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).
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.
