One — This was a great response after the no-show in Boston. The Raptors played a much more comprehensive game, were overflowing with effort and courage from the start, and finished strong despite an equally plucky showing by the undermanned Sixers.
Toronto looked to have the game in hand, but Philadelphia launched a quick 9-0 run to regain the lead at home, and it was shaping up to be a repeat of the Cavaliers game, only this time the Raptors were able to execute effectively in crunch time and sink the Sixers with two dagger threes. It was an especially satisfying result because all eight players who suited up for the Raptors gave positive contributions that culminated in the win.
Two — Fred VanVleet keeps playing at an All-Star level. He ensured the Raptors got off to a strong start offensively, as he directly created the first nine points of the game with a dish to Scottie Barnes, a triple, two free throws, and a layup as part of his 13-point outburst in the first quarter.
VanVleet then settled more into a team game, but made a number of momentum-shifting plays in the third quarter as the Raptors were surging ahead, where VanVleet would beat multiple defenders before finishing with exquisite skill at the basket over top several shot blockers. Then at the end, VanVleet returned to close out the win with a banked-in three, a genius cross-court feed to Svi Mykhailiuk in the opposite corner, and the last triple that closed the book on the Sixers.
VanVleet has been the best player all season for the Raptors, and they can always count on him.
Three — VanVleet’s current averages are eerily similar to that of Kyle Lowry at the same age. The age-27 year was Lowry’s breakout and the first time he was given sole command over a team, just as it is for VanVleet. They’re both at 18 points, seven assists, five rebounds and 1.5 steals while shooting roughly 43 per cent from the field and 38 per cent from three to go along with heady defence.
The Raptors have been blessed to go from Lowry at the helm for a decade to now having VanVleet grow into the role. The one quality most similar between the two players is their fearlessness. VanVleet sliced through the trees on offence while gnawing away at bigs below the basket with his heavy hands, just in the same way that Lowry would always fight to keep the Raptors in games.
Four — OG Anunoby threw two perfect passes to ensure the victory. Both times he drove into the paint, drawing multiple defenders with him, before kicking it to the opposite corner. On the first play with the Raptors down two, Anunoby used a screen from Precious Achiuwa and got all the way under the basket before throwing it to the corner trusting that Gary Trent Jr. would duck down to the corner and be open for the shot which he was.
The next trip down, Anunoby grabbed the rebound and was initially planning to walk it up slowly, except he realized that Andre Drummond was tracking him in transition and so Anunoby quickened his pace to ensure the mismatch, before getting past Drummond easily off the dribble and getting the crosscourt feed to VanVleet.
Five — The Raptors are successful playing through VanVleet and Anunoby as the two pillars of their offence and should keep it that way. There is the question of how Pascal Siakam slots in, but right now the answer should be clear he’s third behind the other two.
The offence lost its rhythm in losses to the Nets and Celtics when the Raptors tried to clear out for Siakam. While a large part of that is rust from his injury, there’s also not as much of a need to feature him in that way as the Raptors did in previous seasons. VanVleet and Anunoby are routinely seeing extra defenders, and it’s up to the rest of the team to slot in around them, which includes Siakam.
Six — This was the Chris Boucher that everyone was waiting for. Boucher carried the Raptors’ scoring off the bench, pouring in 17 points in 24 minutes, which was more than he contributed in the last six games combined. Boucher started slowly, but was pivotal in the Raptors’ third quarter run which saw them reverse a nine-point deficit and create a lead that lasted until late in the fourth.
Boucher was running hard on the break, which accounted for five of his seven baskets, and he mixed in a three to beat the buzzer and two impressive blocks to boot. Nurse went to Boucher early in the first quarter and played him at centre for the first time this season, which was a return to his role last season before he was reassigned as a wing player. That seemed to get Boucher settled in the flow, as he was able to use his speed advantage against centres that wouldn’t otherwise exist when he’s matched up with wings.
Seven — Nick Nurse managed this game perfectly. He went to Boucher off the bench after the first timeout in the first quarter, and showed trust in a struggling player and was promptly rewarded. Nurse then shifted to a zone for much of the third quarter which cut the Sixers’ dribble penetration while also allowing them to stack extra bodies on Drummond in the paint. In the fourth quarter, Nurse rode Boucher as long as he could before replacing him with Mykhailiuk, and he contributed with a three off an incisive pass from VanVleet, created two turnovers, and won a crucial offensive rebound that resulted in a three for the Raptors.
Many of the decisions looked to be on the flow, but that’s what makes Nurse such a successful coach because he’s able to make in-game adjustments to affect the outcome.
Eight — Another key adjustment was Nurse prioritizing defence over offence in the second unit. The Raptors are short on outside shooting, and Nurse’s compromise has been to keep at least two shooters on at once, which can sometimes become difficult when he goes to the second unit since three of his four best shooters are in the starting five.
To compensate, Nurse has gone to Malachi Flynn for short stretches in recent weeks, but the better option is simply to double down on size and defence instead. Nurse went with a lineup with VanVleet as the only shooter with Dalano Banton as the other guard, Barnes as the three, and with Boucher and Achiuwa in the frontcourt. Naturally, that lineup struggled to score, but the Sixers had just as hard of a time scoring against them, and that allowed the Raptors to hold the lead while also buying the starters a breather.
Nine — Barnes’ instincts are so sharp for a player of his experience. There was a gorgeous give-and-go sequence with VanVleet where Barnes worked for early post position in transition, caught the feed from VanVleet, instantly touch passed it back to VanVleet cutting through, who then kicked it out to Achiuwa wide open at the top of the floor. Unfortunately, the shot was nowhere close to falling in, but Barnes smartly got to the baseline and anticipated the miss before finishing the putback.
Ten — Trent Jr. had a quietly excellent game with 20 points and four assists. That included a promising stretch in the fourth quarter where Trent Jr. was briefly entrusted as the de facto point guard, and he got two great shots out of the pick and roll.
First, he circled downhill off a screen from Boucher, baited the help defender towards him, before serving up a perfect lob for Boucher to finish. The next trip down when Trent Jr. called for another Boucher screen, the Sixers were more conscious of the pass to the roller so they sagged back, and Trent Jr. promptly pulled up for three.
The next step in Trent Jr.’s blossoming game is to add in the playmaking aspect to complement his scoring.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
