Toronto Raptors Players-Only Meeting Rights The Ship
While Nick Nurse didn't exactly call it a 'players only meeting', he did say that "some guys" gathered together to talk about getting off to better starts. "They're not happy. They understand it's not what is acceptable around here. They're working on getting through it"
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) December 3, 2022
Of particular concern was the slow starts. Brooklyn had jumped out to a 41-17 lead on Friday night. As 34-year-old veteran Thad Young put it, the players discussed the need to “come out and throw the first punch. When we throw the first punch it makes us a completely different team, a better team.
"If we’re aggressive then we’re making sure that we have [the other team on its] heels as opposed to us being on our heels all game."
It apparently worked, as less than 24 hours later, the Raptors soared to a first-quarter 36-22 lead over the Orlando Magic, and indeed kept them on their heels the entire game, opening up leads of 30+ points before settling for a 121-108 victory.
“Nobody really likes to be harping, yelling, cussing or fussing around here so I think some things just go unsaid [sometimes],” VanVleet told TSN. “And there are times when you need to say it out loud, let people know what our standards are around here and just tighten the ship a little bit. We’re not going to win all the games, we know that, but there’s certain ways that you want to [play] every night and those two games were just unacceptable.”
Message delivered.
OG Anunoby (32 points), Pascal Siakam (26 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds) and Scottie Barnes (17 points, 14 rebounds) made sure the Raptors were in command the entire game.
Photo: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
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