Columnist image

TSN Raptors Reporter

| Archive

TORONTO - Coercing Jonas Valanciunas into patting himself on the back is no easy task, the Raptors' 7-footer is all about the team.  Fortunately, his teammates were willing to say what he never would.

"I think he’s definitely the reason why we won this game tonight," DeMar DeRozan admitted following Toronto's crucial 96-92 overtime victory over the Miami Heat, which tied its second-round series at a game apiece.

This was no hyperbole. Valanciunas saved their tails on a night they desperately needed saving.

After coughing up a big lead, once as a high as 14, the Raptors were hanging around late in the fourth quarter, thanks in large part to Miami turnovers, they had 21 in the game. With the score tied, DeRozan stepped to the free throw line, where he's an 85 per cent shooter. Missing both shots - he was 2-for-8 at the stripe overall - Valanciunas beat two Heat players, Hassan Whiteside and Luol Deng, to the ball and tipped in the go-ahead bucket. They would never trail again, ultimately winning Game 2 in OT.

"He’s a man-child down there," DeMarre Carroll said of Valanciunas, who scored 11 of his 15 points and grabbed seven of his 12 rebounds in the fourth quarter and OT. "I told Jonas, if I can just get him to play as hard as he [does] on offence on defence, we’ll win this whole series."

He's a big reason why they were able to pull out their first-round series win. Two years ago around this time, Valanciunas lamented his poor performance in a Game 7 loss to the Brooklyn Nets, it was one of the worst of his career. He had said he didn't sleep much, wasn't in the right headspace and, as a result, he learned a valuable lesson on preparing for big games.

Now, most would argue he's been their best player in this playoff run, and they'd have a pretty good case. Through nine games, the Lithuanian centre is averaging 14.9 points, 12.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks on 55 per cent shooting. His most inspired effort came on Thursday, the eve of his 24th birthday.

Once again, DeRozan and Kyle Lowry were having a hard time putting the ball in the bucket, they shot 16-for-46 combined, an ongoing theme here in the post-season. The Raptors' offence, that scored 29 points on nine assists in the opening quarter, broke down in the second half, where they recorded just one assist. Each possession was uglier than the last and most resulted in a tough, contested shot from one of the team's guards. Valanciunas was an afterthought, as is often the case late in games, until he took matters into his own hands.

"He did that with us really not running any plays for him," DeRozan said. "It was just him being hungry, going after the ball a lot of times when shots were going up, him just getting great position, getting his hand on the ball, and it came through big."

Most of Valanciunas' touches came from his six offensive boards, bailing Toronto out a number of times in the fourth. He made all but two of his shots, but the problem was a familiar one: he only got nine opportunities to shoot the ball.

"We would [have liked to get him more touches]," Dwane Casey said after the game. "I think once we do go into him he’s done a decent job, but Whiteside is a force down there and they’re doing a good job digging, pushing him off his sweet spot. We can find more touches for him down there but I think he’s doing a heckuva job, screening, rolling, in-between game is probably what it’s going to be."

"That’s what we gotta do, man," Carroll agreed. "We gotta try to get him the ball more ‘cause every time he gets it, he’s scoring. So we gotta figure out ways we can get him the ball and ways we can move."

As Carroll pointed out, and Casey also alluded to, the Heat are packing the paint and daring the Raptors, particularly the slumping Lowry and DeRozan, to shoot. While Valanciunas has a strength advantage over Whiteside, the Heat's centre and NBA shot block leader has an edge with his wing span. Even if they manage to push him out of his comfort zone, the Raptors would be wise to look for other ways to involve their big man.

His bucket in OT was a good example. Working the pick and pop with Lowry, Valanciunas knocked down a jumper from just behind the free throw line. Given his range and the added benefit of pulling the shot blocking Whiteside out of the paint, why not run this more often?

"We can always include him more," Lowry said. "But tonight it was just one of those games where he was setting great screens. He didn’t try to ask for the ball, he just went and did it. And that’s just the growth in him. Some games it’s not for him to get plays called for him. But when he did get some plays called for him, he made some plays. He had some great passes, some kickouts, re-posts. He was really, like [DeRozan] said, he was hungry tonight."

"You have to just read the game," Valanciunas said, true to character. "You can’t just be taking all the shots. One day you have three shots and then all of a sudden the ball just falls in your hands. You have to keep playing. We are playing a team sport, not an individual sport."

Valanciunas is doing what's asked of him, and he's doing it well. He's rebounding, he's screening, he's had some of the best defensive games of his career over the last couple months, including two to begin this series with the Heat.

However, he needs to be doing more. That's on him, to call for the ball, it's on his teammates to get it to him, but most of all it's on Casey and the coaching staff. Valanciunas took a season-high 18 shots in Game 2 of the Pacers series, but he's attempted an average of nine in seven contests since. That can't happen, especially with Lowry and DeRozan searching for their lost jumpers.

He might not be the one to say it, but the Raptors need to lean on Valanciunas, now more than ever.