Raptors beat the Wizards in OT after blowing a big lead.
 | Amir Johnson, PF 38 MIN | 6-10 FG | 4-6 FT | 6 REB | 3 AST | 1 STL | 3 BLK | 2 TO | 17 PTS | +4 +/-Years from now when people YouTube “Amir Johnson Highlights”, his third quarter tonight should show up as the top search result. A sky hook, blocked shot, mid-range jumper, help defense, and a skip in his step that we’d all like to see a lot more of. Huge block on Wall late as well in a situation where you’d have given him no chance, and then followed it up with another help D block on Nene. Lovely. |  |
 | Jonas Valanciunas, C 17 MIN | 3-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 3 BLK | 0 TO | 6 PTS | -17 +/-Couldn’t quite handle Nene, who’s bulkier and quicker, making this a tough proposition for him. Got frustrated after calls didn’t go his way, and when he picked up his fourth on a bad call in the third, I thought his night was basically done but Casey surprised everyone by bringing him back in the fourth. Then he got burned again and fouled out. |  |
 | Kyle Lowry, PG 42 MIN | 8-15 FG | 6-8 FT | 3 REB | 3 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 23 PTS | -1 +/-Tried to stay in front of Wall, couldn’t. Almost all his jumpers came from the left side of the floor from the elbow range. Cut open the Wizards defense frequently by driving to the heart of the paint and kicking it out. He may not have all the assists, but that initial push let to swing sequences and hockey assists that had the Raptors build up that 20 point lead. Unlike some recent outings, his offensive decisions got smarter as the game got older. |  |
 | Greivis Vasquez, PG 27 MIN | 4-8 FG | 1-1 FT | 2 REB | 4 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 12 PTS | +2 +/-If you have any idea what his approach on defense is, do let me know because I don’t have a clue. On the bright side, his three is going in and he’s serving as a nice release valve on DeRozan drives. His passing is a lot crisper of late and he’s taking less YOLO shots, so it’s forward momentum overall. |  |
 | DeMar DeRozan, SG 43 MIN | 5-16 FG | 5-9 FT | 10 REB | 7 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 3 TO | 15 PTS | -3 +/-Aah. Poor shooting, but if you like yourself a guy who’s trying to be a complete basketball player, you’re looking at one right. It’s like watching a star being born, not a basketball star, but like an actual star doing Supernova or whatever the f**k a star does. He’s now able to plan out who he wants to pick out before he even makes his drive, which is the next step in a player’s evolution (I think). Hit some big shots against Pierce in the fourth when it looked like the Raptors were about to crumble, and got to the FT line early in OT to establish that early edge. |  |
 | Tyler Hansbrough, PF 14 MIN | 2-4 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 4 PTS | +13 +/-I was making a Frozen jigsaw puzzle with my daughter today, and was losing my mind as she stumbled her way trying to attach a snowman’s leg to a reindeer’s face, but we got through it. It was frustrating, I almost raised my voice a couple times, but at the end of it we had a nice puzzle completed despite my blood pressure being a lot higher. Watching Hansbrough is a lot like that, except there’s no completed puzzle at the end. |  |
 | Patrick Patterson, PF 37 MIN | 5-7 FG | 3-4 FT | 6 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 16 PTS | +7 +/-A for effort again. Just overmatched on the boards. He made his usual threes, but mixed it up by using his dribble a lot with drives against the slower Nene, and was used with Amir on the floor a lot, especially after Valanciunas’ foul-riddled night. He’s a very versatile player but is still a “system guy”, and right now he’s simply playing his role in Dwane Casey’s system, and part of that role right now is guarding centers. And part of it is blocking Nene at the rim with the game on the line. His quickness on D was also a big factor tonight as he slid into driving lanes very well, often forcing a pass out. | |
 | Terrence Ross, SF 18 MIN | 3-6 FG | 1-1 FT | 2 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 8 PTS | +2 +/-Tried to stay in front of Wall, couldn’t. Sprinkled in some offense in the first half when the Raptors were hot. Other than that, I can’t really remember much. Oh, and Casey doesn’t trust his defense at all. |  |
 | Louis Williams, SG 29 MIN | 8-16 FG | 1-1 FT | 1 REB | 5 AST | 3 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 19 PTS | +13 +/-Tried to stay in front of Wall, couldn’t. I thought he waited way too late to play off of Wall and force him to use his jumper. Wall got a lot of drives that were the result of the Raptors playing him too tight. Offensively, hit in the first half, miss in the second. Took some very questionable shots in the second half which brought Washington back in the game, but made two huge shots while trapped and the clock running down. Casey’s play-call to win the game was basically the same as his end-of-quarter plays – clearout and let Lou Will do his thang, horrible. Had a great look for a layup, missed. He’s getting a lower grade tonight for not showing enough discipline when we were up 20. | |
 | Dwane Casey We have so little structure in our sets that I’m inclined to think the effectiveness of our offense is due to Casey being completely hands-off, which is either genius or madness. Asking Patterson to guard Pierce on the perimeter might be deemed as unfair, but hey, it worked so can’t complain. Was surprised to see no Chuck Hayes against the Washington bigs, even more so given how the Raptors were getting killed on the boards. Again, we won, so nobody will remember. How that last play in regulation doesn’t go to DeRozan is beyond me. Also, this idea of starting with a bench unit to start the fourth is backfiring of late. I feel one of Lowry or DeRozan should play every minute of the fourth. |  |
Five Things We Saw
- The Raptors out-offensed the Wizards for a win here, and without DeRozan they lose this. He is the pillar the team has come to rely on in their time of need, and his survey of the floor an decision-making has improved leaps and bound from the early part of even this season. He’s playing very responsible basketball, and making plays you expect veteran All-Star shooting guards to make. I realize that’s high praise, but in the context of his post-injury play, I’m short of superlatives.
- You just knew the Raptors were going to blow the lead, they were 11-18 from three at the half and were up by 15. You just knew that wasn’t going to last and Wall was going to come at a Raptors defense which had played OT before. In a weird sort of way, this win is made more impressive by winning closely in OT than in a blowout.
- The Wizards got back in this game because of the break. The Wizards had 27 fastbreak points to the Raptors’ 3. John Wall was just too fast in transition and setup way too many threes. And the Raptors only had 13 turnovers, which makes that 27-point number all the more impressive.
- This was a November-style game for the Raptors, lots of forced turnovers, kept their own low, and relied a lot on one-on-one offense.
- Big props to Patterson and Johnson for stepping up against frontline most wouldn’t give them a chance against, that too playing 4 in 5 nights against a team that’s been resting since Wednesday. Raps have won 6 straight. BOOM!
