Fred VanVleet achieved a funny feat this week. This is not his first player’s trophy of the week, or his first career triple-double, but a streak worthy of Kobe Bryant.
The one we now nickname “Freddy All Star” has indeed spent a 15-0 in defense of Jazz, on his own. Toronto was behind 84-70 in the third quarter and then found itself in the lead following the devastating passage of the Raptors’ wisp (85-84). Cherry on the cheesecake, the Raptors won the game in stride.
Author of 37 points that evening, “FVV” embarrassed the defense of Jazz, no one was able to stop him.
An additional opportunity to progress
While the Raptors are back in 2022 with their current streak of six wins, Fred VanVleet says he has felt an adaptation of the defenses, now a little more focused on him, in recent games.
” Absoutely. I get a lot more attention. They defend harder on me, I even saw a few boxes (box-and-one). It’s funny. I have to learn from this new challenge and adapt, while remaining focused ”, did he declare. “In the last game, Jose Alvarado did a great job defending on me in the third quarter. I had to stay calm and not get frustrated in order to resurface in the last quarter. It’s a challenge that I like, an opportunity to learn and improve ”.
To help him focus more on scoring, the leader can also count on the contribution of the Anunoby-Barnes-Siakam trio to the creation who, each in their registers, take more and more responsibilities. And the more diverse the weapons, the more difficult the whole becomes for the adversary to defend …
“It’s clear that it helps me to play a little less with the ball in hand. And more than that, it’s a different responsibility to have to carry the ball, have to run a system, make sure everyone is in the right place and do that every time. I did it this season. Looking back, I’m not sure this is our best option ”, he added. “The best part is to have as many creators as possible, no matter what position they’re in, and it’s good to see OG and Scottie getting more and more comfortable with our attack.”
Toronto seems to have found the balance and so has Fred VanVleet, who is running at 31.2 points per game in 2022.
| Fred vanvleet | Percentage | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Fte | Int | Bp | Ct | Pts |
| 2016-17 | TOR | 37 | 8 | 35.1 | 37.9 | 81.8 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 2.9 |
| 2017-18 | TOR | 76 | 20 | 42.6 | 41.4 | 83.2 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 3.2 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 8.6 |
| 2018-19 | TOR | 64 | 28 | 41.0 | 37.8 | 84.3 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 4.8 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 11.0 |
| 2019-20 | TOR | 54 | 36 | 41.3 | 39.0 | 84.8 | 0.3 | 3.4 | 3.8 | 6.6 | 2.4 | 1.9 | 2.2 | 0.3 | 17.6 |
| 2020-21 | TOR | 52 | 37 | 38.9 | 36.6 | 88.5 | 0.6 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 6.3 | 2.3 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 19.6 |
| 2021-22 | TOR | 34 | 38 | 44.2 | 40.9 | 89.2 | 0.8 | 4.2 | 5.0 | 6.7 | 2.4 | 1.7 | 2.7 | 0.6 | 22.0 |
| Total | 317 | 27 | 41.1 | 38.8 | 86.0 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 4.7 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 13.2 | |
