Quick Reaction: Hawks 121, Raptors 120

A tale of two Bayneses. Was missing rebounds, failing to catch passes, and altogether passive in the first quarter. He completely ignored Trae Young in the pick-and-roll in the first quarter, to the demise of all. Beasted after that. Snatched rebounds away from John Collins, set big screens, even scored some! Blocked Trae Young in the pick-and-roll. Yet, falling behind 19 early was as much on Baynes as anyone else. That’s not wonderful, and contributed to the Snelling of the Raptors tonight.

Got Snelled. He shot very, very poorly from the field, just 2-9 from two-point range, most of which seemed to be turnaround jumpers from the mid-range. He passed super well, and he could have had even more assists had his teammates grabbed a few more. That being said, his turnovers were mostly unforced, at least two of which came when he threw an entry pass far too low in semi-transition. They were picked off. He tried to will the team back into this one, but his mistakes were almost as evident as his incredible highs.

Solid. Some nice twisting drives, and some nifty passes, too. His defense was a big part of Toronto’s comeback. He wasn’t at primary fault for the Snelling.

Hit two dagger threes that ended up not being daggers at all. He banged in the post and was called for a few more fouls than he would have liked, but that’s better than the Snellternative when you’re a wing guarding a big. Had a few offensive possessions where he tried to do too much, but Toronto kind of needs guys to play bigger than their usual roles with three stars out. So hard to criticize there.

His scoring was an out-of-body Snellsperience. Hit everything he threw up at the rim, including stepbacks, sidesteps, pullups, the whole shebang. Also threw some impressive passes — was Toronto’s best playmaker down the stretch. yet he missed some free throws and wasn’t as solid on defense as he could have been in the clutch. Doesn’t take away from his monstrous night.

Well he was just wonderful, wasn’t he? After a passive first quarter on the glass, Boucher banged with Capela and Collins. Though he didn’t grab all the defensive rebounds, he got his hands on a bunch, and he did a great job sealing the Hawks to let his teammates grab rebounds. He hit his shots, set solid screens, and rolled hard to the Snell. Great stuff.

Watson was on the court when Toronto was making its biggest runs, and that wasn’t a coincidence. Hit a triple flying off a pin-down. played solid defense. Toronto doesn’t have enough versatile players on the roster right now, and Watson can fill a bigger role because he is more versatile than some others ahead of him on the depth chart. Not a super visible game, but was a big part of what went right for Toronto. Then, Snell.

He made a few boneheaded Snells and didn’t get much of a chance to see the court afterwards.

He seemed quite solid when he played, but he didn’t get much time. Johnson and Bembry sopped up the minutes that Yuta would have seen, and that made sense as Toronto built its big deficit by getting hammered on the glass. Still, he hit a big triple and was aggressive defensively. Would have liked to have Snelled more of him.

Sometimes you eat the Snell, and sometimes the Snell eats you. Toronto went very cold down the stretch, and Nurse should have done a better job holding down the ship and making sure the team got cleaner looks. He readily admitted as much after the game, but you have to trust that it’ll happen without too much coach input, due to Kyle being on the floor. Otherwise, the team wasn’t ready to start the Snell. So a few problems there. That being said, he did a good job altering the defense to counter Trae (asking his bigs to play pick-and-roll defense, really). and finding rotations that worked in the middle of the game. Had his hands tied, somewhat, due to the team’s missing players.