Quick Reaction: Raptors 97, Bulls 104

Didn’t have his greatest defensive showing but was exactly what the Raptors have come to rely on him to be on offense, starting out hot and getting weird buckets when the offense stalls and they need to dump it inside.

Still finding his feel on the offensive end but he did a great job on Butler, who has become just as good a scorer as DeRozan. Butler was held to five points and Carroll gets major credit for that.

The rebounds are nice but he defended Gasol poorly and was his usual non-factor on offense. The fact that he only grabbed one offensive rebound and didn’t make a bucket obviously hurt, but they’re tolerable when the defense is sharp, which it wasn’t.

He and DeRozan carried the team, and Lowry clearly wanted this one, sprinting and diving and bouncing all over the place. The Raptors were plus-12 in his 40 minutes and -19 in the eight minutes he sat, which is a problem but speaks to how important he is most nights. This loss isn’t on him in the slightest.

Thought he responded really well to heavy attention from an elite perimeter defender, even if he did come a point shy of making it 10-straight 20-point outings. He really picked his spots to attack and focused on distributing for teammates. He would have had 10-plus assists if Ross and Patterson were even remotely on.

He and Casey need to figure out what and where his role will be now, and I think there’s still a role for him. It shouldn’t be as the second creator on bench-heavy units, though, because that’s too much pressure and invites his bad habits to show.

Attacking good closeouts on tough looks is one thing. Attacking even the weakest closeout on open threes because you don’t have confidence in your shot is another. Taking 13 shots in 22 minutes if yet another. I thought he’s played better than he’s gotten credit for during his shooting slump, but this was awful. Portis owned him a few times on the block, too.

Less discouraged by him than Patterson and Joseph. He was still getting decent looks and making mostly good decisions, and while he had his usual lapses on defense, he also made a few plays. I remain cautiously optimistic.

About as good as you could hope for his first game in nearly six weeks. Some nice post defense against Gasol, a few blocks from navigating the pick-and-roll well, and someone bit on his pump-fake, so you know he’s back.

This was his worst game of the season, easily. Usually when his offense isn’t there, his always-steady defense props his overall play up. He did not play well on either end Monday, and his defense was the worst I’ve ever seen it.

The bench-heavy units have to be a thing of the past. He needs to better stagger Lowry & DeRozan to prop those groups up, and he may need to ultimately do the Patterson-Scola swap, tonight’s performances aside. I have trouble giving him the blame for the team shooting so poorly on what appeared to be mostly good looks.