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Three players met their former teams today in the highly touted Raptors - Spurs game at the AT&T Center. Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard and DeMar DeRozan all got a chance to connect with former acquaintances and teammates, while the San Antonio crowd was a mix of boos and cheers for most of the evening.
DeRozan got the better of his former team with a gaudy stat line and the win, while solid contributions from all the Spurs' starters and bench players came down to a torrid start in both halves in which San Antonio dominated Toronto in most aspects of gameplay on either side of the court.
San Antonio's players played with vicious energy and the team itself is on a current winning high, having won the majority of their past few games, with Aldridge and DeRozan in lockdown form.
#1 The revenge of DeRozan
In what must have felt like sweet vengeance to both the San Antonio Spurs and former Raptor DeMar DeRozan, the Spurs blew out the Toronto Raptors 125 - 107 at the AT&T Center today.
The Spurs raced out ahead on a 15-5 run, and seemed intent on crushing Leonard's new team as much as possible. Toronto, who had one shaky victory over the Bulls and one tremendously energizing victory over the Jazz - in which Leonard scored a career-high 45 points - evidently could not handle San Antonio's vicious play.
DeRozan started with a ferocious dunk and some statement-making plays as he collected 24 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists for his first ever triple-double in the NBA. In the first half alone, he had 19 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists, the quickest any Spur has compiled that sort of line since Tim Duncan in 2003.
Coach Pop used his magic on DeRozan and turned him from the elite midrange scorer he was to an all round utilities player and for one revenge game, DeRozan went berserk.
#2 The return of Kwahi
"Kindness and respect" were the exact words Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich used when he was asked how he expected the home crowd to act towards Kawhi Leonard today. He must have been disappointed by the start of the tribute video.
In what must have been a strange and unusual night for the San Antonio faithful, Leonard returned to the first time to play against the Spurs, the only team he'd ever played for till this season. He was relentlessly booed throughout the warm-ups, the tribute video and every time he touched the ball during the game.
Compounding the extremes was how the exact same Spurs cheered on Danny Green, both during the tribute video and during the game. It was reminiscent of the way Bulls players cheered for Rose. In fact, once the Spurs staff got wind of the atmosphere, they even tried to hide Leonard's introduction immediately after Green's intro (which was met with cheers and applause), but even then the San Antonio faithful found time for boos and weird chants like "traitor".
This sort of treatment is wrong because even though the guy forced his way somewhere else, he was also Finals MVP during the Spurs' most recent title run.
#3 Perspective
Before the game, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich told the media that "this is just another game."
From the start, it was evident that the players (and fans) did not think so. The players played with high energy and a very Spurs-like 55% overall efficiency.
Ibaka had a torrid time trying to contain Aldridge, who torched the Raps for a game-high 23 points on 10-14 shooting to go with 2 rebounds and 5 assists, but the energy exuded by Bryn Forbes, who scored 20 points on 6-7 3PT shooting with 3 rebounds and assists each, or Derrick White, who went for 19 points on 8-11 FG (2-3 from 3 point land) with 4 assists was infectious: San Antonio's defense was as stifling and long as is usual for the Spurs.
This game was a statement game, and the fans knew it, as evidenced by the "MVP! MVP!" chants that broke out for DeRozan during the game.
Guess the Lakers players!
