Photo by MattAzevedo.com
Raptors 905 (20-7) def. Westchester Knicks (12-14); 111-99 | Box Score
Assignees: Delon Wright, Bruno Caboclo (905), Marshall Plumlee, Maurice Ndour (Knicks)
BRUNO CABOCLO HAS CORNROWS. Does anything else matter?
I mean, just look at him in all his wondrous glory. Soak it in, folks, Bruno’s gonna be alright.
In other game related news, the Raptors 905 eased to a 111-99 victory over the Westchester Knicks. They are now 10-0 on the road, and extended their D-League record to 16 straight road wins dating back to last season.
Will Sheehey had himself a night, scoring every which way en route to 19 points and led the 905 from start to finish. Delon Wright looked really good for the second game in a row, playing 21 minutes and mixing his advantage of size and quickness to perfection against the smaller Knicks guards.
That the 905 had all 10 players that saw first quarter action score was a clear indicator of how cohesive a unit they’ve been over the course of this win streak. They rode that ball movement to get clean looks and keep the Knicks defence on their heels all night.
The first two buckets came on pretty plays by the 905. First, Sheehey threw down the hammer on Marshall Plumlee, and E.J. Singler followed that up by coasting in for a layup courtesy of a nice slow motion euro step drive from the right baseline.
It was the Brady Heslip show after that.
Heslip knocked down 4-of-5 first half three-point attempts, before finishing with five for the game and extending his league-lead for most three-pointers made. He finished the game with 17 points, although he did only hit 1-of-6 from downtown in the second half. The Knicks play-by-play announcer suggested that 905 fans could make like baseball fans and mark down threes in the stands for Heslip in the same way that baseball fans track strikeouts at the game, and I’m all for it.
Will that be you, tomorrow?
Damien Inglis and Maurice Ndour combined for 19 first-quarter points to keep the Knicks within nine after one. The 905 had no answer for Ndour, who impressed with his range and athleticism to finish the game with 22 points.
The Knicks opened the third quarter on an 8-0 run, before E.J Singler stemmed the tide with a couple of nice drives to the rim and a pull-up three on a push off a steal by Will Sheehey.
John Jordan gave the 905 some nice minutes in the third quarter, playing stellar defence while maintaining the teams flow offensively. Heslip and Wright saw a lot of court time together in the fourth quarter, leaving Wright to take the bigger guard. He didn’t really impact the game with his scoring after that, but more than made up for it with efficient ball distribution.
The 905 maintained their safe margin for the entire fourth quarter and with no player even hitting the 30-minute mark, expect plenty of freshness tomorrow.
What did Bruno do besides the hair? He knocked down three triples, including a contested banker in the first quarter. The man can do no wrong with the rows.
Notes:
- ICYMI, the 905 traded Jarrod Uthoff to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in exchange for Christian Watford and a third-round pick. You can read the full scoop here.
- CJ Leslie was an X-Factor for the 905 on the inside tonight, finishing with ease at the rim for 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting.
- It was a quiet night for Axel Toupane tonight, but with everyone else finding ways to chip in, it went largely unnoticed.
- Former NBAer Von Wafer looked good for his 18 points, in just 24 minutes of action.
- The 905 will take on the Delaware 87ers at 7:30p.m. EST tomorrow.
- If you want to go to tomorrow’s game – or any game – you can go to this link and use the promo code REPUBLIC905 all season long, as the 905 are hooking RR readers up with discounted tickets (including for the Air Canada Centre game in March).
