Fred VanVleet Breaks Raptors All-Time Scoring Record With 54-Point Performance
Move over DeMar DeRozan, there's a new Toronto Raptors scoring king in town.
It has to be the most unlikely story in Raptors history. Who would have thought the undersized point guard out of Witchita State who was passed over in the draft and had to work his way up through the G League would one day become the Raptors' all-time single-game scoring leader? Who would have thought Fred VanVleet would one day score 54 points?
It was a scoring performance like few before. Normally 50-point performances come on high shot volume. Normally players start chucking up 3s and forcing shots when they get close to the 50-point mark. That's what made VanVleet's night so unusual. He did it methodically, shooting 17-for-23 from the field with 11 3-pointers and never really breaking from the rhythm of the game.
"It was easy," VanVleet said. "No disrespect to the Magic. But I mean, for most of those I was open. They were in rhythm. They were clean looks. They were within the offense."
It was a team effort, not a one-man performance that led Toronto a 123-108 victory over the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night.
VanVleet's hot night started right away. The unsung hero of the Raptors season got to work in the first half scoring 28 points with 8-for-9 shooting from behind the arc.
"I thought early on that the ball was coming off his hands so easily right the deep shots just look like hardly any effort," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. "There was something there that was just making them fly off so comfortable. Like wherever he shot it from it seemed like it was about a free-throw line attempt effort wise."
Out of the break, with his eyes on the Raptors' record, VanVleet wouldn't slow down.
Thirty-one, thirty-four, thirty-six, thirty-nine, forty-two.
"I looked down and saw 46, and was like, whoa," Nurse said. "I didn't think much of it, and then they got a couple of steals and squirt-outs there at the end of the third quarter to get him close and then I couldn't remember what the record was I thought."
It would have been more if not for an almost comical decision from DeAndre' Bembry who passed up a wide-open corner 3-pointer from VanVleet to call his own number. Bembry, a career 27% 3-point shooter, promptly missed the shot and apologized to VanVleet as he ran back on defence.
"I know he felt bad because of the night I was having but I wasn’t mad at him for taking the shot at all," VanVleet said. "I just laughed and told him he better make that shit next time."
Then, just as Nurse turned to ask someone on his bench what the franchise record was in the fourth quarter, VanVleet broke it, laying in number 54 to top DeRozan's January 1, 2018 record of 52.
"Records are meant to be broken," Kyle Lowry said. "He talked to DeMar already and DeMar congratulated him because that’s the type of person DeMar is. He’s a great human being, he's a great friend."
It wasn't just the franchise record VanVleet topped, his performance moved him past Moses Malone for the most points ever scored by an undrafted player, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
"I think it's an incredible statement," Nurse said. "I mean it's incredible to be an undrafted guy and to do that. It really is. It's incredible. He's got a pedigree for winning every team he's been on his whole life. He took a smaller mid-major university to incredible seasons, obviously had that game six fourth quarter in the championship finals, but again undrafted and tremendous just competitor, worker, thinker, all that stuff."
If the night was special for VanVleet, it seemed twice as special for Lowry who was ecstatic to be there as the man he calls his little brother topped his former teammate's record.
"Y’all know how I feel about him," Lowry said of VanVleet. "My two guys, DeMar and Freddie, have the records, and even Terrence is in there, and I was able to witness all three of those 50-point games. They all are special to me. Tonight is really special, because it came from a kid who was undrafted, worked his way to an NBA player, and an NBA starter, and possibly this year an All-Star and possibly an All-Defensive Player. That’s what makes it really special."
Quietly, it was Lowry's 10th assists of the game to complete a 14-point, 10-rebound, 10-assist triple-double that put VanVleet over the edge.
"Don’t even worry about it," Lowry joked when the topic of his triple-double was broached after the game.
Up Next: Brooklyn Nets
The Brooklyn Nets will get their first chance at revenge after the Raptors bounced them from last year's playoffs with a first-round series sweep. This time, however, the Nets will have a very different looking team with Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving creating the Nets' three-headed offensive monster.
