Nick Nurse said that he would be on a minutes restriction and the Raptors forward finished yesterday’s game right at 25 minutes played.
Siakam’s road back to the court wasn’t easy, but he said his ability to return showed that he is “made of something.”
Siakam was immediately inserted into the starting lineup as Toronto embraced positionless basketball to the fullest.
Overall, he looked rusty at times, as expected when coming off an extended layoff. However, he hit his first shot of the season and was close to his usual self on the defensive end of the floor.
“I thought Pascal, for conditioning … didn’t look bad,” Nurse said after the game.
Nurse’s choice of starters (Fred VanVleet, Gary Trent Jr, OG Anunoby, Scottie Barnes, and Siakam) was interesting. However, neither Khem Birch nor Precious Achiuwa has separated in the competition for center minutes.
So rather than trying to decide whether Siakam or Barnes was better suited to come off the bench, Nurse opted just to put both on the floor.
The length and versatility that an Anunoby, Barnes, and Siakam frontcourt provides the Raptors are tantalizing. As Siakam gets closer to All-Star form, that group could help keep Toronto in playoff contention.
VanVleet is another reason that Toronto is exceeding preseason expectations.
When the Raptors closed the first half, it was VanVleet who was the driving force. He pushed the pace and helped Toronto take advantage of the Brooklyn Nets’ porous transition defense.
He finished the game with 21 points and eight assists, continuing his solid start to his first year as the team’s orchestrator.
VanVleet believes that the team is more cohesive this year, which has helped them play well out of the gates and ease the process of bringing Siakam back along.
“Our chemistry is a little bit better. We’re a little bit tighter,” VanVleet said.
Yet, the combined firepower of James Harden (28 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists) and Kevin Durant (31 points, seven rebounds, seven assists) proved too much in the end.
This was Durant’s first game in Toronto since he ruptured his Achilles in the 2019 NBA Finals.
Brooklyn outscored Toronto in the first (29-26), third (35-17), and fourth (28-26) quarters. In those three quarters, Durant and Harden powered the Nets offense.
Durant scored 12 points in the first and 13 points in the third, while Harden clinched the game with 16 points in the fourth.
Toronto’s defense made life difficult for both, but great offense beats excellent defense at a certain point.
Barnes, Anunoby, Trent Jr., and Siakam all spent time on each superstar. Still, Brooklyn did a good job of using ball screens to force the Raptors into switches and provide Durant and Harden the opportunity to work against lesser defenders.
Despite the loss, this game should be looked at as a feather in the Raptor’s cap.
The second quarter, in which Toronto won 34-24, showcased the possibilities of this year’s team.
Nurse agreed. “I think the second quarter — that’s how you’d draw up what it had to look like,” Nurse said.
The length and athleticism were on full display. Barnes had a three-possession sequence late in the second, where he forced three turnovers.
First, he picked up Harden full court and hounded him until he had to pass to Joe Harris as an outlet, and then picked off Harris’ pass back. Next, he sprung a trap onto Durant as he attempted to post up VanVleet and knocked the ball away. Finally, in what is easily the most Barnes highlight of the season, he snatched the ball right out of Durant’s hands.
“We were everywhere,” Nurse said, “Every time somebody turned, somebody else was there, and then we were out and running.”
Nobody thought they would have gotten off to the start they have, and even though the final score looks a little one-sided, Toronto was right in the game until the very end.
A healthy and rehabbed Siakam could jumpstart this team to the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference, which looks a little more open than many thought through the first few weeks.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.
Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.
Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.
The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.
DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.
RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.
Takeaways
Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.
Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.
Key moment
The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.
Key stat
Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.
Up next
Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.
To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.
Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.
“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.
“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”
The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.
The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.
First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.
Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.
No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.
“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.
Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.
“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.
This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.
The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.
“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”
Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.
Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.
“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”
The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.
Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.
“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”
LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.
“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.
The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.
Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.
“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.
“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”
Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.
Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.
Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.
Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
