 | Toronto | 91 | Final Box Score | 96 | LA Clippers |  |
 B+ | S. Ibaka33 MIN, 17 PTS, 6 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 7-17 FG, 2-7 3FG, 1-2 FT, 3 BLK, 1 TO, -1 +/- One of two primary bright spots for most of the game, Ibaka is in a nice groove providing necessary secondary scoring right now, even if he’s shooting a bit too much (like when he missed an open Valanciunas under the basket moments after finding him on the exact same play). Had a few nice hustle plays defensively that came after moments of frustration. Not really his fault for the rotations late, but he has to do better on the glass. | ||||||||
 C+ | O. Anunoby26 MIN, 3 PTS, 2 REB, 0 AST, 1 STL, 1-4 FG, 1-2 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 10 +/- Fairly quiet night for the rookie, who didn’t really have a top guy to focus on defensively and didn’t see many touches at the other end. Showed some nice spunk attacking from the corners and had a big offensive rebound early. He was unspectacular, and that he had the team’s best plus-minus doesn’t signal much here. | ||||||||
 A+ | J. Valanciunas28 MIN, 23 PTS, 15 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 8-10 FG, 1-1 3FG, 6-6 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 3 +/- I mean…what? Valanciunas was the team’s most energetic player, their most efficient scorer, and their best rebounder – by far – against an elite rebounding center. This was easily his best game of the season, continuing a pretty strong stretch over the past few weeks. He even played pretty well defensively. I can’t wrap my head around him sitting late. (A reminder: I am a JV moderate, not beholden to either side of this endless argument. He was great, and I can’t figure this out. Casey said it was for offense, and while the team did get some good looks they couldn’t stick, Valanciunas had the best offensive rating on the team and they were killed when he wasn’t in for defensive rebounds.) | ||||||||
 D | K. Lowry35 MIN, 14 PTS, 3 REB, 6 AST, 1 STL, 4-13 FG, 0-8 3FG, 6-8 FT, 0 BLK, 5 TO, 0 +/- There are games when Lowry’s shot isn’t falling and he can do enough other things – hustle plays, playmaking, defensive stops – to make a difference. This game kind of tested those limits, as Lowry went 0-of-8 on threes for just the third time in his career and coughed up five turnovers. He had some nice moments where he willed his way to points, to be sure, but it was a tough one overall. | ||||||||
 B | D. DeRozan36 MIN, 17 PTS, 5 REB, 8 AST, 2 STL, 5-13 FG, 0-0 3FG, 7-10 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, 0 +/- Had a tremendous first half moving the ball, dishing six assists and picking his spots well. He had a handful of solid defensive plays, too. His scoring touch evaded him a bit in the fourth after abusing Sam Dekker most of the night, as he shot 1-of-5 down the stretch without a free throw. | ||||||||
 C- | F. VanVleet23 MIN, 2 PTS, 3 REB, 0 AST, 1 STL, 1-6 FG, 0-3 3FG, 0-0 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, -7 +/- Had a Lowry-like game where he didn’t shoot the ball particularly well but was able to make a difference at the defensive end. Still, with the way the bench is playing on offense right now, they somewhat unfairly need him to do some scoring. | ||||||||
 A- | C. Miles18 MIN, 13 PTS, 1 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 5-9 FG, 3-5 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, -7 +/- Shook off a cold stretch by hitting three threes and attacking closeouts aggressively, which was nice to see. Was almost literally the only source of scoring the bench had but only got an offense-defense sniff when the offense stalled out late. | ||||||||
 D+ | J. Poeltl13 MIN, 0 PTS, 3 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 0-1 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 2 BLK, 1 TO, -9 +/- Picking up five fouls and a -9 in 13 minutes is tough, and while Poeltl’s often been the victim of an unfair whistle, that wasn’t really the case here. Harrell and Jordan were problems for everyone, but especially so for Poeltl, who also missed his lone field-goal attempt at the rim. Some nice moments as a rim protector, at least. | ||||||||
 C- | P. Siakam13 MIN, 0 PTS, 2 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 0-1 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 3 +/- Early foul trouble seemed to take Siakam out of his flow, and he played sparingly, taking just one shot in 13 scoreless minutes. He still managed to force a turnover with his energy and dish two assists in that span, because hustle doesn’t slump, or something. | ||||||||
 D | N. Powell11 MIN, 2 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 1-6 FG, 0-3 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -15 +/- He’s in a bad way right now, and his minutes may be at risk of getting even shorter when Delon Wright is healthy. Going -15 in 12 minutes is really, really tough in a five-point game, and Powell earned it with some forced shots and a blown transition layup. Not a banner game, which is somewhat unexpected given how good he looked with the bench initially. He’ll bounce back. | ||||||||
 Inc | L. Brown2 MIN, 0 PTS, 0 REB, 0 AST, 1 STL, 0-0 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -2 +/- Foul trouble for the bench bigs in the first half and the back-to-back scenario got Brown a brief cameo in the first-half rotation. This will be hard to believe, but he didn’t shoot. | ||||||||
 D | Dwane Casey Look, Casey is a fine coach, and for about 44 minutes, he managed the game pretty well. He had multiple bigs in foul trouble on the second night of a back-to-back, he didn’t want to overwork his stars by propping up bench units, and he gave an effective Valanciunas 28 minutes. I can not, for the life of me, figure out some of the decisions in the closing minutes, though. Valanciunas absolutely should have been on the floor down the stretch, in general and specifically on free throws where a rebound was paramount. The Raptors also botched a trap on Lou Williams late. Before you get going, they do not make Casey a bad coach (stop), but it was a bad night. As Will put it in his notes, “the players didn’t show up but Casey made it so much worse.” | ||||||||
Things We Saw
- The Raptors once again came out with a great energy and asserted their talent advantage often. They railed off a 12-2 run after the game’s opening bucket, played to a +8 as a starting unit in that segment, and held the Clippers to 32% shooting in the first quarter to build a 30-19 lead. That start didn’t exactly sustain, but it’s encouraging to see them starting games consistently well. The starters finished the game a plus-15 and now own a net rating of +13.2 on the season.
- The bench continued to struggle, which is becoming a bit of a concern (long-term, you can mitigate it some by staggering the stars more, but it’s probably not necessary on the second night of a back-to-back against a bad team). Siakam and Poeltl both had quick foul trouble in the first half, which certainly didn’t help, and they struggled to create offense. The all-bench unit was a minus-2 in three minutes here and this particular iteration now has a -12.4 net rating on the year.
- The Raptors will talk a lot about their energy level, which was admittedly poor. If you’re a believer in tired legs showing up in jump shooting, well, the Raptors were a woeful 7-of-29 on threes. They were also destroyed on the glass, particularly when Valanciunas wasn’t in the game. The team’s assist percentage was 56.3 percent still, at least.
- This snaps a six-game winning streak for the Raptors, and while it’s understandable that they’d drop one game on a four-game road trip, it’s tough not to feel like they squandered an opportunity to build some real momentum here. Bad games happen, tired games happen, and ugly games happen. They’re a lot easier to take when the team can steal a victory, especially against a team as beat-up and disjointed as the Clippers. This is a bad loss. It happens. I don’t know.
