Quick Reaction: Raptors 78, Hornets 113

Toronto

113

Charlotte

D	N. Powell26 MIN, 4 PTS, 4 REB, 0 AST, 2-9 FG, 0-4 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -26 +/- Norm has really been off lately. Both offensively, where he can’t seem to hit much of anything and seems to be playing too fast most of the time, and defensively where he just isn’t playing with the same energy we’ve come to expect.
C-	D. Carroll26 MIN, 2 PTS, 1 REB, 0 AST, 1-7 FG, 0-2 3FG, 0-0 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, -20 +/- One of many who couldn’t hit shots tonight, and struggled on defense. First game back from the neck injury, and maybe should’ve taken this one off too.
C+	J. Valanciunas25 MIN, 11 PTS, 6 REB, 1 AST, 5-8 FG, 0-0 3FG, 1-1 FT, 1 BLK, 2 TO, -10 +/- Hit his shots, struggled with keeping Charlotte off the boards, but wasn’t the worst player for Toronto tonight. Had a bizarre third-quarter sequence where he got a steal, went coast-to-coast for the and-1, and was immediately benched for the remainder of the quarter. I have no idea how it happened or why he was benched, but the benching clearly didn’t help the team.
C	K. Lowry34 MIN, 24 PTS, 1 REB, 3 AST, 7-18 FG, 3-10 3FG, 7-7 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -22 +/- Hasn’t looked like himself since the day off for rest, and Lowry wasn’t hitting shots tonight. Had one good stretch after taking an elbow to the face, then took a technical foul while sitting on the bench. The team needed more from him tonight.
C	D. DeRozan31 MIN, 23 PTS, 3 REB, 2 AST, 8-17 FG, 2-3 3FG, 5-6 FT, 0 BLK, 4 TO, -29 +/- DeRozan’s line looks much better than he was, and I’m being generous with the grade because the numbers are nice. Didn’t make an effort on defense, and frequently took the offense out of rhythm by dominating possessions. Some of the missed shots were really ugly. Wasn’t nearly as good as the numbers tonight.
D	T. Ross27 MIN, 5 PTS, 4 REB, 1 AST, 2-9 FG, 1-4 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -16 +/- Hit his first three-point attempt, and looked like he might have it tonight, then missed pretty much every attempt after that. Like every other wing on the team, didn’t show up on defense.
D	C. Joseph21 MIN, 2 PTS, 2 REB, 2 AST, 1-5 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, -13 +/- Didn’t really do much, and that’s not a positive. Missed what shots he did take, didn’t provide any energy for the team, and struggled when guarding Kemba.
D	P. Siakam19 MIN, 2 PTS, 4 REB, 1 AST, 1-2 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, -13 +/- Seems like Pascal just isn’t ready for the NBA minutes right now. He misses defensive rotations, and doesn’t bring much of anything to the table on offense. Did have a pretty block tonight.
C-	J. Sullinger17 MIN, 3 PTS, 2 REB, 0 AST, 1-5 FG, 1-4 3FG, 0-0 FT, 2 BLK, 1 TO, -11 +/- If Wednesday night was a sign of all the things we’d like Sullinger to bring to the table this season, tonight was all the rust from missing the first 3 months of the season. Badly missed shots, wasn’t active on the boards, and struggled defensively.
C	J. Poeltl9 MIN, 0 PTS, 4 REB, 0 AST, 0-0 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 1 BLK, 1 TO, -12 +/- Poeltl only really played in garbage time, and didn’t take a shot. Grabbed some rebounds, and once again piled up the fouls in short order.
C	F. VanVleet5 MIN, 2 PTS, 2 REB, 0 AST, 1-6 FG, 0-2 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -3 +/- Hard to say much, he missed a bunch of garbage time shots, but with the way everyone else played tonight, you can’t really pin the result on him in any way. Worked hard, as we’ve come to expect from him.
D-	Dwane Casey Patterson being out mucks up the rotation, and clearly Casey can’t be blamed for all the players who struggled. But the offense is stagnant, there isn’t much defensive effort lately, and benching JV after he had a great sequence didn’t make sense. He needs to find some answers.