Pascal Siakam had a very good game during the Raptors’ back-to-back in Denver, with 33 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds, but it was without the Cameroonian that the Canadians made the difference on the floor of Colorado.
Indeed, when the Nuggets had taken control of the game at the end of the third quarter, Nick Nurse threw an astonishing five … and never used this season. The coach thus left rookie Scottie Barnes as the only starter on the pitch, with substitutes Dalano Banton, Thaddeux Young, Chris Boucher and Khem Birch.
“They made a hell of a run” could rejoice Nick Nurse afterwards. “It wasn’t great for the first 2 minutes and 30 seconds and I was eager to get Gary (Trent Jr) or another shooter back, but then they really dominated and almost got us out of the way. “
After a 5-0, Denver had thus created the biggest gap of the match (104-96) after the first sequences of this amazing group, and the experience seemed doomed to disaster. Except that this funny “lineup” will then place a 17-3 which will change the match, Pascal Siakam just replacing Khem Birch to close the deal.
“It was just about five guys who played hard and tried to help each other” explained Chris Boucher. “It’s something we do well. Everyone, from the first to the fifteenth player, plays hard all the time, and stays ready. Even if it’s not always very beautiful all the time, we really try our best to achieve things. “
Lots of size…and bounce
With this group, Nick Nurse had two players of 2m01 (Dalano Banton and Scottie Barnes), one of 2m03 (Thaddeus Young) and two of 2m06 (Chris Boucher and Khem Birch).
“Thad had a few tough shots, Dalano made a couple of plays, Scottie as well. Chris, with his offensive rebounds and that shot in the corner, he probably had the most impact”explains the coach. “But they didn’t want to give up before they scored. Khem continued tap dancing. They were all three (Barnes, Birch and Boucher) on the offensive rebound, and Scottie had a few streaks in isolation with his size. “
Facing the Nuggets who felt tired late in the game, the size, scope and energy of this group made the difference, in a game where the Raptors forced 19 loss of balls and took 23 offensive rebounds, generating 61 points by accumulating counter-attacks and points on “second chance”.
A recipe that allowed Toronto to score a second victory, back-to-back, after its success in Phoenix the day before. And thus remain in ambush behind the Top 6 in the East.
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Pascal Siakam | 53 | 37.6 | 48.1 | 34.1 | 74.0 | 2.0 | 6.4 | 8.4 | 5.1 | 2.7 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 3.5 | 21.6 |
| Fred Vanvleet | 54 | 38.1 | 41.4 | 39.6 | 87.9 | 0.7 | 3.9 | 4.6 | 6.8 | 2.7 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 2.4 | 21.3 |
| Gary Trent, Jr. | 57 | 34.8 | 41.7 | 38.2 | 84.1 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 18.3 |
| Ogugua Anunoby | 42 | 36.7 | 43.6 | 35.1 | 74.8 | 1.6 | 3.9 | 5.5 | 2.6 | 1.8 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 3.0 | 17.5 |
| Scottie Barnes | 58 | 35.4 | 48.8 | 30.6 | 74.0 | 2.6 | 5.0 | 7.6 | 3.2 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 2.6 | 15.0 |
| chris butcher | 64 | 20.2 | 47.2 | 28.6 | 77.1 | 2.1 | 3.8 | 5.8 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 2.2 | 8.9 |
| Precious Achiuwa | 57 | 23.0 | 42.9 | 35.3 | 58.7 | 2.1 | 4.7 | 6.8 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 8.3 |
| Goran Dragic | 5 | 17.9 | 38.2 | 28.6 | 100.0 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 2.8 | 1.8 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 8.0 |
| Dj Wilson | 4 | 13.5 | 73.3 | 0.0 | 80.0 | 0.2 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 7.5 |
| Thaddeus Young | 10 | 18.3 | 44.3 | 53.8 | 33.3 | 1.7 | 2.6 | 4.3 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 6.5 |
| Juwan Morgan | 1 | 27.4 | 66.7 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 5.0 |
| Svi Mykhailiuk | 50 | 13.9 | 39.5 | 30.2 | 85.3 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 4.9 |
| Yuta Watanabe | 31 | 13.0 | 41.7 | 37.3 | 57.1 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 2.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 4.7 |
| Khem Birsh | 40 | 18.4 | 47.3 | 0.0 | 74.5 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 4.4 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 4.6 |
| Malachi Flynn | 40 | 12.0 | 40.7 | 33.3 | 60.9 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 4.3 |
| Tremont Waters | 2 | 20.9 | 25.0 | 22.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.5 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 |
| Dalano Banton | 56 | 11.5 | 40.8 | 26.0 | 62.2 | 0.6 | 1.4 | 2.0 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 3.4 |
| Daniel Oturu | 3 | 9.1 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 60.0 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 3.0 |
| Justin Champagnie | 35 | 7.8 | 46.2 | 34.6 | 100.0 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 2.2 |
| isaac bonga | 15 | 4.6 | 23.1 | 25.0 | 62.5 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 0.8 |
| Sam Dekker | 1 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Armoni Brooks | 2 | 4.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
| david johnson | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
