 | Toronto | 119 | Final Box Score | 122 | Washington |  |
 B+ | S. Ibaka35 MIN, 16 PTS, 3 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 7-11 FG, 1-3 3FG, 1-1 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, 3 +/- Huge start for Serge, with 10 points in the first seven minutes of action. He was a perfect 4 of 4 from the field in the quarter, too. He trailed off as the game progressed, but all-in-all, it was a strong game from Ibaka. | |
 B | O. Anunoby21 MIN, 11 PTS, 3 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 4-8 FG, 3-5 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 1 +/- Did a great job containing Beal defensively in the first half, especially in the pick and roll. Whenever Beal got away from Anunoby in the second half, he feasted. The rook hit three 3-pointers in the first, so hopefully that helps put his January shooting struggles behind him. | |
 B+ | J. Valanciunas29 MIN, 17 PTS, 6 REB, 3 AST, 0 STL, 7-8 FG, 2-2 3FG, 1-2 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, 1 +/- It felt like every shot JV took in the first half was falling, including those from beyond the arc. His dominance to start the game made his second-half disappearance all the more perplexing. He had just two free throw attempts to show for in the second half. | |
 A | K. Lowry35 MIN, 29 PTS, 5 REB, 4 AST, 3 STL, 10-19 FG, 4-11 3FG, 5-7 FT, 1 BLK, 2 TO, 3 +/- Had another slow start with just four points in the first half. He did heat up in the second half, particularly in the fourth, getting a ton of clutch buckets down the stretch. He did miss a free throw that could have tied the game with three seconds remaining, but I’ll take 17 fourth-quarter points from Lowry any day. | |
 B+ | D. DeRozan38 MIN, 23 PTS, 6 REB, 6 AST, 2 STL, 7-17 FG, 0-3 3FG, 9-10 FT, 1 BLK, 1 TO, 2 +/- Like Lowry, DeRozan had a quiet first half scoring the rock, but did a good job facilitating to his teammates to make up for it. DeMar made the pass of the game over his shoulder to Anunoby for a wide-open 3 in the first. He started to find his shot in the second half, but it was too little, too late. | |
 A- | N. Powell26 MIN, 8 PTS, 1 REB, 2 AST, 0 STL, 3-4 FG, 2-3 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 0 +/- Played with a ton of swagger tonight. Having guaranteed minutes in Miles’ absence is surely a huge relief for Norm, and it’s showing. He’s not taking this latest opportunity for granted. | |
 B- | J. Poeltl16 MIN, 8 PTS, 5 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 3-5 FG, 0-0 3FG, 2-3 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, -7 +/- Poeltl executed the pick and roll well with Powell and cleaned up on the offensive glass for easy points. Too bad he dealt with foul trouble and played just five minutes in the first half. | |
 C | D. Wright13 MIN, 0 PTS, 2 REB, 2 AST, 0 STL, 0-4 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 4 TO, -6 +/- Another underwhelming outing for Delon tonight. He struggled with his shot, and his minutes suffered as a result. | |
 C+ | P. Siakam13 MIN, 5 PTS, 1 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 2-4 FG, 0-0 3FG, 1-1 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, -4 +/- Siakam forced a second foul on Markieff Morris early on in the first that sent Washington’s power forward to the bench. Also converted a nice three-point play. Aside from that, there wasn’t much Pascal did that stood out. | |
 C- | L. Brown11 MIN, 2 PTS, 0 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 1-3 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -9 +/- Got a few minutes outside of garbage time in Fred VanVleet’s absence, but didn’t do too much with the playing time. | |
 C | L. Nogueira3 MIN, 0 PTS, 1 REB, 0 AST, 1 STL, 0-0 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, 1 +/- Solid rim protection. Did get away with a goaltend midway through the second while briefly filling in for Poeltl, who was in foul trouble. | |
 B | Dwane Casey The Raps bench boss made a few questionable decisions tonight. The most notable mistake was leaving Valanciunas on the bench for the majority of the third quarter. Also, having Anunoby defend Beal in the fourth quarter could have changed the outcome of the game entirely. | |
Things We Saw
- I’ve been critical of Valanciunas in the past, but he’s continued to prove his doubters wrong since the new calendar year began. JV put another solid showing together. Unfortunately, the Lithuanian did have his streak of four straight double-doubles snapped. He should have been on the floor a lot more in the third quarter.
- Lowry and DeRozan had a quiet first half with 8 points combined, but the bigs picked up the slack and got the offence in a rhythm early. Valanciunas and Ibaka scored 15 of the Raptors 17 points to open the first quarter.
- Bradley Beal gave the Raptors defence a major headache in the second half, scoring 25 points. A lot of his buckets came with Anunoby on the bench, which proves just how lethal a defender the rookie can be when given extended minutes against elite scorers.
