Jazz outplayed.
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Raptors find a way to come out on top in Salt Lake City | Toronto Sun
“I don’t know who makes excuses, but we don’t,” Lowry said after the game. “Nothing we do is an excuse … Our team is unbelievable with just staying in the moment and understanding what we have to do. Nick is really good. People got to start looking at him and giving him some credit for a lot of things we do.
“The way we operate, the way we do things, the way we go about our business, we’re pros. Guys come in and do their job and get their work in. There is a real seriousness to what we do.”
Pascal Siakam says it is just something that has sort of been forced on the Raptors and they have made the best of it.
“I think it’s just a mentality,” he said. “I think going through the season with different scenarios and people out and others not playing, I think we just built that type of mentality that no matter what happens, we just stick together as a team and we try to work the game.
“It’s going to be a long game but the most important thing is just stay together, don’t panic and just keep executing.”
That approach has served the Raptors well all season and Monday night was just one more example of it.
The Raptors took their biggest lead at 10 points in the game a third of the way through the final quarter and looked to be in good shape. Joe Ingles then almost single-handedly took care of that with a couple of three pointers and a runner down the lane.
That got the sold-old crowd at Vivent Smart Home Arena back in it and soon enough the Jazz had a lead and again it looked like the long trip and the short bench were going to catch up to the Raptors.
Utah Jazz can’t make plays down the stretch, fall to Toronto Raptors – Deseret News
Failing to convert on opportunities to cut the lead at critical moments was a theme in the second half for the Jazz. For instance, a Donovan Mitchell 3-pointer cut the deficit to four at 63-59 in the third quarter and Utah got a steal soon after, but Bojan Bogdanovic couldn’t convert a layup to cut it to two and the Raptors made a layup on their end to stretch the edge to six.
A short time later after a Royce O’Neale 3 trimmed the deficit to three at 65-62, Mike Conley got a steal but O’Neale missed an open 3 that would have tied things up. Then after Toronto missed a shot, Bogdanovic missed an easy try at the rim and Raptors guard Kyle Lowry made a 3 to put the lead at six again.
Then down six as the third quarter wound to a close, the Jazz had numerous chances to cut the deficit to three but couldn’t do it.
“There’s a lot of little things, whether it’s making an open shot when we had one … those possessions are hard for us because you’re defending against numbers the other way, so we put pressure on our defense when we don’t convert,” Utah head coach Quin Snyder said.
Finally Utah broke through with a strong start in the fourth quarter and took the lead on Gobert’s dunk, but then couldn’t close.
For the night, Gobert scored just six points, Bogdanovic had just five and Mitchell added just 11. The Jazz’s bench was excellent, but the starting group as a whole struggled mightily. Mitchell was a -30, Bogdanovic was a -23, Gobert was a -22 and O’Neale a -21 (playing a bunch with reserves, Conley was a +1).
Jazz starters struggle, but their bench performs well in loss to Raptors – The Salt Lake Tribune
As a unit, the Jazz were a plus-44` with Ingles, Bradley, Georges Niang and Jordan Clarkson played. The starters, meanwhile, were a collective minus-89 for the Jazz. “I feel like the second group, when we get in there, we try to keep the progress going and not slack on defense, just try to get stops and score,” Bradley said. “I feel like we’ve been doing a really good job in recent games — and today, too.”
Coach Quin Snyder said he liked the way they played, particular in communication on the defensive end. He singled out Bradley and Ingles as players he thought played well, and said at times he played through Ingles on offense.
“I thought they did a good job in every aspect of the game,” Snyder said.
Utah’s bench has been playing well of late, giving the Jazz opportunities to get back into the game. Rudy Gobert said the bench was instrumental against the Boston Celtics, a game they won. He added that bench play will be important once the playoffs come around.
“It’s definitely great to have the bench give us a lift,” Gobert said. It’s a big plus for us. I think the best teams in the world have a very good bench. … If our bench keeps playing that way, I think it’s going to be huge for us.” Only Mike Conley was a net positive at plus-11. Donovan Mitchell was minus-26.
The Triple Team: Jazz All-Stars come up short as team struggles against an elite defense again this season – The Salt Lake Tribune
Jazz scared of Raptors’ defensive length
The Jazz have been the ninth-ranked offense in the league this season. Hey, that’s pretty good!
Unfortunately, the results show that that top-10 rank is mostly due to their rank against middling-to-poor defenses. According to CleaningTheGlass, they’re 5th in the league in offensive rating when attacking the worst 10 defenses, 4th in the league when attacking the middle 10 defenses, but they drop to 17th in the league when facing teams with top 10 defenses.
In particular, I think very long, athletic defensive units like L.A.’s, Toronto’s, Milwaukee’s, and Philadelphia’s have given the Jazz the most problems. Interestingly, against the top-10 defenses, it’s not that they struggle more in just one of the Four Factors… they’re just a little bit worse in all of them. They shoot the ball about 2% worse, they turn the ball over 0.4% more, they get 2% fewer offensive rebounds, and they go to the line 3% less. That’s the reason for the change.
After tonight, I was also curious after the Jazz botched their transition play so badly. They only scored 21 points off of 20 Toronto turnovers, and really did seem to have many, many more opportunities to score. Here, he strips Pascal Siakam — great play — but is too hesitant to take the layup against Siakam that he can’t take advantage of either the 1-on-0 or the 2-on-1. He’s probably right that any layup he takes is going to get blocked, but driving his body up then dishing it back seems like the right move.
Raptors overcome Powell’s injury as stars come up clutch – Sportsnet.ca
More than just a ticket
Nick Nurse had to fight before the ball was even tipped on Monday, with Utah security asking to see his ticket as he made his way to the court pre-game. Nurse’s work didn’t get any easier once the game was underway, as Powell’s early injury — and Anunoby heading to the locker room in the first quarter after losing a contact lens — forced him to adjust his rotations.
Once again missing Gasol, who sat out the tail end of the back-to-back for injury maintenance, and VanVleet, Nurse gave us another example of why he’s a serious contender for coach of the year honours by maximizing the talent available to him. Patrick McCaw logged over 42 minutes with Matt Thomas and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson also contributing when called upon. With the game on the line in the second half, Nurse decided to roll out a seven-man rotation to secure a fourth consecutive win.
Toronto improved to 23-9 on the road and put some more breathing room between itself and the Boston Celtics in the race for the coveted second seed in the East. Now 3 1/2 games up on the slumping Celtics with 18 to play, Nurse’s Raptors are the heavy favourites to finish the year at No. 2.
Big dogs step up
With the team desperate for scoring options, it was the Big 3 of Serge Ibaka, Pascal Siakam and Kyle Lowry that carried the load. Ibaka finished with 27 points and 13 rebounds, Siakam flirted with a triple-double with 27 of his own to go along with 11 rebounds and eight assists, and Lowry chipped in with 21 points, seven assists and five rebounds. The all-star point guard hit the biggest shot of the night on a deep three late in the clock to put the Raptors up by five points with 2:30 left in the fourth quarter.
Powell, Lowry lift Raptors over Kings for 3rd straight victory | CBC Sports
Gasol impactful in return
“That’s one thing where you don’t want to let your teammates down, you don’t want to let your coach down because he trusted you to be in that situation,” Lowry said. “I appreciate Nick for believing in me, believing I could play without fouling out.”
Siakam took over the scoring load late and helped the Raptors to their third straight win since a three-game skid.
Norman Powell had 31 points, Serge Ibaka added 15 points and 10 rebounds, and OG Anunoby scored 12 for the Raptors. Marc Gasol had three points and two rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench after missing 15 games with a left hamstring injury.
De’Aaron Fox scored 28 points to pace the Kings. Alex Len and Kent Bazemore added 15 apiece off the bench.
Sacramento had won seven of nine since the all-star break but dropped into a tie with New Orleans for ninth place in the West. The Kings and Pelicans are four games behind Memphis for the final playoff spot in the conference.
After another injury, Raptors show the strength of their next-man-up mentality – The Athletic
A few moments into the road-trip-ending game Monday night in Utah, Norman Powell sprained his left ankle. Trying to recover after Jazz guard Mike Conley had beaten him along the baseline, Powell collided with OG Anunoby, who was helping his fellow swingman at the rim. Anunoby, a veritable brick house, hit Powell with his backside, and Powell fell to the floor, awkwardly crumpling with most of his weight on his left leg.
The narrative at that point seemed simple: poor Norm. Powell has already had his best season as a pro interrupted twice — first due to a separated shoulder, then thanks to a broken finger. Each time, he was playing career-best basketball. After his latest comeback, he scored at least 22 points in his first five games back, the final three of which earned him Eastern Conference player of the week honours. No matter what happened in the Jazz game, it seemed like Powell’s injury would be the defining moment of the night.
Perhaps, given some time, that is how it will seem in hindsight. In the short term, though, Powell’s injury just gave the Raptors a chance to prove how tough they are. In winning 101-92 against one of the hottest teams in the league, on the second game of a back-to-back set no less, they finished their five-game sojourn 4-1. That is damned impressive. And it is not only that the Raptors are excelling with a next-man-up philosophy. Instead, it seems as if each individual Raptors player becomes an even better version of himself the more undermanned the team becomes.
Siakam, Lowry come up big to lead Raptors past Kings – Sportsnet.ca
Siakam scored 11 of his 23 points in the final 2 1/2 minutes, Toronto got a big fourth quarter from Lowry and the Raptors held on to beat the Kings 118-113 on Sunday night.
“This is so good for us to be in these late games and these teams are playing awesome against us,” Nurse said. “It’s great that we have to bring such a level of tenacity to match them. I’m good with them going either way as long as we’re playing our butts off. That’s part of the league.”
Lowry scored 13 of his 30 points in the final quarter after picking up his fifth foul. He shot 5 of 7 in the fourth, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 3:20 left.
“That’s one thing where you don’t want to let your teammates down, you don’t want to let your coach down because he trusted you to be in that situation,” Lowry said. “I appreciate Nick for believing in me, believing I could play without fouling out.”
Siakam took over the scoring load late and helped the Raptors to their third straight win since a three-game skid.
Norman Powell had 31 points, Serge Ibaka added 15 points and 10 rebounds, and OG Anunoby scored 12 for the Raptors. Marc Gasol had three points and two rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench after missing 15 games with a left hamstring injury.
De’Aaron Fox scored 28 points to pace the Kings. Alex Len and Kent Bazemore added 15 apiece off the bench.
Sacramento had won seven of nine since the All-Star break but dropped into a tie with New Orleans for ninth place in the West. The Kings and Pelicans are four games behind Memphis for the final playoff spot in the conference.
Not quite textbook, but Raptors get it done down the stretch against Kings | Toronto Sun
Whatever the reason, the Raptors were far more effective in keeping the Kings from beating them from distance than they were in shutting down the paint.
In the end it didn’t matter, though, as the Raptors, as they are wont to do, still found a way to victory, pulling out a last-minute 118-113 win for their third in a row and third in four games on this five-game road trip, which concludes Monday night in Utah.
It doesn’t seem to matter to this team whether momentum has swung to an opponent or whether the ball hasn’t been falling early on for them. They just find a way.
“There’s really no reason to get rattled, to be honest with you,” head coach Nick Nurse said. “We love it that we won this game, but if we would have dropped it, it’s not that big a deal. Seriously, it’s so good for us to be in these late games, these teams that are playing awesome against us, it’s great that we have to bring such a level of tenacity to match them.
“And I think, you know, I’m good with them going either way as long as we’re playing our butts off. I think that’s part of the league and part of the thing. But to answer again, the maturity of those guys is showing. Serge and Norm and those guys are more mature basketball players because their skills have improved and they should be confident in it.”
Five takeaways from the Toronto Raptors five-game West Coast road trip | NBA.com Canada | The official site of the NBA
Pascal Siakam’s search for consistency
There’s a lot of weight on the shoulders of Pascal Siakam in his first season as the Raptors go-to guy, but that’s to be expected when you’re named an All-Star starter.
The 25-year-old’s consistency has wavered at times this season, and this recent road trip was no different. He had some great games, and some not-so-great games, and Toronto really needs their star forward to bring it night-in and night-out if they’re going to have a shot at making another deep postseason run.
Siakam flopped in the Raptors loss to the Nuggets to kick off the road trip – he scored just 16 points shooting 6-for-21 (28.6%) from the field and 1-for-7 (14.3%) from three while Denver’s All-Star had one of his best games of the season.
He bounced back in a big way with 33 points and seven boards against the Suns, but shriveled in Toronto’s very next game against the Warriors, going 5-for-17 (29.4%) from the field and 0-for-7 from beyond the arc despite his team pulling off a win without his presence felt.
Siakam closed the road trip strong, coming up clutch in the win over the Kings, stuffing the stat sheet while burying some massive buckets down the stretch. He then went for a career-high eight assists against the Jazz in a near-triple-double effort with 27 points and 11 rebounds.
Utah Jazz winning streak comes to an end against the Toronto Raptors – SLC Dunk
Alright second half. I was really hoping that Toronto would lose their legs. How dare I hope for a rest advantage. Anyways, apparently Serge Ibaka is the 3 point champ now. I swear he hit every one he took tonight! Also, Kyle Lowry is low-key one of the worst floppers in the NBA. He just launches his body sideways and because he’s so small it looks like contact. Most of the time it’s not. Drives me crazy. Honestly, the Raptors got a very friendly whistle in this one.
4th quarter. Whoof. They were getting out hustled on the break and on the boards. Utah is one of the best rebounding teams in the league, yet let the Raptors come in and have like a +20 rebounding advantage. That. Can’t Happen. Well, Jazz climb back in it and have all the momentum in the world. Joe Ingles is rolling like he hasn’t in weeks, which is an absolute joy to watch. The crowd is as loud as ever and it feels like a playoff game. But down the stretch they just couldn’t get the buckets they needed, Rudy lost his cool and got ejected, and the Jazz found themselves losing to another 7-man team. Coulda shoulda woulda.
Somehow, someway these Raptors always seem to find a way | Basketball | Sports | The Chronicle Herald
The Jazz, meanwhile, was here in Utah waiting on them and playing extremely well, having won five in a row and seemingly just hitting its stride.
Throw in the fact that one of those starters for the Raptors lasted just two minutes into the game before he was literally carried off the floor by teammates and the odds of pulling out another win seemed to be sinking at about the same rate as the stock exchange these days.
Oh and the Raptors were still without both Fred VanVleet and Marc Gasol, who did return Sunday but was not quite up to a back-to-back quite so soon after returning to the lineup.
But undermanned is not exactly new to these Raptors. They’ve been there all year.
But a sold out Vivint Smart Home Arena wasn’t going to make this one easy.
The Raptors took their biggest lead at 10 points in the game a third of the way through the final quarter and looked to be in good shape. Joe Ingles almost single-handedly took care of that with a couple of three pointers and a runner down the lane.
That got the crowd back in it and soon enough the Jazz had a lead and again it looked like the long trip and the short bench were going to catch up to the Raptors.
Again that was incorrect.
First OG Anunoby hit his first three of the game and then Kyle Lowry, as he has done so many times this year, bailed out his team with an end-of-the-shot clock three-point prayer from well back of the three-point line to put Toronto up five.
That lead was never given back as Toronto held on for a 101-92 win to put a nice cap on a 4-1 road trip that began with a loss in Denver.
Lowry finished the game with 21 points and seven assists and played 43 minutes. Serge Ibaka was huge in this one as well with 27 points and 13 rebounds in 37 minutes.
Not to be outdone Pascal Siakam, who is carving out a nice little finishing touch this last month or so had a 27-point, 11-rebound night himself.
Toronto Raptors guard Norman Powell will not return vs. Utah Jazz with ankle injury | NBA.com Canada | The official site of the NBA
Norman Powell, left ankle sprain, did not return for the game. Powell collided with his own teammate OG Anunoby just two minutes into Monday’s contest, tweaking his left ankle. The injury comes at an extremely bad time, as Powell was playing the best basketball of his career which just led to an Eastern Conference Player of the Week nod.
Powell had just returned 10 days ago after missing nine games due to a broken finger, but bounced back to average 28.0 points, shooting 52.7% from the field and 39.5% from three in the five-game span leading up to Monday’s game. Before that, it was a shoulder injury from mid-December to mid-January that caused Powell to miss 11 games.
