Raptors Deploy Smallball Lineup to Quiet Walker

The Raptors took their bigs off the court late in Wednesday's Game 6, opting to go with a smallball lineup to swarm Celtics' guard Kemba Walker

Traditionally, going small or playing 'smallball' has been associated with the NBA's fascination with 3-point shooting. Usually, the idea is to put as many talented guards and wings on the floor, taking traditional centres off the court, and stretching opposing defences out as far as you can. If opposing teams beat you inside, so be it, you'll trade twos for threes any day.

It's why teams like the Houston Rockets have a starting lineup without anyone over 6-foot-7. They figure they can either outshoot you from distance or stretch you out to the 3-point line and then use their talented guards to win one-on-one battles driving to the rim.

But when Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse decided to use his so-called smallball lineup featuring Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, Norman Powell, Pascal Siakam, and the 6-foot-7 OG Anunoby at the centre Wednesday night against the Boston Celtics, it had little to do with generating 3-point looks for Toronto offensively.

"It just gives us a little bit better chance to guard them," Nurse said following the Raptors' 125-122 double-overtime victory against the Celtics. "That’s the main thing. It’s tough when Kemba [Walker]’s so fast and it’s hard for our bigs sometimes to keep up with him when they’re up, because he can shoot the 3, you’ve got to be up, and then if you creep up too far he darts by you. It’s hard to play some standard pick-and-roll coverages."

The idea behind the defensive scheme is to take the Raptors' slower, less-mobile bigs out of situations where the Celtics can pick on them, running pick plays for Walker and forcing Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka to defend him. So far in the series, Walker has torched the Raptors' bigs, scoring 40 points in 27.2 partial possessions when they've defended him, according to NBA Stats, most of which have come against Ibaka who has surrendered 27 points on 13.9 partial possessions.

The Raptors used their smallball lineup for almost the entire final 18 minutes of Game 6, including almost all of the two overtime periods. In those minutes, Walker shot 1-for-5 from the court and was primarily used as a facilitator as the Raptors forced the ball out of his hands.

It made Boston's starters far less effective, producing just 94.3 points per 100 possessions against the smallball lineup, as opposed to the 99.5 Offensive Rating they've had in the series. 

But there is a downside to downsizing as Raptors fans undoubtedly saw Wednesday night. In those final minutes with the smallball lineup on the court, the Celtics' 6-foot-8 centre Daniel Theis went 6-for-8 from the field with 12 points and two offensive rebounds. And it could have been worse, if not for Anunoby who held his own against the bigger Theis, doing a phenomenal job rebounding the ball late in the game.

"He is in some scenarios that he’s not in that much," Nurse said of Anunoby. "He was doing the best he could in some of them, some of the help or protecting the rim which is not really his thing. But you are right. He did rebound well. I just thought he competed. Didn’t shy away from the moment."

Giving up rebounds and dunks at the rim to Theis is a tradeoff the Raptors are willing to live with if it means limiting Walker and making their defence more versatile. Plus, there still is an offensive benefit to going small by adding another dynamic scoring threat to the court, as Nurse said.

"I thought at the offensive end it really spread the ball around," Nurse said. "Norm was making shots, OG popped, made a shot, OG drived and kicked one out, Fred and Kyle. There was a lot more I think happening at the offensive end that made us more difficult to guard."

The Raptors recorded seven assisted buckets with the lineup on the court and shot 5-for-13 from 3-point range.

With Game 7 rapidly approaching, going small seems like a brilliant strategy to deploy again if the Raptors want to force the ball out of Walker's hands. But now the Celtics know what to expect from Toronto and so the chess match will continue as the two coaches adjust to each other's moves.