Raptors roll to easy win over Spurs as Porter makes debut

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The last time Otto Porter Jr. played in an NBA game he left the court an NBA champion.

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Starting his third game of the NBA Finals last June, Porter hit a couple of three-pointers, played some solid defence and helped the Golden State Warriors top the Boston Celtics.

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Less than a month later, Porter decided to sign a free-agent contract to join the Raptors. He couldn’t have imagined then it would take until November to debut with his new squad, but a hamstring issue and then time away for the birth of his child led to a Wednesday night in San Antonio being the big day.

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Porter came off the bench in a 143-100 Raptors laugher, Toronto’s second emphatic victory this week, following a 30-point pasting of Atlanta. The team fell two points shy of setting a new franchise-record for points in a game.

All-star Pascal Siakam again led the way, notching a triple-double (22 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds in only 28 minutes). O.G. Anunoby had 18 points and five steals, Scottie Barnes 15 and Gary Trent Jr. added 24. Chris Boucher was superb off the bench with 17 points and eight rebounds, numbers that didn’t paint the full picture of his contributions, especially in the second quarter when this was still a game.

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Following a tight first quarter, Toronto completely controlled the game. San Antonio was significantly short-handed, missing leading scorers Keldon Johnson (23.9 points per game) and Devin Vassell (19.8) due to injuries, and the result was dreadful shooting and 23 turnovers leading to 31 Raptors points.

The Raptors missed Fred VanVleet for a second straight game, but were happy to have Porter available to provide much-needed shooting to the second unit. Porter’s career 39.8% three-point percentage leads all Raptors, just ahead of Gary Trent Jr. and VanVleet.

Head coach Nick Nurse has said that he expects Porter to be a part of his rotation.

A long-time starter with the Washington Wizards, including in two playoff series against Toronto, Porter has mostly been a reserve the last few seasons with Chicago, Orlando and Golden State.

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Porter sounded ecstatic to be in the lineup.

“I’m feeling pretty good, ready to get going,” Porter told TSN in San Antonio on Wednesday morning.

“I’m back and it’s time to get the ball rolling.”

Porter played eight minutes, checking in for the first time to start the second quarter and didn’t look out of place defensively. He had five points, three rebounds and two steals.

Porter told TSN he’s been impressed by the “hungry” young guys on the Raptors who “want to be at an elite level” and feels his job is to help get them there.

Porter hopes to help defensively, on the boards and to spread the floor on offence.

MORE KOLOKO

VanVleet’s absence meant another start for rookie centre Christian Koloko. It was Koloko’s third start in eight appearances and came after his best game of this young season against Atlanta (nine points, five rebounds and three blocks in 22 minutes).

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Nurse seems to prefer keeping his effective big man combination of Precious Achiuwa and Chris Boucher intact when a starter has been unable to play, hence going with Koloko.

“I think that the rest of those guys are settled into coming off the bench. Just positionally, he’s our first centre. When something opens up in the starting lineup, he’s probably gonna be starting most of the time,” Nurse explained this week.

Plus Koloko is the tallest player on the roster, giving the team its most imposing presence defensively in the middle. He’s already looked far more advanced than expected as a rim protector and his teammates enjoy having his presence as a last line of defence.

“He’s just tall, he’s just there,” said Pascal Siakam earlier in the week. “I think that we play a lot of teams and they have those kind of (centres) out there that (you) beat your man and get around them and they just get in the way. And I think that he can do that. Because he got that ability,” Siakam said.

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Like all rookies, Koloko has run into some foul trouble, but Siakam and the other Raptors are helping him adjust to the speed of the NBA. “Everyone is on him to make sure he’s stays focused, but he’s a huge difference for us when he plays and he’s focused. I think he really listens,” Siakam said.

Koloko had a quiet night, but still collected seven rebounds.

AROUND THE RIM

Siakam had tied Vince Carter’s franchise record on Monday with his 10th game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. He’s also the first Raptor to notch at least 20, five and five in six straight games and made it seven straight on Wednesday. Siakam has scored at least 20 points in each of the first eight games of the season … Toronto is now 7-20 all-time in San Antonio, though the caveat is for much of the time the Spurs were a Top 5 team and the Raptors were far from it until recent years … With Dallas native C.J. Miles watching the game from beside Toronto’s bench, all but one of the members of the “Bench Mob,” the outstanding 2017-18 group of Raptors reserves, were in the house. VanVleet was watching, like Miles, but Siakam was battling against his pal Jakob Poeltl. Only Delon Wright was absent.

@WolstatSun