Basketball is back. It’s Canadian, and it’s French. Even before tipoff, at The Raptor’s behest, the Bell Centre crowd cheered on the looming night of hoops at a similar volume to what I’ve heard the past couple seasons at Scotiabank arena. For a young team that’s seen so much turnover and malaise — somehow all at once — a raucous, sellout (21,055) preseason crowd provides a lot.
Quick note: the Bell Centre media seating is courtside – what a privilege to take in the game while hearing the coaches bark orders and the players talk their ****.
Preseason is all about the experimentation and opportunity; it’s all about growing the game and showcasing basketball to new places around the globe. It was fitting, then, for Scottie Barnes to dedicate more time than most to engaging with fans pregame. It was fitting for Vince Carter — who helped basketball grow immensely in Canada — to get a standing ovation from the Montreal crowd. It was fitting that Chris Boucher was cheered on with so much fervor every time he touched the ball, and that he looked out into the crowd constantly to give fans the “he acknowledged me!” moment.
Back to the opportunity and the hoops, though. Early on in the game, it was Gradey Dick and Jamal Shead who dove headlong into every action they could – on both sides of the floor.
Throw ahead dribbles into the lane before hitting faders, and of course the rapid activity that has defined so much of what he does on the court. Jumping passing lanes, and a couple long, gliding forays into the paint for buckets. All of this was met with enthusiasm by Coach Darko — repeatedly — and the vet among vets, Garrett Temple – it reminded me of how in the first Dune movie (latest version) Leto Atreides, Duncan Idaho, and Gurney Halleck all pat Paul on the head constantly throughout the movie. Constant guidance, constant touching. The Raptors go into a timeout and everyone finds the bench, except Gradey & Darko who have chats at midcourt that finish with Darko cupping Gradey’s face like The Godfather – two movie references in one paragraph, yikes.
Dick put up a pretty strong fight against Jordan Poole (as his primary), but every moment where he could catch his breath, the aforementioned coach and vet were providing guidance. The higher pickup points on defense Rajakovic discussed at media day, Dick was reminded often to step up even higher. Ball pressure was the key.
Of course, for Shead, who made his bones as a pesty, aggressive on ball pest – ball pressure doesn’t require many reminders. It did, however, provide a lot of opportunities. Opportunities to get on the hardwood, and opportunities to push the ball going the other way. Shead, who missed the Raptors open practice — and by extension, the ‘small guard battle of Carton v Mitchell’ — took little time to make his mark on the Raptors, and in front of a much larger crowd. Rajakovic beckons: “JAMAL!” and Shead is immediately off the bench, running to check in, and utters a quiet “yes sir.” as he jogs by Rajakovic. A dutiful worker. A man who picks up trash to place it in the bin, but also, a quick guard who sprinted the length of the floor to find a finesse finish at the basket and put his team up by 18 at the half.
Pacing them the whole time was a litany of 3-point shooting — a lot of it, eight made 3’s by halftime — and RJ Barrett’s indomitable will. It’s a preseason game, yes, but it’s another chance to score the basketball. As Immanuel Quickley told me the other day: “RJ… likes to score the basketball.”
The Raptors first bucket was Barrett springing into space to can a triple. Many of their other baskets came as a result of Barrett turning corners, seeing bodies, and blasting through them. For people who wondered if Barrett’s 39-percent from three as a Raptor was a mirage, he canned 3 of them. For people who worried about the standstill creation, he brought heaps. It’s preseason, it’s the Wizards, but it’s basketball and good things don’t necessarily prove anything new, but they sustain the status quo.
Shortly before the end of the first half, unfortunately, Barrett got into a collision and left the game with a right shoulder contusion. Hopefully nothing serious.
The second half featured a Dick-Mogbo lob linkup — a Mogby Dickshoutout Keenan — a whole bunch of Olynyk bully-drive and post-up wizardry, and some really fun guard play. So many players got in on it. Jahmi’us Ramsey was canning shots, Shead remained an absolute terror — like, best guard out there type of terror — Ochai Agbaji hit a triple and got to the bucket, Boucher hit double digits. Ramsey sprayed a cross court pass to Battle for a three, Carton successfully made the read/option floater/lob play to Bruno Fernando and Temple stood up to pantomime goggles. The Raptors ran Horns Out for Branden Carlson and let it filter into a flattened out iso for a step-back three from Carton – things went really well.
They nearly won by 30 points. Rajakovic walked off the court with a thumbs up, a waive, and a salute. The players congregated in the middle, and the audience — that didn’t filter out in the slightest during a clear rout — stayed to watch all the interaction. Great night of hoops.
Have a blessed day.
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