Raptors suffer 3rd straight loss as defence succumbs to Jazz in blowout loss
Toronto forward OG Anunoby could be out 'a while' after injuring hip in practice
Rudy Gay showed he still knows how to make a major impact on a game even while playing limited minutes.
Gay also had five rebounds while playing just 18 minutes. He missed Utah's first 14 games while recovering from off-season surgery on his right heel.
Returning from a surgery that forced Gay to teach himself how to walk again for a second time in his NBA career would have been too daunting for most players in their mid-30s. Gay embraced the challenge of coming back.
"It's not easy. It takes a lot of dedication," Gay said. "You got to be a little different and I'm a little different."
WATCH | Gay, Mitchell lead Jazz past Raptors:
His offence wasn't the only thing that lifted the Jazz to their second straight win. Gay made good defensive plays and provided enough spacing and passing to help the offence operate at high efficiency.
"He played within himself," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "Made the game easy because of the decisions that he made. He made shots, but that's a byproduct of making the right play."
Donovan Mitchell also scored 20 points for Utah, and Royce O'Neale added a season-high 16. Rudy Gobert had 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Utah shot 55 per cent from the field and scored 48 points in the paint. The Jazz also made 19 3-pointers.
"They got a lot of buckets at the rim tonight," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. "Obviously, that was tough to handle. They also shot it pretty good from three — they're a good shooting team and a really tough team to defend."
Birch gave Toronto an early spark, scoring all 14 of his points before halftime. He made back-to-back baskets to kickstart a 9-2 run that gave the Raptors a 23-17 lead in the first quarter.
Gay gave Utah an immediate lift even while playing on a minutes restriction. He made three 3-pointers and assisted another basket to help the Jazz rally and take a 42-31 lead early in the second quarter.
"I'm no slouch," Gay said. "I am closing in on 20,000 points. There's a lot of threes in there. I'm usually humble but I can score."
VanVleet made 3-pointers on three straight possessions to erase Utah's lead and put the Raptors ahead 53-51 shortly before halftime.
"We came out blitzing a lot and then we just stopped doing it," Toronto forward Scottie Barnes said. "We just changed our game plan throughout the game. They were hitting a lot of threes and we just tried to do something to change it."
The Jazz tightened up on defence in the third quarter, allowing them to create some separation. Toronto made only three baskets over the final nine minutes of the quarter. It opened the door for Utah to rebuild a double-digit lead.
Joe Ingles fed Gobert for a pair of dunks and drained a pair of 3-pointers to fuel a 15-2 run that put the Jazz up 98-80 early in the fourth quarter.
Anunoby out
Meanwhile, OG Anunoby was playing some of the best basketball of his career when he suffered a hip pointer in practice on Wednesday.
With no timeline set for his return, both he and the Raptors are understandably frustrated.
"He wants to play. He's obviously disappointed he can't play. He's anxious to know when he can get back, and I'm not sure we know that right now," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said before the game.
Birch started against the Jazz in place of Anunoby, who Nurse had said a day earlier could be out "a while."
A hip pointer is pain and bruising over the top or front of the hip bone, usually caused by a direct blow to the hip.
Centre Precious Achiuwa (shoulder) and forward Yuta Watanabe (calf) also didn't play Thursday.
The Raptors have been hit hard by injuries this season. Siakam missed the first 10 games while recovering from off-season shoulder surgery. VanVleet (groin), Birch (knee) and forward Chris Boucher (back) have also missed time.
"It seems like we've had a minimum of three or four guys out for every game this year," Nurse said, while acknowledging it happens across the league.
"I looked at the injury report and [the Jazz] didn't seem to have anybody out. It's a little frustrating. What do you do? I'm just more anxious to see us be able to build on some stuff. It seems like we had to take some steps back and reconfigure and then we take some forward. . . It's been like that for most of my career, in and out, people in and out of the lineups. Gosh, I'd love to see the team whole at some point for a little bit."
With files from The Canadian Press
