It should never have been that close.
Toronto has us feeling some kind of way after that nail-biter. Jarrett Jack revenge game, Brook Lopez back from the dead … Man, I hate the Nets. On to the grades!
Amir Johnson, PF 35 MIN | 10-11 FG | 4-4 FT | 7 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 24 PTS | +16 +/- Loved everything from him tonight. Amir’s soft touch around the basket is also a welcome sight. His play has been a huge factor in Toronto’s return to form and tonight’s another example of that. | |||||||||
Jonas Valanciunas, C 33 MIN | 7-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 11 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 2 BLK | 0 TO | 14 PTS | +12 +/- JV is rounding into form lately. He exposed a frontcourt with questionable talent and had a couple of nice blocks. Seven touches isn’t enough, but that isn’t his fault. | |||||||||
Kyle Lowry, PG 44 MIN | 4-17 FG | 1-2 FT | 6 REB | 8 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 10 PTS | +15 +/- He tried to do way too much tonight. Poor shot selection (fadeaways out of post-ups early in the shot clock) and defensive gambles are becoming the norm and the Raptors need him to cut that out. Lowry struggled to contain dribble penetration too, and Jarrett Jack had his way. | |||||||||
Greivis Vasquez, PG 24 MIN | 3-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 7 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 8 PTS | +2 +/- Toronto has been burned on the perimeter recently and Vasquez is responsible for that. He is a pylon out there and Jack burned him time-after-time. The rebounding was nice, but he killed Toronto defensively and Casey has to address the deficiency. He deserved the benching. | |||||||||
DeMar DeRozan, SG 41 MIN | 9-17 FG | 8-9 FT | 4 REB | 9 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 26 PTS | +9 +/- DD was simply dealing tonight. Getting into the lane at will, finding open shooters and clicking in rotations, DeRozan showed off his full development. What a performance down the stretch. His shot selection hurt Toronto but his dime to Amir at the end of the fourth was clutch. Those and-ones in the fourth and OT, though. Damn! | |||||||||
Tyler Hansbrough, PF 6 MIN | 0-0 FG | 3-4 FT | 0 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 3 PTS | -6 +/- Did his job tonight, mixed things up in the paint. All you need from Psycho T! | |||||||||
Patrick Patterson, PF 32 MIN | 6-13 FG | 0-0 FT | 5 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 12 PTS | -12 +/- Toronto got outrebounded tonight and Patterson only had three boards in 27 minutes.Then overtime happened. 2Pat grabbed some key rebounds and pushed the Raptors into a win. | |||||||||
Terrence Ross, SF 20 MIN | 2-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 5 PTS | -7 +/- That blown lay-up in the third was embarrassing. I’m not going to put a ton of effort into this, because neither does Ross. | |||||||||
Louis Williams, SG 29 MIN | 6-12 FG | 10-11 FT | 4 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 25 PTS | -4 +/- His offence was great, getting to the line seven times in the second quarter. Lou fell apart down the stretch and gave up a critical offensive rebound when he neglected to box out Bogdanovic. | |||||||||
Dwane Casey A collapse like this is on the coach. JV hardly played in the fourth and OT even though the Nets crashing the glass and weren’t playing a stretch-four. When the team is faltering, change things up. Casey stayed the course and got lucky. | |||||||||
Two Things We Saw
- Matt and Jack were bordering on unbearable tonight. Homerism through the roof, the pair criticized a ton of calls, even going as far as saying “thank you” when the Raptors got a call.
- Raptors are now undefeated against the Atlantic. We are really out here.