Malachi Flynn was arguably the most impactful Raptors player during Toronto’s win over the Indiana Pacers on Nov. 22.
Flynn came up in a big way and gave the Raptors a much needed spark from off the bench. He led all bench scorers with 14 points on 6-8 shooting and 2-4 from deep.
While many Raptors fans wanted Pascal Siakam who scored a game-high 36 points to get the ‘win the day’ chain, Flynn ended up getting it for the first time this season.
Flynn winning the chain in this spot was well deserved:
Malachi Flynn gets the chain after Pacers win
📸: IG/DennisSchroder pic.twitter.com/nWrPvyPDCC
— Yahoo Sports Canada (@YahooCASports) November 23, 2023
Darko Rajakovic recently explained what the ‘win the day’ chain is and who it goes to. He said that the chain doesn’t necessarily go to the best player and that he wants to use it to acknowledge special contributions to the Raptors culture.
If that’s the case then Flynn winning the chain makes perfect sense. The Raptors needed their bench to produce on the second night of a back-to-back and they couldn’t afford to have another dud as they did in Orlando. The Raptors bench got outscored 56-32 against the Magic. Therefore, Toronto needed a much better showing from their second unit in Indiana.
Gary Trent Jr. who continues to struggle had 8 points on 2-5 shooting. He also missed two critical free throws late which almost cost the Raptors this game. Chris Boucher had a quiet night with 6 points on 1-3 shooting and Otto Porter Jr. chipped in with one three-pointer made.
If Flynn didn’t step up and make up for the missing production on the bench the Raptors would not have won this game. He steadily gave the Raptors good stretches on his way to a very productive 20 minutes of work.
Flynn continues to find himself under Rajakovic
Flynn has never had a distinguished role in his NBA career as the one he finds himself in.
Darko Rajakovic believed in Flynn since day 1 and gave him this backup point guard spot. While there’s been some rough patches for Flynn so far this season, it’s games like this that prove that he’s come a long way.
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