The Toronto Raptors finally get a much needed win by defeating the Portland Trail Blazers 117 to 105 last night. Honestly, I was expecting a loss as the Raptors were in a tail spin. Many of us were wondering if the Raptors Management would decided to start tanking the season and start trading players. However, last night’s win gave me a small glimmer of hope that the season is not yet lost. You might think I am crazy for saying that as the Raptors are still six games below 500. However, I was encouraged by the way they won last night. Here are a couple of observations that give me hope.
Toronto Raptors Finally Get a Win – More Ball Movement and Less Isolation Basketball
I was quite shocked by the ball movement the Raptors displayed on offense. The ball was swinging around the perimeter and inside and out. Players were trying to find better shots for one another as oppose to getting their own offense going. The biggest key to this was Scottie Barnes. The last few games I noticed that he has been focused on setting more screens to start the offense or to free up one of his teammates. Barnes has been playing center more and opposing centers have been sagging off him more. However, he is really using the space to initiate offense for the team. Being at the top of the key, he has become the connector for the team. The ball goes to Scottie and he moves it to the open man decisively. He will also come from that area and set some hard picks to free up a teammate to get them free and driving to the basket.
Scottie Barnes is playing a point center role like Marc Gasol use to on the Raptors. And this makes sense because Gasol had high basketball IQ and knew where to move the ball to create a shot or an advantage for a team mate. Scottie Barnes also has high basketball IQ and also knows where to move the ball. Even though he is not as big as Gasol, he is big enough to see and read the full court. He also can process information fast and can create opportunities for his teammates by his passing, screening and decision making.
As a result, the Raptors looked like a completely different team and the offense was much better. Their good offense helped their defense as they were in better position to get back on defense because they were taking quality shots. The Raptors’ offense is the best it has looked all year. Hopefully, they can build on this.
Toronto Raptors Finally Get a Win – Nick Nurse Actually Played the Bench a Bit
I was really shocked by this but Nick Nurse played his bench a bit. He actually played six players who each had nine to 13 minutes of playing time. It is not huge amounts but it is a lot more than he has been playing them. They were really effective in the second quarter when four bench players came in with Gary Trent Jr. and they increased the Raptors lead. That was really nice to see. I thought one bench player was in particular played well and that was Christina Koloko. He had eight points and four rebounds and he had a game high plus/minus of plus 20! He looked faster and more decisive on the court which is a good sign for his progress. Another benefit is that no starter played 40 mins or more which is great. The Raptors are going to need to develop their bench if they want to go anywhere this season and not run the starters into the ground. Last night was a great start to this.
Conclusion
The Raptors have a ways to go to get back into the playoff race but at least last night showed that they can play team basketball which at least can make them more competitive. Hopefully they will build on this and perhaps have some momentum going into the next few games. If they keep playing this way, who knows what could happen. But at the least they are playing some better basketball.