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TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO – In an effort to keep things light while also remaining competitive, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse and his staff have been awarding players with a toy WWE championship belt during many practices this season.

This ritual dates back to training camp in Vancouver, an idea credited to assistant coach Nate Bjorkgren. The original belt cost them a few dollars at Toys ‘R’ Us, but has since been upgraded to a higher-quality version that was proudly displayed by its latest winner on Thursday.

Fred VanVleet wore the black and gold prop on his shoulder as he conducted his scrum with the media following practice. Generally, a player has to earn the prize by finishing first in a drill or standing out in a scrimmage, but VanVleet got the belt for his work the night before.

For VanVleet, or any Raptor, to be wearing that belt seemed unlikely three quarters of the way through Wednesday’s game against Indiana.

Toronto headed into the fourth down 10 points, having trailed by as many as 17 in the second half. They were shooting 41 per cent and had allowed 85 points to a Pacers team that only scored 91 in a loss to Cleveland – the NBA’s worst defensive team – the night prior. Meanwhile, three of the Raptors top seven players – Kyle Lowry, Serge Ibaka and Jonas Valanciunas – were out with injuries.

Searching for answers with his team undermanned and underperforming, Nurse turned to 11 of the 12 players he had available at some point over the final 12 minutes, including the sparingly used Lorenzo Brown, Malachi Richardson and two-way big Chris Boucher. He moved Pascal Siakam to centre, where he’s spent very little time during his three seasons in the NBA – three per cent of his total minutes, according to Basketball Reference – and even sprinkled in some zone defence.

Then, just as the loss seemed inevitable, the game turned.

The Raptors’ defence – ranked seventh going into Wednesday’s game – has been among the league’s best all season, but when they’re locked in and the right personnel is on the floor, we’ve seen glimpses of something special. Wednesday’s fourth quarter was one of the best defensive stretches this group has played to date.

Over the final 12 minutes, the Raptors held Indiana to 11 points on 5-of-18 shooting and forced seven turnovers. It wasn’t pretty, but it was what you might call a character-building win.

“I think that we’re resilient and we have a lot of talent and nobody really ever panicked, although we probably had a million reasons to panic last night, just the way the game was going,” VanVleet said of his team’s 99-96 comeback win. “It’s not the way you draw it up by any means, but good teams find a way to win and we did that. It wasn’t pretty and we just kept clawing and scratching and fighting and finally turned it on a little bit and made some plays there to sneak out of there with a win.”

After going 1-for-12 in the first three quarters, missing all six of his three-point attempts, VanVleet hit three of his five shots in the fourth, all of them coming from beyond the arc. The one he will remember most turned out to be the winning bucket – a long, 27-foot jumper with 26 seconds remaining.

True to character, the 24-year-old point guard wasn’t thinking about all those shots he had missed. He remained confident that the next one, the biggest ones, would go in.

Did that shot earn him the team’s coveted championship belt on Thursday? It probably didn’t hurt his case, but he knows his effort on the defensive end is what sealed the deal.

“There’s just a sense of swagger that good teams have,” VanVleet said. “We’ve got guys who have played in big games, been down before and we’ve all been there before. So it’s understanding the moment, understanding the situation and what types of things you need to do to climb yourself out. Obviously it takes a lot of energy and effort and passion.”

The Raptors got off to a franchise-record 20-4 start to the season. As good as they looked doing it, a friendly early season schedule raised the question: How would they fare when adversity hits?

Well, it’s hit, at least to some degree. Ten of Toronto’s last 12 games have come against winning teams with seven of them coming on the road. They were without one of Lowry or Leonard in half of those 12 games. In addition, Ibaka, Siakam, Valanciunas, and VanVleet have all missed time over that span. Still, they managed to go 7-5, with impressive wins over the Warriors (twice), 76ers, Pacers, Clippers and Grizzlies. Meanwhile, the five losses came by a combined 24 points. They were in every game.

How much can we take from any of them? How much should they be taking from them? We’ve only seen the Raptors at full strength in one of their first 33 games. Nurse has been forced to improvise with his rotation and, to his credit, he doesn’t seem to mind. It’s enabled him to mix and match, to experiment with different combinations, and to see what works and what doesn’t, which may be beneficial later in the season.

As next week’s brief holiday break approaches, followed by the halfway point of the season, injuries will continue to test their resiliency.

Lowry, who has missed the last three games with a thigh contusion, isn’t expected to return until after Christmas. Ibaka has been dealing with some swelling in his knee and is considered questionable for this weekend’s back-to-back at home to Cleveland and in Philadelphia. Valanciunas will be out for at least another month after undergoing surgery on his dislocated thumb.

All the while, Kawhi and his new teammates are still getting comfortable with each other, the ever-changing second unit is still coming together and Nurse is still trying to decipher what his wing rotation will look like behind Leonard and Green, with C.J. Miles and OG Anunoby struggling and Norman Powell just returning from injury.

Do they have enough shooting? Do they need more rebounding? These are questions the team and its front office will need to figure out. Fortunately, they’ve still got time to do it.

Even as they evaluate, as they play out the toughest stretch of their schedule, and as they hope to finally get healthy in the New Year, the Raptors are still finding ways to win games, and that has to be encouraging.