.grade {background: #315233; padding: 10px; border: 3px solid #977252; color: white; font-size:35px; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;
margin-top: 5px}
 | Toronto | 82 | Final Box Score | 110 | San Antonio |  |
 D | P. Siakam26 MIN, 2 PTS, 2 REB, 0 AST, 1-4 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, -17 +/- The slow starts are attributed a lot to the poor defensive play of Siakam. This would have definitely been a game where Patrick Patterson started playing with 8 minutes left in the first, and we wouldn’t see much of Siakam for the rest of the game. | |
 C | D. Carroll19 MIN, 10 PTS, 5 REB, 0 AST, 3-7 FG, 1-3 3FG, 3-4 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -20 +/- Nothing really spectacular out of Carroll tonight, only played 18 minutes. | |
 F | J. Valanciunas22 MIN, 2 PTS, 6 REB, 0 AST, 1-5 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -20 +/- Was a major liability tonight, as Valanciunas continues to struggle on both ends of the floor. Really hate to say it, but this is some of the worst play we have ever seen out of him. | |
 D | K. Lowry29 MIN, 6 PTS, 4 REB, 2 AST, 2-9 FG, 0-7 3FG, 2-2 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -30 +/- This was a really off night for Lowry. Not only was his shot not falling, but he also struggled defensively against Tony Parker. | |
 A | D. DeRozan32 MIN, 26 PTS, 4 REB, 2 AST, 12-21 FG, 0-0 3FG, 2-3 FT, 0 BLK, 3 TO, -30 +/- DeRozan was one of the only Raptors to find the bottom of the bucket consistently all game, finishing with 26 points on 12-21 shooting. He struggled defensively against both Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard, but not going to fault him too much as he was carrying the offensive load. | |
 B- | J. Poeltl26 MIN, 4 PTS, 9 REB, 0 AST, 1-4 FG, 0-0 3FG, 2-4 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, -8 +/- Was the best option guarding Aldridge tonight, was impressive on the glass pulling down 9 rebounds. With Patterson out due to injury, Poeltl has been really stepping up as a nice front court option against bigger lineups. Nothing jaw dropping offensively, but the effort on defense was encouraging. | |
 B- | T. Ross25 MIN, 17 PTS, 5 REB, 0 AST, 7-11 FG, 2-4 3FG, 1-2 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -4 +/- Was one of the only bright spots off the bench tonight, was active on the glass, and aggressive offensively early on in the game when nothing was dropping for the Raps. | |
 D | C. Joseph24 MIN, 11 PTS, 3 REB, 3 AST, 3-11 FG, 1-2 3FG, 4-5 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 2 +/- Cory struggles to scores efficiently, shooting 3/11 from the floor tonight. Cory hasn’t had the most productive road trip scoring, and this game he got a ton of good looks to turn that around and failed. | |
 D | L. Nogueira22 MIN, 0 PTS, 3 REB, 0 AST, 0-5 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 3 BLK, 1 TO, -11 +/- We learned tonight Nogueira is not a three point shooter. He made some mistakes defensively, and made up for some of those blunders with some nice blocks, was a complete non-factor on offensive. | |
 C | N. Powell8 MIN, 2 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST, 0-4 FG, 0-1 3FG, 2-2 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 4 +/- Got some run in the fourth quarter when the game was far from over. Nothing impactful really in garbage time. Continues to shoot poorly from the field, who wasn’t though? | |
 C | F. VanVleet5 MIN, 2 PTS, 0 REB, 0 AST, 1-2 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -4 +/- Played a little less than 5 minutes in the fourth. Had a steal, scored a point, that’s about it. | |
 C | B. Caboclo3 MIN, 0 PTS, 0 REB, 0 AST, 0-0 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -2 +/- Congrats to Bruno Caboclo for playing in his 20th career NBA game! | |
 C | Dwane Casey When close to an entire roster struggles like it did tonight, it’s hard to judge the coach. | |
Things We Saw
- Slow starts continue to plague the Raptors. The Spurs are an elite team, and completely dissected the poor defensive effort mixed with the Raptors poor shooting in the first quarter. It was mentioned on the broadcast that the first quarters was eerily similar to the start seen against the Warriors recently, while this one wasn’t as bad, it left the Raptors clawing back from a big lead.
- This was the least inspiring Raptors performance this year. The Spurs are a really good team, and playing in AT&T Center isn’t easy, but this was just ugly from start to finish. At least in a blowout like this the backcourt of Lowry and DeRozan could rest in the fourth quarter (looking for any positives)
- The loss of Patrick Patterson is very apparent in these last couple of games. Defensively the whole team struggles, and the Raptors front court depth isn’t very deep when JV is struggling like he is.
- The World Cup of Hockey must end..
Follow – @Spenred
