curry getting that call against him, but plays like that will earn him credibility in the future.
Siakam, who had a bit of a rough week communicating switches on defence, bounced back and couldn’t help but gain confidence with a strong showing in the waning moments. His athleticism on both ends earned the Raptors opportunities that otherwise would not have been there.
VanVleet, a player who has the utmost confidence in his own ability, couldn’t help but gain even more directing the offence into the hands of DeRozan — where it should be in crunch time — or working to get Miles an opening to knock down threes.
“Yeah, we learned a lot,” VanVleet said. “Obviously, you like to play these games against the best teams, and obviously (against) the defending champs we want to come up with the win. We’re not really into moral victories around here, so you gotta look and see what you could (have) done better.
“But you’ve got to respect the fight in the second half, the way we brought it, and the way we played against Cleveland. We can take some of the things that we did and carry those over, and that’s what we’ve gotta do — and eliminate a lot of the mistakes.”
Casey, for his part, has to be applauded for having the confidence to take the long view and put his young kids in tough situations. Granted, there was no Kyle Lowry to turn to, but he had a tried-and-tested Serge Ibaka on the bench and still went with the young players because it was a combination that was working. Casey knows whatever experience he can get for these guys now makes them that much better come April and May.
“We can compete,” Casey said about what he has learned about his team after Thursday’s emphatic win over the Cleveland Cavaliers and a two-point loss to Golden State that came despite a pathetic first half by the Raptors.
“We play the way we did the second half tonight, the way we played in the Cleveland game — again, I’ll take responsibility for coming out the way we did the first half. Maybe didn’t give them enough confidence. We came out the second half with the swagger and toughness you’ve got to have to play against a great team like Golden State.”
At some level, Casey had to like what he saw Saturday. There was plenty to be gained from this particular loss.
We’re not really into moral victories around here, so you gotta look and see what you could (have) done better.