Friday night’s Spurs-Raptors game in Toronto was a treat for viewers of any rooting interest. There was brilliant execution, fantastic shot-making, plenty of league changes and even some frustrating officiating moments.

The Spurs couldn’t quite finish the deal, losing 120-117. The squad put up a strong fight despite only six points on 2-of-8 shooting from All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge, who was getting over an illness.

Let’s explore what happened on Friday from San Antonio’s perspective with three observations, two questions and one prediction.

3 Observations

A former Spur killed the Spurs…but not Kawhi Leonard

OK, Leonard had 25 points and a huge steal and slam with 15 seconds left in the game, but he also shot 8-of-23 from the field and 0-of-4 from three-point range. It was a below-average performance by his superstar standards.

In San Antonio’s blowout win over the Raptors in January, Danny Green had zero points on 0-of-6 shooting from three-point range.

But Green had a majorly positive impact in this contest. San Antonio had trouble locating Green off the ball, and he had already hit five three-pointers five minutes into the third quarter. “Icy Hot” ended with 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting from downtown.

The Spurs’ short bench rotation works

Derrick White, Rudy Gay and DeMar DeRozan have each been absent for several games in the past month and a half. Because of that, and some experimentation with Pau Gasol ahead of Jakob Poeltl, Gregg Popovich has rarely used his preferred nine-man rotation since 2019 started.

But Aldridge, DeRozan, White, Gay, Bryn Forbes, Davis Bertans, Patty Mills, Marco Belinelli and Poeltl were all available for this game. Pop made it clear that he wasn’t messing with that group — no one else on the roster got any court time.

It was a good decision by Pop. The chemistry of the bench group was evident all game, as the four reserves combined for 60 points on a 68.1 true-shooting percentage. The ball was hopping around the court on nearly every possession with bench-heavy lineups.

The Spurs’ nine-man rotation can be successful down the final stretch of the season if it stays healthy. That was the group that saved the team’s season with the December run, after all.

This was a step in the right direction for DeMar DeRozan

The lasting DeRozan moment from this game was him getting stripped by Kyle Lowry and Kawhi Leonard in crunch time. That allowed the Raptors to score the go-ahead layup.

However, we can still look at the big picture from his performance. And the big picture shows us that DeRozan played a very good game.

Energized playing in front of his former home crowd, DeRozan spent a lot of time attacking the rim to either score, draw a foul or set up a kick-out pass to a teammate.

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The former Raptor All-Star had eight assists and ended shooting 7-of-12 from the field and 9-of-9 from the free-throw line. This was his first time taking nine or more free throws in a game since December 26.

DeRozan is so much more dangerous once he gets a foot inside the paint and doesn’t settle for midrange jumpers. Let’s hope the All-Star break energized him to permanently regain that attack mindset he had in the season’s first month or two.

2 Questions

Does Derrick White need time to regain confidence?

White took awhile to find his offensive groove this season. He was missing a bunch shots by just a small margin early on, and it made him less aggressive. In late December, though, he had a few nice games and then went on a big tear in January.

The second-year guard played with a minutes restriction on Friday, his first game since February 2, due to a heel injury. Unfortunately, he started this game missing his first six shots, despite most of them almost falling. He did end up making his final three attempts (plus one free throw) to finish with seven points. But he didn’t score any points until the fourth quarter.

San Antonio can’t afford for White to revert back to his tentative self from November and early December. Keep an eye on whether he’s able to find that January groove again.

Can the Spurs find their version of Pascal Siakam in the draft?

The Spurs had no answer for Siakam in this game. The Raptors’ 6’9″ forward had 22 points, six assists and two steals on 7-of-10 shooting from the field, 2-of-2 from downtown and 6-of-9 from the free-throw line.

While Siakam has improved tremendously as a scorer, the trademarks of his game are still energy, athleticism and versatility. Out of BBall Index’s 11 player grade categories, Siakam has a league-wide percentile of 75 or better in 10 of them. He had a strong argument to make the All-Star roster.

It’s too bad San Antonio couldn’t have somehow swung to acquire him in the Kawhi Leonard deal, because he would be a big help. Siakam’s percentiles in perimeter and interior defense (84.1 and 84.3, respectively) would surely improve the Spurs’ bottom-five league rankings in both categories.

The Spurs will have two first-round draft picks this summer. The selections will probably be around 20 and 28.

Recently, San Antonio has hit on two guards at the No. 29 slot in Dejounte Murray and Derrick White. The jury is still out on rookie guard Lonnie Walker. Even if Walker doesn’t pan out, the team has enough scoring and ball-handling for the future in DeRozan, Murray, White and Aldridge.

As a result, the Spurs’ emphasis this June should be finding one or more athletic forwards who can defend multiple positions, make hustle plays and operate away from the ball on offense.

1 Prediction

The Spurs won’t finish lower than No. 7 in the West

This game should be encouraging for Spurs fans. DeRozan came out aggressive and the bench looked really sharp offensively. The team as a whole is still limited defensively, but the effort was solid.

If Aldridge weren’t sick, this game probably would’ve been the Spurs’ to lose. And that’s against the second-best home team in the NBA, record-wise (25-5).

Friday’s game, combined with the upcoming schedules and the roster makeup of teams around the Spurs, makes me think that the team won’t drop the rest of the season. Currently, San Antonio is tied with the Clippers at No. 7 in the West.

The Clippers had a very good trade deadline for the future, but I believe their roster is a bit weaker in the short term. The Kings are young and have a subpar point differential. The Lakers could go on a big run, but they also have a much tougher schedule to close the season than the Spurs. The Timberwolves’ schedule is also really tough.

San Antonio’s defense is a concern. However, assuming decent health luck, the squad has enough offense and veteran experience to finish the season at least respectably.

Note: All stats and video are from NBA.com, unless otherwise indicated.