A Friday night matchup between two teams on a roll? Two elite, do-it-all, triple-threats who are already getting MVP buzz?
A chance for Pascal Siakam and the Toronto Raptors to test themselves against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks to see Toronto’s high-level, high-pressure defence that has yielded an astounding 41 opponents’ turnovers and an even more impressive 84 fastbreak points in their past two games?
It doesn’t get much better in early November. Unfortunately, the Mavericks were the better team as they withstood a furious fourth-quarter comeback from a 15-point deficit to start the quarter to win 111-110 — the final score a little flattering for Toronto, who threatened down the stretch but only got it to one possession after a last-second three by O.G. Anunoby.
The Raptors played their third straight game without Fred VanVleet, due to back tightness, and lost Pascal Siakam to a scary-looking groin injury late in the third quarter. Toronto is now 5-4 on the season, while Dallas improved to 5-3.
The Raptors allowed Dallas to shoot 50.6 per cent from the floor, while only converting 44.3 per cent of their own shots. Toronto had an 18-6 edge on offensive rebounds while each team was 21-for-25 from the line and made 19 turnovers. Dallas was 12-of-34 from deep, while Toronto was 11-of-34.
What to do about Doncic
The Raptors had to do something. The 23-year-old came into the game with an absurd line of 36.1 points, 8.9 rebounds and 9.0 assists. It seems inconceivable he could keep that pace, but if he does his PER (player efficiency rating) of 36.1, it would blow past Nikola Jokic’s all-time record of 32.85 set last season as he won his second consecutive MVP award.
Toronto opted to double-cover him pretty much at every chance. Whoever the primary defender was – Scottie Barnes got the assignment early, Precious Achiuwa and O.G. Anunoby all took turns also, as the Raptors tried to keep size on the 6-foot-9 point guard for the Mavericks – stayed with Doncic even after he tried to put them into pick-and-roll. Easier said than done.
Late in the first quarter, Doncic was being stymied by Barnes and called up Maxi Kleber – who was being covered by Chris Boucher — to set a screen. Barnes and Boucher dutifully doubled only to watch as Doncic did a spin dribble between them and rifled a pass cross-court to a wide-open Tim Hardaway Jr. in the corner for a three.
On the next possession, Doncic faked like he going to not use the screen, came back the other way to use it and started rolling downhill with his right hand. The Raptors didn’t double, and Doncic just moseyed his way to the rim for the lay-up. And when he wasn’t doing that? Doncic was living at the free-throw line.
Late in the third quarter, he was in isolation against Achiuwa – as good a defender in those situations as there is in the league. Doncic went through about six different dribble moves, trying to get Achiuwa to bite, but he wouldn’t.
Finally, with the shot clock winding down, Doncic just went to his one-legged fadeaway and let it fly about 20 feet in the air. It touched only net on the way through the rim. Perfect defence and it didn’t matter. Tough cover. Doncic finished with 35 points, eight rebounds and six assist while shooting 10-of-15 from the floor.
Siakam is right there
It’s hard to express how lofty a goal the Raptors star set for himself when he said he wanted to be a “top-five” player in the NBA at the start of training camp. In Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant there are at least four previous MVP winners in their prime and capable of winning another.
Then there’s Doncic, who has been first-team All-NBA for three straight years, and let’s not forget Jayson Tatum and Joel Embiid. The list goes on. But Siakam is making himself heard.
Against the Mavericks he went off for 17 points in the first half – one better than Doncic — grinding out points on a night when the Raptors were otherwise struggling for offence. His defence was on-point too. He was on his way to another big night – he had 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists before he got hurt, so was well on his way to another triple-double, and more than holding his own against Doncic. The only hope now is his injury is just a tweak, rather than something more severe and he doesn’t miss too much time, if at all. The problem is the Raptors have a back-to-back against Chicago coming up, the start of five games in seven days, so we’ll see.
Porter Jr. shows what he can offer
Otto Porter Jr. showed some of the smarts he’s known for early in the second quarter when, late in the shot clock, he noticed the Mavericks’ Spencer Dinwiddie bouncing the ball in no man’s land against Dalano Banton. Porter made a move towards the ball, faking a double but staying in the passing lane and when Dinwiddie tried to pass it back to Porter’s man the newest Raptor got his mitts on it for a deflection leading to a Dallas shot-clock violation.
He later had a steal that led to a fastbreak and a triple as Raptors head coach Nick Nurse played him with a mostly starters group minus Gary Trent Jr. so Toronto could keep some shooting on the floor while Trent Jr. rested. So there are signs of what Porter Jr. will be able to offer as he rounds into playing shape. He was also on the floor as the Raptors made an early fourth-quarter run, his second three cutting the Mavericks’ lead to eight when Doncic sat. But once again the best Raptors bench player was Chris Boucher, who is delivering generous doses of enhanced skill and patience to go with his trademark energy as he put up 17 points, grabbed nine rebounds and was a team-best +20 in his 29 minutes.
O.G. keeps thieving
Not all the Raptors came to play against the Mavericks, but Anunoby played his third out-standing game in a row, highlighted by yet another demonstration of incredible defence. As we’ve pointed out before steals are alone proof of good defence, but at a certain point, they become evidence of a player who is locked in on the task and has the combination of quickness and size to simply erase possessions.
Anunoby is that guy right now. It was his third straight game with five or more steals and the seventh time in nine games he recorded multiple thefts. But Anunoby’s offence – lacklustre through the first four games when he shot just 38.5 per cent from the floor – joined his defence. He put up a season-high 27 points for Toronto against Dallas on 11-of-21 shooting. He’s now averaging 18.6 points per game and shooting 38 per cent from deep. It was a shame that his attempt to poke the ball away from Doncic in the final minute ended up putting the Mavericks star on the line for a pair of free throws that iced the game.
Hopefully Barnes is ok
The Raptors star sophomore sprained his right ankle late in the off-season and then rolled it again in the first half of Toronto’s first game against Miami last week.
He only missed one start and certainly seemed fine after that: in four games before last night since returning to the lineup Barnes was averaging 16.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists on 53.3 per cent shooting, including shooting 48 per cent from three on more than five attempts a game.
But Barnes twisted his right ankle in the first quarter again last night, and while he stayed in the game, he appeared to jam his ankle again trying to save a loose ball before halftime. He appeared to be on his way to his weakest outing of the season …. But then he scored 11 points in the final 13 minutes of the game and finished with his first career triple-double, as he added 11 rebounds and 10 assists, though his five turnovers and 4-of-12 shooting were uncharacteristic.
