Welcome to “One Play!” Throughout the 2019-20 NBA season, our NBA.com Staff will break down certain possessions from certain games and peel back the curtains to reveal its bigger meaning.
Today, a certain Toronto Raptors lineup takes the spotlight.
Raptors head coach Nick Nurse went to it more out of necessity than anything else – Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka both struggled in Game 2, forcing Nurse to go with Toronto’s “five best guys” to close the game – but we still caught a glimpse of why it can be effective in the right situations.
There was one particular play that stood out. Let’s take a closer look.
The play: Powell blows by Jarrett Allen for the dunk.
Breakdown: Lowry pushes the ball up the court following a missed shot from Garrett Temple.
The Nets get back in time to prevent the Raptors from scoring a quick basket, so Lowry passes the ball to VanVleet at the top of the 3-point line to reset.
Allen starts the possession on Siakam but switches assignments with Temple when Siakam makes his way towards VanVleet to set a screen. Why? So he’s in better position to protect the rim should someone drive to the basket.
Anunoby, meanwhile, balances the court by clearing out from the right side to the left side.
Rather than having Joe Harris fight through Siakam’s screen, Temple switches onto VanVleet while Harris switches onto Siakam, who pops to the 3-point line instead of rolling to the basket.
The floor is now clear for VanVleet to attack Temple one-on-one.
Temple does a decent job keeping VanVleet in front of him, but VanVleet is able to get deep enough to draw Allen away from Powell in the strongside corner. VanVleet makes the right read, kicking it out to Powell rather than continuing his drive.
Powell shot only 1-for-6 from 3-point range in Game 2, but he made 44.0 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts during the regular season. Allen closes out on him out of fear of him getting a clean look at a 3-pointer, paving the way for Powell to take him off the dribble.
Why it matters: The intrigue with playing Siakam at centre should be obvious – it gives the Raptors the luxury of putting five players on the court who can shoot, pass and dribble at a high level. Gasol and Ibaka are both capable of doing those things, but them trying to make a play off the dribble is a little different than VanVleet, Lowry, Powell or Anunoby doing it.
Offensively, there’s no reason why building lineups around Siakam at centre shouldn’t work. If teams don’t downsize themselves, it basically becomes a game of who has the biggest mismatch. Allen is guarding Powell on the 3-point line? OK, give him the ball and see what he can do against Allen on a closeout. Siakam is being defended by someone his size? Have him set a screen on VanVleet or Lowry to force a switch and let him feast in the post against a guard while everyone spaces the floor around him. VanVleet or Lowry are the ones who have the favourable mismatch? Clear out to let them go one-on-one.
Anunoby is the weakest link of those five offensively, but he’s shown some promising signs of growth as a scorer in the season restart. He’s been looking to attack smaller players in the post a little more and he’s improved tremendously as a driver. He might not quite be at a point where you’re confident that he can consistently create a solid look for himself against a mismatch, but he could get there eventually.
Besides, Anunoby is the key to the lineup working defensively. What lineups with Siakam at centre lack is size. It’s why it’s not an answer to every team in the league. (Can you imagine the Raptors going that small against Joel Embiid or Giannis Antetokounmpo? It probably wouldn’t work). But against a team like the Nets who don’t have a centre who is going to overwhelm opponents with their back to the basket – no team averaged less points per game in the post than the Nets this season – the Raptors can get away with it.
It helps that Anunoby and Siakam have spent time matched up with fives this season. According to data collected by Krishna Narsu of The Bball Index, Anunoby spent 13.7 percent of his minutes in the regular season guarding centres compared to 15.3 percent for Siakam. Again, that doesn’t necessarily mean the Raptors want either one of them guarding Embiid in the post – although it is worth noting that Anunoby did a tremendous job against Nikola Jokic in one game this season – but they’re each capable of hanging with someone like Allen in spot minutes.
“It’s the versatility, knowing me and Pascal can both switch onto [Allen],” Anunoby said about Toronto’s small lineup after Game 2. “We can spread the floor, all shoot, drive and pass. Just play five out. Spreading the floor so the rim is open. Make them adjust to us.”
Another benefit of playing them all together: Toronto can switch more aggressively. The Raptors are home to some of the most versatile defenders in the league, with Anunoby and Siakam being able to defend all five positions and VanVleet, Lowry and Powell being able to guard three or four positions depending on the matchup. With all five of them on the court, the Raptors can switch almost across the board.
We even caught a glimpse of that in Game 2:
This doesn’t mean that playing Siakam at centre is suddenly going to become a staple in Toronto’s offence, but Game 2 of its first-round series with Brooklyn proved that it can be a game-changer in the right situation.
Hopefully the next time Nurse breaks it out won’t be because Gasol and Ibaka haven’t given him any other choice.
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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
