Raptors’ Norman Powell is key to winning
By Graeme Klayh
The Raptors won their first playoff game in over 2 years and a span of 8 attempts. The stars still shot badly from the field but there were a few big performances. Norman Powell was helpful defensively and will be relied on to deliver for the duration of this series.
When the Toronto Raptors went out and got DeMarre Carroll last off season, it was for one reason; stopping the opponent’s best wing players. Fast forward 9 months and a knee surgery, Carroll doesn’t quite have the pep in his step to match against the elite Paul George in the first round of the playoffs. After the insertion of Carroll in the starting lineup of game 2, Carroll picked up two quick fouls and it looked like we were doomed to George lighting us up once again.
Fortunately, Norman Powell was able to step up and make things difficult for Paul George. By no means did Powell shut down George, but he definitely made getting off his game tougher. George still managed to score 28 points on 8-15 field goals, but he was hitting some pretty hard shots throughout the game. Even with a smidgen of space, George wasn’t just knocking his shots down, he was finding all mesh. So how did Powell come to the rescue? He got under George, forced him to take (hit and) tough shots, and denied him the ball enough to disrupt the flow of the Pacers offense.
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Looking into game 2’s stats, Powell did his job and then some. Using NBA’s tracking technology, Powell’s opponents shot an effective field goal percentage of 32.9% from the field. Carroll’s opponents shot an about average 53.8%. On the entire night, Norman Powell contested 6 shots, and considering George shot 1-6 on the night on contested jumpers, you can argue he did a pretty good job (unfortunately I couldn’t dig up their direct play-by-play stats).
It wasn’t just that he slowed the Pacer’s offensive plans, it’s that he also shut down George’s play-making abilities. The defensive plan set in by Dwane Casey was brilliant. Rather than George coming around screens and making plays above the break, the on-the-ball pressure from Norman and friends forced him to start the offense in the post (where even Kyle Lowry got his hands on a couple of balls). Throwing different looks at him throughout the game was huge too since Carroll, Powell, and DeRozan kept George from getting too comfortable. The defense limited George to one assist on the night and zero secondary assists. That is a big change from his game one’s 6 assists and 3 free throw assist performance where he routinely carved up the Raptors’ interior defense and kicked it out to shooters.
There is no telling how much damage George could have done if he was given more freedom from the defense. Stopping him on the point of the attack has been a historically bad defensive category for the Raptors, but Powell was able to step up and limit George on his drives and force him into two pointers. The fact that George only shot 15 field goals is a huge win for the Raptors. He could easily have shot 25+ if the defense was looser, and the way he’s shooting it right now would have put a damper on our game 2 victory.
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How many articles, blog posts, bar talks have there been about this rookie Norman Powell? It seems every day he finds a new way to impress us. For now, all we need is that stellar defense on Paul George and hope he doesn’t pick up fouls along the way. As Jack Armstrong continues to remind us, “this kid’s a keeper.”