![]() | Toronto | 119 | Final Box Score | 109 | Brooklyn | ![]() |
![]() A+ | L. Nogueira7 MIN, 3 PTS, 2 REB, 0 AST, 1-2 FG, 1-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 3 +/- We at Raptors Republic give Lucas Nogueira an A+ tonight, because it’s the right thing to do. He hit a three and grabbed a couple rebounds in seven minutes before getting his face taken off by Trevor Booker. He’s undergone the NBA’s concussion protocol, and we hope he’s ok. | ||||||||
![]() A | D. Carroll26 MIN, 9 PTS, 3 REB, 1 AST, 3-8 FG, 3-4 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 2 +/- Carroll has been showing up to play lately. His stroke looks good, as does his defense.
| ||||||||
![]() C | J. Valanciunas29 MIN, 7 PTS, 10 REB, 0 AST, 3-7 FG, 0-0 3FG, 1-2 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, 1 +/- He fell under Brook Lopez’s family tree tonight, getting pushed around on both ends of the floor. On some defensive possessions, he held his own and and played good vertical defense, and still couldn’t stop the crafty Lopez from getting buckets down-low. On other possessions, he bit on everything and got torched. Offensively, he didn’t really go at Lopez until the third quarter where he scored a couple buckets down low. He Needed to attack Lopez earlier and more often. | ||||||||
![]() A+ | C. Joseph37 MIN, 33 PTS, 4 REB, 4 AST, 15-22 FG, 1-4 3FG, 2-2 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 16 +/- It was the best offensive night of his career. I’m not saying he was Kyle Lowry, but he certainly was the best version of Cory Joseph we’ve seen in a long, long time. Nice to see his dribble penetration and slick finishing at the rim can still create havoc. The offense really struggled when Joseph was off the floor.
| ||||||||
![]() A | D. DeRozan37 MIN, 36 PTS, 11 REB, 6 AST, 13-28 FG, 0-0 3FG, 10-10 FT, 0 BLK, 3 TO, 5 +/- Couldn’t actually believe he scored 36 when I looked at the box score. Getting to the line 10+ times helped. His scoring improved as the game progressed – this all after a really cold start where he stagnated the offense and had a team-worst +/- of -11 at half time. Small sample size alert: When Kyle Lowry doesn’t play, DeRozan feels like he needs to become Kobe. | ||||||||
![]() B+ | T. Ross30 MIN, 15 PTS, 4 REB, 2 AST, 6-11 FG, 3-7 3FG, 0-0 FT, 2 BLK, 1 TO, 2 +/- Good contributor off the bench in a game the Raptors desperately needed some scoring. I also enjoyed his versatile scoring. Pull-up threes, points off the bounce, floaters – he was smooth.
| ||||||||
![]() B+ | F. VanVleet25 MIN, 10 PTS, 4 REB, 2 AST, 4-6 FG, 2-3 3FG, 0-2 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 4 +/- Hey – this kid can really play! After starting the game with some jitters, he really helped the team by spreading the floor on offense and playing solid defense. | ||||||||
![]() D | N. Powell18 MIN, 0 PTS, 2 REB, 2 AST, 0-2 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -2 +/- This is not the Normal Powell that lit up the NBA in last year’s playoffs. He had a shocking turnover, and just lacked confidence all night. | ||||||||
![]() A | P. Siakam15 MIN, 4 PTS, 2 REB, 0 AST, 2-5 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 3 BLK, 0 TO, 14 +/- He came in the 2nd half to take advantage of Bebe and Patterson’s absence, and immediately lit up the arena with his outrageous energy. I really liked his defense on the perimeter too – an aspect of his game I feel is underrated.
| ||||||||
![]() B- | J. Poeltl15 MIN, 2 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST, 1-1 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 1 BLK, 1 TO, 5 +/- Subtle night. Didn’t woo us with anything, but he stood his ground well on defense. | ||||||||
![]() B+ | Dwane Casey His rotations were fun tonight, namely the efficient VanVleet, Joseph, Ross, Powell, and JV lineup which he rode with more than once. Not much to nitpick here. Don’t think anyone on earth would disagree with resting Lowry. |
Things We Saw
- The Raptors got off to a scorching 11-0 start. Those 11 points consisted of a Bebe three, an impossible DeRozan And-1, and some really beautiful ball movement leading to open looks.
After that, this looked like a Drew League game. Things got sloppy. The Raptors — outside of Joseph, and to an extent Carroll and Ross — couldn’t score, and the Nets outscored the Raptors by 10 to end the half.
This is not necessarily a complaint, but just a recap of how it unfolded. Without Bebe, Patterson, and Lowry, the Raptors can be excused if they left it late to pull away.
- Some interesting numbers: We know the Nets are known for their gung-ho 3-point attempts, but tonight they pulled the trigger just 28 times from deep, which is below their average. A lot of their early damage came inside, where they ran the floor, looked for transition buckets, and fed Lopez inside.