Raptors 'get that winning feeling back' with much-needed victory over Pacers

TORONTO — The other day, 15-year NBA veteran Garrett Temple came to a Toronto Raptors shoot-around, and when he was greeted with a gym full of noise, enthusiasm and happy sounds, he had to pause for a moment.

This was a team that had won just one game in November and yet was at work with smiles on, ready for more.

"I’m from the old school, and we’re two and whatever our record was and we’re still so jolly and excited, and I was looking at coach, like, 'This is not normal,'" said Temple. "But (we) have such a young team, such a youthful team. They’re happy about having the opportunity we have to play basketball, and we’re playing good basketball. It’s not like eight of the games are blowouts. I think everyone understands how close we are to reaching our potential and getting wins."

The Raptors reaching their potential might be a little ways away, but they got a much-needed win Monday night, 130-119, over the visiting Indiana Pacers to snap a seven-game losing streak and improve their record to 3-12 on the season, lifting them out of the NBA’s basement.

"It feels great to get a win," said RJ Barrett, who led the way with 39 points (13-of-21 from the floor, 4-of-8 from three), nine rebounds and five assists. It was his highest scoring total as a Raptor and the most a Canadian has scored in a Raptors uniform. He counted 15 points in the fourth quarter, which helped stabilize things after the Pacers cut Toronto’s 22-point third-quarter lead to seven with just over six minutes to play.

Toronto held on, and it finally got to celebrate a win instead of a close call, of which there have been many lately — none more than losing at the buzzer in overtime to the Boston Celtics on Saturday.

"I don't know if you guys heard the celebration in the locker room, obviously it was a little bit of a relief factor with it," said Raptors centre Jakob Poeltl. "And it's obviously great to get that winning feeling back."

No one has been doing more to try and make it happen than Poeltl. The nine-year veteran finished with 30 points, 15 rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals. In the past three games, Poeltl has tied a career-high for rebounds (19 on Friday against Detroit), scored a career-high in points (35 on Saturday against Boston) and scored 20 or more points in three straight games for the first time in his career. He’s averaging 30 points and 15.3 rebounds on 71.9 per cent shooting since Friday night.

"I think what we’re doing over here really well is (that the) team is finding him," said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic. "(Poeltl's) playing really well in pick-and-rolls. He's getting better in reading when defence is going over and under and finding his pocket pass. And he's been, as you can see, he's playing with more force, going downhill and trying to dunk some of those situations. That's a testament to his work. That's a testament to everything that he did over the course of the summer, and if he continues like this, we're gonna have another all-star player."

We’ll see about that, but for all the Raptors' trials since the beginning of the season, you can see the outline of a respectable team if you look through the fine print. How that meshes with the potential of nabbing an elite talent at the top of the draft will be an interesting storyline as the season moves along and the Raptors (presumably) get healthier.

But for now, getting a win over an injury-depleted Pacers team provided some affirmation that the wheels won’t forever be stuck in the proverbial mud.

Rajakovic deserves a lot of credit for keeping things calm in the storm. He has never wavered this season from his belief that this season is not about wins or losses, but about getting better daily, incrementally. If he has a mantra, it’s ‘Win the day’: take care of the little things that you can control each day, and the results will follow. Eventually. 

The Raptors may have won their share of days this season, but winning games has been an issue. In part, it’s due to the Raptors' very difficult early schedule — no team has played more teams with .500 records or better than the Raptors have this season, which is saying something, given there are only three teams that don’t have losing records in the Eastern Conference.

The Raptors are 1-9 in those games, but still.

And we can’t forget the double-whammy effect of injuries.

Scottie Barnes has played just four games this year; Immanuel Quickley three. Key veteran reserves Kelly Olynyk and Bruce Brown haven’t played at all. First-round pick Ja’Kobe Walter has been available for just four games after missing all of his first training camp with a repeating shoulder injury. None are expected back this week.

Through it all the Raptors have been — at the very least — entertaining. Eight of their losses have been by six points or less, and two have been in overtime. They’ve only been truly blown out once, and that was in the season opener to a Cleveland team that has started the season 15-0.

Toronto passes the ball willingly — it came into Monday night fourth in the league in passes made and fourth in assists. The Raptors run the floor hard, leading the NBA in fast-break points, and they move without the ball, ranking sixth in the frequency of their off-ball cuts and seventh in points from cuts. Defensively, they foul way too much, but they try.

On Monday, the Raptors took charge from the tip — they led 34-27 after the first quarter and 69-57 at half — and got a win that everyone on the roster can be proud of, for one night at least.

It wasn’t just Barrett and Poeltl doing all the lifting. All five starters were in double figures, and all five reserves scored at least a bucket.

Temple provided an important spark. The veteran’s primary role is to be a living role model for a young team when it comes to how to conduct yourself as an NBA player. But the mentor has game. The 38-year-old got some rare second-quarter minutes on Monday and ended up plus-17 in less than six minutes of action before halftime. He hit his first three of the season, made a steal and finished the play with a twisting assist to a trailing Poeltl. The Raptors bench went crazy in appreciation.

"It’s dope, it’s great," said Temple of the reaction his teammates had for him. "I have to remind the young guys (that I can still play). But at the end of the day, getting a win is the biggest thing, but having my teammates hype me up like that it’s always good."

Toronto shot 58.5 per cent from the floor and 48.3 per cent (14-of-29) from three and held the Pacers to 44.4 per cent shooting, while they shot 15-of-40 from deep. The Raptors also overcame 23 turnovers, their one blemish on the night.

The former Raptor Pascal Siakam had 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists to continue his strong start in his first full season with Indiana, and Montreal’s Bennedict Mathurin had 17 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter as the Pacers tried to get back in the game. Toronto’s Andrew Nembhard didn’t play for the Pacers as he manages knee soreness.

The Raptors remain at the bottom of the standing looking up, and truthfully would benefit from a high draft pick more than trying to earn their way into the play-in tournament at the end of the year, so wins are a mixed blessing. But the NBA season is long and challenging. A victory here and there can matter more than just in the standings.