TORONTO — It has been four years since DeMar DeRozan stopped being a Toronto Raptor -- but not much has changed, as far as he’s concerned.
The 14-year veteran remains the ultimate pro who has a smile for everyone he meets, and a pump fake for every defender who thinks they can disrupt his meticulously crafted mid-range game.
It ain’t happening. DeRozan, the Raptors' career leading scorer, eclipsed the 20,000-point mark on a mid-range (what else) jumper against San Antonio last week to become just the 50th player to score that many career points in his NBA career.
When Doug Smith of the Toronto Star -- who has known the Chicago Bulls star since he was a shy Raptors rookie in 2009 -- asked DeRozan how many pump fakes he used to get to his milestone, DeRozan thought for a minute: “It’s got to be about 12,000?”
Something like that.
DeRozan will always be missed and never forgotten in Toronto -- the ovation he got pre-game was another in a long list since he was traded in the summer of 2018.
In that sense it was a perfect night for the sold-out crowd at Scotiabank Arena -- a chance to say hello to an old friend while going home savouring a hard-earned 113-104 Raptors win over DeRozan and Chicago that improved Toronto's record to 6-4 and provided some encouragement that they’ll be able to weather the injury absence of Pascal Siakam.
Siakam in some way represents DeRozan’s legacy with his old team, though he wasn’t on the floor for the Raptors against the Bulls on Sunday night in what was the first night of a home-road back-to-back versus Chicago.
Before the game it was announced that Siakam will miss at least two weeks with a strained adductor (groin) muscle in his right leg suffered when the forward slipped while making a move against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday.
And that’s the good news. When it first happened, there were concerns within the organization that it was a serious injury and Siakam could be out months, not weeks. But after medical imaging on Saturday, it was determined there was no tear and Siakam’s return should be on a much shorter timeline.
A relief, then.
Before the injury, Siakam was putting up All-NBA type numbers and beginning to show the kind of patience in the mid-range that DeRozan has built a career on. DeRozan – a teammate for his first two seasons in Toronto – has been a role model as Siakam has built out his own offensive repertoire.
“He’s always been one of my favourite players,” said Siakam. “When he was here and everywhere he went [since] … the way he plays the game is so beautiful.”
But without Siakam, who leads Toronto in scoring with 24.8 points per game, the Raptors will have to find offence from somewhere, especially if they can’t get their transition game going and have to manufacture points in the half-court where Siakam has been their best option, especially late in games.
Toronto didn’t have to wait long to see how things might shake out as it started the final quarter leading only 83-82 against Chicago.
But the Raptors didn’t need to test their end-of-game offence without Siakam, it turned out. Their formula was to crank up their defence to suffocating levels and slowly put the Bulls to rest.
Fred VanVleet, returning to the lineup after missing three games with a sore back, got things rolling in the fourth with a tough triple against former Raptor (albeit briefly) Goran Dragic to put Toronto up by one with six minutes to play. It was one of the few buckets the Raptors got down the stretch that wasn’t as a result of their defensive effort or their hustle on the glass -- Toronto had 11 second-chance points in the fourth and scored six points off four Bulls turnovers.
Meanwhile, the Raptors were able to hold the Bulls to just a single field goal over the next four minutes as they doubled down on their strategy of making anyone but DeRozan beat them.
“If he ever shook free he made it, if ever drove hard one-on-one, he got an and-one it seemed,” said Raptors head coach Nick Nurse. “So I don’t know what other choices you’ve got other than to go try to get it out of his hands a lot.”
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Without Siakam the Raptors didn’t exactly shine in the half-court – they were 13-of-33 from the floor – but they worked around it. Toronto got a put-back off a scramble by Chris Boucher, another lay-up out of a scramble, this time by O.G. Anunoby, an old-fashioned three-point play by VanVleet on a wild, off-balance two-point shot before Scottie Barnes put things to bed with a yet another putback, this time off a missed three by Anunoby.
The big Raptors forward finished things off with a steal on DeRozan -- the third of the night for the NBA leader in the category -- that he took the other way for a crowd-pleasing double-pump reverse dunk.
VanVleet led all scorers with 30 points and 11 assists in his first game back after missing three with a back strain. Anunoby had 22 and Barnes had 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. It was a career night for rookie Christian Koloko, who finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and six blocked shots. The Raptors had a 23-15 edge on the offensive boards and a 17-9 advantage in turnovers.
DeRozan? The Raptors held Toronto’s all-time leading scorer to a respectable 20 points, limiting him to just nine field-goal attempts, although he converted seven of them. However, his five turnovers may have been the most telling number.
The Raptors benefitted hugely from the return to the lineup of VanVleet. And if there were any concerns about role definition given that Barnes had looked pretty good as the point guard or primary ball-handler in VanVleet’s absence, the all-star showed early that wasn’t going to be an issue.
On the Raptors' first possession, VanVleet started off the ball and sprinted around a series of screes before taking a hand-off from Barnes and pulling up for a short jumper.
The pair worked in concert all night. The had a great sequence in the second quarter as Toronto worked reverse a 30-21 Chicago leader after 12 minutes. First it was VanVleet driving the lane and finding Barnes for an open three while a moment later it was Barnes getting a paint touch down on the block on a pass from VanVleet, only to pitch it out so the point guard could knock own an open three of his own -- one of three by him in second quarter. His last of the period put Toronto up by three with a 1:40 left in the half as Toronto took a 55-49 lead into the intermission.
“I just felt a lot better,” said VanVleet after his big night. “Just trying to find a rhythm, just be more assertive and not wait. First couple games obviously i was waiting a lot so just sitting out, having the chance to study some film and watch how the team was playing without me and just rest up and get back out there. Feeling good.”
With Zach Lavine, the Bulls' second-leading scorer, sitting out to manage his surgically repaired knee, the Raptors sent traps at DeRozan at every chance, limiting the Bulls’ 25-point-a-game man to just six points on two shot attempts in the first half. DeRozan got loose briefly in the third quarter, when he scored nine points, but that was as close as he came to putting up some big numbers.
It was the theme of the night.
And on the other end? The Raptors managed to get by without Siakam -- who has taken so many of DeRozan’s lessons to heart -- by ramping up the defence, with no better example than the 13-4 run they used to finish out the fourth quarter.
The two teams get to do it all again Monday night, this time in Chicago.
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