A three-game winning streak.
Imagine. It’s taken the Toronto Raptors until the mid-point of the season to string together three wins. They managed the feat with another convincing win over the Charlotte Hornets, 124-114, to follow up on their solid effort against them on Tuesday. They started the streak with a double-digit win over Portland on Sunday.
They have a chance to extend it on Saturday against Atlanta. A win there would give Toronto an undefeated week and a 4-2 record in a critical six-game homestand. As it is, the Raptors at least guaranteed a 3-3 mark, which looked unlikely when Toronto lost games against Milwaukee and New York to start the six-game segment, the longest stretch of games at Scotiabank Arena this season.
It will be interesting to see how much a mini-surge affects Raptors management as the trade deadline approaches. If the Raptors – who improved to 19-24 – begin putting together a run, will they still entertain trading some of their core players, if only to make sure they get some value for the likes of Fred VanVleet and Gary Trent Jr., who can both be free agents this coming summer?
Or will they sit back, hoping they can catch lightning in a bottle like they did with their strong second half a year ago?
Let’s hope they don’t.
There is no arguing the Raptors have played well the past three games. They’ve been menacing on the ball defensively and they’ve played some of their best offence of the season, moving the ball quickly and with purpose, forcing the defence to bend and taking advantage when it cracks.
For at least a few days the clunky misses and the isolation-heavy attack in the halfcourt were a thing of the past.
Oh, and how about getting some bench production? It wasn’t quite the 40-point outburst from Tuesday night, but just Precious Achiuwa’s return to form is encouraging enough. After missing 24 games with an ankle injury, he’s played two of his better games of the season against the Hornets, hitting double figures on consecutive nights.
Juancho Hernangomez showed his value as a connective piece in the lineup, bridging the starters and the bench with five points and two assists in 12 minutes.
Pascal Siakam led the way for Toronto with 35 points, seven rebounds and three assists to lead three other Raptors starters in double figures. Scottie Barnes finished with a near triple-double, counting 21 points, eight rebounds and nine assists.
The Raptors shot 51.8 per cent from the floor and 10-of-28 from deep and had 30 assists. They forced the Hornets into 22 turnovers (and made just nine of their own) though Charlotte – the NBA’s 30th-ranked offence – still shot 53.3 percent and 13-of-32 from three, which is concerning.
LaMelo Ball led the Hornets with 32 points and seven assists.
It was a welcome win – they all are – but who you play matters in the NBA, and when you play them too. For 39 games the Raptors couldn’t defend at a high level, couldn’t score at a high level and couldn’t win enough games to be in the playoff picture.
But against a Portland club that is in the midst of a 2-8 slog with their wins coming over – yes – Charlotte and the Detroit Pistons, the other team at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, Toronto looked pretty good.
Against the Hornets, whose 11-32 season means they should be in the mix for Victor Wembanyama or Scoot Henderson at the top of the draft lottery, the Raptors looked great.
Certainly there was plenty to like in the opening moments, like Fred VanVleet vacating the right corner to go fake a screen for Siakam, who used the misdirection to get his feet into the paint and then zing a pass to the corner that VanVleet had left just in time to find a wide-open O.G. Anunoby for three.
Or VanVleet finding Barnes for not one but two dunks on the pick-and-roll in the first eight minutes of the game. Or Barnes setting a hard ball screen for VanVleet, catching the ball on the roll, and then whipping a pass to the corner for Siakam, who cashed that.
After counting 32 assists to match their season-high against Charlotte on Tuesday and 20 threes – the highest total going back to the 2020-21 season, the Raptors kept it going in the rematch. They jumped out to a 38-28 lead and counted 12 assists against 15 made field goals and were 5-of-8 from deep.
In that sense, the Hornets – now 2-8 in their last 10 – were almost medicinal for a Raptors team that has been reeling for so much of the season.
“I think it gives you a little chance not to spend a whole 48 hours preparing for the next opponent,” said Raptors head coach Nick Nurse. “You’ve prepared for them. You’ve just got to look at some adjustments, look at some things. It does give you a chance to zero on working on what we need to do, yeah.”
The second quarter was more of the same as six different Raptors scored at least four points. The Hornets were relying on Ball, who replied with 13 points for Charlotte on his way to a 20-point first half for the third-year star. The Raptors couldn’t contain him, but Toronto was still able to push its lead to 69-55.
But Ball’s ability to do what he wants, when he wants on the floor, seemingly – he had 24 points and 14 assists on Tuesday – should give the Raptors pause.
They could use a player like that, and most of them are gone after the first few picks of the draft, Ball being the No. 3 pick in 2020. Ball’s not perfect, but the passing vision, shooting range and quickness he provides as a 6-foot-7 lead guard are special.
“If you want to win the whole thing, it’s all about how many guys do you have on the floor that can command a second defender?” said Hornets head coach Steve Clifford in singing his point guard’s praises. “It’s a simple as that. When you get down to the last five minutes of every game in our league, what happens? It’s an [isolation]against a guy who can’t guard 1-on-1 or a pick-and-roll. That’s it. There’s nothing else. He has the ability to be that kind of player.”
How many players do the Raptors have like that right now? It’s probably a question for another day, but it’s something Toronto’s management should be laser focussed on as they figure out how to navigate the coming weeks and months.
Regardless, Ball’s best wasn’t enough against Toronto. The Hornets manufactured a mini run in the third quarter with a 20-11 spurt that cut the Raptors’ lead from 16 to seven midway into the third, though the Raptors led 97-88 to start the fourth, but Toronto was able to hold them off.
Ball was a problem all night, but occasionally for his own team. He had the ball on a semi-fastbreak with a chance to cut the Raptors’ lead to five with seven minutes left when he took a silly offensive foul trying to clear out Siakam for an unlikely dunk attempt with his off hand. A much simpler play and Ball scores.
Meanwhile, at the other end, VanVleet – Ball’s opposite in every way almost – grinded his way to for a lay-up in traffic to put Toronto up nine and assisted on a Barnes floater that put Toronto up 11. Toronto couldn’t quite put them away.
In the final minutes, Ball missed an open triple that would have cut the Raptors’ lead to two and then – inexplicably – a lay-up to trim it to three. VanVleet (11 points and eight assists) nailed an open three at the other end to seal it
The Raptors were able to hold on and get the win and extend their modest win streak, as they should.
You can only play who’s on the schedule and there have been plenty of stages this season when the Raptors would have looked at the opportunity to play three games against struggling teams on their home court and fumbled it.
They didn’t, and so credit for that, but that’s the most that can be said about it for now.
