The Toronto Raptors don’t have a true centre they can rely on, so it seems that they’re going to try and get by without playing one at all.
That was Raptors head coach Nick Nurse’s strategy when it came time to submit his starting lineup before the tip for their game against the Milwaukee Bucks in Milwaukee Tuesday night, the first of a two-game mini-series that concludes Thursday.
With OG Anunoby back after 10 games absence due to a calf injury Nurse decided he didn’t want to sit Norm Powell, who has been brilliant on 14 starts so far this year.
His solution was to sit Aron Baynes — early on at least — and play Pascal Siakam in a lineup that was long on skill and short on traditionally defined positions or size.
Given the Raptors came into the game 28th in defensive rebounding and having routinely had opposing big men — including the Bucks’ Brook Lopez the last time these two teams met — score all too comfortably in the paint while playing ‘big’, what did Nurse have to lose?
Not this game, as it turns out as Toronto prevailed 124-113 to hand the Bucks (16-12) their fourth straight loss.
It was the Raptors’ smallest player, Fred VanVleet, that was the difference-maker as the fifth-year point guard put up 33 points and seven assists while playing 38 minutes for Toronto, who were without Kyle Lowry for much of the second half due to injury.
One of the benefits of playing ‘small’ is that you should have playmakers throughout the lineup and that showed up down the stretch for Nurse. Toronto took control of the game late in the fourth quarter thanks to a VanVleet three – his fifth of the game — some strong plays at the rim by Pascal Siakam (23 points, 13 rebounds) and a blocked shot by Chris Boucher — his fifth of the game — that led to a fastbreak dunk by Anunoby that put Toronto up 10 with 2:32 to play, which was all the Raptors needed.
The win improved the Raptors’ record to 13-15, evened their record against the Bucks to 1-1 and was a nice way to start a difficult six-game stretch of games where they will play five against three of the top teams in the East — the Bucks twice, the Philadelphia 76ers twice and the Miami Heat.
Outcome aside the Raptors’ immediate future will likely hinge on how badly Lowry tweaked his left ankle just before halftime. The Raptors leader was his best early — he had 18 points and six assists in 22 minutes before checking out for good after trying to play in the third quarter but not being able to get up and down the floor without a noticeable limp.
If Lowry is gone for any length of the time it will add to Nurse’s burden since regardless of who he put on, the Raptors’ challenges remained the same: How to counter one of the biggest teams in the league?
The Bucks start Lopez who towers over Aron Baynes and is wide enough to render Chris Boucher invisible while Giannis Antetokounmpo is arguably the biggest and most athletic player in the league. They are long at the wings and big at the guard position as well. It adds up to Milwaukee — second in the East behind Philadelphia — being third in rebounding percentage in the league.
The Bucks got 34 points from Antetokounmpo but even with a smaller lineup the Raptors more than held their own on the boards, holding an 8-5 edge in offensive rebounds and a 25-21 edge in free throw attempts.
“You know [the Bucks’ size advantage]presents some issues and it can present them in a lot of ways,” Nurse said before the game. “But I think you first gotta start with rebounding. That’s always a concern, that you can keep them off the glass with their size. Then it’s post play and play at the rim, that you’ve got some length in there, and rim protection and you got some way to stop, you know, they’ll post Lopez, they’ll post Giannis, they’ll post [Kris] Middleton. So you’ve gotta be ready. You’ve gotta fight a little bit harder and keep them off their spots and then you’ve gotta be ready with some schemes, probably, too. When, I don’t know, Boucher or somebody ends up on Lopez, he’s giving away 100 pounds.”
But playing small worked out well in the first half at least as the Raptors went into the break tied 64-64. Surprisingly one of their advantages over the Bucks in the opening 24 minutes was on the glass as Toronto chased down nine offensive rebounds while giving up just one to Milwaukee. Those additional possessions allowed Toronto to keep pace even as the Bucks shot 56 per cent from the floor to the Raptors’ 47 per cent, with the teams otherwise roughly equal at the three-point line and the free-throw line.
While Anunoby looked understandably just a beat slow given his long layoff, the Raptors’ best lineup featured Chris Boucher playing alongside Siakam and with Powell, Lowry and VanVleet. After an energized first quarter that left the score tied 33-33 the Bucks opened up a 12-point lead early in the second quarter only to give it back as Toronto put together a 19-5 run.
But that also saw Toronto’s fortunes turn when Lowry twisted his ankle on a full-court sprint to make up for his own turnover with just 36 seconds left in the half.
How Lowry emerges in the next few days will be telling. It’s clear the Nurse is ready to play small if he has to, but it will be a lot easier if his best smaller players are available.
