Gross, ugly game.
 | Orlando | 113 | Final Box Score | 98 | Toronto |  |
 B | P. Siakam37 MIN, 10 PTS, 11 REB, 3 AST, 0 STL, 3-10 FG, 2-4 3FG, 2-2 FT, 2 BLK, 0 TO, -5 +/- Still have to wait on the playoff confirmation, but it looks like Siakam is at least a real threat from the corners now. Really liked his defense, and when he’s paired with Gasol (who eats up box-out matchups) he’ll be grabbing a lot more boards and jump-starting transition. Had a couple ill-timed drives in the half-court that ended up being pretty bad shots. | |
 C+ | O. Anunoby24 MIN, 5 PTS, 6 REB, 0 AST, 1 STL, 2-6 FG, 1-2 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -13 +/- The positive was his defensive work tonight, which was pretty good – although it was helped by a bad shooting night from Gordon. I thought he might have a good offensive night with his insertion in the starting line-up, but it was yet another middling to mediocre game from him on that end. | |
 B+ | M. Gasol24 MIN, 16 PTS, 5 REB, 5 AST, 0 STL, 7-13 FG, 1-1 3FG, 1-2 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -7 +/- Still looking for a bit better touch around the rim – we’re generally spoiled having watched Siakam for so long. His presence brought out a real nice wrinkle in Lowry’s game, which I’d love to see emulated in Kawhi Leonard once he’s back. He was definitely good tonight, but underwhelming in slowing down Vucevic. | |
 A | K. Lowry36 MIN, 19 PTS, 4 REB, 10 AST, 4 STL, 6-13 FG, 2-6 3FG, 5-5 FT, 0 BLK, 5 TO, -7 +/- There were shades of a driving game against the Spurs and that was fully realized this afternoon. Lowry was tenacious getting to the rim and was largely responsible for inserting some energy into the game in the second quarter. Still waiting for a couple more ‘PU3IT’ triples to drop, but it’s clear he’s much closer to full health. Wasn’t paid well for all the dimes he was dropping and the Raptors poor finishing tonight wasted a lot of great passes from Lowry. The two-man game he’s developing with Gasol is poetry in motion. | |
 A- | D. Green27 MIN, 10 PTS, 6 REB, 4 AST, 0 STL, 4-9 FG, 2-4 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, 3 +/- Was really good on defense, especially when the Raptors were in need of some serious scram rotations. Always love to see him punish smaller guards, and he’s more than competent in the post, creating some looks off of his penetration. He was good. | |
 B | S. Ibaka24 MIN, 14 PTS, 5 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 7-14 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, -17 +/- Always dislike the games where he leads the Raptors in shots taken. That largely falls on Nurse and whichever guard is paired with him, but unless he’s getting to the rim a ton (he wasn’t) it’s not what you want. He was fine, but he’s not transformative for the bench, the pieces around him were bad, so his time on the court didn’t turn out very well. | |
 C+ | J. Lin18 MIN, 6 PTS, 1 REB, 5 AST, 0 STL, 2-8 FG, 0-2 3FG, 2-4 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -14 +/- Wasn’t able to hit his shots and had a huge responsibility trying to service Ibaka and co. on the bench tonight. He’s capable of much better nights, but I wasn’t mad at any of his decisions, he created good shots and took the same. | |
 A- | J. Meeks17 MIN, 10 PTS, 2 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 4-9 FG, 2-5 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 7 +/- Couldn’t ask for much more. He’s on a 10-day and he came in gunning and banged in a couple triples. If he could do this every game, he’ll definitely secure a second look. | |
 D- | N. Powell15 MIN, 0 PTS, 0 REB, 2 AST, 0 STL, 0-3 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -13 +/- A lot of the burden of creativity fell on him with the bench line-up, and that didn’t go well. Took his shots in awkward, unfamiliar situations. Tough game tonight, big change from Gasol to Ibaka as they play pretty different, and require different service. | |
 C | P. McCaw15 MIN, 8 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 3-5 FG, 1-1 3FG, 1-1 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -14 +/- Hit a three, which is nice. A bit of the wind came out from his and Powell’s sails now that they’re not running around the pass-heavy Gasol. He hamstrung the offense when he was on the floor, and was generally a negative in this one. | |
 C+ | Nick Nurse I guess I have to express some disappointment that the Raptors don’t run more pick n’ roll. There’s enough weapons at his disposal to negate these types of stagnant games on offense, but they don’t go to their strengths enough. It’s up to him to make sure the team runs what’s conducive to winning, they didn’t tonight. Liked that he tried the Gasol-Ibaka front-court. | |
Things We Saw
- The Magic were pretty crisp in this one, especially in their actions that revolved around Vucevic. The Raptors came out really sluggish, providing the Magic with an automatic buffer and creating an uphill battle from the start. A plus night from downtown (aside from the finish) couldn’t remove the mediocre finishing tonight, or the lack of hustle.
- Terrence Ross showed exactly why there was so many whispers about him making his way to a contender at the deadline. He was terrific tonight and stretched out the Raptors defense with his shooting. Not only that, but he managed to score off the pick n’ roll and pindowns, which in turn made the Vucevic off-ball actions far more potent.
- There’s a lot to figure out re: Gasol starting and Ibaka on the bench. It’s pretty clear that the Raptors will have a good starting line-up with Gasol in, but the bench was horrible tonight and played with no flow. Nurse has a lot on his plate.
