 | Toronto | 109 | Final Box Score | 79 | Orlando |  |
 C | P. Siakam28 MIN, 6 PTS, 7 REB, 0 AST, 2-4 FG, 0-1 3FG, 2-2 FT, 4 BLK, 2 TO, 16 +/- Rough night for Pascal, who continues to look like a misfit with the starting lineup. Had some nice blocked shots, with 3 in the first 5 minutes, but also got in early foul trouble. Looked good in garbage time with the 905 guys, though. | |
 B- | D. Carroll21 MIN, 8 PTS, 3 REB, 0 AST, 3-4 FG, 0-1 3FG, 2-5 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 8 +/- Carroll had a quiet 21 minutes tonight, and looked a little lead-footed on defense. But so did everyone else in the first half, and he wasn’t really given many opportunities to do much else. Was better in the second half. | |
 A | J. Valanciunas26 MIN, 16 PTS, 13 REB, 0 AST, 8-15 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, 16 +/- Early on in the first quarter, it looked like tonight was going to end with us talking about whether the Raptors should’ve tried to keep Bismack and moved JV during the summer. After the first quarter ended, however, we saw why they stuck with the Lithuanian who put up a double-double in the second quarter alone, and the Magic simply couldn’t contest with his big body in the post on the boards. | |
 A | D. DeRozan30 MIN, 31 PTS, 5 REB, 4 AST, 13-21 FG, 1-3 3FG, 4-4 FT, 0 BLK, 3 TO, 14 +/- DeRozan was about the only one rolling in the first quarter, and he dominated the ball to a massive degree during that frame, dribbling out many possessions before calling his own number. Came out passing after that, and created some nice shots for others while still putting up an impressive line to get his own points, and even played some better defense in the second half, after a rough first half on that end. | |
 A | K. Lowry35 MIN, 16 PTS, 3 REB, 10 AST, 3-9 FG, 2-7 3FG, 8-8 FT, 0 BLK, 4 TO, 24 +/- Came out a bit quiet tonight, but Jodie Meeks woke him up when he delivered a forearm midway through the second quarter, in the moment that seemed to wake up the entire team. Wasn’t the shooting night we’ve seen from Lowry lately, but he still played a very, very good game. | |
 B+ | F. VanVleet23 MIN, 4 PTS, 2 REB, 4 AST, 2-5 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 19 +/- With Cory Joseph sitting the night out, Van Vleet got his minutes tonight with the second unit, and he looked solid. Had trouble guarding Elfrid Payton, who was able to shoot over him, but otherwise had some nice possessions both scoring and setting up others, including throwing a huge alley-oop pass to Bebe. | |
 B | T. Ross23 MIN, 11 PTS, 2 REB, 0 AST, 4-13 FG, 3-8 3FG, 0-0 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, 25 +/- Ross struggled with his shot tonight, going just 4-13 from the field, but it felt like he was more impactful than that, and going +25 in 23 minutes would indicate that. I really love watching him and Norm play together, and we got some of those minutes in the fourth quarter. Continues to be aggressive and work hard, even when the shot doesn’t fall. | |
 A+ | P. Patterson20 MIN, 3 PTS, 4 REB, 1 AST, 1-4 FG, 1-3 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 14 +/- Patterson’s line won’t blow anyone out of the water, but it seemed like him coming out with the starters after half-time(for the third game in a row) was the catalyst that spurred the Raptors’ second half run, when they outscored Orlando 29-13 in the third quarter. Seems like he should just be the starter, which we’ve all said at this point. | |
 B+ | L. Nogueira17 MIN, 6 PTS, 5 REB, 1 AST, 3-4 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, 17 +/- Bebe was largely relegated to garbage time tonight, with JV playing the entire second quarter, and he played well out there with the young guys. Doesn’t appear often in my notes, but the stat line is efficient as we’ve come to expect. | |
 A | N. Powell8 MIN, 8 PTS, 1 REB, 0 AST, 4-6 FG, 0-2 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 3 +/- Norm is in this weird place where he’s way, way too good for garbage time minutes, but because DeMar, Carroll and Ross are all playing well, it’s also hard for him to get regular minutes. Sort of expected him to get CoJo’s run with Joseph sitting out tonight, but Casey went with Van Vleet there instead. | |
 B | J. Poeltl5 MIN, 0 PTS, 2 REB, 0 AST, 0-1 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-2 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -3 +/- Only played garbage time, and didn’t really do much tonight. Continues to be active and engaged when he’s asked to be out there though. | |
 B | B. Caboclo4 MIN, 0 PTS, 0 REB, 0 AST, 0-1 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -3 +/- Made it on the floor because of the blowout, missed his only shot, an open corner three, and wasn’t really notable aside from that. | |
 B+ | Dwane Casey Casey gets a B+ for putting Patterson out there to start the second half, but I can’t go higher than that because we still aren’t seeing him starting, despite the difference he’s made in those third quarters lately. Aside from that, he made the correct adjustments after a bad first quarter. | |
Things We Saw
- Looked like Bismack Biyombo had the Raptors’ number in the first quarter, but he wasn’t terribly effective after the first frame. Struggled for the Raptors last year against bigger elite big men, and JV showed that he’s in that company after the first 12 minutes.
- Really, really bad defensive first half from Toronto. No one was moving their feet, guys weren’t helping, and there was a lack of rebounding effort. They fixed it tonight, but those stretches are discouraging.
- Orlando isn’t a good team. Frank Vogel has to be really frustrated with the effort he got from his players tonight, and must miss having a Paul George to rely on.
