Well, it’s official: Forget Christmas snubs, DeMar DeRozan is the best New Year’s Day scorer in the history of the NBA. I looked it up. DeRozan’s career and Raptors single-game best 52 points against the Milwaukee Bucks topped the 49 half-Canadian Kiki Vandeweghe scored for Denver on the first day of 1983, which matched Bob Petitt’s record from 1962.
Oddly enough, Kyle Lowry’s 41 last Jan. 1st against the Lakers had been the fifth-most points ever scored on New Year’s Day (C.J. McCollum topped him by two points that same night) and now DeRozan’s topped everybody. Guess Toronto’s all-stars don’t go as hard as one would think on New Year’s Eve.
It will be a crime if DeRozan isn’t voted to start the all-star game and he’s been good enough to be placed alongside Kyrie Irving at guard on the All-NBA third team to this point of the season. He’s never been better and not too long after playing his most complete game as a Raptor, he topped it. The question now is how can he possibly top his Jan. 1 tour de force?
Raptors fans would love to see this version of DeRozan in the playoffs. If it happens (and if Lowry is superb, like he was on this night), the team is going to be a tough out. It wasn’t just the scoring, it was the way he did it. He nailed threes, he made smart passes, he got to the free throw line at will and came through in the clutch repeatedly. He also made some huge defensive stands against excellent offensive players, including Giannis Antetokounmpo.
One of the most crucial moments of what was a fantastic game came with just under two minutes remaining in regulation. With Milwaukee up by four and in a position to all but stick a dagger in the Raptors, Serge Ibaka made the latest in what has been a run of outstanding blocks, swatting away Antetokounmpo, of all people. Ibaka might not have had his jumper going, but he channeled Bismack Biyombo at the ACC in the playoffs with his work protecting the rim. Even though DeRozan was unstoppable, it’s hard to imagine the Raptors would have recovered and won the game or forced overtime had the Greek Freak rocked the rim on that play and extended the lead to six points. Instead, DeRozan scored at the other end, was fouled and hit the free throw and just like that, Toronto had the momentum and trailed by only a point. They still had to get a big Lowry shot (off a DeRozan pass) and two more DeRozan free throw makes, but Ibaka gave them a chance.
DeRozan had talked earlier in the day about wishing he and his teammates had played this style against Milwaukee in the playoffs. It would have been a far easier series. No doubt. DeRozan went 1-for-12 from three against the Bucks in last year’s first round, collected only one more assist than turnover and didn’t look anywhere near as comfortable. He did manage a couple of solid games in that series, but nothing like what he came up with on Monday night.
The Raptors had to dig deep again in overtime and managed to do it, mostly because of DeRozan and Lowry, but Fred VanVleet had one of his most impactful stretches as a Raptor there too.