GANTER: Raptors fans’ Fred VanVleet smear campaign is ridiculous

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Given the current climate around the Raptors in general and Fred VanVleet in particular, it was the kind of night you half expected VanVleet to arrive at the podium post game, look straight into the cameras, and simply shrug and say something like ‘How do you like me now?’

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For whatever reason, VanVleet has become the Raptor too many in the local fanbase want to blame every time things don’t go the team’s way.

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That wasn’t the case Tuesday night, of course. A 125-110 win over the Western Conference-leading Denver Nuggets put most of the daggers away for at least an evening.

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All VanVleet did was throw up a game-high 36 points, three shy of his personal season best, contribute seven assists and three rebounds, and two steals to the cause.

If that wasn’t enough, defensively he hounded one of Canada’s premier exports in Jamal Murray into a 5-for-18 shooting night as the Kitchener native suffered a 14-point night in front of family and friends he desperately wanted to impress.

It was VanVleet’s fourth 30-plus-point night in the past month and a half as he has rallied from some shooting issues in the first half of the season to put up the kind of numbers he’s come to deliver over most of his six years in the league.

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But for whatever reason that narrative that VanVleet is not the answer for the Raptors remains out there.

The fact of the matter is the Raptors are good because VanVleet is good. When they win it’s because he’s either setting the scoring tone or enabling someone else to with his natural ability to run an offence and find the hot hand.

Tuesday against the Nuggets it was VanVleet at his all-around best self.

He was controlling the offence, dominating the scoring load and making life miserable for opposing guard Murray.

Every player, no matter how good or bad he is, has his detractors around the league but the groundswell of finger-pointing aimed directly at VanVleet as the root of all Raptors evil makes no sense in this corner.

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Every time we read something like that from an irate fan venting on social media, the first instinct is to ask aloud, ‘What game are you watching?’

Yes, the Raptors have issues. No, the season has not gone according to anyone’s plan, but to survey the situation and then land on Fred VanVleet as the reason things are the way they are just seems ridiculously misguided.

FRED’S GOT HIS BACK

When the season began, the focus was getting the ball in Pascal Siakam’s hands as early and as often as possible.

Siakam accepted that role and flourished in it, using his endless stock of energy to score, defend and keep the Raptors on the good side of the win column as much as he could.

At times this season, he has been a one-man Raptors show, with his play overcoming a lot of the defensive miscues and lapses that has this team currently fighting just to stay in the play-in race despite per-season projections of much loftier goals than just that.

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More recently, the ball isn’t finding him as much, Siakam’s usage is down a little as we’ve seen an uptick in offence from the likes of O.G. Anunoby, who has been his best self at both ends of the court of late, and sophomore Scottie Barnes, who just missed out on his third consecutive 20-point night on Tuesday, settling for an 18-point, seven rebound and five assist evening.

Siakam admitted at practice on Monday that the changing dynamic has been a challenge for him and one he’s still adapting to.

VanVleet was asked about that situation post game because he, too, earlier in the year had his own issues as he tried to adjust on the fly to the changing circumstances within the team’s offensive scheme.

“Yeah, it’s tough,” VanVleet admitted. “You know, I went through it. Everyone goes through it. You can’t get caught up in the individual game.

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“Tonight, he had what, 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists?” VanVleet said as he checked the box score. “That probably feels like a bad night for him, where he is and the caliber of player he is. You want to have 30 and 20 and 15 every night but it doesn’t always work out like that.

“The way we play it (the offensive focus) kind of moves around and you got to be OK with just making the plays,” he continued. “When you win, it’s a little easier. And when you are winning consistently it’s easier (still). And when you are losing it’s tough. It kills your energy, and you get down on yourself.

“But P has been great for us. He has carried a lot this year, so he certainly has to keep his spirits up and I’ll be there to keep him confident and keep him rolling because we are going to need him.”

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THE OTHER SIDE OF THAT COIN

Seeing an uptick in his usage and making the most of it once again Tuesday night was Anunoby. We get so caught up talking about his defensive importance for this team constantly – and it remains vital – that his offence often gets overlooked.

It’s been hard to do that of late as Anunoby went off for 24 points including four three pointers. It was the sixth time in seven games he’s been in double digits in scoring.

Head coach Nick Nurse has a theory as to why Anunoby has suddenly become so impactful of late in the offence in addition to his usual defensive prowess.

“I think Jak’s (Jakob Poeltl’s) rolling ability is giving him some more looks because we’ve been able to get some of that, but he also feels a lot better,” Nurse said. “He’s had two injuries this year, one to each hand, and I know it hasn’t been easy for him, and he’s played through a lot of it, and he’s back to feeling like he can catch it better, he can feel it better, he can release it better, and all that stuff. I know that’s kind of a funky thing to think about, but it’s probably the truth.”

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FROM THE GAME

The 49-point first quarter may have been the most impressive 12 minutes of the season to date. Offensively, it’s the biggest single scoring quarter in team history so by that measure alone it was in a class by itself. But throw in the fact that the opposition was the Western Conference leading Denver Nuggets and the staggering dominance becomes that much more impressive … There was a little element of payback in Tuesday’s win for the Raptors. A loss last week in Denver in a game they led for the vast majority of the night and the officiating circumstances in the final minute that denied the game a thrilling finish had left a lingering sour taste in the mouths of many of the Raptors … The bench woes were overcome in this game by the dominance of the starting five, but that remains an area of real concern for the Raptors. They were not dominated the way they were in Friday’s loss to the Lakers but the bench unit was again outscored and outplayed in limited minutes for all but Gary Trent Jr, the lone reserve to play more than 13 minutes in the game … Dalano Banton did not dress for this one because of a left thumb sprain while Christian Koloko’s return to the parent club was limited to just over a minute of garbage time … With the win, Toronto remains in ninth, a game ahead of both Washington and Chicago tied for 10^th and a game behind Atlanta for eighth, with 13 games left on the Raptors’ schedule.

mganter@postmedia.com