Nick Nurse needed to do something to shake up the Toronto Raptors after a bit of a bumpy stretch, and he decided to turn the starting lineup completely on its head. Aron Baynes, the disappointing Australian big man who hasn’t done a great job of replacing Marc Gasol, has been banished to the bench.
The move forced Norman Powell into the starting lineup, OG Anunoby to the power forward spot, and Pascal Siakam to center. While they are giving up some size and rebounding, Toronto’s new look has completely transformed their offensive production, and they’ve taken down some of the best teams in the league.
This smaller lineup was given a trail by fire, as they had to take on Giannis Antetokounmpo, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Joel Embiid in consecutive games. Luckily, Toronto managed to take all three of them down, with the speed and shooting this new lineup provides causing serious problems for those three big men.
The Raptors have taken down teams like the Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks with this new-look lineup, proven that it can win games in this league. The question surrounding Toronto, however, is if this arrangement can be successful in the playoffs.
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Will the Raptors be able to win small?
This lineup works well against teams like Philadelphia that rely on their physicality and ability to control the paint. Forcing the 76ers to play with a smaller lineup in order to keep pace played right into the Raptors’ hands.
The new lineup is a bit unusual, as they have three plays in Powell, Kyle Lowry, and Fred VanVleet that stand 6-3 or shorter. That peculiar lineup forces teams to often play left-handed. With Those three raining downs triples, Siakam can go to work in the vacated paint. What’s to stop them?
Well, repetition might be their undoing.
There is a degree of novelty to this lineup, however. Milwaukee and Philadelphia are both coached by excellent game-planners in Mike Budenholzer and Doc Rivers. Over a potential seven-game series, when they can hone in on Toronto’s every single flaw, it might be easy for them to find cracks in this wall and exploit.
With the 76ers having dominated the Raptors for most of their win last night, it became clear that this new lineup is by no means unbeatable.
Going small and forcing teams into a track meet is a strategy that will get the Raptors through the regular season with ease. However, in a potential seven-game series against a team with the time to work out a solution to this lineup and the size to implement that plan, the Raptors could run into trouble.