The Toronto Raptors grinded out a tough, yet sloppy 104-99 win against a feisty New York Knicks team in Marc Gasol’s debut. What did we learn from the game?
The Toronto Raptors welcomed new acquisition, Marc Gasol, to the line up as they faced off against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden Saturday night. The Raptors were happy to see that Gasol was available to play after the blockbuster trade, despite some last-minute paperwork that nearly wasn’t completed on the Memphis end.
Early on, the Knicks came out strong, taking an early lead, despite it being the second game of a back-to-back. The Raps were unable to match the Knicks energy, shooting only one of eight from the field, struggling to execute against a feisty Kicks defence. A Dennis Smith Jr. lob off the backboard to DeAndre Jordan capped off a 12-0 run. A 14-3 Knicks lead and five minutes without a bucket forced Nick Nurse to call an early timeout.
The Raptors responded with a 20-6 run to go up two by the end of the first quarter. They slowly chipped away at the Knicks lead, showing some more focus on the defensive end. By the end of the first half, the Raps had jumped out to a 46-42 lead. Marc Gasol checked into the game with 2:20 left in the first quarter, and immediately showed promise, knocking down a couple of buckets, racking up a couple of early defensive rebounds, showing off his basketball IQ, passing ability and defensive acumen.
In the second half, the Raptors jumped out to a double-digit advantage half-way through the third but relinquished a part of that by the end of the third. The Raptors went on a run in the fourth quarter to eventually pull away with the win.
Here are our takeaways.
1. Welcome to the Marc Gasol Era
Despite only 19 minutes of playing time, it is already apparent why Masai Ujiri made the trade for Marc Gasol.
Offensively, Gasol looked dynamic out of the mid and low post. Nick Nurse utilized his IQ and craftiness and run a lot of action through him near the basket. Up top, Gasol set punishing screens, giving guys like Lowry and Leonard an ability to find space and attack unlike they have been able to do so, so far this year.
Other than Jokic, Is there a better big man passer in the league today? Gasol effectively is another point guard on the floor. His awareness and instinct to find the open man create a lot of good looks and will hopefully eliminate a lot of the iso-ball the Raptors have been prone to run at end of clock situations.
If not for a flurry of Norman Powell first-half misses, Gasol’s assist total would have been at least three or four greater than it ended up being. Imagine what he’ll do with regular playing time with Leonard, Siakam, and Lowry.
Defensively, Gasol is superior in many ways to Jonas Valanciunas. Despite surgery on his right foot, he can still move his feet, and use his intelligence, to find the right angle to get to where he needs to get on the floor in a hurry. A charge he took in the third demonstrated he still has some lateral quickness. In his first game with the team, he was already one of the team’s most vocal defenders.
The Raptors have underperformed from deep this year and are hopeful that Gasol can shoot somewhere near the 36 percent average he’s shot over the last three seasons. Though he didn’t take a shot from deep on Saturday, expect that to change quickly. Posing him as a threat from deep, say against a Philadelphia, drawing Embiid out from the rim, would be a game changer.
In time, the chemistry will come. Though Gasol came off the bench tonight, we got glimpses of him playing with the big dogs on the team.
With only a couple of back-to-backs remaining on the schedule, the Raptors will have plenty of practice time to figure out how to best utilize Gasol and where he will best fit in with his new teammates.
2. So, How Will Nick Nurse Utilize Gasol and Ibaka?
One of the big questions has to be: where will Gasol eventually land in the rotation? With only 25 games remaining on the schedule, the team has to decide who will start at centre? One must assume the job will go to Gasol but Nurse has indicated it may take time to integrate Gasol into the scheme of things. Nurse said as much:
"“It’ll take [Gasol] some time to get him acclimated to our stuff … I really don’t know what I’m gonna do until I see him play and see what it looks like and see what some combinations look like and make a decision. He’s used to starting, Serge is used to starting, I think Serge has earned it and played his butt off this year. I can’t call it at this point at all. I think it’ll take some time to figure it out.”"
Nurse can easily use his two centres in a platoon situation, much like he did with Valanciunas and Ibaka, basing his decisions on each night’s match-up. It worked with JV, why can’t it work with Gasol?
Kyle and Serge have worked magic so far this year with their pick and pop combo. With Gasol, the three-point shot becomes a real threat. Gasol being able to stretch defences out frees up the paint.
Though it didn’t happen much Saturday night against the Knicks, expect Nurse to take advantage of this. It’s a good problem to have and opens up a lot of possibilities come playoff time.
3. Is New York Still the Mecca of Basketball?
The New York Knicks are really bad. Though they put up quite the fight against the Raptors, they are now losers of 16 in a row, and currently sit dead last in the NBA at 10-45. Is it time to start rethinking the name “Mecca of Basketball” considering the team that plays there is so terribly bad? Let’s face it, the Knicks haven’t been good in a very long time.
But there may be light at the end of the tunnel. The trade of potential franchise cornerstone Kristaps Porzingis has opened up a ton of cap space and made the Knicks real players this offseason.
Hopes of landing a Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant or even a Kawhi Leonard remains a real possibility. Moreover, the Knicks have a shot at one of the best draft classes in a few years with Zion Williamson, Ja Morant or even an RJ Barrett most likely available when New York selects.
Pair one of those draft picks with Dennis Smith Jr and a big free agent signing and you have yourself a happy Knicks fans. Might the Mecca of basketball once again host a good team? Every basketball fan hopes so. But when your team is run by James Dolan, you can never be assured that anything is going to turn out the way it should.