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TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO – When he was addressing his team in the moments following their biggest and most exhausting win of the season, Saturday’s triple-overtime thriller against the Heat, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse evoked an old phrase from a popular former player.

“I used Jonas [Valanciunas’] old line,” Nurse said. “Jonas used to always say enjoy it until midnight. And I used that one in the locker room. It was about 11:38 [p.m.] when I said that.”

“It [was] a hell of a win, kind of cool beans. But it’s regular season, one of 82 [games]. They come fast, so win or lose you gotta forget about them pretty quick.”

The game was memorable and the victory was impressive, but the question on Nurse’s mind, as his club prepared to take on the streaking Hawks in Atlanta a couple days later, was: what would they do for an encore?

“I don’t know if I can answer that question,” he said ahead of what turned out to be another quality win for Toronto, 106-100, on Monday. “We’ll see what kind of effect there is when the ball goes up.”

Even Nurse wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the five guys he had been leaning on so heavily after they emptied the tank in Miami over the weekend. Each of his five starters logged at least 53 minutes in the 124-120 marathon win, the first time any five players on any NBA team had logged that many minutes in a single game during the shot clock era, dating back to 1954-55. 

With a Sunday morning flight to Atlanta and a quick turnaround to Monday’s contest, the first of four games in five nights, the Raptors have been prioritizing rest, of the physical and mental variety. They didn’t hold a practice on Sunday, nor did they shoot around on Monday morning. They even skipped their usual off-day film session.

“Those guys did not go anywhere near the court today,” Nurse said ahead of the Hawks game. “I wouldn’t even let them get on the bus. We’re trying to conserve [energy] as much as we can.”

“I was in bed all day,” said Pascal Siakam, who played 57 minutes on Saturday.

Given the circumstances, an emotional hang over and letdown performance against one of the league’s hottest teams wouldn’t have been shocking, and after a sluggish first half that seemed to be where things were headed. Even in the second night of a back-to-back, and without their all-star Trae Young, who missed the game with a sore shoulder, the Hawks – winners of seven straight contests – led by nine points after 24 minutes.

It wasn’t for a lack of effort on their part, but the Raptors just didn’t have that same bounce in their step or the same focus and attention to detail that helped them take down the first-place Heat 48 hours earlier. They were a step slow on defence and committed silly reach-in fouls, and they shot 37 per cent from the field. While it’s not entirely unusual to see them foul a lot or go through prolonged shooting slumps, they looked like a team carrying heavy legs and fighting through fatigue. But they fought.

For the second straight contest, Nurse made a few halftime adjustments, but the biggest factor, once again, was that the Raptors came out of the break and locked in on defence. They held the Hawks to 15 third-quarter points and 1-for-8 shooting from three-point range, while forcing seven turnovers and converting that nine-point halftime deficit into an eight-point advantage going into the final frame.

As promised prior to the game, Nurse went a tad deeper in his rotation, given this week’s jam-packed schedule. Nine players saw the floor in the first half, although Dalano Banton (six minutes in the contest) and Justin Champagnie (three minutes) were used only sparingly. They got solid production from Chris Boucher (three points and seven rebounds in 21 minutes) and Precious Achiuwa (seven points and four rebounds in 17 minutes) off the bench, but it was the starters that did most of the heavy lifting again.

Siakam played another 41 minutes, including the entire second half. Gary Trent Jr. also exceeded 40 minutes. Fred VanVleet logged 39. OG Anunoby and Scottie Barnes each played 36, which was light for them compared to their recent workloads. However, it’s hard to imagine the Raptors pulling out either of these last two wins without their five-best players.

“I thought I did see a couple of guys that were a little tired earlier than normal,” Nurse said afterwards. “I tried to read that, just watching the speed of how they were moving, and tried to do some early subbing and moving things around a little bit. But I will say this, I think just about all of them made some [big] plays late in the game.”

VanVleet hit a couple of big three-pointers in the fourth quarter and then set up the dagger, an Anunoby jumper, with a brilliant head fake to suck in the defence from underneath the rim, and a pinpoint pass to the corner. Siakam, who had a couple of steals in that third-quarter run, continued to play the best defence of his career, and also chipped in with 25 points. Meanwhile, Trent remained red-hot. He hit 9 of his 15 three-point attempts and eclipsed 30 points for the fourth straight game, becoming the fifth player in franchise history to accomplish that feat, and first since Kawhi Leonard in 2019.

The starting lineup of VanVleet, Trent, Anunoby, Siakam and Barnes came into Monday’s game as the team’s most-used unit, having logged 160 minutes, though it had been outscored by 4.9 points per 100 possessions. However, due to injuries and a mid-season COVID outbreak, those five guys only shared the court in three of the first 32 games. The bulk of their reps together have come over the past few weeks, and there’s a sense that they’re finally starting to gel and build chemistry, especially on the defensive end.

“I think [we’re starting to understand] what everyone can do defensively, individually and as a team, and letting it carry over,” said Siakam. “We’ve got to play together as a team. I think that’s the only thing we can be a great defensive team. Individually, I know we have good defenders. As a team, we’ve got to stay together, work hard and stay together.”

It doesn’t get easier. The NBA did away with four-games in five-nights stretches a few years ago, in an effort to mitigate the risk of injury and prioritize proper rest. But with three postponed games to make up this month, the Raptors are facing one this week. And it’s not just the sheer volume of games that’s daunting; the degree of difficulty is just as tough.

On Tuesday, the Raptors will return to Toronto and host the Heat in a rematch of Saturday’s classic. Then, after an off day on Wednesday, they’ll play another back-to-back, with the Chicago Bulls – tied with Miami for first in the East – coming to town on Thursday and these same Hawks visiting Scotiabank Arena on Friday.

“I think that it’s going to build character,” Siakam said. “It’s good that we are in these situations and we can go out there and stay together, win together, go through tough times together, and I think that it builds chemistry, just having all these games against really good teams. So [I’m] looking forward to it, and obviously it’s tough, but I think we are made for it and we have the team for it.”