Raptors 905 crumble in final minutes as win slips away
The Raptors 905 should’ve had this one.
After leading by as many as 18 points in the third quarter, the 905 appeared set to endure a late fourth-quarter push by the Osceola Magic as their leading scorer on the night, Quincy Guerrier, made a three and a short-corner fader, extending the lead to six with each shot.
But Magic guard Javonte Smart hit a contested triple to cut his team’s deficit in half. Backup 905 guard AJ Hoggard ran the clock, got a switch onto Lester Quinones and drove. As the double came, he threw out a stiff forearm, tried to shove his way through the lane and was called for an offensive foul.
Smart banged another 3, this time through a David Roddy foul, completing the four-point play to seize a one-point lead with 16 seconds left. Roddy committed another blunder, stepping out of bounds off the ensuing inbound to hand the ball right back to Osceola. Four of Roddy’s five turnovers came in the final quarter.
The 905 fouled. Then down three, they threw the ball away again. This time it was AJ Hoggard making his fifth turnover of the night. A disastrous finish for the formerly first-placed juggernaut. The Magic took their spot atop the East with the 112-109 win and extended the Junior Raps’ losing streak to three.
Aside from his two clutch-time buckets, Guerrier mashed the turbo button in transition all game, scoring almost exclusively on the break. The Montrealer used his athleticism to continually jet past and finish over Magic defenders, receiving copious hit-ahead passes. He finished with 24 points on 16 shots and added 12 boards.
Conversely, while Guerrier was sprinting and leaping with boundless vigor, Tyreke Key held the ship steady for the 905 through rough waters, slowing the game down when suitable and leading the way in halfcourt scoring. The six-foot-two guard drove middle and popped a middy from the free throw line, then took a closing defender hard to the rim for a lefty finish. Key had 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting.
The 905 didn’t look like their two previous losses lit any kind of fire, coming out flat to start. Roddy got drawn in and allowed an open back cut. Reece Beekman waltzed to the rim unimpeded. Drew Jones called a timeout just over one minute into the game and often appeared frustrated with the 905’s defensive focus in the first quarter.
Jarkel Joiner led the Mississauga-based squad with nine points in the opening frame on perfect 3-of-3 shooting from deep, scoring the first 905 bucket by coming around a Julian Reese screen and swishing a pull-up. (Reese started for Olivier Sarr, who was ruled out before the game with left knee soreness.)
Alex Morales immediately responded with a deep pull of his own. Quinones was a problem for the 905’s defence, shifting and feinting his way past perimeter defenders as help failed to rotate behind.
Hoggard was the first 905 sub at 8:47 of the first and took control of the offence. The rookie guard has stepped up in the absence of two-ways Chucky Hepburn (meniscus surgery recovery) and Alijah Martin (NBA assignment) averaging 11.7 points, 5.4 assists and flashing some much-needed creationary chops. He knifed downhill, drew contact on a pinoy step, and finished for an and-1. Found Reese out of a pick n’ roll. Banged a deep 3.
The two point guards, Joiner and Hoggard, both scored in bursts. The former an ultra-efficient 7-of-11 for 18 points and the latter with 16 to go along with seven assists.
Late in the shot clock, the 905 reset, Tyson Degenhart slipped to the rim, and Hoggard threaded a tight-window pass for easy points. Degenhart mostly serves as a play-finisher, but on one possession he hit his defender with a stutter rip after catching in the corner, drove baseline and dished to Reese in the lane. Fun stuff from the Boise State Broncos all-time leading scorer.
The 905 defence gradually tightened as the game progressed. They started showing heavier gap help, daring shooters like Beekman and Quinones to fire over the top. They did with little success meanwhile the 905 turned off the tap on drives. Boa constrictors coiling around their prey. It was reminiscent of the strategy the Raptors effectively enacted against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday. Reese stepped up to erase a baseline drive.
Stops and ensuing runouts propelled a 16-4 second-quarter run. Hoggard scored seven in that span – two runout layups on hit-ahead passes by Patrick McCaw and a triple – and Guerrier punctuated it by hammering down and two-handed slam off a transition laydown.
The “it’s a game of runs” cliche rang loud and true as more Guerrier fast-break buckets drove an 8-0 burst in the third, only for heaps of Magic drives and 905 breakdowns to result in a 19-5 swing the other way. The Boa lost its grip. It was a one-possession game and remained that way for much of the final quarter as the East’s top two seeds went blow-for-blow, until the 905 crumbled at the end.
The Smart four-point play that felt like the backbreaker came on a creative and well-run sideline-out-of-bounds play. He acted like he was setting a back screen before curling off a flare, into a handoff and firing. A funky screen-the-screener Flare-Chicago kind of action.
This losing streak is unfamiliar territory for the 905, who had rolled all season outside of a loss in the Showcase Cup final and a single regular-season loss. Now they’re facing adversity on multiple fronts, mired in a three-game skid and without any two-way or assignment players.
Earlier Monday Martin was named to the NBA Rising Stars Game as a G League representative. But he hasn’t played for the 905 since Jan. 6 vs. Noblesville. Neither has AJ Lawson. Hepburn’s last game was Dec. 28, and it will be another two weeks until he’s reevaluated. With Collin Murray-Boyles out short-term and Jakob Poeltl out who-knows-what-term for now, it seems Jonathan Mogbo’s services will be required in the NBA for the foreseeable future.
The 905 have proven they can succeed without their two-way stars, but them being the same team that trampled over the rest of the G League to a 26-2 start across all competition without them is doubtful. Last season, the 905 went 11-3 in January and were first in the Eastern Conference before it all came crashing down in a 2-17 finish as two-ways were converted, G Leaguers signed two-way deals and none of them played for the 905 (Jamison Battle, AJ Lawson, Jared Rhoden, Orlando Robinson).
As the Raptors get healthier (if they get healthier) Martin and Lawson should play more with the 905. They haven’t played much of late with the Raptors anyway, only have so many games of two-way eligibility and could use the run. They should at least be suiting up when the 905 are back home in Mississauga in early February. If things go awry and they aren’t, the “team of destiny” 905 could be in big trouble.
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