Raptors 905 trounce Herd to clinch home playoff game
It’s been both an exceptionally successful and trying season for the Raptors 905. From a record-breaking 16-0 start to a 3-6 slog as winter turned to spring and key frontcourt players were plucked by NBA teams like low-hanging fruit, they’ve rode the peaks and valleys. On Saturday it culminated in a 138-115 win over the Wisconsin Herd in the final game of the regular season, ensuring that there will be at least one more tip-off at Paramount Fine Food Centre for a home game to open the playoffs.
They’ll either finish fourth and play the fifth-placed Motor City Cruise – who they beat 2-0 in the season series – or jump to third with a Cleveland Charge loss and play the Capital City Go-Go.
Through the turbulence, the 905 have stayed true to themselves. To the identity of relentless drive and physicality that’s fuelled their second-ranked defence and eighth-ranked transition offence. There’s been lapses, but when it truly mattered, the 905 didn’t blink.
They opened the game by executing a organizational favourite, Horns Chin Punch, with Tyreke Key springing open on the down screen for an uncontested layup. The 905 came out near note perfect, hustling on the break, showing a turbine of active arms around the lane for steals and continually reversing the rock for good looks. Markelle Fultz picked the ball twice for a Tyreke Key runout and fastbreak dunk of his own. Key hit Lawson on the wing, who swung opposite to Fultz, who entered to Samuel, who dished back out to Lawson, who banged the open 3 – one of three in the first. The Toronto-born wing breathed fire to the tune of 15 points through one frame. The 905 were up 26-10 seven minutes in and shot 6-of-12 from 3 in the opening quarter.
“Obviously just being ourselves,” said Jones of his team’s preparation pre-game. “Like I think the hardest thing is truly, you know, playing to your identity consistently. I think that’s the deciding factor of G League talent versus NBA talent.
“Can you do it over and over and over again? You know, the discipline to make the right reads, the right play every single time. So, for us, that’s what’s required in the playoffs. One, you can’t beat yourselves and two, you gotta be true to who you are over and over again.”
Jones said last week that he’s emphasized limiting turnovers and defensive communication down the stretch. Understandable, considering they were giving the ball away 16.4 times per game prior to March 8, fifth most in the G League, and that being on the same page is essential to their hyper-aggressive defensive scheme working.
The team’s been blasting music during practice, Jones said, to “create an atmosphere where guys have to use their voices.”
They’ve shored up the turnovers, too, averaging only 9.5 over their last four games. Fultz’s veteran savvy has also contributed there – their previously 17th ranked assist to turnover ratio (1.67) has jumped to fifth (2.19) with him in the lineup.
Fultz also shook his defender with a behind-the-back dribble and took it up strong for a one-handed punch to finish the first. Former first-overall pick stuff. His steadying presence, both as walking paint touch and a sticky point-of-attack defender was meaningful boon as he was assigned to the 905 from the Raptors with five days remaining on his 10-day contract.
The Herd fought part way back by grazing off corner 3s, postups and runouts. But the 905 always had a firm, more carnivorous, answer in a late-clock Jarkel Joiner and-1, a Tyrese Samuel putback, an Alijah Martin stampede cut and off-foot finish. Consecutive emphatic runouts and a Fultz corner triple had them up 18 as the halftime buzzer neared. Lawson burst into the lane and slung to Fultz for the assist, predators hunting their prey. The two-time G League all-star splashed his own corner 3 for good measure as the game got further out of hand. The 905 had taken 13 more shots than Wisconsin by half – Jones told me that winning the possession battle is always a focus – and shot far more efficiently on them than their opponent, in contrast to the first game of the set on Thursday. Fultz’s four steals certainly contributed there.
The 905’s lead swelled as high as 32 in the third quarter as Lawson and Martin canned more triples, Fultz and Martin’s mouse-trap defence forced more turnovers at the point of attack, and a parade of runouts ensued. Mark Sears clapped back from distance – 5-of-6 from 3 and 29 total points entering the fourth – but it was a Chris Paul Phoenix Suns situation.
Of note, Jones adamantly protested a technical foul on Key with his team up nearly 30 and only seven minutes remaining.
“The score never matters,” he loudly repeated to referee Ian McClenny on the sideline.
Jones demands discipline and consistency from his players, and to his credit, he is unfaltering in the fierce demeanour and high energy he brings day-in day-out.
Now the 905 will compete in the playoffs for the first time since 2021-22. And while the availability of assignment players has impacted their performance, they appear to have ameliorated areas of weakness as they prepare for the volatility of the G League’s one-and-done format.
The post Raptors 905 trounce Herd to clinch home playoff game first appeared on Raptors Republic.