MINNEAPOLIS — We’ll lead off our look back and ahead of a strange back-to-back by keying on OG Anunoby. The third-year swingman had an interesting two nights. He was absolutely brilliant in the blowout win over Washington and about as off as he’s looked all year against Minnesota. He was overwhelming defensively against the Wizards, including when matched up against superstar Bradley Beal, but a step slow against the Wolves. Weird. He also went from very good offensively to invisible. Maybe just a fatigue thing.
– It’s interesting that Anunoby is already at a career-high for dunks. He had 42 in 74 games as a rookie, 39 in 67 last season and has topped that. When Toronto’s at full strength Anunoby seems to be more effective. He finds openings, cuts well and gets himself open.
– He was also utilized as a shooting guard a bit in recent games and it worked well. It probably won’t happen much now that Fred VanVleet is back, but Anunoby absolutely bullied opponents. It’s a mismatch when he’s a shooting guard and since he can defend guards, it’s a viable option for the Raptors.
– It’s time to talk about Norman Powell. It was clear that he fit well with this group as a starter (as his 17.2 points, 2.2 assists per game on 52% and 44% on three-pointers numbers suggest), but the thing with Powell is he has always been less effective as a reserve. Well, not lately. With the Raptors getting healthy, he returned to a first guard off of the bench role and has been nothing short of outstanding. He’s averaged 23.7 points (with a .630/.444/.900 shooting line) and has nailed just shy of three three-pointers a game. Add in solid defence and you’ve got a player in Powell who is making a case for some sixth man of the year consideration.
– When the Raptors broke open a close game by playing a bit of an odd lineup, it was Powell carrying that group to start the fourth quarter. He took over and blew the game open and the Wolves never sniffed Toronto again. That type of run is becoming commonplace for Powell.
– He’s been great in transition and has added a nice little wrinkle that has proven incredibly effective. Powell stops on a dime (harder to do than you think), shows the ball, getting opponents to jump, then lays in an open layup or a short floater. Some call it a Dream Shake, but Powell says he borrowed the move from Rajon Rondo.
– Marc Gasol finally cooled down against Minnesota, but this was an encouraging weekend for him.
– When Andrew Wiggins feels like it, he can be a good player. The issue is he doesn’t feel like it often enough. When the Wolves make him a primary ball-handler good things tend to happen.
“I worked hard this summer, really hard. Shooting, ball-handling, play-making, finishing, everything. And I’m going to keep working, keep getting better, keep at it,” Wiggins said.
– He didn’t commit or say he was out where Team Canada is concerned. It doesn’t seem like a priority for Wiggins, though the team could certainly use him.
– Nick Nurse’s cheering section didn’t make it, due to the weather, but another Iowa native, Matt Thomas had a loud group of supporters on hand and Nurse gave him some minutes and talked him up post-game.
“Matt, he’s really played well for us. It’s too bad that he was one of the guys out when we had everybody out because he could have logged some serious minutes,” Nurse said.
“And now, he gets back and everybody’s back and kind of gets filtered in but I’ll say this he’s shown he can play at this level. We can come out there and run stuff for him and he can do work. And he’s a really good team defender. He’s much better defensively than he’s given credit for.” THREE STARS 1 – Kyle Lowry 2 – Fred VanVleet 3 – Andrew Wiggins Three stars for Wizards game-winning 1 – Norman Powell 2 – OG Anunoby 3 – Marc Gasol
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