Reaction: Raptors 95, T’Wolves 93

My only lasting memory of Johnson from this game is that he threw an alley-oop pass to Gay which hit the backboard. He also missed the final FT on purpose to let time run out.

He was firmly cementing his reputation as a volume shooter until the third quarter, which is when the jumper started to fall and he got a couple break opportunities to put things together. Kirilenko was bothering him for the first half of the game, and after Gay decided to do more than just dribble-and-shoot from the perimeter, it put Kirilenko on his heels and Gay’s height and high-release became a factor. The put Cunningham on him for some reason late and he did well to make the right offensive decisions.

Played Pekovic rather well all night. He did pick up some fouls which sent him to the bench but the overall positional defense was great and frustrated Pekovic throughout the night. His offense wasn’t quite as smooth as he was unable to execute in one-on-one situations of late, other than a key turnover.

Very unspectacular game where he was tuning in and out. However, at the end he didn’t let Rubio go off on him and in turn had a low-key productive game, albeit with some really ugly turnovers. Now that my opinion of him has been calibrated in context of the Raptors, it’s likely that he really is a backup in starters clothing.

Took the smaller Luke Ridnour into the post area and shot over him all night. It was good stuff all night long from him, even though he stayed mostly on the perimeter. They put Budinger and Kirilenko on him, with only the latter being able to deny him the ball. Of course, that meant Kirilenko wasn’t on Gay which worked out well.

Gave Rubio an elbow and walked away. I didn’t like the walk-away part. Pure hustle, this guy, which along with Valanciunas, make them the only two players that give 100% of shit 100% of time.

Further evidence tonight that he’s not useless, which is a long way from how he started the season. Still, grossly overpaid and a completely unnecessary signing given the outlook of the season, but maybe he can be of some use next year. Hey, the good news is that we didn’t sign Steve Nash, although God knows we tried.

Got in the game after Valanciunas got some fouls and Casey went searching for bigs to defend Pekovic. Did well, despite picking up a foul every couple minutes. He’s like Rasho, only not as good but more fun to watch.

Got the nod ahead of John Lucas tonight and nailed a three before being nailed to the bench.

Had a second quarter where he shot (and missed) on every other possession. To be fair, a couple were at the tail end of the shot-clock. To be completely fair, he’s probably a good guy to have on the team as a 10th man, but when he’s coming into the game in the second quarter, a part of me dies.

Had a nice dunk, shot a three, didn’t airball anything. Step up.

Came back to the place he got fired from to notch a W. Nice. Did well to insert Fields in the third quarter and to bench Anderson after the second. Good call on isolating DeRozan on the smaller Ridnour. Also made the right timeout decisions. Tried the 4-guard lineup at one point with Gay at the PF and got away with it.