LOS ANGELES — In the afternoons before games Jontay Porter typically tries to relax. Listen to some music, hopefully catch a nap, hoping to save and store as much energy as possible for work.
But on Tuesday the calm vibes were difficult to come by. The Raptors’ reserve big man — recently added to the roster on a two-way contract which allows him to shuttle back-and-forth between Toronto’s G-League entry and the big club — had visions of Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis running through his head, and across the screen of his tablet.
“So yeah, he’s a handful,” was Porter’s scouting report. “All we can do is limit his touches deep in the paint and make it so he has to shoot over us, that’s going to be a big key.”
Or a source of significant problems. Earlier on Tuesday the Raptors announced that Jakob Poeltl, the only true centre on their roster, would be out for an “indefinite” period with a sprained ankle he suffered stepping on teammate Pascal Siakam’s foot on Sunday night vs. Golden State.
Poeltl is in a walking boot and will get his ankle re-evaluated in two weeks, but it’s conceivable the Raptors could be trying to play centre by committee for the better part of the next month.
With the Raptors having included Precious Achiuwa — the closest thing they had to a back-up centre — in the trade that sent OG Anunoby (another option guard centres) to the New York Knicks that brought them Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett, Toronto will be exceptionally thin up front while Poeltl is out.
Can the Raptors survive playing small ball?
Not if the referees won’t cooperate, according to Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic.
The Raptors managed without Poeltl, and did a reasonable job against Davis for the most part. They even thrived for long stretches. But in the end — and we mean the very end of what was a remarkably hard-fought and entertaining game — the Lakers and Davis in particular came up big, pun very much intended in a 132-131 Lakers win.
But in Rajakovic’s view, it was the refereeing that was the biggest difference. After the Lakers enjoyed a 23-2 advantage in free throw attempts in the fourth quarter — the largest discrepancy in the NBA this season — the Raptors rookie head coach was furious and held nothing back in a brief but intense post-game rant that will cost him in the pocketbook but surely gained him some credibility with his players.
“That’s outrageous,” Rajakovic said to start an impassioned post-game session that lasted barely a minute. “What happened tonight is completely BS. This is shame for the referees.”
After a Gary Trent Jr. three with 68 seconds left put the Raptors up by one, the broad-shoulder, seven-footer restored the Lakers lead with a score at the rim on the other end and then blocked a Scottie Barnes driving lay-up at the other Davis then buried six free throws in the final 34 seconds as the Raptors couldn’t guard the Lakers giant without fouling.
In all Davis scored 20 of his game-high 41 points in the fourth quarter to ensure the win for the Lakers who had a 36-13 free throw advantage overall. The Raptors had four of their five starters finish with at least 20 points, led by Barnes’ 26, while Pascal Siakam had 25. Thad Young, a surprise starter in place of Poeltl, had 10 points and five rebounds in 29 minutes, while Trent Jr. had 14 and Dennis Schroder 10 off the bench for Toronto who fell to 15-22 and 2-2 on their six-game western road swing. The struggling Lakers improved to 19-19.
What the Raptors surely realized playing without a traditional centre is that there are opportunities, but plenty of challenges. What they found out trying to do it against Davis — the best big man in the NBA outside of the Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic category — was, at times, a major challenge.
On Tuesday night against the Lakers, the Raptors started with little-used veteran Young before Porter got a crack as they roughly split the first quarter minutes against Davis. Predictably, the Lakers force-fed Davis early and he responded as an over-sized man among boys, going over and through the Raptors for 16 first-quarter points on 7-of-9 shooting.
But the Raptors were largely able to manage the damage elsewhere and trailed just 28-24 to start the second quarter.
The Raptors found success in the second frame by staying small and turning the game into a track meet wherever possible. Rajakovic gave the ‘centre’ minutes to Young — who at six-foot-nine is an under-sized power-forward, really — and Scottie Barnes. The Lakers stopped trying to find Davis on every other possession, to their detriment. When they did go to Davis, the Raptors doubled aggressively. But in general the Lakers looked out of sorts, with LeBron James visibly upset with his teammates, which perhaps reflects their 4-10 record since they won the inaugural In-Season Tournament back in November, or their .500 mark overall.
Meanwhile, the Raptors — riding a 3-1 wave since they reshuffled their roster in a trade with the Knicks — were able to find their offence in spurts. After a James pull-up triple put Los Angeles up by eight midway through the second quarter the Raptors unfurled a 17-8 run that took them into halftime with an unlikely 53-51 lead. Leading the charge was Barrett, who followed up his 37-point outing in Toronto’s blowout win over Golden State on Sunday with a 16-point first half against LA, scoring 14 in the second quarter alone on 6-of-7 shooting. Meanwhile, Quickley, who came over from the Knicks with Barrett, scored 10 in the half and eight in the second quarter.
“RJ’s been turned loose man, he’s back home. And I’m sure there’s a lot of pride, growing up a Raptors fan. He presents a lot of challenges,” said Lakers head coach Darvin Ham before the game. “It looks like he’s playing free. Seeing that game against the Warriors you know, he’s just constantly in constant attack mode.
“And Quickley? We got a taste of him when he was still in New York not too long ago [Quickley had 20 points off the bench against the Lakers in a Knicks win in December]. So those are two really high-level pickups… “
The Raptors certainly think so. Their presence continued to pay dividends, especially in the third quarter as Quickley put the Raptors up by eight with consecutive threes. The first one was set up by an incredible play by Young, who dove on the floor to prevent a turnover and whipped a left-handed pass to Quickley in the same motion. The Raptors guard then hit pull-up three in transition and erupted in his trademark skips back to the Raptors end as the Lakers had to call a timeout to restore order. Their own three-ball fueled 14-4 run prevented the Raptors’ lead from getting bigger, but after Barrett found Trent Jr. for a three in transition, and former Laker Schroder was able to score on a jumper in the final minute of the period, Toronto was able to take an 89-88 lead into the pivotal fourth quarter.
Davis was not their issue, however. After his initial burst the Raptors centre-by-committee approach was able to keep him mostly quiet with Young and Porter providing useful minutes. For Porter it was a case of simply keeping the chains moving during his 10 minutes of floor time. After multiple knee injuries nearly derailed his career before it started he’s trying to re-establish himself after last playing in the NBA in 2021.
“If you told me 30 days ago when I was in Detroit playing for their G-League team that I’d be here, playing minutes for the Raptors, I would have laughed at you,” Porter, who had three assists but missed both his field goal attempts, said. “So just the opportunity that’s been given to me, I’m really blessed with and hopefully I’m able to take advantage.”
Rajakovic’s message?
“Embrace the moment. It’s okay,” the coach said. “It’s Anthony Davis out there, so do your best and see how it goes, you know? You get punched in the mouth, that’s okay, we’re going to come back to work and try to get better next time.”
Fitting words for the Raptors as a whole as they try to navigate the next few weeks without a starting centre.
