Like the state of California, preseason basketball games are for dreaming. And it doesn’t get too much dreamier, at least on the basketball court, than the game Matt Thomas had against the Charlotte Hornets.
He finished with 16 points and five assists, but even more impressive than his numbers was his contribution beyond the shooting. I mean, yes, we should start with the shooting: it’s real, and it’s wonderful.
But Thomas proved himself so much more than a shooter against the Hornets. And only a few nights after saying that the Raptors who won consistent rotation minutes would be all-around players, Nick Nurse acknowledged that Thomas was exactly that.
“He’s a shooter, obviously, but he’s also a good player,” said Nurse of Thomas. “He cuts and he moves. He does the right thing on defense. He’ll get overmatched once in a while size-wise or strength-wise or whatever. But I think for as much as he does at the other end, and his good decision-making at both ends, I’m wanting to lock him into a role this year where he’s a big factor.”
So Thomas seems to have the inside track on a rotation spot. That’s great news for a Raptors team needing offensive punch; it means Thomas should indeed be a big factor. But what specifically did Thomas do so well to earn such high praise?
The passing, first and foremost, was great for Thomas. He had some solid pass-aheads and quick-hitters that earned him assists because shooters made their shots. But he had a few dimes wherein the advantage was created solely on his own merit, like this nifty jump-pass to Yuta Watanabe.
“I came off a quick pindown and my guy was chasing behind me, and the big was up,” said Thomas of the situation. “I’m coming off that, jumping up in the air expecting to shoot. But if the big’s up and there’s two guys on me, it’s a split-second, instant decision to make that read and make that pass.”
Having those instantaneous reads in the bag gives Thomas another way to take advantage when defenses overplay him. The more ways he can hurt defenses by leveraging his shooting, the more effective he will become. And even beyond those passes created by his jumper, so too can he shift into a playmaking role, attack the paint, and see what it does to the defense. He started this play by catching the ball like Manu Ginobili, accelerating into the ball rather than stopping to create the threat of a shot. And he used that momentum to draw help and make the easy, but high-calorie, pass.
Thomas spoke after the game about emerging as a playmaker. He’s shown that ability. But he was a playmaker in other ways; his relocations drew defenders, allowing others to cut into open spaces. He cut into the heart of the defense for layups. His offense was a complete package, creating or at least adding to plays even when he didn’t touch the ball.
Perhaps more important for Thomas’ future in the rotation, his defense was solid. He’s clearly improved from last year, which he and Nurse readily admitted. I asked Thomas after the game how he went about improving his defense.
“A lot of it is just watching film,” explained Thomas. “Learning our schemes and our defensive concepts and principles to the point where they’re second nature.”
“Teams are going to target me, and they’re gonna go at me, so that’s something that I need to hold myself accountable to.”
“If you’re smart, and you know where to be, and you know the rotations, and you know guys’ tendencies that you’re defending, whether you’re forcing right, left, they’re a shooter, close out short, fly them off the line, etcetera,” he said, “if you know all those details, it’s going to help you out.”
And Thomas showed a grasp of the details. He slowed opponents just enough in the post to allow help to come. In fact, he defended in the post three times against Charlotte; the three possessions resulted in one turnover, two missed shots, and zero points total.
Thomas had some trouble at times taking indirect lines around opponents’ screens. But on one occasion he was able to recover and still impact the play, which resulted in a stop; then he ran down to the corner for good measure and hit a triple in transition. Even middling defense is outweighed by his offensive game. But his defense wasn’t middling. When opponents tried to pick on him on the perimeter, he was solid at staying in his stance and contesting. He’s never going to be a stopper, but as he said after the game, smart players can always fit in on the defense end. He’s showing that knack.
And because preseason games are dreams, just wisps of enjoyment rather than real, meaningful basketball games, there were many more positives in Toronto’s win.
Beyond Thomas, there was plenty to love. OG Anunoby was Toronto’s best player on the night, defending like a demon and showing an improved handle and attack. Malachi Flynn looked spectacular and played like a heady veteran, committing no turnovers while orchestrating the attack for much of the night. This may be burying the lede a bit — in that this could be the most significant possible development of all, in terms of impacting Toronto’s future play — but Pascal Siakam’s jumper looks better. He has discarded any echo of a hitch in his three-point stroke, and he’s improved his release speed. After starting slow, Chris Boucher recorded some spectacular blocks in the fourth quarter, finishing with three to his name.
It was almost a perfect game for Toronto, counter-balanced only by the fact that it didn’t matter a bit. Opponents rarely try in preseason. Even for Toronto, Fred VanVleet and the other veterans had little interested on the offensive end; good performances don’t mean much in preseason. But Nurse said that Thomas should have a consistent role this year. All the rest may be a drop in the ocean, but Thomas’ improvement seems real enough to impact Nurse’s evaluation. That matters.
And look: ultimately, very few of these extrapolations will be true and remain that way into the season. It’s preseason. For now, we’re just dreaming.
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.
