The Raptors no longer want to be down 20 points to wake up

The crowd at Scotiabank Arena had difficulty hiding their dismay. Otto Porter Jr. thought he would finish quietly at the circle in transition when Daniel Gafford appeared to block him. Then Kyle Kuzma finished on the counterattack to give the Wizards a 23-point lead (48-71) on the Raptors floor.

At the start of the second half, it was the biggest gap in favor of the visitors. In the following minutes, the Canadians managed to reduce this gap to around ten points. But it was thanks to a terrible 21-1 final that the Raptors, still trailing by 16 points seven minutes from time (90-106), won (111-107).

“ Any time you come back into a game down 20 points, it’s incredible. We are happy with this victory, but we don’t want more matches like these », reacted quickly Chris Boucher (7 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks), decisive defensively at the end of the match and author of several finishes on the counter-attack.

A wake-up call at halftime

Because before signing the feat, the Canadians went through a basketball mush. In the second quarter, finished with only 20 points scored, they missed all their 3-point attempts (0/6). They even recorded more violations of the 24 seconds (3) than winning baskets in the first period (2)…

Being less good in attack is one thing, but letting this clumsiness have an influence on defensive investment is another. At the break, Kyle Kuzma (34 points) and his team already had 64 points on the clock.

“ We corrected that at halftime. I told them: ‘I don’t expect you to win the match, but I expect you to play with joy, to have fun and to fight at a much higher level.’ They weren’t good enough in those aspects in the first half. […] I didn’t think it was about our identity, about how we should play. And the guys responded “, summarizes Darko Rajakovic.

Already the example at Spurs

The response from his team, deprived of two executives (Gary Trent Jr. and OG Anunoby), first came from the defense. “ Deflected balls, interceptions, counterattacks… It gave us opportunities to attack. 3-point shots weren’t going in (editor’s note: 4/21 in the end), we had to adjust and try something different », Continues the Raptors technician whose team outclassed its opponent in terms of points scored in the paint (76-48).

The latter adds: “ We ended up winning the game, but to be honest with you, I’d rather not dig a 19-point hole at halftime and then have to try harder and play twice as hard in the second half. » However, this is precisely what his team had already gone through on the Spurs floor, a week earlier, with up to 22 points behind…

The Serb considers that these kinds of experiences say a lot about the “ character » of his team.

“ But we can also talk about it (on the absence of character) compared to our first half (laughs) ! It’s not easy to come back from a deficit of more than ten points at the break, and find a way, the energy to win the match. We must learn to respond from the kick-off », Demands the coach.