Nick Nurse’s bold bet gave the Raptors confidence
After defeating Portland on Sunday night, Toronto followed up on Tuesday night with a second straight victory, this time over Charlotte (132-120), for what was one of their best performances of the season. In the event of 28 points of Pascal Siakam, so the Raptors relied on a long-distance address found. “Found” because before the game, Nick Nurse’s players showed the second worst 3-point percentage in the league: 33%!
The first surprise was that they made 20 shots from behind the arc. The second is that they showed a very good address at 45.5%. The third surprise, or not, is that they also signed their best mark of the season in assists, with 32 assists. A triumphant collective performance that had something to please Nick Nurse.
“We took open shots and I think we also created a lot of chances in transition, with good shots, so it was pretty good. I was very happy with the 3-point shots, assists and scoring a lot of points. Nice to see” appreciate the coach.
Nick Nurse’s winning poker move
This is a new trio consisting of Dear Achiuwa, chris butcher and Christian Fool which allowed Toronto to manage and consolidate its lead in the second and then the fourth quarter. The trio of interiors scored 31 of the Raptors’ 40 points off the bench, and grabbed at least 17 rebounds. A bold bet on Nick Nurse’s part as no one would have thought these three interiors would be on the floor at the same time.
As a reminder, the Raptors bench is one of the worst in the league in terms of scoring, with, for example, 13.4 points on average over the last five games. No team has done worse this season.
“I’m just trying to find a solution after a hard time” Nick Nurse admitted. “ These guys seem to generate a lot of our offensive rebound energy. then spread”.
In addition to dominating the offensive rebound to get the ball clean for shooters, the Boucher – Koloko – Achiuwa trio allowed Toronto to play a zone defense that disrupted the Hornets greatly.
“I think it’s about confidence and speed” advanced Precious Achiuwa. “Once the bench finds its rhythm like it did today, a lot of guys don’t have to do too much, don’t have to put too much pressure on themselves, their bodies or their minutes. You know the replacements will do as well as the starters when they come I think we have a very, very good team. Obviously, we are not in the desired position, but I remain very confident in this team. I believe we showed it was last year. I don’t think there’s anything stopping us from having an incredible run. We just have to focus”.
Fred VanVleettoo, thinking that the Raptors are at a turning point in their season and it’s time to chain the victories.
“Let’s start by winning the third game in a row on Thursday” warned the Raptors point guard. “What’s behind us is behind us. We have to hope and hope that our best basketball is ahead of us… We put something together and nobody will remember what the first half of the season looked like. We’ve got work to do, we’ve got a lot to do, and we haven’t been good so far, but I like what we’ve put together in the last two games.”.
The Raptors, who will host the Hornets again on Thursday, have a chance to string together a third straight victory, which would be their first this season.
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | p.d | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Pascal Siakam | 31 | 37.3 | 47.4 | 33.9 | 77.9 | 2.0 | 6.3 | 8.3 | 6.5 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 3.3 | 25.8 |
| Gary Trent, Jr. | 34 | 32.3 | 44.3 | 36.7 | 82.1 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 1.6 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 18.5 |
| Fred Vanvleet | 33 | 36.9 | 37.6 | 32.8 | 88.0 | 0.5 | 3.7 | 4.2 | 6.3 | 1.8 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 2.8 | 18.4 |
| And Anunoby | 37 | 36.9 | 46.9 | 36.8 | 83.6 | 1.6 | 4.3 | 5.9 | 2.1 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 0.8 | 3.2 | 18.3 |
| Scottie Barnes | 38 | 33.9 | 44.8 | 28.8 | 76.0 | 2.1 | 4.8 | 6.9 | 4.7 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 1.9 | 14.7 |
| chris butcher | 36 | 20.9 | 46.6 | 28.1 | 76.2 | 2.0 | 3.6 | 5.7 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 2.1 | 9.7 |
| Dear Achiuwa | 17 | 17.5 | 39.0 | 20.5 | 82.9 | 1.5 | 3.9 | 5.4 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 1.4 | 7.6 |
| Malachi Flynn | 29 | 15.1 | 37.3 | 39.1 | 76.5 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.6 | 5.7 |
| Otto Porter | 8 | 18.3 | 50.0 | 35.3 | 100.0 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 2.4 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 5.5 |
| Dalano Banton | 22 | 10.1 | 42.3 | 30.2 | 82.4 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 5.2 |
| Thaddeus Young | 35 | 16.5 | 54.3 | 17.4 | 73.7 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 3.6 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 1.8 | 4.9 |
| Christian Fool | 38 | 16.1 | 49.6 | 12.5 | 66.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 3.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 2.7 | 3.9 |
| Juancho Hernangomez | 28 | 17.1 | 45.7 | 28.3 | 45.5 | 0.8 | 2.7 | 3.5 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 3.8 |
| Ron Harper | 2 | 3.9 | 50.0 | 66.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 |
| Jeff Downin | 12 | 7.2 | 52.2 | 25.0 | 100.0 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 2.3 |
| Khem Birsh | 20 | 8.1 | 59.4 | 50.0 | 80.0 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 2.2 |
| Justin Champagne | 3 | 3.6 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 2.0 |
