Nick Nurse’s bold bet gave the Raptors confidence
After defeating Portland on Sunday night, Toronto followed up with a second straight win on Tuesday night, this time over Charlotte (132-120), one of their best performances of the season. After 28 points Pascal Siakam, the Raptors were thus able to rely on the long-range address found. “Found” because before the game, Nick Nurse’s players had the second-worst 3-point percentage in the league: 33%!
The first surprise is that they managed 20 shots from behind the arc. The second is that they show a very good address at 45.5%. The third surprise, or not, is that they also have a season-best 32 assists. A successful collective performance that would have pleased Nick Nurse.
“We got open shots and I think we created a lot of chances with good shots in transition as well, so it was pretty good. I’m very happy with the 3-point shooting, assists and scoring a lot. It was good to see” I thank the coach.
Nick Nurse’s winning poker move
It consists of a new trio Dear Achiuwa, chris the butcher and Christian Koloko This allowed Toronto to control and build on its lead in the second and then the fourth quarter. The interior trio scored 31 of 40 points off the Raptors’ bench and grabbed at least 17 rebounds. A bold bet by Nick Nurse, because no one would have imagined seeing these three interiors on the floor at the same time.
Recall that the Raptors bench, for example, is one of the worst in the league in terms of scoring an average of 13.4 points in the last five games. No team has had a worse result during this period.
“I’m just trying to find a solution after such a difficult time” Nurse Nick admitted. “ These guys seem to generate a lot of our offensive energy. Then it spread”.
In addition to favoring offensive rebounding to come up with clean possessions for shooters, the trio of Boucher – Koloko – Achiuwa allowed Toronto to play a zone defense that troubled the Hornets greatly.
“I think it’s all about confidence and pace” pioneer Precious Achiuwa. “Once the bench finds its rhythm like it has now, a lot of guys don’t have to do a lot, put a lot of pressure on themselves or their bodies or their minutes. You know that when the substitutes come on, they will do the same as the first players. I think we have a very, very good team. Obviously, we are not in the position we want, but I have a lot of confidence in this team. I believe we showed that last year. I don’t think there’s anything stopping us from having an incredible run. We just have to focus.”.
Fred VanVleetalso thinks the Raptors are at a turning point in their season and are on a winning streak.
“Let’s start by winning the third game in a row on Thursday” Raptors alert point guard. “What is behind us is behind us. We have to look forward 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 have work to do, we have a lot of work to do, and we haven’t been good so far, but I like the way we’ve been able to pull it together in the last two games.”.
The Raptors, who host the Hornets again on Thursday, have an opportunity to string together a third straight win, which would be their first this season.
| Shots | It bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Turn 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 |
| Og 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 the 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 |
| Malachy 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 Koloko | 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 Dowtin | 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 |
