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Takeaways: Toronto Raptors collect massive Game 1 win over Brooklyn Nets

By Michael Walton

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA - AUGUST 17: Fred VanVleet #23 of the Toronto Raptors defends Caris LeVert #22 of the Brooklyn Nets during the first half in game one of the first round of the 2020 NBA Playoffs at AdventHealth Arena at ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on August 17, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kim Klement-Pool/Getty Images)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA - AUGUST 17: Fred VanVleet #23 of the Toronto Raptors defends Caris LeVert #22 of the Brooklyn Nets during the first half in game one of the first round of the 2020 NBA Playoffs at AdventHealth Arena at ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on August 17, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kim Klement-Pool/Getty Images) /
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LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA – AUGUST 17: Fred VanVleet #23 of the Toronto Raptors defends Caris LeVert #22 of the Brooklyn Nets during the first half in game one of the first round of the 2020 NBA Playoffs (Photo by Kim Klement-Pool/Getty Images) /

1. Fred VanVleet is ready to be the leading man

The Toronto Raptors had seen a quite unimpressive performance from Pascal Siakam throughout bubble play. Their leading scorer in the regular season had been cold in Orlando, scoring 16.9 points per game on 39.4% shooting. And while the team is already built to withstand a cold streak from any individual player, VanVleet has quieted those concerns even more as he has turned into the best version of himself in the NBA Restart.

VanVleet turned in a dominant performance on Monday, a performance so impressive that the poor shooting of Siakam and Kyle Lowry went relatively unnoticed. Jacque Vaughn and the Nets chose to stick with their initial strategy of dropping back in coverage when guarding VanVleet on the pick-and-roll. Brooklyn left whoever was guarding VanVleet to chase him around what was often excellent and very physical screens from Marc Gasol and company, leaving him too much space to pull up from deep.

These days VanVleet has limitless range and containing him from deep would mean treating him the same way defenses do Damian Lillard and Steph Curry. VanVleet roasted Brooklyn’s Tyler Johnson, who often tried to chase him around pin down screens with ease. Later on, the Nets tried to use LeVert on VanVleet and Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot on Siakam so they could switch pick-and-rolls but even then the closeouts were too late as VanVleet was simply on fire from 3-point range.

It will be interesting to see if Brooklyn switches up the matchups for Game 1, seeing as VanVleet went off while Lowry had an extremely quiet night. The Toronto Raptors shouldn’t count on VanVleet continuing to shoot this well as he had a truly historic performance on Monday—as he became the first player in Raptors history to finish with at least 30 points and 10 assists in a playoff game.—but the confidence he showed in attacking inside and out will go a long way towards the rest of Toronto’s key players getting back on track.

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