Defensive Miscues Cost Raptors Who Fall to 0-2
This season is about two things for the Toronto Raptors: Player development and flexibility.
The message was sent loud and clear in the offseason when the organization opted against any long-term contracts and said goodbye to Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol, opting instead for flexibility for the 2021 offseason.
It's still very, very early, but after a 119-114 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night, things haven't exactly looked very good from either perspective. Specifically, OG Anunoby and Norman Powell haven't started the season the way anyone would have hoped.
Anunoby is certainly the bigger story for the Raptors. Just days before the start of the season, Toronto inked the 23-year-old Anunoby to a four-year, $72 million contract extension. It was the logical move for the Raptors after Giannis Antetokounmpo re-signed with the Milwaukee Bucks. But the deal certainly came with the hope that Anunoby's offence would develop a little more to match his elite defence. Saturday night's loss wasn't a total dud from Anunoby who finished the night with 10 points, but he went long stretches without making much impact offensively.
Through two games this season he has just 18 points and he's shooting just 2-for-10 from behind the arc. While his defence remains impressive, the Raptors would like to see a little more from Anunoby offensively.
More problematic so far has been the play of Powell who went 0-for-5 against the Spurs and finished with zero points. Powell has always been a bit of an inconsistent player, but he hasn't looked himself through two games, struggling to finish at the rim where he's traditionally been very good.
"Got to get his confidence going, he’s got to get the rim and finish a couple, that usually gets him going," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. "We need his points production, that’s kind of what he is. He’s our offensive sub off the bench and he’s kind of played that role pretty good for us in the past. He will. He’ll be fine."
From a flexibility perspective, Powell is heading into the 2021 offseason with an $11.6 million player-option that Toronto is hoping he'll opt-out of both because it means he played well enough to earn a bigger contract and because it'll give them more cap space heading into the offseason. Considering Powell was worth right about that amount last season, a step up or down in either direction this year will likely tip the scale on that player option.
On the bright side for the Raptors was the play of Chris Boucher who has stepped into the void left by Ibaka admirably. He's showed the kind of high-level play at both ends that the Raptors have been longing for. While his 22-point performance was impressive from an offensive perspective, it was his seven blocks and 10 rebounds that really showed his development.
"It's just going at it with a mindset of, you've got to change the game with my energy first. This is really something that I have been focusing on, realizing where I can take my shots, trying to set screens where I can get people open," Boucher said. "The ball's going to find me, I think. Nick Nurse said it best, I have to focus on defense. I gotta be able to change the game with my defense and run the floor."
Defensive Miscues:
The Raptors have prided themselves on being a super aggressive defensive team under Nurse. They love to cause chaos for opposing offences, sparking transition opportunities at the other end and it was clear that was the plan against the Spurs.
Unfortunately for Toronto, the Spurs routinely made the right pass out of the Raptors double-teams and Toronto's slow rotations and miscommunications led to some easy points in the paint for San Antonio.
“It’s tough. I think we’ve got to guard our guys a little better. Individually, we’ve got to make multiple efforts. Make more slides. Figure it out," Fred VanVleet said. "It’s not rocket science. I don’t want to say it’s an effort thing. I feel like guys are trying out there. We’ve got to make more plays at a higher level. ... But it’s the same thing on defence: You’ve got to make the extra rotation, you’ve got to make the close out, you’ve got to come up with the rebound."
After DeMar DeRozan's hot start offensively, the Raptors began blitzing him. While the old Raptors version of DeRozan might have struggled under that pressure, the more mature, DeRozan showed off some much-imporved playmaking skills, tallying eight assists to go with his game-high 27 points.
"We’re nowhere near where we want to be defensively," Kyle Lowry said. "But it takes hard work, it takes dedication of watching film, understanding who we’re playing against and making adjustments on the fly."
0-and-2:
For the first time since Dec 31, 2013, the Raptors are two games below .500.
"We're 0-and-2 and I haven't been this record in a long fuckin' time," Lowry said. "So, we've got to figure it out sooner or later for our team."
It's Toronto's worst start to a season since the 2012-13 season in which the team went 34-48.
Up Next: Philadelphia 76ers
The Raptors will spend the day in San Antonio before heading out to Philadelphia to take on the 76ers at 7 p.m. ET.
