Raptors Starters Continue to Persevere as Gary Trent Jr. Leads Toronto Past Hawks

The Toronto Raptors continue to get big-time performances out of Gary Trent Jr. who led the way in come-from-behind victory over the Atlanta Hawks

Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

The Toronto Raptors wouldn't even let their starters get on the bus to shootaround Monday afternoon.

Anything that wasn't rest-related was strictly prohibited for Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Scottie Barnes, and Gary Trent Jr. coming off of Saturday night's triple-overtime thriller against the Miami Heat. It's not just that Toronto kicked off four games in five nights on Monday against the Atlanta Hawks, but if this season has taught us anything, the bench cannot be trusted.

And yet, even as the bench once again failed to step up, getting outscored by 41-12, Toronto's starters just continued to find a way. Fred VanVleet found enough energy in the final seconds to blow past Onyeka Okongwu in the pick-and-roll, find his way deep into the paint, and send a kick-out pass to OG Anunoby in the corner to clinch a 106-100 victory to move two games over .500.

The play was almost a mirror image of Toronto's game-winner against the Philadelphia 76ers in which Anunoby beat Andre Drummond on a switch, got into the paint, and found VanVleet in the corner for three.

"It's a great play," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. "We get a switch, we get an opportunity to hit the deep paint and your choices are to finish it over somebody or if there's some help coming from somewhere you find where that help’s coming from."

But how long can things go on this way? After all five starters topped 50 minutes Saturday night, Pascal Siakam, Gary Trent Jr., and VanVleet all eclipsed 39 minutes Monday.

"I thought I did see a couple of guys that were a little tired earlier than normal. I tried to read that just watching the speed of how they were moving and tried to do some early subbing and moving things around a little bit," Nurse said. "But I will say this, I think just about all of them made some kind of play there late in the game."

None of those minutes was easy too. Toronto had to climb out of an 11-point second-half hole just to pull even before Trent Jr. came alive in the third quarter, single-handedly outscoring the Hawks with 17 of his game-high 31 points in the quarter.

"He makes tough shots. The shots that he’s taking are super tough, but that’s water for him. It’s butter," Siakam said of Trent who shot 10-for-22 from the field. "He’s been playing unbelievable. It’s just, what, finding him, trying to find him. He’s playing extremely well and he definitely provides us with a lot of offense."

Eventually, though, this group is going to need some help. If the Raptors are going to be buyers at the deadline, some scoring pop off the bench is a necessity. It's simply unrealistic to ask these starters to continue to fight through exhaustion night after night as the wear and tear builds up. I mean, what's going to be left to give when the rotations shrink and the stakes get higher in the playoffs?

Third Quarter Turnaround

Stop me if you've heard this before. The Raptors once again came out of half and clamped down in the third quarter. Atlanta coughed up the ball seven times in the third quarter alone as Toronto stepped up in pick-and-roll coverage and started swarming passing lanes.

"There's been a lot of games that we go in at halftime down six or nine or eight points," Nurse said. "Even tonight, I really felt good about where the game was at halftime. I knew we weren't doing a few things hard enough or to the best of our ability and I thought if we did we'd be in with a really good chance to win."

In related news, the Raptors are outscoring teams by 1.8 points per game in the third quarter. That's the second-best margin in the NBA.

Highlight of the Night

Trent's third straight 30-plus point performance was highlighted by a buzzer-beating off-balance three-pointer he drilled to end the third quarter.

ARE YOU KIDDING? pic.twitter.com/SfzijOW0R3

— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) February 1, 2022

Of his nine three-pointers made, five were off catch-and-shoot looks, the kind Toronto has been looking for out of Trent.

"It's a concerted effort by him to work on that and get better at it," Nurse said. "He's sped up his release. He's got more confidence as the balls coming to him. You can see that he's ready to let it go."

Up Next: Miami Heat

The Raptors will return home Tuesday night for another date with the Miami Heat at 7:30 p.m. ET. Kyle Lowry is expected to be out for personal reasons.