Gameday: Magic @ Raptors, Jan. 31

Ladies and gents, we are in the doldrums.

Markelle Fultz, Jonathan Isaac, and OG Anunoby are all out for this game. Norman Powell is doubtful. A lot of the wonderful trappings of Magic-Raptors games of the past – Isaac vs. Siakam, Vucevic vs. Gasol – are gone, and most of the intriguing players are out. More than likely we’re all signing up to watch Nikola Vucevic eat copious amounts of food against these Raptors, and hoping that they rally in other areas to beat the Magic.

The Magic are a bottom-10 defense and a bottom-3 offense. We are once again in the territory of ‘the Raptors should win this game despite their own injuries’, but as we’ve seen with the Kings, that isn’t something to bet the farm on.

So, Siakam won’t get to engage in the ‘cat and mouse’ game we’ve grown accustom to seeing opposite of Isaac. However, Aaron Gordon is no slouch defensively and he’ll likely draw the bulk of possessions against Siakam in this one. Coming off of a really crisp offensive performance against the Kings and facing off against Gordon and the positional wisdom of the Magic roster (that still limits scoring at the bucket) Siakam has an opportunity to keep the ball rolling in this matchup. Playmake when he draws attention, attack gaps where he can, spot-up a little bit. Dare I say… there’s an opportunity here.

The stylings of Fred VanVleet and Kyle Lowry should be able to far outpace whatever Cole Anthony and Evan Fournier bring as a backcourt duo. Fournier is underrated league-wide and Anthony (correctly) has Magic fans excited about the future, but VanVleet and Lowry are truly top-class even if the Raptors record might not indicate it. It might be fun to keep an eye on how many times Lowry tries to goad Anthony into fouls (provided there’s defensive possessions for that). He really hunts rookies down every chance he gets.

*sarcasm font initiated*

Anthony hit a game winner this year. If I’m not mistaken that means he’s a better player than Siakam right?

Last year’s matchup numbers have Vucevic at 6 points and 1 assist in just under two minutes of time being defended by Baynes. 10 team points allowed over 5.8 possessions. Can’t say there’s much to glean from 5.8 possessions – and tracking data can be wonky – but hey, there’s some numbers for you. For what it’s worth, Baynes has looked significantly more spry over these past few games, and that should be particularly meaningful against Vucevic. A lot of people will tell you ‘Vooch’ is a bruiser, but he isn’t. When the Magic are asked to operate without Vucevic, they break. His game makes the wheels turn on offense, and he’s an underrated defender. He’s got great hips to keep post defenders off-balance, and great hands to finish over top of them. He’s got one of the quickest draws out of anyone in the league who utilizes the hook shot, and his feet are quick enough to punish overzealous closeouts. The Magic don’t create super easy offense for him, so his numbers don’t look like a lot of other hyper-efficient bigs. However, Vucevic creates his own looks better than most of his contemporaries. Baynes will have his hands full, and this is NOT a good matchup for Chris Boucher to play the ‘5’.

It should be interesting to see what the rotation looks like in this one after the individual success of Yuta Watanabe and DeAndre’ Bembry in the game against the Kings. I’m certain many fans will clamor for a starting spot for one of the two, or Stanley Johnson. We’ll see. The eye-test does seem to back up these claims, though. Nurse has been objectively hard on players who make repeated defensive mistakes, but that doesn’t seem to extend to Davis the same way – seemingly because his shot-making pop isn’t replicated by any of the tertiary rotation players, but still one might wonder how that shakes out given Nurse’s proclivities.

We’re here again, but yes, the Raptors should win this one.

Game Info

Tipoff: 6pm EST | TV: Sportsnet | Radio: TheFan590

Raptors Lineups

OG Anunoby (left calf strain) and Patrick McCaw (knee) are out. Norman Powell (quad contusion) is doubtful. Jalen Harris is on assignment with the 905.

PG: Kyle Lowry, Malachi Flynn

SG: Fred VanVleet, Terence Davis, Matt Thomas

SF: Stanley Johnson, DeAndre’ Bembry, Paul Watson

PF: Pascal Siakam, Yuta Watanabe

C: Aron Baynes, Chris Boucher