De’Anthony Melton Praised for Defense vs. Raptors’ Fred VanVleet

De'Anthony Melton didn't have a hot shooting night against the Raptors on Monday, but his defense against Fred VanVleet is worth highlighting.

De’Anthony Melton had a rough Monday night matchup against the Toronto Raptors on the offensive end. As the Philadelphia 76ers guard attempted to find a rhythm early on in the matchup, he came up empty on his first five shots.

In the second quarter, Melton didn’t attempt the same volume, but he found similar results. In his first 17 minutes of action against the Raptors on Monday, Melton went 0-7, with six of his shots coming from three. He was the only player failing to register a single point in the first half. 

As Melton was ice-cold from the field, the guard passed up a shot he should’ve attempted before halftime. Sixers head coach Doc Rivers revealed that the staff got in his ear during the break, encouraging him to shoot through the struggles.

“We got on him at halftime,” said Rivers. “I think he was 0-7, and he had one right before halftime, and he should’ve shot it and didn’t. We jumped him at halftime like, ‘Either you’re a shooter, or you’re not, and you’re a shooter all the time, even when they are not going in.’ He just had one of those nights. He had a human night. He had, I would say, seven just point-blank looks tonight. They just didn’t fall for him.”

Melton didn’t finish the matchup with zero points, but he would never heat up, either. In the second half, Melton attempted five shots, scoring on three of them. He finished the game with eight points. While Melton’s offense was far from ideal against the Raptors, his defense was a much different story.

“You keep him out there because defensively tonight, he was phenomenal again,” Rivers added. “So, you keep him out on the floor because of that.” 

Melton’s primary assignment came against Raptors’ standout, Fred VanVleet. Last season, VanVleet found offensive success against the Sixers, averaging 19 points per game. While VanVleet’s first outing against the Sixers this season was a decent one, as he scored 15 points in 39 minutes, the Raptor struggled in the following two games.

In the October 28 matchup against the Sixers, VanVleet failed to drain any of his 11 shots from the field in 34 minutes. He would finish the game with one point in 34 minutes of action.

On Monday, VanVleet struggled in the matchup against Melton once again. In 41 minutes of action, the standout guard drained 20 percent of his 15 shots. He finished the game with nine points. 

“He’s been tremendous,” Georges Niang said of Melton, specifically discussing the veteran’s defense. “He does a great job of pressuring the ball. He was on Fred VanVleet the whole game. I don’t know what Fred shot, but he did a great job of implementing and kind of forcing him to make tougher shots. I think when we’re clicking on all cylinders, especially with [Melton and Tucker] on the defensive end, we’re really hard to beat.”

This season, Melton matched up against VanVleet three times. According to NBA.com, Melton guarded VanVleet for 15 minutes over those three matchups. During that time, the Raptors guard scored six points while draining 20 percent of his field goals and 12 percent of his threes. 

Melton’s struggles on offense Monday night were a rare sight for the guard, who’s drained 38 percent of his threes while averaging 11 points this season, but his defense was on par as he continues to make life on the court hard for his opponents. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.