On the first night of a back-to-back, the Toronto Raptors played like it was the second.
For the first time this season, they detoured from their gritty, we-work-harder-than-you-do identity, allowing the Boston Celtics to outplay them (and out-hustle them) in most every way.
“It sucks, always, when that happens,” OG Anunoby told reporters post-game. “You just try to learn from it, try to not let it happen again.”
Toronto is now back at .500, and has lost its first road game. The team’s third back-to-back of the year will take place Thursday night in Philadelphia, where the Sixers are dealing with a heavily depleted roster.
For now, though, here are three key takeaways on the Raptors’ most bleh night of the season to date:
Raptors' thin margins
To put it simply, the Raptors do not have much margin for error.
At their best, they are a good team, perhaps even a very good team. But when a few things begin to go awry, their flaws become amplified. With Khem Birch out, their only reliable defensive anchor and a serious energy infuser on the offensive boards, and when both Anunoby and Gary Trent Jr. struggle to connect from long range (a combined 2-11), the Raptors just don’t have the firepower on either end to overcome most opponents.
Throw in that they played like they were stuck in quicksand for the vast majority of the night, their 18 turnovers (leading to 16 Boston points) and the Celtics capitalizing on their superior size, and a putrid stew begins to boil. It was the first game this season that the Raptors truly got outworked, and it revealed just how much more detrimental an issue it is for them than some other clubs.
“They just probably played a little harder, a little more physical, a little more aggressive,” Fred VanVleet said. “Obviously, we know what we did last time we came in here—I’m sure they remembered that. I thought we were a little hesitant, not as aggressive as usual, not on the boards as usual, so we’ll see how we can be better at that. I thought we played hard in spurts but just overall not good enough to win on the road and beat a team that’s been playing better like the Celtics have.”
Bad nights happen over the course of the season. One’s not going to change much. But if the Raptors didn’t realize before that they’re going to have to play with a high level of intensity all the time, they certainly do now.
Pascal Siakam requires patience
Let’s just get this out of the way: It would be altogether remarkable for a player (any player!) to return from an extended absence of 618 games away from his home arena, the duration of which was partially caused by a torn labrum in his shoulder that led to the first surgery of his career (something he was terrified of), and, in his second game back, function at peak performance.
In fact, it wouldn’t just be remarkable, it would be almost concerning in its ethereality—there’s no relatability, no recognizable humanness in such supernatural feats. The natural response would simply be one of cold wonderment, setting us aside as distant gawkers.
Instead, we’re bearing witness to Pascal Siakam’s mortality, something much easier to connect to, and in so doing our ability to elicit compassion and understanding and empathy should unlock in full.
It is those elements, after all, that bind us to a player and their story, and that make watching an eventual return to form supremely rewarding.
“He’ll be okay,” VanVleet said. “It’s gonna take some time, obviously, and we would all like for it to be tonight or yesterday or whatever but that’s not how these things work, so we just gotta stay together and keep working.”
So while Siakam absolutely did not play the way he and fans would have preferred on Wednesday—turning the ball over on actions he normally nails, missing open looks, blending in with the team’s overarching lethargy—patience and kindness must be preached.
Undeniably, it will be worth it.
“I think we’re just trying the best we can,” Anunoby said. “We’ll figure it out. It’ll happen because we’ve played with him before. We’ll figure it out, we’ll be fine.”
Scottie Barnes' ROY campaign rolls on
Let’s end this on a positive note.
Rookie of the Year candidate Scottie Barnes came to play yet again against Boston, cementing the fact that he’s been the most consistent member of the Raptors so far this young season.
For the fourth time in the 10 games he’s played, he surpassed 20 points, scoring 21 while adding seven rebounds and four assists on 72.3 percent true shooting. He continued to flash his silky touch around the basket via his understated low-post game, and although he got taken to task defensively by the significantly larger Robert Williams III in the first half, his switch out onto the perimeter in the second (with Anunoby taking Williams) helped Toronto make a third-quarter push to get back into the thick of things.
“I thought he got it to the basket tonight and he obviously got to the free throw line, too,” head coach Nick Nurse said. “I thought he had a good offensive night. He had a tough assignment to have [Robert] Williams and Williams obviously was on the glass, but I don’t ever say that that’s a one-person job to keep somebody off the glass, that’s a team effort.”
From how he’s handled taking on such an enormous role to his night-to-night execution to his general confidence, Barnes continues to be a delight in every facet.
Follow Us
Subscribe