Sometimes it’s not what goes wrong that’s the problem. Things happen.
But the response?
That’s everything. The defending NBA champions ran into their first taste off on-court adversity when they were blown out by the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series on Sunday.
About 48 hours of soul-searching followed, with the only way to answer all questions being their performance in Game 2 on Tuesday night.
We don’t know yet if the Toronto Raptors can find their way past a talented and tough Celtics team, but we know that Toronto will be a tougher out than their Game 1 play would have indicated.
But the mountain has gotten ever steeper. The Raptors played with heart, hustle and smarts for the most part, but it wasn’t enough as the Celtics came back in the fourth quarter and outlasted Toronto down the stretch on their way to a 102-99 win and 2-0 lead in the series that is looking like Boston’s to lose rather than the Raptors’ to win.
This looked very much like the Raptors team that has been the best in the NBA since Jan. 15 and which appeared poised to make a deep run at defending their title.
But as the game got gluey late in the fourth quarter — as post-season games often do — it was easy to see what Toronto was missing: There was no Kawhi Leonard to turn and give the ball to when the defence got tighter and the match-ups more difficult to exploit.
All year the Raptors have been able to get big wins in tight games by having someone from their group step up, often someone different game-to-game.
Unfortunately not when they needed it most, as Toronto shot just 5-of-21 in the fourth while the Celtics — bolstered by 11 points from Kemba Walker and a 16-point explosion from Marcus Smart on five threes to start the period. The Raptors didn’t have anyone to pick up the slack as they shot just 11-of-40 from three for the game and are now 21-of-80 for the series. The Raptors were led by OG Anunoby, who had 20 points but didn’t get enough from the likes of Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet or Pascal Siakam who were a combined to shoot just 35 per cent.
The Raptors did show their teeth in the third quarter, as they were able to punch a hole in the Celtics and find some daylight, taking a 78-70 lead into the fourth quarter on the strength of an 11-0 late in the period that had briefly pushed Toronto’s lead to 12 — and had all the earmarks of the level of play Toronto won a title with a year ago. There was no better symbol than Lowry diving for a steal on a Smart pass, throwing the ball ahead to VanVleet who converted the lay-up. The Raptors got a bonus when a coach’s challenge by Nick Nurse found that Smart had shoved Siakam on the break, rather than the other way around. The result was a three-point play as Siakam added a free throw to VanVleet’s lay-up, but it was the effort that mattered just as much.
The concern heading into Game 2 wasn’t so much would the Raptors win or lose — although winning was obviously the plan — but it was an awareness that if they didn’t come out with the requisite amount of energy, they might not win another game in the series.
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There were some technical adjustments required, but none of them would matter if Toronto didn’t play with a certain amount of gusto.
“There’s always some things, some schemes and adjustments we have to make, both sides of the ball, that’s for sure,” said Nurse before the game. “But again, it’s a combination of adjustments and getting our motor going a little bit better, running a little harder, playing a little faster, just a little bit more mentally and physically in tune. But yeah, there’s adjustments to be made.”
Having his team come to play hasn’t been a concern more than a handful of times this season and perhaps not in the playoffs since perhaps Game 1 against Orlando last season when the Raptors came out flat of Game 2 against Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference Finals, when Toronto was blown out and came back to Toronto down 0-2.
In each of those instances the Raptors responded, and Nurse was hopeful they would again Tuesday night.
“Well, you gotta point out that the effort wasn’t playoff-like, wasn’t anything near we wanted it to be,” said Nurse. “But in saying that, they usually are pretty self-policing. They understand it, they’re not afraid of the truth. And the ball goes up, they get their chance to try and rectify those issues.”
The Raptors still trailed 50-48 heading into the third quarter but there were plenty of promising signs.
The biggest one was that Toronto came out with some fire and it was some of the individuals who were missing in action in Game 1 that sparked things.
Siakam got to work early, getting touches deep in the paint and successfully found a cutting Marc Gasol — another suspect in Game 1 — for a quick early hoop before converting a couple of scores from the post as Nurse was clearly trying to establish a struggling Siakam more in his comfort zone.
VanVleet — 3-of-14 in Game 1 — saw the ball go in early, stepping into for a foul line jumper and converting a steal into a one-man fastbreak as the Raptors jumped out to a quick 15-9 lead.
It was a start.
The Celtics have too many weapons to be easily shut down or blown out, but emerging from the first quarter tied 28-28 was a welcome development after having essentially frittered the game away in the first quarter of Game 1.
Both teams dug in defensively at that point, as Toronto was held to 39.1 per cent and Boston to 37.5 per cent in the second quarter, but the difference in the two teams was Jayson Tatum — who is looking every inch a superstar to this point in the season and certainly in the series. No one on either team can create something out of nothing so easily.
Even against a physical defensive effort with pressure on the ball at every chance, Tatum found a way to get his game off as he scored nine of his first-half 16 points in the period on his way to a game-high 34.
The Raptors get another chance to establish themselves in the series in Game 3 on Thursday. They can take some comfort in not having to travel to Boston for it, but that’s cold comfort at this point.
