Fred VanVleet is about to be released pay.
The Toronto Raptors’ free agent-to-be guard started the 2020 playoffs almost as hot as he started last year’s playoffs cold. He put something pretty close to a perfect game for the Raptors on Monday afternoon, recording his first career 30-point, 11-assist game, shooting 73.3% of the field while leading Toronto to a 134-110 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in Game 1.
“Oh man, he’s a great player and definitely one of my favorite players in the league,” said VanVleet’s Raptors forward Pascal Siakam. “Just see how calm he plays, just stable and it always feels like he’s in control of the game. And we really need him.”
It looked like a continuation of the Raptors’ seeding games when VanVleet led the Raptors with 17.8 points per game. It did not take long for VanVleet to continue on Monday. He pitched an And-1 just two and a half minutes into the game and finally put the Raptors 33 up in the second quarter with a pair of back-to-back 3-pointers from Kyle Lowry assists.
Lowry had five assists from the first half, including a pass for a full court to Siakam, which he settled on a coin for an And-1 lineup.
“It was me, Tom Brady, [Michael] Vick, all those great quarterbacks out there, “Lowry said. That’s what we do, our great quarterbacks. ”
Despite the Raptors’ seemingly unpredictable lead, things got a little dicey for Toronto in the second half, as the Nets climbed all the way back to drop within eight points in the third.
“Just a little bit slow on the court,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said of the official third quarter. “I think there were only two transition points that it was the whole quarter, just not the pace and energy where we were with most of the game.”
Toronto did a phenomenal job of capturing Caris LeVert in the first half. VanVleet started the game with the LeVert assignment taking help as he touched the ball. They forced the ball out of his hands, which apparently seemed to work, but in the third quarter he started picking up the assists, using that extra attention to find teammates for open buckets.
“I thought we did a good job of limiting his appearance, digging into the floor and he did a good job of making this fit when he was there,” VanVleet of LeVert said. “You know, pick your poison, I thought we did a good job on him from a scoring point of view and I think he ended up with fourteen or fifteen assists, so they hit the open three-pointer. We have to see to see how we can adapt there, but we executed our game plan for the most part, and of course I take a lot of pride in my defense and felt like a decent job was done on him. “
Going up just nine to enter the fourth, Lowry took control of the game. He attacked Brookyln’s Tyler Johnson on opening time and came in for two points on the free throw line.
“I think he set the tone for the fourth quarter with that play,” Nurse said. “We apparently had the ball and talked about what to run from the time-out and he made a great red on the screen and rolled and did his thing, barreled into the court.”
Minutes later, OG Anunoby hit his first of two fourth-quarter 3-pointers and the Raptors easily put the game away.
“We are not going to blow everyone out all the time. This is the playoffs, everyone should be here,” VanVleet said. “Of course we would like to win with 40, but that will not happen, those guys are pros too and they made a big run, so we’ll look at the movie, see what we can clean up, but in general thought I think it was a good win. “
Rotationally, the Raptors seemed to change things early. Former Net Rondae Hollis-Jefferson was the bank’s third Raptor, controlling as the eighth man to replace OG Anunoby late in the first quarter. Then, with 12 seconds left in the quarter, Matt Thomas checked in as the ninth man for Toronto. They both stayed in the game to start the second quarter.
In the second half, Nurse went with Terence Davis II who finished the game with 11 points and four rebounds.
“I thought he was great,” Nurse said of Davis. “He had a great attitude, thought he was showing some life and even at the end he showed some life. Good little stretch for him.”
Player Intros:
Prior to the game, the Raptors arranged for the team’s starting lineup to be announced by players’ family members.
“It means the world,” VanVleet said. “I think everyone who knows me knows how special my family is, especially my children, miss my girl, miss my mother, I miss everyone, man. Family is the number one thing in my life. That I have them apparently missing, I’ve been away for about eight or nine weeks now, it’s the longest I’ve been without seeing my kids, so that was really cool to see that before our playoff game at that point. r sure a little teary eye for seen son gets animation and hear from my daughter. That felt really cool to me. “
“It struck me,” Lowry said. “My boys, they are my world. I wanted to kind of half cry. But I had to (calm down) myself. That was great. I miss my babies even more now. That is a memory that will last forever.”
National Anthems:
Oh Canada was sung by Canadian Jessie Reyez who nodded at the top of the CN Tower in Toronto.
“It was great,” Nurse said. “It was an unbelievable rendition. … Kind of took your breath away a bit.”
Next:
The Raptors will return for Game 2 against the Nets on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. ET.
