Quick Reaction: Raptors 115, Clippers 123

Siakam started off with incredible energy, but nothing to show for it. He had trouble protecting the rim early on from both Jordan and Griffin (and to be fair, who wouldn’t?). His length and wingspan is, and will continue to be an incredible asset – but tonight it just got him into foul trouble. He finished with 5 on the night, but at least it was due to overcorrecting instead of laziness.

A quick look at the boxscore and a B- may seem too high for JV, but Casey went completely away from the big man late in this one. It felt like Valanciunas never even touched the ball in the second half outside of a few rebounds. He had trouble closing out any of the Clippers’ shooters – most notably on Paul’s dagger at the end of the fourth, but the sea-saw battle between his importance on this team and his ability continues to wage on.

Perhaps the only true bright spot for the Raptors, and this game as a whole, was watching Lowry go to work. He took over in the fourth and refused to let the Raptors roll over when the game looked like it was getting out of hand. He took a few too many heat-check threes early in the clock, but it felt like the offense and KLOE were one in the same tonight. These games are important, and it’s tough to rest your stars on games against the Clippers, Warriors, and Cavs, but 42 minutes?! I’d rather a healthy Lowry lead the Raptors deep into the playoffs then a broken-down Lowry lead the league in minutes.

DeRozan was an incredible facilitator tonight (7 assists!) but reverted back to some ugly clock-stopping isolation plays when his early shots weren’t falling. He continues to be the Raptors’ worst defender on the floor, and finished with a team-worst -11 tonight. He looked incredibly pissed off all night, whether it was himself, at the Clippers, or with the refs (which both teams couldn’t stand) but it didn’t translate to healthy production on either end.

The Raptors finished with 11 turnovers tonight…and Powell had 3 of them. He started in a tough spot having not played the night before, but he looked seriously lost on offense. His drives were hesitant, and whenever he was forced to his left it was game over. He threw two brutal passes, with one landing at JV’s feet, but did create his usual havoc on defense. He also finished 2-5 from three which is a good sign. The minutes need to continue to come for his development, but in weird spot-starts like this it’s tough to gather consistency.

Don’t look now but PatPat went 3-6 from deep and may have been the Raptors’ best player on the floor outside of Lowry tonight. He continues to remain undersized as a rebounder and rim protector but still finds a way to get it done (two steals tonight). He played a whopping 36 minutes off the bench and finished 4-8 tonight from the floor, and was even 3-3 from the line. Please let this be the start of a hot streak for 2Pat.

Somehow, Terrence Ross was the Raptors’ only plus player tonight (+2 but he’ll take it). He didn’t do much outside of score, but anytime you pop off the bench and go 4-6 there’s not much room for complaint. I probably stand alone, in a corner, with a poster of Terry’s dunk champ moment, but I want to see even more touches for Terrence. He just looks GOOD this year, and has officially earned the benefit of the doubt from this writer.

Oh Bebe. It says he played 13 minutes tonight but I barely remember him on the floor. This is the Nogueira fans saw occasionally last year and wondered if he was even ready for the NBA. He was up against some of the best bigs in the league this year in his limited minutes, but looked woefully lost. Here’s hoping he’s still dealing with the emotions of having his own bebe just a few days ago, so he can get back to swatting James Harden all night Wednesday.

CoJo played well tonight despite a relatively quiet stat line. He’s had so much trouble scoring this year, especially at the rime as was the case again tonight, but at least he made it to the line and finished 6-8.

Casey rallied his troops on a tough end of a back to back, and even when the game felt out of reach he and Kyle brought them back from the depths. It’s really starting to feel like Casey is as much of this team as the core players around him, and as silly as that sounds, its important. He still needs to figure out where this JV relationship is going though.