RJ Barrett & Gradey Dick lift the Raptors over the Kings in overtime on Vince’s Jersey Retirement Night
Tonight everything was tinged with a bit of Vince Carter, and a bit of purple. However, there was still basketball to be played. The best basketball game of the young season, to be exact.
This is just a quick gamer. My piece on the ceremony of it all will be out tomorrow.
Before the game I talked to Mike Brown who raved about the steps Gradey Dick has taken, his endless and boundless bouncing around the court, and the unbelievable amount of gravity that Dick has. That was the first thing he mentioned, that special gravity.
So, it only made sense that the Raptors opening play featured a stagger screen for Dick to pull the defense a little bit farther up court, then a flare to pull them to the other side, then finally, Dick ran baseline to plant a flex screen for RJ Barrett to free him up into space wide open under the bucket. Post entry, foul, free throws. The Raptors got on the board in a hurry and did so by sending Dick sprinting all across the map. A strong start that continued throughout the first quarter.
Coming into this game, the Raptors had been losing their first quarters by 8.8 points on average. An absurdity really, to be down by nearly double-digits on average in the opening frame. Digging holes to crawl out of. It was extremely encouraging to watch all the different guys who contributed in the first quarter — Jonathan Mogbo looked good, Chris Boucher scored 12 points on 5/5 shooting, and Ja’Kobe Walter got to measure his quick-twitch style against De’Aaron Fox, and Jamison Battle canned two triples — but more importantly, the Raptors won the first quarter by 8. Abandon the shovels! Grab the climbing shoes! We are ascending!
Of course, the Kings aren’t lacking in talent and they had DeMar DeRozan to draw 5 fouls in a span of 3 minutes, and they had Malik Monk to go ballistic at the drop of a hat. However, the Raptors kept the pace. It turns out that you can hand Barrett a handsome amount of possessions and expect good outcomes on the offensive end. He was so willing to barrel to the basket, and just as willing to spray the ball out if he saw too many bodies. That is, full stop, so much of what you need to do to be a primary initiator – and he does it.
Davion Mitchell was in the process of giving Fox an off night. Ochai Agbaji scored in transition, off of cuts, and out of the corner. Enough was happening, even without Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley, for the Raptors to take a lead into halftime.
Vince Carter’s jersey retirement at halftime was electric. The whole crowd screaming at the top of their lungs, Carter screaming back and flexing as tears poured from his eyes. Masai Ujiri taking the mic to hype the crowd up. It was tremendous. My piece on that will be out tomorrow, but I’ll remember it for the rest of my life. Back to basketball.
Agbaji & Barrett kept their foot on the gas pedal. Each charging hard in transition and cashing a three. Dick & Walter both flung their bodies at the rim to get to the line. Boucher just kept scoring. The wheels kept turning. Perhaps most importantly, though? The Raptors weren’t being decimated by two-man actions with Domantas Sabonis. They fought hard at the level of the screen to make sure that the Kings had to do more work than just the primary action to find buckets. Ball reversals and quick seals, identifying pinch-post opportunities, the Kings had to break from their offense to find their, erm, offense. They still scored, of course, but every team scores.
The Raptors held serve and went into the 4th quarter with a 10-point lead.
Turnovers. The start of the fourth was marred with turnovers from the Raptors. Bad passes. Getting picked from a standstill. A total lack of awareness in some cases. For a Kings team that was having to work really hard to get their game off in isolation, allowing those easy points on the fastbreak was a gut punch. Barrett calmed things down though, with a weak-hand, live-dribble skip pass to Agbaji in the corner. Agbaji canned the triple to put the Raptors up 9, and to vault himself into the 20-point club for his first time as a Raptor.
The Raptors took punches, but they always had counters tucked away. Sure, Malik Monk can boogie and hit a mid-range jumper, but Dick can do the exact thing on the other end with a step-back middy, and then on the following play, steal a point-to-wing pass and lob Agbaji on the fast break. Then Dick can come down and hit another fader off the baseline. Counter punches.
Then, in a flash, the Kings scored 7 points (5 off of free throws) and fouled Jakob Poeltl out. No natural matchup for Sabonis any longer, and especially after Poeltl had done so well. Mogbo was up to the challenge though. Switching out onto the ball handler on the first handoff he guarded and getting a block. On the following play, Barrett rumbled to the rim with gumption, with vigor, and fought his way to the line for two free throws. Then Dick slipped out of a back screen to can a triple. Barrett got a strip on Sabonis and came off a step up screen to knock down a pull-up triple. DeRozan came back and hit one of his patented toe on the line 2-point jumpers! On the next play DeRozan got to the bucket for a layup! Heavyweight shotmaking! Raptors up 1 with 19 seconds to play. Madness.
We play the foul game and Barrett headed to the line with 11 seconds left – where he would split the pair. 120-118. DeRozan took the ball to the cup, missed, and Sabonis got the tap in. Barrett launched a halfcourt heave, and we got free basketball.
Barrett grinded for a full 19 seconds of the shot clock to find a floater to open the scoring in overtime, and then he found Boucher on the break to put the Raptors up 4. Then, as if it was the only way anything could ever happen — and both Coach Brown and Coach Rajakovic were prophets when they warned of fouling DeRozan — Mogbo fouled him on a jumper for an and-one and his 6th foul of the game. Dick got to the line for two, DeRozan canned yet another pull-up jumper.
Two possessions in a row the Kings hunted Dick. The first resulted in a long missed two from DeRozan. The second? Well, Dick picked Fox’s pocket to send Barrett up court for an and-one on the fast break. The next play down, DeRozan canned a pull-up triple. Unbelievable. The Raptors had a break down on the other end, Boucher tossed the ball haphazardly towards Dick, Ellis jumped for it, but Dick came down with the ball and sprinted into the paint for a floater to put the Raptors up 3.
We play the free throw game again, and Barrett was sent to the line – where he would miss both. However, the Kings would miss every shot they took to try and even it up.
Barrett & Dick led the rag-tag Raptors in a true shootout, and a win. A hell of a game.
Have a blessed day.
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