Bending in some ways, solid in others, the Raptors dominate the Wolves
From the opening tip, the Timberwolves had a fantastic idea of how to attack the Raptors on both ends of the floor. Some of the institutional knowledge of the Raptors bleeds into how the Wolves play. Chris Finch’s playbook, Nick Nurse’s playbook, the way both teams defend, it’s all there. Finch left the Raptors in the middle of the Tampa season to coach these Wolves. The game plan for the Raptors was as finetuned as what Dwane Casey might cook up, only the Raptors didn’t completely fail from downtown. This is the state of the Raptors: a game plan isn’t enough, you need luck or elite talent to beat them. Maybe both. They’re damn good, and tough to beat. Unless you’re the Pistons, of course.
Equipped with a gritty point of attack guard in Patrick Beverley, a terrific defensive communicator in D’Angelo Russell, and length, size, and tenacity elsewhere; the Wolves marched out a defense that crowded, absorbed, and recovered in all the right places to nullify how the Raptors love to attack. Basically, they overloaded on Siakam and asked that the Raptors either score via Fred VanVleet’s pick n’ roll offense or hit more jump shots. The aforementioned length and tenacity helped them run shooters off the line and funnel the ball into swaths of help defense. However, not all things stick in an NBA game.
“For sure. Made a lot of plays. They were loading up on him. You know, the run he’s on, what he’s doing, what he did last game, the player he is, he brings a certain amount of attention to himself.” Gary Trent Jr. said of Pascal Siakam’s play after the win. “He did a great job of facilitating, finding everybody tonight, and getting guys open shots.” Asked to elaborate on Siakam’s mindset and overall game, Trent Jr. said this: “It’s just a testament to who Pascal is. What he does for his game, how he showcases his game, how he works on his game. He gets after it, he works on it everyday and really perfects his craft to the best of his abilities. And, you know, that’s about it. Great talent. Great player. I’m glad he’s on our team.”
Siakam started the game 1-7 from the field. The Raptors were shooting well, but on low volume, and the offense was sputtering. But, they leaned harder than ever into what makes them successful: Siakam’s overwhelming ability to change the complexion of defenses and find what works. Schematics are on thing, executing them is another. Who breaks first, Siakam or the Wolves? Between the middle of the 2nd quarter and the end of the 3rd, the Raptors steamrolled the Wolves by 22 points. The dependable Siakam drive, collapse, kick out offense was supercharged behind the terrific 3-point stylings of OG Anunoby and Gary Trent Jr. – who combined for 35 points in that timeframe and 6 made threes between the two of them. The driving lanes the Wolves were protecting grew larger, the recoveries out to shooters were less potent, and the Raptors never relinquished the stranglehold on the game they seized over this time frame.
The hit ahead passes came more often as the Raptors started to challenge the Wolves vertically. They weren’t beating the Raptors back up the court with multiple bodies anymore. The game opened up, Scottie Barnes shook off the tough first half performance, and led the Raptors in scoring the rest of the way. No longer punished by his lack of shooting touch, he punched into the heart of the Wolves defense over and over.
Defensively, the Raptors struggled to contain Towns early on. It’s no small thing to stop him from scoring. He’s got soft touch at the rim, can transport himself there with his own dribble, can punish you on your own glass, and given the percentage and volume, is putting up the best 3-point shooting seasons from big men basically every year. Coming out of halftime, Precious Achiuwa started in place of Scottie Barnes so the Raptors could provide more resistance to Towns. For months now, Achiuwa has been the Raptors solve for many things defensively – Embiid, Harden, Trae, Giannis, you name it – and he didn’t disappoint at all in this one. Fewer blow-by’s for Towns, fewer manhandled possessions on the block, and more time for the likes of VanVleet to swoop in with dig-downs to generate turnovers and disrupt the timing on a bunch of passing reads.
“I just thought he (Achiuwa) was really into the defensive end, and he attacked him (Towns) pretty good, was giving great effort on him and stuff. I just thought that, sometimes if you don’t – you know when the matchup is for Towns for sure, he’s starting the half, and if you try to wait and time it, then all of the sudden you put your guy in, and he’s out (Towns) taking his break. So, I just wanted that. But, Precious did a great job defensively on him with effort and I just wanted to give him that look.” – Nick Nurse on his decision to start Precious Achiuwa over Scottie Barnes in the second half
Achiuwa allowed the Raptors to be more aggressive in how they swarmed Towns, and it took the wind out of the Wolves offense. 7 points on 6 possessions, no assists, and his team getting moved farther and farther away from victory. And this really isn’t to say that Towns is soft, overrated, or anything like that. Towns is as advertised. He is tremendous. But, the Raptors played excellent defense on him.
Trusting the process and the talent on offense, making the correct changes on defense. Nurse pulled the right levers from the sideline, and the players responded exactly how you’d want them to. Usually the marriage between player performance and coaching decisions are clunky. So, it’s important we highlight it when they harmonize. The road to 50-32 continues.
Have a blessed day.
Bending in some ways, solid in others, the Raptors dominate the Wolves originated on Raptors Republic.