Raptors End Moral Victory Skid With One Possession Win
For three quarters the Toronto Raptors were perfect. If you like the modern NBA, this game was a masterpiece. But then, the Raptors went into their regularly scheduled offensive lull.
It almost cost them.
After a pair of heartbreaking losses, the Raptors finally found themselves on the other side of the coin, pulling out a thrilling 111-108 victory over the Charlotte Hornets in Tampa.
Like the others before, this one came down to the final possession. But instead of Pascal Siakam needing a bucket for the win, it was the Hornets looking to tie things up. Terry Rozier got off a good look — like Siakam had the nights before — and missed it. Finally, the Raptors were on the other side of a one-possession game.
"It’s funny how that works," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. "Against Golden State, we play that absolutely perfectly and come down on the wrong side of that play and tonight we play it not very perfectly at all and come out on the right side of it. So isn’t it a funny game?"
Toronto's fourth-quarter woes were the polar opposite of how things looked through three quarters. Once Aron Baynes exited in the first quarter after making his first appearance in three games, the Raptors came alive offensively.
Bang. Bang. Bang. 3-pointers one after another.
For three quarters, Toronto's offence was perfect. Sure, the defence wasn't amazing. It gave up plenty of open 3-pointers to the Hornets, but Toronto's offence couldn't be stopped. In the first half alone the Raptors tallied 71 points while shooting 13-for-25 from beyond the arc.
By the end of the third, the Raptors had mounted a 99-86 lead while recording assists on 29 of Toronto's 35 made shots. It was perfect.
Then the fourth quarter started and Toronto's offence went into a rut. For five minutes the Raptors couldn't score, letting the exhausted cut the lead down to just five. Finally, Siakam ended the drought with a driving layup to put Toronto up seven.
"I thought we were taking a little bit long to get started against [Charlotte's zone]," Nurse said. "So eating into the clock, a few too many, like you said, [I'm not sure] stagnate is the right word, just it should have probably been popping a little bit more, it was a little bit, maybe over analyzing what we were doing rather than just moving swinging, driving, you know, getting into a gap and punching into the paint. So we’re gunna have to be ready for a lot of zone here in a couple of nights, I’m assuming."
But Charlotte hung around. If not for Chris Boucher, things would have looked very different. The 27-year-old continued to make his case for why he should be a starter. He tallied a game-high 25 points and was the go-to scorer in the final minutes of the game, tallying four points in the final three minutes of the game.
"He is playing really well and, as good as the numbers look, there’s a lot of room for improvement," Nurse said of Boucher. "I don’t mean going from scoring 20 to scoring 30, I’m talking about he’s really close in making a lot of the right plays at the defensive end that he’s not quite getting to. He does make a lot, a blocked shot here and a big rebound there and those kinds of things but he’s really close to being a really solid defensive player."
The case for starting Boucher at this point is pretty obvious, he's the team's best big. But if Nurse likes having Boucher bring some energy off the bench, Boucher doesn't seem to care if he's starting or not.
"I feel like at the end of the day my role is still the same, starting, not starting," he said. "I think they pretty much see what I do: bring energy to the game, play defence, shot-blocking, run the floor and hit 3s when I’m open. Starting or not starting, this is my role. I’m good with the way I am. I’m good with the position I’m in."
Up Next: Charlotte Hornets
The Raptors will have another date with the Hornets at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday night.
