TORONTO – Back in October, the defending NBA champion Toronto Raptors began their title defence a long way from home. They opened training camp in Tokyo, Japan, where they played the Houston Rockets in a pair of pre-season games. That was nine months – or 290 days – ago, and a lot has happened since then.
Now, as they ramp up preparation to resume the season following a lengthy and unprecedented hiatus, they’ll face the same opponent in another setting that’s unfamiliar to them.
With Toronto and Houston squaring off in a televised scrimmage on Friday evening, the Raptors are about to get their first taste of what basketball will look, feel and sound like for the foreseeable future.
A relatively empty gym. Manufactured crowd noise and imaging. Social distancing on the sidelines and during timeouts. Frequent sanitizing and minimal contact – such as handshakes or high fives – between whistles. No post-game showers.
It’s going to be unusual. However, after being away from the game for most of the COVID-19 pandemic, and then playing against each other in practice almost every day since arriving in the NBA’s Disney bubble a couple weeks ago, Raptors players and coaches are anxious to get back on the court and see a different team at the other end of it.
“I certainly miss it,” said head coach Nick Nurse, who hasn’t coached an official game since Toronto last played on March 9. “But I think it’s such a part of your nature. I always say that [when] the ball goes up your competitive juices kick in. I think there may be a little bit of getting used to that again. But it’s hundreds, thousands of games you’ve been through as a coach in your life, or as a player, and you just kind of fall right back into it pretty quickly.”
“It’s huge that we get to play basketball again and I’m excited,” guard Patrick McCaw said. “It’s a different type of atmosphere, no fans and things like that. The focus is just going to be on us, and just basketball. There’s no distractions or anything like that. Definitely a different dynamic that we’re coming into, but I think we have a great team and guys are ready to play.”
By all accounts, the Raptors’ practices have been spirited. A few players have described them as being “intense.” That shouldn’t come as a surprise given how competitive most professional athletes are and how long it’s been since they’ve had an outlet for that fire. Still, going up against guys on your own team gets old pretty quickly when that’s all you’ve been allowed to do.
“Practice is a little more junked up and physical and the coaches are the worst officials in the world,” guard Fred VanVleet joked. “I don’t know how many times I’ll be [able to say I’m] looking forward to having NBA refs, but I’m definitely looking forward to it.”
The players are amped up, which is something Nurse and the coaching staff will have to be mindful of going into the first of three scrimmage games on Friday, and then over the course of the next few weeks as guys work to get their conditioning back.
Nurse has been asking each of his players to self-monitor and pull themselves out of drills when they feel like they need a breather. That’s easier to do in practice than it is in a game-like environment, once those competitive juices start flowing.
“I only really know how to play one way and it will be the coaches’ job, Nick and the staff, to hold the reins a little bit, pull the reins back,” VanVleet said. “If it’s up to me, I’ll play all 48 [minutes]. So, that’s how I like to play and I don’t really know any other way but to compete at a high level.”
In an effort to help ease everybody back after such a long layoff, the NBA shortened each team’s first scrimmage to 40 minutes. From there, it will be on the coaches – with the assistance of the medical staff – to keep a close eye on players and ensure they’re not doing too much too fast.
Nurse has already indicated that he’ll likely hold out a few of the rotation guys in each scrimmage. Don’t be surprised to see him make quick substitutions and utilize his entire 17-man roster.
“Being real careful, we certainly have to use these scrimmage games as a conditioning tool, a rhythm type thing and an opportunity to get guys out on the floor and see where we’re at,” Nurse said. “I think, especially this first one, will give us a real, true indication of where they’re at conditioning-wise and then we can make any adjustments from there.”
Secondary to getting everybody back up to speed and keeping them healthy, these exhibition contests should be a good opportunity for players to get accustomed to the new surroundings ahead of their Aug. 1 season reopener against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Over the years, most NBA veterans have become quite good at feeding off the energy and the emotion of the fans. Maybe they use the support from the home crowd to give them a boost, or maybe they’re the type of player that is motivated by jeers on the road.
Without fans in the building, they’ll have to go back to their roots. Almost every player came up playing basketball in the park or in empty gyms, and many of them still participate in pro-ams or pick-up games during the summer. They know that games don’t need an audience to be competitive or even get intense.
Norman Powell recalls playing at Municipal Gym in Balboa Park as a high schooler in San Diego. As one of the younger guys, going up against older and more experienced players – including some that had already made it professionally – he would have to wait his turn to get on the court. Once he did, he’d have to keep winning to stay out there. A loss could mean that was his only game of the day.
“When you have that competitive spirit and that competitive nature, it doesn’t matter if you’re in front of 20,000 fans or if you’re at the rec playing pick-up with your friends back home,” said Powell. “If you’re a competitor, you want to win. You can see that even in the practices. We’re simulating game play as much as we can and it’s really competitive. Guys get after guys, they get upset, they don’t want to lose. I think it’s still going to be the same. It’s going to be a highly competitive environment despite the circumstances. These guys want to go out there and win and compete. This is our livelihood that we need to maintain and we’ve got people we need to feed. I don’t think there’s going to be a drop-off in competition leading up to the seeding games.”
“It’s always a great feeling hearing the crowd behind you after a big play or a made shot, I’m not taking anything away from that,” McCaw said. “I’m definitely going to miss the fans being here, but it’s still basketball at the end of the day. You know as a player and as a team what we have to do. As long as we win, that’s the main focus, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
The league’s restart will give the Raptors – who will resume play with the Eastern Conference’s second-best record at 46-18 – a chance to finish what they started. Friday’s scrimmage is another monumental step towards making that happen. That it comes against Houston – who they’ll face for the third time in three countries this season – is a welcomed coincidence.
At 40-24, the Rockets were in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race before the season was put on hold. Famously, they play small – with former Raptor P.J. Tucker as an undersized centre – and shoot a ton of threes.
The Raptors are craving competition, and you know the James Harden and Russell Westbrook-led Rockets will be ready to match it.
“We’re excited,” said Raptors general manager Bobby Webster. “You’ve heard from our guys, they can’t wait to get out there. They always have that chip on their shoulder to continue to prove everyone that doubted them [wrong]. So, I think this is just another great opportunity. Obviously, [there’s] adversity for everybody coming here and having to play here, but for our guys, just being at practice today, they’re ready to go and finally play somebody else.”
Let’s block ads! (Why?)
Source link
Related
