Raptors 905 run out of steam in loss to Cleveland Charge
The second night of back-to-backs are inherently difficult. Playing a back-to-back against the same team adds the wrinkle of adjusting to how the opposition played you the day before.
After holding off the Cleveland Charge in game one of a two-game set on Wednesday, the Raptors 905 lost that adjustment battle and dropped the second contest 130-116 on Thursday.
“I thought we settled. The zone paralyzed us a little bit,” said coach Drew Jones after the game. “We talked about it, we prepared for it, but we have to do better. We have to continue to move the ball, attack the gaps. Can’t allow it to stagnate on offence”
The 905’s offence fluctuated significantly in this game. During the first quarter there were plays where they used both their passing and motion off the ball to effectively create advantages. More often than not they capitalized.
G League Next Up Game representative A.J. Lawson ran off a double drag before hitting Tyreke Key with a skip pass in the far corner. Key then entered to Ulrich Chomche on the block, got it right back on a face cut, and found Quincy Guerrier on the opposite wing. The French-Canadian forward took advantage of the shifted defence by freezing his man with a pump fake and driving to the hoop. He blew the layup but Chomche easily cleaned up the putback.
The next possession, Kennedy Chandler came off another double drag, snaked, and hit Key on a brilliant back cut for a reverse lay. The 905 led by as much as 11 in the first quarter and appeared to be in the driver’s seat.
The second started off similarly. They ran Horns Out 77, resulting in a pick n’ roll and mid-range make for Evan Gilyard. The ball hummed and found Frank Kaminsky in the middle, who found Charlie Brown Jr. on a 45-cut for an and-1, breaking a 3-2 zone.
However, 905’s well-run sets and off ball movement started to die down. They could pick up a thing or two about how to beat the zone from the parent club in this regard. They began to over-dribble and force drives and passes that weren’t there, rather than keeping things moving until the right time to strike. The result was a 15-2 Charge run, putting them up 51-44.
The Charge ran out a jumbo-sized starting lineup, featuring four players between 6’7 and 6’10, alongside Darius Brown. But the 905 matched that with two seven-footers of their own in Chomche and Kaminsky.
“We have to impose our will. Based on our roster and our size and our athleticism, we have the edge on the glass,” said Jones pre-game. “I always feel like we have the edge, tonight especially, so I challenge those guys to go get us some extra possessions.”
Jones even appeared to cross match Chomche onto Cleveland’s No. 21 Emoni Bates – who was shooting 29.6 percent from 3 coming into the game – when he reentered in the second, yelling for Chomche to “take 21.”
Cross matching is a newer tactic where a team’s centre guards an opposing wing who either has a low usage rate or is a non-shooter, allowing the big to help more as a free-safety of sorts.
The Cameroonian rookie’s initial attempts to roam off of Bates worked – he started the game 0-of-6 from deep. But eventually the Eastern Michigan product canned a couple triples to the end the first half, starting off a scalding 4-of-6 shooting stretch including some difficult step-backs. Bates, 21, shot 6-of-15 from 3 on the night and finished with 33 points, a team-high.
Cleveland’s large lineup delivered some star performances as a whole. Luke Travers had 25 points, 18 rebounds, and 10 assists, Nae’Qwan Tomlin finished with 27 on 11-of-16 from the floor, and Feron Hunt scored 22 and added 15 boards. The Charge played big thanks to this quartet, out-rebounding the 905 and scoring more second chance points as a result.
“Defensively, just making sure we have a bigger body on Tomlin,” said Jones before the game about potential adjustments from last game. “He’s a really rangy scorer and they did a good job of trying to exploit our smaller guards on him. So, we’ll do a good job of trying to maintain our matchups there.”
The 905 ended up being down one of those bigger bodies as Chomche – who is averaging 8.7 rebounds and 2.9 blocks during the regular season – left the game with an injury in the third quarter.
Chandler tripped while running baseline and fell awkwardly into Chomche’s right knee. It appeared to hyperextend slightly; the big man went down and appeared to be considerable pain. He got up, limped off under his own power and was unable to return. It was confirmed to the broadcast as a right knee injury and coach Jones provided no further update after the game.
There was also an absurd call on a play in the third quarter where Travers got a last second push shot attempt to go. The problem, it undoubtably exited his hand well after the shot clock expired. It was recorded as a putback however the ball never came anywhere near the rim, as it was stripped prior to the shot. Jones was given a tech for protesting shortly after.
While the score remained tight for the majority, the Charge ultimately pulled ahead with a 16-5 run late in the fourth quarter. Bates knocked down two more triples, Cleveland incessantly pressured the rim and ran out in transition, and the 905 air-balled a pair of 3-point attempts.
Eugene Omoruyi certainly did his best to keep the 905 in it down the stretch. The Nigerian-Canadian was an opportunistic scorer, running hard in transition for finishes and free throws, depositing putbacks, and cashing open 3s.
Late in the fourth he got a putback to go through contact, hit the and-1 free throw, and drilled a corner triple shortly after. On the other end Omoruyi smothered Travers and brutally stuffed his shot attempt from the short corner. Two more strong defensive plays followed shortly after. Omoruyi caught a driver from behind in transition and poked the ball away and out of bounds. Then, on the ensuing inbound he jumped in front of the pass, tipping it for a steal.
The Toronto-raised forward finished with a team-high 24 points, adding 13 rebounds and three blocks.
Jared Rhoden also finished with a double-double – 21 points and 12 rebounds – and added six assists. The six-foot-six wing continues to excel in all areas of the game and make a strong case for a look at the NBA level. In this game he threw himself at the rim with reckless abandon. But it wasn’t really reckless though, because Rhoden visibly had the confidence that the ball was going to go in regardless of how difficult a finish he attempted. He went 9-of-12 from 2-point range.
For Cleveland’s final basket, Tomlin threw down a big jam on a pass from Travers. The clock would have run out if they held it, but the assist secured the triple-double for the Charge big man. Regardless, Tomlin could have at least opted for a more sportsmanlike layup. After Tristan Thompson’s display of classlessness to finish the Toronto Raptors-Cleveland Cavaliers game on Wednesday, it was hard not to draw comparisons.
So, the 905 go into the All-Star break with a solid 12-7 record in regular season competition – tied for third place in the Eastern Conference. They resume action with a five-game road trip, starting on Feb. 21 in Westchester against the Knicks.
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