Raptors 905 fail to ‘seek and destroy’ in second big loss to Swarm
After the Raptors 905 were summarily steamrolled by the Greensboro Swarm on Saturday, marking just the second home loss for the Dinos this regular season, head coach Drew Jones’ message to his team was simple.
“Seek and destroy,” is what the bench boss told the players in hopes of a bounce-back effort on Sunday at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre.
Unfortunately for him, the 2,360 in attendance on Sunday and those watching at home rooting for the 905, the top-seeded Swarm was just too much to handle for a second consecutive game.
Greensboro cruised to a 141-106 wire-to-wire win, sweeping the back-to-back set in Mississauga as the G League’s No. 1-ranked offence proved its superiority over the No. 2-ranked defence. And while it was an even larger margin of victory — the Swarm’s largest this season — than the 12-point romp 24 hours prior, the formula for dinosaur extinction was similar.
The 905 struggled to match the Swarm’s size and physicality for much of the game, specifically at the basket, finshing minus-14 on the glass (45-31) en route to giving up 66 points in the paint for the second game in a row. For what it’s worth, the junior dinos managed to keep the interior battle a bit closer on Sunday, ending up minus-14 in the paint compared to a whomping minus-20 on Saturday.
Greensboro’s offensive efficiency — 58.4/47.2/91.7 per cent splits from the field, three and the free throw line — was simply too much to handle for the 905’s defence, and their offence struggled to keep up as well. The 905 ended up shooting just 40.0 per cent from the field and 25 per cent from beyond the arc.
Now if there was one player to heed his coach’s message of “seek and destroy,” it was Alijah Martin. The two-way guard not only finished with a team-high 22 points with five rebounds and five assists, he did it after turning his ankle late in the first quarter and being visibly hobbled for the rest of the game. Demonstrating the “dog” approach that has him positioned well to potentially make some noise in the NBA in the next couple of months.
Martin missed approximately six minutes of game action after exiting to the locker room with the apparent ankle injury, but after checking back in early in the second quarter he tried his best to turn the tides. The rookie put up 12 points in the frame, including a roof-raising four-point play — flairing off a screen and drilling a left-wing triple despite being undercut by Marcus Garrett, who finished with a game-high 29 points for the Swarm.
The 905 guard would later help spark an 8-2 run and cut the deficit down as low as two with a slick up-and-under finish in the paint and then getting to the line after being hip-checked on his way to the lane. And although Josiah Allick, who committed the foul, tried to let bygones be bygones by giving Martin an apologetic tap on the back, the 905’s bulldog wanted none of it as he responded with a “no thanks” shove in response.
Yet none of Martin’s production or fiestiness was enough to spark much for the junior dinos on either end, as the Swarm ultimately scored 43 points in the second quarter to maintain a 14-point lead into the break.
That lead only ballooned from there, as any effort by the 905 to gain momentum was met with one timely three after another. Greensboro drilled nine of their 16 attempts from beyond the arc in just the second half, as part of 17 triples on the day (plus-seven) en route to blowing the game wide open during garbage time in the fourth — winning the final frame 37-21 (plus-16). The Swarm have now won eight consecutive games to claim the first-seed in the East, while the 905 have lost two straight and sit 3.5 games back in fourth.
The 905’s last real push came in the third quarter when Tyson Degenhart drilled a three of his own at the 5:19 mark, bringing the deficit down to single-digits, but that was immediately met by a long-ball make Jaylen Sims in response.
Jarkel Joiner wasn’t far behind Martin as the speedy guard finished with 21 points and six assists, while A.J. Lawson added 16 points on an uncharacterstic 1-of-7 showing from beyond the arc. Olivier Sarr chipped in 10 points, eight rebounds and three blocks, and recent addition Caleb Stone-Carrawell — claimed off waivers — scored 10 points off the bench.
The Raptors 905, after losing back-to-back home games for just the first time this regular season, return to action on Wednesday for a School Day game in Missisauga, where they’ll host the G League standout JD Davison and the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
The post Raptors 905 fail to ‘seek and destroy’ in second big loss to Swarm first appeared on Raptors Republic.