TORONTO – The last time the Toronto Raptors saw the Minnesota Timberwolves – exactly five days ago in case you forgot – Toronto probably played its worst game of the season.
In that contest, the Raptors appeared to only become interested in the game in the fourth quarter and while they nearly managed to steal it, they got their just desserts as they fell 116-112 to the worst team in the NBA.
Since then, however, Toronto has managed to rack off a couple of big, encouraging wins against the Milwaukee Bucks and looked like a completely different team than the one that essentially laid an egg against Minnesota.
A big part of this turnaround was the return of OG Anunoby to the lineup in Milwaukee. Anunoby missed 10 games with a strained calf but looked like he didn’t miss a beat upon his return, playing his usual All-NBA level of defence.
However, with the Raptors playing the second night of a back-to-back on Friday, the team was forced to once again play without Anunoby, who was active but didn’t play for what appears to be a form of load/injury management.
And so without Anunoby, as well as Kyle Lowry who missed his second straight game with a thumb injury, things seemed a little foreboding for Toronto to repeat their relative no-show from last Sunday.
And while it was shaky at times, the Raptors finally managed to creep back to .500 on the season with an 86-81 victory on Friday.
Norman Powell’s scorching February continued as he finished with a game-high 31 points on 10-of-19 shooting, including 22 alone in the first half. Coming into the contest, Powell was averaging 21.7 points on 54.8 per cent shooting from the floor and 48 per cent from three-point range.
“He’s been a prime time player, he really has,” said Raptors head coach Nick Nurse of Powell after the game. “He’s been at his very best since he’s been here and that means as a two-way player. He’s playing great, shooting’s great, he’s exploding to the rim but he’s also been put on some tough matchups as well as he’s handled those. He’s been a good team defender as well, a solid rebounder, at least in his blocking out and things like that.
“His entire game, his all-around game has been good. Obviously the scoring shows up because he has been super explosive there too. He’s been as good as he’s ever been for us.”
Added Powell of his hot month: “Honestly, I don’t think about it. I just go out every game, flush whatever happened in the game – whether it was a good game or bad game, whatever it is – and just focus on what I need to do in the moment, what the game is asking me to do. Just continue to play. I put in the work daily, I get extra work in and stay confident within myself and what the team is doing and let the game work for me. I really don’t think about anything when I’m out there. I’m just playing basketball.”
Starting in place of Lowry and Anunoby for the Raptors on Friday night was DeAndre’ Bembry once again and Chris Boucher, who was making his first career start.
And in a bout of some good news on the Raptors injury front, Patrick McCaw saw his first game action since March 9, 2020, finally having recovered from left knee surgery.
Holding the Timberwolves to just 15 points and 22.7 per cent shooting in the first quarter, Toronto’s defence set the tone early for the team and they managed to sustain it for the most part. The Raptors held the Timberwolves to 38.6 per cent shooting from the floor and a 23.7 per cent mark from three-point range.
“We knew that we had a chance,” Fred VanVleet said. “I think a 15-point first quarter, 20-point second quarter. So we felt good about ourselves, they came out and made a big run in the third, which is understandable, but our offence has been carrying us most nights but it’s harder to win that way.
“If that score would’ve been 120-125, I don’t know which way it goes, but I like the fact that we were able to clamp down. “
“Yeah, 15, 20, 29, 17. I mean, that’s pretty damn good defence and that’ll probably get it done on most nights,” VanVleet added. “So really encouraging to see that. That we stuck with it even given how the offence was playing out.”
There were offensive struggles for the Raptors on Friday as playing the previous night looked to sap some energy out of their legs. In particular, the Raptors went eight minutes and 25 seconds without a field goal and saw Minnesota go on a 24-1 run to take a 64-58 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
This setup a tightly-contested fourth quarter that again saw Toronto’s offence struggle, but with 1:22 left to play Pascal Siakam dunked the ball to tie the game at 81-81. Then, with 30.1 seconds to play, Terence Davis drilled a three-pointer on a nice little feed from Siakam to put the Raptors up 84-81 and put the game away for good.
Siakam, in general, was brilliant in the fourth quarter. He blocked three shots in that period alone and helped to keep the Raptors in the game thanks to his defence, while the team struggled to make shots.
“He was really, really digging in there late,” said Nurse of Siakam’s fourth-quarter defence. “And I think we got seven out of eight stops in the last portion of the game, and obviously we had a really good first-quarter defence and a really good fourth for the defence. Pascal was moving and keeping his man in front of them and switching being aggressive and challenging. I think he got a piece of two three-pointers tonight.”
And even if it was against the worst team in the NBA, the Raptors’ defensive performance on Friday was still very encouraging. It not only continued the trend that they started in their two-game set with Milwaukee, it also hearkened back to one of the team’s trademarks from last season.
As you may remember, the Raptors finished with the second-best record in the entire league last season. They were able to do so on the back of their No. 2-ranked defence and given how banged up they were for most of the season, they were able to lock up teams regardless of who was on the court.
The team fully bought into Nurse’s defensive system and all the guys looked connected, like they were playing on a string with everyone helping and recovering for one another.
On Friday, we saw that same kind of Raptors defence from last season in the same plug-and-play fashion.
From regulars like VanVleet, Powell and Siakam to some of the lesser-used players like McCaw, Bembry and even Yuta Watanabe – who will likely be remembered only for getting crowned with a dunk-of-the-year candidate by Minnesota rookie Anthony Edwards – the Raptors held strong on defence and won the game on that end of the floor.
So, sure, outside of Powell, the Raptors’ offensive performance was ugly, but it ultimately didn’t matter because they had their defensive backbone to rely upon, even on the second night of a back-to-back without Lowry and Anunoby.
Defence is a far more surefire way to rack up wins and finally climbing back to .500 on the strength of their D can only mean better things in Toronto’s future.
“I think we’re getting there,” Nurse said of his team’s defence. “I’m not sure we’re quite there yet but we’re showing signs of getting there. It’s totally important, it gives us a chance any night out.”
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
