John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Jakob Poeltl's Offensive Explosion vs Magic Leads Raptors into Much-Needed Break
The Toronto Raptors could use a break.
Nothing has come easy this season. The practices have been relentless all season long with more of them than ever before during Nick Nurse's tenure. He's demanded excellence from his group and too often they've failed to deliver. Even the so-called gimme games, if you will, against tanking teams have proven far more difficult than they should be. Maybe it's a product of the league being better and deeper than ever before or maybe it's just exhaustion.
"It’s a good time for us (to have the All-Star break)," Nurse said Tuesday night as the team wrapped up their pre-All-Star break schedule. "We’ve just been trying to polish and fix and rebuild and build a foundation and all those things and that takes work, that takes practice time, that takes a lot of things.
"Yeah, I think it’s probably a decent time for us to have a little breath or two of fresh air and come back and take a run at these last 20-plus games."
The Raptors haven't done itself any favors over the first 59 games. For much of Tuesday, that was no different as Toronto went toe-to-toe with a lackluster Orlando Magic team. It took the better part of 48 minutes for the Raptors to finally take care of business, but timely buckets from Pascal Siakam and a breakout performance from Jakob Poeltl proved enough in a 123-113 victory.
Toronto seemed to get its offensive issues sorted out early. Poeltl delivered the kind of offensive performance the Raptors have been looking for out of the center spot. He opened up the half-court offense, creating buckets for himself and others out of the pick-and-roll.
"His rolling in the screen and roll was huge because they were trying to put multiple guys on Fred and Pascal and every time we hit him seemed like something good happened," Nurse said of Poeltl who had a 30 points on 15-for-17 shooting.
When Orlando blitzed Fred VanVleet in the first quarter, the 28-year-old point guard just found Poeltl rolling with savvy dump-off passes. The Raptors center set up Precious Achiuwa for an easy dunk early and took it himself, scoring eight points in the first as Toronto jumped ahead by eight in the first quarter.
"It’s about reacting to the defence. They trapped Freddy a bunch of times so I’m comfortable catching the ball at the top of the key and trying to make plays," said Poeltl who was mobbed by his teammates as he entered the locker room post-game. "I feel like I was looking for the pass a little bit early on and then I noticed they were backing off so I was able to look for my own shot a little bit more."
For as good as the offense looked putting up 65 points in the first half, Toronto's defense looked every bit as bad. At one point a miscommunication between Poeltl and Precious Achiuwa left Paolo Banchero wide open for a layup. Jalen Suggs, the man drafted one pick after Scottie Barnes, lit the Raptors up for 19 points in the first half, nailing a trio of three-pointers as the Magic tallied 70 points before the half.
VanVleet showed no signs of frustration with the way Orlando defended him Tuesday. If the Magic wanted to force the ball out of his hands, he was more than happy to oblige, racking up a season-high 15 assists and repeatedly finding Poeltl in the high post as Toronto again mounted an eight-point lead in the third quarter.
The Raptors finally took care of business in the fourth.
The Siakam and Poeltl-led bench gave Toronto the breathing room it needed. Siakam was relentless, working the big-big pick-and-roll with Poeltl to put Toronto up 11 with seven minutes to go and the defense finally began to clamp down. Poeltl stuffed both Mo and Franz Wagner at the rim in the span of two minutes, collecting five of his six blocks in the fourth, while Chris Boucher swatted away a Bol Bol three-pointer and the Raptors never looked back.
"He was a game changer, not just his offensive rebounds but his ability to set those solid screens," Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said of Poeltl. "You’re navigating how to get back in front of him and then he does a great job of finishing at the rim."
The win moved Toronto into the ninth seed in the conference, a half-game up on the Washington Wizards in the 10th seed and a full game up on the Chicago Bulls in 11th.
Highlight of the Night
If we skip over Markelle Fultz posterizing Achiuwa, the highlight of the night for Toronto came from Pascal Siakam.
Siakam had Mo Wagner on roller skates all night, hitting him with step-back jumpers to the tune of 26 points on 10-for-15 shooting, none nicer than this one.
Siakam will have a few days off before heading to Salt Lake City for his second career All-Star Game this weekend. He was added to the team as a replacement for Kevin Durant.
"He certainly deserves it," Nurse said. "He's played like an all-star this year for sure."
Up Next: New Orleans Pelicans
The Raptors will have a week off for the All-Star Break before welcoming the New Orleans Pelicans to town next Thursday for at 7:30 p.m. ET.
