TORONTO – The Toronto Raptors have appeared to settle into a somewhat consistent starting lineup.
For the third straight game, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse opted to go with a starting five of Fred VanVleet, Gary Trent Jr., Pascal Siakam, Scottie Barnes and OG Anunoby.
Granted, three games isn’t much of a sample size, but considering how this season has gone for the Raptors, three contests in a row with the same starting five may as well be a trend.
In the past, Nurse has alluded to a more fluid, shuffled starting lineup according to the opponent, but considering that this smaller five-man unit – that came into Wednesday’s action a plus-10 in 66 minutes played together – was one that probably features the team’s five best players outright, it makes sense that Nurse would like to keep rolling with this group.
Especially with how the group has been rolling offensively of late with this five-man unit putting up an absurd 124.3 points per 100 possessions over their last two games coming into Wednesday’s contest.
So why not keep it going, right?
Well, as it turns out, this starting group was excellent yet again, combining for 102 points on 48.6 per cent shooting with Pascal Siakam leading the way and continuing to look like his old All-NBA self with 33 points, five rebounds and six assists on 13-for-23 shooting.
However, no matter how brilliant the starters may play offensively, it means nothing if the team is unable to get stops and at least some production from its second unit.
Those two aspects of the game nearly sunk the Raptors on Wednesday against the Milwaukee Bucks, but thanks to some second-half adjustments, Toronto was able to walk away with a win on the second night of a back-to-back, 117-111, extending their winning streak to four and move to an 18-17 record on the season, the first time they’ve been above .500 since Nov. 11.
The Bucks were without their best player and former two-time MVP in Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was forced to miss the game with a non-COVID illness, but that doesn’t diminish the victory the Raptors managed to pull off.
On the second night of a back-to-back and facing a very good Bucks team that are fighting for top spot in the Eastern Conference – even without Antetokounmpo – this game had “expected loss” written all over it for the Raptors, and they simply didn’t allow that to happen, even if things start the way they wanted to.
The Raptors allowed the Bucks to shoot 61.4 per cent from the field and go 13-for-21 from deep in the first half as they hung 77 points on the Raptors in the opening 24 minutes. To make matters worse, Toronto’s bench got severely outscored, 29-7, as only Chris Boucher (three points) and Justin Champagnie (four) scored for the Raptors.
Thankfully for the Raptors, they were nearly as hot as the Bucks were in the first half as they put up 68 points in the first half, shooting 54.3 per cent from the field. And that strong first-half play was necessary for Toronto as it – as seen previously before this seen – turned things around completely in the second half.
Despite taking that comfortable 77-68 lead at the half, the Bucks squandered their big cushion as the Raptors went on a 7-0 run about five minutes into the third quarter to tie the game up at 85-85 that saw Siakam score five points alone during this spurt. A few minutes later, Siakam made a nice spin move along the base line and laid the ball up and in to give Toronto a lead, 87-86.
Toronto would grow this lead afterwards to take a 92-88 lead into the fourth quarter as Siakam went off for 10 points in the frame.
More importantly, unlike the first half, the Raptors played a strong defensive quarter, holding the Bucks to just 11 points and 3-of-22 shooting from the floor.
And with this continued defensive momentum that kept up in the fourth quarter, along with continued strong play from Siakam, the Raptors were able to put the game to bed, even as things got a little dicey near the end.
And even more encouragingly, in the second half, the Raptors’ bench managed to outscore Milwaukee’s 8-5 and, most importantly, played some strong minutes on the defensive end.
Ideally, you’d like the see the Raptors play a complete game, but showing guts on the road in a tough building to play in against a very tough team – again, even without Antetokounmpo – on the second night of a back-to-back that saw the team’s All-NBA player look every bit the part, the team’s starting unit, in general, look like one of the best in the entire league while the club put the clamps down in the second half to setup the win, it’s hard to be anything but impressed.
Could Wednesday night be considered a signature win?
It just might.
More importantly, it was a win, and that seems to be something the Raptors are getting good at doing again.
