 | Dallas | 78 | Final Box Score | 100 | Toronto |  |
 A | N. Powell31 MIN, 19 PTS, 5 REB, 3 AST, 0 STL, 6-8 FG, 2-4 3FG, 5-5 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 10 +/- Really good night from Norm. On the season he’s got a 58.1% true shooting mark at home coming into tonight compared to 51.7% on the road. Definitely more comfortable in the ACC, and he showed it tonight with some brilliant stretches of play. What the team needs from him with Lowry and Carroll out. | ||||||||
 B- | S. Ibaka32 MIN, 0 PTS, 9 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 0-4 FG, 0-3 3FG, 0-0 FT, 2 BLK, 2 TO, 18 +/- Hard to nitpick when things go this well for the Raptors, especially after the last few games have been rough, but on a different night, the Raptors will definitely need more from Serge offensively. Missed the shots he had, and wasn’t the assertive player we’ve seen since his arrival on that end of the court. Still, he was good defensively and +18 is nice. | ||||||||
 A+ | J. Valanciunas23 MIN, 14 PTS, 12 REB, 2 AST, 0 STL, 5-11 FG, 0-0 3FG, 4-5 FT, 1 BLK, 1 TO, 1 +/- JV took over early in the first quarter, and dominated the matchup against Dirk off the bat. In the second half, he used the additional attention he was getting to make some fantastic passes out to find shooters. Even if a good number of the shots were missed, still was good to see his willingness to pass. All around great game from the big man. | ||||||||
 B+ | C. Joseph26 MIN, 9 PTS, 1 REB, 4 AST, 0 STL, 4-10 FG, 1-4 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 13 +/- Cory didn’t put up impressive numbers, but played well enough. Long term, not sure that him taking 4 3s in a game is advisable, but it didn’t hurt the team tonight and he was a part of the big third quarter run, so you take what you get. | ||||||||
 A+ | D. DeRozan32 MIN, 25 PTS, 6 REB, 2 AST, 2 STL, 10-17 FG, 1-2 3FG, 4-4 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, 18 +/- DeMar absolutely took over the game in the third quarter, during which he looked completely unguardable and drove the game out of reach for the Mavericks. Had it all working for him tonight, with midrange jumpers, drives, and a three off a nice pass from JV. Also, kept it to just 32 minutes, which is a positive. | ||||||||
 A | F. VanVleet22 MIN, 5 PTS, 2 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 2-6 FG, 1-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, 9 +/- Fred had a quiet night on the score sheet, but played some good ball and looked like a nice fit out there next to Delon Wright tonight. | ||||||||
 A | P. Patterson21 MIN, 11 PTS, 7 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 4-6 FG, 3-5 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 16 +/- Pat woke up! After a rough stretch of games, it felt great to see him hit some 3s and have a generally good night. The Raptors will need the Patterson of November and December in the playoffs, and that guy showed up tonight for the first time in a while. | ||||||||
 A+ | D. Wright20 MIN, 11 PTS, 4 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, 4-8 FG, 1-3 3FG, 2-2 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, 13 +/- Delon is an impressive young player. He sees the game really well, and just takes what’s there for him. Had a beautiful blocked shot to go with his offensive output, and had a visible impact all over the court when he was out there. | ||||||||
 B | P. Tucker13 MIN, 2 PTS, 4 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 1-6 FG, 0-3 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 3 +/- Not a good shooting night for PJ, and he saw his minutes dip a bit with Delon, Norm and FVV playing well, but he continues to bring an appreciable toughness to the game for Toronto. | ||||||||
 B+ | J. Poeltl12 MIN, 4 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST, 2 STL, 1-1 FG, 0-0 3FG, 2-2 FT, 1 BLK, 3 TO, 7 +/- Jakob seems to have completely taken what minutes at center aren’t being used by JV and Ibaka, and made solid use of them once again tonight. He doesn’t seem to often get the benefit of the whistle, but plays hard despite that and made some smart plays tonight as expected. | ||||||||
 B | L. Nogueira4 MIN, 0 PTS, 2 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 0-0 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, 1 +/- Four minutes of garbage time, had a blocked shot but otherwise didn’t really do much of note. Good to see the garbage time happen! | ||||||||
 B | P. Siakam3 MIN, 0 PTS, 1 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 0-1 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 1 +/- Pascal should yet become a rotation player in this league, but for now garbage time is going to be the extent of his minutes. Didn’t do anything remarkable while he was out there. | ||||||||
 A | Dwane Casey Stuck with the bench units while they were rolling, and used JV well in the second half where the big man made the correct read to pass out. Had the Raptors working hard on defense, which is what they’ve needed lately. | ||||||||
Things We Saw
- Dallas isn’t a very good team, and this was apparent tonight. Their offense wasn’t executing well and left a lot of opportunities for the Raptors to take over, which they did, to their credit. With the injuries Toronto has, you have to win these games.
- DeMar had a spectacular driving dunk during his third quarter outburst. Doesn’t show the athleticism that drove his game during earlier parts of his career as often, but every once in a while he breaks one of these out and it’s always fun.
- Two days off after this one, but with a back-to-back Thursday and Friday and Atlanta looming just a game behind in the standings(maybe more, if they lose to San Antonio tonight), it’s good for the Raps to deal with this one and do it early to keep the minutes down for the starters.
