Summer League: Toronto Raptors vs. San Antonio Spurs 89-100: Raps fall in final game

Shead, Walter, and Carton shine despite loss to end off Summer League

For the Toronto Raptors, Summer League drew to a close last night as they fell to the San Antonio Spurs 100-89. While they finished the week with a 2-3 record, that was an improvement from last year. It’s not like things worked out the way we hoped either with Gradey and Mogbo sustaining injuries. Ochai and Javon were shut down as well, so the final start was given to Carlson, Shead, Walter, Carton and Chomche.

San Antonio came into the game 3-1 and sat some of their own players as well, but had strong performances from all around, with Donovan Williams finishing with 16/5/2 and Yauhen Massalski chipping in with a double double from the bench with 14/13/5. The spurs were dominant on the boards, out rebounding the raptors 49-30. They scored at will down low and in the paint as well, contributing to their victory.

Toronto struggled with their shot again, just over 43% from the field and 21% from long range. Paired with turnovers, it was a difficult obstacle to overcome. Toronto’s scoring came from Shead, who led the team with 18/4/6, DJ Carton contributed 17, and Walter had another strong performance with 16/3/1.

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The game was slow to start for the Raps, with bad passes, turnovers, missed shots, and fouls that led to the first points of the game coming from the line for San Antonio. The Spurs went on a 10-0 run before Ja’Kobe was able to answer, driven by his effort on the other end of the floor. Jamison Battle stepped up to help with scoring, but the Spurs’ maintained a double digit lead for most of the quarter, mostly due to the Raptors shooting, going 2-11 from distance and 6-20 from the field. They ended the quarter down to the Spurs 24-14.

To start the second, the Raptors got the bench unit some playing time trying to kick-start an offensive punch. Guerrier had a nice quarter, diving to the basket on an excellent cut and hitting a 3-pointer early. Unfortunately, to no avail. The Spurs extended their lead, going on a 14-2 run, taking advantage of a lack of defensive coverage in the paint. At the end of the frame, the Raptors were down 33-50.

Coming out of the locker room, many of the same issues continued, with turnovers, fouls, and missed shots providing the Spurs with extra possessions. Shead came alive in the frame, scoring in a variety of different ways, showing some of his versatility. As a whole, the team was still struggling and tried to utilize a full court press to win but some extra possessions but the Spurs’ scoring punch continued and they remained up 69-52 over Toronto.

In the final frame, Shead continued to help the offence, getting his own shots and finding Carlson for some paint points. Carton had a couple of bad turnovers to start the quarter but chipped in 9 points in the quarter as well. The Raptors were able to slowly diminish the lead and reduce it to single digits, but the Spurs were too strong and held on for an 11 point victory.

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Shead started out cold, going 1-7 from the field, but salvaged the game in the second half, hitting 6-8 in the second half. He continues to show his ability to distribute the ball as well, finding his teammates for lobs and cuts, and can help generate offence late in the game. He doesn’t seem to give in regardless of the score, and his defensive effort was excellent.

DJ Carton is also showing some versatility, and as he earned more minutes on this Summer League squad, he found his rhythm. This game was the perfect example of what he’s capable of, incorporating his jumper along with cutting and 3-point shooting as well.

Ja’Kobe is also settling in, and after a couple of difficult performances to start Summer League, he’s notched another double digit scoring game. One of the biggest positives has been his free throw shooting and ability to get to the line. He doesn’t seem to be bothered by a difficult shooting night or taking the shots late in game. He kept his defence engaged throughout as well, keeping him in the game until his shots did finally connect.

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Now there will finally be some time for guys to work as they will have the rest of the summer to develop their guys and get them accustomed to the system before having to make decisions in training camp. Hopefully we’ll catch some of the development from social media and see what the guys are up to, as the wait for the regular season starts to feel pretty long in August…