Fan Duel Toronto Raptors

Raptors Strip Away The Charlotte Letter; Boogie Team No More

The Toronto Raptors beat their boogie team, the Charlotte Hornets, and we take you on a visual journey on how they did it.

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Box Score – Hornets 94, Raptors 104 | Quick Reaction

Take the win and run with it, I say. Doesn’t matter how we got it, we got it. The Hornets are a sticky team who don’t go away, and remind me of getting a piece of tape stuck on your finger which when you try to pull it off, just gets stuck on another finger and next thing you know, half your day is gone and you got tears rolling down your face.

They didn’t have Jeremy Lin or Al Jefferson, but saw the return of the Nicolas Batum, who seems to have grown six inches since Wednesday. Seriously, the guy is lanky, as in lanky good, not lanky like this jerk. Good thing we got DeMar DeRozan in our corner because he was his usual fire self from mid-range in the first half, I mean when you’re hitting shots like these with the defense all up in you, you can’t really pick at much:

He was 7-11 at the half for 19 points but went 0-7 in the second half. We had other things going on in the second so ended up not needing him.

Despite DeRozan’s hot start, the Hornets weren’t going anywhere, and it was thanks to Frank Kaminsky who caused a mismatch for whoever we threw at him. He was too quick for Jonas Valanciunas, too nimble for Bismack Biyombo, and just too sly for Patrick Patterson, as can be seen in the video below where he sells Patterson a bag of ice in winter:

While DeRozan was doing his thing, Cory Joseph was going 3-4 in the first half by driving with his head down and forcing his way to the bucket for a shot, or doing the old U-turn at the hoop to launch a step-back.  It went in so I’m not complaining, but I do have my reservations on how he’s approaching the game.  He’s down a full assist in December, which is a number you expect to go the other way given he’s becoming more familiar with his teammates, but maybe injury to key players is having an effect here.

The Raptors were only up two at the half despite shooting 50% to the Hornets’ 43%, and that can be explained by the Hornets having more offensive rebounds, 11-5. Cody Zeller was battling Jonas Valanciunas hard all evening, and it took a toll on the Raptors big who seemed frustrated.  The Hornets were also crashing the glass more aggressively, especially Kemba Walker against Kyle Lowry, and Jeremy Lamb against Terrence Ross.  Ross got into foul trouble early and Casey got James Johnson in there, who did have one nice cut which led to a hoop, but the Hornets were daring him to shoot and he wanted no part of it.  Ended up getting benched with a line he’d like to forget.

In the third quarter, the Hornets started with a bang via Kemba Walker, and Valanciunas missed a few bunnies near the rim which led to more teeth-pulling and a 6-point Hornets lead early in the second half. Timeout Toronto. More layups were missed by Valanciunas until Kyle Lowry, showing a sign of leadership, dumped the ball back into the Lithuanian who turned to get a key And1 which sparked a 9-2 Raptors run which tied the game:

The Hornets started running their offense through Batum a lot more, with Kemba Walker at the off-guard, and this caused some decisions for Casey, who had DeMar DeRozan checking Batum without any success. Kaminksy continued to be an issue with Patterson being hit-and-miss on defense, and the Hornets surged to a 7-point lead at the end of the fourth. However, a positive trend was emerging for the Raptors: they controlled the glass +7 in the third and had 12 second-chance points while the Hornets had none.

Cue the fourth quarter and we got one physical game on our hands with Tyler Hansbrough and Biyombo going at it big time:

Here’s another play where the two went at it, and this physicality set the backdrop for the fourth quarter, which saw Lowry start and DeRozan stay on the bench. We were trading blows until Kyle Lowry had the vision to find DeMarre Carroll up top for a key three, followed by the former Hawk collecting an offensive rebound for a game-tying hoop:

Pure hustle on that offensive rebound.

The crowd was in it, the Hornets were on the ropes, and TJ Ross, having had a sub-par game up until that point, stepped in with a couple big shots including this one:

At this point, you thought the Raptors might pull away from it, but that’s until Marvin Williams came out of nowhere to knock down two threes, both on Patterson, the second one being presented below – I get falling asleep on the first one, but the second one too, Pat?

Game tied. Before I go any further, let me say that Patterson was 4-6 from three in this game and though his two misses were absolutely horrible, he hit a few big shots at key points in the game to make sure the Hornets didn’t pull away too far ahead, and helped claw back a couple leads, including early in the fourth quarter (bonus Twitter exchange):

Now to the main event, and with DeRozan struggling, it was Kyle Lowry who took it upon himself to make some key plays – first a big three which broke the deadlock and started the 10-0 run the Raptors ended the game on:

I was kind of shocked they left him open for that one even if he was 1-6 from three at that point. This guy is a big shot maker and I’d go over any screen with the game tied.

By this time, Dwane Casey had regained consciousness and had DeMarre Carroll guarding Nicolas Batum, who looked out-of-sorts with the predatory Carroll all over him, forcing the Hornets into a bad shot:

There was a moment of controversy which the official two-minute report will comment on. Kemba Walker drove and met Bismack Biyombo in a two-possession game, and there was contact:

This is one of those “yeah there’s contact but he’s also vertical and Walker’s the one barging into him”, so I’ll leave it at that. The Hornets did get another chance in a two-possession game, but Carroll made himself big and Lowry anticipated the pass to seal the deal with a steal:

So, there you have it guys. The Raptors beat the Hornets in an entertaining game which had an ebb and flow like any Raptors-Hornets matchup deserve. It’s a win over a boogie team and pulls the Raptors to second in the East, two games behind Cleveland. I can speak for us all when I say:

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