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Raptors win third in a row with change lurking just around corner

San Antonio Spurs' Keldon Johnson (left) drives to the basket as Raptors' Precious Achiuwa tries to defend during the first quarter at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023.
San Antonio Spurs' Keldon Johnson (left) drives to the basket as Raptors' Precious Achiuwa tries to defend during the first quarter at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. Photo by NICK TURCHIARO /USA TODAY SPORTS

On the eve of NBA trade deadline, the Raptors managed not to provide any added incentive to give up on the current core of the team.

Facing a San Antonio squad that frankly is probably more concerned with its lottery chances than they are in piling up wins, the Raptors took care of the business at hand in a business-like 112-98 win.

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It was their third win in a row and left the Raptors at worst tied for 10th in the East, the final spot for a potential play-in to the playoffs.

In this contest, Pascal Siakam looked as fresh as he has since the team left Toronto almost two and a half weeks ago.

He had 37 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists to lead the Toronto attack.

All five starters including Siakam were in double-digits in scoring.

Depending on what Masai Ujiri and the front office do Thursday, it may have been the last time the core of this team plays together.

The rumour mill is full of potential Raptors heading elsewhere at the 3 p.m. trade deadline and most of those names we’re all hearing most often are part of that Toronto core.

Ujiri’s track record suggests less than more today, but it’s probably fair to say Ujiri hasn’t had a team perform down to the levels they have this year in any year other than that lost season in Tampa during the middle of COVID.

Chris Boucher continued his stellar play off the bench from the road trip with 16 points and 11 boards off the bench for Toronto.

The team gets right back at it on Friday as Utah arrives in town. Just which Raptors are still around for that one will be answered sometime just after 3 p.m. Thursday.

PRECIOUS’ ROLE GROWING

Precious Achiuwa has been a pretty big part of Nick Nurse’s rotation for well over a season now, but that role is expanding.

Part of it, of course, is the sprained left wrist that has kept him out of the past six games including Wednesday night’s tilt with San Antonio,

But Achiuwa’s minutes were expanding even before Anunoby’s injury.

“He’s done very well,” Nurse said of Achiuwa. “He certainly had some really big games. We’re very happy to see him come to life. He doesn’t prefer to start, normally. He came out kind of guns a blazing. I talked to him, just like I have in the past, to just try to get him to have that energetic, focused game a little more frequently where he’s on the glass.”

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And in Nurse’s opinion, it’s Achiuwa’s work on the glass that sort of jump-starts the rest of his game.

“To me, the rebounding is one of the keys,” Nurse said. “If he’s chasing the ball off the glass, he’s doing everything else on the floor pretty good, which means he’s finishing, driving, just doing things pretty precisely.

“For him it’s all about can he bring the energy and bring the ball up and down the floor both ways because I really like how he’s taking the challenge to guard, especially on the perimeter. He’s done a really good job of switching and picking up guys who can handle the ball and get places off the dribble. He’s taken that challenge and done a pretty good job as well. We need that energy.”

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PUTTING IN THE TIME

Normally on a long road trip like the Raptors just finished — seven games in seven cities over two weeks — practices and shootarounds are kept to a minimum to offset the extra miles the team is logging getting from place to place.

But that was not the case this past trip as Nurse and his coaching staff had the team on the court as much as they could including every morning shootaround of a game that wasn’t a back-to-back and every post-day game regardless of travel.

Even on their return to Toronto, normally a time to lay low and recoup from a strenuous trip, Nurse and the team did take the Monday off but on Tuesday went at it hard. They also didn’t pass up the opportunity for a Wednesday morning shootaround.

“I really don’t have many solutions for things other than work hard,” Nurse said, loosely referring to the issues the Raptors have had putting wins together this year. “That’s where it always starts for me. When you’re trying to fix things I’m probably not going to go in my office and hope they get better. We’re going to come up with a plan, we’re going to tell the guys what the plan is and we’re going to get out there and work on stuff.”

Nurse said the drop in his team’s play insisted on this route.

“It’s probably been going on like this for six weeks or so and I just, again, wanted to establish that the top of our list of priorities is being a hard-working team,” he said.

mganter@postmedia.com