It seems Norman Powell has finally found his footing for the Toronto Raptors. What are his three best games of the 2019-20 NBA season?
After four up-and-down seasons in the NBA with the Toronto Raptors, the 2019-20 season finally looked to be the breakout year that Raptors fans had been hoping from Norman Powell. Prior to the season, Powell was always two steps forward and one step back with inconsistent play plighting the early years of his career.
All the signs of a good player were there, but decision making often left Powell down in the biggest moments and his role with the team waivered. Last season saw a stark improvement. Powell averaged 8.6 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game, shooting 48-percent from the field and 40-percent from three.
This season, Powell got even better. In 44 games – 23 of which he started – Powell averaged 16.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game, shooting 50-percent from the field and 40-percent from three. Powell became one of the NBA’s best bench scorers and could have been a frontrunner for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award and even the Most Improved Player award – even though the latter should have undoubtedly been awarded to Bam Adebayo.
Either way, Powell turned into a force for the Raptors this season – but what were his three best games of the season?
3. at Orlando Magic – November 29
Norman Powell was really heating up towards the back end of the season, but it’s also fair to remember that he was a force for the Raptors long before that point too. The Raptors road game in Orlando on November 29 was the original “Norman Powell” game this year and for good reason.
Overall, this was an ugly, ugly game where both offenses struggled to get going. Luckily for the Toronto Raptors, they had Norman Powell to will them to victory with a then-career-high 33 points in a 90-83 victory on the road.
His first half was decent enough, but Powell scored 26 points in the second half while shooting 9-of-11 from the field as he willed the Raptors to victory. He didn’t attack the glass but added an assist, two steals, and a block in 38 minutes of action. Mainly, though, Powell provided scoring for the Raptors – in fact, he provided them with a win.
It was a great scoring game from the guard and just an early taste of what was to come later on in the season.
2. at Sacramento Kings – March 8
This was, technically, Powell’s most recent game in a Raptors shirt, considering he only played a couple of minutes against the Utah Jazz before injuring himself in the Raptors final game before the NBA’s indefinite suspension.
Powell was an ever-present figure on the Raptors road trip out west, metaphorically and figuratively. Against the Kings, though, Powell played almost the entire game, clocking in at 42:47 minutes of game time as the Raptors prevailed 118-113 at the Golden 1 Center.
In those minutes, he went off for 31 points on 11-of-21 shooting, adding two rebounds, five assists, two steals, and a block while knocking down six of his twelve three-pointers in the game. At his best, Powell can be a big factor on both ends of the court and he was in this game he was. He fought around screens, was active with his hands and came away with a rare block.
With Pascal Siakam struggling to heat up until the fourth quarter, the Raptors needed someone to carry the scoring in a fun game of basketball. That man was Norman Powell.
1. at Golden State Warriors – March 5
A career-night Norman Powell in the hottest streak of his five-year stint in the NBA – that’s without a doubt his best performance of the 2019-20 NBA season. With the Raptors heading to on the road to take on the Warriors for the first time since the NBA Finals, expectations were high and the memories were recounted regularly.
Before the hiatus took a hold of the NBA, Powell was putting on scoring clinics on a nightly basis, and his performance against the Warriors was the best of the lot. With Fred VanVleet still out of the lineup, Powell stepped into the starting shooting guard role once more.
The result was a career-high 37 points on 13-of-21 shooting from the field, adding three rebounds, two assists, and three steals. Not only that, but his three-point shooting was on fire again with Powell knocking down 4-of-8 on three-pointers.
He was a menace coming off screens and attacking the Warriors bigs in Marquese Chriss and Dragan Bender and got to the free-throw line with great consistency too, knocking down all seven of his attempts from the line.
The Warriors had no answers for Powell and he cruised to 23 points in the first half before adding another 14 in the second half en route to a historic night.
It’s nights like these that lend credence to Powell’s rise to another level this season. Hopefully, once the NBA returns, he can continue from where he left off.