Quick Reaction: Toronto Raptors 113 Washington Wizards 103
Toronto 113 Final Recap | Box Score 103 Washington D. Carroll 22 MIN | 2-7 FG | 1-5 3FG | 2-4 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 2 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 7 PTS | -10 +/-He didn’t contribute very much offensively and missed 4 of his 5 good…
D. Carroll22 MIN | 2-7 FG | 1-5 3FG | 2-4 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 2 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 7 PTS | -10 +/-He didn’t contribute very much offensively and missed 4 of his 5 good looks from 3. Defense was subpar and he was a -10 on the night. The Raptors really need more from Carroll on defense every night consistently. He says he is mostly healthy, but hopefully there is another level we have not seen yet. I am more than fine with Powell taking away some of his minutes like we saw tonight.
P. Siakam18 MIN | 2-4 FG | 0-0 3FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 4 PTS | -6 +/-I always like the energy he brings to the table. He doesn’t try to do too much and he plays within himself. He is not an overwhelmingly good player, but considering these circumstances he is in, he has done a nice job filling in at the starting 4 slot. He also surpassed Bruno Caboclo for career minutes tonight.
J. Valanciunas31 MIN | 4-6 FG | 0-0 3FG | 2-2 FT | 7 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 10 PTS | +2 +/-There is something about playing in Washington and facing Marcin Gortat that seems to bring out the worst in Valanciunas. Wall and Gortat’s pick and roll constantly exposed Valanciunas’ slow rotating ability tonight and it is something the Wizards exploited all game long. Valanciunas has to be better than this.
K. Lowry36 MIN | 7-13 FG | 3-6 3FG | 1-2 FT | 1 REB | 2 AST | 4 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 18 PTS | +4 +/-Lowry had a quiet stat line, but I really don’t think the number reflect his impact. First of all, many players in the NBA wouldn’t rush back from an injury in the first week of November, and most NBA players wouldn’t promptly play basically every minute for the rest of the game. Kudos to Lowry for that. He played good defense on Wall, had 4 steals, and though he was sloppy on the offensive end at times, he still hit some big 3 pointers and had a big impact on this game.
D. DeRozan37 MIN | 14-23 FG | 1-2 3FG | 11-16 FT | 5 REB | 5 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 40 PTS | +10 +/-Derozan simply played unbelievably. I’ll admit I’m not the biggest Derozan fan, but the guy we have seen to start this season really reminds me of Kobe Bryant in his prime. Sorry to be a homer here, but he is playing extremely good basketball right now and tonight was arguably his best game of the year, as he added in 5 assists and even a 3 pointer! Great game from Demar.
P. Patterson30 MIN | 4-9 FG | 2-6 3FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 10 PTS | +16 +/-Sure, he missed a few frustrating 3s, but they are high percentage shots. Patterson played great defense, and his value is hard to quantify at times. He is a very important player for this team, and his contributions on both ends were massive tonight.
T. Ross18 MIN | 6-8 FG | 2-3 3FG | 1-1 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 15 PTS | +9 +/-Ross didn’t play much in this game, but it felt like he played more. He scored 15 points and he was really a spark off the bench in the first quarter after the slow start. Despite his 10 early points, he didn’t decide to start taking dumb shots the rest of the game. Great game from Ross and his impact was very big on this one.
J. Poeltl17 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0-0 3FG | 0-0 FT | 5 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 0 PTS | +8 +/-17 minutes and not a single field goal attempt, but his impact on the defensive end was nice. He had a great block on Otto Porter, though it felt like that was the only thing that stopped Otto tonight. Poeltl is not exciting and doesn’t generate the hype of many of the top 10 picks, but he has fit in the rotation nicely so far and is a good guy to help contribute now.
C. Joseph17 MIN | 2-4 FG | 0-1 3FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 3 AST | 3 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 4 PTS | -1 +/-Joseph was quiet tonight, and at times, he was getting blown by too easily by John Wall in the first quarter when he subbed in for Lowry. Joseph had 3 steals in the game and a couple of field goals, but otherwise a quiet night for Joseph.
N. Powell15 MIN | 2-3 FG | 1-2 3FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 4 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 5 PTS | +18 +/-I thought Powell played a great game tonight and was rewarded with some big crunch time minutes. He did a little bit of everything and he was a +15 in 15 minutes. Some well earned minutes for Norm, and hopefully this will lead to some more in the coming games.
Dwane CaseyI think Casey had a solid coaching night, and his motto of Derozan and Lowry being our guys paid off tonight. Derozan had a great night and carried the team, but the Raptors made some good second half adjustments on Wall and forced him into a lot of ill advised passes and turnovers. I am happy he played Norm in the final minutes of this one.
Five Things We Saw
One thing we didn’t see were fans in the seats. Not a great crowd tonight in Washington to witness a really good basketball game.
Terrence Ross had a huge dunk. They don’t happen often, so when they do, make sure to watch it on loop. In all seriousness, he played a really good game and it’s a shame we don’t see this Ross more often.
Demar Derozan is looking like a max player so far this year. It’s easy to say I am overreacting to November basketball, but if he was playing like he did in the playoffs last year, I am sure these games would be taken a lot more seriously. Kobe 2.0 right now.
Tonight we saw that the Raptors really miss Bismack Biyombo in some ways. Valanciunas was getting abused in the pick and roll all game, and his offensive contributions were very quiet. Even if he scored 25 points, the defensive rotations are a big issue. Poeltl has been okay, but if this team is serious about winning, they will need better rim protection than they’ve gotten.
Overall, a great come from behind win. Lots of heart shown in the game to come back from a slow start, and a lot of role players contributed well. Demar was the MVP, but a great team win on a night where Washington was having their way offensively and still lost by double digits in their home opener
