Siakam Recaptures Old Self but Raptors Can't Overcome Red-Hot Suns
The problem with starting the season 1-5 is you begin to lose the wiggle room needed to cope with strange nights.
Take Wednesday night's game against the Phoenix Suns for example. The Toronto Raptors played one of the best games of their young season. They attacked the rim without settling for 3-point shots. And yet, there's not much a team can do when the opposition shoots 21-for-40 from behind the arc. When that happens, all you can really do is tip your cap and move on. Unfortunately for Toronto, it meant starting the season 1-6 following a 123-115 loss to the Suns in Phoenix.
It's tough to see a silver lining after the Raptors dropped another crucial early-season game, but there were certainly some positives. Specifically, the performance of Pascal Siakam who eclipsed the 30-point mark for the first time since March, scoring 32 with nine rebounds.
For the first time in months, the Raptors' 26-year-old star appeared to find his old self. He attacked the hoop repeatedly, scoring with his usual fancy footwork around the net without pulling up short hoping for a bailout foul call. When the Suns began to adapt to his aggressiveness, collapsing around his drive, he found kick-out passes in the corners to find open teammates.
"He was assertive, his moves were sharp and crisp, I thought the defence was also solid, I thought the rebounding was solid," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. "I thought he had an outstanding game tonight, he really did."
With Siakam finding his groove, the rest of the Raptors' core stepped up for their first complete game of the year. Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet combined for 37 points, while Norman Powell and OG Anunoby had the kind of performances the Raptors have been longing for from them. Their hot nights prompted Toronto to go small to end the game, going without a true centre and playing Powell in place of Aron Baynes. Even against Deandre Ayton, one of the better young bigs in the league, the Raptors found success with their smallball lineup, turning a 15-point game into a two-possession game.
"I think we played pretty well, unfortunately so did they," Nurse said. "They hit a lot of open shots which was a function of their good offence and our breakdowns on defence. They hit a lot of tough ones too. We had them bottled up a few times there and they vaulted up under a lot of duress and scored a few there especially when they needed them late."
The problem for Toronto on Wednesday was all that progress came against a seemingly unstoppable Suns team. The Raptors' perimeter defence wasn't great by any means, but a 52.5% shooting night from behind the arc is almost unbeatable. When you couple the Suns 3-point explosion with their ability to run shooters off the 3-point line, Toronto had no choice but to trade 3s for 2s, a trade-off they promptly lost.
Rebounding Woes Continue
The Raptors rebounding issues reared their ugly head again just moments into the start of Wednesday's game. Phoenix's third possession seemed to last forever with Toronto unable to grab the defensive board.
Here's how it played out: Devin Booker miss; Booker rebound; Chris Paul miss; Deandre Ayton rebound; Paul miss; Mikal Bridges rebound; Jae Crowder miss; team rebound; then Ayton finally ended the possession.
It doesn't matter how good your defence is if you can't close out possessions with the defensive board.
Rotation Watch
Raptors coach Nick Nurse appears to be searching for someone to step up and grab a solid rotation spot. After going with Matt Thomas and DeAndre' Bembry to start the season, Nurse turned to Stanley Johnson and Terence Davis to see what they could provide. On Wednesday it was Yuta Watanabe who got the early call, playing over 15 minutes as the Raptors' backup wing.
“I thought he did good the first half," Nurse said of Watanabe. "Again just trying to give another guy with some size a chance. He’s pretty active and he tries hard and cuts and moves and that kind of thing. They put a tough lineup out there where they were really pressuring our point guards and he got kind of hung out to dry a couple of times which didn’t look very good, but again that was a lot of pressure. We just need to give him a release point there for that. But like I said, a nice fill job in the first half, not so good in the second."
Pre-Game Message
Prior to the game, both teams linked arms to form a circle during the national anthem to protest police brutality and demand social change. The decision to protest came in the wake of pro-Donald Trump supporters storming the United States Capitol building on Wednesday as well as the news that Wisconsin prosecutors would not bring forth charges on the police officers who shot and paralyzed Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisc. back in August.
"The NBA is one big family. We just want people to see that no colour matters," Suns guard Cameron Payne said. "We’re here unified as one, one big group of people that respects each other. We’re all for equality and basically all of those things that were on the back of those jerseys in the bubble. I feel like it was huge to come out there. Not playing, I don’t think [that would have been] a great idea. Coming out there together, just showing unity, is the biggest thing. That’s what the world needs right now, coming together as one.”
Up Next: Sacramento Kings
The Raptors will be right back at it Friday night when their West Coast road trip continues against the Sacramento Kings at 10:30 p.m. ET.
