Quick Reaction: Raptors 92, Hawks 93 – Third Apology From NBA Coming Right Up

Poor shooting game, partially caused by Josh Smith leaving him acres of space to shoot, and him succumbing to the temptation. The defensive effort was solid and what you don’t see in the 14 rebounds is the amount of boxing out the guy was doing while saddled with three fouls. Smith is a great defensive player so the low offensive output was to be expected. Kept getting matched up with Kyle Korver for some reason.

Raptors started running PnR’s with him early but forgot about him after the first. I would’ve continued to use him as an offensive piece, as Atlanta was cheating off him quite frequently. Clearly, both Johnson and him were cognizant of Davis’ absence on the glass and worked hard to make up for it. Kept getting matched up with Kyle Korver for some reason, and at the end when he chose to come out to defend him on a curl, left Horford wide open for a dunk. Defensive breakdown. Not entirely his fault, better communication was in order.

Must feel like the villain in all of this, what with poor Jose being shipped out. Started off well, got a couple nice steals which led to points, but labored in his running off the offense, especially when it came to finding DeRozan at the right time coming off those screens. Missed a few cuts from his big men, but hey, at least he showed some signs of life as starting point. Had three turnovers, I recall all of them being silly.

Man, this guy gets game-planned! Atlanta was sending some sort of help on practically every possession DeRozan caught the ball in a remotely threatening area. Overall, had a measured offensive game where he read the defense well and exploited it as best he could. Unfortunately, his loose dribble got the better of him on that final play. Got clearly fouled after collecting the offensive rebound, expect another apology from the NBA. Kept getting matched up with Kyle Korver for some reason.

Big time three late in the fourth, but with him starting and shooting 3-12, it’s a small miracle we’re even in this. He perceives himself to be a scoring punch, which he can conceivably be in small stretches, it’s just when he tries to dribble through two guys, pull-up and launch a step-back, is when he gets in trouble. Tried to be a hero when he hoisted up a difficult three instead of reading the shot clock which had plenty of time to setup a better, non Hail Mary attempt. Kept getting matched up with Kyle Korver for some reason, and also got burned by the man when he unnecessary doubled Horford in the post with the Raptors up three, late.

Came in and threw a put-back jam. With the Raptors doing alright on the glass, Casey wasn’t going to bring him on for his offense so his time was limited.

He made a jumper! Like an actual jumper. He came off a screen, caught the ball, saw the rim, launched a shot, and here’s the kicker: The. Shot. Went. In! Sweet baby Jesus!

Tied for team-high FGAs with DeRozan. He didn’t appear too distraught at the trade in his halftime interview and why should he be? This man’s about to get minutes and minutes is what this guy lives on – 19 points and 2 assists for our PG who played the shoot-first, shoot-second, shoot-third, and maybe-pass-fourth PG tonight! Good game, though, son, you kind of kept us in it. He wasn’t even too bad defensively.

Stinker. Sometimes when the jumper ain’t going in, nothing’s right and this was one of those nights. Couldn’t take advantage of Jenkins, and it didn’t help that his PGs weren’t too interested in him, leaving him on his own to get his shots, which he’s just not good at yet.

His team attacked the zone well. He gave a Lucas a long leash and it paid off, saw that Fields was off and limited his minutes, and rightfully extended Gray’s playing time to avoid getting killed in the paint. Not bad, gave us a chance to win it.