Ja’Kobe Walter didn’t hesitate.
After making three early triples to begin Sunday’s game against the Houston Rockets, the Toronto Raptors' rookie suddenly found big man Alperen Sengun defending him.
Sengun was forced to make a decision: play up against the red-hot shooter and risk a drive with little rim protection, or back off and take his chances with the jump shot.
Sengun chose wrong. Walter drained the deep three-pointer.
“We’ve just been harping on being more aggressive, so that’s the mentality I came here with,” Walter said. “They were sagging off and everybody wants me to shoot the ball, so that’s what I did.”
Walter finished the night with a career-high 27 points, but the Raptors (7-22) fell 114-110 to the Rockets (19-9), their seventh consecutive loss.
However, as the Raptors’ losses pile up, they will likely lean on small victories such as Walter’s career night — which included the 20-year-old scoring the team’s first 14 points.
“I didn’t even realize until I came out,” Walter said. “It was crazy.”
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Walter entered the league known for his shooting ability, but has struggled in the early going. He entered Sunday’s game connecting on just 22 per cent of his three-pointers and was 36 per cent overall from the field.
Still, the Kansas product said the Raptors have continued to encourage him to be more aggressive.
“They know what I’m capable of doing. They’ve seen the film. So just stay aggressive but always just kind of have that mentality that I’m a dog, go at people and hunt for shots,” Walter said.
Toronto head coach Darko Rajakovic praised Walter’s night and said inconsistency is typical of young players.
“That’s the reality of young guys, they’re going to have games like this, they’re going to have ups and downs and all of those, good and bad. They are great learning opportunities for them,” Rajakovic said.
Walter, who was selected 19th overall in June’s draft — with one of the picks the Raptors acquired in last season’s Pascal Siakam trade — got a late start to his rookie campaign after a shoulder injury in the lead-up to training camp left him sidelined to start the season.
He finally made his NBA debut on Nov. 1 against the Los Angeles Lakers, but aggravated the injury five days later and missed three more weeks.
“Coming back, I didn’t know what to expect. I’d just been watching since training camp. But now that I’m getting into game, I’ve kinda just realized, ‘Oh, it’s just basketball,'" Walter said.
On Sunday, he was part of the Raptors’ second-youngest lineup of all time — bested only by the same fivesome including Scottie Barnes, Ochai Agbaji, Gradey Dick and Jonathan Mogbo that started Thursday, when they were three days younger.
The Raptors’ youth was on display Sunday as a 16-point second-quarter lead slowly turned into yet another heartbreaking defeat.
And while Walter’s offensive game was sharp, he fouled out with just under three minutes remaining and was met at the bench by veteran Garrett Temple.
“He was just telling me … know what position I’m in right now, know I got five fouls, don’t even put myself in that position. … So just having Garrett tell me that, all through the game he’s giving me tidbits, so (I) appreciate him,” Walter said.
As it turned out, the Raptors could have used Walter. A late rally handed the Raptors the ball down 113-110 with 22 seconds remaining, a moment that was practically begging for the hot-handed rookie.
Instead, Walter had to watch from the bench — a rare low on a night of highs.
VANVLEET RETURNS
Former Raptor Fred VanVleet, a member of the 2019 championship team, was recognized by the team during a break in the second quarter.
The point guard struggled in his return to Toronto as he was held scoreless until a last-minute layup. He finished with two points, eight rebounds and five assists.
“This place is a special place for me, and I always think about what it means to me and my family, but I never think about what I mean to other people until I get here. So that's always just a blessing and something I never take for granted,” VanVleet said.
BARNES, BARRETT BANGED UP
Like VanVleet, Raptors star Scottie Barnes struggled for much of the night. He missed his first eight shots before finally converting on a third-quarter layup and finished 2-for-15 from the field (0-8 on three-pointers) for six points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
“As you can see, he’s not being himself. He’s banged up, he got hit in his hip the last game, his ankle, and there’s been a couple of things bothering him. He’s still not himself,” Rajakovic said.
Canadian R.J. Barrett, meanwhile, missed his second consecutive game with an illness.
“He came here. He went through walk-through with us and pre-game and he was doing his shooting toward the end of his workout, he just threw up. He did not feel well. So it was literally a last-moment decision to keep him out,” Rajakovic said.
