 | Amir Johnson, PF 33 MIN | 6-9 FG | 0-0 FT | 8 REB | 2 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 13 PTS | +2 Forget that silly outside shot and go back to doing what you do best which is living near the rim as a garbage man, running pick ‘n rolls, and fighting for the offensive glass. Not sure why he wasn’t checking Horford more often when the guy was on fire. All in all, a disappointing defensive game from someone you come to expect a lot more on both ends. Offensively, whenever was close to the paint and feeding off his PGs, he did well which begs the question why that’s not exclusively what he focuses on. |  |
 | Rudy Gay, SF 32 MIN | 6-23 FG | 2-4 FT | 5 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 2 BLK | 2 TO | 14 PTS | -17 Total black hole. Started off going a little inside but when things got tough, went back outside and started missing from all angles. Worst of all, when his game isn’t “on” (which essentially means he’s hitting his jumpers), he does zero in terms of making his teammates better. At least look to create once in a while dude. Key moment was when he missed his 22nd shot with the Raptors down only 6 with the ball late on. |  |
 | Jonas Valanciunas, C 18 MIN | 2-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 2 BLK | 1 TO | 4 PTS | -10 I guess he gets a pass on account of being young, but let it be noted that his defensive work against Horford was shoddy at best. I realize the latter is an All-Star, but size and mobility alone should buy you some defense. He started by making one great offensive move and disappeared shortly after. Let it also be written somewhere that there’s zero effort being made on getting him involved in the game from a coaching perspective. |  |
 | Kyle Lowry, PG 34 MIN | 5-7 FG | 3-6 FT | 3 REB | 4 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 4 TO | 16 PTS | -19 Poor ball distribution against Teague who bothered him with his length. Missed two key FTs late on and the serving grace was the timely three-point shooting and some good stretches in the second quarter. |  |
 | DeMar DeRozan, SG 37 MIN | 14-23 FG | 1-2 FT | 4 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 31 PTS | -10 Displayed the full arsenal of offensive moves today against the ilk of Carroll and Korver, and singlehandedly kept the Raptors within fighting distance in the third and fourth quarter. Without him this games ends in a 30-point blowout. His night was soured by a turnover with under one minute left with the Raptors down 6. Left Korver too open in the first half. |  |
 | Tyler Hansbrough, PF 20 MIN | 1-3 FG | 2-2 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 4 PTS | -3 Could not get around Horford or Millsap effectively and was rendered void on the defensive end. At one point he was posting up someone and lost the ball on the dribble which should speak to Casey’s offense. | |
 | Landry Fields, SF 23 MIN | 2-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 9 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 4 PTS | +12 Fair game from Fields – produced effectively and did everything well. Unfortunately, he’s not a difference-maker. |  |
 | Austin Daye, SF 8 MIN | 1-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | -14 He is not n NBA player. Did not do what he’s hired for and that’s hit threes, they were of the open variety too. |  |
 | Dwight Buycks, PG 6 MIN | 1-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 3 PTS | +4 Cameo in fourth, hit a three. |  |
 | D.J. Augustin, PG 12 MIN | 2-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 4 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 4 PTS | +8 Good game and produced well in limited minutes. Had some nice drive-and-kicks, did well to score on the drive and held his own defensively. I thought he deserved more run. | |
 | Julyan Stone, SG 4 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | -2 Remains to be seen if he’s an NBA player. | |
 | Terrence Ross, SG 13 MIN | 0-1 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 0 PTS | +14 Clearly, Casey doesn’t like playing him because with Gay struggling you might’ve thought he’d get some run, but all he mustered was 13 minutes of ineffective ball. The guy is playing with zero confidence and when he does get a chance to play, he further loses that confidence. | |
 | Dwane Casey No offensive plan whatsoever. Tons of one-on-one play, timeout calls that came too late (seriously, got to be down 18 before you call TO?), didn’t even bother running proper out of bounds plays late in the game. Total failure on offense and the only saving grace was as substitution of Augustin/Bucyks which yielded some positive results in the fourth. | |
Five Things We Saw
- Casey waited till down 18 in the third to call a timeout. Overall, he was not in tune with the game. At one point he put out a lineup of Hansbrough at the C which seemed totally unplanned.
- Kyle Korver was 5-8 from three, and was continually left open by the Raptors’ guards despite ATL doing nothing special to get him going. It hurt us in the first half.
- I’m not sure any offense has been discussed in training camp because 75% of the plays run today started off with essentially one-on-one moves using a random screen. If it weren’t for DeRozan, this would’ve gotten ugly.
- There’s a 31-14 discrepancy in foul shots because the Raptors abandoned their early pursuit of the rim. The second half was all jumpers, all the time. The first wasn’t exactly terrible since the Raptors did attack the rim consistently, and the only reason we were down 10 was a late spurt from the Hawks. The second half was brutal to watch.
- The expiriment of having Jonas Valanciunas guard their best post-player backfired – I thought Casey could’ve switched Johnson on him, or even Acy’s agility might’ve helped.
