Quick Reaction: Raptors 123, Lakers 114

In a season that’s had a lot of bad games and a few really good ones for Sr Swag Daddy, this one fell firmly in the former category. He couldn’t handle Nick Young – who can, right? – and he was mostly a non-factor everywhere else. Especially on a night like this, he needs to be helping on the glass, or somewhere. Tough one.

One of the better games you can put together with just three points in 31 minutes. Yeah, he was still a small minus and maybe shouldn’t have come back in late, but he gave the Raptors some huge minutes and some great defensive intensity on a night they really needed it, especially in the first half. His shot-blocks are among the most fun things about this team right now.

Let’s try to be reasonable here, tough though that may be getting lately. This was his first time getting fourth-quarter run in a few games, and he came back in after Nogueira-Poeltl had settled things. Naturally, the Lakers went on a 12-2 run (part of a larger 20-5 run), and Valanciunas definitely wasn’t great during that run, which is going to stick out in the memory for many. Prior to that point, though, he was mostly solid, making good use of his touches and winning his battle opposite Mozgov.

There were the usual handful of shots that seemed like bad ones – and they sometimes were – and it would have been nice for some more offensive balance. A counter: The Lakers couldn’t stop DeRozan, the Raptors weren’t playing many guys who looked capable of getting theirs tonight, and his FG% doesn’t do his offensive night justice (this was 31 points on 32 possessions used, which isn’t bad given the volume). It’s sometimes hard to separate DeRozan’s volume from the team needing him to shoot so much, anyway.

I’m pretty sure he mouthed “I’m a bad mother***er, boy” after his three-and-one in the fourth, and I don’t have much more to add than that. He is, indeed, a bad mother***er, boy. The number of times a night he makes me shake my head, yell in my apartment, or fire off an #NBAVote for those sweet, sweet free RTs grows by the day. Not only did he have 20 points in the fourth, he had a defensive position that led to a late-game shot-clock violation late, grabbed an offensive rebound leading to a Ross three right after, and I could go on. Bad. Mother.

Was a big part of the pull-away run and generally handled the second unit well. Was a nice bounce-back game for him defensively, too, though none of the Raptors were all that great with a 118.6 D-Rating against the Lakers.

Some timely shot-making in the fourth was huge, and he made a clear effort to get back on the defensive glass, something precious few Raptors did. Quiet until the fourth for the most part, but he was huge in the highest-leverage part of the game.

The rebounding issue is persisting, and it’s getting tougher to hang it all on circumstance. SOME of it is guys not picking him up when he helps, today he played further from the rim, and so on, But it’s a third empty rebounding night in a row, and it’s taking away from some of the other great stuff (screens, passing on the dive, rim protection) he’s bringing, just because it’s such a big weakness for the team right now.

He was a plus-15 in nine minutes, all of them with Nogueira. That he could come in and play the four that seamlessly, even if there wasn’t a clear four/five definition, is huge. He had a smart cut on offense for a dunk, got to the line, used the principle of voeltlcality well on a drive, and he mostly played mistake-free. Getting that kind of a stretch out of a rusty rookie is huge.

Look, Patterson being hurt is definitely a path to playing time for Powell, but the Raptors were getting killed on the glass and they wanted size over speed. That’s fine, but man, Powell makes a case for more and more time every time he touches the floor. A pair of steals, one leading to a nice transition dunk at home, stand out.

I have a tough time hanging things on a coach, rotation-wise, when he’s adapting to one of his most important players being out. It’s going to take time, and Casey continues to be very aggressive in trying new things and getting outside of his comfort zone. For that, he deserves credit. Ditto for having guys ready after long lay-offs or in bigger minutes (I’d imagine Poeltl’s layoff and conditioning are why he went away from him at the end there, because going to Siakam-Valanciunas in a low-spacing lineup was tough to justify otherwise). Three turnovers immediately out of timeouts is a bad look, too, but hey, it’s new year’s day for everyone I guess. And let’s maybe get those Lowry minutes down where possible.