Toronto Raptors: 3 takeaways from big Game 3 win vs. Magic
3. Overcoming the little, but impactful things
Leonard was ill and Siakam stepped up in a big way, posting team-high +13 on both ends of the floor. The team had to overcome what felt like an 8 vs. 5 type of officiating. Every team and its fanbase feels like the referees are against them, missing calls that seem logical and purposely trying to bend the game to their will. This is not that conspiracy theorist type of argument, but there are contributing factors to back this claim.
The Orlando Magic was rewarded with 23 free throw attempts to the Toronto Raptors’ 10, in which the last two were from an intentional foul on Kawhi’s attempt to dribble out the clock. On the topic of Kawhi, he averaged 7.5 free throw attempts per 36 minutes during the regular season, and has career-low postseason metrics in attempts per field goal attempted (22.0 percent) and attempts per 100 possessions (6.3) compared to his prior postseason averages of 35.9 percent and 8.1, respectively.
It wasn’t just Leonard being unable to get a call, as both Lowry and Marc Gasol were in early foul trouble, which meant having the “Siakam plus bench” lineup get extended play. As mentioned in our Game 2 takeaways, the bench has simply been terrible shooting the rock, and Game 3 was no different.
Fred VanVleet shot 2-for-7 in 24 minutes of play, Serge Ibaka was 3-for-9 in 22 minutes and Norman Powell was a much improved 3-for-5 in just under 15 minutes. Jodie Meeks was a non-factor in the two and half minutes he played to end the first quarter.
The lineup of VanVleet-Meeks-Powell-Siakam-Ibaka has been bad so far this postseason, being outscored by an average of 11.8 points per 100 possessions. The team’s drop-off from the starters to “Siakam plus bench” lineup has been from a 125.7 offensive rating and 81.1 defensive rating to 100.0 and 111.8, respectively.
Gasol received two questionable fouls to start the third, giving the starters with Ibaka lineup an extended run. Ibaka was having a terrible first half, being held without a single bucket, but as a true seasoned veteran, he did eventually step up to help the starters’ 19-6 run to end the third quarter.
The main reasoning for bringing up Ibaka is how effective All-Star Nikola Vucevic has been when matched up with him. In three games, when Vucevic is matched up against Gasol he shoots 30.4 percent from the floor with nine turnovers and an offensive rating of 96.6, compared to 54.5 percent shooting, one turnover and an offensive rating of 118.9 when he matched up against Ibaka.
The trickle-down effects of the awful officiating in Game 3 can be seen in many ways, not just from the 23-17 disadvantage in fouls called. In the case of early fouls in the first or third quarter, this meant extended runs with the Raptors’ worse lineups (Siakam plus bench), replacing Gasol with Ibaka (which Orlando’s best player can exploit) and one of the best players in the world in Kawhi Leonard not getting the whistles he used to earn.