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.
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.
