The Raptors got the win over the Mavericks last night by dominating right out of the gate in the first quarter. They either held on or were slightly outplayed for pretty much the rest of the game, but they were able to hold on to the lead that they’d built early, in a complete narrative flip of pretty much every win they’ve had so far this season. It would have been nice to see a cover-to-cover deconstruction of the Mavs, but for the team to finally play a great 1st quarter and then hold on for the win on a night when they started shorthanded and lost James Johnson to a sprained ankle in warm-ups and Patrick Patterson shortly after the game started to the flu was victory enough.
The weight was carried largely by Toronto’s wing players, with DeRozan and Lowry accounting for well over half the team’s points on a combined 45 points and 11 assists. DeRozan continued to pick his shots much more efficiently, and while he didn’t shoot the lights out, Lowry’s shot looked sharper than it has of late. Lowry saved the game late by sprinting through four Maverick defenders in the final minute of play to narrowly avoid an eight second violation and then immediately find DeRozan for a layup that iced the game. Lowry’s poise in the final moments of the game were essential after a series of bad turnovers and decisions had opened the door to the Dallas bench unit that closed a 15 point gap to almost come back in the final minute.
Aside from Cory Joseph, who played well aside from a few bad mental lapse turnovers, the Raptors bench was essentially without merit and got outscored badly by their counterparts.
After fitting in surprisingly well earlier this month, Nogueira looked badly out of place in his brief time on the court. He was repeatedly getting in the way of driving lanes after trying to set drag screens. Bebe rolls well to the rim from the middle, but he crowds the lane, veering too directly to the rim when the ball handler starts or the defenders force the pick and roll from the side. There’s a reason why good defenses try to force everything to the side, but still, Bebe needs to have more awareness to allow room for the ball handler instead of bumping into or crowding his own teammate out of the play.
Delon Wright, getting a rare chance to play, had a couple of bright spot moments, but played with a deer in the headlights nervousness. Shortly after checking into the game he fled away from his defender with the ball all the way back to half, then tried to make a panic pass to Lowry that resulted in an embarrassing over and back violation. He had one nice pass to Biyombo for an open dunk, but otherwise looked unready in his seven minutes.
There was the rare Anthony Bennett sighting as well. If Bennett looked hesitant to shoot in previous opportunities, that certainly wasn’t the case last night. Bennett saw nothing but green lights in his head as he let the ball fly pretty much anytime he got the chance to touch it. He hit a corner three, but he also turned several developing possessions into quick misses, and Dirk got loose of him several times for wide open spot-up looks.
Biyombo was an absolute force with a career high 20 rebounds. At one point he missed two straight offensive rebound put back dunk attempts before slamming the floor in frustration, but hey, he also grabbed two consecutive offensive rebounds in traffic. He’s putting up a beast of an effort and playing very good defense. Biyombo has surely carved out a bigger role for himself in Valanciunas’ absence, but he also might be getting a little too comfortable, deciding to award himself with a couple of post-up attempts and jump shots that the Mavs let him have for good reason. Biyombo needs to be restricted to the old DeAndre Jordan rules of don’t shoot unless it’s a dunk. He really was great doing anything except shooting last night though.
It’s hard not to appreciate the sneaky old man style that Dirk is playing with. He’s leading the league in screens set, setting almost constant high screens and popping up top. Time and time again his defender left him wide open in an effort to help last night, feeling confident in their ability to close on him before he could put the ball on the floor. That makes a kind of sense, as Dirk isn’t lurching past anyone these days, but it ignores the fact that he’s one of the greatest shooters of all time, 7 feet tall and doesn’t mind jacking his rainbow arced shot over a closing defender. I don’t know how it is that Dirk still fools people into leaving him open, but the Raptors fell victim again and again.
All five Raptors starters played well, and played big minutes in carrying Toronto to a victory. Hopefully a couple of off days will see the return of Johnson, Patterson and maybe even Valanciunas and have the Raptors ready to play all 4 quarters the next time out.
