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Play-in tournament inevitable for Raptors after loss to Cleveland – TSN

Published

3 years ago

March 7, 2022

TORONTO – Nick Nurse isn’t likely to forget about the Raptors’ last trip to Cleveland any time soon. That’s the kind of experience that tends to stick with a head coach, even one who’s seen an awful lot in his three decades around the sport.

It came on Boxing Day, just after Toronto’s roster was decimated by a team-wide COVID outbreak. With 10 regulars out of the lineup and four emergency signees joining the club ahead of the game, half of his eight available players met each other on the bus ride over to the arena.

“I do remember that, it was a lot of fun” Nurse said in jest, looking back at that night and what turned out to be a predictable 144-99 blowout loss to the Cavaliers.

With the Raptors back in Ohio for Sunday’s game – an important one in the very tight Eastern Conference standings – that loss in late December seemed relevant again. If nothing else, it brought some much-needed perspective.

This time, they only had to introduce one new teammate ahead of tip off.

They were already without a couple of key starters, Fred VanVleet and OG Anunoby, when they found out that emerging sophomore point guard Malachi Flynn would miss time due to a hamstring strain. So, with less than 24 hours to go before taking on the Cavs, they called Armoni Brooks, who was in Atlanta playing for the G League’s College Park Skyhawks, and told him to get on the first flight to Cleveland.

Toronto needed to cut the injured D.J. Wilson’s 10-day contract short to bring Brooks in, also on a 10-day. He arrived in time to go through shoot around with his new team Sunday morning, and even got in the game for five scoreless minutes to open the fourth quarter.

“We’ve been moving pieces around like crazy anyway,” Nurse said. “Might as well move another one, right?”

It could always be worse, as the Raptors know, but this was going to be a tall order. Here were two slumping teams – Toronto came in having lost six of its last nine games, while Cleveland had dropped six of seven – fighting for one guaranteed playoff spot. However, one club was faced with the unenviable task of trying to steal an unlikely win on the road with minimal shooting and no traditional point guards on the floor.

It wasn’t for a lack of effort. The guys that were out there fought hard and made a game of it in the end, cutting a deficit that was once as large as 18 points down to five in the final minutes. But it’s tough to win in this league without shooting, playmaking and depth.

The Raptors had 12 players available on Sunday. 11 of them logged at least three minutes. Ten of them took at least one shot. Only six players scored, and four of them had 83 of the team’s 96 points on the night. Overall, they hit just six of their 24 three-point attempts and were outscored 33-18 from beyond the arc. They shot 25-for-55 from inside the paint, including an abysmal 13-for-34 in the first half, and 16-for-26 from the free throw line. They went nearly seven minutes without a field goal to close the third quarter.

“We just had a couple stretches where things really didn’t go our way, but we kept fighting our way back in there,” Nurse said following his team’s 104-96 loss. “We kept battling and that’s a credit to our guys, to keep playing. I thought they gave everything they had tonight.”

In the absence of VanVleet and Flynn, the Raptors started big, with Pascal Siakam, Chris Boucher and Khem Birch in the frontcourt and Scottie Barnes as the acting point guard next to Gary Trent Jr. in the backcourt. Although Siakam handled a large share of the playmaking duties, as he usually does, Nurse wanted to get Barnes more reps as primary ball handler. It’s a role he’s filled before, mostly as a reserve in college last year and here and there throughout his rookie season, but this was his chance to do it as a starter.

They had a tough time generating offence out of the gate. It took more than eight minutes for them to record their first assist of the night – a Boucher layup from Dalano Banton late in the opening quarter – but that’s a reflection of poor shooting as much or more than the lack of ball movement. You’re not getting an assist if nobody can hit a shot. Barnes and Siakam were doing their best to push the pace and get the Raptors into their sets, but there was very little space to operate in the half court – a running theme while VanVleet and Anunoby have been out, made even worse without Flynn, who had been playing the best basketball of his young career.

In seven games since the all-star break – all of them without Anunoby and the last five without VanVleet – Toronto is hitting 9.4 threes per game (29th in the NBA over that stretch) on 33 per cent shooting (26th in the league). It was hardly a surprise to see the Cavs break out their zone defence as often as they did on Sunday. The Raptors simply couldn’t beat it.

All things considered, Siakam is doing everything he can, despite drawing more defensive attention than he is to. He followed up an admirable 34-point performance in Friday’s loss to the last-place Magic with 24 points against Cleveland, although he missed six of his 13 free-throw attempts. Barnes was solid in spite of some defensive lapses, finishing with 19 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in his 42 minutes. Trent’s shooting slump continued; he was 2-for-8 from long distance and is hitting just 22 per cent of his threes since the break, but looked better overall, scoring 19. Boucher had 21 points in his spot start and helped fuel the late-game rally with his energy.

“I think we came in and knew what was at stake [and] obviously they did too,” Boucher said. “It’s two good teams playing for good position in the playoffs. Kudos to them, we tried to make runs, and they fought back. That’s a good team too. It was a fun game. Obviously we would have liked to have the win, but there’s only so much you can do.”

Once again, the Raptors were a victim of circumstance in a loss to Cleveland, and this one feels especially costly. With a win, Toronto would have pulled within one game of sixth place. Instead, the Cavs cushion for sixth grew to three games. They’ll also win the season series (they lead 3-0, with the final meeting coming in Toronto later this month) and take the tiebreaker.

Whatever chance the Raptors had of earning a guaranteed spot in the playoffs and avoiding the play-in tournament took a major hit on Sunday. The red-hot Celtics, who beat Brooklyn in a thriller earlier in the day, have won 14 of their last 16 games. They’ve got the best point differential in the conference, the league’s top-ranked defence since January 1, and have looked like a legitimate contender atop the East, on par with Miami, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Chicago.

Of the East’s top-six, the young Cavs, who have started to look vulnerable of late, seemed like the team that could be pushed out. It’s still doable, if the Raptors can get healthy and go on a run. With a couple more days to rest his wonky knee, the hope is that VanVleet will be ready to go in San Antonio on Wednesday. Anunoby could be back when the team returns home from its six-game road trip in about 10 days, at which point the plan is for Flynn to be re-evaluated. That all-star big man Jarrett Allen is expected to miss some time for Cleveland after fracturing his finger in the first half of Sunday’s game could make things interesting. Even still, with 18 regular season games to go, it’s a long shot, at best.

After Sunday’s loss, the Raptors seem destined for the play-in tournament, and given how competitive the East has been this year, that’s not going to be an easy path. To earn their way into the playoffs, they’ll likely need to beat one of, or perhaps two of Brooklyn (a sleeping giant if they’ve got Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons on the floor at this time next month), Charlotte and Atlanta (a couple teams that they lost to by a combined 59 points last week).

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NHL roundup: Hurricanes beat Flyers 6-4 for seventh straight win

Published

1 hour ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Martin Necas scored a go-ahead goal with 29 seconds left and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-4 on Tuesday night.

It was the seventh straight win for the Hurricanes, who also got goals from Jack Roslovic, Jordan Martinook, Eric Robinson and Jackson Blake. Seth Jarvis added an empty-net goal in the final seconds.

Necas typically saves his game-winners for overtime, with nine in his career, but he was able to take care of business in regulation with his team-best seventh goal of the season.

Travis Konecny scored two goals and had two assists for the Flyers. Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett also scored for Philadelphia.

Aleksei Kolosov made 28 saves for the Flyers, who trailed 2-1, 3-1 and 4-3 but kept coming back. Carolina’s Pyotr Kochetkov struggled in net allowing four goals on just 16 shots.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Tuesday:

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SABRES 5 SENATORS 1

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Bowen Byram and Tage Thompson scored 16 seconds apart to open the third period, and Buffalo snapped a three-game skid with a win over Ottawa.

Byram scored twice, JJ Peterka had two goals and an assist and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 37 saves.

Ridly Greig converted his own rebound in cutting Buffalo’s lead to 2-1 with 7:31 left in the second period. Linus Ullmark made 29 saves in dropping to 1-4 in his past five starts.

Buffalo went up 3-1 on Byram’s second goal 21 seconds into the third period. The defenceman’s shot from inside the blue line sneaked through Ullmark, with the puck rolling down the goalie’s pad, dropping into the crease and trickling across the line. Thompson scored when he crashed the net, was knocked over by defender Jake Sanderson and was lying in the crease when Alex Tuch’s shot went in off his shoulder.

—

MAPLE LEAFS 4 BRUINS 0

TORONTO (AP) — Anthony Stolarz made 29 saves for his first shutout of the season in Toronto’s 4-0 victory over Boston.

Morgan Rielly had a goal and two assists as Toronto connected three times on the power play. William Nylander and Matthew Knies added a goal and an assist each. Mitch Marner had two assists of his own. Steven Lorentz rounded out the scoring into the empty net.

The Leafs played without captain Auston Matthews, who is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Jeremy Swayman made 23 stops for Boston, which was coming off consecutive weekend shutouts of the Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken.

Toronto’s porous 31st-ranked power play scored for the second time in as many games at 8:44 of the second period when Rielly fired through a screen. Nylander banked in his team-leading 10th goal of the season on another man advantage 1:14 later for a 2-0 lead.

The Bruins entered the game 8-0-0 in the regular season against their Atlantic Division rival dating back to Jan. 14, 2023.

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FLAMES 3 CANADIENS 2 (OT)

MONTREAL (AP) — Matt Coronato scored twice as Calgary came back to defeat Montreal in overtime.

Coronato tied the game with 2:46 remaining in regulation when he cruised into the slot and went off the post and in. He then buried the winning goal seven seconds into the extra period.

Connor Zary also scored for Calgary, which won its second game in seven outings. Dustin Wolf stopped 21 shots.

Joel Armia — with a short-handed goal — and Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal (4-7-2). Armia also provided an assist, while Sam Montembeault made 32 saves as the Canadiens’ losing streak extended to four games.

Zary opened the scoring with his third 4:20 into the second period when he pounced on a loose puck in the slot and fired a shot past Montembeault.

Gallagher then slipped the puck between Wolf’s pads at 16:23 to level the score with his fifth of the season.

—

BLUES 3 LIGHTNING 2

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jordan Kyrou, Alexey Toropchenko and Oskar Sundqvist scored to help St. Louis beat Tampa Bay 3-2.

Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington made 21 saves for his 149th career win moving him past Jake Allen for second place in franchise history, just two wins behind Mike Liut’s 151.

Nick Perbix and Victor Hedman scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves for the Lightning who have lost three straight games.

Kyrou scored his fourth goal of the season 8:51 into the third period to give St. Louis a 3-1 lead.

Toropchenko scored his first goal of the season with 1:35 remaining in the second period to put St. Louis ahead 2-1 after Sundqvist tied the game with his first of the season 7:47 into the period.

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ISLANDERS 4 PENGUINS 3 (SO)

NEW YORK (AP) — Bo Horvat scored the only goal in a shootout and New York rallied past Pittsburgh 4-3.

New York goalie Ilya Sorokin denied Rickard Rakell, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang in the shootout and finished with 32 saves. Kyle Palmieri had a goal and an assist for the Islanders, who trailed 3-1 midway through the third period.

Simon Holmstrom and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored in the third for New York. Horvat had two assists.

Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist to lead Pittsburgh. Crosby got his 598th career goal, and Michael Bunting also scored. Rakell added two assists.

Alex Nedeljkovich stopped 23 shots for the Penguins, who have lost seven of nine. They won their previous two following a six-game skid.

—

KINGS 5 WILD 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Trevor Lewis scored twice, Kevin Fiala added another on the power play and Los Angeles beat Minnesota 5-1.

Warren Foegele and Quinton Byfield also scored for Los Angeles, which was playing the second night of a back-to-back after a 3-0 win in Nashville a night earlier. David Rittich made 23 saves for the Kings.

Fiala, who was traded to Los Angeles in 2022 by Minnesota for a first-round pick draft pick and defenceman Brock Faber, scored his seventh goal of the season. He now has three goals and six assists in his last seven games against the Wild.

Minnesota, which had won three in a row, opened the scoring in the second period on Zach Bogosian’s first goal of the season. Goaltender Filip Gustavsson stopped 23 shots for the Wild.

—

JETS 3 UTAH 0

WINNIPEG, Man. (AP) — Nino Niederreiter scored twice in his 900th NHL career game and Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves to help Winnipeg defeat Utah 3-0.

It was Hellebuyck’s second shutout of the season and 39th of this career.

Gabriel Vilardi also scored for the Jets. Adam Lowry assisted on both goals by Niederreiter.

Utah ended a run of picking up points in three consecutive games (1-0-2).

Karel Vejmelka stopped 25 shots for Utah in its second stop on a four-game road trip.

Jets winger Kyle Connor had his franchise-record, season-opening points streak end at 12 games.

—

AVALANCHE 6 KRAKEN 3

DENVER (AP) — Arturri Lehkonen scored the go-ahead goal on a power play in his season debut and Nathan MacKinnon had five assists as Colorado beat Seattle 6-3.

Mikko Rantanen added two goals for the Avalanche, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Ivan Ivan, Nikolai Kovalenko and Chris Wagner also scored for Colorado.

Cale Makar had two assists but the star defenceman barely played in the second half of the game and appeared to be slowed by an apparent injury during a brief shift.

MacKinnon and Makar extended their season-opening point streaks to 13 games.

Lehkonen played for the first time since off-season shoulder surgery.

Jared McCann, Jaden Schwartz and Brandon Montour scored for the Kraken.

—

CANUCKS 5 DUCKS 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Brock Boeser, Danton Heinen and Kiefer Sherwood had a goal and an assist apiece, and Quinn Hughes recorded his 300th career assist in Vancouver’s victory over Anaheim.

Jake DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson also scored and Hughes had three assists for the Canucks, who have won six of eight. Kevin Lankinen made 21 saves in Vancouver’s sixth consecutive win over the Ducks.

Olen Zellweger scored a power-play goal early in the first period for Anaheim, which has lost seven of nine. Lukas Dostal stopped 31 shots.

Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko took shots from teammates again after the morning skate, and he could return to practice this week. The Southern California native and 2023-24 Vezina Trophy finalist hasn’t played this season due to a knee injury incurred late last season.

—

SHARKS 2 BLUE JACKETS 1 (OT)

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Alex Wennberg scored 3:11 into overtime and San Jose celebrated the return of No. 1 overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini with a win over Columbus.

Defenceman Jack Thompson scored his first career goal for the Sharks (4-8-2), who entered the night with the worst record in the NHL. San Jose has won four of five.

Celebrini, the top pick in the 2024 NHL draft, missed 12 games with a hip injury he sustained in the season opener Oct. 10 — an injury first incurred during the pre-season. Celebrini didn’t score and missed a shot early in overtime.

San Jose goalie Vitek Vanacek was fantastic in net, making 49 saves.

Blue Jackets right wing Kirill Marchenko scored for the second consecutive game. Columbus (5-6-1) has lost three straight.

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Canada’s Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Routliffe pick up second win at WTA Finals

Published

1 day ago

November 5, 2024

Anne Joseph

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.

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Allen nets shutout as Devils burn Oilers 3-0

Published

1 day ago

November 4, 2024

Anne Joseph

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.

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