The Toronto Raptors host Boston on Wednesday in a familiar position — without starting point guard Immanuel Quickley. The former Kentucky star is now considered day-to-day with his third injury of the season, a left groin strain that had initially been described as a left hip issue.
“He didn’t participate today in the practice. He’s feeling better but at this point he’s going to be day-by-day,” Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic told reporters. Quickley, who signed the second-biggest contract in franchise history this summer, has only been able to playing nine games.
The defending NBA champion Celtics clobbered the Raptors by 54 points on December 31, but also needed overtime to prevail in mid-November. Unlike in those two games in Boston, Toronto will now have to also contend with floor-spacing big man Kristaps Porzingis, who is healthy and coming off three straight double-doubles, with eight made threes and six blocks in those games.
In Monday’s stirring win over Golden State without Quickley, Rajakovic went with Davion Mitchell, a defence-first option and that could be the case again against a Celtics team that scores at will and gets up more three-point shots than anyone. Mitchell might not have scored against the Warriors, but he had six assists, no turnovers and was right in Stephen Curry’s face for much of the game, forcing him into three turnovers when they matched up.
Fellow reserve guard Jamal Shead is also playing well, meaning that not all is lost with Quickley out the way it would have been last season (or before that when Fred VanVleet was still around and there were no viable backup point guards on the roster). Shead, the defensive player of the year in the NCAA before landing with Toronto with the 45th pick last June, was billed as a non-shooter after struggling with his outside shot at Houston (otherwise he would have easily been a first-round selection) and he started the year unable to connect, but things have changed significantly lately. After hitting only 29% of his three-point attempts over his first 20 NBA games, including eight games in a row without a make, Shead hit 39% on limited attempts in December and went 3-for-4 against Golden State (the other attempt was blocked), building off 4-for-4 work over his previous two games.
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“He’s putting a lot of work in,” Rajakovic said after the Warriors game. “He’s one of the guys that gets most shots in our gym. He’s really diligent about the work, and we believe in his shot. We trust his shot. So it’s good to see that he’s making those in games as well.”
Shead said Rajakovic’s faith has helped him. “It gives me a lot of confidence knowing your coach believes in you,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “Knowing your coach has a lot of confidence in you. It allows you to go out there and be yourself and play a little better.”
Shead also praised Mitchell for going out of his way to tutor a young player on the art of defence. He didn’t mention it, but it’s also notable that Mitchell would try to help him out even though both players are realistically fighting for the same role and minutes as Quickley’s backup.
THE RISE OF BOUCHER
Scottie Barnes said Chris Boucher “won the game” for the Raptors against Golden State and he wasn’t far off (Barnes had a big role in the victory too, putting on a dominant performance). Boucher scored 18 points in 22 minutes, 17 of them in the fourth quarter where the Raptors came back, and added seven rebounds. It came on the heels of a 14 points in 20 minute, one miss game from Boucher and 23 and 12 in 27 minutes against Cleveland. Boucher had actually been playing sparingly before scoring 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting in just four minutes against New York.
“He comes to work every day. Brings a lot of energy to our practices,” Rajakovic said of the longest-serving Raptor and last link to the championship team. “He’s been around. His voice is very important with the team as well, and I’m really happy for him.”
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Boucher, who turned 32 last week and is an impending free agent, loves being in Toronto, but might have played himself into a trade to a playoff team with this run. He credited being around great professionals in both Golden State and then Toronto for helping him last so long in the NBA and thrive.
“When I went there, I was with (Kevin Durant). I was with Steph, Klay Thompson, (Andre Iguodala). So I got the chance to see what the pros are doing,” Boucher said.
“And then I came here, I saw Kawhi (Leonard), Danny Green, Pascal (Siakam), Fred. I’ve been around a lot of professional, great players,” he said.
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