Lowry goes down, Jazz fight back but Derozan says “Hold on, we’re going home”.
 | Amir Johnson, PF Shot Chart 29 MIN | 5-12 FG | 1-3 FT | 11 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 2 BLK | 0 TO | 11 PTS | +21Struggled to guard Marvin Williams on the perimeter, but he made up for it by snagging enough boards and scoring enough points (including a key putback in the fourth) to nudge himself into the positive column. The outside pick-and-pops are becoming a problem. Huge blocks on back-to-back possessions late in the fourth to seal the victory. |  | |||||||
 | Terrence Ross, SF Shot Chart 23 MIN | 2-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 5 PTS | +5Jumper wasn’t falling, defense wasn’t on point. Lost his minutes to John Salmons and rightfully so. Burks and Hayward gave him trouble. I’d peg it to nothing more than just sophomore inconsistency, but it was not a good night for Trey Rosay |  | |||||||
 | Jonas Valanciunas, C Shot Chart 32 MIN | 8-14 FG | 2-2 FT | 9 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 18 PTS | +19Destroyed Kanter and Gobert in the post time and time again. The team fed him the ball early, and he dominated with his patented “drive to the middle + hook shot”, and finished a nice pick-and-roll with Salmons. His length hindered Kanter on defense. Great game overall. |  | |||||||
 | Kyle Lowry, PG Shot Chart 25 MIN | 1-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 3 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 2 PTS | -4Went down with a knee injury in the third quarter. I didn’t catch an inciting incident, but obviously this is horrible news. We’ll keep you posted. Shot wasn’t falling while he was in the game. I’ll chalk this one up to injury and keep it at incomplete. Fingers crossed! |  | |||||||
 | DeMar DeRozan, SG Shot Chart 37 MIN | 7-15 FG | 7-7 FT | 4 REB | 4 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 23 PTS | +30With Lowry out, Mr. Fourth Quarter took over once again and helped the Raptors stretch the lead to 10 poiints lead with a mid-range jumper and a corner three. He was calm, collected and confident. His defense on Burks was negligent, but he made up for it on offense. Did a great job creating for his teammates as well. Really positive signs from Demar tonight. | | |||||||
 | Patrick Patterson, PF Shot Chart 19 MIN | 2-7 FG | 2-2 FT | 4 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 6 PTS | -6Boxscore line isn’t very impressive, but the Raptors would have lost this game had it not been for 2Pat’s energy and ball-movement. On one play in the fourth, Patterson found Salmons wide open on the perimeter for three, grabbed the offensive rebound on the miss, kicked it out, re-posted, drew the double, kicked it out to Salmons for another open three and it went in. His energy carried the team through a brief fourth-quarter lull. |  | |||||||
 | Chuck Hayes, PF Shot Chart 16 MIN | 2-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 4 PTS | -4Solid in the post against Gobert (who is 8 inches taller than Hayes) in the second, but didn’t do much else. He has one role during the game — shut down post-scorers — and with Jonas handling Kanter, his presence wasn’t needed. |  | |||||||
 | John Salmons, SF Shot Chart 32 MIN | 5-9 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 4 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 13 PTS | +5Provided play-making and shot-making off the bench. He got open and spotted up from deep when his teammates found him. Solid ball-handling as always. It’s weird that the Raptors fortunes in tight games often rides on the back of Salmons, but he tends to show up when he’s needed. | | |||||||
 | Greivis Vasquez, PG Shot Chart 27 MIN | 5-9 FG | 2-2 FT | 3 REB | 4 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 12 PTS | +9Held the fort while Lowry was out. His teardrop was on for once and he didn’t turn the ball over. It’s sad that our expectations for Vasquez have dropped so low, but this ranks as a good performance. Let’s just hope Lowry isn’t out for long. |  | |||||||
 | Dwane Casey Made the right adjustments when he needed to. After the Jazz cut the Raptors lead down to three mid-way through the fourth, he subbed in Derozan and it paid off. Smart move on his part to force-feed Jonas in the post early on, and he resisted the temptation to dip into the miscellaneous bag of poop on the bench (didn’t play Novak or Stone). | | |||||||
Four Things We Saw
- Marvin Williams started at the four and the Raptors had no answer for him. His first-step was too quick for either Amir or Patterson. With the Raptors refusing to go small to match, Williams made hay on the Raps, pouring in 23 points. Smart move by Casey to not budge, but it would be nice if one of our bigs could be at full-health to combat these small lineups.
- Raptors got the short-end of the stick with the officials once again. On one key stretch in the fourth, Burks smacked Derozan across the face/neck and there was no call. The play resulted in a turnover and on the ensuing Jazz possession, Williams barreled into Jonas who was going straight up (verticality) and he got two free throws. Not cool, guys. Direct your venom towards: Ken Mauer, Curtis Blair, and Tre Maddox
- Alec Burks can play. He’s quick, he’s athletic, he can handle the ball and it looked like he could shoot. If I were Masai Ujiri, I’d try to pry him on the cheap.
- For the first time in two seasons, Jonas legitimately looked dominant in the post. Perhaps it was simply because of the fact that Gobert and Kanter are minus defenders, but Jonas just had his way with them time-and-time again. Valanciunas’ development in the post has not always followed a linear trajectory, but he showed real promise tonight.
- UPDATE: Looks like Lowry is fine. He says he’s just sore and he’ll play next game against Sacramento (per Josh Lewenberg of TSN)
