” It is nothing serious. But it hurts the butt.” Fred VanVleet has just had two very bad evenings back-to-back against LaMelo Ball then Trae Young, which ended in two big defeats, 125-93 in North Carolina and 127-100 last night in Georgia.
Currently diminished by a knee injury, the Raptors point guard suffered in the face of these two wisps, so much so that Nick Nurse had to stop defending him on “Ice Trae” during the game, calling on Gary Trent Jr. .or even Scottie Barnes to try to change the situation.
But Toronto still took on water, still bowing in the great widths. When giving explanations in front of the press, “FVV” tried to contain itself, holding itself primarily responsible.
“I don’t really have an explanation, not for you anyway. I have to be better. I will start with myself. I have to be better, and we will be better, so I’m not that worried about that.”he replied. “It takes a lot of sacrifice to win in this league. We have a young group and sometimes we make stupid mistakes. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn’t.”
Nick Nurse awaits a reaction
Facing Charlotte, it was more the start of the match that dampened the hopes of the Raptors. Last night, it was after the break that Nick Nurse’s troops faltered, conceding a scathing 38-16 in the third quarter.
To make matters worse, the Canadian franchise will be subject to a frantic pace with a series of six games in eight days that will have to be digested.
“We didn’t resume the way we would have liked, so write what you want”, added Fred VanVleet. “I believe in this team. I believe we will come back and play at the level we need to play, hopefully sooner rather than later. And I take full responsibility for these poor performances. I can’t wait to get this team back to where it needs to be. It’s time to play.”
Since the start of the season, Toronto has shown its strength of character by playing to grab a place in the postseason, which was far from obvious at the start of the year. The time has again come to show that the Raptors have the qualities to join this fight to the end.
As Nick Nurse summed it up: “The mood of the moment doesn’t matter. Of course the guys are not happy. But what matters is how we respond when the ball is thrown in the air again.
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Pascal Siakam | 46 | 37.6 | 48.8 | 34.3 | 73.6 | 2.0 | 6.5 | 8.6 | 5.1 | 2.7 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 3.4 | 21.4 |
| Fred Vanvleet | 52 | 38.2 | 41.5 | 39.8 | 87.6 | 0.8 | 3.8 | 4.5 | 6.9 | 2.7 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 2.4 | 21.4 |
| Gary Trent, Jr. | 50 | 34.7 | 42.8 | 39.7 | 81.7 | 0.3 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 18.2 |
| Ogugua Anunoby | 42 | 36.7 | 43.6 | 35.1 | 74.8 | 1.6 | 3.9 | 5.5 | 2.6 | 1.8 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 3.0 | 17.5 |
| Scottie Barnes | 51 | 35.1 | 47.8 | 31.1 | 73.6 | 2.4 | 4.9 | 7.3 | 3.2 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 2.7 | 14.5 |
| chris butcher | 57 | 20.3 | 46.6 | 28.0 | 76.7 | 2.1 | 3.8 | 5.9 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 2.2 | 9.0 |
| Goran Dragic | 5 | 17.9 | 38.2 | 28.6 | 100.0 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 2.8 | 1.8 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 8.0 |
| Dj Wilson | 3 | 15.9 | 72.7 | 0.0 | 80.0 | 0.3 | 4.3 | 4.7 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 8.0 |
| Precious Achiuwa | 50 | 23.2 | 43.0 | 31.2 | 58.1 | 2.2 | 4.7 | 6.9 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 7.8 |
| Thaddeus Young | 4 | 19.2 | 50.0 | 33.3 | 28.6 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 1.8 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 7.2 |
| Svi Mykhailiuk | 45 | 14.7 | 40.0 | 30.5 | 84.4 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 5.1 |
| Juwan Morgan | 1 | 27.4 | 66.7 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 5.0 |
| Yuta Watanabe | 27 | 13.8 | 40.5 | 37.1 | 58.8 | 0.6 | 2.1 | 2.7 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 4.9 |
| Khem Birsh | 33 | 18.5 | 48.4 | 0.0 | 75.0 | 2.3 | 2.1 | 4.4 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.7 | 4.7 |
| Tremont Waters | 2 | 20.9 | 25.0 | 22.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.5 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 |
| Dalano Banton | 49 | 11.6 | 41.2 | 25.0 | 61.8 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 2.1 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 3.5 |
| Malachi Flynn | 36 | 9.3 | 35.0 | 26.2 | 64.3 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 3.0 |
| Daniel Oturu | 3 | 9.1 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 60.0 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 3.0 |
| Justin Champagnie | 33 | 7.9 | 46.8 | 37.5 | 100.0 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 2.3 |
| isaac bonga | 13 | 5.1 | 23.1 | 25.0 | 66.7 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| Sam Dekker | 1 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| david johnson | 2 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
