Raptors still no match for NBA's best despite nearing full strength

Raptors still no match for NBA’s best despite nearing full strength

Posted by Admin December 8, 2024 NBA

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TORONTO — For the first time this season, the Toronto Raptors had something approaching a complete lineup for head coach Darko Rajakovic to choose from Saturday night.

At the very least his bench was as close to complete as can reasonably be expected.

With Kelly Olynyk making his season debut after missing almost all of training camp and the first 21 games of the season, the only projected rotation piece missing is Bruce Brown, who should be back any time after having off-season knee surgery.

Among the starters, only Immanuel Quickley remains out as he recovers from a torn ligament in his elbow. There is no timeline on his injury.

But find an NBA team that’s not missing a couple of regulars at this time of year. It might take a while.

It’s been a while for Olynyk, who said his back mysteriously tightened up one day after practice during training camp and didn’t properly untighten for six weeks. Such is life in your 12^th NBA season.

“Playing basketball is what I love to do,” says Olynyk of finally returning to the lineup. “So you know, whenever you get to wake up and play basketball, it’s a great day. Obviously, it took a lot longer than I wanted, probably the team wanted, everybody wanted, but those kind of things happen. You’ve got to take your time. You can’t rush it, but it’s nice to get back out there and get into the flow of things.”

The flow of things is exactly what the Raptors are hoping that the veteran big man can help with. He’s a good three-point shooter and a strong passer and profiles as a perfect complement to any number of lineup configurations Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic might want to try.

Olynyk sees himself helping to connect a bench unit that, on paper, could be interesting for the Raptors, especially with the impressive development of rookie Jonathan Mogbo and the promise shown by Ja’Kobe Walter and Jamison Battle, among other youngsters.

“We have young guys, but guys who play hard, play the right way,” said Olynyk who finished with 13 points and four rebounds while making all three of his three-point attempts and all four of his free throws in his 14 minutes of playing time. “I think I can help them get organized, get good shots, keep the ball moving, and kind of connect the pieces together. And I think that’s kind of what my job right now.”

With Olynyk finally available this is a reasonable facsimile of what the Raptors could look like at peak efficiency, although Quickley’s ability to stretch the floor with his shooting is a significant element still missing.

On that basis, the Raptors — feisty as they have been for most of the season — are still no match for the best teams the league has to offer, which isn’t all that surprising.

On a rare Saturday night start at home, Toronto didn’t get blown out by the Dallas Mavericks in what ended up being a 125-118 loss. But even if the Raptors did cut what had been a 24-point Mavericks lead to five with a minute to play, they were mostly out-classed, much like they were when the Oklahoma City Thunder whomped them on Thursday night.

Olynyk might help the Raptors bench and the eventual return of Quickley might bolster the starters, but the Mavericks, coming off a Finals appearance a year ago and determined to make it back, have some serious wattage.

Luka Doncic had 30 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists for Dallas, and Kyrie Irving had 29 points, six rebounds and four assists. Combined they shot 18-of-34 from the floor and 12-of-22 from three. That level of superstar production is hard to compete with. Dallas improved to 16-8, has now won 11 of its past 12 starts and is tied for second in the West, 2.5 games behind OKC.

The Raptors lost for the second straight game and fell to 7-17 on the year. They wrap up their five-game homestand on Monday against the New York Knicks.

Toronto got some nice performances from some key players. Scottie Barnes had a career-high 14 assists to go along with 19 points, while Gradey Dick has looked good since coming back from his calf injury and added 27 points while shooting 5-of-14 from three.

Perhaps the most encouraging development on the night for the Raptors was the continued strong play of Mogbo. The rookie finished with eight points, seven rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots while making two triples in the same game for the first time in his career, needing only two attempts.

He took turns guarding both Doncic and Irving – “he was awesome,” was Rajakovic’s assessment of the assignment – and fit in well alongside Olynyk while playing power forward.

“Jonathan’s super versatile. He can guard one through five,” said Olynk. “ … So that’s really exciting, and he can rebound, he can run, he can put the ball on the floor and handle it a little bit. He made some shots today. As he continues to develop that three-point shot, it’s going to be, obviously, big for him and for us, but he has that athletic ability around the rim. He caught a lob today that looked like he got boosted in the air. It was unbelievable. But you know, his skill set will definitely, I think, complement mine, and mine will complement his. So looking forward to that.”

The Raptors at full strength — or approaching it — may not match up well with the league’s best teams at the moment. But they are still interesting and maybe getting more so as they get healthier and deeper.

The Mavericks are an exceptionally deep team, as most clubs with legitimate championship aspirations usually are. It makes for a tough place for a young player like Montrealer Olivier-Maxwell Prosper to get solid doses of playing time. Dallas picked him 24^th in the 2023 draft but he only appeared in 40 games, averaging 8.5 minutes last season. This season he had only seen the floor in 13 games and averaged 5.7 minutes before last night. But Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd said he still believes the six-foot-eight wing is progressing well: “I think when you watch O-Max from training camp until now you can see the game has slowed down for him and he’s improved,” Kidd said. With Mavericks veteran Maxi Kleber out, Prosper got a chance and gave the Mavericks a jolt when he checked in for just under six minutes to start the second quarter. He got fouled on a drive, hit an open three in the corner and made an impressive chase-down block on Raptors guard Ja’Kobe Walter. His stint to start the fourth quarter was also productive as he got fouled on another drive, kept a loose ball alive, grabbed some offensive rebounds and hit Klay Thompson for a pair of threes. Five points, six rebounds, two assists, a steal, a blocked shot and a positive plus-minus in 10 minutes is a good night’s work. “I’m getting more fluid, I’m getting more comfortable in the moves I’m making, I see the game quicker,” he said to me afterwards. “That’s just from putting in the work. When I get out there in a game like today, I don’t get as tense or nervous. I just let my game speak.”

When Klay Thompson jogged up the hallway to the visitor’s locker room at Scotiabank Arena after doing his pre-game shooting routine, he said – sarcastically and to no one in particular – “A lot of good memories in this hallway, this is where it all started to fall apart.” It was in reference to the torn ACL he suffered to his left knee in Game 5 of the NBA Finals when Raptors guard Danny Green fouled him on a dunk attempt when Thompson was playing for the Golden State Warriors. Toronto – you may recall – went on to win the title in six games. Thompson went on to miss all of the 2019-20 season and then – just before training camp in 2020-21, he tore his Achilles tendon in his right leg and missed all of that season. He battled back to be part of the Warriors title team in 2021-22. But that was the last hurrah for Thompson and the Warriors. At age 34, you have to like his chances at snagging a fifth championship ring in Dallas with Doncic than he would have had staying in the Bay Area. He finished with 20 points and was 3-of-9 from deep Saturday.
Mogbo against Doncic in isolation doesn’t seem like a great match-up for a rookie, even one who seems to be as comfortable with the pace of the NBA players as Mogbo. The first time Mogbo ended up on Doncic he actually fared very well. He forced the Mavericks star to pick up his dribble in the paint and used his size and length to stymie Doncic. The Mavericks star couldn’t pivot or fake his way into a good shot. Great job Jonathan! But then as a last resort, Doncic flipped a no-look, one-handed pass behind his head to a wide-open Irving who hit one of his four first-quarter threes. Making something out of nothing is a Doncic specialty. Early in the first quarter, the Slovenian star missed an easy lay-up in traffic. The Mavericks got the rebound, got it back to Doncic who hit a step-back three on the right wing over Ochai Agbaji and then spent most of the subsequent time out lamenting the missed lay-up. In the second quarter, he hit Klay Thompson with a cross-court chest pass that travelled from behind centre to the far corner through about three Raptors defenders on a line. His running three from halfcourt at the buzzer looked like a practice shot for him, because he practises those shots. ‘Luka Magic’ is real.