TORONTO – It was early in the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s surprising road win over Milwaukee, and the Raptors were leading by two points.
OG Anunoby had just grabbed a defensive rebound and was bringing the ball up the court, something that Nick Nurse has been encouraging him to do more of this season. With Aron Baynes coming over to set the screen, Anunoby functioned as the ball handler in the pick and roll, which we don’t often see.
Getting the switch, Anunoby took Bucks forward Bobby Portis off the dribble, spun towards the basket, laid the ball up and banked it in as he absorbed the contact, drew the foul and fell on his backside.
“You read the defence,” Anunoby said of his crafty layup, which he converted into a three-point play, following Toronto’s 124-113 victory. “I knew once [Portis] turned his hips that I could spin, and then once he fouled me I just tried to get a shot off. But we all work on that kind of stuff.”
It was a productive return for the Raptors’ fourth-year forward, who had missed the previous 10 games with a calf strain. He scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds while spending the night chasing around the league’s reigning two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, but if there was one play that screamed “I’m back,” it was that one.
It almost didn’t happen – the play, or the return. Initially, Anunoby’s injury – which he sustained late in last month’s loss to Indiana – was expected to be a minor one, an ailment that might keep him out of a game or two.
But it didn’t heal as fast as he or the team had hoped, and with Toronto and its medical staff exercising caution, he wound up sitting out for three weeks. Although he was listed as doubtful ahead of Tuesday’s contest, he felt good enough to play.
The Raptors are certainly happy to have him back. For Nurse, a head coach who wants to tinker and experiment with different lineups, Anunoby is invaluable.
His versatility on both ends of the floor unlocks a multitude of options they simply don’t have the luxury of trying without him. He can play and guard the centre position in some smaller units. He can be the two or three and defend elite perimeter players in bigger or more traditional units. He can switch across all five positions defensively, and with an expanding offensive toolbox, he’s a threat to knock down the three or beat you off the dribble.
“Having him back out there is a different feel,” said Fred VanVleet. “It gives us more flexibility. A lot of times this year it has felt like we were at the mercy of teams quite a bit, and tonight I thought from the tip we were pretty aggressive and a lot of that has to do with OG’s versatility and taking some of the pressure off Pascal [Siakam]… It just kind of put everybody in a better position, having one of our better players back on the floor. It’s not rocket science, but definitely good to have OG back.”
With Norman Powell playing so well in Anunoby’s absence, Nurse opted to start small on Tuesday, opening the contest with his five best players – Siakam, Anunoby, Powell, VanVleet and Kyle Lowry.
That unit was limited to nine minutes, with Lowry turning his ankle and leaving the game early in the second half, but it looked good. They shot 11-for-19 from the field and 5-for-12 from three-point range, outscoring the Bucks by five points during their time on the floor together. Despite giving up size, they even held their own in the paint and on the glass, mitigating some of the concerns with going small for extended periods.
The lineup change allowed Nurse to bring Baynes off the bench – a more suitable role for the struggling big man, who actually played well in 18 minutes as a reserve. It also enables them to use Chris Boucher in the frontcourt with Baynes, shifting him to his more natural position at the four.
It’s unclear if the small starting lineup is here to stay. Speaking earlier this week, Nurse wouldn’t commit to using it full time, indicating that it could be a situational thing, depending on the matchup. At minimum, you can probably expect to see it again in Thursday’s rematch against the Bucks, assuming that Lowry is able to play (he’s listed as questionable).
While rebounding and rim protection should continue to be a challenge for that group, those things weren’t exactly strengths of this team with Baynes starting either. Their upside – particularly on the defensive end, where they’re holding opponents to 88.1 points per 100 possessions in 38 minutes together this season –exceeds any potential drawback. The players themselves would seem to agree.
“It better be,” VanVleet said bluntly when asked whether that unit is sustainable. “We don’t have a choice at this point. We are past theories and hypotheticals. It was a good start tonight and it worked. When you win everything you did worked and when you lose it doesn’t. The bad part is we have to beat this team again in 48 hours, so we have our work cut out for us.”
Anunoby is the piece that ties it all together. He’ll take on the Antetokounmpo assignment again on Thursday, and if Nurse decides to stay small after that, he’ll likely become the de facto centre in daunting matchups when the Raptors seek revenge on Karl-Anthony Towns and the Timberwolves in Minnesota on Friday and then host Joel Embiid and the 76ers in consecutive games next week.
“I think he’s definitely a big piece and having him out there on defence, there’s a lot more switching that we can do knowing that he can hold up some of the bigs and guard the guards on the perimeter,” Siakam said. “So there’s just a lot that we can do as a team. His versatility as a defender definitely helps us, and I think the more guys like that that we have, the better our small lineup could work, because we can do a lot of different things.”
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