TORONTO – Getting out and flying in transition — either off steals, blocks or rebounds — and scoring wide-open triples or easy layups and dunks has been a staple of the Toronto Raptors’ offence.
But in the opening game of their second-round series with the Boston Celtics, the Raptors’ wings got clipped and they were forced into a half-court game that saw them smothered, as the Celtics took Game 1 with a 112-94 dismantlement of the Raptors.
During the regular season, the Raptors were the best fast-breaking team in the NBA, averaging 18.8 fast-break points per game and scoring 19.5 points off opponent turnovers per game – good for second in the league.
This was a trend that continued in their first-round playoff series with the Brooklyn Nets as, coming into Sunday’s game with Boston, Toronto was leading the post-season with 18.5 fast-break points per game and scoring 17.5 points per game off opponent turnovers.
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On Sunday against the Celtics, the Raptors managed to create 23 turnovers, but they weren’t able to convert off those mistakes as much as they probably should have. The Raptors scored just 15 points off turnovers — largely because they weren’t able to get their key fast-break game going, only managing seven fast breaks for the game.
This ultimately spelled disaster for the Raptors because it meant they would have to rely on their half-court offence. According to CleaningTheGlass.com, they’ve been below average this season, averaging just 94.5 points per 100 plays, something that gets worse when you consider the Celtics are the fourth stingiest half-court defence, allowing only 91.6 points per 100 plays this season.
Without the ability to get easy fast-break buckets, the Raptors’ offence appeared handicapped on Sunday.
“They’re getting a lot of bodies back, really quickly and really well,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said of the Celtics’ transition defence after Sunday’s game. “Even on turnovers, just change of possession, whether it’s a defensive rebound or a turnover, they’re getting a lot of bodies back.”
Before Game 1, Celtics coach Brad Stevens was asked how he would balance crashing the offensive glass and getting back in transition to try to limit Toronto’s fast-break opportunities. The Celtics were among the best offensive rebounding teams in the league this season, averaging 10.7 per game. But on Sunday, it looked like Stevens was focused on having his team get back and D-up, as Boston only collected five offensive rebounds for the game.
“…The emphasis to go the glass or not doesn’t really change, but the emphasis to get back and set your defence against Toronto is clearly a huge priority,” Stevens said. “If you look at any playoff series, it’s the easy baskets teams get to put them over the top, whether it’s the transition baskets, the offensive rebound baskets, loose balls, those type of things. You have to make everything as challenging as possible because they are great in transition.”
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The Celtics did a great job of neutralizing this aspect of the Raptors’ offence and it looked to seep into all other aspects of their offence, as the Raptors only shot 36.9 per cent from the field and 25 per cent from three-point range for the game.
In particular, Toronto’s two leading scorers from the first round of the playoffs – Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam – looked off on Sunday. They combined to shoot just 8-of-32 from the field for only 24 points.
The job the Celtics did to limit the Raptors in transition was particularly problematic for Siakam. Fast-break buckets are part of his bread-and-butter repertoire, as the Toronto all-star led the team in fast-break points and points off turnovers this season.
It was only one game and, as mentioned previously, the Raptors did manage to force turnovers, so Siakam isn’t too concerned because it all comes down to execution, ultimately.
“I think early they made a lot of shots, so there wasn’t really a lot of transition opportunities,” Siakam said of Boston’s ability to stop Toronto’s transition game. “But, obviously, once the game was going we got a lot of stops and I just don’t think we converted on the other side. So I think we’ve just got to do a better job once we get the stop and steals and stuff like that and convert them into points.”
It’s a point well made by Siakam but, as the clip below shows, against a team as long, athletic and defensively responsible as the Celtics, the execution aspect of it all may be the toughest part of the equation.
This is a play coming off more semi-transition than anything. But, as you can see, by the time Gasol outlets to Siakam, despite it looking like there’s an opportunity to attack with Celtics still getting back in position, it’s still too late for him to do so because he’s already getting picked up by Kemba Walker. And there are three Celtics back in the paint, forcing Siakam to attempt a tough shot that turned into a spectacular block by the Celtics’ Robert Williams III.
Given the nature of the blowout, there’s a lot you can point to that the Raptors need to clean up. But seeing as getting fast-break points has been key to their identity this season, this seems to be a problem they need to resolve immediately — lest their offence potentially remain as stagnant as it was on Sunday.
Thankfully for the Raptors, it seems Nurse has a solution in mind already.
“When you want to play in transition, you got to run a little harder and push the ball a little better and throw it ahead a little bit more and be just a little bit more aggressive,” he said.
Good advice, but against this Celtics team it’s a lot easier said than done. After all, they’ve already managed to ground the Raptors once before, so who’s to say they can’t just do it again?
EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers signed defenceman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout on Friday.
Dermott, a 27-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., produced two goals, five assists and 26 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
The six-foot, 202-pound blueliner has also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto drafted him in the second round, 34th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft.
Over seven NHL seasons, Dermott has 16 goals and 46 assists in 329 games while averaging 16:03 in ice time.
Before the NHL, Dermott played two seasons with Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The team was coached by current Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, led the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan vote her first year on the ballot — an important part to possible selection to the hall’s next class.
The organization released the voting results on Friday. American doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan finished second with Canada’s Daniel Nestor third.
The Hall of Fame said tens of thousands of fans from 120 countries cast ballots. Fan voting is one of two steps in the hall’s selection process. The second is an official group of journalists, historians, and Hall of Famers from the sport who vote on the ballot for the hall’s class of 2025.
“I am incredibly grateful to the fans all around the world who supported me during the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan votes,” Sharapova said in a statement. “It is a tremendous honor to be considered for the Hall of Fame, and having the fans’ support makes it all the more special.”
Sharapova became the first Russian woman to reach No. 1 in the world. She won Wimbledon in 2004, the U.S. Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008. She also won the French Open twice, in 2012 and 2014.
Sharapova was also part of Russia’s championship Fed Cup team in 2008 and won a silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
To make the hall, candidates must receive 75% or higher on combined results of the official voting group and additional percentage from the fan vote. Sharapova will have an additional three percentage points from winning the fan vote.
The Bryans, who won 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, will have two additional percentage points and Nestor, who won eight Grand Slam doubles titles, will get one extra percentage point.
The hall’s next class will be announced late next month.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of .087, above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday.
Gaudreau, 31, and brother Matthew, 29, were killed in Carneys Point, New Jersey, on Aug. 29, the evening before they were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding.
The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of nearby Woodstown, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. At a virtual court hearing Friday, a judge ordered that he be held for trial after prosecutors described a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving.
“’You were probably driving like a nut like I always tell you you do. And you don’t listen to me, instead you just yell at me,’” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County.
The defense described Higgins as a married father and law-abiding citizen before the crash.
“He’s an empathetic individual and he’s a loving father of two daughters,” said defense lawyer Matthew Portella. “He’s a good person and he made a horrible decision that night.”
Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint. He also failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said. A prosecutor on Friday said he had been drinking at home after finishing a work call at about 3 p.m., and having an upsetting conversation with his mother about a family matter.
He then had a two-hour phone call with a friend while he drove around in his Jeep with an open container, Flynn said. He had been driving aggressively behind a sedan going just above the 50 mph speed limit, sometimes tailgating, the female driver told police.
When she and the vehicle ahead of her slowed down and veered left to go around the cyclists, Higgins sped up and veered right, striking the Gaudreas, the two other drivers told police.
“He indicated he didn’t even see them,” said Superior Court Judge Michael J. Silvanio, who said Higgins’ admitted “impatience” caused two deaths.
Higgins faces up to 20 years, a sentence that the judge said made him a flight risk.
Higgins has a master’s degree, works in finance for an addiction treatment company, and served in combat in Iraq, his lawyers said. However, his wife said he had been drinking regularly since working from home, Flynn said.
Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the league and was set to enter his third with the Columbus Blue Jackets after signing a seven-year, $68 million deal in 2022. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames, a tenure that included becoming one of the sport’s top players and a fan favorite across North America.
Widows Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau described their husbands as attached at the hip throughout their lives. Both women are expecting, and both gave moving eulogies at the double funeral on Monday.
