New guys lead Raptors 905 past Vipers
Over the last month, the story of the Raptors 905 had been their defence collapsing from the G League’s best, to its worst over a nine game span. Then they lost their entire frontcourt rotation and replaced it with new players. It’s a bizarre course of events that could only happen in the G, and now a team that started 22-1 is left fighting for playoff positioning while figuring out its personel.
Trayce Jackson-Davis made his 905 debut on assignment from the Toronto Raptors on Friday, and looked very much like a “quad-A guy,” as he was featured heavily on offence and feasted against a lower quality of competition than he’s accustomed to.
Still having to compensate for the loss of Olivier Sarr, Julian Reese and David Roddy while integrating Jackson-Davis, Tyrese Samuel, Caleb Stone-Carrawell, and most recent signee and former No. 1 overall-NBA pick Markelle Fultz is a significant upheaval to deal with in the midst of a playoff race.
The 905’s head coach, Drew Jones, didn’t seem concerned about it before the game.
“We talk about character a lot,” he told me. “Luke, Scott, Bobby, these guys don’t bring players in that aren’t high character. So, I think when you have good people in a building, it makes it that much easier to uphold a standard.”
That standard was met with a 128-120 win over the Rio Grand Valley Vipers in the second of a two-game set at Paramount Fine Foods Centre on Friday.
“Resiliency, competitive character when it mattered most, that was a gusty win,” said Jones after the game.
On the first play of the game, Tyreke Key got off ball, set a down screen for Jarkel Joiner, sprung back out into a zoom action and delivered a dunk to Jackson-Davis. It foreshadowed the force-feeding of the new assignee that was to come. But before that Tyson Degenhart drained a pair of catch-and-shoot triples and the 905 were up 8-0. The addition of TJD very much flipped the script from the first contest of the two-game set on Wednesday. He was constantly involved as they either looked to enter it to him in the post or run delay.
The 905 sent entry lobs his way off inbounds, in the halfcourt, really whenever the opportunity presented itself. And sometimes even if it didn’t and they had to force it. Jackson-Davis posted up, dimed a cutting Degenhart and then deposited the putback on the miss. He cleaned up everything. It reminded me of my pug vacuuming every last existing crumb off the floor. His backup at the five, last year’s Canadian Player of the Year in the CEBL, Tyrese Samuel, also found success and started to look more integrated in the team. He finished twice through heavy contact in the restricted area for an and-1, once off patient and heady pass from AJ Hoggard. He finished with 13 points on perfect 6-of-6 shooting, fitting considering it was Canada basketball night at Paramount.
The Vipers’ primary counterpunch to the 905’s improved physicality was to dial up their intensity to 11. They pressured full court and made a concerted effort to run hard in transition. Tristen Newton and Chase Jeter led with 16 and 14 points, respectively, at half, and Cameron Matthews scored two of his 12 by absolutely catching a body with a gargantuan poster dunk.
Jackson-Davis had 22 points, six boards and three assists at half. It all came on putbacks, post ups and rolls to the rim – 8-of-11 shooting. There are levels to this, and TJD was clearly a cut above. Still the 905 trailed after a 12-4 Vipers run to end second quarter, fuelled mostly by too many open cuts and line drives to the rim.
AJ Lawson exited at half and didn’t play for the remainder of the game, update to come.
The start of the second half was delayed due to a shot-clock malfunction and the game eventually resumed with a manual counter. As in a person with a stopwatch yelled out a 10-second warning and then counted down from five. Jackson-Davis posted up and inch wormed to the rim as the manual counter hollered: five … four … three … He missed a spinning, looping layup. Of course, Jackson-Davis grabbed two straight offensive rebounds and eventually got the putback to go anyway.
Both teams struggled to shoot the ball over the first 24 minutes, a combined 7-of-31 from downtown, 3-of-14 for the Vipers and 4-of-17 for the 905. But the Mississauga-based squad shot their way back ahead in the third. They won the TJD-less minutes, and won the quarter 37-25, as they outshot Rio Grand Valley from 3.
Key – who played great on-ball defence all game – canned a pair of corner triples. Then he beat his man and fed Montreal’s finest Quincy Guerrier for another. Stone-Carrawell got in on the action. Hoggard hit a pull-up out of the pick n’ roll then then Joiner set him up for an open catch and shoot. The 905 went 6-of-8 in the third compared to the Vipers’ 1-of-4.
The fourth got close. It was a tightly contested two-game set between the Vipers and 905 in Mississauga. Good hoops. But the Sauga squad and their new companions were too much. Jackson-Davis hammered a one-handed dunk on the roll, then a two-handed putback. Key rained more 3s.
Uncertainty lies ahead considering their significant roster flux. The 905 are undoubtedly charting a new course. They got out on the right foot on Friday.
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