The Toronto Raptors have been through a lot since they won the NBA championship in 2019.
And just as a reminder that all their issues haven’t been on the court, Toronto Public Health put out a notice before the Raptors hosted the New York Knicks on Friday that those in attendance at the team’s game on Sunday should monitor themselves for COVID-19 symptoms.
This warning was in response to a possible outbreak at Raptors president Masai Ujiri’s Giants of Africa charity event as a large number of the guests went to the game later.
Things are concerning enough that Nav Bhatia, the Raptors’ most prominent fan, had to miss his first home game in franchise history as he stayed at home to self-isolate, though said he is symptom free.
It doesn’t feel like 2020 all over again, but the outlines of it are right there.
But one problem the Raptors haven’t had — or rarely had — is the confidence that when they hit the floor, they would play hard and play together. It was a feature of Dwane Casey’s teams. It was the secret sauce of the team that won the title and it was especially so of the lineup that set a franchise record for winning percentage in the truncated 2019-20 season that finished in the bubble in Orlando.
Even last season when the Raptors were exiled to Tampa and everything that could go wrong did, they played to their potential most nights.
Not so much this season — and Raptors head coach Nick Nurse is running out of patience.
He called his team out for a lack of effort and energy after a loss to Oklahoma City on Wednesday night, and suggested it’s not something he wants to be make a habit of. Not at all.
“Listen, I’ve been complaining about it myself,” he said. “I don’t want to yell at anybody.”
So how to assess the Raptors’ outing against the Knicks?
It would have to be encouraging. The Knicks are having their own challenges this season but the Raptors didn’t give them very much breathing room other than a shaky stretch to start the second quarter when they were outmatched by New York’s bench.
When you shoot 34.5 percent from the floor and still manage to win 90-87, chances are the effort was there. That the Raptors held the Knicks to 36.3 per cent shooting themselves is proof of it.
The best examples were a pair of sequences at either end of the floor. The Raptors’ winning basket was supplied by a Gary Trent Jr. triple with 1:11 to play that came after first Pascal Siakam and then Scottie Barnes earned offensive rebounds to keep the play alive.
At the other end, the home side had to survive three Knicks possessions in one as Toronto would swarm defensively, force what seemed like a turnover only to have the ball be ruled to have gone out off a Raptors player. In each case Toronto brought multiple bodies to the ball and left the Knicks with nowhere to go. It was tough, desperate defence.
Perfect.
The win improved the Raptors to 12-14 and 3-3 on their season-long homestand, which ends Monday night against Sacramento. The Knicks fell to 12-14.
It wasn’t the homecoming Canadian national team star RJ Barrett wanted as he finished with 19 points on 5-of-19 shooting, though he almost brought the Knicks back with a five-point burst late in the fourth quarter and front-rimmed a three that would have sent the game into overtime at the buzzer.
The Raptors had all five starters in double figures, led by Trent Jr. with 24. Barnes had 12 points, a career-high 14 rebounds and three assists. Fred VanVleet had 11 assists and Chris Boucher had 13 points in his second straight start.
Big picture, the Raptors’ effort level — at least in Nurse’s eyes — shouldn’t be something he needs to worry about. The Raptors’ talent shortage — especially with OG Anunoby (hip) and Khem Birch (knee) out — is challenging enough.
“There are good things to show ‘em and say we want to do more of it [and]there are teaching things we want to say,” said Nurse about his approach with his club, which is both young and short-handed.
“And when there are an extraordinary amount of teaching moments, especially in the effort and energy area, that’s [the problem]to me. We’ve got to get done coaching those things pretty soon. This is the NBA. These games are hard. You’ve got to be ready to go out and play them hard. There are too many other things to coach. It’s a long list of things you’ve got to teach young players, and those are the things that are just not acceptable. You’re going to have to address them every time they’re not to a level you think they need to be.”
The problem is it ebbs and flows.
There wasn’t much not to like about how the Raptors started the game against the Knicks. With Boucher starting in place of Precious Achiuwa (shoulder), the Raptors started with a jolt.
The Montrealer hit a three early — something that’s been missing for him this season — was active on the offensive glass and had seven points midway through the opening quarter as the Raptors led 23-7 and then 30-10 at one point before starting the second quarter leading 31-14.
But by that point, the Raptors were into the bench lineup and the Knicks were too. This was a problem because the Knicks have one of the better benches in the league and the Raptors one of the worst.
Form held. The Knicks bench outscored the Raptors 20-3 in the second quarter and 24-4 for the half. After a 25-8 run to start the second period, the game was very suddenly tied 39-39, though the Raptors were able to scratch out a 50-42 lead by halftime.
The third quarter was the best part of what was overall a rough night for Barrett, who struggled to get shots to drop for most of the game — an issue for much of this season, though his form has returned recently after battling the after-effects of a stomach bug. Barrett aimed his shoulders at the rim and forced the Raptors to keep him out of the paint.
They couldn’t and Barrett earned eight trips to the free-throw line which is where he scored seven of his nine points in the period, trimming the Raptors’ lead to 69-65 to start the fourth.
