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DENVER—The Raptors see it coming and they can feel it. They are much better far more often than they’ve been at any point in the regular season. They feel confident and are playing with poise and purpose as the season gets down to the nitty-gritty.
Too bad they weren’t rewarded for their efforts here Monday night.
In a delightful game against arguably the best team in the NBA, the Raptors dropped a dramatic 118-113 decision to the Western Conference-leading Denver Nuggets. After leading for most of the game, the Raptors faded in the final 40 seconds.
And when Scottie Barnes was ejected for arguing a call with Toronto down one and 29 seconds left, the Nuggets iced the game at the free-throw line.
There are no moral victories, and the Raptors missed a chance to move into eighth place in the Eastern Conference, but their overall performance was impressive. It was one of their most thorough performances in a while: a combination of patient, effective offence and a solid defensive effort in the most difficult arena for road teams.
There were blips — a rash of turnovers to start the third quarter, and bad closeouts to the first three quarters — but there was more than enough good to take away from the night. And since the goal is incremental improvement over the last month of the regular season, some major steps were taken.
“We’ve got a chance to be really good defensively. I don’t think we’re really good or great yet … so we’re still striving to make progress on that defensive end,” coach Nick Nurse said. “I still say the offence is running OK. We need to shot-make better, but I think the rhythm and all that stuff, the shots we’re creating are there.”
The Raptors didn’t do anything unexpected in trying to slow two-time MVP Nikola Jokic. Denver expected to see myriad defensive schemes and looks.
O.G. Anunoby got the job, while Jakob Poeltl guarded Jokic a bit and was the double-team guy on other occasions. Chris Boucher had the responsibility, Precious Achiuwa had it, and the Raptors played some zone. The Nuggets knew it was coming, and weren’t particularly worried.
“When you’re a great player like Nikola, you’ve seen almost every conceivable defensive idea,” Denver coach Michael Malone said before the game.
“In the past, teams like Toronto with Nick Nurse, they’ve gotten very creative. Nick has used a box-and-one, triangle-and-two, zone, pressure, switching. So, you always have to be ready when you play Toronto for the number of defences they can throw at you, but I feel really confident that with Nikola’s experience and his IQ, he’s going to figure out how to break that code. It’s a matter of time, and it’s a matter of when.”
Jokic wasn’t brilliant Monday night — although 17 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists isn’t anything to laugh at — but he was able to figure out what the Raptors were doing with him.
“He seems to have an answer for just about everything,” Nurse said. “I’ve only been in this league for 10 years. There are not a whole lot of guys that I can count on my fingers that have had that answer to it all.”
The 28-year-old Jokic began the game averaging 24.5 points, 11.8 rebounds and 10 assists per game and has the Nuggets in a tight battle with the Milwaukee Bucks for first overall in the NBA. Denver is a league-best 30-4 at home.
He was also posting a league-best 70.3 true shooting percentage — which reflects the value of all field goals — and shooting 63 per cent from inside the arc. The idea, Poeltl said, was to limit the way he sets up teammates.
“What I’ve found in the past is, the most effective is just trying to limit his playmaking abilities as much as possible, because he gets the whole team going,” the Raptors centre said. “He’s going to get to his points … there’s only so much you can do there. He’s very gifted offensively, he’s got great touch. He’s got the body for it, as well.
“If you can limit everyone else as much as possible, that definitely helps.”
The Raptors also limited the effectiveness of Kitchener’s Jamal Murray. Aside from a spurt where he scored 12 points in about five minutes to start the second half, Murray was held in check until the dramatic final few minutes.
Correction: March 7, 2023 — This story has been updated from a previously published version to delete erroneous reference that Scottie Barnes was ejected on his second technical. He was ejected after just one tech.
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