TORONTO – For the past few days the Air Canada Centre has been at the white-hot centre of the basketball universe and the Toronto Raptors had almost nothing to do with it.
On Saturday they were the latest props for Steph Curry and the fabulous Golden State Warriors road show. Monday they were background for Kobe Bryant’s Farewell Tour.
It was fitting and not at all surprising that on the tail of that the San Antonio Spurs could show up and be almost unnoticed. It’s the same old story. The Spurs generate the least number of headlines per win in the NBA, right until playoff time at least, when the story is always: "Who is going to beat the Spurs?"
For the first time in a long time, the Raptors did, holding on for the 97-94 win over the NBA’s perennial championship contenders.
They led nearly every moment of the game too, weathering a nervous late surge by San Antonio, who cut the Raptors’ nine-point lead to just three twice in the final two minutes, but in each case DeMar DeRozan, in one of his most complete games of the season, came up with the big play required. A driving layup through contact once and then, with eight seconds left, an offensive rebound that helped ice the game as DeRozan finished with a game-high 28 points (on 15 shots), four rebounds and six assists.
A win over San Antonio has to be savoured. It’s not easy. The Warriors are 23-0 – smashing the record for the best start in NBA history – yet the Spurs, who have quietly integrated free agent signees LaMarcus Aldridge and David West, remain on their heels. Even after the loss they leave Toronto with an 18-5 record and playing the best defence in the NBA.
Raptors head coach Dwane Casey tries not to think about benchmark wins. His view is they all count the same and his club is in no position to pick and choose who they deem to be a worthy opponent. But he holds the Spurs in the highest esteem possible. The Raptors head coach has been building game plans since 1995 and during that stretch the Spurs’ worst season was one in which they won 50 games, with the exception of 1996-97 when they went 20-62 and drafted Tim Duncan No.1 overall. Cue the championship years, five and counting.
"It’s been that way for the last 20 years with them and they just constantly kick people’s butt without fanfare, without all the headbands and the music and all that stuff," said Casey. "The Coyote is still running crazy. It’s been the same solid program for years and that hasn’t changed. That’s the way it should be. A lot of winning programs are like that; you don’t have the flash and the dash. They’re not a flash in the pan, it’s not a two, three-year window, it’s been consistent."
The lynchpin has always been Duncan, the 39-year-old centre who earlier this year set an NBA record for wins by a single player with a single franchise. As his peer Bryant flails badly trying to play the way he always has, regardless of age or injury, Duncan has long been content to find a way to win games. He averages just 9.5 points and 8.7 rebounds while playing just 27 minutes a game, the regular season just a warm-up for the playoffs.
Duncan had just eight points and two rebounds in 20 minutes on Wednesday and was part of a Spurs starting unit that San Antonio head coach Gregg Popovich referred to as "soft" and "lethargic." But after a few days in which a pair of stars – Curry and Bryant – came through Toronto defined by numbers for completely contrary reasons, in comes Duncan, rendering them almost meaningless, his profile barely extending past San Antonio.
"Tim Duncan isn’t flashy. You don’t see him going in all these crazy commercials. You don’t see him out in the public eye, doing all these events," says the Raptors’ Patrick Patterson, who chipped in 10 points off the bench. "That’s cool. That’s probably why people nowadays don’t see him like a LeBron or a Kevin Durant because he’s not constantly out there. But players know. If you follow the NBA, if you respect the game, if you know the game of basketball then you truly know how valuable Tim Duncan is.
"His passing. His presence on the court. Grabbing rebounds. His force and presence on the court can change the game. He doesn’t have to shoot the ball, he doesn’t have to touch the ball."
The same could be said of almost any member of the Spurs, who thrive in near-anonymity, with no single element more than the sum of their parts.
The Raptors want to be more like that. It’s why they went out and signed the likes of Luis Scola – a former Spurs draftee who never dressed for the club, but would have fit in perfectly. Scola had 16 points, eight in the first quarter to help Toronto get off to a rare good start as the Raptors led after the first quarter, at half and heading into the third, 73-62.
The Raptors also long ago targeted Toronto native Cory Joseph to be their backup point guard. They were attracted to the lessons he’d learned in San Antonio as much as his passport.
"You can’t go through a program like that, I don’t care what program you are with in college or the pros, if you’re from a successful program some of those habits come away with you," said Casey. "That’s why bringing a guy in like that from a winning program, that’s won a championship, knows what it takes to win. Those qualities have rubbed off on him."
Joseph laughed when it was asked if it was a ‘revenge game’ against his old team. The Spurs needed salary cap space to sign Aldridge and Joseph was eager to seek a bigger role elsewhere as a free agent. Toronto was a perfect fit. What he provided on Wednesday night was typical – some defence, some dribble penetration, modest numbers (six points, four assists, four rebounds in 30 minutes) but a positive impact.
"Cory’s having an unbelievable season," said Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry, who had 19 points and eight assists, a quiet night for him, in relative terms. "He’s been a great addition to our team, we’re happy he’s here man."
With the Spurs in town the Raptors seem to feed off their example and Joseph’s, earning a win based on cohesive team defence and quick decisive ball movement with no single player stepping out to shoulder the credit. The Raptors shot a remarkable 37-for-64 from the field against the league’s leading defence in large part because the ball flew around, resulting in 23 assists.
"We don’t have any selfish guys on the team, we all want to win, we all have the same goal and we’re just working together to get there and build experience," said Joseph.
It’s a formula that has worked in San Antonio for two decades, and for one night it looked pretty good in Toronto too.
The ACC might not have had the energy it had on Saturday when Curry and the Warriors were in town, and the Spurs simply don’t generate the passion that Bryant does, for whatever reason.
But the Spurs represent something noble in the NBA – the kind of steady, determined excellence that any franchise can only hope to work towards. The Raptors took a step in that direction. It could lead places.