When a good team underperforms, someone on the team has to wear it, or at least some of it.
The Toronto Raptors are struggling mightily to score against the Boston Celtics. It’s the main reason they trail their second-round series 3-2, and it’s very likely going to cost them their season — unless they can survive a pair of elimination games beginning with Game 6 Wednesday night.
So, it’s time for Marc Gasol to wear it, or at least some of it.
Understand: The Raptors aren’t slumping offensively, they are cratering.
They are the worst offensive team remaining in the NBA post-season and against the Celtics they are averaging just 99.4 points per 100 possessions — a rate that would have them trail the worst offensive team in the regular season by five points per 100 possessions.
Defensively the Raptors remain ‘fine.’ They are limiting the Celtics to 106.8 points per 100 possessions, which trails the Raptors’ 104.7 regular-season mark but would still be good for 4th in the NBA.
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But their offensive woes are so pronounced that their net-rating is -7.4 — the same as the 20-win Atlanta Hawks this season.
And how much better would their defence be if the Raptors could force Boston to take the ball out of their own net a little more, rather than pushing the ball ahead off of misses and attacking while the Raptors scramble to get set?
Things could get worse, too, as the other member of the Raptors’ centre tandem, Serge Ibaka — you know, the one who can score a little — had a walking boot on his left ankle Tuesday and is questionable for Game 6.
Ibaka has been a bright spot for the Raptors on offence, chipping in with 11.8 points per game on 51.2 per cent shooting overall and 50 per cent from three, continuing a run of mostly positive play ever since the seeding games began back on Aug. 1.
A failure to this degree has many parents, obviously, and the Celtics are a good enough defensive team to bury all but the most lethal attacks — a category the Raptors don’t fall into.
But so far the only Raptors performing at or above regular-season levels against Boston have been Ibaka and OG Anunoby. To varying degrees Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, Kyle Lowry and Norman Powell have been held responsible after games when they’ve struggled and to their credit each has had corresponding high points — Powell perhaps the exception so far, but at least the Raptors’ leading regular-season bench scorer keeps looking to score.
Maybe in Game 6 he will.
But Gasol’s offensive inability or indifference deserves its own special category. It’s almost like Raptors head coach Nick Nurse — and even segments of the Raptors fan base — have lowered their expectations for the $26-million player to the point that even him looking at the basket is worthy of an enthusiastic thumb’s up, like he’s the struggling 10-year-old on a house league team.
It’s as if his intangibles make up for Toronto playing 4-on-5 against one of the NBA’s best defences.
But even though Nurse — like any coach — defends his players in public, sometimes the shortcomings are simply too obvious to be unacknowledged.
“We don’t need a ton [of offence from him],” Nurse said Tuesday. “It’s not like we need 25 from him. But we need him to chip in with some, just because there’s opportunities there for him … that’s when we’re at our best, and we need to be at our best to win a game here.”
It’s all very strange given Gasol averaged 15.7 points a game before he was trade from Memphis to Toronto last season and this time last year led Spain to a world championship, a run highlighted by 33-point explosion by Gasol in a semi-final win over Australia.
Meanwhile Gasol has scored 27 points in five games against Boston and has yet to make a three pointer in 10 attempts, even though virtually all his three-point attempts have been wide open and uncontested.
He’s managed a single offensive rebound.
It’s a pattern.
In nine playoff starts — including four against the over-matched Brooklyn Nets in the first round — Gasol is shooting 40 per cent from the floor and is 3-of-21 from three; in seven seeding games before that he shot 6-of-21, or 28.6 per cent. Gasol is shooting 9-of-42 from deep in Florida, all while being largely ignored by the opposing defences.
The Celtics are using their big to hound the ball-handler — typically Lowry and VanVleet — after most pick-and-roll actions. By default that leaves Gasol open, and Gasol either won’t shoot or is converting wide-open shots at such an insignificant percentage that it almost doesn’t matter.
“Yeah, we certainly point ’em out, talk about ’em, show him on the film,” said Nurse. “[We] just got out of the film session – and continue to encourage him and tell him those are shots he needs to take.”
The why is a bit of a mystery. Gasol shot 40.2 per cent from deep before the 2019-20 season went on hiatus, even while in and out of the lineup due to recurring hamstring problems. He shot 38.2 per cent from three in the playoffs last year and 44.2 per cent with Toronto after arriving from Memphis.
When Gasol returned from the hiatus having lost considerable weight — remember ‘skinny Marc Gasol?’ — he made his intentions clear:
“What’s important [is] we’ll all be measured by winning games and getting another ring,” he said as the Raptors arrived at the NBA bubble at Walt Disney World Resort back in July. “That’s what we’re all for. We’re all trying to be in the best situation personally to do that.”
It hasn’t worked.
When the Raptors were rolling — they won 11 of their first 12 games in Florida — it didn’t matter and Gasol’s lack of offensive production could be written off because of contributions less obvious but no less significant, his defence and playmaking in particular.
But here’s the problem: It’s not just Gasol’s offence that has fallen off.
During last season’s championship run, Gasol was second among Raptors regulars in WinShares per 48 with .151; this season he’s last among their seven-man rotation at 0.36.
His deflections are off by nearly half (2.1 last year to 1.2 this year); he’s contesting less shots (from 9.5 to per game to 6.6) and opponents are having more success against him at the rim, converting 68 per cent of their plays compared to 60 per cent a year ago. His playmaking is his calling card offensively, but even there his assists are down and his turnovers are up.
The Raptors remain a better defensive team with him on the floor, a tribute to his smarts and will. But at what cost?
Gasol will forever be part of Raptors lore as the stabilizing veteran who was the finishing piece in a championship puzzle; making 7-foot-1, 300-pound Sixers centre Joel Embiid disappear will be his most famous trick, although his performance at the parade alone makes him deserving of a statue.
But barring a sudden reversal the 35-year-old pending free agent’s usefulness to the Raptors has largely run its course, and it will go down as a brief relationship that produced tremendous highs but ended with a whimper.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.
Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.
Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.
The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.
DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.
RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.
Takeaways
Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.
Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.
Key moment
The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.
Key stat
Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.
Up next
Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.
To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.
Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.
“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.
“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”
The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.
The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.
First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.
Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.
No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.
“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.
Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.
“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.
This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.
The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.
“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”
Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.
Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.
“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”
The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.
Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.
“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”
LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.
“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.
The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.
Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.
“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.
“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”
Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.
Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.
Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.
Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
