Wow, last night was impressive. The Raptors beat the Charlotte Hornets 113-111 at the Spectrum Arena in Charlotte, in a see-saw battle that was a tale of two halves. With crazy backcourt performances from both teams, there were some elements of surprise, and some elements that we’ve just grown accustomed to (yeah, DeMar was just sick…again).
Tale of the First Half
The Raptors came out firing in the first quarter, fuelled by DeMar’s continued scoring assault on anyone in his path. He started right where left off in OKC, going 5/8 with 14 points in the first quarter. With slick fade-aways, up-and-unders, soft shots off the glass and the usual mid-range stroke, DeRozan was shredding the Hornets defense, making even their double-teams look silly. And that’s no joke, considering Charlotte was the second best defensive team in the league going into last night, in terms of efficiency. But with doses of rookie Treveon Graham playing defense on him, DeRozan salivated at his chances, and was not going to be denied.
The second quarter was more of the same from the Raptors as they staved off a Charlotte mini run to close the first quarter, as they started out hot – and this time it was the bench. Terrence Ross made himself a key contributor, along with Bebe Nogeuira who was impressive for the second consecutive game. Ross went 3/4 in the game for 8 points, while Nogeuira’s length and agility off the Lowry screen-and-roll allowed him to score an efficient 10 points along with 7 rebounds. Don’t look now, but it appears like Bebe’s reclaimed that backup Centre spot from Jakob Poeltl, who was a DNP-CD for the first time all year. The Raptors cruised into halftime with a 15 point lead, scoring nearly 60 points on a respectable defensive team, and doing so for the second straight game (OKC is fourth best in the league on defense).
Tale of the Second Half
The second half was a different story – one that created some stress for Raptors fans, but ultimately added to the signifance of the victory. Charlotte came out hot as point guard Kemba Walker caught fire, assisted by the strong play of Nicolas Batum (remember when the Batum for DeRozan swap was considered fair?), Marco Belinelli, Cody Zeller and Marvin Williams. The Hornets got hot from beyond the arc, and outscored the Raptors with a blistering 38-21 quarter that put them back in front by 2 heading into the fourth quarter. 38 points against any team is way too much, especially against a defensively capable team.
To make matters worse, the Raptors went cold initially to start the fourth quarter, and went on to see the Hornet lead grow to 8 by the 8 and a half minute mark. Kemba Walker was dancing all over the place, picking apart the Raptors defense in a Chris Paul like fashion, but with an aggressive scoring mentality. With his patended crafty dribbling, and increasingly effective outside stroke, Kemba offered up a season-high scoring display of 40 points on an efficient 12/19 from the field, including 50% from 3. There wasn’t much any of the Raptor point guards could do on defense, as Casey seemed to try both Lowry and Joseph on Walker throughout the game, but it was to no avail. The Hornets shot a crazy amount of 3’s (40), but made them with remarkable consistency. Charlotte had 17 made 3’s overall, with Kemba alone dropping in 7 of them.
With the Hornets’ confidence surging, the Raptors defense had to lock down, and they did just that at the 3 minute mark of the fourth quarter. Coming out of a timeout down 5 at 102-97, the Raps completely shut down the Hornets down the stretch going on a 10-0 run from that point, on 5/6 in the final few minutes to put the game out of reach. And save for a late Nicolas Batum 3, this thing was a done deal. Once again, the Raptors found a way – even against a red-hot Charlotte team playing on their home floor, with momentum late in the game, and with their start point guard leading the charge.
Not to be overlooked was the strong play of Kyle Lowry, who made timely baskets and filled up the stat sheet with 8 rebounds and 6 assists to go along with 19 points, including a big lay-up to put the Raptors up 3 late. Lowry was an impressive +11 during his time on the floor, and he looked really good running the pick-and-roll with Lucas Nogeuira who was, by no coincidence, a team-high +12 as well. Norm Powell chipped in with some clutch free throws and defense down the stretch with a late stop on a Nicolas Batum 3 with under a minute to go. Defensive plays were made when it mattered most, and the offense was just clicking as it has been all season. Sound familiar?
Similar to past years (but more so this year), we’ve seen that if the Lowry/DeRozan tandem is in full effect, and guys off the bench (particularly Patterson and Ross) contribute, this team can quite simply beat (or at least hang with) anyone. As a Raptors fan so accustomed to late game collapses just a few years ago, now it’s almost expected that the late game effort and execution will be there. And this time around, most of those nail-biters end up in Ws.
As for DeMar, he continues his all-time level hot streak to start a season, as he continues to be in the “first since Jordan” conversation. He’s now, for the first time since MJ in 86/87, gone for 30+ points in the first 7 of his team’s 8 games. Dare I say he’s been the league MVP of the early season thus far? Sure, I’ll say that. It’s been only 8 games, but if we give out MVP’s for single all-star games or series like the finals – heck, why not? He’s clearly been the MVP in the Raptors’ books.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXt4DjDVDNk
It’s back home for the Raptors tonight as they host the New York Knicks at the ACC, to kick-off the Atlantic division season match-up. Tip time is 7:30 pm.
