LVSL

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The Summer League Raptors have concluded their 2018 Las Vegas Summer League campaign. After dropping an 82-68 decision to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the tournament quarterfinals, the Raptors were eliminated after six games in 10 days.

Things fell apart for Toronto in the third quarter against the Cavaliers where they were outscored 21-4, leading to Cleveland taking a 15-point lead into the final quarter. Chris Boucher led the Raptors in the loss with 18 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots. Giddy Potts added 12 points, and Alfonzo McKinnie and Malachi Richardson each added 14 points.

After leading the team in minutes through the first four games, the Raptors rested OG Anunoby for the final two contests. In four games in Vegas, Anunoby averaged 15.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 27.3 minutes per contest. He shot 40 percent from the floor.

Malachi Richardson ended up leading the team in minutes, playing six games and averaging minutes 27.7 and 12.8 points per contest. Chris Boucher had a strong showing in Vegas, averaging 10.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per game. Alfonzo McKinnie finished averaging 7.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Unfortunately, Malcolm Miller’s time in Vegas was cut short when he suffered a nasty fall and dislocated his shoulder in the team’s third game of the round-robin session.

Though OG didn’t suit up for the team’s final two games, he showed off fresh kicks on the bench:

Check out a compilation of some of the best plays from the Summer League Raptors here:

Though the ending wasn’t as desired, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse was pleased with his team’s time in Vegas. Watching the team improve from the first day onward, getting to work with his coaching staff, and seeing the growth of OG Anunoby were all things Nurse mentioned after the team’s final game:

Matt Tierney delivered the final Summer League post-game recap outside the Thomas &amp; Mack Center before the team officially signed off from Vegas:

“For my coaches, for OG, for Malachi, Chris Boucher, Rawle [Alkins], Giddy Potts, there were some real bright spots that went pretty deep. I would imagine some of the names, a couple of them will help the Raptors and a couple will help the 905 Raptors and eventually help the Raptors one day too. It was really productive.”- Nick Nurse highlighting the bright spots of this year’s summer league session

“I waited, being patient. I was waiting for my chance. We have a good team. We just needed to find a good chemistry to make it happen. As soon as we found a chemistry it was easy for me to find a place and do my job and recognize what my role was on the team.”- Chris Boucher on getting more comfortable as summer league went on

“I love Coach Nurse. It was fun playing for him this summer league. We got to know him as a head coach. We knew him as the assistant least year, but now we get a chance to know him as a head coach, just see the different schemes he wants to incorporate with the big club come this season. It was good playing for him. I learned some stuff from him this summer and I’m going to take some of those things with me and it’ll always be with me.”- Alfonzo McKinnie on Nick Nurse

“He did a nice job with skill development to this point. Working on some new things, we tried a few of them out here. He will go back, take a little time off here, and then get into his body maintenance work. Getting himself as healthy and strong as he can and then he’ll get back on the floor with more skill development. He’s gotta continue to work on his perimeter shooting. He’s still going to be a catch and shoot three guy. I’d really like him to work on his post-up game in case there’s any switches, he can get them down there. And then just overall ball handling and passing.”- Nick Nurse on OG Anunoby’s summer league

“It was nice. Toronto, Canada, is back home for me. It felt good just to put the Raptors on my jersey. Its a learning process. I feel like I got a lot better.  I didn't know what to expect when I got here. I definitely got better. I know there’s still things I can fix, but that’s what you’re here for, to learn how to fix the stuff you’re not good at and get better at everything.”- Chris Boucher on getting to play with the Raptors summer league team

Players will go their respective ways, continuing on with summer training as they prepare for their upcoming seasons. Whether they will be played in the NBA, G-League, a combination of the two, or somewhere else entirely, the work continues.

summer-league-concludes-for-raptors-in-las-vegas

Summer League Concludes For Raptors In Las Vegas

The Toronto Raptors will advance in tournament play in Las Vegas Summer League thanks to an 85-77 victory against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday. OG Anunoby led all scorers with 22 points as the Raptors used a late run to take control of the game and pick up their first victory in Vegas.

As mentioned above, OG Anunoby was fantastic against the Nuggets. The soon-to-be sophomore Raptor scored 22 points on Wednesday, shooting 9-for-17 from the floor, 2-for-7 from the three-point line, and 2-for-2 from the free throw line in 27 minutes of action. He added four rebounds and a blocked shot as well.

Check out a collection of OG’s best plays from Wednesday’s victory:

The Raptors summer league squad had its own bench mob boost from Giddy Potts and Chris Boucher on Wednesday. Potts scored 14 points, shooting 4-for-9 from the floor, and 4-for-7 from three, while Boucher added 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting, 2-for-3 from deep and was a presence on the defensive end of the floor, recording six blocked shots to go with six rebounds.

Despite trailing for much of the game, Toronto flipped the script late in the second half. After outscoring the Nuggets by four in the third to hold a slim two-point advantage to start the fourth quarter, the Raptors opened the final frame on a 16-0 run. Toronto would go on to outscore the Nuggets 28-18 in the quarter to stretch the lead to 17 points before Denver made up some ground in the final minutes.

The Raptors were 0-3 in the round-robin portion of the tournament, while the Nuggets entered tournament play a perfect 3-0. Toronto will now face the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday at 6 P.M. ET.

Matt Tierney and Akil Augustine recap the victory against Denver, paying particular attention to Chris Boucher and Giddy Potts.

The OG crew is back, bringing you behind-the-scenes action from Las Vegas where guys are hoping to leave an impression and make a name for themselves.

Watch (and listen to) Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby hit the high notes of a Beyonce classic in the car on the latest episode of #SummerSkills:

“We were just playing hard, getting stops, running out in transition. We all trust each other to make shotsm so we were moving the ball and shooting with confidence.”- OG Anunoby on the team clicking offensively against Denver

“You could see, even though the losses, the growth coming. We just had such a long way to go to start, but I thought you saw flashes in each game of extended minutes of good play. Maybe it was only eight [minutes] the first night, 12 the second and then 18 [the third], but we’re pushing it out, trying to get to a full game. It takes a little bit with a bunch of young guys.”- Nick Nurse on the team growing game by game

“I think everybody [has just had] overall growth each game. You know, we went 0-3 to start in pool play. Everybody came out Game 4 still mentally ready to win the game. We turned it up at the right time, you know, we got a win. I think that's something big, especially at Summer League, having a lot of your guys just being able to stay focused for Game 4 after losing three in a row, so I think that's always big.”- Alfonzo McKinnie echoing Nick Nurse’s thoughts on how the team has been improving since starting in Vegas

“Just show them I'm a complete player. I’ve come here, I’ve worked hard these past two months and I want to show that. I want to make shots, defend, rebound, try to be a leader on the court and do everything I can do get a win.”- Malachi Richardson on what he wants to show the team in Summer League

“I think this whole Summer League was pretty much just learn more on the defensive end. Coach Nurse wants us to get up, ball pressure, contest more shots, just be better overall defensively. I think that's something that I've been taking away from Summer League the most.”- Alfonzo McKinnie on the defensive emphasis in Vegas this summer

“We just keep playing good. You don't know if you're gonna win or who you're gonna play or whatever. We wanna win, man. We're gonna play and hopefully we grow some more, just keep playing, move the ball a little better, guard a little harder, and fight like heck. That's kind of the theme of the Summer League: Let's learn while we go and just stay with it. No highs and lows, and if there is, let's kinda treat 'em the same and just keep on playing.”- Nick Nurse on what would be defined as success for the team’s time at summer league

The Raptors will take on the Charlotte Hornets in the next phase of the tournament on Saturday at 6 P.M. ET.

LVSL

Summer League Concludes For Raptors In Las Vegas

Raptors Advance With Win Over Denver At LVSL